Citroen 100,000 suspension warranty & poor OEM service?

[ken.chapman]

Whilst I'm happy to fix my own C5 X7, I'm reminded that Citroen advertised a 100,000 miles warranty on these cars when they were new - can anyone remember? I'm only curious because my brain works in Quality Assurance and the likes and the very fact that Citroen have simply ignored my many emails about the steering rack and suspension on my car astounds me and infuriates me massively.

Is this a flavour of Citroen customer service that I've heard is possibly the worst in the business? In fact, a dealer near Oxford didn't even want my money by refusing to take or return my calls to book my car in, made sarcastic comments when I called into the branch and wanted £75 to simply hook up the Lexia machine when I first started down this route even though 'this will only take about 3 minutes'!

Shame as I love the looks of the car but feel the substance of Citroen really lets them down.

[osx]

It would have been 100k or 5 years whatever came first.

[Stickyfinger]

I even wrote a Letter to the MD of Citroen UK, the reply I got was dreadful and basically said they do not care about Cars not on their forecourt and wriggled out of faults caused by the dealers lack of ability/care over the years they had it.

.....needless to say I would NEVER buy a new one from Citroen based on the dealers I have met....what a bunch of idiots (with a sprinkle of good)

PS...the Main Dealers in Bath are as appalling as the other two of the same group......

[daviemck2006]

Shame them in public on their Facebook page. They don't like that [emoji4]

[wurlycorner]

If the car is out of warranty then they should be giving you a straight answer on that, at any rate!

My old local dealer, Helix used to be good (very long standing Citroen dealer).
They lost the franchise a few years ago and it switched to a nearby Vauxhall dealer (Quest motors). They're absolutely (-expletive removed-) useless with zero knowledge of Citroen stuff (this is all for parts supply I add, having never paid for Citroen main agent servicing!). I sure as hell wouldn't even consider taking a hydraulic Citroen to them and I just stopped going there ages ago for parts supply and was resorting to online mail order stuff only.
Fortunately I've recently discovered that my local Pug dealer (robins and day) can get Citroen spares because they have a Citroen franchise elsewhere. They're much better/knowledgeable, courteous and interested, so that's good. They're also closer, which is a bonus!

[Stickyfinger]

Near me is the ONLY Citroen dealer has ONE guy left who knows anything about real Citroen's, he is one of the senior mechs so can choose to do those cars he would like to do, the Parts Manager is an old time Citroen guy who trained with them as long ago as the old French only MicroView files......but he cannot help if Citroen keep shoving so many parts into the steaming great piles of NFP we are getting at the moment, even he is shocked to see such young parts going.

[wurlycorner]

Near me is the ONLY Citroen dealer has ONE guy left who knows anything about real Citroen's, he is one of the senior mechs so can choose to do those cars he would like to do, the Parts Manager is an old time Citroen guy who trained with them as long ago as the old French only MicroView files......but he cannot help if Citroen keep shoving so many parts into the steaming great piles of NFP we are getting at the moment, even he is shocked to see such young parts going.

Yep, Helix was good ok microfiche era service and parts techs.

I have a full set of microfiche for CX parts somewhere
(Not that I expect any of them are obtainable any more! )

[bobins]

Both the '08 and '09 C5 brochures claim the Hydractive 3+ suspension "is maintenace free for five years or 200,000km"

As for Citroen's customer service these days - I do wonder if certain car manufatcurers and/or importers are trying out a slightly different business model these days whereby they've realised they can make much more money with the leaseplan/PCP/etc deals. I realise lease/HP/etc have been around for a long time, but PCP etc have shot up in popularity over the last few years....... The customer signs to the plan based primarily on getting a new car for a relatively good low monthly price (customer service counts for little, price counts for lots !!), the car lasts the 3 or 4 years of the contract with few problems for the dealer to worry about, at the end of the deal the customer either buys the car for a good few £££££'s (along with inevitable problems which will inevitably be theirs to sort out and pay for !), or the dealer/importer takes it back. .....And when we then go and buy these second hand cars from the dealers, major components fail and it's down to us to fix them - the dealer/importer has absolutely nothing to gain from keeping the second hand car buyer happy as their business model is focused on making money from PCP/lease. For every used car buyer they pee-off with poor service, there'll be dozens they can draw in with good lease/PCP deals.
....or am I just too cynical these days ?

[DickieG]

Both the '08 and '09 C5 brochures claim the Hydractive 3+ suspension "is maintenace free for five years or 200,000km"

But that doesn't infer any form of warranty.

[Xantippa]

Leaking front struts do have extended 5 year / 200000km warranty - at least on certain cars. I had mine changed a bit under 5 years, and didn´t have to pay anything.