[aarenes]

Next step try to call the 1800 numbers but to my surprise, they dont work from the mobile phones. Any one know how to use them from the cell phones? I tried +911800... 0008000, 01800, etc etc... nothing worked.

Guys for future reference - does anyone know how to call the 1800 toll free number from the Fiat helpline.

[ms001]

Originally Posted by aarenes

Guys for future reference - does anyone know how to call the 1800 toll free number from the Fiat helpline.

which sim card are you using all the numbers are reachable through my vodaofone sim, without any additions .

[Rach]

Fiat Punto MJD E+ was my first ever Fiat car. I am more than happy with Fiat Service. My headlights alignment was not proper before I gave it for 1st Service. During first service they have replaced them with new ones under warranty. Fiat is really honoring its full warranty.

Yes spares were a bit of problem with Fiat, but this is common with all previous and current cars. My dad's car, Swift met with accident and it is lying in Workshop for 3 weeks. Atleast, 1 week can be attributed to delay in acquiring spares. This for a car that is selling from 5 years and which shares many parts with Dezire (both are selling huge). And, this is at dealer who created a Maruti all India record by selling 3000 cars in Dec 09.

And Maruti never honored its 2 year warranty. Infact, until Fiat did it, I never know that warranty covers even electricals.

[BenedictPentony]

I tried creating a new topic but i dont know how. anyways i found thispoll so decided to add this here.

I own a Punto Active 1.2. everybody knows the only reason you buy a FIAT is from your heart and nothing else. well even i fell for that and picked mine up in hip hop black on November 5th 2009. that was the start of all my worries. below i have copied the letter that i've sent to Rajiv Kapoor of Fiat India this morning as a last straw addressing my problems. this has been going on for too long and my family has decided to take it public considering that lives were at risk now.

So here it is.

Dear Mr. Rajeev,

This is with regards to my Fiat Punto Active purchased in the Month of November 2009. I had bought the Punto with a lot of joy and happiness, unfortunately the travails that I have underwent since the purchase of the car now makes me want to sell the car and purchase another car from a different brand.

I highlight below a list of problems that I have underwent since the day I purchased my vehicle (4th November 2009) from TAFE Reach Limited, Chennai – Vehicle No TN 22 BH 0801.

1. Within 15 days of purchase the clutch for the vehicle failed while on a busy city road. None of the service vehicles were able to reach on time even though we were well within the city limits. After trying to start the vehicle we succeeded. The service engineers visited our home the next day and checked the vehicle and according to them there was no problem. This still puzzles me till date as to how there could not be a problem, since clutch failure for a new vehicle is a rarity.

2. This is just one of the many problems that we have faced in this 5 month period.

3. The windscreen wiper rubber perished within a month of purchase and left ugly black stains on the windscreen.

4. The sun film in the rear windows started peeling off within the first month of purchase as well.

5. The car went for its first service in the month of February with only 1200kms done as on that date. We had given a list of complaints to the service center of TAFE at Greams Road, Chennai. I have only provided a few here; a list of them can be obtained from the service center itself. Head light indicator failure, mirror adjustment not working, windscreen wiper rubber perished, bonnet release lever malfunction, missing screws from many panels on the car, sun film peeling off etc, etc, etc.

6. It took more than 3 weeks to get a replacement of the parts. We had to do 2 trips to the service center to get things fixed.

7. Even after this there are some problems which still have not been addressed.

8. The car has done less than 2000kms and has already visited the service center 4 times in the last 5 months.

9. Every time the service center says that there is a non-availability of parts.

10. Brake problems.

The reason why I decided to write this email to you is because yesterday 18th April 2010, the car suffered clutch and brake failure whilst on busy city road once again. The car did not brake, even at low speed. We were hit by a public transport bus which swerved in front of the vehicle and damaged the left front quarter. Since the Public transport bus driver was also at fault we had requested the local police station to issue an accident certificate to obtain insurance compensation.

By God’s grace none of the occupants of the car were injured. My father who is a BP patient suffered from a heat stroke due to this tension and had to be rushed to the hospital.

We have endured a lot of mental torture with this vehicle.
I do not know whether it is the vehicle fault or the service center’s fault that we are at this point today. I would still say that I bought this vehicle because of FIAT’s so called “global quality standards” that I am still searching for in this particular car. It seems that bringing FIAT cars into the Tata service network, has hit the quality and brand image of FIAT.

My car is now at the service center and once again I have been informed by the TAFE Reach service advisers that the parts are “unavailable” and that I can get my car back in one week’s time. The reason they cited today is that FIAT is a European car and is only assembled in India; therefore parts take a long time to reach the service centers. I do not know if this is true, but think that it is worth bringing to your attention. Even so, I don’t think it would take more than three weeks for a headlight and wiper blade.

Attached is a copy of the complaint letter that I have submitted in the service center, detailing the troubles that I have underwent. A kind lady at the service center took barely 5 minutes to scan the letter and graciously signed the letter stating that she would forward the same to her manager- which I doubt, since previous correspondence with the FIAT After Sales Service does not seem to have helped. I have been called nearly a dozen times asking to rate the service, quality etc, etc and I say the same every time only to be called by a different person asking me to explain my entire problem again.

I do hope that you would be able to look into this and assist me in ensuring that my problem is resolved once and for all, else as already stated in my complaint letter, if any major fault does happen again I would require that the vehicle be recalled and replaced with a new one with an apology letter from the authorities concerned.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Thanks.

Yours Sincerely



Now you people would know what my vote would've been.

[sans_80]

Hello Everybody,

I own a Fiat Palio Stile 1.6 Sport and experience with Concorde BBII as well as BB Unit III has met my expectations.

Especiallly, there have been cases, when they have identified a problem without me telling them about any symptoms. Classic case, I never had a problem with my front suspension, but when I had given the car for servicing, they came upto me and showed the difference. They clearly explained the problem to me.

Yes, I should also admit that they fall back especially when it comes to the VOW factor. I dont blame the dealers for this as the parts themselves are not available with the dealers. You would have to wait for the parts to be ordered unlike a Maruti or a Hyundai car. This is one area where Fiat India would have to improve a lot, they should probably have a good balance of spare parts.

Overall, as stated earlier - its meet my expectations.

[nkrishnap]

My replies in bold

Originally Posted by BenedictPentony

I tried creating a new topic but i dont know how. anyways i found thispoll so decided to add this here.

Please do start a new thread with all the relevant information. Please on this forum can help you out.

I own a Punto Active 1.2. everybody knows the only reason you buy a FIAT is from your heart and nothing else. well even i fell for that and picked mine up in hip hop black on November 5th 2009. that was the start of all my worries. below i have copied the letter that i've sent to Rajiv Kapoor of Fiat India this morning as a last straw addressing my problems. this has been going on for too long and my family has decided to take it public considering that lives were at risk now.

So here it is.

Dear Mr. Rajeev,

This is with regards to my Fiat Punto Active purchased in the Month of November 2009. I had bought the Punto with a lot of joy and happiness, unfortunately the travails that I have underwent since the purchase of the car now makes me want to sell the car and purchase another car from a different brand.

I highlight below a list of problems that I have underwent since the day I purchased my vehicle (4th November 2009) from TAFE Reach Limited, Chennai – Vehicle No TN 22 BH 0801.

1. Within 15 days of purchase the clutch for the vehicle failed while on a busy city road. None of the service vehicles were able to reach on time even though we were well within the city limits. After trying to start the vehicle we succeeded. The service engineers visited our home the next day and checked the vehicle and according to them there was no problem. This still puzzles me till date as to how there could not be a problem, since clutch failure for a new vehicle is a rarity.

If its a manufacturing defect, FIAT will honor the warranty and replace the faulty parts. However, if the service center is not capable of identifying the problem, then FIAT will be not be aware of this. Do change the service center and see if they can identify what the root cause of the problem

2. This is just one of the many problems that we have faced in this 5 month period.

Please list out all the problems. If you have photographs of the problems please do post them

3. The windscreen wiper rubber perished within a month of purchase and left ugly black stains on the windscreen.

Thats nasty. Should have been replaced. But Spares? I would suggest, do change the service center, the culprit here seems to be dealer/service center

4. The sun film in the rear windows started peeling off within the first month of purchase as well.

This has got to do with the installation of the sunfilm, please revert to the dealer who installed the sunfilm.

5. The car went for its first service in the month of February with only 1200kms done as on that date. We had given a list of complaints to the service center of TAFE at Greams Road, Chennai. I have only provided a few here; a list of them can be obtained from the service center itself. Head light indicator failure, mirror adjustment not working, windscreen wiper rubber perished, bonnet release lever malfunction, missing screws from many panels on the car, sun film peeling off etc, etc, etc.

6. It took more than 3 weeks to get a replacement of the parts. We had to do 2 trips to the service center to get things fixed.

7. Even after this there are some problems which still have not been addressed.

8. The car has done less than 2000kms and has already visited the service center 4 times in the last 5 months.

9. Every time the service center says that there is a non-availability of parts.

10. Brake problems.

The reason why I decided to write this email to you is because yesterday 18th April 2010, the car suffered clutch and brake failure whilst on busy city road once again. The car did not brake, even at low speed. We were hit by a public transport bus which swerved in front of the vehicle and damaged the left front quarter. Since the Public transport bus driver was also at fault we had requested the local police station to issue an accident certificate to obtain insurance compensation.

Do claim insurance for the damages

By God’s grace none of the occupants of the car were injured. My father who is a BP patient suffered from a heat stroke due to this tension and had to be rushed to the hospital.

We have endured a lot of mental torture with this vehicle.
I do not know whether it is the vehicle fault or the service center’s fault that we are at this point today. I would still say that I bought this vehicle because of FIAT’s so called “global quality standards” that I am still searching for in this particular car. It seems that bringing FIAT cars into the Tata service network, has hit the quality and brand image of FIAT.

My car is now at the service center and once again I have been informed by the TAFE Reach service advisers that the parts are “unavailable” and that I can get my car back in one week’s time. The reason they cited today is that FIAT is a European car and is only assembled in India; therefore parts take a long time to reach the service centers. I do not know if this is true, but think that it is worth bringing to your attention. Even so, I don’t think it would take more than three weeks for a headlight and wiper blade.

Do ask the TAFE spares people to give you the order indent number listing the spare parts.

Attached is a copy of the complaint letter that I have submitted in the service center, detailing the troubles that I have underwent. A kind lady at the service center took barely 5 minutes to scan the letter and graciously signed the letter stating that she would forward the same to her manager- which I doubt, since previous correspondence with the FIAT After Sales Service does not seem to have helped. I have been called nearly a dozen times asking to rate the service, quality etc, etc and I say the same every time only to be called by a different person asking me to explain my entire problem again.

I do hope that you would be able to look into this and assist me in ensuring that my problem is resolved once and for all, else as already stated in my complaint letter, if any major fault does happen again I would require that the vehicle be recalled and replaced with a new one with an apology letter from the authorities concerned.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Thanks.

Yours Sincerely



Now you people would know what my vote would've been.

Do forward the same email to Mr. Mangesh as well, mentioning the service center details.

[amitoj]

26% people so far have voted either below expectation or needs improvement.
What does this tell us? Just by itself, probably nothing, but i feel we should have similar threads for other car manufacturers as well so that we know where they all stand.

[BenedictPentony]

@nkrishnap

i cant understand what you meant here.
"Please do start a new thread with all the relevant information. Please on this forum can help you out".

and yes all along it has been manufacturing defects made worse by incompetent people at the service center which really irritates me. because my expectations for FIAT was so much more. HORRIBLE.

there were 19 problems in all i remember but now after 3 months i cant remember most of them thats why i have asked them to have a look at my service history to know about it. anyways for you guys here's some of them..

1.sunfilm
2.clutch
3.brake
4.left ORVM
5.right headlight indicator
6. seat screws falling off or missing
7. rear parcel tray rattling
8.loose bonnet release lever.
9.door beading keeps falling off.
10.left front window doesnt go all the way up sometimes.
11.boot cladding rattling.
12. wiper blades leaving horrible marks on windscreen.

thats as much as i can remember.
and let me tell you out of those numerous problems in my 1st service itself with only 1200km on the clock only the indicator wipers and ORVM were fixed.
that too after taking almost a month for the spares to arrive.

and about changing the service center somehow they make sure i come back to them.
1. with an open job card so that my 1st service should be completed with them even though it took 3weeks.
2. even when i called FIAT first 24x7 service they connected me back to TRL and said that i have to send my car to them only for cases like accidents and stuff.
they make it a point to somehow get my car in every month. its been 5 months and i have been there with the car 4 times already dont worry i will have to go there a 5th time for sure.

all i want is for my car to come back properly with no more problems. ive had enough with it and im that close to getting rid of it. that special feeling of driving a punto on the open highways has all gone now. cause ive not been able to take her out with all these problems.

FIAT should realise that whatever theyre doing to bounce back its not working. i had convinced 3 people to buy the car but now i told them theyre batter off elsewhere. AND THATS TRUE..!!

by the way a gentleman from FIAT INDIA has again called us saying that they will look in to the problem and "PROMISED" us this will be last time. well i sure hope theyre right. because if its not ill make sure its the last time.

[nkrishnap]

@ BenedictPentony: On the change of service center, they cannot compel you to go back to them. Do try going to Concorde or other service centers. Please do seek help of Chennai Linea/Punto owners in changing the service center and for the contacts higher up. The problems with your car will be rectified.

From what I read is the poor capability of the dealer/service center. Switch over and give it a try. If the service center has already ordered the parts, let it sit in their inventory, since you have not paid for it, dont bother.

The threads on teambhp have very high visibility over google and hence asked you to start off a separate thread.

Do let us know if you decide to change the service center

[CliffHanger]

@ BenedictPentony: Tafe Reach is very notorious for their service which is below acceptable standards. I too bought my car from them and have been struggling to get a few of my spares. Please send your complaint to Mr. Vickram [m.vickram@tatamotors.com], he would definitely address the issue.

[BenedictPentony]

guys i dont know how to create a separate forum or topic whatever... i rarely use Tbhp i jus look through other peoples posts.. and yea i have sent a mail to Mr.Rajeev kapoor head of Fiat India. i dont think i can go higher than that in India.. lets see i have given them 1 more chance with this.. and have also mentioned in the letter that i have gotten duly signed by the CRO at tafe reach that they would recall this car n get a replacement if another major problem arises.. the reason is i dont want to create any trouble for anyone abd make a big scene out of it because we're all human so yeah a last chance has been given to them.. lets see if they make use of it and give me back my car in a good condition if not i have alot planned for them that'l make sure changes happen.. Hope it doesnt come to that.

[p'arth]

Originally Posted by amitoj

26% people so far have voted either below expectation or needs improvement.
What does this tell us? Just by itself, probably nothing, but i feel we should have similar threads for other car manufacturers as well so that we know where they all stand.

IF you check the Hyundai A.S.S poll, so far 27% have voted either below expectation or needs improvement. Can we imply that Hyundai A.S.S is equal if not better than Fiat A.S.S ?

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by p'arth

IF you check the Hyundai A.S.S poll, so far 27% have voted either below expectation or needs improvement. Can we imply that Hyundai A.S.S is equal if not better than Fiat A.S.S ?

It is too soon to draw any conclusions from that thread yet. It has not been open for even 12 hours yet!! I'd give that thread at least a week's time before it has critical mass to draw any conclusions.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by BenedictPentony

1.sunfilm

Was your car provided with a Sunfilm by Fiat? If not, what is the point complaining about it to Fiat? You should go behind the dealer who applied it on your car, and there is no point bashing Fiat for that.

Originally Posted by BenedictPentony

4.left ORVM
5.right headlight indicator

What are the problems with these? There is no point just mentioning name of the parts you see on the car - perhaps if you write what your problem is, some one on the forum might have a solution.

Originally Posted by BenedictPentony

7. rear parcel tray rattling
8.loose bonnet release lever.

Rattling from the rear parcel tray? It made of fibre, and even if it rattles, it hardly make noise. Plus, there are dampers at the place where the tray meets the boot door, to reduce chances of any sound. You should perhaps check for items kept on the tray. Have you installed speakers on the tray by any chance?

Bonnet release lever falling off is an issue with all Puntos (except the 2010 versions). All you need to do is, place a small piece of paper and push it in. It would remain jammed in place. But ensure you don't break it.

Originally Posted by BenedictPentony

11.boot cladding rattling.

Didn't quite understand this.

Originally Posted by BenedictPentony

12. wiper blades leaving horrible marks on windscreen.

Weren't these replaced? Is this issue returning even after replacement? In that case, i suspect there is something sticking on to the wiper.

Originally Posted by BenedictPentony

and about changing the service center somehow they make sure i come back to them.

How do they do this? You are always free to change service centres, and Fiat places no restrictions on this. In case TAFE is keeping its job card open, you can always force them to close, or file a complaint with the FIAT call centre, along with an email to their service support - it actually works.

[me@fiat]

Hello Guys,

[COLOR=black]My experience with FIAT *** is excellent till now. I service my 1.9D ELX with B.U.Bhandari Pune. Let me tell you guys, they are truly professionals. After every service I leave service center with big smile on my face. People here are very friendly and give serious attention to your complaints/repairs. Though their charges are little bit on higher side, I would prefer to service my car with them and buy peace of mind by paying some extra bucks.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Timely delivery/Exact estimations/no unwanted repairs/ Perfect diagnosis/ Friendly staff/ complete knowledge about FIAT cars/ Call service advisor any time in case any urgency they always reply with smile and give exact solution or information.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]E.g. I had called my service advisor around late night 10.30pm when my car's timing belt was slipping. He told me what exactly I need to do, without complaining about time. I bugged him almost 40-45 mins with continuous calls. He was as cool as Ice.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Believe me, Just 1 month back before this incidence, he had asked me to get all the belts replaced. That day I actually started for PUNE to get all of them replaced at BUB and faced issue with timing belt as soon as I reached 3-4 KM from my home. Finally had to fix it in Mumbai and got it checked with BUB when I went to PUNE.[/COLOR]

Just attaching my mail which i had shared with PUG members,

Guys,

Update on AC servicing.

Received a routine call from FIAT after servicing my car with BUB, asking for ratings for their services.
In that i rated BUB very high on all the aspects. I just mentioned that one of the button is not working, as it should have been. I thought, nothing is gonna happen on this small complaint.

Believe me after 4 days I got a call from FIAT once again, and this time the lady was asking me; if i can get my car back to BUB, then they will fix it up. When i said "not at least for next 2-3 days", she said if I want then on this Friday they can send mechanic to my house and he will fix it then and there.

Guys, I really appreciate this step. Though, I am sure that I will never call any one to travel till my home for such a small complaint. I would prefer to travel down to BUB and get it fixed.

When I informed that I stay in Mumbai and on weekends I travel to Pune and that's the time I service my car with BUB, but because of some personal reasons this weekend I will not be travelling to pune. The lady promptly said if that's the case then she will be calling me once again on next Friday and will check if i am available in Pune.

In this call I also, made sure that my service advisor, who always done excellent job on my 1.9D should get his deserved maximum points for his well done job. And made sure that this complaint should not affect his ratings.

Don't you think that's changed FIAT !!!!! Some how most of the people are still reluctant about FIAT servicing. But for me its big change and they are improving day by day.

Regards,


This friday i again received call from them and lady once again asked me if she can assign a time-slot for me to get my 1.9D fixed. As, I was not travel ling to PUNE on this weekend too, she said that she will once again call me on next friday...!!!!!!!! She also informed me that in BUB there is free AC check up camp is going on so, it would be great if i can check my 1.9D before end of the April.

Dont you think its enough to prove the changes in FIAT *** (At least in PUNE , Mumbai region) ??