Here’s my one week review of Renault Duster, delivery day experience and its after sales support. [OC]
After a long wait and spam calling the sales people I was informed about the delivery date.
On the day of delivery:
- Right after driving out of the showroom we noticed that behind the drivers seat there’s a small damage, like something pierced it. Drove back and reported it to the sales folks and they were looking around like sitting ducks. Fortunately I got them to take off all the seat covers before we left the showroom and the same piercing damage was seen in the cover. I say fortunate because otherwise they would have put the blame on us. The sales head even went on to say that the damage kinda happened because we got the car early to the showroom to do PDI. Anyway, wrote him an email to keep it documented.
- They didn’t bother giving me the boot mat that I paid for as part of accessories. They realised that only after I brought it up.
- The insides of the car and the exterior at the back was not even cleaned. I had to ask them to clean it up.
After sales support:
- With the first issue mentioned above, I emailed the sales head, he acknowledged - no updates after that. Gave this as a feedback to Renault - no update. Spoke to an agent via chat and even wrote an email - no update other than the typical we’ll get back to you soon. Wrote an escalation email to Renault - not even a reply from them.
- The MyRenault App that can be used to perform various functions of the car was not even detecting my VIN. Passed this to the sales person - we’ll check and get back to you. Chased this up again after a few days and then they do something. Now I’m able to sign up with my VIN but there’s another error and I’m still not able to use the app.
- Been seeing an airbag error from day 1. Service folks took a look and diagnosed the issue to be due to some electrical harness. I’ve been told it’ll need a replacement that the company will take care of.
The car itself:
- Turbo lag is noticeable but doesn’t matter to me as it’s not bad.
- Second row space is meh. I’m 6 feet tall and if I set the drivers seat back to suit me fine then another tall-ish person will not be about to sit behind me. If the people in the back are lesser than 5.10 then there’s no issues.
- The infotainment system is very responsive and easy to use. I feel like it’s better than any of its competitors.
- The handling, the looks, the refinement - excellent.
- I could be biased but the road presence is amazing.
- The mileage is heartbreaking. I see 5-6 but this just driving within the city.
- The music controls next to steering wheel is really nice.
- The interior quality is worlds apart from its competitors. Competitors have it better.
P.S: These are my personal opinions based on my experience. Not sure if this is gonna help anybody but if anybody has any questions feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer them.