We bought our 2013 Fiat 500 at the Concord dealer. Last week we brought it to the Burlingame dealership for an oil change & service. The service technician called to say while they were rotating the tires one of the holes where the bolts go in the wheels became stripped. They immediately went on about how it was the fault of whoever last put that wheel on (the SF dealer, which has since closed) for having allegedly over-tightened it. But, the fact remains: it broke while in the hands of the service department of Fiat of Burlingame. Why they broke it is somewhat irrelevant.
Even if what they say is 100% true that only means these Fiat technicians are concluding that other Fiat technicians caused the damage (just a different dealer starting the damage and this dealer finishing it). No matter how you view it, certified Fiat technicians broke our car.
First they estimated the cost to fix at $300, adding that they would not pay for it - we had to pay for it. “What??” They later called backpedaling saying it would be $642. We pushed back in every way we knew how. “The car was damaged by professional Fiat service technicians while in the care of a Fiat dealership service department. How could it be that we are responsible?” All they could say was they would not pay for it and we could take it up with Fiat Corporate.
So we called Fiat Corporate: on hold forever only to reach someone who put the information in a computer and generated a case number saying someone would call us back. A day later after no call back we called again to follow up. Twenty minutes on hold. The verdict? Nope, Fiat will not take responsibility. No matter what we said they would not budge, they refuse to pay for the damage caused to our car while in their possession for an oil change. She kept repeating over and over: “I’m sorry sir, there is nothing we can do.”
This is WRONG.
Please do not buy a Fiat, and if you absolutely must do NOT buy it from the Burlingame dealer. Companies with such a flimsy commitment to basic integrity should be run out of business. The world does not need that kind of sleaze.
Fiat of Burlingame Reviews
We bought our 2013 Fiat 500 at the Concord dealer. Last week we brought it to the Burlingame dealership for an oil change & service. The service technician called to say while they were rotating the tires one of the holes where the bolts go in the wheels became stripped. They immediately went on about how it was the fault of whoever last put that wheel on (the SF dealer, which has since closed) for having allegedly over-tightened it. But, the fact remains: it broke while in the hands of the service department of Fiat of Burlingame. Why they broke it is somewhat irrelevant.
Even if what they say is 100% true that only means these Fiat technicians are concluding that other Fiat technicians caused the damage (just a different dealer starting the damage and this dealer finishing it). No matter how you view it, certified Fiat technicians broke our car.
First they estimated the cost to fix at $300, adding that they would not pay for it - we had to pay for it. “What??” They later called backpedaling saying it would be $642. We pushed back in every way we knew how. “The car was damaged by professional Fiat service technicians while in the care of a Fiat dealership service department. How could it be that we are responsible?” All they could say was they would not pay for it and we could take it up with Fiat Corporate.
So we called Fiat Corporate: on hold forever only to reach someone who put the information in a computer and generated a case number saying someone would call us back. A day later after no call back we called again to follow up. Twenty minutes on hold. The verdict? Nope, Fiat will not take responsibility. No matter what we said they would not budge, they refuse to pay for the damage caused to our car while in their possession for an oil change. She kept repeating over and over: “I’m sorry sir, there is nothing we can do.”
This is WRONG.
Please do not buy a Fiat, and if you absolutely must do NOT buy it from the Burlingame dealer. Companies with such a flimsy commitment to basic integrity should be run out of business. The world does not need that kind of sleaze.