Fiat Professional

[Lynne Roy]

If you had your motorhome repaired under warranty at a Fiat Professional garage, and discovered from your dash camera that the mechanic had driven 30 kilometres in it , home for his lunch, leaving it parked outside his house for an hour, driving very fast , what action would you take please . I have asked the garage if they were aware it had been removed from their premises and gave the address it was parked outside, they replied it was indeed the mechanics address and he had taken it for necessary tests, what would your next action be please x

 

[RobbyMClark]

"Necessary tests" bullocks taste test at home or some afternoon delight
Does dash cam show speeds?? - any over the limits - inform garage that any tickets will go to them for the driver to get the points/retraining.
If no apology get in touch with Fiat Pro head office.

 

[Peavy]

What was serviced for? Was a standard service? If the test is not adequately justified I would ask to fill a "complaint form" or the equivalent thing you may have in UK.
Edit: I see it was repaired. Anyway is a strange way of proceeding without explaining beforehand.

 

[activecampers]

What was it in for?
Genuinely, mechanics may need to drive it to get a feel. I've a mate who has had to take car home for an evening just to give it a long enough test for diagnosis. e.g. depending what it is, may need engine hot, brakes hot, different roads etc. But it is known about by the service manager (not always able to contact owner)

But - if just a service then no.
Driven very fast, badly, exceeding limits - definitely not on.

So "depends"

Next action, speak to the service manager and ask for their view and a formal complaints process. If exceeding limits and driving like a twit get the mechanics name. And also advise you will be uploading full video to YouTube

Problem is - what do you want? "Sorry, free/discounted service next time"? Would you want to go back anyway?

 

[Silver-Fox]

If you had your motorhome repaired under warranty at a Fiat Professional garage, and discovered from your dash camera that the mechanic had driven 30 kilometres in it , home for his lunch, leaving it parked outside his house for an hour, driving very fast , what action would you take please . I have asked the garage if they were aware it had been removed from their premises and gave the address it was parked outside, they replied it was indeed the mechanics address and he had taken it for necessary tests, what would your next action be please x

30k test???

I call BS on that

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[Bramidan]

I’m not sure what the problem is, if it needed a test run.
Might as well use it to go home for his lunch as just driving about aimlessly.
Sounds an efficient use of his time.

 

[Lynne Roy]

What was it in for?
Genuinely, mechanics may need to drive it to get a feel. I've a mate who has had to take car home for an evening just to give it a long enough test for diagnosis. e.g. depending what it is, may need engine hot, brakes hot, different roads etc. But it is known about by the service manager (not always able to contact owner)

But - if just a service then no.
Driven very fast, badly, exceeding limits - definitely not on.

So "depends"

Next action, speak to the service manager and ask for their view and a formal complaints process. If exceeding limits and driving like a twit get the mechanics name. And also advise you will be uploading full video to YouTube

Problem is - what do you want? "Sorry, free/discounted service next time"? Would you want to go back anyway?

No I wouldn’t take it back there, but I am angry and the next person might not be so lucky to get theirs back undamaged, I was thinking of Fiat customer services next step, I contacted the service manager to get a “confession “ so if any speeding tickets arrive I can prove who was driving it. This is in my bestest French I need French swear words please

 

[Lynne Roy]

"Necessary tests" bullocks taste test at home or some afternoon delight
Does dash cam show speeds?? - any over the limits - inform garage that any tickets will go to them for the driver to get the points/retraining.
If no apology get in touch with Fiat Pro head office.

Sadly doesn’t show speed , but overtakes every car . No apologies offered, will get in touch with head office x

 

[Lynne Roy]

I’m not sure what the problem is, if it needed a test run.
Might as well use it to go home for his lunch as just driving about aimlessly.
Sounds an efficient use of his time.

Good argument, I just wish he’d driven with a bit more care , they had taken if for a short test drive prior to this

 

[BaileySteve]

Agree with Lynne Roy.

Service manager probably already given him a rollicking so unlikely to happen again hopefully. Do you really want to stress yourself out for what be little more than an apology. If he had been smart he would have disconnected the camera as my Hyundai garage does when they move to another site, maybe they don’t want it filming in the workshop.

On a side note there will be few in the motor trade with access to customers vehicles who haven’t ’popped out’ somewhere including me. We should treat other peoples property with respect, but not everyone has the same values.

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[Bramidan]

Good argument, I just wish he’d driven with a bit more care , they had taken if for a short test drive prior to this

Hi, didn’t realise they had already taken it for test drive.
Had you turned your tracker off?
Mine records the speed, probably trying to teach my grandmother etc etc.

 

[haganap]

Problem is - what do you want? "Sorry, free/discounted service next time"? Would you want to go back anyway?

Similar thing happened to me back in th 90s when a Renault mechanic opted to take my Renault 5 GT turbo out for a Friday night test drive along with a few of his mates. I was driving another car when I saw him racing through the streets of Coventry.

The workshop manager sacked him on the spot when confronted.

But as said above, there is absoloutly no point in lodging a complaint without knowing exactly what you want for complaining?

do you want to
be heard and given assurances it won't happen again?
financial remunification?
a discount on your next order?

The art of complaining is to know what the resoloution to the matter looks like. As someone who deals with complaints endlessly I always ask that question first so i know what I am dealing with..

It's terribly unprofessional if nothing else, and if he can't see it has a dash cam fitted then hes probably not a mechanic I would want anywhere near my van.

 

[Lenny HB]

Was that in France Lyyne?

I would certainly be expecting some compensation, no way is 30km a test drive.

 

[Lynne Roy]

Similar thing happened to me back in th 90s when a Renault mechanic opted to take my Renault 5 GT turbo out for a Friday night test drive along with a few of his mates. I was driving another car when I saw him racing through the streets of Coventry.

The workshop manager sacked him on the spot when confronted.

But as said above, there is absoloutly no point in lodging a complaint without knowing exactly what you want for complaining?

do you want to
be heard and given assurances it won't happen again?
financial remunification?
a discount on your next order?

The art of complaining is to know what the resoloution to the matter looks like. As someone who deals with complaints endlessly I always ask that question first so i know what I am dealing with..

It's terribly unprofessional if nothing else, and if he can't see it has a dash cam fitted then hes probably not a mechanic I would want anywhere near my van.

The problem is the van isn’t running as it was, and I certainly wouldn’t let them near it again. It showed 2000 km to oil change when we left it with them , now showing needs oil change now, I don’t know why it dropped so quickly, luckily Iveco in Angueleme will do it tomorrow afternoon,

 

[Lynne Roy]

Was that in France Lyyne?

I would certainly be expecting some compensation, no way is 30km a test drive.

Yes Lenny , I am so mad it’s definitely not running the same , 300 euros tomorrow for an oil change. It didn’t show the speed, but he was thrashing it in the outside lane overtaking everything x

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[Lenny HB]

Yes Lenny , I am so mad it’s definitely not running the same , 300 euros tomorrow for an oil change. It didn’t show the speed, but he was thrashing it in the outside lane overtaking everything x

Get Fiat customer services involved at lest try and get the oil change FOC.
Worth holding off on the oil change until you get an answer.

 

[haganap]

Yes Lenny , I am so mad it’s definitely not running the same , 300 euros tomorrow for an oil change. It didn’t show the speed, but he was thrashing it in the outside lane overtaking everything x

sorry I missed the bit about it being in France,

Principle still remains, I would complain to the main dealer network and insist that the oil change is carried out free of charge as a starting point. Problem is, that if you are not trusting the garage to do it (rightly so), then you are relying on the dealer network to refund which might be more difficult. But you have a starting point.

probably taking the van for lunch is the norm in France, they spend that much time lunching!!!

 

[Lynne Roy]

Get Fiat customer services involved at lest try and get the oil change FOC.
Worth holding off on the oil change until you get an answer.

Thanks for advice Lenny, I have emailed Fiat customer services France, sadly we can’t hold off having oil change done in case we break down, I could be stuck here until January and it’s cold

 

[gus-lopez]

I would ask to fill a "complaint form" or the equivalent thing you may have in UK.

Hopefully they have them in France as they do not in the UK.

I’m not sure what the problem is, if it needed a test run.
Might as well use it to go home for his lunch as just driving about aimlessly.
Sounds an efficient use of his time.

I doubt that the garages insurance would be covering it parked outside some random house somewhere. On a test drive & in the garage yes, but elsewhere no.

 

[Lynne Roy]

Hopefully they have them in France as they do not in the UK.

I doubt that the garages insurance would be covering it parked outside some random house somewhere. On a test drive & in the garage yes, but elsewhere no.

That was my worry, they haven’t even apologised or try to make excuses really , we are half expecting speeding tickets so I wanted it in writing that their mechanic had taken it home, and as we had his address from dash cam they couldn’t deny it .

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[Lynne Roy]

That was my worry, they haven’t even apologised or try to make excuses really , we are half expecting speeding tickets so I wanted it in writing that their mechanic had taken it home, and as we had his address from dash cam they couldn’t deny it .

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Fiat Professional, it sounds so much better in French, Véhicules Professionnels, but it seems like it's the same crappy expensive experience there as well.
Mike.