Do not buy a Kit from Fiero

[Big Bloke]

This is a post to warn people about buying any kit from Fiero.
Here is a list of reasons:
They don't know the meaning of customer service.
They don't supply a build manual with the majority of their kits.
Their standard of workmanship is very poor.
They will try to charge you for things that they haven't done.
They will charge you for new items when they supllied and fitted 2nd hand ones.
They will do work that you have not asked to be done and then charge you for doing it.
They will take months to do any work.
They claim that their kits are based on one donor car principle but they are not and they will replace items when they have the car and then charge you for the new part and for doing so.
Steve Briddon is so unhelpfull when you ring for advice it is unbelievable. He will not give specific part details but will say that any will do. One of his personal favourites.
Before you have paid any money they couldn't do enough for you but once you have paid beware, it all changes.

All these examples are from first hand experience and I would be interested to hear from anyone with any experience of Fiero good or bad.

[whitty121]

I have to agree I was thinking about buying from them but after several evasive e-mails from Steve I went to see him at the sports car show at the nec, I have never meet someone so ignorant he wouldn’t get out of his chair to show me around the car that was there, he only answered the easy questions and told me to refer to the build manual after I had bought the kit, and told me that to put a ford v8 in I would need the v5 from the vehicle it came for he said nothing else would do.

Even after all this I wasn’t put of so I tried to contact them about a factory visit and to look at there demonstrator, what a waste of time and effort, I tried for six weeks, phoning e-mailing I even sent a fax, but no one would give me a date to go, so as there not far from me I went a drive over, when I got there I was told that they were to busy and that I should have phoned, that was the last time I had any contact with the fiero factory.

Mark

[David]

Makes you wander how a company like this stays in business.

[Big Bloke]

Exactly! But if we can reduce their sales enough it should force them to address why and hopefully as a result they may improve. It's a long shot I know but I don't know what else to do. Any suggestions?

[PeteV]

Anyone else notice the slightly 'odd' appearance of the Fiero demonstrator at the Exeter show ??. Looking at the position of the front wheels there appeared to be vastly different wheel-to-body gaps when comparing each side of the car ??


Pete.

[DrFelch]

It was certainly one of the worst at the show.. they also had some crappy ferrari replica (MR2 with a body kit I think) with different colour panels.. not really a good thing to have as your demo car...

I know someone who is building one of their dodge viper replicas and the stories he has told me about them are literally unbelivable...

Marcus

[agwebsites]

As a Fiero owner I am very surprised by your comments. In fact I find it very hard to believe you are talking about the same company that I have dealt with. Not only me, other Fiero owners I have spoken to are equally happy.

‘They don't know the meaning of customer service’ :- It may have something to do with my age, but when I was looking into buying a kit a couple of years ago Fiero and Classic Replicas were the only two companies that seemed to take me seriously. Some companies I wouldn’t have done business with if they offered me the kit at half price! Absolutely no complaints about any of the service I have received from, in fact I would without question recommend them for the service I have always received.

‘They don't supply a build manual with the majority of their kits’ :- I can only speak for the Euro 427, which does come with a build guide. To be honest it is more than enough. It is so simple to build that you don’t need a build manual, just all slots together. As a kid I built more complex Airfix models.

‘Their standard of workmanship is very poor.’ :- My only complaint is that the finish on the body shell requires a lot of work before it is painted. However, I have no complaint with the quality/strength of the body shell. Also, they will do the prep work and painting of the shell for you at a very reasonable price. The chassis appears to be constructed very well and all holes, mounts etc are exactly where they should be. I have also had special engine mounts and manifolds made by them and the workmanship is first class. The engine tuner I use even commented on the build quality of the manifolds.

‘They will do work that you have not asked to be done and then charge you for doing it’ :- An error meant they sent my chassis for powder coating before the kit was delivered. Once I explained that I hadn’t requested this to be done, they without question removed the charge from my invoice, while still letting me keep the coated chassis.

‘They will take months to do any work’ :- Everything I have ordered has been ready when they said it would be and never taken an unreasonable length of time.

‘They claim that their kits are based on one donor car principle but they are not and they will replace items when they have the car and then charge you for the new part and for doing so’ :- Again just speaking about the Euro. It is a single donor kit, with exception to items such as the wiper motor. I did however need to change the Mushrooms at one point as I changed from Granada to Sierra hubs. They swapped them at one of the shows for me, free of charge, even though I had badly painted the old ones.

‘He will not give specific part details but will say that any will do. One of his personal favourites’ :- If he says any will do then any probably will do!

:7 One happy Fiero Customer! :7

Andy

[Big Bloke]

I am surprised that you are talking about Fiero Factory as I too am a Fiero owner and have had nothing but problems with them from the word go and indeed I haven't, until now, ever heard a good word said about them! It does sound to me though that you have done all the work yourself and you have not had to rely on them to do any work on the car at all except supply it. Is this correct?
I have been dealing with them since 98 and they were fine and very helpful up until they received my money and the first issue with the chassis was discovered, but ever since then they have been a complete nightmare. There was an error in the welding up of my chasis to the extent that it had to be returned to them to be rectified. There was no apology for the inconvenience and they were put out that I could not sort it myself and was going to inconvenience them with this problem!

What does the build guide you have consist of because if it's anything like the one for their Viper replica it isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

The finish on their body kits do require a lot of prep work and it isn't the type of finish to the gel coat that you can drive round for a year for it to bake. There are too many cut and adjustments that need to be made for the body to fit, for that for a start.

They sound like they are being more generous to you becuase they are still trying to charge me for items that they fitted that were not requested or wanted and that was a long time ago now!

I have not ordered anything through them yet but I am specifically talking about booked in work to be done by them, specifcally fitting the body kit which took them 2 months to do! If you haven't had any work done to your car by them then you will not have any experience of this.

If he says any will do then any probably will do!Unfortunately this is far from the case as i have found out to my expense!

You have been lucky so far but take my and the others who have contributed to this post, advise and steer clear from them in the future as you will probably not be so lucky again.

[Miket]

Andy

Sorry, I must agree with all the negative vibes on the Fiero Cob replica.

They had their demo car positioned in the entrance to the Exeter Show and it looked dissgusting.

Could'nt even be bothered to take the hood off all weekend, proberbly to stop punters looking inside.

Enough said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[agwebsites]

I did build my car myself, well myself would be a bit unfair. Brother, partner, next door neighbour etc and myself built the car

Fiero made engine mounts for me and shorten the drive shaft, which involved taking the engine and gearbox down from Derby to Birmingham in the back of an old Sierra hatch. Not only do I have no complaints with the work they did, they were very helpful getting the engine out of, and back in, the boot. Involved removing and refitting the hatch door, which although time consuming was done with the good humour it deserved.

He who remains nameless, ‘but take my and the others who have contributed to this post, advise and steer clear from them in the future ; As you and I are the only two owners to comment and my experiences are good, it could be a bit foolish of me too avoid them in the future. In fact, once I have finally got my Cobra how I want it, I am giving very serious thought to building one of their Vipers. Same chassis, so everything I have learnt from this build can be put to good use.

In your description you make out that they built the car for you. Yet you had to return the chassis, which would indicate that you were building it yourself. Thus you should have had the build guide. Which kit do you have?

I didn’t make it to the Exeter Show so can’t comment on the demo car they were showing. It wouldn’t be the first time a kit car company turned up with shoddy demo car. I have been to enough shows to know from other owners’ cars that there are well built cars and badly built cars. Just because one is badly built doesn’t mean all from that manufacture are badly built. The interior of the car is hardly important, the more you spend on it the better it looks in any Cobra, as long as the builder has taste

Again I am happily recommending Fiero to any future Cobra owner looking to use a Sierra donor. What’s more, I don’t feel the need to remain nameless.

Andy