New Clutch

[stu]

Just got a call from my dealer - my C4 (Coupé VT) is being fitted with a new clutch. As usual they don't like to give me too much information (in case it breaks the official secrets act (French version), just that its covered under warranty. Car is 14 months old and has just shy of 11,000 miles on the clock.

 

What is really annoying is that they will have my car off the road for 3 days and did not offer a courtesy car, when I asked they told me they had none. Car was only supposed to be in for 2 hours yesterday morning. Love Citroens, hate Citroen dealers :)

 

And I'm still waiting to hear about the brakes!!!

[Rob555]

Was the clutch slipping or making a noise ? There must have been a reason for them to do it FOC they always try and get you to pay for a clutch, driver abuse is the normal excuse.

[stu]

The clutch was slipping - I thought it was highly unlikely to be wear and tear at just 11,000 miles - but even so it was a relief to hear it was under warranty...

[kfk]

What is really annoying is that they will have my car off the road for 3 days and did not offer a courtesy car, when I asked they told me they had none. Car was only supposed to be in for 2 hours yesterday morning. Love Citroens, hate Citroen dealers 

 

Would you have prefered to wait for a courtesy car to be available? or would you want to wait for it to leave you stranded?

 

Maybe you would have prefered to have complained that they have told you you needed a clutch, but couldnt look at it for 5 days?

 

So i suppose what your saying is "well done my local dealer for looking at my clutch and getting it sorted straight away under warranty, Its a pity they havent got a loan car but at least it wont leave me stranded with a burnt out clutch"

 

Or maybe you should walk into your Citroen dealer now the've got your car in bits and tell them you hate them!!!

[wozza]

I know you stick up for the technicians etc since you are one arent you?

 

But you can kind of appreciate where he is coming from. I know if they just told me they were going to keep my car for 3 days and I wouldnt be too happy without some form of travel for that time. I absolutely need my car every day so if they did that to me i couldnt get to uni etc. which is a 40+ mile round trip or 4 buses there and 4 back.

 

It would screw me up if they didnt at least offer me a car.

 

I would appreaciate them fixing it but not leaving me stranded which they would do if they took the car from me like that.

[Stuey]

I think that is a 50/50 between both of you to be honest...I would be pissed if the clutch broke in the ass crack of nowhere knowing that it was with Citroen a few days before, but finding out that they are keeping the car for extra days with no other transprt would also cheese me off greatly...

[Fizzo17]

If his clutch had given up compleatly isn't that what the citroen breakdown service is for?

[kfk]

If his clutch had given up compleatly isn't that what the citroen breakdown service is for?

It still leaves you stranded and makes you late

[kfk]

I know you stick up for the technicians etc since you are one arent you?

 

Have been, and do work for a dealer. There are always 2 sides to a problem, and whilst i spend a lot of time trying to find a way round problems for customers i also find there are some that you just cant help!

 

Now before someone bites my head off i'm not suggesting thats the case here.

 

Regarding loan vehicles:

 

I know from the dealership i work for it isnt always possible to find a loan car instantly..........believe it or not one of the reasons we dont have cars is because a job has been completed and customer contacted but it would be of great inconvenience for them to return it within the next 24 hours!!!!.........So next time you have a car and the dealer is ringing you to come get your car, he's probably saying.........'if you could bring it straight back you would be doing me a big favour cos i've got a customer here that needs it urgently'.

 

Whilst I try to treat others as i would like to be treated I dont always get it right.

 

One of the best ways i have found with dealing with customers is to get to know them, and if they have a problem its an ideal time.

 

In our workshop there are eight technicians......someone out there is going to know the answer to your problem......and if they dont then its time to learn. On the odd occasion, your vehicle might be given to the 'wrong' person to look at.......if you think of a hospital it would be like asking the chiropodist to perform brain surgery.....as you would imagine the patient ends up worse of than before and has many more visits to get it put right.........Seriously though, the problem is getting the technicians & receptionists realising there's a customer depending on them to do there job properly, they have a customer to keep informed, and inconvenience them as little as possible.

 

I read the information here because in general there are things that follow trends.....the rear brake callipers for instance.....and it makes me aware of some of the irritations. There may be occasions where i throw my two peneth into a thread, ussually, because i know the answer.

 

I dont always understand the glee with which some people list there faults and proclaim it must be costing citroen a fortune. There are many customers very satisfied with there vehicles, and i for one wouldnt have worked on the product for over 20 years if it wasnt the case, i dont need agravation at work.

 

The Citroen product isnt any worse than other products out there, and you will always find plenty of people to write criticism with few finding time to praise.

 

Maybe the site needs to expand its horizons a bit......stop slagging off your pride and joy and make it interesting.....its getting repetative

[syrup]

kfk

re courtesy car, that's exactly what happened to me. The previous user failed to return it on time, so rather than let me down they loaned me a demonstrater.

Mines going in tomorrow for the airbag recall, fingers crossed the courtesy car will be available

So far my dealer Dutton Forshaw Maidstone have been A1.

[Fizzo17]

[

It still leaves you stranded and makes you late

Better to be late than not have your car for 3 days!

 

I agree that Citroen are proberbly no worse than others, but I also think that some of the dealers take their customers for granted. It is these dealers that are letting Citroen down in my opinion.

[syrup]

But you would be late and not have a car with a clutch gone, worse off still.

[wozza]

I dont know when they tell me they cant find the rattle on my door and i then point out exacly what causes it and how i know how to stop it and it takes them 2 further attempts to still rectify this. I was a little peeved.

 

Some of them are alright but my dealer seems to rather just give me the usual crap about nah thats not a problem on these cars etc and fob me off.

 

I know theres something wrong with my car when the steering wheel wants to turn on its own when im brakign and it judders. Its just not frigging normal i dont need to be fobbed off with an excuse. And they still never did anything about it! I actually told one of them to take it for a drive and he wouldnt.

[hertsnminds]

As with most things a lot of the frustrations come from poor communications and managing expectations.

 

If your car is booked in on a certain day you are usually taking some time off work to get to and from the dealer (like waiting in for the gas man or any technician) and if they don't turn up or can't fix the issue you feel you have wasted your time.

 

If you are told a part will arrive in the next week and it takes more than 3 then you get annoyed. If you were contacted when the part was supposed to be delivered and told why it had been delayed then it would help.

 

Citroen dealers are not the only people who fail on managing expectations it is just a human trait. Where they do sometimes fail is keeping the customer informed of what is happening.

 

The last time I was at a dealer they told me my car would be ready as soon as it had been cleaned. What they did not tell me was there was 1 person cleaning cars and he had at least 3 others to do before he got to mine. So I was expecting a 20 minute wait instead of the hour I was sat there. What should have been a good thing, getting my car cleaned turned out to get very frustrating as I sat there thinking what is taking so long.

 

 

 

Ian

Black 55 VTR+

[Fizzo17]

I agree with you hertsnmind. However when the keep you informed it sometimes doesn't help.

I took my car in yesterday to have 3 jobs done.

1) replace rusty struts on boot

2) the seat belt warning lights only work when heavy people sit on the seats. ( works for me but not my wife )

3) rear passenger seat belt sqeeks

 

The car went inat 8-30 am. I was contacted by the service department at 3-30pm to be told that when the had remoned the top of the boot strut the boot lid had fallen down and trapped the strut against the rear quarter panel and dented it!!!!

 

When I went to pick the car up they did appologise for the damage and said they will repair it for free.OK. The seat belt could not be repaired and they do not have a spare.

I drove the car off the car park and the seat belt alarm was going constantly with no one in the seat! I now have to drive with the seat belt plugged in.

 

So the sum total of the dealers having my car for 9 hours was they had damaged my bodywork!

 

Sorry to go on, but I hope you can understand my frustration. (It also helps to have a little rant here) I am back down the dealers today to hopefully talk to the manager about my treatment. Let you know later waht happened if you are interested.