Total Recall

[billynibbles]

Booked my C4 in for the recall to check the ABS system, giving the garage two weeks notice.

 

The letter said it would be about two hours work, which I was warned was more like 6 when I got there.

 

No matter, I was going to be away all day, so I'd pick it up at 5.0 pm yes?

 

No, and as they'd now got the front end in pieces I'd have to leave the car with them for another day.

 

Second day - "we need a new ECU, which we're waiting for, probably get it tomorrow"

 

Third day - pick up car. 100 miles later, the ABS fault light comes on, which it didn't before!

 

Combined with a month off the road whilst an anti-pollution problem was fixed and sundry other gubbins failing, boot locks, parking sensors you name it, I can't help thinking that once this piece of crap is paid for it will be the first and last Citroen I ever buy. Of course, if it could just manage to slip into "reliable middle age" I might not feel so liverish about it.

 

To be fair, it's never actually let me down on the road which really would be the death knell for my ever buying anything French again.

 

Pity, it's a great drive seemingly let down by "close to the bottom of the customer satisfaction list" dealers.

 

Good job I don't depend on a car for my work.

[philstott1983]

I've got my car booked in for a re-call in May, so i'll see how it compares to your ordeal, hopefully not as bad!!!

 

I only phoned the service centre to sort 2 problems out with the car:

 

1) the service light is on way before its due for a service

2) when controlling the fron passenger side window from the drivers controls, the window works in reverse (when i want it to go up, it goes down n visa versa)

 

But when I was on the phone the service centre said there was a recall on the car, to do with the chasis. I haven't got a letter through the post yet, maybe because the deal i bought the car from is now closed and the service said the recall was in its early days.

 

Will see what happens when I get it back....

[BigJohnD]

It's all very dealer specific.

 

I had my recall done during the 60Km service (all checked out fine), during which the A/C control unit was replaced under warranty and the USB/iPod Box enabled without charge. Using that as the sole consideration, I'd never go any where else.

 

Citroën UK have a big part to play, ensuring high levels of service and quality in ALL their dealers.

[billynibbles]

It's all very dealer specific.

 

I had my recall done during the 60Km service (all checked out fine), during which the A/C control unit was replaced under warranty and the USB/iPod Box enabled without charge. Using that as the sole consideration, I'd never go any where else.

 

Citroën UK have a big part to play, ensuring high levels of service and quality in ALL their dealers.

 

I wouldn't mind so much but the people I'm dealing with are Citroen Retail, not private dealers. The car had been used by a Citroen manager for its first year. The phrase 'saw me coming' comes to mind. I'll definitely be looking at how near my next dealership is when I start looking around again - I'm getting fed up with having to join the west London rush hour just to take my car in, when in fact I use my bike for work just to avoid it! I do have a couple of Citroen dealerships quite near but they both contrive to be in the opposite direction to my work, hence my persevering with the shower at Chiswick.

[billynibbles]

Quite apart from the fact that the car came away from the ABS recall WITH an ABS fault it didn't have before, it's now developed two ICE faults and it won't run smoothly in traffic. I think the latter is down to yet another burned out resistance on the multi-speed cooling fan causing some minor overheating (how do I know this? It's been fixed once already!)

 

The stereo has two faults. In cold weather, it chatters when first turned on, as if it can't find a CD when in fact there is one there, and once it's running with no CD in place, the radio keeps going off for 10 seconds whilst it tries to change mode back to CD.

 

Luckily, I extended the warranty for one more year - methinks I'll be getting my money's worth!

 

It's not all bad news - I still love driving it and LOVE the fuel economy. On a long run back from Swanage to west London, driving as frugally as I can, and slipstreaming and/or lassoo-ing removal vans etc, I got 70 mpg on leaving the M3. Of course, it might have been quicker to cycle!

 

Oh yes, AND I've fixed the sliding armrest which used to reappear under my elbow every time I drove downhill or braked hard - a couple of those little stick-on clear neoprene blobs used for stopping kitchen drawers from slamming strategically placed to act as brakes did the trick