[90Horses]

Originally Posted by 90Horses

Yesterday I have called Mr. Dayanand from vecto reg my car repair, he requested me to get the car today, i was shocked as he wanted to work on the car on a Sunday . Today evening i got a call from vecto service, they have tried various options that Fiat wanted service people to try on my car before finalizing it as a hvac defect. They have checked evaporator coil and condenser and found that issue still exist. Now they will submit a DIR with their observations to Fiat and wait for their approval. They also told me hvac unit is in stock and as soon they get approval it will be replaced.

Vecto Fiat is treating customer very nicely, have to see how they do the job on the car.

-Sai

Still my car is @ Vecto Fiat, no repairs were done on the car. Below are the sequence of actions that were taken on my car.

19-Feb-2015 (Thursday): Car was taken for the warm-air issue, they have changed Freon and that could not solve the problem. Service Executive told me they would send a DIR (Dealer Information Report) to FIAT and wait for the next instructions.

22-Feb-2015 (Sunday): Service Executive told me, there are some additional things to check on the car and asked me to leave the car at dealership. Service Executive checked Evaporator & Condenser, told me there is nothing wrong with the components that FIAT has asked them to verify on my car and they told me confidently that the issue was with HVAC. They sent a DIR to FIAT along with their observations & approval for the HVAC replacement.

23-Feb-2015 (Monday): Dealer did not get a reply from FIAT.

24-Feb-2015-02:30 PM (Tuesday): I called the service executive, he said, they did not get any reply from FIAT and it would take time to receive the same. He asked me to pickup the car as it would take around 15 days to order the part and they estimated 30 days at the maximum to fix the car. I did not accept as I have a planned long drive on March Mid.

24-Feb-2015-05:30 PM: I called the service executive if he is really sure about me taking the car home. He told me, they have got a reply from FIAT to check few other points in the HVAC unit, for that, they have to remove the dashboard and work on it. He also told me not to take the car as they would be opening dashboard.

24-Feb-2015-07:30 PM: I called the service executive, he told me they could not work on the car as no one is there in the dealership and he would look at the car first thing in the morning. When asked about what are his next steps, he told me, he would open the dashboard, work on the HVAC points that FIAT has asked him to do & send a DIR to FIAT and wait for their next suggestions/approval.

Guys, I need your help, I am unsure if Vecto is telling truth or taking me for a ride.

1. Does a dealer need to send DIR so many times for the same problem? Does FIAT need so many inputs from Dealer? Does FIAT thinks about TAT for a problem and customer's inconvenience? Similar thing happened to any of you guys?
2. To access evaporator coil/condenser should we open dashboard? Or we can access without opening it?
3. My car has been 4 days with dealership, they did not diagnose the problem yet, and I am unsure how many days more it would take to diagnose and fix! Should I escalate this matter with FIAT officials?

Please guide me.

Thanks,
Sai

[90Horses]

Originally Posted by 90Horses

Still my car is @ Vecto Fiat, no repairs were done on the car. Below are the sequence of actions that were taken on my car.

19-Feb-2015 (Thursday): Car was taken for the warm-air issue, they have changed Freon and that could not solve the problem. Service Executive told me they would send a DIR (Dealer Information Report) to FIAT and wait for the next instructions.

22-Feb-2015 (Sunday): Service Executive told me, there are some additional things to check on the car and asked me to leave the car at dealership. Service Executive checked Evaporator & Condenser, told me there is nothing wrong with the components that FIAT has asked them to verify on my car and they told me confidently that the issue was with HVAC. They sent a DIR to FIAT along with their observations & approval for the HVAC replacement.

23-Feb-2015 (Monday): Dealer did not get a reply from FIAT.

24-Feb-2015-02:30 PM (Tuesday): I called the service executive, he said, they did not get any reply from FIAT and it would take time to receive the same. He asked me to pickup the car as it would take around 15 days to order the part and they estimated 30 days at the maximum to fix the car. I did not accept as I have a planned long drive on March Mid.

24-Feb-2015-05:30 PM: I called the service executive if he is really sure about me taking the car home. He told me, they have got a reply from FIAT to check few other points in the HVAC unit, for that, they have to remove the dashboard and work on it. He also told me not to take the car as they would be opening dashboard.

24-Feb-2015-07:30 PM: I called the service executive, he told me they could not work on the car as no one is there in the dealership and he would look at the car first thing in the morning. When asked about what are his next steps, he told me, he would open the dashboard, work on the HVAC points that FIAT has asked him to do & send a DIR to FIAT and wait for their next suggestions/approval.

Guys, I need your help, I am unsure if Vecto is telling truth or taking me for a ride.

1. Does a dealer need to send DIR so many times for the same problem? Does FIAT need so many inputs from Dealer? Does FIAT thinks about TAT for a problem and customer's inconvenience? Similar thing happened to any of you guys?
2. To access evaporator coil/condenser should we open dashboard? Or we can access without opening it?
3. My car has been 4 days with dealership, they did not diagnose the problem yet, and I am unsure how many days more it would take to diagnose and fix! Should I escalate this matter with FIAT officials?

Please guide me.

Thanks,
Sai

Dear Bhpians,

Service-Manager Mr.Kiran called me and asked me to take back the vehicle on 25-Feb-15. He said, FIAT has asked them to replace the High and Low pressure pipes and check if the issue still persists and if yes then they have to remove the dashboard and check for issues with HVAC.

As per our agreement, parts should got arrived on 3rd March, but as usual I did not get a call from the Manager/Service-Executive on 3rd March. I called them on 4th March, they told me, there is some issue with the delivery of the part as it has to come from Pune and they expect it to get delivered on 9th March.

Guys, does any of your Punto has this problem? I am forced to believe, my dealer is surely taking me for a ride as he feels it is not a priority defect. I have 2 long drives planned in March and April to my home town, temperatures will be nearing to 40+ and I have to drive in that temperature for ~7 Hours.

If the AC goes Kaput in any one of long drives that I am going to do, it could cause a serious discomfort to my family. Vecto Fiat & FIAT are not understanding the customer's discomfort due to their product.

If I ask myself, a ONE YEAR old PUNTO 90HP with a AC DEFECT which is not solvable by the dealer for 3 WEEKS, seems humiliating . I believe, these moments, would make serious FIAT fans to go for TOYOTA's & HONDA's, because respective products would better in QUALITY.. Adding to that, service center is in Singasandra (~25Kms) from my place, to drop and pick up the car I have to take a half day leave, which is again a serious discomfort, doing that once in an year for a regular serivice is fine, but, every now and then for AC repair is not accepted.

I still cannot figure out, how come only one AC vent throws air in a different temperature than other vents? Due to this problem, I had to learn how car HVAC works, so that I can understand what dealer is working on my car. As far as my understanding goes, if an AC vent is not behaving properly, then the blend actuator has gone kaput and air mixture is not proper for that vent, how come replacement of pressure pipes is going to solve the issue?. If pressure pipes are faulty all vents behave the same. This is my understanding, please correct me if I am wrong.

Bhpians, please provide me with any of the Fiat Executive's email that could help me towards the resolution of the problem.

Moderators, I think my problem requires more attention from the HVAC gurus. I could not find related threads in the forum, please guide me on addressing this issue to the HVAC group.

Thanks,
Sai

[90Horses]

Well, the issue is not yet fixed by FIAT. Hope FIAT management is reading this.

As told to me, dealer has ordered the High & Low pressure pipes. On March 7th parts arrived from Pune. Service Manager called me and informed about the part arrival on the same day. I went to service center on March 9th, service folks replaced the pipes and found one of the pipe had a defect (FIAT what were you thinking????). Dealer ordered the part again and got it on March 14th. As usual, I went to service center on March 16th gave the car, they replaced the pipe and found that Issue is not resolved. They informed it to FIAT on March 16th and from past 2 days discussions are happening between the dealer and FIAT's Technical team & Quality team.

Quality team wanted the actuators to be replaced and see if the issue still persists. So, dealer replaced the actuators from another car and found that issue still exist. FIAT's quality team wanted to check if the claims of the dealer are genuine, so they have asked pictures of the replacements on my vehicle .

FIAT, if you want to build confidence with your existing customers, then be swift in your actions. What is this picture exchange between dealer and you? Seriously? From Feb 19th to March 16th your Technical team did a picture exchange of the repairs and now your Quality team wants to start the process again.

If this strange issue exists with any other brand, on 2nd day of the incident a team of engineers from the factory would fly, look into the issue and solve it. But, you have opted to solve it over emails.

FIAT, I have faced a serious discomfort driving the car on a long drive with this issue on March 12th. I want to give you a picture of what I faced. Outside temperature was ~38C and one of the central ac vent throws warm air for ~5 hours, I and family of 3 were filled with sweat as the car does not cool.

Dear fellow Punto owners, it would be great if you help me to escalate it with FIAT officials, I did a check on Vecto fiat personally at their workshop and found everything they said and did were genuine. So, now it is time for me to take it up with FIAT directly.

-Sai

[parimal_g]

Hi Sad to see the issue to your car, no i have not faced any issues till now. AC is absolutely fine.
you can escalate to mangesh.kodalkar@fiat.com .
But if dealer is doing his best, max is we can put pressure on the FIAT.

[90Horses]

Originally Posted by parimal_g

Hi Sad to see the issue to your car, no i have not faced any issues till now.

Good to see that you did not face any issues. It is that the last few months I am facing this issue, else wise it was a great car.

Originally Posted by parimal_g

mangesh.kodalkar@fiat.com .

What is his role in FIAT? Is he from service department?

Originally Posted by parimal_g

But if dealer is doing his best, max is we can put pressure on the FIAT.

Yup, this is what I have planned to do. I have asked dealer also to help me in this regard and I am waiting for his support.

[90Horses]

Hi Folks,

I am writing this with an utter disappointment.

I dropped my car at Vecto Fiat on 30th March for HVAC replacement under warranty. Today I have got a call mentioning that, the issue with the car is unsolved even after the replacement, Vecto will be contacting the Fiat Technical Team and take actions accordingly .

Vecto Fiat's CRM also told me, they would be calling the HVAC Vendor and let him inspect the car . I always thought to have a long relationship with my Punto. Now, I do not have trust on the car's reliability. FIAT read this, you just lost trust of a true FIAT fan who spent his hard earned 9 Lakhs on your car and never want to return again. Many well wishers suggested me not to invest in FIAT, including the bank manager. It was me and my head over heart decision that brought me into this.

I am inclined now to trade my car as my job does not allow me to do frequent visits to garage. I still cannot believe how it happened on a 1 Year old car in first place.

I will keep you posted.

-Sai

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by 90Horses

Hi Folks,

I am writing this with an utter disappointment.

I dropped my car at Vecto Fiat on 30th March for HVAC replacement under warranty. Today I have got a call mentioning that, the issue with the car is unsolved even after the replacement, Vecto will be contacting the Fiat Technical Team and take actions accordingly .

Vecto Fiat's CRM also told me, they would be calling the HVAC Vendor and let him inspect the car . I always thought to have a long relationship with my Punto. Now, I do not have trust on the car's reliability. FIAT read this, you just lost trust of a true FIAT fan who spent his hard earned 9 Lakhs on your car and never want to return again. Many well wishers suggested me not to invest in FIAT, including the bank manager. It was me and my head over heart decision that brought me into this.

I am inclined now to trade my car as my job does not allow me to do frequent visits to garage. I still cannot believe how it happened on a 1 Year old car in first place.

I will keep you posted.

-Sai

Hello Sai,

Is your issue solved? Did you escalate the issue to Mangesh?

[90Horses]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Hello Sai,

Is your issue solved? Did you escalate the issue to Mangesh?

hello hope you are doing good, thank you for asking.

Yes, I have escalated the issue, but nothing happened. An engineer from FIAT-Engineering arrived to see my car, he ruled out saying, "this behavior of the AC is normal", if required he could give the AC readings for the batch of the cars.

I was frustrated to my peaks, if what he said was right, then there was no problem with my car in first place. For 2 months Quality Team at FIAT did all experiments on car and at the end someone from Engineering Team comes and says, there was nothing wrong with the car, they have fooled me all along .

I got the back car in whatever condition it was, later that also I had to followup twice with workshop for AC Leak and Oil Sump leak, which happened due to the extensive part exchange & test process that they did for the car.

One time they forgot to remove good chunk of cleaning cloth in the engine bay, which could have lead to potential fire, by gods grace I suspected their service person & opened the bonnet. Another time the AC refilling machine fell on the car and made a big dent on the bumper. Simply third class service. All this experience of mine was due to a lazy Service Person (I do not want to mention his name).

This kind of incidents may be a one off, but I was hurt badly for owning a FIAT and wasted my 3 months of time in nothing.

[a_myth]

Guys

Am having a peculiar problem with the electric windows of my Grande punto.

The front passenger window wont roll down while the rear passenger window wont roll up. Other direction they are working. I searched on many threads, but no concrete solution is showing up.

I suspect it might be case of relay issues. Somebody please guide with possible expenditure also.

Regards

[90Horses]

Guys I have noticed a leak near turbo in my Punto 90, can you tell me what is that component and that leak is a problem or not? My service executive thinks that it is a vapour! I also observe reduced pick up too, need your advice.

I also noticed that the car was vibrating a lot for some time with ac on, can the two be related?

[amit_mechengg]

Originally Posted by 90Horses

Sorry missed the attachment and I also noticed that the car was vibrating a lot for some time with ac on, can the two be related?

Thats the Vacuum pump. I dont think the 2 are related.

[90Horses]

Originally Posted by amit_mechengg

Thats the Vacuum pump. I dont think the 2 are related.

Is the leak okay, will it have any affect? i am noticing some reduced pick up, can it be related? I just noticed, there was a lot of dirt and oil mix on the vaccum pump and the leak existed around 3 out of the 4 nuts of the vaccum pump.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by 90Horses

Sorry missed the attachment and I also noticed that the car was vibrating a lot for some time with ac on, can the two be related?

God!! You really seem to have got stuck with this car.

Guys, I have a query myself. Every time I press the clutch, I can hear a squeak. It was there before I got my 30K Km service but went off after that. However it has now returned.

Any idea what the sound might be?

[90Horses]

Originally Posted by 90Horses

Guys I have noticed a leak near turbo in my Punto 90, can you tell me what is that component and that leak is a problem or not? My service executive thinks that it is a vapour! I also observe reduced pick up too, need your advice.

I also noticed that the car was vibrating a lot for some time with ac on, can the two be related?

Attachment 1402981

Guys, my Service Executive is sure that it is not an oil leak and he assumes that it is some vapor deposit. Please shed some light, does the vacuum pump releases vapor? and does it look like the one in the image?

[ameyawaghmare]

I am experiencing a niggle and a few other issues with my Punto:
i) Indicator does not stop blinking after a turn is complete. I have read all possible explanations about this across threads and tried all things like turning sterring extreme left-extreme right etc. Nothing seems to work. Any idea if this would happen regularly after rectifying? The showroom guy says it would be rectified in less than 500/- by changing a part (not sure which one did he exactly mention). My concern is that this shouldn't be repetitive in nature.
ii) The left sun protector has come off. The showroom guy says that I'll have to purchase a new one straight away. I've not yet tried fixing it on my own but I believe this should be an easy one relatively.
iii) Left wiper broken by a few miscreants or kids in the apartment parking! Only one viper is broken and it is well preserved with me. What are the way out for this? Do I have buy an OEM set, simply buy a new one (only 1 piece), explore other mfrs. like Bosch etc. or this wiper can be fixed back? What are good alternatives if I need to go for a new one?

Any comments/answers/critique on any of the issues welcome here.