AOA,
This is to bring a matter of car quality and sales attitude to the attention of whoever is in charge of Al-Haj FAW Motors (CEO/ COO) and ‘BUYER’S BEWARE’ note to anyone thinking of purchasing this car:
My Corolla GLi was stolen from outside my mom’s house next to Army Mess, Rawalpindi two days before Eid-ul-Fitr this year. So I was in urgent need of a car (I work as a journalist/ broadcast producer). I researched and looked at every car available on the block (used, new, imported, local, sedan, luxury, hatchback) in Islamabad/ Rawalpindi.
I liked the 'specs' and price of FAW V2 as compared to its competitors in hatchback category in both local and imported varieties available in Islamabad/ Rawalpindi and decided to purchase it (instead of the more expensive Honda City). I test drove it via FAW GT Road dealership and liked it but decided to purchase it from the I-9 dealership because GT Road one did not have red / cobalt colors and it would have taken a month to get them delivered there, while I-9 dealership GM Sales Tahir Qureshi said that ‘new cars’ shipment was coming in 5 days.
First of all, I-9 dealership GM Sales Tahir Qureshi was incredibly impatient and arrogant, boasted that he had sold 35,000 cars and that I asked too many questions (!) I think any sensible person shelling out 12.50 Lacs would ask questions about the car and any reasonable ‘salesman’ would not mind it. The only reason why I even went to this dealership was because it was near to F-7 (where I live) and I needed a new car urgently. But I wanted to be sure that I was getting a newly produced and delivered car and not some piece rotting in his dealership for months.
Engine # HJ300092
Chassis # LFPAHFMVM18001642
Color: Midnight Blue
Friday, 27 July, 2018: Down payment: PKR 5 Lacs
Monday, 30th July, 2018: Rest of bank draft: PKR 7.29Lacs as well as 20K cash freight charges.
I told GM-Sales TQ before hand, that the car should be 'checked' and then given. He said, it comes 'checked from Karachi'. This guy was evasive, promised that the sales invoice from Karachi would have all the details of date of production, date of shipment from Karachi and model number. He lied to make the sale. He also told me that ‘now that the sale is final, his job was finished, and all my future dealings will be with service centre and not him.’ This should have opened my eyes that this whole dealership is out to swindle gullible, naive customers out of lacs of their hard-earned cash to sell defective / unpredictable / faulty cars.
The car given to me was dirty (GM-Sales TQ said because ‘it had driven from Tarnol’), had no paper mats even, wouldn’t start (ignition switch was silent) and I was told by GM Sales TQ and his ‘star mechanic’ (Naveed) and a sales agent Umar to push the accelerator hard to start it (in actuality, you aren’t supposed to push accelerator in electronic ignition cars, as later on told by both FAW service pindi/ isld. head Atif, I-9 GM Service Faisal Shairaz and FAW service head in Karachi!). There was an ignition problem in brand new car (it wouldn’t start) that these people (sales and service) were hiding to make the sale final - because once the car is out of the showroom, there is nothing a consumer can do to get their money back or get the car changed (‘Delivery Note’ certifying ‘inspection’ by buyer). Even though I had brought my driver, what’s the most that one can inspect in these showrooms? GM-Sales TQ said he could not allow me to ‘test drive’ a car because there was tracker in them and the ‘zero metre’ would turn on (though the car I was given had clocked 60km anyways). Which was also untrue, because I test drove a car in GT Road Faw station, where they had ‘unplugged’ the ‘metre’ wire.
Within an hour of ‘purchase’, I came back to the dealership to tell them again about ignition problem. The GM-Service, I-9 dealership, Faisal Shairaz, said all was well and I should just ‘drive’. (Technically, car had been ‘checked’ in Karachi and by this GM-Service before handing it to Sales - I wonder what they had checked?).
The next day the car just wouldn’t start. Period! It wouldn't start. Called associate engineer Mausam in I-9 dealership and he told me to ‘dhaka start’ the car (!)
To cut a long story short, I had to go to this dealership 5 times in first 4 days after purchase, spending hours listening to GM-Service Faisal Shairaz, who after apologizing went into diatribe on ‘mukaafaat-e-amal’ (i.e. what goes around comes around, which made me wonder whether I had done something to deserve this hell hole dealership and car experience) and political theories on PTI and PML-N. He also said I should not worry about car having problems ‘because you have 3 year warranty’. Am I supposed to take this car to get it fixed for 3 years?! He also said that ‘Honda, Suzuki etc. have been around for 30 years and have solved all their problems.’ So technically, I am an experiment. And consumers who are buying this car right now are ‘test subjects’ who will inform these scoundrels what the problems are so that five years from now the car would run fine!
The charade continued: GM Service’s ‘star mechanic’ (Adnan) said that I had to pick key a certain way for car to start (What the hell?!)
Anyways, first a sensor was replaced and car kept 'under observation' for 2 days. And then, the car was again in the workshop for overnight stay (3 days after purchase) so that a new requisitioned part can arrive from Karachi and installed in it.
I was never told what the name of the ‘ignition component’ was and what was changed, even though they made me sign some spare parts document - which goes to show that service centre (whose cubicle is next to sales office) is in cohoots with sales. And I asked all of the Service heads and chiefs and what not. And it was their responsibility to tell me.
In all this scenario, GM-Sales Tahir Qureshi did not even once ask what the problem was, nor did he take calls when I called - because these guys didn’t care (and they know they are selling defective cars). I sent driver to collect the invoice which came after 2 weeks - which did not mention when the car was produced (Sept. 2017 as the car timer indicated, or Jan. 2018 or March, April, May etc.) nor when it was trailered from Karachi and when it actually arrived in I-9 dealership. This guy refused to tell my driver the date car came to the showroom.
(I spoke to 4 other FAW V2 buyers and one said, his car had a leaky fuel tank problem which service station said would require an engineer from Karachi to fix - and he decided to sell it; the other one spoke of low fuel average; third one re-sold immediately; fourth one wouldn’t say what the problem was - because he was trying to sell the car).
I called Al Haj Faw Karachi Head Office, and spoke to GM-Service Chief (Head of all service departments) Asif Husain, and I told him I had been driving cars since the age of 17 (I am 44 now), and this is not my first car, and he said ‘oh, you still sound like a 17-year old‘ (!) and ‘the car is perfectly fine, I have it too, but if there is some future problem call my number 2 in pindi Atif’.
Second week after purchase, car again wouldn’t start, or would start after 2-3 tries (issue with ‘self’, key+ignition problem), especially in the morning. So called FAW pindi / Isld. service head Atif whose office is on Peshawar Road and he started the car and said it was okay.
My first thousand km were spent going to this dealership to get the car’s issues fixed (electronic window malfunctioned, a mechanic dropped tea on boot space, fuel arrow malfunctioned, fuel average was very low, etc.). As it turned out, even the passenger side rear mirror was broken before purchase and ‘taped’ into place, and only fixed when I told them to.
So when the time for first ‘free service’ came I sent the driver because I was sick of seeing this dealership and its people. I told my driver not to pay anything to anyone without telling me first. Guess what? That day, FAW Service Pindi / Isld head, Atif, I-9 dealership GM-Service Faisal Shairaz and rest of his team made the driver sit for 4 hours and insisted he pay 8,000-9,000 service charges for ‘new oil, new gear oil, new engine oil, new coolant’ that they were going to put in the brand new car (!) Who puts all this stuff in a three-week brand new car? (unless it’s an older car).
My guess is they sold me a 2017 produced car and were trying to get me to pay for all the oils /coolants they were supposed to check and change at the beginning before sale. OR they were swindling for extra cash to make profit for the ‘service’ side of dealership. Either ways, they stink.
In fact, FAW pindi / isld service head Atif actually told me that while ‘oil filter’ is free under warranty card, ‘oil’ is not (they were charging PKR2500/- just for that). Two independent mechanics even said that FAW people were doing drama because no car coolant is changed and they were just trying to extract money from me.
I told my driver to not get anything changed, not even the oil filter and just get the hell out of that place! I-9 dealership and Al Haj group sale and service people are fraudsters doing unethical business practices or FAW is full of unprofessional people who just want to make money without any regard to customer satisfaction and product's viability.
If these people had been in U.S. or Europe, I could have easily sued them (I-9 dealership and Al-Haj Faw Group) for damages and a car return and my money back. But in Pakistan people know they can get away with fraud. This is exactly why Pakistanis have a bad reputation everywhere! I spoke to my lawyer and he said that though a criminal case could be made against I-9 dealership (for knowingly selling a defective car that doesn't start properly) and Al Haj Group, it would still be a waste of my time and I should move on. He, and my brothers abroad, told me that FAW people acted this way because I am a woman and people try to fool women here, not taking them seriously.
I called FAW, Changchun, China Headquarter (yes, China) to let their Quality Control / Consumer Relation guys know that this is how their Pakistani partner ‘Al-Haj‘ was conducting business through their sales and service teams, damaging their international reputation. I don’t know whether it will make a difference but I thought it best to put the word out there.
I’ll post YT videos of key-ignition-switch problem here so that prospective buyers understand more.
FAW V2 PROS: Smooth drive (when it finally starts); you don’t feel like you are in a grave like other hatchbacks; Tough exterior (no noisy ‘teen ka dubba’); Size of car is perfect for Pakistani roads and practical lifestyles (grocery shopping, driving to work, etc.).
FAW V2 CONS: Major problems will come up (like the ones I mentioned above, or something else). You’ll hear creaking sounds. You will be at the mercy of swindlers masquerading as FAW sales and service teams. If you have enough money to waste to keep going to dealership to get things fixed all the time, go ahead. This is not a car one can hold for long time. Customers are nothing more than lab rats for FAW to 'test' their defective product. I think selling this car is a con in itself. Buy at your own risk.