[Video] Jeep Compass SUV owner beaten by dealer staff; Both sides of the story finally emerge

Recently, a video surfaced on social media, showing a Jeep Compass owner being beaten up by dealership personnel belonging to Landmark Jeep, Delhi. We now have both sides of the story. First, the video.

Here’s the ‘how and why’ of it all,

The victim, a Jeep Compass owner, is said to have sent his SUV to the Landmark Jeep service center at Gurgaon, for addressing multiple issues. The service center, which had the vehicle for about 15 days to diagnose the problem, couldn’t sort out the issues. When the customer returned, he found the vehicle lying unattended at the dealer’s Motinagar showroom, under a layer of dust.

Livid, the customer then went into the dealership, and is said to have verbally abused the staff at Landmark Jeep, including women dealership personnel. This ‘verbal abuse’ is said to have been the trigger for the dealership personnel to beat up the customer. Taking note of the incident, which is said to have happened two months ago, on the 29th of September 2017, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, issued a terse press statement on the 30th of November 2017,

The sequence of events is currently being investigated. Appropriate action will be taken once all facts are studied and considered

Here is the statement from Landmark Jeep, the dealership whose personnel beat up the Compass owner,

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. This incident took place two months back i.e. on September 29, 2017 where the customer, during his discussion 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.

The Compass is the only mass-market SUV that Jeep sells in India. India also serves as an export-hub for the SUV, which is shipped to all right-hand drive markets from here. Prices of the Compass start from Rs. 15.21 lakhs, going all the way up to Rs. 21.37 lakhs. Petrol, diesel, and petrol-automatic and diesel 4X4 variants of the Compass are sold here. Soon, diesel-automatic variants will be added to the SUV’s line-up. In price terms, the Compass competes with a range of SUVs, including the Hyundai Creta, Renault Captur, Mahindra XUV500 and the Hyundai Tucson.