Soldato
Apologies in advance for a long post, I can't describe the absolute nightmare I've had with Alfa Romeo/Stellantis in fewer words. Being honest, part of this is to purely vent, the other part is to warn people about the comical customer service.
Where to start? I guess I need to pre-face this post with some facts. Firstly, the car (Giulia Veloce) was a brand new factory order I took ownership of in 2021 on PCP. Secondly, FCA (who owned Alfa) and PSA merged to form Stellantis, prior to this good Alfa dealerships were hard to come by and Stellantis terminated some franchise agreements with dealerships as they move to agency model. The net impact is fewer dealerships to service people's cars = busier dealerships.
In June this year my car went in for it's third annual service. I bought a three year service pack with the car and doing low miles, servicing was taking place annually. This meant the car was approaching end of warranty as the third service was due, and at this service, I pointed out I had recently noticed a small oil patch on my drive but it was intermittent considering I had parked in different spots but it only appeared in one.
The dealership (I won't name them, for reasons I'll explain) found a weep from the engine but couldn't get the car in any earlier than a month later due to the aforementioned busyness issue. As the fault was found under warranty, it would be repaired under warranty.
The day I drop the car off, I'm given a Jeep 4xE and I'm told the repair will take a few days. I'm happy with this arrangement, it's no Giulia Veloce but it's a few days and I'm mobile.
The following day the dealership calls me, tells me the issue is a bigger job than thought and requires the engine out. It'll be a couple of weeks job, they'll need the Jeep back but will apply to Alfa Romeo/Stellantis for a hire vehicle. This doesn't happen, and I'm told to keep the Jeep. I later find out it doesn't happen because AR won't cover the cost of the hire vehicle because of car is now out of warranty (even though the repair is being covered). Reminder, it's only out of warranty because of the fault being discovered on the 3rd annual service, on a car with 3 year warranty and the lead time to get it booked in.
The two weeks pass, and I'm due to go to France (using my fiancé's car). No big deal, I won't need the car being outside of the UK but I do call them to warn them that I can't return the Jeep if my car is ready whilst I'm away.
I get back from France, 4/5 weeks after dropping my car off and I call up to get an update. I'm told I'm 2nd in a queue of 4 cars requiring engine out work and it'll be W/C 2nd Sept my car will be looked at. Come Friday that week I've not heard a thing, I call up and I'm told sickness meant they didn't get to my car.
More weeks pass, I start getting impatient and insist speaking to someone senior within the service dept. I eventually get a call back and I'm told there's another customer's engine on their only engine mount and "the brand" is slowing them down in getting that engine sorted and off the mount, for mine to go on. I'm told they're doing all they can to source another mount, and try putting pressure on Stellantis CS to move things on.
Stellantis CS were nothing but a joke. They told me to send an emai for an official case to be raised, but after two weeks I had not heard a thing. After continually chasing via phone, they just kept telling me what I already knew (the engine mount issue the dealer had told me directly about). I asked to speak to someone more senior to discuss solutions (get me into a LFL vehicle, pay to get the car transported to another dealer who could fix it quicker, get another mount sourced etc). I was promised on three separate occasions for a call back within 48 hours from a manager, and I never received a call back.
I finally picked up the car Wednesday last week, in total I was without the car for 15 weeks. At no point was the severity of the issue in regards to a customer not having their car for over a quarter of a year taken seriously. The dealership has given me an additional service package free of charge, and also deducted labour costs for some repairs not covered by warranty - obviously to ensure I don't give them a scathing review.
Stellantis even had the cheek to send me an email today stating they're aware I received the car on the 30th Nov and to quote the email "We really hope to have helped you to be completely satisfied with our service and that your feedback will represent this in the short survey we will send you soon".
I told the dealership I understand the challenge with the one mount, and Stellantis slowing the repair of the engine occupying it, but their lack of communication was still awful and no matter who was to blame, the net result was I was still without my car for 15 weeks.
Currently talking to FCA finance (now called CA Finance) to claim back 15 weeks of PCP, VED and insurance for a car I've not been able to drive.
TL/DR: don't buy a brand from Stellantis, even the more premium marques such as Alfa Romeo or Maserati. Their dealership network is on it's knees and their customer service team is just woeful.
Where to start? I guess I need to pre-face this post with some facts. Firstly, the car (Giulia Veloce) was a brand new factory order I took ownership of in 2021 on PCP. Secondly, FCA (who owned Alfa) and PSA merged to form Stellantis, prior to this good Alfa dealerships were hard to come by and Stellantis terminated some franchise agreements with dealerships as they move to agency model. The net impact is fewer dealerships to service people's cars = busier dealerships.
In June this year my car went in for it's third annual service. I bought a three year service pack with the car and doing low miles, servicing was taking place annually. This meant the car was approaching end of warranty as the third service was due, and at this service, I pointed out I had recently noticed a small oil patch on my drive but it was intermittent considering I had parked in different spots but it only appeared in one.
The dealership (I won't name them, for reasons I'll explain) found a weep from the engine but couldn't get the car in any earlier than a month later due to the aforementioned busyness issue. As the fault was found under warranty, it would be repaired under warranty.
The day I drop the car off, I'm given a Jeep 4xE and I'm told the repair will take a few days. I'm happy with this arrangement, it's no Giulia Veloce but it's a few days and I'm mobile.
The following day the dealership calls me, tells me the issue is a bigger job than thought and requires the engine out. It'll be a couple of weeks job, they'll need the Jeep back but will apply to Alfa Romeo/Stellantis for a hire vehicle. This doesn't happen, and I'm told to keep the Jeep. I later find out it doesn't happen because AR won't cover the cost of the hire vehicle because of car is now out of warranty (even though the repair is being covered). Reminder, it's only out of warranty because of the fault being discovered on the 3rd annual service, on a car with 3 year warranty and the lead time to get it booked in.
The two weeks pass, and I'm due to go to France (using my fiancé's car). No big deal, I won't need the car being outside of the UK but I do call them to warn them that I can't return the Jeep if my car is ready whilst I'm away.
I get back from France, 4/5 weeks after dropping my car off and I call up to get an update. I'm told I'm 2nd in a queue of 4 cars requiring engine out work and it'll be W/C 2nd Sept my car will be looked at. Come Friday that week I've not heard a thing, I call up and I'm told sickness meant they didn't get to my car.
More weeks pass, I start getting impatient and insist speaking to someone senior within the service dept. I eventually get a call back and I'm told there's another customer's engine on their only engine mount and "the brand" is slowing them down in getting that engine sorted and off the mount, for mine to go on. I'm told they're doing all they can to source another mount, and try putting pressure on Stellantis CS to move things on.
Stellantis CS were nothing but a joke. They told me to send an emai for an official case to be raised, but after two weeks I had not heard a thing. After continually chasing via phone, they just kept telling me what I already knew (the engine mount issue the dealer had told me directly about). I asked to speak to someone more senior to discuss solutions (get me into a LFL vehicle, pay to get the car transported to another dealer who could fix it quicker, get another mount sourced etc). I was promised on three separate occasions for a call back within 48 hours from a manager, and I never received a call back.
I finally picked up the car Wednesday last week, in total I was without the car for 15 weeks. At no point was the severity of the issue in regards to a customer not having their car for over a quarter of a year taken seriously. The dealership has given me an additional service package free of charge, and also deducted labour costs for some repairs not covered by warranty - obviously to ensure I don't give them a scathing review.
Stellantis even had the cheek to send me an email today stating they're aware I received the car on the 30th Nov and to quote the email "We really hope to have helped you to be completely satisfied with our service and that your feedback will represent this in the short survey we will send you soon".
I told the dealership I understand the challenge with the one mount, and Stellantis slowing the repair of the engine occupying it, but their lack of communication was still awful and no matter who was to blame, the net result was I was still without my car for 15 weeks.
Currently talking to FCA finance (now called CA Finance) to claim back 15 weeks of PCP, VED and insurance for a car I've not been able to drive.
TL/DR: don't buy a brand from Stellantis, even the more premium marques such as Alfa Romeo or Maserati. Their dealership network is on it's knees and their customer service team is just woeful.
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