tharvey13
11-01-2013, 12:36 PM
In May of 2012 Fiat USA held the Spin to Win Facebook Contest where they were giving away 10 Fiat 500’s. I won one of the 10 cars which I upgraded to the Abarth, this was obviously a great thing and it was one of the best things that have ever happened to me. I had always wanted a little sports car.
The dealership that I won the car through held a contest where you could win a trip to the 2012 Fiat FreakOut that was being held in Virginia that year. I submitted my story as a PowerPoint Presentation and again I was lucky enough to win. It was a wonderful experience meeting everyone whose passion and dedication to the Fiat brand was absolutely amazing.
My company closed our office in Virginia and I was relocated to Nashville, TN and this is where my story starts to change from a dream to a nightmare. I arrived in TN a few weeks before my wife as her employer asked her to stay and finish a project. Right before I moved my 12 year old cat Corduroy was diagnosed with liver disease so he stayed in VA with my wife to receive treatment. So this was a very stressful time in my life.
The day before I was to fly back to VA to help my wife move down I found oil everywhere under the car and nothing registering on the dipstick. I called and it was towed to Huntsville, Al an hour and a half away. I called the next day while waiting for a connecting flight and was told it would need a new engine but they were waiting on Fiat approval. When I arrived back in VA we had to put Corduroy to sleep as he had not responded to the treatment and then say goodbye to the town we had lived our whole lives. I tried to get updates from the dealership regarding my Abarth but they did not return my calls, I had to get Fiat Customer Care involved. Even with them involved I could not get any straight answers and they could not coordinate a rental car, I was compensated with 16 oil change coupon. My car required the Turbo Oil Cooler to be replaced and was at the dealership from the time it was towed on 10/09/2012 thru 10/19/2012.
Everything was fine with my Abarth until 8/24/2013 when the Check Engine Light came on and it would not go above 6psi also the Side Claddings started to come loose on both sides behind the front tires. I took it into Nashville Fiat on 8/26/2013 at 7:00am I had to call them that afternoon to find out the status which was that they could not diagnose an issue with the Check Engine Light other than it was a Turbo Underboost code and since they had to order the Claddings I should just see if it reoccurs and if it did they would replace the Turbo.
On my way home from work on 8/30/2013 the issue reoccurred and I immediately contacted Nashville Fiat and arranged to drop it off at 7:00am on 9/03/2013. I dropped my Abarth off for the second time on 9/03/2013 and when I did not receive an update from the dealership I called and was informed that they needed to order the Wastegate and the vehicle was not able to be driven, they were going to replace the Claddings during this visit as well since they had come in. I received no update while it was at the dealership and called Thursday 9/05/2013 and was informed that the part should be in on Friday morning and I would receive a call at 9:30 am. I never received a call and when I called that afternoon I was told the part did not arrive that it should be Monday, when questioned about not receiving a call they scoffed until he saw his note and apologized and promised he would call at 10:30am on 9/09/2013. I had to call the dealership the afternoon of 9/09/2013 to get the status of the part as I did not receive a phone call and was told they were finishing up the repair at that time and I could pick it up.
The issue occurred for the third time on 9/14/2013 and I arranged to drop it at the dealership on 9/16/2013, and upon arrival they had no paperwork ready and I had to wait for about 20 minutes just to drop the car off. By that afternoon I had received no updates and tried to contact the dealership for at least an hour with no success, I called Fiat Customer Care and they could not contact the dealer either. I had to take off from work on 9/17/2013 as my wife had a meeting out of town I called Fiat Customer Care again within minutes after getting off the phone with them I received a call from the dealer stating they had to order a Turbo that was backordered but the car was able to be driven while I waited on the part. I found this troubling as I was told during the second visit for the same issue the car should not be driven. I was unable to pick the vehicle up on this date regardless. I contacted the Attorney General’s office to file a complaint with the dealership and sent an email to the head of Fiat USA.
On 9/18/2013 I contacted the dealership and requested something in writing that the vehicle was safe to be driven since the Turbo could fail at any time without warning and would reset every time the car was started. I was told that he would work on getting it in writing and would call me back. That afternoon I was contacted by a gentleman from Chrysler who would be handling my case from here out. I informed him of everything I had been dealing with and he said he would arrange for a rental car and compensate one of my monthly payments. I received a call from the dealer that afternoon stating that they had what I had asked for but Chrysler wanted to put me in a rental car because I was concerned about the safety of the car , the car was supposed to be waiting for me when I arrived at Enterprise. I arrived at Enterprise roughly 30 minutes later and the dealer had not arranged anything. I was very upset and informed them I did not want the rental and I would just call the dealer and get my car back as I was told he had what I wanted which was a letter stating the car was safe to drive. When I called I was informed that there was no letter that notes were added to my file that the car would drive as a normal Fiat 500 but the tech had stated that if you are used to driving an Abarth and the Turbo were to fail it could create a potentially dangerous situation. The service advisor then proceeded to make excuses for his behavior and blaming me for getting Fiat and Chrysler involved. I was beyond upset after all this and was literally shaking.
I contacted the gentleman from Chrysler stating that if they wanted to help correct the situation they could refund the price of the extended warranty I purchased which was $3000. The cost was refunded and he arranged for the rental car. This went a long way to helping make this situation more bearable but at this point I stopped contacting the dealer and all status updates were going through the contact at Chrysler.
I was given a Chrysler 200 as a rental car and was contacted by Enterprise on 10/03/2013 asking to swap out the car as it had been recalled, I had been informed that the turbo was expected to arrive on 10/04/2013 so I simply returned the rental as I figured my car was the top priority and I would hopefully receive it back that day which I did not.
I tried to contact the gentleman from Chrysler the morning of 10/07/2013 and received no response so I contacted FiatCares on www.Fiat500USAForum.com as they had responded to a post I had made stating they were working on my case and asked him to contact the dealer and get the status of the repair.
This is my request “Hello, I sent an email to XXXXXXXXXX this morning inquiring on the repair status of my Abarth and have not received any answer. I was wondering if you could inquire on the status from Nashville Fiat, I am hopeful the repair will be completed today. Thank You, Thomas Harvey
This is the response I received “Mr. XXXXXXXX has advised me that he has contacted you and the dealer should have the vehicle completed by today or tomorrow morning. I have also been advised that you are in a courtesy loaner and we have reimbursed you 3000.00 for the service contract.”
I felt this was very insulting and was basically saying we have compensated you so shut up and deal with it.
I finally was able to pick my Abarth up on 10/08/2013 and was ecstatic to have it back however upon getting home I realized that the Claddings that had been replaced were coming off and that the body work on the front end was not put together correctly. I immediately contacted the dealer and made arrangements to take it by on 10/09/2013. Upon their inspection they stated that they had to order new Claddings I was informed the vehicle was fine to drive so we decided that the front end would be corrected when they replaced the Claddings for the second time.
During this time 2 weeks had passed with no contact from anyone except the Attorney General sent me the response from the dealer stating my vehicle had been repaired and I had not been back which was completely false.
The Claddings finally arrived on 10/29/2013 and I arranged to drop it off 10/30/2013 at 7:00am, when I went to drop it off I had to stand there for 20 minutes while the tech was on the phone dealing with a crisis. I received a call that afternoon that the Claddings were done but Clips needed to be ordered to fix the front end. Upon going to pick it up and inspecting it I realized that one of the Claddings that had just been put on was coming loose on the driver’s side and that the side stripe had been scraped off in a couple of places. Upon showing this to the dealership their first suggestion was to rivet it in place. They are supposed to be researching it but I have received no contact from them as of yet. I asked Chrysler to replace the car with another non Fiat branded vehicle since this is the only dealer within an hour and a half drive but they said that was not going to happen even though they agree that this is one of their worst dealerships. I don’t know what else to do than make my story public and hope it brings some resolution or change.
The dealership that I won the car through held a contest where you could win a trip to the 2012 Fiat FreakOut that was being held in Virginia that year. I submitted my story as a PowerPoint Presentation and again I was lucky enough to win. It was a wonderful experience meeting everyone whose passion and dedication to the Fiat brand was absolutely amazing.
My company closed our office in Virginia and I was relocated to Nashville, TN and this is where my story starts to change from a dream to a nightmare. I arrived in TN a few weeks before my wife as her employer asked her to stay and finish a project. Right before I moved my 12 year old cat Corduroy was diagnosed with liver disease so he stayed in VA with my wife to receive treatment. So this was a very stressful time in my life.
The day before I was to fly back to VA to help my wife move down I found oil everywhere under the car and nothing registering on the dipstick. I called and it was towed to Huntsville, Al an hour and a half away. I called the next day while waiting for a connecting flight and was told it would need a new engine but they were waiting on Fiat approval. When I arrived back in VA we had to put Corduroy to sleep as he had not responded to the treatment and then say goodbye to the town we had lived our whole lives. I tried to get updates from the dealership regarding my Abarth but they did not return my calls, I had to get Fiat Customer Care involved. Even with them involved I could not get any straight answers and they could not coordinate a rental car, I was compensated with 16 oil change coupon. My car required the Turbo Oil Cooler to be replaced and was at the dealership from the time it was towed on 10/09/2012 thru 10/19/2012.
Everything was fine with my Abarth until 8/24/2013 when the Check Engine Light came on and it would not go above 6psi also the Side Claddings started to come loose on both sides behind the front tires. I took it into Nashville Fiat on 8/26/2013 at 7:00am I had to call them that afternoon to find out the status which was that they could not diagnose an issue with the Check Engine Light other than it was a Turbo Underboost code and since they had to order the Claddings I should just see if it reoccurs and if it did they would replace the Turbo.
On my way home from work on 8/30/2013 the issue reoccurred and I immediately contacted Nashville Fiat and arranged to drop it off at 7:00am on 9/03/2013. I dropped my Abarth off for the second time on 9/03/2013 and when I did not receive an update from the dealership I called and was informed that they needed to order the Wastegate and the vehicle was not able to be driven, they were going to replace the Claddings during this visit as well since they had come in. I received no update while it was at the dealership and called Thursday 9/05/2013 and was informed that the part should be in on Friday morning and I would receive a call at 9:30 am. I never received a call and when I called that afternoon I was told the part did not arrive that it should be Monday, when questioned about not receiving a call they scoffed until he saw his note and apologized and promised he would call at 10:30am on 9/09/2013. I had to call the dealership the afternoon of 9/09/2013 to get the status of the part as I did not receive a phone call and was told they were finishing up the repair at that time and I could pick it up.
The issue occurred for the third time on 9/14/2013 and I arranged to drop it at the dealership on 9/16/2013, and upon arrival they had no paperwork ready and I had to wait for about 20 minutes just to drop the car off. By that afternoon I had received no updates and tried to contact the dealership for at least an hour with no success, I called Fiat Customer Care and they could not contact the dealer either. I had to take off from work on 9/17/2013 as my wife had a meeting out of town I called Fiat Customer Care again within minutes after getting off the phone with them I received a call from the dealer stating they had to order a Turbo that was backordered but the car was able to be driven while I waited on the part. I found this troubling as I was told during the second visit for the same issue the car should not be driven. I was unable to pick the vehicle up on this date regardless. I contacted the Attorney General’s office to file a complaint with the dealership and sent an email to the head of Fiat USA.
On 9/18/2013 I contacted the dealership and requested something in writing that the vehicle was safe to be driven since the Turbo could fail at any time without warning and would reset every time the car was started. I was told that he would work on getting it in writing and would call me back. That afternoon I was contacted by a gentleman from Chrysler who would be handling my case from here out. I informed him of everything I had been dealing with and he said he would arrange for a rental car and compensate one of my monthly payments. I received a call from the dealer that afternoon stating that they had what I had asked for but Chrysler wanted to put me in a rental car because I was concerned about the safety of the car , the car was supposed to be waiting for me when I arrived at Enterprise. I arrived at Enterprise roughly 30 minutes later and the dealer had not arranged anything. I was very upset and informed them I did not want the rental and I would just call the dealer and get my car back as I was told he had what I wanted which was a letter stating the car was safe to drive. When I called I was informed that there was no letter that notes were added to my file that the car would drive as a normal Fiat 500 but the tech had stated that if you are used to driving an Abarth and the Turbo were to fail it could create a potentially dangerous situation. The service advisor then proceeded to make excuses for his behavior and blaming me for getting Fiat and Chrysler involved. I was beyond upset after all this and was literally shaking.
I contacted the gentleman from Chrysler stating that if they wanted to help correct the situation they could refund the price of the extended warranty I purchased which was $3000. The cost was refunded and he arranged for the rental car. This went a long way to helping make this situation more bearable but at this point I stopped contacting the dealer and all status updates were going through the contact at Chrysler.
I was given a Chrysler 200 as a rental car and was contacted by Enterprise on 10/03/2013 asking to swap out the car as it had been recalled, I had been informed that the turbo was expected to arrive on 10/04/2013 so I simply returned the rental as I figured my car was the top priority and I would hopefully receive it back that day which I did not.
I tried to contact the gentleman from Chrysler the morning of 10/07/2013 and received no response so I contacted FiatCares on www.Fiat500USAForum.com as they had responded to a post I had made stating they were working on my case and asked him to contact the dealer and get the status of the repair.
This is my request “Hello, I sent an email to XXXXXXXXXX this morning inquiring on the repair status of my Abarth and have not received any answer. I was wondering if you could inquire on the status from Nashville Fiat, I am hopeful the repair will be completed today. Thank You, Thomas Harvey
This is the response I received “Mr. XXXXXXXX has advised me that he has contacted you and the dealer should have the vehicle completed by today or tomorrow morning. I have also been advised that you are in a courtesy loaner and we have reimbursed you 3000.00 for the service contract.”
I felt this was very insulting and was basically saying we have compensated you so shut up and deal with it.
I finally was able to pick my Abarth up on 10/08/2013 and was ecstatic to have it back however upon getting home I realized that the Claddings that had been replaced were coming off and that the body work on the front end was not put together correctly. I immediately contacted the dealer and made arrangements to take it by on 10/09/2013. Upon their inspection they stated that they had to order new Claddings I was informed the vehicle was fine to drive so we decided that the front end would be corrected when they replaced the Claddings for the second time.
During this time 2 weeks had passed with no contact from anyone except the Attorney General sent me the response from the dealer stating my vehicle had been repaired and I had not been back which was completely false.
The Claddings finally arrived on 10/29/2013 and I arranged to drop it off 10/30/2013 at 7:00am, when I went to drop it off I had to stand there for 20 minutes while the tech was on the phone dealing with a crisis. I received a call that afternoon that the Claddings were done but Clips needed to be ordered to fix the front end. Upon going to pick it up and inspecting it I realized that one of the Claddings that had just been put on was coming loose on the driver’s side and that the side stripe had been scraped off in a couple of places. Upon showing this to the dealership their first suggestion was to rivet it in place. They are supposed to be researching it but I have received no contact from them as of yet. I asked Chrysler to replace the car with another non Fiat branded vehicle since this is the only dealer within an hour and a half drive but they said that was not going to happen even though they agree that this is one of their worst dealerships. I don’t know what else to do than make my story public and hope it brings some resolution or change.