Perodua informs us that they have indeed been in contact with the customer and have been offering solutions.
On 17 October 2023, a clerk in Johor purchased a Perodua Bezza and within 8 hours the vehicle malfunctioned. The clerk made her frustrations public and the story was picked up yesterday. According to the customer, here’s a timeline of the events:
- 11am, 17 October – customer collected her new Perodua Bezza from the sales office.
- 7.40pm, 17 October – the Perodua Bezza could not start
- 18 October – customer tows the car to the service centre. Service centre mechanic says there’s engine damage
- 9 November – Perodua employee informs her that the engine was damaged by the presence of foreign objects, such as sugar. The customer denies having introduced any such foreign object into the vehicle
- 15 November – Perodua employee contacts her to ask her to apply for a new loan for a new car
- 4 December – Perodua sales staff asks for documents to help her apply for the new loan
- 8 December – Perodua customer service informed the customer that the last process had not been approved and hq was still investigating internal errors. The replacement car was not confirmed
The customer also said that she had yet to receive any response from Perodua in the last two months, at least according to NST’s reporting.
Now we hear Perodua’s side of the story
“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 prioritized, 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.”
Our Take
We don’t like to victim blame, and it does look terrible from the point of view of the customer. They bought a new car and within 24 hours the car can’t even start! Not only that, but three months later a solution hasn’t come yet.
That being said, it’s clear that some details in the story are off. The customer says there hasn’t been any contact from Perodua in the last 2 months, but clearly they have been in touch through November and December.
Perodua says they offered a courtesy car, which is the right thing to do. It’s unclear whether the customer has accepted this offer of not, but there’s no reason not to.
Perodua also says they offered to buy back the car, but the customer isn’t able or isn’t willing to apply for a new loan. Perhaps there a miscommunication here – Perodua needs the new loan to be processed in order to register the replacement car, and probably intends to pay off the existing loan in order to “buy back” the original unit. However, the customer either can’t or won’t apply for the new loan.
Overall I think the intention of Perodua is in the right place. We’ve seen many car brands in Malaysia who have ignored customers completely and that doesn’t seem to be the case here. It’s especially easy for car brands to ignore customer problems when the country has no Lemon law in place, but it’s refreshing to see Perodua showed a willingness to solve the issue.
Perhaps clearer communication with the customer regarding the procedure could have been more clear. We’ll stay tuned to see how the situation resolves itself.
