Perodua asserts it has been in constant communication with the aggrieved party, and is currently prioritising their case to its eventual resolution.
Perodua certainly doesn’t seem to have had a rather good time lately. With the Daihatsu safety scandal still rather fresh on everyone’s minds, the Malaysian automaker now has to also deal with another bout of bad PR that originated from a viral social media post regarding a rather broken Bezza.
The automaker has since released a statement from its sales division, and it reads as follows:
Regarding the recent complaint made by a customer on her newly-purchased Perodua Bezza, we wish to notify the public that we have been in constant communication with her since October last year.
Since then, we have taken several actions to resolve the matter, including by offering her a courtesy car and we have proposed to buy back her car.
Perodua has also assured the customer that her case is being prioritised, and we hereby deny any allegation that no action has been taken to resolve the issue.
A thorough investigation is underway regarding the issue and we will share the details in due time. We apologise for any inconvenience caused, and thank you for your understanding.
Just for those now who might not have heard of this since-viral Facebook post, the long and short of it is for a new Perodua Bezza owner (going by the name of Nagakanni Subramaniam on the social media site) to have had the misfortune of its engine going kaput after just 8 hours since collecting it from the dealership. And apparently according to subsequent investigations by the automaker after the car was towed to an authorised repair centre, it was determined there was what seemed like a sugar-like substance in the Bezza’s engine.
Though the gist of the Facebook post was however for the customer to vent their frustration on the arduous process of back-and-forth with Perodua, and how in spite of it nearly being already 3 months on, the issue with this broken Bezza still not yet being resolved. Moreover, the customer has also lamented that the monthly loan repayment of RM 537 has to still be paid, even with the car in this rather dead state.
Detailed in the Facebook post is Perodua’s insistence on assisting the customer to make a second loan for another car, but was not helpful in sorting out the issue with the hire purchase on the now-dead original Bezza. And while the automaker did mention in its public statement for this case to be a priority matter, the chronology does show for this entire process to date to not exactly be moving along at perhaps the quickest it could go.
Now in Perodua’s defence, the customer’s complaint does show for the automaker to at least be willing to communicate with the aggrieved in resolving this matter, which is really the least it could do. The public statement issued by the automaker also made clear that a courtesy car was offered to her and is willing to buy back the defective car, but this still should not excuse the rather obvious fact that the customer is required to make a viral post on social media before the bureaucracy is sped up and compensatory action undertaken at a faster pace.
In fact, cases like this since-viral social media complaint here is not exactly the uncommon. Those who spend time online will most certainly have come across various issues with brand new cars, and more often than not ensuing unhelpful after-sales care too.
So given that Malaysia is currently on a hot streak now in revamping both its laws and transport policies, maybe it is high time that we incorporate some stronger consumer protections into our books. Lemon laws have proven rather effective in providing relief to customers of defective products in the countries that have enacted them, but will we ever get round to enacting it over here?
