Mitsubishi SA's shocking response to obvious product failure

<p>I don’t usually publicly air personal grievances with corporate SA but I think my recent experience with Mitsubishi Motors South Africa needs to be broadcast as far and wide as possible, not only to relieve my frustration but also to warn people thinking of buying a new car, of Mitsubishi’s shocking arrogance and apparently wilful neglect of responsibility. <br />About a month ago while driving up an inclined road in Randburg, I heard a sharp, brief sound from the engine compartment and almost simultaneously the vehicle came to a halt. At 115,000km the vehicle was out of warranty so I had the vehicle towed to the office and inspected by two independent mechanics. Both diagnosed cambelt failure. The vehicle was then taken to the nearest Mitsubishi dealer in Northcliff where cambelt failure was confirmed and I was advised that repair costs would be in the region of R45,000. I contacted a Mr. David *****ya who has the seemingly ironic title of Customer Care Manager and explained the situation, which very briefly, is this:<br />The cambelt was said to have been replaced when due, at the 90,000km service mark and they provided me with an invoice as proof; the first time I’d seen this invoice. Interestingly, it was charged to a different cost centre to the one that appeared on other invoices for my 100,000 service payment plan. Mitsubishi head office appeared to pick up the tab for this particular invoice of dubious provenance and not the usual ‘AMH Financial Services – maintenance,’ department. <br /> The mileage on the vehicle at time of the cambelt failure, is 115,430km. So astonishingly, in a little over 25,000km - nowhere near the standard 90,000km replacement period use - the cambelt was reduced to a powdery residue. <br />Mr. *****ya’s response after a few days was that ‘cost assistance has been rejected as the warranty on the repair has expired and the cambelt is a wear & tear item.’ He added ‘please note that our Parts Department have advised that we have sold hundreds of these cambelts in the last two years with no premature failures reported as such the failure cannot be attributed to a defective belt.’<br />The disconcerting thing for me about this glib refusal to accept responsibility is that according to the Mitsubishi dealer who informed Mitsubishi of the cambelt failure, the curiously titled Customer Care Manager, never even bothered to ask for a photo of the cambelt to show his so-called ‘technical department.’<br />After discussing the matter with a work colleague I decided to phone Mr *****ya to arrange a meeting with his technical department, on the assumption that anyone with a little experience of such things, would on seeing the powdery remnants not possibly claim that this was the normal state of a Mitsubishi cambelt that had been fitted only 25,000km before! Mr. *****ya agreed to meet me at the Northcliff dealer with representatives of his technical department. After not hearing from him after almost a week I phoned him again and was told that the meeting would be pointless because they would not change their stance. So, he’d wasted his customer’s time. <br />This arrogant display of corporate power over consumers echoes the recent Ford Kuga debacle. You’d think that that bad publicity may have caused Mitsubishi to be more prudent, or at least make more of an attempt to review what would, to my mind, suggest to anyone with a bit of common sense that Mitsubishi might have a serious problem with certain batches of cambelts, or even that the dealer may not have replaced the cambelt when due.<br />I therefore suggest that readers alert people they know who are thinking of buying a car, of this sad example of corporate irresponsibility so they can at least be forewarned of the type of ‘customer care’ they’re likely to experience from Mitsubishi Motors South Africa.</p>