Pinnacle fiat,Kochi,Kerala:Bad experience

Hi Pradeep,When I did the PDI, i did decode the VIN as per the instructions given in this site and asked the sales guy if its may make.Initially he said hes not sure about how to decode and later agreed.I had asked him this is a lie to which he simply smiled.I was told only two vehicles are there, one was a white one , other my promised car, the white was already booked according to him, and their yard being very small didnt have any other multijets, but Tjets were there , none with our color(Magnesio grey) .On our D day the car which was delivered came from another city(Dealer has a showroom there) Moovatupuzha by 7 30pm.Again it was a lie that they had more than one car with them...Its natural for sales to give such false statements.No extra fittings were made and I was given a car of same color and variant but April make, one more month old to be precise i.e. magnesio grey dynamic multijet(I just saw april 2014 date on top of battery,) I didn't bother to check the VIN and all as Im really broken hearted...I have a feeling why should I do it,
As a customer who paid 9Lakhs of rupees, i feel there should be some mechanism for helping the customer.I never thought the new fiat solo dealer would cheat me, so I didnt get any thing written from their end, completely trusting them.Had it been tata-fiat or the other dealer in town, I would not have gone with the purchase at all,Ive suffered enough while servicing etc from 3 (two ex tata-fiat and one fiat only ).We went ahead with this despite strong objections from my father/my brother in law ,who purchased the other fiats, this is the first car in my name.Now Im in a position of not being able to turn up in day light infront of my dear ones.
BTW I had forwarded an email to fiat international customer care, somebody forwarded my email to mr Mangesh, CRM, fiat India, to which i got the usual reply "our team will get in touch with you apologies for the inconveniences".I had written all my story to him yesterday night, yes im not getting sleep, its not about the money, the feeling of being cheated , the feeling of a looser...
What i understood is that if we pay money we will get a hell lot of apologies and sorry emails and we are not supposed to get anything more but head ache, in this country....

On what basis did they asked for extra 17k, was it for excise duty increase?
And checking battery is no way of confirming the vehicle make. Mostly parts like battery and tires are manufactured quite earlier.
And because it's your hard earned 9 lac, you shouldn't excuse even a single thing.

Let's see what fiat india does

One question, how is the car doing?

I think the lack of transparency in dealings is the main culprit here. Dealer could not convince you why there was a change in the car you selected. Accidentally registering another car is simply ridiculous. After all it is a Fiat showroom. They don't have many to register any given day. Also, why did you give Rs.17K without proper clarification ?

pabhishek,They are telling that discounts change with every month.Mr Amit from fiat-india said its the dealer who fixes the discount amount,dealer says its fiat.I did confirm its an april make.But i dont understand the logic of increasing the price of a 10 month old car...
What happened to fiat, why they are not able to sell cars , it seems there are cars which were manufactured at the time of launch in the yard waiting for owners ...
@pdash, car is of course a fiat.But I feel like its not mine.There is turbo lag which is disappointing for such a good car, it seems like the car skips a beat , a slight power loss while accelerating in 3d gear from 1500 rpm occasionally, not sure if its due to my mental feel.I got only 16kmpl during my 400 km highway drive, i usually drive @ top gear for speeds between 70-90.Punto 75hp used to give a minimum of 19 consistantly in the same road with same driving conditions..Will be writing a complete ownership review once time permits, i didnt even click a good picture of the beauty because im not in a mood yet.

kgramesh, yes i thought its fiat new showroom and they would deal transparently.They are the best in Kerala ,my bad

I got an official explanation email from the sales manager in the showroom.I got it just because I googled and shooted emails to some email addresses i got and somebody forwarded it in italian to indian office, its sent as a reply to that .As usual, its simply apology and explanation of price increase and the justification that i was not given false promises like august car etc.I didnt collect any written proof from them, so i dont have any point to argue.but my wife, father, and my friend who was with me remember the word august, not the crm/sales in the showroom now.I would have gone to the showroom in combat mode i.e. with voice recorder spy camera, a bunch of stamp papers before booking

What worries me is that it took almost 6 days , to get one typed email reply.Ive sent atleast half a dozen .Got a call from Mr Amit, he was talking casually as if nothing happened and im calling him to do some favour.He called me twice I explained him twice my story, No care for the customer at all...

Another joke, the showroom guys came and took my car from office, to fix the niggles i reported.I went there to pick it back, on talking with the senior people there, they said nobody ve gone to their yard to see cars before purchase, im the first one to do so,
and im the first customer whos complaining in their showroom etc ,,,,Somebody give me a gun, i want to shoot myself down..
Teamfiatians, how many of you took delivery like that,even if its a month old one,,,mine was there for almost one year .
I will reply to them with the strongest of my words.

Update: FCA group has asked the dealer to get in touch with me via email.They have asked a time to meet me.Unfortunately i was busy with some work at office and i am out of town weekend.Ive demanded a small refund, (the price increase they charged ),something similar to 5x5 offer, and a written explanation of what went wrong at the time of delivery, and an assurance that the car is genuine.
Attaching a picture of the beauty.

There are a few niggles
1)Rusted screws inside doors
2)Missing power delivery in 3d gear while accelerating, from 1500-2000rpm
3) FE ,im getting a max of 15kmpl in the MID for the two 100km trips i made.Highway like road, sedate driving style, 70-90kmph.This is multijet ofcourse, not tjet.In our punto I never used to get anything below 18.5 in the MID, from day one , in the same route.
Even the palio petrol 1.2 sle which we exchanged , used to give 14kmpl consistantly.
4)Rattling sound from the windshield/glass.I only hear it in the morning when i go to office , through a rough road.Even my wife confirmed this
5)Heard a squeaking sound from suspension when i went through a bad patch,front left, not able to reproduce these consistantly.

Anyways im going to give the car to the dealer, and ask to check it thoroughly, and for a replacement car if its going to take more time.Waiting for the reply email from FCA/Dealer.Thanks to all teamfiatians for the support.

yes Pradeep, Ive seen your beauty.Its the only linea facelift dynamic ive seen in forums.Cars are good.But in one way or the other its name and value is disgraced.Have a few questions regarding speaker upgrade,subwoofer fuel efficiency.
i juct cant accept the speaker quality,it makes me believe fiat india and their dealers dont have ears

Upate: dealer has offered me free 5x5 setup at dealer level, i simply denied it, as i already paid for extended warranty, they will refund half of it per the offer .Mr Mangesh Kodalkar from FCA called me , he seems to be a genuine helping person, however nothing is there for me ,for what they did to me, so I said goodbye to my friends,and is in search of another "GOOD FRIEND" who can help me to proceed with what i have with me, I am not going to give up, because nobody ever should face my situation ever.The wounds in our mind is deep enough to have enough hatred towards our beloved brand ,i got nothing in return to what we paid, why should i be loyal
Other than the speaker setup and the turbo lag, im in love with the car, but getting inside it and traveling in it takes me ,emotionally , into another level,every time i get a smell from outside, every time i hear a sound, i suspect the car,,time might change this but,....
Its because of the low resale value, otherwise I would have said goodbye to her for the sake of peace of mind,,
Why should i go with a brand who doesn't offer the customer, the promises, a helping hand, I feel ashamed of me for what i did from 2008,i mean the passion and enthusiasm with which i spoke about this....Guys what should I do, What should i tell to people , who will be asking me about its price, features, simply sharing this link would do ?
BTW the way they attended to the niggles i reported was very professional, they even offered me a replacement car, everything is top notch but still i feel Im cheated.
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From: Krishnapillai, Anoop
Sent: 31 March 2015 09:35
To: Kodalkar Mangesh (FCA)
Cc: India Service (FCA); Tith Jo (Pinnacle); Jacob Sajith (FCA)
Subject: Re: 9lakhs for 1lakhs trust



Thanks a tonne guys.I still believe im eligible for more than what i was offered, But its sad that only this much is for me,for what you guys did to me, even a guy who buys a tv / home appliances will get even more,even my 3/4 days leave I took will cost much more than this kind offer,what i asked was not even my 1 emi for the car, as a reputed dealer/company if you cant do it then, well, thanks.

so let me try of my own if i get any thing more,I may or may not get anything , but as this is a new experience for me, il try new options as well.Thanks for teaching me a good lesson.Let this be a learning for all of us.Thanks for all the support.Im sure our roads will cross again,till then bye.



Thanks & Regards
Anoop K |