Believe it or not...

Yes, I'm still here and still have a rattle in the dash of my Mitsubishi Grandis. I haven't been blogging because I really thought things were being sorted out by Pheonix Mitsubishi in Stirling but since April our Grandis has been in their workshop four times (once for three weeks!) and the rattle persists.

Pheonix Mitsubishi have ordered and fitted new parts but don't seem able to tell if the problem has been fixed or not before they hand it back to us so then we have to arrange another visit. Today was the last straw (again). The car was returned to us this morning having had yet another new part fitted somewhere in the dash and not only did the rattle reappear on the school run, the SRS warning light came on and stayed on. This light indicates that there is a problem with the airbags or seat belt tensioners, not problems you want to have when taking three children back and forwards to school.

We called Pheonix but they cannot take the car and provide us with a courtesy car till Monday. As far as they know it is OK to drive in the meantime - not very reassuring, but what can we do?

I am so sick and fed up of this whole saga I want Pheonix to take the car AND NOT GIVE IT BACK TILL IT IS FIXED! How difficult is that!!


I'll keep you posted.

Still rattling and not rolling

Another long overdue update...

The Grandis is back at Phoenix Mitsubishi as they try to eradicate the rattle from the dash. They've had it for over two weeks now, and are apparently waiting on a part from Mitsubishi. The problem seems to be the heater box...again. This was 'repaired' by Fife Mitsubishi last year, but apparently instead of putting in a new box they just packed it to stop the rattle. This has not proved to be a long-term solution and so we now have more inconvenience.

Meanwhile, you remember I wrote a letter of complaint to Fife Mitsubishi on 6 March requesting some compensation for all the hassle of getting our substandard car repaired? Well on 18 April I did get a response of sorts from them - my letter was returned to me unopened! I am constantly amazed by this dealership's attitude to its customers - just ignore them and hope they go away. Well, I won't! I am going to wait until our Grandis is back from Phoenix Mitsubishi (hopefully completely mended) and then write again to Head Office telling them what a disgrace both Fife Mitsubishi and their own customer service department have been. If Fife Mitsubishi don't care then Head Office should.

Maybe I'll have to put my blog address at the foot of the letter.

Phoenix Mitsubishi show how it should be done

I realise that I have left things hanging for a while so here is an update.

We got our Grandis back from Phoenix Mitsubishi in Stirling on Friday 30 March. The rear seat headrests are fixed and we can now finally after 8 months use the car in the way it was intended. This was a great relief as we had to transport loads of party stuff to my son's birthday party on the Saturday!

There is still a rattle in the dashboard but Phoenix Mitsubishi have assured me that they will take the car back in to try and resolve this, and we'll probably arrange to do this next week. What a relief to be dealing with someone who is willing to help. Full marks to Phoenix Mitsubishi so far (they have also replaced all our windscreen wipers free of charge).

Back to Fife Mitsubishi - I have still not had any response to the letter of complaint I sent to them on 6 March. I will write to head office again as I think they should step in and compensate us instead as Fife have been so appalling. Ignoring a customer's letter of complaint is really the lowest form of 'customer service'.

Progress and not progress

Finally, last Friday, Stirling Mitsubishi picked up our Grandis and took it off for repair. They left us with a 6-seater Honda courtesy car (the FR-V), which I must say I am quite enjoying driving! It feels a lot lighter than the Grandis and therefore it's not quite so reassuringly solid and safe, but it is much nippier.
On Monday morning a very friendly chap from Stirling Mitsubishi phoned up just to check exactly what was needed to be done and said he'd keep me in touch with what was happening. I think that's the first unprompted phonecall I've had from anyone connected to Mitsubishi. Am I finally getting some proper customer service?

It's not all roses I'm afraid. On Monday I also got a letter from Russell Stanley (head office Customer Service Manager) in response to my letter of 6 March requesting compensation, which I sent to Alan Walker at Fife Mitsubishi and copied to Russell Stanley. Mr Stanley states that 'any offer made by the dealership will be on a goodwill basis as costs such as these are not an entitlement under the manufacturer's warranty.' Quite why he thought I was trying to claim anything under the warranty I'm not sure. Of course it's goodwill I'm looking for, but looks like that is something Fife Mitsubishi are right out if. In my opinion head office should be taking over here and compensating us if the dealership don't. Surely they want our goodwill too?

Needless to say I haven't had any response from Alan Walker himself.

A quiz for dealers

I am aware that my catalogue of complaint about Mitsubishi may be becoming a little tedious to the reader (it is to me and I am intimately involved!) so by way of light relief, here is a little quiz. Imagine you work for a Mitsubishi dealership. A customer buys a second-hand car from you but the next day phones to tell you of a fault in the car. Do you:
(a) tell them that is what they have to expect if they buy a second-hand car
(b) tell them you have more important things to think about than their car
(c) mess about for 6 months treating the symptoms but not repairing the fundamental fault
(d) apologise, bring the car in to the workshop and repair it.
If you answered (a), (b) or (c) I think I know where you could get a job. If you answered (d) I'd dearly love to hear from you, especially if you really do work for a Mitsubishi dealership.

A little progress

Hooray, we managed to fit the wiper blade this morning although we haven't actually dared use the wipers yet. Fortunately we've been enjoying beautifully sunny (although very cold!) weather.
I'm now wondering what I have to do to finally get the faulty seats repaired. It's now over two weeks since I last contacted head office and the Stirling dealership have not phoned to arrange taking the car in for repair. I haven't heard anything more from head office either, despite Russell Stanley's promise to email me on 7 March.
I think I will have to write to the Managing Director of The Colt Company again. It seems to be the only way to get any response from them. It would appear that Mitsubishi are quite happy to sell you a car but are not in the least bit concerned about what happens after the sale. We were sold a duff car and it seems that Mitsubishi's attitude is that that is just our tough luck.

Still trying to get the wiper blade

Well, the chap from Stirling Mitsubishi has just turned up with the wiper blade. He was supposed to be here between 6 and 6.30pm, when it would still have been fairly light, but he didn't turn up till 6.40pm and then just handed the blade to my husband, said he knew nothing about fitting it because he worked with Hondas and left.
My husband tried to fit it but as it was now pretty much completely dark and the pictures in the manual bore no resemblance to the blade or the fitting, he had to give up. I just hope we can get it fitted in the morning otherwise I think I might scream!
Should it really be this difficult to get a replacement wiper blade? That's a pretty basic part so surely we can't be expected to go through this performance each time one needs to be replaced? Well, with Mitsubishi, anything is possible.
We are now seriously looking at getting rid of this car. If you are reading this blog and thinking about buying a Mitsubishi of any sort I strongly recommend you look into the availability of spare parts before you do!