The Bezza 1.3 X is powered by a 1.3-litre petrol engine. Shown here is not Nagakanni's car.
UPDATE: Perodua settles problem
PETALING JAYA: Imagine buying a new car and it goes kaput in less than a day.
That's the woe clerk S. Nagakanni felt compelled to tell after she drove a Bezza 1.3 X out of a Perodua showroom in Johor last October. She said the car broke down about eight hours later.
She took to Facebook on Jan 2 to air her grievances after failing to reach a resolution with Perodua.
Her complaint on social media included a chronology of events starting from Oct 17 when she drove the car out of the Perodua dealership in Segamat, Johor.
According to Nagakanni, she took delivery of the RM43,980 Bezza in the morning and by 7.40pm the same day, the car wouldn't start.
The red Bezza was towed back to the Perodua service centre where she was told three weeks later that her engine was damaged because there was sugar in it. Nagakanni said she was perplexed as to how sugar had entered the engine.
She said she was informed by a sales executive of the Segamat dealership that her request for a new Bezza had to be forwarded to Perodua headquarters for a decision that would take up to a month.
Nagakanni picking up the Bezza from the Perodua showroom on Oct 17 last year. - Photo from facebook.com/nagakanni.subramaniam
Perodua responded on Jan 3 with a statement that it has been in contact with Nagakanni since October and that its investigation into the matter is still under way and that the outcome would be announced in due course.
In the meantime, it said it had offered her a courtesy car as well as proposed to buy back her car.
However, Nagakanni said she is no closer to a solution as Perodua had not given her an undertaking in black and white to buy back her car after more than two months of waiting.
She pointed out that she still had to service the car loan amounting to RM537 a month and that the idea of taking a second loan for the replacement car is out of the question until the first one is handled and settled in a satisfactory way.
"I want a solution; I'm not looking for a fight or make my situation go viral," Nagakanni said in response to Perodua's statement.
Meanwhile, Nagakanni's predicament has gained traction with many Malaysians keen to see how Perodua would handle the case in a way that would be fair to the customer while also upholding its brand values as a budget car manufacturer.
Her social media post has also gone viral and her complaint has been picked up by various mainstream publications as well as motoring websites.
Cases of car buyers getting "lemons" do happen but they are rare. There have been sporadic cases over the years of people buying cars from other marques who have voiced their unhappiness at not getting what they paid for.
