[MDriver]

Give a call to Alfa Care 1.844.253.2872

Thanks Kan!

 

[Max]

IT takes a certain special person to own one and keeping it running . Sure they maybe categorized as mentally unstable but its the best!

Leave it to me to have had Saab, Alfa, and Land Rover as my top three picks for brands as of the past few years ... I guess I just like to live life on the edge!

 

[Takumi587]

This is the kind of thing that Alfa needed to address BEFORE things happened....like put a replacement parts system/depot in place just in case things fail immediately like NAV, radio amps, sensors etc.

The dealer just called me to inform me that Alfa does not have a software fix ready yet for the CEL issue. They were hoping for today, maybe tomorrow...otherwise sometime next week....in a nutshell the dealer is saying that he can't get info from Alfa for when they will have the software update. other than they are working on it.
As for the parts (bracket on both sides of the front for the headlight washer assembly/nozzle), those were ordered on Tuesday Feb. 28th (dropped car off on Monday Feb. 27th), yesterday (Wed. March 1st)he says he received notice that the parts were BO (back-ordered), dealer said he notified Alfa that the car was VRO?? vehicle not driveable and that they(Alfa) needed to expedite the parts. This afternoon he received a tracking number saying the parts were coming from Toronto 3-5 business days, (does that sound like expedited?), so the car is at the dealer as of today with no front bumper and no CEL issue addressed. Dealer is hoping to get the parts for the bumper early next week? (Wed/Thurs). He is also hoping that the software update is ready by then as well. Needless to say I was not a happy camper and let him know it. Things got a little tense I will say because, his response was basically "what do you want me to do?" it was out of his hands...
I said this is the sort of thing that EVERYONE has been worried about in regards to Alfa Romeo. And AGAIN ALFA ARE YOU LISTENING!!! it is NOT about the CEL or even the $20 part that fell off my $80k car....**** happens...its how you handle it!!!! in my case so far a letter grade of D at best!.
So basically I might get my car back maybe by Friday of next week....I told him that if the parts for the bumper come in to please reassemble the car & I will come and pick it up. I will not leave it there waiting for the software...
@Racer Z to whom did you write when you had your issue??? I'm feeling a letter coming on!
Regards
M

Very sorry to hear about your predicament with your Alfa Romeo. Did the dealer at least provide you a loaner vehicle or rental car? I do know shipping parts from out of the country expedited does take about 3 to 5 business days but in most cases 3 days. However, I am not sure of your location whether you are in Canada or USA. If you are in USA then 3 days sounds about right.

I will mention that I did go to the dealer for the issues I had and they tried not making a big deal out of any of it. They pretty much said they couldn't duplicate the issues I mentioned and said if anything gets worse to bring the car back in... When I asked about the brakes vibrating when the windshield wiper went off they said it was non-existent when they tried it and said it must have been the rain that caused the vibration while i was driving. What a load of BS I know exactly how a brake pedal should feel. They even told me that the bumper not being flush was due to the material plastic of the bumper expanding and that it was normal... I seriously just looked at them and told them to just give me my car back because it was obvious they won't go a step further to just take care of the issues.

Again, I completely agree with you they need to own up to the issues and train their service dealerships. I never have an issue bringing in my BMW or Mercedes if issues like this happen. I do love driving the car but in terms of fit, finish and service it is below expectations. Keep us posted on how the rest of it gets handled. Take care.

 

[MDriver]

For Giulia & Ti Owners

Has anyone who has taken delivery of straight Giulia's & Ti's had any issues of sorts yet? Just curious if it only the QV owners.

 

[BluGiul]

You're setting your expectation way toooo high. This is Alfa Romeo we're talking about and a first run car. You should wait for the second year of production then all the bugs will be sorted out.

Maserati takes three years to banish gremlins from any new model. Let's hope Alfa is quicker.

 

[MDriver]

Maserati takes three years to banish gremlins from any new model. Let's hope Alfa is quicker.

Car will be gone from my garage if that is the case

 

[Racer Z]

Give a call to Alfa Care 1.844.253.2872

just called them opened a case#, very responsive, polite and to the point...I like that.
now we shall see what happens.

Yes, that's the FCA number I have on speed dial I've called so many times. "Expedite" is their favorite word.

FCA assigns you a case manager and that's who you talk to each time. At one point, when my 4C was having transmission problems, I asked what they were going to do next and when they were going to do it. This issue had been going on for some time already. I was told, and I quote, "You don't need to know that." We went round and round with this for a while. A "while" was several weeks. It's my car and I do need to know.

Eventually I spoke to a supervisor at FCA who gave me that same merry-go-round. There's a reason why she was a supervisor, she was much better at side-stepping my issue and not offering help.

Eventually I starting calling once a week like clock work. "When will you work on my car and what will you try next?" I do need to point out that I was driving my 4C, but only in auto cause it would barf in manual. I talked to another supervisor and we discussed the chain of command. She claimed she had no supervisor. I said she does. And it goes all the way up to Marchionne. And his supervisor is the stockholders. And the overseer of the stockholders is the customers, they're the ones who spend money buying cars. And that's me. I bought an Alfa Romeo. When's my Alfa going to be fixed?

The next week when I called, I was given a new case manager cause the old one didn't work there anymore. I was told what they planned to do next and when. It didn't fix the problem, but that wasn't the point. The point is that they tried something and kept me in the loop.

Eventually, an Alfa field rep drove my car and it fail while he was driving. LMAO The rep has different equipment than the dealer is allowed to have. Two days later a software patch was sent to my dealer to install and I've not had a problem since. But, that was a grueling six months and 8,000 miles. I had been stuck on the side of the road three times and the Alfa Care tow service is crap. AAA works much better.

I know you want to blame things on the dealer. But their hands are tied. They can't do much more than change the oil without going through STARS, which is the FCA technical side that the dealer service has to go through. It's STARS who seems to be at fault here.

The parts side isn't much better really. I needed a left inner fender panel after I crashed my 4C. (I needed more than that, but this was the last part.) They sent a right panel three times. Finally the dealer parts manager called some big shot and said something. The big shot went to the warehouse and started opening left boxes. Every left box had a right part on it. Left plus right equals wrong.

There's always the Lemon Law. It makes for a good eye-opener when you really want to get their attention. In my case, I didn't want a different car. I only wanted my car fixed. And I made sure they understood this.

There's also the word-of-mouth recommendations that we give based on our experiences. How can we give a good recommendation based on these bad experiences???? "It's a great car to drive, just don't ever let it break cause they won't fix it." If that's the best we can say, who's going to purchase?

 

[Roman]

Giulia Ti - Voice Command

Has anyone who has taken delivery of straight Giulia's & Ti's had any issues of sorts yet? Just curious if it only the QV owners.

Since purchasing my Ti last month I have not been able to use the voice command system to play media or tune to a radio station. It does work for phone calls and navigation, but not for media. I would like to know if media voice command has worked for anyone else? Thanks.

 

[MDriver]

Yes, that's the FCA number I have on speed dial I've called so many times. "Expedite" is their favorite word.

FCA assigns you a case manager and that's who you talk to each time. At one point, when my 4C was having transmission problems, I asked what they were going to do next and when they were going to do it. This issue had been going on for some time already. I was told, and I quote, "You don't need to know that." We went round and round with this for a while. A "while" was several weeks. It's my car and I do need to know.

Eventually I spoke to a supervisor at FCA who gave me that same merry-go-round. There's a reason why she was a supervisor, she was much better at side-stepping my issue and not offering help.

Eventually I starting calling once a week like clock work. "When will you work on my car and what will you try next?" I do need to point out that I was driving my 4C, but only in auto cause it would barf in manual. I talked to another supervisor and we discussed the chain of command. She claimed she had no supervisor. I said she does. And it goes all the way up to Marchionne. And his supervisor is the stockholders. And the overseer of the stockholders is the customers, they're the ones who spend money buying cars. And that's me. I bought an Alfa Romeo. When's my Alfa going to be fixed?

The next week when I called, I was given a new case manager cause the old one didn't work there anymore. I was told what they planned to do next and when. It didn't fix the problem, but that wasn't the point. The point is that they tried something and kept me in the loop.

Eventually, an Alfa field rep drove my car and it fail while he was driving. LMAO The rep has different equipment than the dealer is allowed to have. Two days later a software patch was sent to my dealer to install and I've not had a problem since. But, that was a grueling six months and 8,000 miles. I had been stuck on the side of the road three times and the Alfa Care tow service is crap. AAA works much better.

I know you want to blame things on the dealer. But their hands are tied. They can't do much more than change the oil without going through STARS, which is the FCA technical side that the dealer service has to go through. It's STARS who seems to be at fault here.

The parts side isn't much better really. I needed a left inner fender panel after I crashed my 4C. (I needed more than that, but this was the last part.) They sent a right panel three times. Finally the dealer parts manager called some big shot and said something. The big shot went to the warehouse and started opening left boxes. Every left box had a right part on it. Left plus right equals wrong.

There's always the Lemon Law. It makes for a good eye-opener when you really want to get their attention. In my case, I didn't want a different car. I only wanted my car fixed. And I made sure they understood this.

There's also the word-of-mouth recommendations that we give based on our experiences. How can we give a good recommendation based on these bad experiences???? "It's a great car to drive, just don't ever let it break cause they won't fix it." If that's the best we can say, who's going to purchase?

Well then if this is truly the case then Alfa is doomed to fail in the United States there are way to many options for people to choose from. The novelty of driving something different won't save them. They need to be better than they are. The brilliance of the car is NOTHING when it's only brilliant when it works properly!

 

[KCGuilia]

I got my QV back after a week in the shop. They showed me the amplifier issue. It seems that Afa knows about a design flaw in the tail light. The design flaws allows water to come in, which then goes into the truck and then settles on the wiring harness of the amplifier. The technician showed me the harness, it had green corrosion on it. I told him, I have had this car for three weeks and only washed it one time. He said, I didn't do it, it is the car designers fault.

So, I get may car back. The general failure is gone, but I still have an audio failure logo on the dash. Half the time when I start the car, I hear music and the hiss from the tweeters. The other half, it is complete silence.

The amplifier is the one used by Masarati. They are trying to have Alfa talk to Masarati.

 

[EricVonHa]

I got my QV back after a week in the shop. They showed me the amplifier issue. It seems that Afa knows about a design flaw in the tail light. The design flaws allows water to come in, which then goes into the truck and then settles on the wiring harness of the amplifier. The technician showed me the harness, it had green corrosion on it. I told him, I have had this car for three weeks and only washed it one time. He said, I didn't do it, it is the car designers fault.

So, I get may car back. The general failure is gone, but I still have an audio failure logo on the dash. Half the time when I start the car, I hear music and the hiss from the tweeters. The other half, it is complete silence.

The amplifier is the one used by Masarati. They are trying to have Alfa talk to Masarati.

Which rear corner of the car is the amplifier located?

 

[MDriver]

Update

literally just got off the phone with the Alfa Northeast Regional Rep. He called me this AM and as I did not recognize the number I did not answer.
he left a message and I was shocked (in a good way) to have received his call because I was not expecting it.
We had a long conversation and he basically said this to me.
1st: the Alfa engineers have a software flash/update for the constant CEL issue that the QV has. it is available to the dealers today. he is going to call my dealer to inform them to go ahead and perform the flash
2nd: as far as the "expedited" parts (3 to5 business days) for the headlight washer assembly brackets on both sides and the covers he will see what he can do to move the shipping faster.
3rd: he apologized and acknowledged the teething issues and Alfa is well aware of what is going on and they are moving quickly to address each issue as they come to light~~~~will give them the benefit of the doubt for now
4th: offered to compensate me with some sort of service contract (like a maintenance program) on their dime. to be discussed.

the fellow clearly sensed the urgency in the situation. he clearly sees the boards and the comments (Hi Dan!:grin2, I explained to him that this was the very stuff that the older "Alfisti" warned about....the after sale service care....
I said when the car works it is AMAZING!, I said I am vested as I have 80+k into the car and frankly will get crap for it on a trade in I'm sure especially when people read about the issues....so I want them/him to succeed just as much as he/they do....
Waiting to hear from the dealer now...will keep you all posted.
Regards
M

 

[EricVonHa]

Very nice!

 

[kanundrum]

Alfa Care/Customer Service is 100% Top Notch! I have been so happy with their response!

 

[KMW]

I got my QV back after a week in the shop. They showed me the amplifier issue. It seems that Afa knows about a design flaw in the tail light. The design flaws allows water to come in, which then goes into the truck and then settles on the wiring harness of the amplifier. The technician showed me the harness, it had green corrosion on it. I told him, I have had this car for three weeks and only washed it one time. He said, I didn't do it, it is the car designers fault.

So, I get may car back. The general failure is gone, but I still have an audio failure logo on the dash. Half the time when I start the car, I hear music and the hiss from the tweeters. The other half, it is complete silence.

The amplifier is the one used by Masarati. They are trying to have Alfa talk to Masarati.

Thanks for the update. So you never had your windows tinted and still had this issue? I was under the impression that the water would need to come from inside, e.g. window tinting. If this means the problem can occur just by driving in the rain or washing the car then it's much more serious than I thought.

 

[kanundrum]

Thanks for the update. So you never had your windows tinted and still had this issue? I was under the impression that the water would need to come from inside, e.g. window tinting. If this means the problem can occur just by driving in the rain or washing the car then it's much more serious than I thought.

Had the window tinted with no issues.

 

[Chipps]

Good news. If the one I ordered has many issues, you can inform him that I am neither shy nor bashful. Alfa and anyone within earshot will hear from me. On the other side if the Giulia is as trouble free as the 40 something year old Spider I have has been, everyone will hear about that as well.

 

[Racer Z]

I got my QV back after a week in the shop. They showed me the amplifier issue. It seems that Afa knows about a design flaw in the tail light. The design flaws allows water to come in, which then goes into the truck and then settles on the wiring harness of the amplifier. The technician showed me the harness, it had green corrosion on it. I told him, I have had this car for three weeks and only washed it one time. He said, I didn't do it, it is the car designers fault.

So, I get may car back. The general failure is gone, but I still have an audio failure logo on the dash. Half the time when I start the car, I hear music and the hiss from the tweeters. The other half, it is complete silence.

The amplifier is the one used by Masarati. They are trying to have Alfa talk to Masarati.

This is also recipe for bottomless trunks. (rust)

 

[Racer Z]

literally just got off the phone with the Alfa Northeast Regional Rep. He called me this AM and as I did not recognize the number I did not answer.
he left a message and I was shocked (in a good way) to have received his call because I was not expecting it.
We had a long conversation and he basically said this to me.
1st: the Alfa engineers have a software flash/update for the constant CEL issue that the QV has. it is available to the dealers today. he is going to call my dealer to inform them to go ahead and perform the flash
2nd: as far as the "expedited" parts (3 to5 business days) for the headlight washer assembly brackets on both sides and the covers he will see what he can do to move the shipping faster.
3rd: he apologized and acknowledged the teething issues and Alfa is well aware of what is going on and they are moving quickly to address each issue as they come to light~~~~will give them the benefit of the doubt for now
4th: offered to compensate me with some sort of service contract (like a maintenance program) on their dime. to be discussed.

the fellow clearly sensed the urgency in the situation. he clearly sees the boards and the comments (Hi Dan!:grin2, I explained to him that this was the very stuff that the older "Alfisti" warned about....the after sale service care....
I said when the car works it is AMAZING!, I said I am vested as I have 80+k into the car and frankly will get crap for it on a trade in I'm sure especially when people read about the issues....so I want them/him to succeed just as much as he/they do....
Waiting to hear from the dealer now...will keep you all posted.
Regards
M

Been there, done that, said that.

I've told them, in clear terms, that I want them to succeed. Some invest in companies by buying stock expecting financial returns. I invested in Alfa by buying a new car (my first new car ever) and expecting mature after care and expecting their company to flourish.

I was well aware that things happen. It's a mechanical device. It's also a first run car with very little testing. As 4C's go, I'm one of the few that puts big miles on and it's no real surprise to me that I'm the first to experience certain things. The fact that something broke doesn't bother me. How Alfa & FCA respond (or don't respond) is what bothers me.

The general populace won't except this childish behavior. Most won't even except their new car failing two or three times in quick succession.

I have seen FCA grow and change. I was hoping that they would have resolved these kinds of problems before the Giulia was released. They better sort this out and quick.

I've told them all of the above at some point in the past.

 

[MDriver]

Update...Maybe??....Who Knows!

So now I received a call from the first people I called yesterday (Alfa Care). My "dedicated" representative informed me of the following:
1st: he has received an email saying that the parts were indeed shipped from Toronto, he has the tracking number and they are scheduled to arrive to the dealer late Monday afternoon.
2nd: the "software update" should be ready by next week they are working on that. THIS is in complete contradiction to what the Regional Rep told me this morning. The Regional Rep said the update was ready and that the dealer would be getting notification of that today.

Forgot the movie scene but will never forget the line" What we have here is a failure to communicate"
Parts issue seems to be on the same page but the software issues is at odds???
and where is the Dealer in this???? No communication from them at all today. You would have thought that if the Regional Rep statement about the software update were accurate the dealer would have called immediately to let me know

Tune in next week.....
Regards
M