Put my Stilo 1.9 JTD in for a 36K service at a Fiat dealership close to where I work. When I collected the car they handed over my receipt and a list of operations carried out on which they ticked the relevant boxes for a
36K service.Later that night I noticed that the brake fluid change box wasn't ticked despite this being a requirement in the service schedule. Next morning I checked a few other simple things such as screen wash (not topped up but charged £2.50 for it) and door hinges (had not been lubricated). When I got to work I rang the service manager and explained that I was unhappy with the service and extremely concerned that a number of items had been missed. He promised to deal with it that day and called me back 20 minutes later after speaking to the mechanic who did (or didn't do) the work; the service manager explained that the mechanic had forgotten the screen wash but had changed the brake fluid.
To ensure I was completely happy he offered to check the car over personally if I took it in. That wasn't practical so he then offered to bring the mechanic with him to see me at work. I went out to the car 5 minutes before they arrived armed with a torch and had a quick look at the rear calipers; no sign of a spanner removing road grime from the bleed nipple and no signs of fluid on the caliper suggested it was unlikely the brake fluid had been changed.
When they arrived the mechanic apologised for forgetting the screen wash but said he had changed the fluid. I then challenged as to why the fluid reservoir was only half full for which he provided a valid explanation. I then asked why there were no signs that the N/S rear caliper bleed nipple had been undone to which he explained that it was seized and he had undone the flexible hose in order to bleed the brakes. H then told me that all the other calipers had been bled through the bleed nipple. So I showed him the O/S rear caliper at which point he went 'oh' and his manager just looked at the floor.
Mechanic then continued to dig a hole by saying that they were both seized (contrary to what he said 1 minnute ago!) at which point I explained the car was under 2 years old and was still in warrranty and this should be rectified and not ignored. He then explained that when siezed they sometimes snap when an attempt is made to remove them; again I explained that the car was still under warranty and if the brakes were not servicable then something wasn't right.
They then took the car back to the garage and returned it 5 hours later, with new bleed nipples, signs that the fluid had been changed and even valeted the car for me. The car was far more responsvie (so I guess they changed the air filter on the 2nd attempt). I guess some people would just hand the money over and assume that the work was done.
Credit to the service manager as he wanted to put things right and wasn't happy that he was paying somebody to do a job and it wasn't being done to the right standard.
Andy