Frighteningly Fiat

I can't begin to imagine the unadulterated angst that this guy would have gone through after his Palio D ELX caught fire one early August morning. To make things worse, his Fiat service centre dragged him through close to 3 months of excuses, red tape and fine print and then slapped one whopper of a bill on him. Needless to say, he's come out of the whole thing completely 'shattered' and looking for help. Tch, tch, Fiat...

Well, if this Indica story is anything to go by, there does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel for him.

Comments

[Navneet]

Ouch! That hurts...though I'm pretty surprised to find a disgruntled Uno customer, quite frankly. All this while, I was of the impression that the silent-but-strong Uno legacy was Fiat India's one true bright spot in it's otherwise spotty fortunes in this country.

[PK]

Dear All,

Nothing can be more true when it comes to Fiat and its after-sales service. I am a owner of a Fiat Uno Petrol for last 6 years (really!) and my last 2 years have been little short of hell. My good old Uno was doing just fine when all of a sudden, my maintenance bills jumped up. Since then, everytime I send my car to my authorised service centre, I keep my fingers crossed. B'coz within a couple of days of the car returning to Papa, it falls ill. While an average service is to the tune of Rs. 1000 (incl. labour and consumables), the trip to this service centre invariably costs me Rs. 4000 at the time of bill payment and Rs. 4000 subsequently after a couple of days. Most of the time, repaired/replaced parts will re-appear in my list of woes after 6 months (I am told within 6 months, the spares are replaced free of cost by the company). Also once a part is installed, it has no standard life! I have had my carburettor overhauled and parts replaced for more than 4 times in 6 years. Ditto for my alternator.

God save all of us who own a Fiat and give us the strength to bear it all!!! After all, can I hope to find someone who will buy it from me?

Love to Agony Aunt,

PK