We are writing to notify you of the continuing problems we have had with our newly purchased vehicle [Proton Savvy 1.2 AMT, manufactured in 2007] and to request that you repurchase or replace the vehicle. As you may recall, we previously notified you of these problems in a letter dated June 10, 2008.  We purchased the vehicle from Proton Edar Mutiara Damansara on May 10, 2008. We received the new vehicle only on June 3, 2008 and on the very next day, which is June 4, we began having trouble with the automatic transmission. The vehicle was in complete stall on the road and it was then taken back to Proton Edar Service Centre in Mutiara Damansara on the same day. Please refer to our previous letter dated June 10, 2008 for more detail information.

We got back the vehicle only on June 21, after receiving both verbal (by Roslan bin Mohamad, Senior Operation Manager of Mutiara Damansara Branch) and written confirmation and assurance (by Proton i.care Centre) that the concern highlighted would not re-occurred. Unfortunately, on June 25th evening around 9.30 p.m., the automatic transmission error illuminated and appeared again. The vehicle has to be restarted in order to move. We then notified Mr Roslan and Mr Devan immediately through SMS. On June 26th evening the transmission error signal again and the vehicle was in complete stall again.

Therefore we have no choice but to take the vehicle back to the service centre on 27th June morning. How can a brand-new vehicle broke down again and again, when we were told that the car is safe to drive after necessary rectification and thorough test drive by your Proton Specialist. This is really putting my life and my family\'s life in stake!! To date, the service centre has been unable to completely solve the problem. Thus far, our car has been out of service for more than 20 days. Attached are copies of our previous complaint letter, the reply letter (Ref: i.care-LO-(DV)-08/06-014) by Proton Edar and the delivery inspection checklist by Mutiara Damansara Service Centre.

The NCCC has forwarded this complaint to Proton Management and Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs for attention and action

Dear Lieta (proton),

Please find a complaint on Proton product quality for your kind attention and immediate action. It is sad that a new vehicle fails to operate as desired. Under the Hire Purchase Act there is an implied warranty that a vehicle must be fit for its purpose. In This case proton has failed that test.

Thank you

Darshan Singh
Director-NCCC

"Treat Others The Way You Want Others To Treat You"

To PROTON Management,

I would appreciate a report on the service provided to the complainant thus far. Additionally, I would like to see that the complaint is given due regard given the fact that the car is new and a new car stalling many times, I believe, is and should not be the norm.

Thank you.

Mohd Zain Mohd Dom
Ketua Setiausaha
Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri & Hal Ehwal Pengguna
09 July 2008 

Reply by Proton (solution offered)

Dear Dato’,
On behalf of Proton Edar, I apologize for the delay in updating you on the reference complaint.

By the way, we have been communicating with customer on regular basis & for your information, we are mailing out (by courier) an official offer letter to customer tomorrow morning on 3 possible options for her to choose from which could be summarized as follows :

Option 1 : upon complete repair & testing, we will return customer car on this Monday 14th July;
Option 2 : to buy-back & replace customer’s car with a brand new Savvy;
Option 3 : to totally buy-back customer’s car by settling the finance outstanding balance & refunding her with any paid down-payment for the old Savvy.

We shall update you for any development on the reference case.

Best regards,

Lieta VM
Head
Customer Management Centre
Proton Edar Sdn. Bhd