Swaraj Baggonkar Moneycontrol News
A video has gone viral showing a Jeep Compass customer being beaten up by the sale staff at one of its dealerships in the national capital.
The incident, which took place in late September, happened at the Landmark Jeep showroom in Delhi. The video shows a man arguing with the dealer’s staff over an alleged delay in returning to him his Jeep Compass following which he beaten up. The same dealer operates two outlets and a workshop in Mumbai.
Though the matter is now settled between the two parties the online community, including Jeep owners, denounced manhandling of the unidentified Jeep customer calling it ‘shocking’ and ‘disturbing’. FCA India Automobiles, formerly known Fiat Group Automobiles India, acknowledged the video as authentic and has promised ‘appropriate action’.
“We are in the know of the incident and we have taken this up very seriously. The sequence of events is currently being investigated. Appropriate action will be taken once all facts are studied and considered”, said Fiat in a statement.
Meanwhile, the dealer has accused the customer of misbehaving with its female staff which ultimately led to the manhandling incident.
“It is unfortunate that a video is being circulated on social media relating to an incident that took place in our Delhi branch of Jeep showroom. The video neither portrays nor provides the complete picture of the happenings. The incident had resulted as a consequence of unacceptable behaviour of the customer with some of the female staff in our organisation”, said the statement.
The dealer claims to have resolved the matter amicably with the customer post escalation of the matter to the police and has condemned the whole incident.
“This incident took place two months ago i.e. on September 29, 2017 where the customer, during his discussions with our officials at Landmark showroom in Delhi, used extremely abusive language and also threatened the staff including the female front-desk manager. Our officials tried to calm down the customer but the customer became even more aggressive and further continued using foul language in front of our ladies staff. As a prudent measure in such a scenario, our staff had immediately dialled 100 number and informed the situation to the Police Department. Thereafter, the police had come to our showroom to address the matter. Along with the customer, four Landmark officials visited the police station, where the matter was amicably settled and closed post apology from the customer. Having said this, we have already taken measures to address the non-acceptable behaviour displayed by Landmark officials and we do not tolerate such incidence being against our customers and the brands we represent. We strongly condemn any acts of such nature,” said the dealer statement.
Jeep has more than 50 dealerships across the country selling four products, Compass, Grand Cherokee, Grand Cherokee SRT and Wrangler Unlimited. These products are priced in the range of Rs 15-76 lakh.
Late last month Jeep made a recall of 1,200 units of the Compass in India for replacement of front passenger airbag for possible malfunction of the unit. The Compass has emerged as one of the best-selling premium sports utility vehicles (SUV) in the country clocking an average of 2,000 units a month.
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