Alpine Assist

[Miserablegit]

“Call someone who gives a st as we sure as hell don’t”

[Miserablegit]

Well that wasn’t fun- 6.5 hour wait for recovery.

[Hoofty]

Urgh, sorry to hear that Git. As you’ve noted, Assist is ‘just’ a contract with the RAC (but also other recovery companies Europe wide I’m told), and beyond being greeted by “Hello, Alpine Assist” and access to the usual services (incl courtesy cars), there’s no special or priority treatment involved. Bad night to have needed it I guess.

Hope it sorts quickly, and that you can wangle some tasty courtesy wheels by way of distraction. Enterprise don’t offer Mustangs, so I hoped for an F-type. Got an A-Class. It was rubbish <shrug>

Nick

[bcr5784]

Hoofty said:

Hope it sorts quickly, and that you can wangle some tasty courtesy wheels by way of distraction. Enterprise don’t offer Mustangs, so I hoped for an F-type. Got an A-Class. It was rubbish <shrug>

Nick

Yes be careful to make it clear what you want. Got an S Class first time (not my normal choice of wheels, but nice to try, you probably won't get anything sporty) Second time got a truly dreadful Hybrid Volvo SUV tank.

[Miserablegit]

It gets worse…
Called Alpine Assist just before 9 to get an update as to when the car will be delivered to John Banks Alpine in Cambridge…

“What time do they open? Are they open today” asks the person at AA.
“?????? Yes they open at 9”
“Let me get that booked into the system and somebody will be in touch to let you know the ETA”

Not great. Who thinks a job is done once a car is sent to some dodgy compound at 23:30…

[Jayjay60]

I had a Merc A Class saloon first time and a Volvo V90 AWD Estate the second ( I’ve never driven such a long car!). The service from Enterprise has been pretty OK and, once the car was recovered, Martins of Winchester were great. I just wish my Alpine was more reliable &#128533;. Just coming up to three years old so I feel an extended warranty is a must have.

[gaucimiura]

I’ve had to have my PE recovered twice by Alpine Assist. Second time the RAC guy had no info on the car on his examiner, so pretty pointless using the RAC for Alpine Assist! As much as I love the car, it has been the most unreliable car I’ve ever owned, in 37 years of driving. I feel the extended warranty is a must. I hope Alpine improves its customer service to the level the car’s status demands?

[Miserablegit]

The car still hasn’t been looked at.
Was delivered to dealership on Saturday around midday.
Dealership started off well saying they’d take a look Monday.
Hadn’t heard so called Monday about 12 for an update- not looked at - bit of a backlog from weekend so hoping to look in pm. That’s understandable and one of those things.
Dealer emailed later to say it would be looked at today
I’ve just called for an update only to be told “haven’t been able to look at it as we need the original reg to log it on the system….”
It has a private plate- I was the first owner and it was first registered on my private plate…it has never been an issue before.
Anyway I had to take the receptionist through all the details again…hopefully it will be looked at today.
I haven’t chased Alpine Assist for a car as I don’t yet know how long I’ll be without it…

Oh, yes, it’s my most unreliable car as well

3 recoveries now.
abs brake system fault, rear screen shattering of its own accord and now (I think) a duff alternator.

Edited by Miserablegit on Tuesday 6th September 12:12

[Horace985]

Isn't this just symptomatic of everything these days? From trying to contact BT to arranging a bank loan to dealing with NHS? Everything just takes forever and seems to involve relaying info over and over again without anyone seeming to listen or use any common sense. I shudder every time I use a main dealer and the "prestige" ones seem as bad, if not worse than the run of the mill ones. The motor trade is pretty poor generally in my view. I don't own an Alpine but looking. Most unreliable car I have had was a VW golf closely followed by a Santa Fe best was a Fiat! RangeRover seems particularly bad - both in terms of reliability and terrible service - so bad indeed that I would never buy one - even though some of their products look pretty swish. Friends with BMWs and had them off of the road for weeks on end and eventually got rid. They too seem to do pretty poorly in the premium brand stakes....

Robert

[gaucimiura]

Miserablegit said:

The car still hasn’t been looked at.
Was delivered to dealership on Saturday around midday.
Dealership started off well saying they’d take a look Monday.
Hadn’t heard so called Monday about 12 for an update- not looked at - bit of a backlog from weekend so hoping to look in pm. That’s understandable and one of those things.
Dealer emailed later to say it would be looked at today
I’ve just called for an update only to be told “haven’t been able to look at it as we need the original reg to log it on the system….”
It has a private plate- I was the first owner and it was first registered on my private plate…it has never been an issue before.
Anyway I had to take the receptionist through all the details again…hopefully it will be looked at today.
I haven’t chased Alpine Assist for a car as I don’t yet know how long I’ll be without it…

Oh, yes, it’s my most unreliable car as well

3 recoveries now.
abs brake system fault, rear screen shattering of its own accord and now (I think) a duff alternator.

Edited by Miserablegit on Tuesday 6th September 12:12

I’ve had the alternator go at about 5,000 miles. That was the first time it left me stranded. Then an earth problem stranded me a second time around 8,000 miles. Had the cracked windscreen, paint issues, arches and now heated rear screen packed up - wiring came away and had to have the rear screen replaced. Add to that the numerous squeaks, rattles, buzzes and drones that plague the interior, you really have to have a level of patience I didn’t know I had.

[gaucimiura]

Horace985 said:

Isn't this just symptomatic of everything these days? From trying to contact BT to arranging a bank loan to dealing with NHS? Everything just takes forever and seems to involve relaying info over and over again without anyone seeming to listen or use any common sense. I shudder every time I use a main dealer and the "prestige" ones seem as bad, if not worse than the run of the mill ones. The motor trade is pretty poor generally in my view. I don't own an Alpine but looking. Most unreliable car I have had was a VW golf closely followed by a Santa Fe best was a Fiat! RangeRover seems particularly bad - both in terms of reliability and terrible service - so bad indeed that I would never buy one - even though some of their products look pretty swish. Friends with BMWs and had them off of the road for weeks on end and eventually got rid. They too seem to do pretty poorly in the premium brand stakes....

Robert

I’ve had a 2015 Fiat 500 from new and my wife has a 2014 Fiat Panda, also from new. Both cars are the most reliable cars we’ve ever had. Both cars have been pretty much faultless, apart from a few wear and tear items. A starter on the Panda and a noisy heater box actuator on the 500 have been the only real issues. Everyone I know with German cars, Range Rovers etc report lots of issues. I try to forgive the Alpine it’s quality faults because I love it, but it’s hard at times. Total time it’s been off the road, at dealers, in the two years I’ve owned it, adds up to three months!

[Miserablegit]

Dealer has called- it’s the alternator, as I suspected.
It’s going to be 4-6 weeks for the part apparently.

I’m waiting to see what hire car they offer me

[gaucimiura]

You’d have thought they’d stock them now, considering how many have failed?!?

[Miserablegit]

I called Manchester who said they could get one in 5-10 business days. I’ll speak to the Cambridge dealer tomorrow.
It’s all so half-arsed. I agree they should have a few of these at each dealer as it’s a known failure.
Wonder if the battery is goosed as well as there wasn’t enough power to close the window when the door shut.
The car is great when it is running (and I’ve been fortunate to do 30,000 miles so it’s averaging 10,000 mbf ) it’s just that when things go wrong it’s a shambles.

Manchester also recommend replacing the belt at the same time so I’ll ensure that gets done as well.

Edited by Miserablegit on Tuesday 6th September 18:05

[GVO]

Mine was off the road for over a month waiting for the new alternator.

[essexstu]

Miserablegit said:

I called Manchester who said they could get one in 5-10 business days. I’ll speak to the Cambridge dealer tomorrow.
It’s all so half-arsed. I agree they should have a few of these at each dealer as it’s a known failure.
Wonder if the battery is goosed as well as there wasn’t enough power to close the window when the door shut.
The car is great when it is running (and I’ve been fortunate to do 30,000 miles so it’s averaging 10,000 mbf ) it’s just that when things go wrong it’s a shambles.

Manchester also recommend replacing the belt at the same time so I’ll ensure that gets done as well.

Edited by Miserablegit on Tuesday 6th September 18:05

Sorry to hear you have had a problem mate. Reading various comments on here it's concerning to hear of several alternator and battery issues causing breakdown and at low miles. I know fuel pumps have been replaced on recall, do Alpine need to be doing the same with alternators?

And is there a similar problem with Renault Mégane RS which has the same engine and therefore I assume the same ancillaries?

Alpine need to jump on this issue asap before it becomes a "common fault"

[Miserablegit]

I put a call into Alpine Customer Services today as I’d not had a response since Wednesday.
On Wednesday I was told the delay, apparently, is an idler wheel that needs to be replaced as well but they were looking at expediting the delivery.

UK number but transferred to Germany.
Chap said he’d email me an update when he knows anything…
My car broke down on 2 September…
Wondering if I need a twitter account.

Edited by Miserablegit on Monday 12th September 16:28

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Crikey! That's just plain ridiculous.

Sorry to hear about your pain!

[Miserablegit]

I accept this is a first world problem but people need to know alternators are a known weakness and the parts required aren’t kept in stock so it might be up to 6 weeks that you don’t have a car if you buy an Alpine…

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Miserablegit said:

I accept this is a first world problem but people need to know alternators are a known weakness and the parts required aren’t kept in stock so it might be up to 6 weeks that you don’t have a car if you buy an Alpine…

I find that a bit crazy. I've been out of the motor trade for a few years now so things must have changed a lot! We not only kept a decent stock, but also had a parts swap system with other dealers. (and...if the worst came to the worst we'd remove parts from stock vehicles).

Mind, nobody keeps a stock Alpine, but I'll bet the alternator is a common part with other less glamorous vehicles?