New DS3 RED - First week blues!!

[Spacey]

Hi all,
Firstly I am new to this site and the DS3 is actually my partners but just wanted to share our 1st week experiences, and maybe get some advice, as its not been great....

So we bought the car from a main, non franchised, dealer in north London which was about 60 miles away from home but an easy trip down the M1. Was a good deal being pre-registered and had only done 50 ish miles.

Anyway, we picked the car up on a Thursday which all went smoothly. The following day my partner was 2 miles from work when the cars "coolant over temperature" warning light came on. She pulled over, called the Citroen Assistance (The AA) and they basically found water pi**ing out of the radiator. The car was then towed to the local Citroen dealer for further inspection/repair. As you can imagine we were both gutted!:mad:

6 days later the cars radiator had been replaced and my partner picks up the vehicle and after doing a brief inspection drives it home. When she arrived back home i take a look over the car and find a big crack on the piece of black plastic trim to the right of the rear spoiler!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

So now we've contacted and complained to both Dealers and both are denying responsibility but I have no proof and its our word against there's........

I would appreciate any advice on this as we're to go next. It's really not been a great "new car" experience. Although we still love the car!

Also if anyone knows if this black plastic trim would be easy to replace then (the small ish triangular bit either side of the spoiler) any info would be great. It looks like one bolt but maybe it's glued as well?? I'm tempted to fix myself rather than have all this hassle with the dealers!!

Wow, sorry if I've gone on a bit!!!

Many thanks,
Nige

[ds3r]

Hi sorry to hear about that not good but that's dealers for you hope you get it sorted.

[WTF]

Welcome firstly

Sorry to hear its not been easy so far.

Could you not take to another dealer and ask them to replace under warranty? Just play it simple, this is our brand new car, found this fault, not sure what has caused it, can it be replaced? That's also the truth. But rather than blame anyone, just asked to have it fixed.

Pop some pictures up when you can so we can see what is wrong

[Chris_Blue]

Hi Spacey- that's a bit of bad luck, unfortunately

Hope the radiator is now sorted

When you say small triangular bit of trim either side of the spoiler at rear, it sounds like it could be mudguards?

But as WTF said, post some photos up if you can

Talking photos, did you take any when you picked it up? Be good if you have- take them to the dealer to show them undamaged car
Or any photos of the car before you picked it up on the company website or something?

You may not want to do it, but it may be best to try and embarrass them to do something about the damage, by suggesting you will email Citroen HQ if needed. But save that till you've tried a bit

Sorry to hear u having trouble, but nice to see you in the Club

[TypeDS3]

This is the part I think he means - though this is my DS3 SportPlus so may be slightly different on his car.

[Bigfeet]

As you pointed out in your post you will have a very hard time proving that either dealer was at fault (if they even were) so my advice to sort it out yourself and save lots of grief.

[Spacey]

Yep it's that black triangular bit either side of the rear spoiler. Here is a close up of one I took the other day


Chris_Blue - Good point about the pictures...I didn't take any myself but I know my girlfriend did. Not sure from the correct angle though! Will have to check her phone.

I have sent the pictures to the Dealer that fixed the radiator and they have said that the technician had marked that corner with a cross on his job card. Also, that when the technician looked more closely that there was evidence that the clip that holds the spoiler on had been glued! And that he suspected this had happened when the spoiler was removed to paint the roof!!

I think I'll be calling Citroen UK as it sounds like they are just bullsh*ting me.

[skylaq]

That is a lot of trouble for the first week of owning a DS3.
Hope everything sorts out smoothly for you soon.

and welcome to the club

[ZACK]

When you say small triangular bit of trim either side of the spoiler at rear, it sounds like it could be mudguards?

lol Chris whut ?

[Petewete]

my partner picks up the vehicle and after doing a brief inspection drives it home. When she arrived back home i take a look over the car and find a big crack on the piece of black plastic trim to the right of the rear spoiler!!

The brief inspection - was that just done by your GF, or did the dealers walk round the car with her?

[Spacey]

Petewete - My girlfriend inspected it with someone from the service desk. Obviously quite annoying this wasn't spotted then but I think most of the focus was around the front of the car where the main work was carried out. She then drove it home and I spotted it pretty quickly!

[Chris_Blue]

lol Chris whut ?

Yeah I know- I seem to have more moments than most LOL

In my day a spoiler was the bit down below the front grill of a car, now called the splitter
(So that's what I call the rear splitter plastic the spoiler)

[Spacey]

Unfortunately my girlfriends pictures of the car were of no use!

I'm not sure I'm going to get anywhere with the dealers so I've sent off a few enquires for the cost of the part. Hopefully will be quite reasonable.

Has anyone had experience in changing these bits before? I guess it's unlikely as it isn't the sort of thing that would require changing very often! It seems straight forward as it looks like one bolt from the inside of the boot. Not sure if it is bonded on though.

[Chris]

Hi sorry to learn about your problems with the DS3, in terms of replacing the small triangular piece, this is directly attached/bonded to the rest of the spoiler so I doubt you'd be able to just remove that piece and replace it.

I know this because I ordered a Dsport Spoiler from eBay, and when it arrived this triangular piece was snapped off! Local body shop advised it would be too tedious to re-attach, so I returned the spoiler.

If the dealer are willing to admit fault, might be a full spoiler replacement?

Hope this helps

[DickiJ]

Get in touch with customer relations at Citroen UK. They should escalate the issue with the Dealership principal. If you aren't happy with the outcome of this I'd then fire off an email to Linda Jackson expressing your dissapointment
linda.jackson@citroen.com