[harry_jatt]

fiat service is quite bad....one has to look for alternatives i guess..atleast that is what i have done for my palio1.2 elx(2002)

[StarVegabond]

21% - exceeds or excellent
52% - meets the expectations
26% - below expectation or need improvement
Sample size (= number of votes) = 187
that is the mota-moti summery for a new visitor
i did not vote as i have already sold my FIAT Palio
As an Ex FIAT Palio owner i am happy that ~74% of the owners feel that the FIAT after sales servcie meets, exceeds or excellent in delivering expectations. only 26% feels that it needs improvement or below expectations.

But i am bit worried when one sees that more number of owners (26%) feel that it needs to still improve compared to number of owners (21%) feel it is excellent.

If one looks at Average FIAT car sales (~ 2000 nos) per month, and if one cumulates all the vehicles sold till now, i assume this sample size (votes) is not even 1% of the owners. More over i am not sure of demographics of this sample size (e.g. number of years of ownership, type of ownership, age profile of the owners etc)

hence in my view this can be viewed as more of a guidance.
a wise customer is one who makes a conscious choice and be at peace with it.

FIAT makes great cars and is a great brand. I am sure they are working to improve the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. there are some lead indicators.

but lag indicator (sales growth) is yet to happen, but one needs to give some time to FIAT as they have just completed 2+ years of their partnership with Tata.

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Just had a talk with my friend at urmil.

In Dynamic models, it will work perfectly.

In Active, the technician tells that some models may not have the so called actuator which controls the remote locking/ unlocking of doors. If the active model is equipped with an actuator, it will work perfectly on active. Even I was baffled as how can a car even work without an actuator.
He said that it is separate in that model.

Give me details like date of manufacturing and if it is a 1.2 petrol or 1.3 diesel.

I will post an update tomorrow.

Hi Sid

Just checked with my friend , the CAR was manufactured on 25th Sep, 2009 and it's a 1.2 Active Petrol model. The delivery was taken on 30th Jan.

Thanks

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by harry_jatt

fiat service is quite bad....one has to look for alternatives i guess..atleast that is what i have done for my palio1.2 elx(2002)

Although I had voted positive in this poll, I now regret my vote. Is there a way I can change?

You call up Fiat for any spare, the reply is standard - "Sir its out of stock. We can get it for you in 4-5 days". C'mon! So, does Fiat expect customers to have their vehicles spending more time at the workshop than on the road?

I took my Punto in December 2009, and the rear right door latch has already given off! Thankfully for me, the door unlocked when it was parked, and not while on the run. I am now driving around a 6 lakh hatch with the rear door tied with a rope - because, no dealership around this place has a latch in stock! The expected time to get such an important part is 5 days to 2 weeks (each dealer had a different time period to say).

The last time I had to run behind three different dealers to get another assembly - and finally managed to get them in pieces from two different dealers. The indicator lamp had given off about a month back, and that made be run behind the dealer for two days - at last, it was diagnosed to the a fused bulb!

The car is certainly an amazing product, but the after sales is certainly not. I am no seriously disgusted by the way FIAT is handling their spares inventory.

[finneyp]

Binai, Fast moving & critical spares will be readily available, but uncommon spares like door latch is normally not stocked by the dealers.
This holds good for other car brands too.

Hence, pls don't jump the gun on Fiat service.
Place the order with your Tata-Fiat dealer & you should get in 3 - 4 days.

[CliffHanger]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Although I had voted positive in this poll, I now regret my vote. Is there a way I can change?

+100 to this.

I have been waiting for 3 spare parts ( one being front mudgaurd liner) for over 3months, yeah over 3months!!, and even after making innumerous complaints over phone and through their websites and several calls from the dealer, I'm yet to procure them.

I'm absolutely irritated and just wondering how I'm going to suffer in the hands of these mindless creatures in future. If Fiat is not able to stock spares for their new launches, I can only pray to GOD for people who own their previous products.

[finneyp]

Cliffhanger, did you escalate to: service@fiapl.com & mangesh.kodalkar@fiapl.com ?

[CliffHanger]

@fiineyp, I remember doing that, but once I do that the general response would be - A person from the service station calls me, assures me that he will follow up with the status, but that will be the last interaction with him, he/she never calls me back.

Also, I don't want to mail Fiat officials for each and every issue that I face, it shouldn't be the way to get things resolved.

And another bad approach these people follow is - they do all theirs antics and at end of their work they plead to give a good rating for their work, and if I end up giving a bad rating, I get a call from Pune stating that I give my car back to the service station. Now, they try to fix up all their goof-up they done and give back the car. It goes like a spiral model, at one point I would start to live with it since I can't keep going to the service station again and again.

This is the case that happened with the latest issue of procuring spare parts too. With the work commitments I have, I just can not keep calling them daily and ask for status and If I don't follow-up for a day or two, then the case is closed. They never get back to you and after a week if I call them back, they don't re-open the case, instead, they open an all new case for this and again it goes on.

Suggestion to Fiat - Please issue a ticket for whatever complaints the customer has to make either through phone or at the service station. Instead of having a team that makes calls to customers after reading their feedback, have a team that keep tracks of these tickets, let this team talk to TASS and check the status, escalate accordingly, let this team take action if the ticket is not closed as per SLA. To do that, create a SLA (Service Level agreement), penalize the service stations that violate the SLAs. Understand that the customer doesn't wants kind words from Fiat personals, he/she just wants the problem to be solved. Lastly hire some management gurus, there is absolutely nor form of management or co-ordination that exist.

There is a lot of disconnet between TASS and Fiat, most of the data that pass on from TASS to Fiat is manipulated before being sent. And Fiat, thinking that TASS is doing OK job, they continue sell more models.

Fiat - If you want to survive, you need to be proactive and not reactive. But before that, at least try to do what you are supposed to do!

@ MODS- If possible, please allow re-editing the vote. Also, the current set of options doesn't have an option to show whether the customer is really frustrated, so please add another option "Disastrous". This would tell how many people are badly treated in the hands of Fiat service.

[amoghchaphalkar]

I have a feeling that something is messed up with Tata-Fiat logistics. I remember, when I got my Punto's door replaced I was told that the parts order is routed through Tata. Fiat ships the spares to Tata and then Tata dispatches them to the respective SC's.

Pune-Mumbai don't seem to face so much delays (I got a brand new door in 5 working days along with the complete mirror assembly and its electrical's.) The cities down South are facing the most issues. This is definitely a logistics issue.

@binaiks : I really feel sorry for you. Driving a Punto with rear door tied with a rope sounds really terrible. Here is what you can do:

Get the order number from your SC (This is the number of the order that the service centre has placed on Fiat for the particular spare part) Also get the part number. Email both these numbers to service@fiapl.com and Mangesh. Also call the fiat toll free and give them these numbers.

These numbers are not at all confidential and the customer has the right to know them. I had done this when I got my Punto's door changed.

Good luck !!

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Binai, Fast moving & critical spares will be readily available, but uncommon spares like door latch is normally not stocked by the dealers.
This holds good for other car brands too.

I doubt if a door latch is an uncommon part - it certainly is not. From an interaction I had with an SA at one of the three dealers I contacted, I understand that latch failure is among the most commonly reported problems on the Punto now. (As soon as he saw my car, he said to his friend - "Another one!" I questioned him following this, and skeletons did tumble out of the cupboard).

In fact, a Latch failure would've been fatal had the car been running at a high speed, or if a person was leaning on to the door. The part being out of stock at all the three dealers does ring bells in my mind.

[neoonwheels]

It seems the problem is, TATA/FIAT is not making any compulsion on a dealer to stock few parts round the clock. Or if they have this policy in place then they are not following this up. Another thing is, FIAT is only responsible for manufacturing the part, it is TATA's responsibility to ship it to the respective dealership.

FIAT/TATA should understand that only advertising in paper about fast service and all crap is not going to help them until people realize, its actually implemented to the core.

[ysapre]

I guess reading all the messages- i feel i am lucky that i have not faced any issue in my Palio 1.2 sports [used for 80K kms and 7years] that i decided to go for LINEA and its been almost one year with 16K kms without any issues again!

[CliffHanger]

Oh!! My oh My!!!! Can somebody save me from Fiat!! They are really getting on to my nerves.

After nearly 4months and plenty of assurances, I sent my car to get a few parts replaced and get the second service done. In came a shocker now, the lady who gave so many assurances called me now and informed that she is going to order those parts and will let me know the status on monday.
What!!!

God give me a break!!!

EDIT: Finally some respite. The lady just called me back and informed that the parts are indeed available in the stock and will be fitted into my car. When asked why did she inform in the negative, she just had a smile! Just goes to show how well trained the staffs are, Great!!

[mkh]

Sad,
The question is not on how much improvement FIAT has made, the real question is that other than DIE hard fiat lovers( of which we have aplenty on TBHP), will they EVER be able to have the neutral customer who is just buying a car for the quality of the product, to visit the FIAT showroom? I think the TATA tie up has not helped, a lot of focus and effort will be needed. A great product like Punto/Linea begging for someone to take more care!!

[tortoiseNhare]

Here you'll find my latest experience with TASS

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post1817468