Team-BHP - Fiat revvs away from Tata dealerships. To set up its own distribution network

We need to understand one thing very clear, for us the owner Dealership is the face of the company, we don't go to Pune or udyog Vihar to purchase cars, we go to dealers and when we also know dealers have financial interests and thats why they continue their association with a brand, we don't and should not care about what hardship they face in their relation, as an owner if I am not getting proper service I will voice my concern in whatever way possible.

Vecto motor is providing below the avg service to most of the owners and extra mile service for a select few which is not acceptable, and I am going to write to Fiat India about this and I am looking at a legal angle too for deficiency in service and cheating.

Yes Cheating, my cars high tone horn was gone and I gave them to change it, I paid for it, after half an hour they returned my car and said new horn has been fitted but what they did was just try tune the old one, it worked for 1st few minutes, I paid the bill, which included body wash(which was done on previous night), temp sealing of turbo hose and horn change, total was 875/-, the lady at the counter said the printer was not working, and SA said "Sir anyways you have to give the car for Axil fixing as well as hose change, so that time I will give you this bill as well", in good faith I paid the amount in cash without bill, and what at Kudlu gate my horn is dead, I called up the SA and the lady more that 10 times, they did not pick my call, then I called from my friend's phone they picked!!! I gave them a mouthfull and warned them that time as I was stuck in Bomanhalli jam and could not come back. till now no call back from them to ask for my car to get the horn fixed, which I will get them to fix anyways, just not getting time to go. The same Tata Motor attitude has carried on in Vecto's blood, so untill and unless the blood is purified the sad story will continue.....

I really don't know which brand of car to purchase, Asians are in recall mood, Europeans are making a joke in the name of A.S.S., Americans don't give much choice:Frustrati

To recheck if spares are available over the counter, I started calling Vecto on the numbers advertised on their website : Phone : 080 25743544 / 45, no one would pick the phone. I also called their supposedly Exclusive Tech Helpline : 9900031998, no one answered. Tried a few times to no avail.

I then tried the number listed on Just Dial (080 25743542), after a few number busy's, a lady answered. I asked her to connect to Spares. She said they don't have a system in place to transfer calls. She asked me to dial a mobile number of Spares incharge. I tried several times, no one answers.

I called back the land line again after 1 hour and explained to the lady that no one is answering the mobile. She asked me what parts I was looking for. I told engine oil, oil filter, air filter and coolant for Palio. She said she will check and call me back in few mins after taking my number and name. I waited a good 90 mins, no call back.

When I called back again, she said she forgot to check. After asking her if she can help me, she put me on hold to check. Comes back and tells oil filter and air filter is presently not available, by the time you come for service we will arrange it. I then clarified that service is not what I am looking for, I want to buy these. She then clearly mentioned to me that none of them would be given over the counter. If you want book for a service and get them replaced or we cannot do anything.

All this took a good half day!!clap:

Quote:

Originally Posted by funkykar (Post 3135025)

So the claim of OTC spares available at Vecto falls flat please:

There is so much misinformation being spread on this thread and I'm sure that it is probably giving an unwanted bad name to Vecto which it doesn't deserve.

I hope that going forward all FIAT owners will post their genuine Service experiences from the newly opened FASS here for the benefit of others.

Let us not fear to call a spade a spade and I hope that everyone genuinely commenting here own & love the brand and would want to see FIAT improve. So if FIAT A.S.S experience is good let us appreciate them and if the experience is bad let us not hold back in admonishing them. The time for leniency is over :)

I had not got any of my or my friends' cars serviced at Vecto after the split until this Wednesday, so I have to cite an example of Vecto's quality going down post the Fiat-Tata split. My friend's Palio 1.6 (he is not a member here) was given for replacement of clutch master cylinder + all the regular servicing work this week. We took delivery of the car a couple of days back. While most of the regular servicing work and the clutch problem rectification has been done well as on the promised time thanks again to Surendra and Satish, what my friend and I didn't like were these negatives :

- The interiors were dirtied up in places and had a few black grease marks on the fabric seats. We couldn't see the marks since we took delivery at dusk time, but noticed it the next day. Prior to the tata-fiat split (in the older facility), they used to cover up all the seats with plastic sheets before the service technicians started working on the cars. Not sure why this practice has been stopped after moving to their new facility. Customers won't be delighted to drive a vehicle back with grease stains all over the seats. Also, it is also very difficult to remove the stains on fabric seats compared to leather. We may have to go to 3M car care to get these removed now :Frustrati, which my friend didn't appreciate. I believe Carrerastrax had the same problem mentioned a couple of pages back.

- The washed car had water marks in a lot of places. The quality suggested that the job had been done in a hurry (another sign of staff being overloaded by work?). Also, the interiors were stinking of kerosene smell. Maybe they had sprayed some anti-rust liquid somewhere, but the smell was overpowering in the cabin.

- Steering wheel dead position (when vehicle moves straight) was tilted 30 degrees to the left side after wheel alignment was done. My friend wasn't too happy about visiting a wheel alignment centre or heading back to Vecto for this additional work, immediately after getting the car from a service! Why fix it if it ain't broke? We hadn't asked for alignment to be done.

- I don't think Fiat centres or Vecto have any feedback forms or calls in place after the Tata-Fiat split. We neither received any feedback form to fill up during invoice time, nor did we get any followup call to check if our service went fine. Both of these were very strictly adhered to in their older Prerana motors facility.

Positives from Palio service experience : I don't think we faced any shortage of spare parts for this service. They had most of the spares (we needed) in stock - including the front AC vents which were broken, and some of the major ones like the clutch kit, brake pads, front bumper, fog lamps, headlights, etc. I have to admit the Palio spares are pricey compared to the more expensive Punto and Linea, which surprisingly have cheaper counterparts despite being costlier cars.

I have my T-Jet's service coming up in June/July and Punto's sometime in September based on my current running rate. I think I better purchase plastic sheets myself (for the upholstery), and will instruct them not to do wheel alignment/balancing or wash the car or apply any dashboard polish or rust treatment. :uncontrol

Wheel alignment / balancing will be done at Madhus, and wash/wax at 3m car care, HSR layout.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarthikK (Post 3136381)

I think I better purchase plastic sheets myself (for the upholstery), and will instruct them not to do wheel alignment/balancing or wash the car or apply any dashboard polish or rust treatment. :uncontrol

Wheel alignment / balancing will be done at Madhus, and wash/wax at 3m car care, HSR layout.

The security who notes your details when you drive in the car, puts the plastic cover on the seat. I complained about rattling, so they drive the vehicle without the plastic covers for diagnosis. And we cannot expect them to put it back on later, if they're working on some other aspect of the car.

The rattling isn't fixed, but I got grease on my seats. A thick layer of mud on the sides and under my front bumper, wheel wells and alloys. Well, it rained and their test circuit had become slushy. I'm of the opinion that they ought to have cleaned the car before delivery. A 3M store expense here.

My car's started to have a mind of its own after my first service. I knew it was the alignment and rectified it at Madhus. Again, this is an additional expense that's avoidable, if all was well at the service center.

I'm guessing, your friend is more or less happy with Vecto's service? I would be as long as they have the 'non-negotiables' in place - issue resolution, mechanical skills and parts availability etc. - anything that keeps the car in its safe operating limits and therefore the safety of the occupants.

The 'nice to haves' like a clean car etc. make up for the finer part of the overall experience. I read in one of the fiat threads that the driver seat settings(height, backrest incline) were recorded and it was set back before delivery. Looks like that was their plan, but reality is different. It will take a few months before all their operations fall into a groove. However, so far I'm still a happy customer of Vecto. Maybe I'm an easy one.

Make hay while the sun shines: Conspiracy theory suggests that the management (with P&L pressure in their lives) at Vecto would prefer the present day situation - where all fiats in Bangalore, Hosur have only one service center. Overload schedules, deny spares and force the customers to service with you; your ROI horizon is considerably reduced. Pay those overloaded SAs some more and take away their weekends as well. This is only an alternate theory and I have no facts to back it up, but it seemed a plausible situation to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by funkykar (Post 3135025)

Exactly the same happened to me. I called multiple numbers from their website and it took half an hour finally for some one to pick a call up. The one who picked up suggested another number who intern suggested another one and finally reached back the original number. The lady took down the spares I required and promised to call back in 15 mins, which did not happen. I called back after half an hour and someone else picked up. I was informed that the lady left and I can expect a call next day which too did not happen.

I was a happy customer till this experience, concord Cudlu gate and Asaf had treated me well.

Am just back from RDC Fiat Motors in Chennai. I had given my car for service and GC update kit.

The general standards of attending to a customer seem to have improved. You enter - They ask you for Coffee/ Tea/Lemon Tea/Soup and stuff. The customer lounge is also better. They even preponed my appointment by 5 days , when I had urgent issue that needed to be fixed ( The engine guard took a huge hit and needed urgent mending)

But I would really like to see improvements in car service. For Ex -

(1) I had complained of missing clamps inside my hood to keep the Black heat shield in check - After 5 days - it is not done and they say they dont have in stock

(2) I had asked them to put a new Mud-guard in the place of a missing one - After 5 days - Nopes it is not available

(3) Interior Cleaning - They didnt even bother putting in a foot rest cover. They put in a old newspaper there. An empty bottle of cleaning liquid lying around in the passenger seat. And to trump it all - they even broke the lock of the Glovebox and cooly left it in the cupholder. They did later fix the lock on my complaining. The manager was even ready to put in a new lock, but they managed to fix the old one.

To their credit - The GC kit was properly installed . The old parts were placed in a cardbaord carton in my boot. To my surprise the Carton read "Mopar" and then Chrysler, Fiat . So did I get Mopar suspension kit ?

And for people in Chennai looking for Fiat dealerships the news is

(1) RDC set to open up one more showroom and service center in Chennai at Ambattur near to Nissan Avenue showroom . This they say should start functioning from next month

(2) TVS is set to open a Fiat Showroom at OMR in Perungudi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sree_Ganesh (Post 3140973)

To my surprise the Carton read "Mopar" and then Chrysler, Fiat . So did I get Mopar suspension kit ?

Mopar is the entity (formed by Fiat-Chrysler) which is responsible for the Spares distribution in USA. They have started the same model here in India.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sree_Ganesh (Post 3140973)

(2) TVS is set to open a Fiat Showroom at OMR in Perungudi

Correction - TVS is not setting up the Fiat showroom. It is Ramkay (currently dealer for TVS 2 wheelers) which is going to setup the dealership. Showroom is going to be setup at Velachery and the service at Perungudi.

You have scared me by dragging the TVS name here. :D