Hi,
I bought a Linea Emotion Pack Diesel on May 16, 2010 in Mumbai. My top priority was a spacious, safe and green car.
On June 12, 2010 the A/c suddenly stopped working. I had run just 700 KM at this point. There was a small whirring noise when I switched on the compressor, and no cooling action. On the contrary, the a/c was throwing hot air.
I took the car to the service station on 16 June, and they asked me to leave the car for investigation. A day later, they told me it was a compressor problem, and they would need to replace the compressor. They filed something called a VOR, which was supposed to get the spares to me in a hurry.
There was no movement on this for a week, so much for the VOR. I made frantic calls to Fiat in Pune, was redirected to Tata Fiat in Mumbai, who in turn asked me to speak to the Garage guys, who said they werent getting spares from Fiat. It was one merry go round.
I did not get a loaner, and the Service Manager told me I should get a taxi and claim Rs. 800 per day. Made me feel like a beggar. I did a unannounced visit to the garage on 23 June to see what they were doing with my car, and I was horrified with what I saw. My entire dashboard had been ripped apart, apparantly to change some expansion valve. When I saw this, my heart broke - this car would never have factory-finish ever again. At that moment, all I wanted was my money back. Have attached a pic.
Finally, after a lot of chasing, and passing-the-buck the compressor got delivered, and the car was returned on 24th June. When I was taking delivery, I was made to wait for
2 hours. I wasnt given the necessary discharge papers with details of what work was done.
When I was about to leave, I found that my remote-key had been damaged, and the switchblade action was jamming. I gave the remote to the guy in-charge, and he passed it on to some other guy. When I got the key back, it was oozing some liquid. Some joker had sprayed a lubricant or something else into the electronic device. The remote had stopped working. After some fiddling around, it worked, and so I headed off home.
After I parked, I found that the remote wouldnt work at all. More calls to the service station, who said they would order a new remote. Another three weeks have passed and I still dont have a new remote. I discovered on closer examination that the plastic panels around the key were not fit properly and the panel gap was v-shaped. I have a strong suspicion my remote and locking mechanism also got damaged when the dashboard was ripped apart. I am very worried about Driver Airbag malfunction. The wheel had been taken out too, along with the dash.
Meanwhile, when I was making do with the mechanical key, I found that it became very difficult to put the key in. Suddenly, two days back, the key started going in relatively smoothly. The Garage Manager told me it could be transducer trouble. I am still waiting for parts to arrive so that this issue can be fixed.
So within two months of getting the car, I have had a serious compressor failure and a major failure with the locking mechanism. And my car has spent 8 days in the garage. I havent heard of even a small 4 lakh car from maruti or Hyundai having any such serious breakdowns. So I must say there is a serious problem with Manufacturing Quality. I hope that the ABS does not fail when needed.
At all times, I had a major issue with the responsiveness of Fiat, Tata Fiat and the Service Station. People all along the chain made promises and never delivered. People never got back to me. I had to do all the calling. Tata Fiat told me around 3 weeks back that they would reimburse 6000 Rupees (the cost of the Extended Warranty) to compensate for my troubled 8 days without a car. I am yet to see that ridiculous sum of money. I sent emails to Fiat Customer Service (Mangesh Kodalkar) and to the CEO (thro the website). I am yet to hear anything at all from either of them on this. I have a good mind to name all the indolent people I had to deal with, but that doesnt serve any purpose.
I just called someone at Tata Fiat yesterday, and he promised to send me a mail by today morning with a detailed explanation on the issue. It is almost 1030 PM as I type this, and still no mails. And the Johnny in question didnt answer my call at 830 PM, his mobile just kept ringing. I sent a sms, but no response.
I would hate to generalize and say if the Linea is a lemon, but my experience has totally put me off. The After Sales Service, Spares, and Responsiveness are all third class. I also heard from one of the garage hands that quite a few Lineas had come in to that garage with a A/c compressor failure.
So all you guys out there, thinking of buying a Linea - be warned. Dont get carried away by the good looks. Dont get misled by all the fan-boy posts on the internet. There's a long distance between a good ad campaign and a great car. The cold, hard fact is that Fiat do not have their act together. There are serious manufacturing defects. AS Service sucks. Spares take forever to arrive. People do not keep promises. You will have to do all the chasing if you were to ever have a problem.