Body work problems

Faults and Technical chat for the Citroen Aircross
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stpauli
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:15 pm

Post by stpauli »

Hi everyone.
I am new to this forum but I would like to let everyone know of my unhappy experiences with 2 new C5 Aircross Flair Plus.
I collected a brand new C5 Aircross from my local dealership on 3rd July 2019 and the next day I took the car to have it professionally body glazed, upon collection later that day the body glaze specialist pointed out quite a few scuff marks on the wheel arch surrounds and a large scratch on the rear bumper, a large chip on the bottom of the tail gate which was down to the bare metal, also the front nearside wing was not flush with the front door, the front door protruding about 5mm further OUT from the wing, this meant that during a trip in VERY heavy weather (after the body glaze) water was entering the car by the gap between wing and door, when opening the door a LOT of water gushed out.
The dealership were immediately informed of these problems and got in touch with Citroen UK customer service department but were not given any help.
As the car is a Motability vehicle I contacted them regarding the problems and they instructed me to reject the car and choose another car from their lists, as I really liked the C5 and thinking that this was a "one off" I decided to order exactly the same model.
On the day of collection from the same dealership, 2nd September, the Motability representative told me that there were marks on the front bumper and wheel arch, I was under the impression that these scuff marks could be polished out, WRONG!!!, after having this 2nd car body glazed the lads at the car valeting centre pointed out yet more defects, 3 wheel arches scratched, a chip on the black gloss rear pillar and the tail gate out of alignment, I was told that the plastic wheel arch surrounds were of VERY POOR quality and could be marked if a "dogs tail" brushed against them.
My dealership have been outstanding in their help but have their hands tied by Citroen UK who after 4 weeks of trying to get help have left me with few options.
For 4 weeks I have been trying to get Citroen UK to authorise my dealership to repair or replace the damaged wheel arch surrounds and front bumper but its as if I am talking to aliens, a customer service manager telling me that he had authorised repairs to be carried out but my dealership NOT getting confirmation, I was offered a free set of mudflaps for the inconvenience and Citroen did inform the dealership of this but did NOT mention the damage to the body work.
Today I rang Citroen and asked to speak to a customer service manager, I was told that he was on the phone but would call me when he had finished the call, 3 hours later and no call, I rang again, same story, 2 hours later I called them again to be told the customer service manager HAD GONE HOME!!!.
Citroen customer service department are probably THE WORST I have ever had to "deal" with.
As stated earlier my dealership have been excellent throughout and have shown me other brand new unregistered cars with similar marks on the plastic trim, probably caused when loading onto the car transporters, not very good protection on the way to dealerships.
Motability who are excellent in every way are not very happy regarding my situation and are awaiting my instructions as to whether to get involved and make contact with Citroen UK with the possibility of my rejection of this 2nd C5 Aircross.
I attach just 2 photos of some damage.
I will give an update on the future of me "relationship" with Citroen.

197 Wheel arch scratch.jpg

196 Bumper mark.jpg

stpauli
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:15 pm

Post by stpauli »

Hi again, 6 days later and still no contact from Citroen, I have now got Motability involved and Citroen have until Wednesday to respond with a solution otherwise another rejected vehicle.
When going on the Citroen customer service website AGAIN and asking a question the next day the website shows yet again that the query "IS SOLVED" this is without citroen having made any contact with me or the dealership, as stated before NON EXISTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE from Citroen UK.
stpauli
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:15 pm

Post by stpauli »

Hi again, an update on the NON EXISTENT help from citroen so call customer support. After taking the car back to the dealership where they took photos of the wheel arch surrounds, front bumper, Tailgate misalignment, chip on quarter panel and loose trim and forwarded them onto citroen I received an email from citroen "customer support" stating that as there are "NO manufacturing defects" they are unable to help and should I wish to reject the vehicle then I should take this up with Motability.
How on earth can they say "no manufacturing defects" when the Tailgate is not fitted correctly??????? they are blaming the dealership for the marks on the wheel arch surrounds and front bumper, no reference to the chipped panel and loose chrome trim, with regard to the marks on the wheel arch surrounds and font bumper I have actually seen brand new cars coming off the transporters with similar defects.
Citroen UK WILL NOT HELP and pass the buck onto the dealerships, so any possible future Citroen buyers PLEASE BE WARNED
that ANY complaints made to Citroen UK "customer support" will probably be met with total indifference.
Problems with connectedCAM, My Citroen app and also mapping and system updates are also met with hopeless instructions from "technicians" at Citroen UK.
My 2nd C5 Aircross in less than 3 months will now be returned and I shall be getting a vehicle from a manufacturer who cares about its customers.
stpauli
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:15 pm

Post by stpauli »

Hi all, just an update on the totally meaningless customer relations department at Citroen UK, after not hearing from them and my dealership wanting to know what I am doing regarding the future of the car EVEN more problems are showing up which include the electric parking brake not releasing when trying to pull away, switching off then switching on the ignition solves the problem temporarily but this could take up to 6 on/offs to work, when driving to Leeds Bradford airport 11 days ago the message "engine fault repair needed" came on, a message "route calculation failed" message then the sat nav and music screen went totally black for around 5 minutes on at least 6 occasions, the auto dipping headlights work very seldomly I had to disable this function as I kept blinding oncoming traffic, this along with the totally useless connectedCAM thingy just shows how unreliable the electrics are on this model.
I am VERY seriously considering paying a £2000:00 deposit for the New Volvo XC40 R-Design Pro, Ive had a brand new Volvo in the past and cannot complain about the quality of build, I am also considering contacting the BBC Watchdog program (ive been invited) to explain the situation and highlight the absolutely abhorrent behavior of Citroen customer relations department, I have also written a letter to Citroen UK's new CEO Karl Howkins, its being posted tomorrow Special delivery.
Mothy
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:44 pm

Post by Mothy »

One of my friends bought a new Volvo. Not long after he ran into a fox. The fox bounced off the front number plate and was unharmed. Gave my friend a snotty look as it carried in on his way.

The Volvo decided that it was running into a pedestrian and set off the under bonnet airbag, which also by design sends the windscreen wiper arm through the windscreen. This is to assist the pedestrian over the bonnet and roof.

Cost for repairs was over £7000. The number plate wasn’t even damaged. He definitely did not replace the Volvo with another Volvo....

He did replace the Volvo with a Kia Stinger and three days after purchase, a deer jumped in front of the car and damaged the front! This time the cost is just the front valance. How unlucky. The deer was unharmed.

Roly
Roly Alcock, Upton Upon Severn, Citroen C3 Aircross 1.2L Flair 6 Speed, colour coded to match the dog.
stpauli
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:15 pm

Post by stpauli »

Final Update. Received an email from Jordan Dunn a Citroen Customer relations manager informing me that citroen were NOT going to offer any assistance with regard to the costs of nearly £1400:00 to replace the damaged wheel arch surrounds and front bumper, they are wiping their hands of this situation and have closed the case, If I decide to keep the car then Citroen expect my dealership to cover the costs of the repairs EVEN THOUGH the car arrived at the dealership with the damage already done, WORST car manufacturer that I have EVER dealt with in over 45 years of driving, Motability have offered to pay for the repairs if I decide to keep the car, Citroens disgusting attitude will probably make my mind up for me and the comment that a misaligned tailgate and incorrectly fitted front wing IS NOT A MANUFACTURING DEFECT is beyond comprehension, this statement is one, if not the most ludicrous things I have ever heard from a car manufacturer, Mr Dunn would not elaborate about his decision, I do not think that he has ANY knowledge of how, and where a car wing is fitted, he is obviously under the impression that the wings are fitted at the dealership and upon arrival at the dealership the wheel arch surrounds are attacked by aliens. BBC Watchdog program my next step.
Thanks to everyone on this site for letting me let off steam.
PS please see attached photos of how a new car SHOULD arrive at the dealership fresh off the transporter

IMG_20191023_160433.jpg

IMG_20191023_160425.jpg

IMG_20191023_160420.jpg

Jay R
Posts: 310
Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 9:38 am
Location: Bracknell

Post by Jay R »

Well, that's how you'd like a car to arrive and it may be for a £50,000+ car but that's not realistically how a £20,000 car arrives. How many cars do you see on transporters wrapped up like that? Still, if you are spending thousands on a new car it certainly should come without scuffs and scratches. Mind you, after a week or two on the road it will have worse marks than that anyway.
Also, I kind of disagree with you on the whole tailgate issue. It's been said in the other thread and you can clearly see in pictures online that the top line of the tailgate lines up but the bottom line is some mm out. Suggesting that it's a manufacturing defect is not accurate in my book. They can't 'fix' it by taking it into the garage and stretching the tailgate longer between those two points can they. Personally I have said could have been designed slightly longer so it lines up but it wasn't and it doesn't. (I'm looking out the window now at a brand new and expensive Range Rover in the car park and the top 'line' of the windows suddenly drops by about 3 inches when it hits the tailgate.) What you are saying is that you don't personally like way they designed the tailgate because it doesn't line up.
Sorry if this sounds like I'm having a pop, it's not my intent, I'm just saying there is a world of difference between a defect and 'I would have done it differently'.
Orange 110bhp Feel with City and Family packs.
stpauli
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:15 pm

Post by stpauli »

Hi Jay, many thanks for your input, The on the road price of a C5 Aircross Flair Plus is just under £30.000 so the build quality should be far better, the problem with my 1st C5 in that there was a 5mm difference between the wing and front door, this must surely be a manufacturing defect, as I said this problem allowed a LOT of water to enter the car and I have been told by a leading manufacturers body shop manager that had I driven much further the water would have eventually entered the cabin, I could live with the misaligned tailgate if it did not allow the ingress of rainwater, luckily I have a Citroen rubber boot floor liner and the water did not reach the carpet although the side panel did get wet.
My main gripe is the total lack of ANY help from Citroen UK, my dealership told me that I would be wasting my time trying to get any help, getting to speak to someone was hard enough, my dealership told me that there has been a major overhaul of Citroens "customer relations" department and that they have gone rapidly downhill, I worked for over 40 years in a large NE car dealership which had franchises with Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi, VW and Volvo so I do understand the way that manufacturers deal with complaints, some are excellent others not so good but Citroen are absolutely disgraceful in that they actually insult the intelligence of customers in TOTALLY IGNORING requests for assistance.
My 2nd C5 is definitely going back and I will be getting a new Volvo XC40 R-Design Pro, put my experience with Citroen to the back of my mind and enjoy driving a much better quality car.
Jay R
Posts: 310
Joined: Sat May 12, 2018 9:38 am
Location: Bracknell

Post by Jay R »

Yes, I forgot the bit about the door, that certainly sounds naff.
I was talking to one of the customer service chaps at my local dealership while he was dropping me off after I left my car for a service and he said he used to work for Ford a year ago but left there because he felt that head office didn't care about customer service. He found that made it hard for him on the customer facing side. He said that since coming to Citroen he felt that the head office cared a lot more about their customers. Strange that you seem to have had the opposite experience.
Orange 110bhp Feel with City and Family packs.
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