[speedsatya]

Team,

While ,car makers can learn from MUL on how to sell 'not-so -great "cars effectively ,people can also learn from Fiat India on how NOT TO SELL .Fiat India will be a perfect example of failing in India ,inspite of having such superb cars like the Uno,Palio,Siena,.... What a shame !

Now this isnt the first time we reading about this ...so lets not waste time in talking about "what" and "why"

My boss who is a Fiat lover ( a perfect example of the heart ruling the brain ...like most of us ) has this well maintained 1.9D Palio which he has been using extensively over long drives and also city commuting.A couple of weeks ago,he damaged the LHS front fender on his 7 year old Palio . Instead of taking the car to a local garage ,he took the car to Prerna in Kudlu Gate assuming an authorised dealership would do a quality job.

Its been close to 3 weeks and they havent been able to replace this part .The first time ,a part is ordered ( now they dont have stocks available) and reached Bangalore after 3-4 days ,only to realise that this fender is not for this car .Its some other size!!

They then say that the part has to be ordered again .Its been 2 weeks now and a simple front fender has still not arrived!

I can only pity Fiat owners here and I can only admire their love for their cars .If a small fender cannot be sourced ,imagine what would happen if its an engine part that has to be sourced .

We are now trying to source this part from a local scrap dealer who has said he can get this part ASAP !

I can now understand as to how did cars like Santros and Zens sell more than the Fiat Uno which had been best selling in all other geographies .I am only grateful ,my family didnt agree to my original choice of a Palio GTX and instead opted for a Zen as our first car .

If I had to buy a Palio GTX and if I had to maintain it the same way as I maintain my Zen ...I would have been divorced and bankrupt by now .

[figo_mba]

Speedsatya; I am not a fiat fan nor fiat hater.

Having said that the issue that you are facing is because the production of the parts for the Palio has stopped and I hear they are being sourced from Brazil where the car is still in production (or was it the parts that is still in production).

I am just saying that there is all probability that it is being sourced from Brazil and so the delay.

It is really bad if they cant get an order correct.
I would also want to say that the delay is not restricted to Palio.
I had faced the issue when the front right fender of my Linea was scraped by an auto and left fender came when ordered for. The car was not available for good part of a month. (Came to know later that the warehouse of Fiat was on fire and there was part problem and that caused the delay after the mixup).

[Klub Class]

Satya, did your boss try his luck sourcing the parts all by himself?

If no, then I suggest your boss to check with :

1) Shell Motors at JC Road Bangalore. You can talk with Mr Joe of Shell Motors at 080-2670-8892

2) Kava Motors. You can reach Mr Vijay Sheth at 0983-3606-750 kava auto at Yahoo dot com

For your info, Kava Motors send parts via Sharma Travels to Bangalore.



OT : If the last line in Satya's post is true, we can see our in-house Fiat Palio GTX owner JVH going bankrupt in near future. For the uninitiated, JVH traded off his Maruti Zen for a pre owned GTX few years back. Please take no offense, Satya and JVH.

[prakash_ajp]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Team,

While ,car makers can learn from MUL on how to sell 'not-so -great "cars effectively ,people can also learn from Fiat India on how NOT TO SELL .Fiat India will be a perfect example of failing in India ,inspite of having such superb cars like the Uno,Palio,Siena,.... What a shame !

Now this isnt the first time we reading about this ...so lets not waste time in talking about "what" and "why"
...
I can only pity Fiat owners here and I can only admire their love for their cars .If a small fender cannot be sourced ,imagine what would happen if its an engine part that has to be sourced .
...
If I had to buy a Palio GTX and if I had to maintain it the same way as I maintain my Zen ...I would have been divorced and bankrupt by now .

I am very surprised that there is so much emotion and outcry in your post, considering that the experience wasn't even yours. It looks like you were waiting for an opportunity like this and honestly I even doubt if it really required a separate thread.

We hear stories of this kind all the time on all brands. And I think it's not right to pass a judgement based on an order arriving late. There could be several reasons for this - it could be as silly as a human error.

Another point I wanted to make for a long time: If someone loves a brand, I can totally understand that. But what I fail to understand is why someone would hate a brand, unless you have been wronged badly. I mean, not liking the brand and hating are two different things, right? Also, people think that the customer support only works one-way. Contrarily I feel that, at times, even the big companies would need some help from their customers, such as trying to understand their side of the story, putting themselves in the company's shoes etc. I think it's very wrong to think of companies as some non-human entities. Companies are after all made of people, right? Personally, as long as there is the attitude to support the customer, I can live with most other issues.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Team,
Now this isnt the first time we reading about this ...so lets not waste time in talking about "what" and "why"

I am not a Fiat owner myself but in the past 1 year, I have spent enough time & effort first to help my friend own a pre-worshipped 1.6s and then on bringing it back to pristine condition.

I have spent a good number of my weekends and weekdays with him to ensure that his car gets all the attention to get back to its original fit and finish, sometimes right at my home fixing the Wiper Arms and Motors, plugs etc.

The car had clocked ~55k KMS when we drove it down to Bangalore from Chennai. All the initial service repairs - Lubricants,Suspensions, Brake Discs, Pads etc was carried out at a supposedly well known Mechanic who only turned out to be cheat himself after we started to read posts here on his traits & tactics.

We then took the car to Concorde Motors (Hosur Road). Even though TATA Motors, who were authorized to carry out service, obliged to take care of the service but as bad luck would've had, they admitted to severe crunch in supply of even vital and most common parts from FIAT and at one point even told us that taking FIAT vehicles for service these days had become a pain and they are mostly avoiding taking FIAT cars off-late.

Having spent a good number of visits to MSIL workshops after owning a Maruti myself, It is not a comparison I am trying to make but the dejected feeling anyone will have when nothing really works according to their very basic expectations when it comes to car servicing.

At this point in time, the car needs some body work for removal of dents and scratches and might need replacement of Fender or bumper too but the only options we have now is finding a local garage to get these done.

Parts may not be available at authorized FIAT ASCs but as many owners report, a few business establishments do sell them (Mostly Mumbai).

End of the day, they (FIAT) have really let the owners down.

[speedsatya]

Note from the Team-BHP Support : Please avoid typing with excessive dots.........like................this. Thanks

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

I am very surprised that there is so much emotion and outcry in your post, considering that the experience wasn't even yours. It looks like you were waiting for an opportunity like this and honestly I even doubt if it really required a separate thread.

.

.
The reason I wrote this is because the Punto is one of my favorite cars at present. The only reason I am not buying any car right now is because I am waiting to see how the new FIAT dealerships fare .There are other overpriced small cars ,but nothing will appeal to me like the GTX 1.6 or the Punto .Thanks to dealers like these and thanks to dealers like Suraksha ...ppl like me will be forced to buy a MUL car with a Fiat engine

And being a car lover ,it pains to see good cars fail in markets just because the A.S.S is pathetic .

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

We hear stories of this kind all the time on all brands. And I think it's not right to pass a judgement based on an order arriving late. There could be several reasons for this - it could be as silly as a human error.

.

Maruti still has spares for the carb M800 and I can bet no dealer in any part of the country would take 1 week to source a part thats so highly prone to damages as a side fender .

The reason this dealer was so callous is because its a Tata-Fiat .Would a MUL or a HMIL dealer dare to order a wrong part and get away with it !
This is unpardonable for sure !

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

Another point I wanted to make for a long time: If someone loves a brand, I can totally understand that. But what I fail to understand is why someone would hate a brand, unless you have been wronged badly.
.

Please read carefully . I have never said the FIAT brand is an issue ...I have said its the A.S.S


BTW ...there was a typo ...the dealer was Prerna ...not Pratham

OT : If the last line in Satya's post is true, we can see our in-house Fiat Palio GTX owner JVH going bankrupt in near future. For the uninitiated, JVH traded off his Maruti Zen for a pre owned GTX few years back. Please take no offense, Satya and JVH.

.

I would never give away my Zen ...but I have seen close friends of mine owning the GTX spend 2-3 times of what i spend on repairs ...but then the GTX is definitely more solid ...no comparisons between a Zen and the Palio for sure ...the Palio GTX will win hands down in any other country as the more preferred car...So many of us would rush to buy Fiats if only FIAT India had better dealers and committment from these dealers

And yeah ...thanks for the info ...I have passed on the dealer contacts

[Enigmatic]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Its been close to 3 weeks and they havent been able to replace this part .The first time ,a part is ordered ( now they dont have stocks available) and reached Bangalore after 3-4 days ,only to realise that this fender is not for this car .Its some other size!!
.

Speedsatya , don't you think that more than Fiat , its the dealers fault ??

As you have yourself mentioned , when the parts were ordered for the first time they did arrive in a span of 4 days which is pretty respectable considering that its a 7 year old car that has gone out of production long back !!

Also I don't think that Fiat has let anyone down !! Its more of their game plan that has left themselves down . They have always made brilliant cars , its their partners that they have failed to choose correctly . First PAL and now Tata .

Moreover my brother in law drives a punto 1.3 . He has driven over 70000km and the car has never let him down even once ! There is not a even a squeak from anywhere unlike the ones people keep on complaining about the swift . The turbo still feels like new and to top it all , It gives him a constant mileage Of around 18 in Delhi traffic .

I would strongly suggest you to change the dealer you are dealing with rather than bashing about Fiat !

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by Enigmatic

Speedsatya , don't you think that more than Fiat , its the dealers fault ??

!

I agree its been the partners ...but to some extent ...they themselves are responsible . Would a MUL or HMIL dealer got away with pathetic A.S.S the way these Fiat dealers get away with . Its not just one dealer that has been a problem ..a few days back ..we had gone to check out the Linea at this dealer on ORR ...and the sales personnel werent bothered ...they even suggested us to check out the Manza instead of the Linea .. My cousin ended up buying a VW .


I used to admire this particular car for the way it was maintained ...and this was the only reason that I posted this .

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Well, I did not want to bring this up here.

One of my friends bought a Punto active during Diwali and just after driving it for 400 KM there was some sound from the engine bay. went to Pandit motors and got back the car within no time (considering the Diwali vacations).

The issue turned out to be a loose tappet nut.

Again the car had to be given for denting and paining work INsurance and everything taken care by Pandit Auto and the car was given back in 2 days.

People need to understand that its after a machine and people working in comapnies and service stations are human beings just like you and me. Give them some time and they sure will do a quality job for you.

My experience with FIAT was good for the three years that I owned a Palio 1.2 and still is good. (Even though its because of TATA-FIAT alliance that they lost a hard core FIAT fan who had to buy a Ford). Anyways, will surely buy a FIAT and will recommend others to buy it for the sheer joy of driving and owning a FIAT!

[RIC.BURNS]

I honestly thought from your title and rampage there was something really serious happened to your car, surprised to see a fender replacement problem. I guess if this was a serious problem with a lemon or something you would have shot the dealer people. .

As Enigmatic said, the first one arrived in 4 days. Have you checked the confirmation of order to FIAT from the dealer for the second one? Its most of the time with the mighty TATA dealers, they are just plain lame.

I had my car's interior panel was out of the place while delivery and they promised me to provide a replacement in the next week, but no reply for another 3 weeks. I sent a mail to fiat asking for reasons, guess what the dealer tried calling me the next day and through mails when failed to get me on my phone. I am sure its the case with most of the customers, don't simply blame FIAT. There are other manufacturers who gives a damn about customer's money, FIAT don't top them.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

My boss who is a Fiat lover ( a perfect example of the heart ruling the brain ...like most of us ) has this well maintained 1.9D Palio which he has been using extensively over long drives and also city commuting.A couple of weeks ago,he damaged the LHS front fender on his 7 year old Palio . Instead of taking the car to a local garage ,he took the car to Prerna in Kudlu Gate assuming an authorised dealership would do a quality job.

Its been close to 3 weeks and they havent been able to replace this part .The first time ,a part is ordered ( now they dont have stocks available) and reached Bangalore after 3-4 days ,only to realise that this fender is not for this car .Its some other size!!

Sorry to hear the plight of your boss. Clearly a fault of the dealer. Most of the time the Tata dealers just don't place the order for the part. If they do, it would be a wrong part. Not sure why, may be because of the low volume transactions for Fiat parts, esp the older models. But I would suggest to pursue with Prerana itself to get genuine part. I am sure Fiat has enough stock. Talk to the service advisor and get the order details and follow up with Fiat by sending email to partshelpindia [at] fiapl.com. They generally respond and are helpful to get availability information. But they can only help if the Tata dealer has placed the order in the first place.

Regards,
Bejoy

[clevermax]

I think the dealer messed things up here, this is not the case with all Fiat dealerships.

I got my 6.5 year old Palio serviced from MyTVS recently. There were quite a few part replacements done including lower arms, strut bearings, clutch assy. etc. All the parts to be replaced were readily available with MyTVS and I got the car back without having to wait for parts to arrive.

[theexperthand]

Sathya - parts problem happens some times. My uncles Honda Jazz is in the workshop for close to 2 months now - the car met with an accident and we need to replace front fender and some other parts. Honda dealer says the parts are not available any where and the mails we sent to Honda customer care did not generate any useful response. only after a direct visit by him to the Chennai warehouse and putting pressure on right people, the parts were allocated (it was almost 3~4 weeks after we gave the car to service center) and once the parts were allocated, they said they will load it in the truck and will send it to the dealer in kerala and they said it will take more than 1 week to deliver the parts.

we are still waiting for the parts to arrive at the dealer in Kerala.

Bottom line is - even for current running models, part crunch happens at times. If I was your friend, i would have got to the root of the issue and would have tried to speed up the process (exactly what I and my uncle did for his car). May be your friend can take the same route to get the problem fixed as soon as possible.

[revintup]

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

Another point I wanted to make for a long time: If someone loves a brand, I can totally understand that. But what I fail to understand is why someone would hate a brand, unless you have been wronged badly. I mean, not liking the brand and hating are two different things, right?

I HATE FIAT.

I grew up admiring the fiat brand. My uncle had an old fiat while we had an amby and somehow i always seemed to love the fiat more than the amby. Could be because of the obvious love my uncle had for the fiat.

Fastforward to 1995? Uno is launched. I visit the showroom with my dad, and fell in love with the maroon beauty. Listened in awe as the SE explained how solid the car was, and said i could dance on the car if i wanted to.

A big glee, we book the car and is promised delivery in three months.

One year later, no confirmation about delivery, umpteen excuses. We cancel the order and go in for an esteem, which served us well for almost ten years.

Fastforward to 2009? Linea happens. Punto arrives. i drool over it. love it. would kill to own one. Waiting for the right time.

2011. My first car, the trusty little M800 needs to be replaced. And am going for the new one one with my own money.

Here is where i learn that i do have a brain. And where i learn that knowing too much about cars causes more agony than otherwise. My heart wants the linea, while my head just wouldnt hear any of it. The horrible dealership attitude that i myself experienced, plus what i heard of from friends and teamBHP made me walk away from fiat.

FIAT. You make the most desirable cars, the best engines, very solid cars but you dont care to sell them.

And for that, I HATE YOU. Because Y O U are guilty of not letting me buy a fiat.

[mayankjha1806]

The amount of support that you see for fiat is seriously infectious.

Still Fiat is not able sell their cars when others are able to easily do it with much inferior cars. In 2003 when i was thinking of selling my Indica in Chennai and move to Palio GTX, i was denied a TD as they said they do not get cars home to give TD when everyone else would happily do it.

I dont think it needs to rocket scientist to figure out what are the problems and have a plan in addressing those. Ten years of problematic sales/service experience means something is seriously wrong with the management.