On 1st Of Oct 2021, I purchased Renault Duster Petrol RXL variant from Silk board Renault showroom in Bangalore. From very first day, I am having some issues with the vehicle.
Just after the delivery flag off ceremony (in front of the showroom) vehicle got stopped in first gear and it happened three times. I ignored the issue and thought that since it is brand new car, it may stop and after 5 – 10 KMs, it will be resolved. But to my surprise, in 10 KM distance, vehicle stopped so many times and especially in heavy traffic.
Same issue happened next day as well and vehicle stopped in first gear (slow speed) number of times in just 20 Km drive. I was bit frustrating and reported this to my sales executive. He asked me to bring the vehicle to the showroom and told me that it may be happened because of my driving style. On Monday 4th of Oct, I took my car to showroom and sales executive told me there is no issue with the car it just happened because of my driving style
I was quiet surprised with the response. I am not a new driver and last few years I am driving long distance and owned one more car. He told me that all these happened because first time I am driving Petrol car and I need to learn how to drive a Petrol car (My other car is Diesel). He drove the car just few meters and vehicle got stopped. I noticed this and asked why it happened when he drove. He told me he is also driving Petrol newly and used only Diesel before.
Even after following the instructions from Renault service center people, I found very difficult to drive the car and noticed few more interesting things
a. Vehicle is stopping in not only first gear but also in reverse as well.
b. When I release cutch (in first gear), vehicle is moving either backward or front depending on the slope of the road.
So I decided to take the vehicle for a long drive to check the performance and these issues and went to Nandhi hills near Bangalore. I cannot forget that day and this car gave me a horrible experience. In low speed (First gear) it stopped multiple times and moving up of the hill was a tedious work. So I informed this Renault Silk board dealer again and he asked me to take the vehicle to service center.
On 8thof Oct, I went to the showroom and the service person (not sure his name) took my car for a drive and confirmed that all are fine with my car and this issue is happening because of my driving style and repeated same story.
This time I was not convinced with the response but I left the showroom by receiving their advice by applying accelerator whenever I release clutch in first gear.
Mean time another person also drove (not Renault employee) the car and it stopped multiple times in 5 meter distance. And same issue continued. I reported it again back to the showroom and I have been asked to take the vehicle again to service center.
On 15th I visited the showroom again. This time also same story repeated. So I lost my confidence on your service center people and ask them to sit with me while I drive. The route was free and I never end up in a situation to apply first gear. So I put the car in reverse gear and it stopped. This time service person accepted that there is some problem and he took the car to service center and asked me to wait. After one hour he came and told me. He checked everything and all looks fine and cleared the air filter. And told me that the issue will never happen in future. But the issue still exists and since I was not getting satisfactory response from the dealer, I contacted Renault customer care on 15th and raised a ticket (Complaint ID –[protected].
Later I got a call from same Silk board showroom and they asked me to take the vehicle to the showroom on 21st Oct. When I reached the showroom, the technician started saying the same driving style issue. But I asked him to come with me for a drive, took the vehicle to a heavy traffic area and explained with demo and showed all types o[censored]nnatural vehicle behavior. It stopped multiple times and he gave me some instructions for my driving and after applying also it got stopped. Especially in some places in first gear, when I release the clutch gradually, vehicle started rolling to backward / forward depends on road slope. Once I completed my demonstration, I asked him to drive as he was again pointing to my driving. When he started driving the car, he also experienced same issues and finally accepted that vehicle has some issues.
Below are the observations from my side on the vehicle and shared same with that person
a. Vehicle don’t have expected power (compared to the test drive car) in 2, 3, 4 and 5th gears
b. In 1st and reverse gear vehicle is stopping and this is especially in traffic places (a case where we need to engage first gear a lot)
c. Also we observed that when release the clutch in first gear, instead of moving to the front, vehicle is rolling either front or back according to slope of the road.
d. The advice from Renault technical people was always apply accelerator when release cultch in first gear. But when I move my leg from break to accelerator, in that few seconds, vehicle started moving as mentioned in above point and this advice is not completely acceptable to me. If a vehicle is in first gear, when we release the clutch, vehicle should move forward for sure.
We went back to the showroom and when I raised a complaint with Renault, one Service Person was allocated to address my issue. The technical person who came with me explained the situation to Service Person and I asked him what the next action is? He asked me to bring the vehicle to the showroom on 24th Oct to fix the issue. I asked details about the issue and the nature of solution. He told me that, since I raised the complaint via Renault customer care, they will share the findings with Renault directly and based on Renault instructions, they will fix the issue. Since I went to the showroom on Friday, it will take two working days for them to get a response from Renault and asked me to take the vehicle to service center on 24th Oct (my 5th visit to service center in just 24 days).
After paying 11 Lacs for a brand new car (+ Accessories price), I am not able to take my car to the road and not getting a professional service as well from Renault. Visiting the service center 5 times in 24 days is a pathetic situation. Also think about my mental frustration, time and money I spend on my visits.
On 24th Oct, I gave the car to service center again and I received it back after 5 working days. During my discussion with Renault service center people, they told me that they re-loaded the software and did clutch bleeding. But clutch bleeding is not mentioned in the bill given. I have repeatedly asked both Renault and Service Center to give me a detailed report says what is the issue and what is the solution. After the service, I did a test drive along with their Service people and seen a good improvement in first gear. But seen issue in reverse gear. So I informed them that, I WILL USE THE CAR FOR A WEEK AND LET THEM KNOW HOW CAR BEHAVES FOR PREVIOUSLY REPORTED ISSUES and sent an email to communicate same on 28th Oct 2021.
a. Looks like there is a good improvement in first gear (80 – 90% is resolved). But still first gear performance is not up to the mark
b. No improvement in reverse gear issue (same as before)
c. Some new issues also found after last service
Now I requested them to give me a new car which does not have any Manufacturing defects with compensation. I am waiting for their response.
Before booking the car, I had a discussion with Reno sales executive and we discussed the power of Diesel RXL (85 PS) and Petrol RXL and I have been told by him that Petrol is having more power than Diesel. Also he arranged a Petrol RXL for test drive and I did it in both diesel (85PS) and Petrol (104 PS) variants and experienced Petrol engine magnificent power. It was exactly similar to what their Sales rep mentioned. So I decided to go for Petrol Duster.
But I cannot see similar power in my car and when I talk to three of your service people in different days in above mentioned visits, all three told me that in Duster, Diesel 85ps is powerful than petrol variant. Unfortunately, I am not able to recollect their names. Also one person told me Petrol variant is only 85 PS where as your booklet and advertisements says it is 104 PS. That gives me an impression that, either you are publishing wrong info in advertisements or your technical people does not know basic info about the car. If it is the second case how can I trust your people in future?
Since I received different info on vehicle power from sales person and service team members, I thought of checking it directly with Renault to clarify it, I contacted them today (on 23rd Oct) and the person who picked the phone (his name was Ashish) told me that he can invite someone from the dealer. I declined that I told him that I already heard what dealer’s service team is saying and now I want to get it clarified directly from Renault. To my surprise he told me that this kind of information Renault is unable to provide and it can share only by dealer’s service team. And he was repeating the same. It is a pathetic situation. The people, who make the car, designed it, developed engine is not able to provide such information and they need help from dealer’s service team to provide it. Too bad, now I doubt the technology of Renault and its capability to provide support to customers.
Also their technical team (service team) is incapable to find the root cause and they are trying fool the customers by simply saying “you don’t know how to drive car”.
Poor Quality Accessories - Defective Extra accessories provided for high cost. I ordered reverse camera with sensors and the LCD screen which was fixed showed unnatural behavior and hence Renault has replaced it with a new one. Now the new one is also defective. This proves that after charging Rs. 8500/- Renault cheated me with poor quality product.
So please don’t buy Renault cars. Their customer service is worst and they are simply cheating Indian customers. If I am not going to get a satisfactory response on or before the given date, I am going to take legal action against both Renault and Trident Motors, Silk board Bangalore for cheating me and for deficiency in service.
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