[achinthg]

Don't change the car, change the TASS !!!

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by geeash

I did my homework before buying linea. and only after the promise from the dealership that the parts are readily avaialble i opted to go for linea.

Dr, buying any car with a suspect dealer network would need one to be prepared to take unconventional routes. Here is what you need to do immediately

1) Get the touch up done from Concord for free. That would be the last time you go there

2) Network with similar owners and figure which is the best service facility in your city. Go there, even if that is a day's work to get there.

3) Build your own connection to source parts. I know it is difficult. But, if you are a true fanboy, you got to do it

What you have faced could happen to anyone. I've gone through problems with Maruti A.S.S long time back. I've never visited them again. Later, I even bought probably the "costliest" Maruti to maintain this side of GV.

Believe me, I am no more worried about sourcing parts. My problem with one A.S.S made me explore and build relationships that would take care of my cars. Added benifit was I made friendships with many whom I would've never met otherwise.

Good luck

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by WhiteKnight

Dr, buying any car with a suspect dealer network would need one to be prepared to take unconventional routes. ...
What you have faced could happen to anyone. I've gone through problems with Maruti A.S.S long time back. I've never visited them again. Later, I even bought probably the "costliest" Maruti to maintain this side of GV.

Believe me, I am no more worried about sourcing parts. My problem with one A.S.S made me explore and build relationships that would take care of my cars. Added benifit was I made friendships with many whom I would've never met otherwise.

Good luck

Hats off. The best possible reply, one that Geeash can think about. Having mechanics whom you know at a personal level can go a very long way in taking care of your car.

[shankar.balan]

After Sales Service is the typical trouble-spot. We are aware that Tata A S S was never much to write home about in the first place. Therefore we should be prepared for some amount of disappointment on Fiat service too. I think Fiat should clean up its act on A S S first before causing further chaos to consumers by launching new cars and variants.

[geeash]

Went to concorde and gave them a bashing.

They have taken the car for repainting job. i have clearly told them that i am clearly disappointed


Another issue has cropped up.

as i have clearly told the parts are not freely available. yesterday after the accident the foglamp and the bezel for foglamp is not available.

As i told you guys the spares even like the fog lamp which are prone to get damaged are not freely available with concorde. They have even called VST motors , it is not available there either.

I spoke my mind off to the customer saled head of tamilnadu and have clearly voice my displeasure.
i made sure that they dont mess up sourcing parts this time as they did for my alloy wheel ( which took 4 weeks to come - please see my thread for details). i have gotten a written letter telling me this

As agreed by us we brought your vehicle today morning and rectified the painting issue, apart from that you have asked us to replace the front left side fog lamp and fog lamp bezel, since the part not available in our stock and same is expected on 26/11/09, we will send our person to your place and replace the part on 27/11/09

Service Manager - Ambattur
Concorde Motors India Ltd,
Ph: 65511070/71

i had asked the sales manager why this is happening. he keeps on telling " some parts are not required on a day to day basis so we dont stock them"

But i am not buying his theory as it took me 4 weeks to get the alloy and 5 months to get a seat replacement.

even for my friend binze john it has taken 3 months to get a door replacement. even for the linea sticker logo it has taken 4 week for them to get it for him.

so this clearly states there is some problem in the spares availability.

i have had a santo, verna, ikon, sumo, omni, premier padmini at my home. never have i had problems with spares.

Linea is the only car for which i am facing this problem.

i have even checked others in this problem . like earlier post by CARSPG also says that the parts are clearly not available freely.

i am now terribly worried whether the linea / punto will go the palio / petra / sienna way !!!!

We have to now find a solution!!. how can we prevent GP/Linea from going the palio way???

[Gilead]

I am extremely surprised that Fiat does not provide credit to its dealers. Credit is the lifeline of many businesses and they should have factored it into their business case. Hyundai and Ford are able to supply spares for the discontinued Elantra and Mondeo in 4-5 days, so Fiat not being able to consistently supply spares for a car that sells a 1000 odd units a month is not good news.

[Dine]

I am sorry for Geeash, it shouldn't be happening to you.

It was a confirmed Red Punto/Fox Trot Azure Linea for me, now I need to re-consider my decision.
FIAT pull up your socks and improve the service network.
A.S.S seems to be Archilles Foot for FIAT in India.

[geeash]

The car came back now!!

though the finish of the paintjob is ok. it is still sans the fog lamp console!!

They have not even returned my broken fog lamp which i gave them!!!

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by geeash

We have to now find a solution!!. how can we prevent GP/Linea from going the palio way???

I have a retro Palio and a Punto. Today I took the delivery of a Flamingo red Linea as well, for my brother.

From your story, the Linea can't be prevented from going the Palio way, since it has actually passed that way and entered into worse conditions! I guess this is not the case with all Linea owners though.

So far I never had any major issues in getting Palio spares. (I lived in Bangalore and now in Trivandrum)

PS:- I think you need to seriously consider getting rid of the Linea. I can't imagine how you can live with all those tension & agony and still owning the car which made your life miserable.

[geeash]

I can't imagine how you can live with all those tension & agony and still owning the car which made your life miserable.

Car perse hasnt made my life miserable. i still vouch for the drive and handling. it is a great car.

it is the TASS which has me in splits!!

i am still holding on as i am still emotionally attached to the car!!!. i just loved every bit of it.

If only the Tata can get rid of the old habits!!!and rectify the spares availability!!!

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by geeash

Car perse hasnt made my life miserable. i still vouch for the drive and handling. it is a great car.
it is the TASS which has me in splits!!

i am still holding on as i am still emotionally attached to the car!!!. i just loved every bit of it.

If only the Tata can get rid of the old habits!!!and rectify the spares availability!!!

In that case sir, I'd also say that you just need to cool down a bit and for the time being, let someone else in the family interact with the irresponsible guys at the dealership.

I don't lose my temper whatsoever in front of those guys because I knwo that it is not going to help me in any way, but will only make situations worse. But I try to make them feel the responsibility of what they're doing, and believe me, it works to certain extent, but may be not with everyone - hope you got what I'm trying to say.

As a matter of fact, when I gave the car for servicing, I just called up the service manager and just inform him that my car is in for service (he knows me) and thank god, the car came back without much screwing around.

[geeash]

i agree. i also did the same. called the manager twice before i sent it for service and it has come with these dents and scratches.

thats is why i am not cool!!!

[clevermax]

Hmm.. No one picks up my car for service, nor do they deliver the car back home. I go with the car myself. And as far as possible, I stay with the car during service thereby minimizing the chance of them screwing around with the car. I've following this practice not only for the Fiats, but also for the Zen that we had. It's a pain, but I'll do this for my cars because they are mine.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Hmm.. No one picks up my car for service, nor do they deliver the car back home. I go with the car myself. And as far as possible, I stay with the car during service thereby minimizing the chance of them screwing around with the car. I've following this practice not only for the Fiats, but also for the Zen that we had. It's a pain, but I'll do this for my cars because they are mine.

With all due respects not everyone has that kind of time. I would not want to waste my whole day for a service, so I might want a home pick up and drop and unattended service. And i would still expect it to be serviced well. Not that i don't like my car - i have other priorities too!

[tortoiseNhare]

Originally Posted by SkyWalker

With all due respects not everyone has that kind of time. I would not want to waste my whole day for a service, so I might want a home pick up and drop and unattended service. And i would still expect it to be serviced well. Not that i don't like my car - i have other priorities too!

At the risk of sounding unpatriotic I would like to assert that honest to dishonest ratio among us Indians is heavily tilted in favour of the dishonest. Naturally they are distributed evenly amongst the car service people too. You might be blissfully unaware when they are changing the engine oil keeping the old oil filter in your car if you choose to stay put at home/office. Yours truly had that experience once. On that very instance the odo of my car advanced by 44 kms!