It's not the problem, it's how it's dealt with
Discussion
I know quite a few of us have had issues with our cars, mostly fuel pumps/alternators. My personal experience with Alpine has been mirrored by many and equally as disheartening. It's for this reason that I felt I should put a little good news story forward to give a little positivity and hope.
My '22 plate fuel pump failed, was replaced, failed again and was told second time round that they couldn't find anything wrong with it and that my options were limited, i.e take it back and see if it fails again.
My dealer (Specialist Cars Aberdeen) is over three hours away and I had been without the car for over 6 weeks with no joy from Alpine although Frankie had been very helpful and communicative. I was pretty much out of options as the finance company had no interest in helping me return what I saw as a dangerous vehicle.
Enter Diogo from Specialist Cars. The guy has been an absolute superstar, he basically bought my '72 pure back off me for a more than acceptable price and after me topping up with 2K I drove away in a '73 plate GT with a full tank of fuel, mats, and some Alpine clothing thrown in.
The guy genuinely couldn't have been more helpful, and there is no way he could have done any of this without having had some pretty difficult conversations with Alpine. This is how you keep a customer, but more than anything it shows that your dealer needs to give a crap about their brand and customer loyalty.
Now I know a few of you will be thinking I'm a mug and have fallen for some sales patter and they are 2k up on the deal, but after looking at the figures I honestly think they'll struggle to break even on this, which shows they understand that me buying another Alpine in a few years is far more important than a few quid just now.
Apply a little pressure to your dealer, you never know what might happen. Best of luck to you all.
My '22 plate fuel pump failed, was replaced, failed again and was told second time round that they couldn't find anything wrong with it and that my options were limited, i.e take it back and see if it fails again.
My dealer (Specialist Cars Aberdeen) is over three hours away and I had been without the car for over 6 weeks with no joy from Alpine although Frankie had been very helpful and communicative. I was pretty much out of options as the finance company had no interest in helping me return what I saw as a dangerous vehicle.
Enter Diogo from Specialist Cars. The guy has been an absolute superstar, he basically bought my '72 pure back off me for a more than acceptable price and after me topping up with 2K I drove away in a '73 plate GT with a full tank of fuel, mats, and some Alpine clothing thrown in.
The guy genuinely couldn't have been more helpful, and there is no way he could have done any of this without having had some pretty difficult conversations with Alpine. This is how you keep a customer, but more than anything it shows that your dealer needs to give a crap about their brand and customer loyalty.
Now I know a few of you will be thinking I'm a mug and have fallen for some sales patter and they are 2k up on the deal, but after looking at the figures I honestly think they'll struggle to break even on this, which shows they understand that me buying another Alpine in a few years is far more important than a few quid just now.
Apply a little pressure to your dealer, you never know what might happen. Best of luck to you all.
Good for the dealer and £2k to move from even a fully loaded pure to a new GT is a very good deal financially.
I suppose the other question though is….. is the 73 plate going to be any better? Mine should have the latest fuel pump, But without any comments from Alpine as to what the issue was and how they have fixed it, do I have any confidence that I won’t have an issue. No. What is more it was all quiet in the forums when I was researching (probably because it was winter) and had I seen the issues I can confidently say I would not have bought the car. That would be a shame in many ways.
I suppose the other question though is….. is the 73 plate going to be any better? Mine should have the latest fuel pump, But without any comments from Alpine as to what the issue was and how they have fixed it, do I have any confidence that I won’t have an issue. No. What is more it was all quiet in the forums when I was researching (probably because it was winter) and had I seen the issues I can confidently say I would not have bought the car. That would be a shame in many ways.
Edited by Colin P on Monday 4th September 16:47
Borders110 said:
Enter Diogo from Specialist Cars. The guy has been an absolute superstar, he basically bought my '72 pure back off me for a more than acceptable price and after me topping up with 2K I drove away in a '73 plate GT with a full tank of fuel, mats, and some Alpine clothing thrown in.
The guy genuinely couldn't have been more helpful, and there is no way he could have done any of this without having had some pretty difficult conversations with Alpine. This is how you keep a customer, but more than anything it shows that your dealer needs to give a crap about their brand and customer loyalty.
Now I know a few of you will be thinking I'm a mug and have fallen for some sales patter and they are 2k up on the deal, but after looking at the figures I honestly think they'll struggle to break even on this, which shows they understand that me buying another Alpine in a few years is far more important than a few quid just now.
I'm not sure I understand the middle part of your post. Who are Specialist Cars? A dealership? And they sold you a brand new GT for only £2k more than your 1 year old Pure?The guy genuinely couldn't have been more helpful, and there is no way he could have done any of this without having had some pretty difficult conversations with Alpine. This is how you keep a customer, but more than anything it shows that your dealer needs to give a crap about their brand and customer loyalty.
Now I know a few of you will be thinking I'm a mug and have fallen for some sales patter and they are 2k up on the deal, but after looking at the figures I honestly think they'll struggle to break even on this, which shows they understand that me buying another Alpine in a few years is far more important than a few quid just now.
This sounds odd, but maybe I'm lacking some context.
They took back the pure, gave me over book for it and I gave them 2k. The GT itself had been reduced from 62 k to 58k, I assume because it wasn't selling as the spec was standard apart from paint and logos on the wings and it has the Legende wheels, which I really like now. It's '23 spec though it looked like it had been lying for a while.
He had various comms with Alpine over it as I had been speaking to them to, trying to convince them that me in a dangerous product was less than optimal.
I'm not sure what strings were pulled but that's the long and short of it.
I understand where others are coming from, whoever gets my car could have the same issue, or it might never occur again. My priority was to get a car that was safe (theoretically) for my wife and I to drive and I told them I didn't want the pure back as I had no faith in it.
My Pure was 57k when bought 10 months ago, I dropped a 10k deposit on it.
The Dealer is Specialist Cars Aberdeen.
He had various comms with Alpine over it as I had been speaking to them to, trying to convince them that me in a dangerous product was less than optimal.
I'm not sure what strings were pulled but that's the long and short of it.
I understand where others are coming from, whoever gets my car could have the same issue, or it might never occur again. My priority was to get a car that was safe (theoretically) for my wife and I to drive and I told them I didn't want the pure back as I had no faith in it.
My Pure was 57k when bought 10 months ago, I dropped a 10k deposit on it.
The Dealer is Specialist Cars Aberdeen.
Does the A110 use the same fuel pump as the Megane 280/300? There have been a few issues with those too.
Mine's (a Megane 280) an '18 place and was replaced as part of a recall last year. They somehow messed it up and the car ended up leaking petrol. (Ironically at the same time my Caterham had a fuel leak and I was blaming the smell on that! Turns out both my cars had leaks!).
Mine's (a Megane 280) an '18 place and was replaced as part of a recall last year. They somehow messed it up and the car ended up leaking petrol. (Ironically at the same time my Caterham had a fuel leak and I was blaming the smell on that! Turns out both my cars had leaks!).
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