Feedback on PDI's / vehicle collection experience

Guys & Gals.

I thought this may be a useful tool for the ARUK & dealer folk that visit us from time to time

It isn't & shouldn't be a rant but a factual statement regarding the collection of our beloved Alfa's

It can apply to new or used (please specify) as long as the car came from a main dealer.

I'll start the ball rolling.

Date of collection - 27 October 2007 - bought new.
Dealer - Chris Variava, Nottingham.
Vehicle - Alfa 159Ti 2.2 JTS
Faults noted on collection - n/a
Faults noted shortly after collection - n/a
Did you reject the vehicle? - n/a
How / how soon after collection was rectification work carried out - n/a
Overall comments on collection experience - Couldn't have been better. Tim, Yugesh & the Variava team team did an excellent job and my introduction to the service manager was a bonus

Over to you

Date of collection - 18th June 2007
Dealer - Palmers St Albans
Vehicle - Brera 3.2 Q4 SV
Faults noted on collection - n/a
Faults noted shortly after collection - rocking seat, non filling fuel tank, faulty alarm, broken rear wash wipe, no drivers side inner door membrane
Did you reject the vehicle? - Yes eventually.....
How soon after collection was rectification work carried out - what could be done was done within 4 weeks. Some other things never rectified (Not dealers fault)
Overall comments on collection experience - High quality, red cover, excellent demo, met the team, flowers for Mrs RSK. Nice people all round at Palmers

Not sure what to say about the PDI though. There was a known faulty batch of fuel tanks but noboby picked it up. The rear wash wipe assembly fell apart the first time I used it. The faulty alarm sensors were a know issue but nobody picked it up. Not fitting an inner door lining resulting in a very wet interior is abject beyond belief but then again would a PDI look for this knind of thing ? Probably not.

Upsum = good dealer, bad car.

Date of Collection - 11th May 2007
Dealer - County Motors, Carlisle
Vehicle - 159 2.4JTDm Lusso SW
Faults noted on collection - none
Faults noted shortly after collection - Poor Blue & Me transmission
Did you reject the vehicle - no
How soon after collection was rectification work carried out - within two weeks of reporting fault, but this is ongoing and seems to be a design issue.
Overall comments on collection experience - efficient and enjoyable. Was introduced to service manager and senior technician.

Cheers Keep 'em coming

Date of collection - 31 January 2008
Dealer - Piccadilly, Knaresborough
Vehicle - Alfa 159Ti 2.4
Faults noted on collection - none
Faults noted shortly after collection - none
Did you reject the vehicle? - no
How / how soon after collection was rectification work carried out - n/a
Overall comments on collection experience - David Whitton presented the vehicle professionally, its was spotless, got a free gift for the kids, a detailed run through on the systems, paired up my phone, got Blue and Me running.

Post this (12 weeks), its apparent that half of my bumper has been repaired either at the factory or PDI centre as the lacquer is debonded and peeling off. It wasnt Piccadilly - they didnt have it long enough! - a repair is being arranged, no rush to get it done, I may as well accumulate more stone chips first.!

Piccadilly still PDI the car after the docks PDI by the way, as its their name on the sale.

excellent idea SR

Date of collection - Dec 2007
Dealer - emg cambridge.
Vehicle - Alfa 159Ti 3.2 q4 JTS
Faults noted on collection - n/a
Faults noted shortly after collection - n/a
Did you reject the vehicle? - n/a
How / how soon after collection was rectification work carried out - n/a
Overall comments on collection experience -1st class service, no complaints about dealer at all - better than the muppetts at my 'local' dealer, that's one for the rant room !

Originally Posted by belfast bob

excellent idea SR

Thanks Thanks also to Martin G for the new / used idea

I'm away for a couple of days now but will check in from time to time via the phone

Date of collection - 15th March 2008
Dealer - Meridien Milano, Bournemouth
Vehicle - Alfa 159 1.9 Lusso Sportwagon - USED at 14,000 miles
Faults noted on collection - none
Faults noted shortly after collection - Severe engine vibration
Did you reject the vehicle? - no, not yet
How / how soon after collection was rectification work carried out - Response was good after I alerted them to the issue which was during the sales follow up call which was good. Fault still not rectified after 2 visits however, ongoing.
Overall comments on collection experience - The collection itself wasnt great as I had to wait almost an hour for the on duty salesman to finish chatting to a couple whilst I sat with £18K in my pocket for them, I didnt feel valued at that point. When I did get attention it took just 15 mins. The sale itself was good however, thanks to the salesman Mark. Service response so far has been fair, could only be bettered if they could rectify the fault. They are trying though.

Date of collection–May 29th 2008 – (Leased over 2 yrs through Fiat Finance)
Dealer – David Whitton-Piccadilly
Vehicle - Alfa Spider LE
Faults noted on collection - none
Faults noted shortly after collection – 5 days after collection Major hydraulic hose failure in roof causing roof failure and oil ingress, Power Steering noise
Did you reject the vehicle? - no
How / how soon after collection was rectification work carried out – 6 days after the issues were encountered the cars problems were rectified; new steering components added, replaced hydraulic hoses in roof, cleaned/replaced interior (oil damage)
Overall comments on collection experience - Couldn't have been better from David W. at Piccadilly. he spent time going through the paperwork then more time explaining the cars systems, even set up my Blackberry for the blue n me! he's a good chap.

Date of collection - 26 June 2007 - new via PCH fiat finance
Dealer - HR Owen, London
Vehicle - Alfa Spider 2.4JTDm
Faults noted on collection - Marks on both wing mirrors (never fixed)
Faults noted shortly after collection - too many to list here.
Did you reject the vehicle? - yes
How / how soon after collection was rectification work carried out - over course of one year.
Overall comments on collection experience -

Was great, red carpet treatment, uncovering, bottle of champers etc - cant fault the dealer but the car has been a disaster.

Beware of bad press on forums....

Oh, you're NOT going to believe what just happened to me.. - bimmerfest - BMW Forums

Originally Posted by cj romeo

Beware of bad press on forums....

Oh, you're NOT going to believe what just happened to me.. - bimmerfest - BMW Forums

That's incredible - ly funny! A bit embarrassing to get 'caught out' but I think you could have some reet fun if it happened to one of us!

Date of collection - Sept 2007 - 2nd hand ex ARUK car.
Dealer - Chris Variava, Nottingham.
Vehicle - Alfa 159 1.9 JTDm
Faults noted on collection - Spec was not as advertised
Faults noted shortly after collection - Passenger wing mirror not responding properly, rumbling from engine bay turned out to be a defective drive shaft, terrible shift to and from third, needed replacement gear box. Though to be fair I only reported the wing mirror on the first day. Oh and before the Italia concourse day my JTDm badge fell off revealing it had at some point be re-attached by super glue (ARUK or CVs no idea but a poor show). Bought proper replacement for £10 and did it myself.
Did you reject the vehicle? - no, too stupid/meek/didn't realise how bad it was.
How soon after collection was rectification work carried out - took 3 months overall with another dealer whose service department have been fantastic. CVs when first told of wing mirror problem I was told to go to my local dealer and bill them if there did any money to pay.
Overall comments on collection experience - The initial sale was excellent, chap was very knowledgeable polite and friendly. On collection it went from farcical to down right rude. I was told it didn't have the full Blue and Me which I was told it had as the salesman had seen the usb port (my fault for not checking I suppose). There was no offer of a price reduction, then I was vilified for taking the 10 months of tax out my own car, felt totally justified to do this as I had to buy the 12 months on the Alfa. I was then quickly shown round the car (probably to confirm it was blue) but no real instructions and was told pretty much to RTFM. No follow up calls, on the whole I've had better from VW dealers. After all that I'm sure CVs will be glad to know I won't be back, Marshalls will be getting my MiTo order due to their excellent service centre.

My second Alfa, first being privatly bought 156 serviced at an independant specialist..... didnt think the dealers and the quality of the cars could be this bad.....


Date of collection: April 2008 – 2nd hand ARUK Car 12 months old.
Dealer – Chris Variava.
Vehicle – Alfa 159 1.9 JTDm SW
Faults noted on collection – Grease on seatbelts.
Faults noted on arrival home – Passenger mirror not responding correctly, knocking thro floor from front suspension, rear seat lock cover and mechanism broken, paint mismatch on several panels, overspray discovered during washing, engine cover rattling, wheel arch liners on rear hanging down, lights in boot not working, drivers interior door handle not returning properly, interior not clean (dirty water wipe marks on dials seats and trim), bonnet badge discoloured, water under seat.
Did you reject the vehicle? No, didn’t realise I could……
How soon after collection was rectification carried out – ongoing! Took it too my local dealer first as CV is 80mile away, fixed several issues, could not fix mirror as was “not warranty”, spoke with CV whose sales dept (name beginning with T) told me to go away in a rude way and that “I wasn’t get anything else out of them” and “if I wanted it fixing I should have bought a new one” followed by laughing down the phone! When I told them I would speak to ARUK was given a name and number and told “good luck, you wont get anything from them and they will point you back at us and were not doing anything!”, That was the brief censored version…..Spoke with Trading Standards and ARUK who were “disgusted by the attitude especially during Alfas effort to be more customer focused”. Spoke with CV Service and they disagreed with T at CV and said they would sort it…… 600 miles and £350 in fuel and unpaid leave later, not much sorted and now back at local dealer with even more issues that need resolving……
Overall comment on collection experience - The initial sales experience was good but i did something I will never do again, paid over the phone a deposit without seeing the car, I tusted sales at CV and trusted the fact they were Alfa Approved used cars, this means nothing, T at CV told me the same, they don’t check the cars, which is obvious from all the faults that are coming to light! Have to say that Y in CV Sales has been good, paid the difference on some Thule roof bars when they could not get Alfa ones, they put four Pirelli Pzeros on it without me hassling them about it, but, has gone back on his offer to replace the greased seat belts and when I initially spoke with him on the phone re the car and asked “has it had any paint or bodywork” was told no, but I am still finding new areas of overspray on various parts of the car every time I wash it…….

I won't name the dealer as it a few years ago. I picked up a new 147, noticed petrol light was on. Told by salesman there was enough petrol fo 30+ miles. 5 miles down the road ran out of petrol and had to get the AA. Not impressed.
I still think this dealer is tight fisted today.

Date of collection - 4th July 2008
Dealer - Guest - Knowle
Vehicle - Alfa 159 2.4 JTDM Lusso
Faults noted on collection - Left air vent switch on top of dash pushed in slightly; being sorted when Ti Wingmirror covers come into stock
Faults noted shortly after collection - Plastic screw cover on front number plate won't stay down, small 'gouge' in plastic under handbrake next to driver's seat, dirty mark at top of passenger side windscreen upright, wind noise/whistle from drivers side at motorway speeds, chip on inside edge of offside wingmirror glass, can be difficult to select third gear, drivers side wiper blade missing a bit at the edge of the windscreen, B & M sound quality poor at the 'other end', cooled centre armrest switch doesn't switch off, bottom edge of boot lid must have caught top of bumper - paint rubbed off.
Did you reject the vehicle? - n/a
How / how soon after collection was rectification work carried out - Popped in unannounced (14/07/08) to get the boot 'looked at'. The car was taken in right then and there, the boot was adjusted and paint sorted. They also replaced the number plate screw cover and sorted the wiper problem! I'm booking the car in for the rest but I think they would have done the lot, if I'd had time! Top Marks!!!
Overall comments on collection experience - Fantastic! Dean did the handover and the D.P. came over to introduce himself. They took a couple of photo's of me with the car which they're framing and sending on to me. I was also given a large hardback book on the history of Alfa Romeo!

Date of Collection - 1 July 2008
Dealer - Mangoletsi, Knutsford Cheshire
Vehicle - Spider LE 2.2 JTS
Faults noted on collection - none
Faults noted shortly after collection - Hesitation, that I was expecting, but have now learned how to drive it!
Did you reject the vehicle - no
How soon after collection was rectification work carried out - NA.
Overall comments on collection experience - Good from Mango's point of view. I had a medium-ish wait for it to come from PDI in Bristol, but Mango's kept calling me to let me know where it was up to (which was both good and bad - good communication, bad knowing it had passed everything but hadn't been valeted, so I still couldn't have it!). On the whole everything has been good, and good comms from Mango's have helped. Totally chuffed with the car and a month later still grinning from ear to ear on my drive to work!

Good to hear Delia