I was getting a bit bored off late with Team BHP, and now this thread has rekindled my interest.
It'd only be fair to state here that i do own a fiat, which was largely serviced and maintained by the same dealership under discussion. And moreover, I am also guilty of throwing away a sales job largely due to reasons that are similar, but not identical to that of muneemk. So I feel that i might be able to empathise a bit with muneemk here. Let me chip in a few cents of my views, before this thread eventually gets locked.
1.Muneemk was really bold to pen down his 'service story' with the kind of honesty that shocks everybody.kudos for that. I, for one could've never done that on my own. Good show.
2.While he has revealed with shocking clarity how the dealership had been mismanaged by RF motors, many who had a first hand experience with the said dealer wouldn't be shocked at all. In facft I myself can author a whole new thread on the inept, irreverent and essentialy rude service crew they have up there.
3 I don't feel that munneem here has committed any offence driving a random car upto 165 ks. I Suppose this is an automotive forum,and that is what guys like us do when we get chances like that. I believe that the damage caused to the engine/drivetrain/entire car was well worth the experience. I am no M K Ghandhi, when it comes to having a bit of harmless fun, and seriously if you want to find fault, you can find them on any one.The kind of personal attack he received here for something of his own admission [he could have very well hidden this detail] is no way warranted.
4. As far as selling a lemon to the unsuspecting customer thingy goes, all I can say is that it does happen everywhere,right from your neighborhood fruit vendor to the people who sells an entire neighborhood.
Now what intend here is that everybody who sells, do sell lemons ocassionally.That is inevitable.
What really matters here is the amount of DAMAGE CONTROL that is done in such cases, and also the FREQUENCY at which lemons are being sold.
Imho, the former depends on the company's marketing policy, and the latter on production quality.
While the information provided here by muneemk is not sufficient enough to conclude that FIAT produces cars of inconsistent quality, however, it is seen that once such a thing happens, little is done by way of damage control. Hence i am inclined to conclude that FIAT Management,ie sales/marketing is to be blamed.
5. Other instance of general mismanagement and lack of ethics seems to be more dealer specific than pertaining to the company .It'd be helpful to know if they display the same level of ineptness in handling the TATA part of the dealership as well . Although i have reasons to believe so, it is better that we hear it straight from the horse's mouth
I have made the following assumptions before reaching this conclusions. If any of them are wrong, I may stand to be corrected.
a Muneemk being a sales man,his daily bread depends on him selling the car; lemon or not do not matter.
b Dealer has to purchase the car from the manufacturer and in turn sell it to the customer.
c It is in the company policy, but never practised, to take back lemons and issue new cars free of cost, if the dealer certifies so [I'D like to know how it is practiced in other trades also]
Hence if i generalize the case of lemon [ just so that i can take fiat out of the equation], if a company produced a lemon and sent it to their dealer, and the dealer tried to sell it to the customer in turn, thru the salesman, i'd say it is the company who's at fault here, because the dealer as well as the sales man are mere instruments as far as the company is concerned.
It is but common knowledge that the distributor would find himself another sales man, if the current one exhibits conscience prick when asked to sell a lemon.This is one field where ruthlessness,foul-mouth and a bad temper are considered qualifications for managers [ I might be over reacting, but this am stating frm my own observation]
I Guess the most simple and economical solution for as far as the dealer is concerned would be to dispose the car off , and pass the headache on to some unsuspecting customer, which he rightfully did
I'D Like to know how this undesired situation is avoided by different auto manufacturers, and also if some one can compare this with a similar situation in their respective trade/industry and how things are handled there, as opposed to what happened in this example.
Sorry guys for the rather long post, the actual reason is that i've got nothing else to do which is worthwhile.