Don't waste your money on a Suzuki

In October 2019 I bought a demo model Suzuki Ignis AT from the Fourways Fury dealership. Between October and up to an including January, I only drove the car to and from work. A mere 18km round trip in suburban traffic. On the 8th of February 2020 I took the car for its first “long distance” trip - from Randburg to Witbank. This was also the first time that I ever drove the car at 120 km per hour. Halfway between Bronkhorstspruit and Witbank the engine refused to change gear and was making the most awful sound. As a woman alone I had no choice but to limp into Witbank (driving at 50kms p/h) to the Suzuki dealership there. They inspected the car briefly and determine that there was a “possible fault with the engine”. Something I could have told them without opening the hood. They then kept the car for further inspection, and as they could not provide me with an alternative vehicle, my father had to bring me back to Randburg. A week later they bothered to provide feedback ... the engine BLOCK had cracked and they had taken photos to send to Suzuki head office- to determine if I was the cause of this. Yes. That’s right. To determine if I had cracked the engine block. How insulting to someone who has been driving longer than the mechanics working on my car have even be alive! But wait...there’s more... 5 WEEKS after receiving the photos Suzuki deigned to grace the workshop with their presence and sent an assessor to decide “if they could go ahead and replace the engine”. That was 3 weeks ago. The engine was ordered. But needless to say there are none in the county and it has to come from Japan. Yup. During a pandemic. Please note that during this time the Fourways dealership loaned me a car. For 2 weeks. And on top of it all I have been paying installments to Wesbank for a car I have not driven for over two MONTHS. And what has the dealership I bought the car from said or done? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And has Suzuki head office tried to help me in anyway? Of course not. To say that I am being livid is to say the least. Except Suzuki, is a costly mistake to make. Especially when this client is a staff member of First Rand. The holding company for Wesbank. Believe you me... this matter has been escalated to the highest of highest at Wesbank. Good luck with getting any deals through them again. You have proven that the customer is absolutely nothing to you, once you’ve got your greedy hands on their hard earned money. I was so looking forward to owing my Ignis but this disgraceful treatment has soured the whole experience. I will never waste my money with Suzuki ever again.