Best Service Cent is Myth Now. Maruti Baleno Sent For Service Returned After Wash


Thread Starter #1
Joined
Jun 26, 2015
Messages
1,096
Likes
1,350
Location
Bathinda-Delhi
Baleno sent for service returned after just a wash.

So now will we get to hear Maruti service is a hit or miss? Or Maruti ASS is no longer best in the country?

As reported by a member of the team-bhp.com forum:

kasscon said:
I have always been apprehensive about leaving my car at the service centre and after my recent experience, I never will.

I own a Baleno RS which was due for the second free service, so I setup a service appointment and took the car to the service centre. I was greeted by the service advisor and he started to take down all the details and asked the usual questions. I did not have any issues with the car except for one thing, when I cold start the car there was a petrol smell which lasted for about a minute and disappeared, I asked the service advisor to check this and he said he would. I have installed a dash cam in the car and the whole service was recorded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAFV2GTjgg


The video is kind of long but it shows the entire service form the time I left the car till the time the service centre driver is dropping it off to my office. As you can see from the video, there was absolutely nothing done to the car. They simply washed the car and gave it back to me! No fluid levels were checked and absolutely nothing was inspected! The only time the bonnet was open was to clean the engine bay, that's it!

Let's break down the video (language is Kannada)
- The video starts when I was just about to leave the car, I tell the service advisor not to polish the car inside to which he asks if it's alright to polish the outside and I tell him that's fine.
- Just before I leave, I ask him to check the petrol smell and he said he will look into it. I leave at this point.
@ 22 sec the car is being driven into the workshop and I see this happening just before I exit the service station.
- the car gets driven inside and reversed into a service bay
@ 57 sec someone from behind yells 'washing washing don't put it here, there is no candidate (i assume he means mechanic)' To this the service advisor driving the car says 'wait for the customer to leave at least' Then they both have a conversation which is not relevant to my car.
@ 1:45 car is being taken out of the service bay (after they are sure I have left) and is driven to the washing line. The person on the phone is actually the service manager, he comes into the picture later after I go back the next day and confront them with this video.
@ 3:53 the car is in the washing line queue. The person in the car is feeling hot so what does he do? Turn the AC on at MAX speed. I myself have never used the AC at full blast! The car is sitting idle for several minutes with the AC at max speed. When I first watched the video I though they might have been vacuuming the car but I realized later that this was the sound of the AC because the sound is there almost throughout the entire washing process.
@ 11:17 till now the car is still in the washing line but at this point the service advisor has a conversation with someone about the dash cam asking if it records. The other person says yes and they ramble on for a bit.
@ 14:11 the bonnet is open for the first and only time during the entire 'service' process where the engine is cleaned.
@ 15:23 washing completed and its lunch time so what happens? A bunch of people decide to use my car to have their lunch and they seem to be fascinated by the dash cam and have a conversation about it with the AC on at full blast.
@ 18:32 the boys in the car have been chilling for a while now and the service advisor walks past and waves to people inside my car and tells them to get out because the camera is recording.
@ 18:45 the car leaves the wash line finally and makes its way to get parked. There are several conversations the driver has and at one point even asks the service advisor 'is this car not serviced?' Not sure if the service advisor responded to this because the mic did not pick up anything.
@ 21:34 the car is making it's way (after being parked) to get a final clean done before being delivered to me.
@ 25:49 at this point all the formalities are done (gate pass, billing etc) and the driver was instructed to take the car and get the under chassis checked before delivering it to me, which the driver does. Not sure what kind of checking was done in 4 minutes! (time stamp when the car switches off and dash cam stops recording is 15:02 and recording resumes again at 15:06).
After this the driver is making his way to my office to drop the car off.

So as you can see the car never went inside the workshop again for any kind of fluid checking or inspection whatsoever! They didn't even pull out the dipstick and check the oil level! To make matters worse they blatantly lied and ticked all the boxes in the manual.




After watching the video I went back the next day and confronted the service manager (the person you see talking on the phone in the beginning of the video) and showed him the video. He reacted in a very sympathetic way and told me that these kind of things don't usually happen and it is their responsibility to check everything etc etc and he will take action on the people concerned. I told him that I am sure you guys do this for all first and second service vehicles because nothing really happens in those services anyway and the customer would not know. The attitude of the manager was very humble and understanding (might have been an act). I told him that I was taking the car for a long trip next week and what if something had happened and if that something could have been found and fixed at the service. He apologized repeatedly after which he conducted the service and did what they were supposed to do in the first place.
 
Last edited:

Akash1886

Honoured Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
11,936
Likes
14,774
Location
Delhi-NCR/ Mumbai
Re: Best ASS is a myth now - Baleno sent for service returned after just a wash.

This particular incident has spread like fire. Have read about it in other blogs too. I would give full marks to the owner. I always make it a point to stand next to the car while the service is done. Always, keep an eye on the service guys at any dealership. I would say learning from this incident, many other brands will now become more pro-active. Again, the owner has done a wonderful job!

Regards

Akash
 

allhyundaicars

Honoured Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2012
Messages
7,932
Likes
3,799
Location
New Delhi
Re: Best ASS is a myth now - Baleno sent for service returned after just a wash.

this video is nearing 2 lakhs views. soon it will double as the news spread. this is clearly shocking and the service center is in lots of trouble for sure.

i had similar issue from samara hyundai as well. they charged me for greasing the caliper pin and they didn't even open the wheel to do that. plus it was raining the previous day so they didn't even bother to clean the underbody as well.
he accepted the mistake and got me a new bill but i did mention this on the feedback and received a eclairs box at my home from hyundai.
 
Thread Starter #4
Joined
Jun 26, 2015
Messages
1,096
Likes
1,350
Location
Bathinda-Delhi
In General, lot of these incidents happen and go unnoticed, unreported however I salute to the guy who reported this and posted it online even after lot of requests and apologizes to remove it from online.

Kudos to him[clap]

Now let's see how Maruti will react to this as its a big hit on their reputation where the service centre is at fault not the manufacturer. Still manufacturers are responsible for the service and the upkeep of the cars they sold in their authorised centres
 
Last edited:

allhyundaicars

Honoured Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2012
Messages
7,932
Likes
3,799
Location
New Delhi
well obviously no manufacturer wants a tarnished image especially if the product is fine but the service is not. the management at MS won't take this lightly for sure.

another hyundai thing i reported earlier.
Flaunting that they use 3M products.


actual product used


at my recent visit at ford even though they didn't flaunt it anywhere.


http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...-sx-petrol-ownership-review-5.html#post541648
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 15, 2013
Messages
777
Likes
720
Location
Bangalore
This is one of the biggest reasons I don't give my bike to authorised service center since Honda service returns the bike as it is. They don't even allow to see the bike getting serviced. For me road side service guys are preferable as I can watch them handle my bike.
 
Joined
Sep 23, 2017
Messages
38
Likes
34
Location
Delhi
Yeah the quality of the service centre of maruti is going down as seen in the above case and my dad also experienced something like this as our wagonr was due for 20000km service and the only issue felt was driver's door was not opening from inside and clutch was giving a click type feel can't explain but when pressing full and I felt the same my dad booked the appointment for Sunday and took the car and told both issues to the SA and he told dad that the car needs a clutch replacement[shock]and for the record my dad drove an Indica for more than 2 lac kms on stock clutch and dad just got pissed[gun] and took the car to our trusted mechanic where he just lubed the clutch and the door lock both the issues were rectified and the bill was meagre around Rs2000 whole service was carried on and when dad came back i enquired dad why did he traveled to the mechanic as it is 60km one way he told me that SA replied the clutch needs to be changed as he must be driving with the feet on clutch[frustration], I also got pissed and said to dad why didn't he fought back he just replied it ain't Worth it, so never rely on them even once I went with car for service and they made a fool out of a senior citizen and billed him around Re 15000 for servicing his Alto so always find a trustable mechanic rather than these SVC.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2017
Messages
6
Likes
5
Location
Bangalore
in my honest opinion, all the matters for service is the person handling the issue/car.

Bimal Maruti Bangalore is the nearest guy to my house in indiranagar. they have been doing a good job most of the time. More so because we know everyone from the top there, since its inception and its very old customers.
However, the guys at the service yard are specialists in avoiding work:
* once they banged a car jack on the side frame during service . we saw it only during we parked at home. took it back- they claimed it was done afterwards. i asked them to show the cctv footage and spoke to the MD. things we sorted of immediately.
* during delivery , right in front of us the cleaning guy kept the toolkit between the dicky and the glass in the dzire and closed the dicky after final cleaning- the factory fitted glass just gave way :-)
they changed it the next day
* another time the dzire was given to service and repair, the rear glass came back with tons of scratches.... showed it to the CR. they said it was already there....i spoke to the GM- promptly the glass was changed.
* there have been small- numerous things like this: it will be a long list.
special mention, when we tell them to not do any alignment they do OR they they claim to have not done any alignment-but the alignment is screwed after service.

Skoda SC took ages to fix a damaged part. But the service person i know personally searched for it and told me its available with another service centre and told me to get it done there.

Metro Ford BLR , some associates make sure they don't change parts unnecessarily . they call me everytime they need to change which they observe after taking in for repair /service.

Advaith Hyundai Indiranagar, the service representatives are very good with me. Superb support. Even though Trident is closer (i dont have to cross the 100ft road) i dont go to them- they have a give your damn attitude.

All said, my 17 year old ZEN does go to the local mechanic who used to do our Ambassador. No Maruti service centre in BLR has the knowledge to work on this car. So does my shogun, it goes to my old mechanic in Mysore (he is based in Mysore now) who used to maintain my Jawa.

All said and done. No service centre is perfect. As customers we have to be alert or else you will be conned.
 
Thread Starter #10
Joined
Jun 26, 2015
Messages
1,096
Likes
1,350
Location
Bathinda-Delhi
Update on this: The owner is now getting email with kind of legal threat to remove the video from the internet.

How could Maruti Suzuki not even trying to resolve the matter, I am amazed [anger]

Seems like they are pretty ignorant and might be the high sales no aren't alarming MUL to take any action.
 
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Messages
1,183
Likes
805
Location
Bangalore
The first and second services are washing and inspection only, but what they missed is not addressing the customer complaint and abusing the car which is not acceptable. MSIL service is no longer as good as 15 years back.
 

kkn13

Suspended
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
1,416
Likes
675
Location
Mumbai
While I agree this is utterly horrible and scary especially given the Japs generally have a better track record, I think this needs to be taken with a pinch of salt on the whole
This can happen to any brand service centre and probably actually does, given that they all switch jobs so often between companies
While this made me more vigilant when giving my own car for service this week to my local Honda dealership, I still wouldnt term any other brand as better/worse and rather judge the dealer itself
Some brands have a poor track record regardless of dealer, Some brands have simply got black sheep
In this case, its the latter for sure

Ive had a bad experience with Vitesse with respect to car leak from roof rail(tough to detect exact cause until much later) but the way they rectified it without charging me a penny to make up for the delay and trouble is surely something I wouldnt expect from certain other brands which I owned in the past

Another instance, I had a bad experience with my week old City in 2010, clutch had jerky release and I compared with other Citys to confirm the same
Unfortunately the dealer was terrible(and shut shop because of multiple such instances in 2013) and didnt acknowledge the problem. Finally a mail to Honda India and Solitaire Honda changed my clutch immediately on the same day and even gave me a whole load of goodies to make up for it.

Ive had similar instances with Toyota(minor issue, they are really well built) and even Mahindra to an extent(engine trouble)
Ive heard Ford also provides good service these days.

Ive had cars from other manufacturers and Ive always dreaded sending in my cars for service because even the management doesnt care much
So my family personally sticks to Honda, Hyundai,Toyota, Maruti, Mahindra(to an extent), Ford
 
Thread Starter #13
Joined
Jun 26, 2015
Messages
1,096
Likes
1,350
Location
Bathinda-Delhi
The first and second services are washing and inspection only, but what they missed is not addressing the customer complaint and abusing the car which is not acceptable. MSIL service is no longer as good as 15 years back.
That's why they took it so easy and just washed it. However they checked all the boxes on the checklist which they never did.

Now the point is why they going other way and kind of threatening to the owner to remove the video and the worst part is MUL is keeping mum, absolutely no word or intervened to resolve the matter.

Is the management also in partner with the dealer for this kind of service level? Don't know. It's really disheartening from a manufacturer who is known for best ASS and is the best selling brand in auto space.
 
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Messages
1,183
Likes
805
Location
Bangalore
I had extremely bad experience with the same dealer in Bangalore. Some other dealer tried to sell me demo car. Its all about how vigilant you are. As AbhisekVerma said I never go to ASS once car delivered. I buy service manuals, tools and borrow trusted mechanic on weekends do job by own. Some of my older cars crossed 2 lakh still running like new. Spare parts availability is not issuse anymore now most of the brands started selling over the counter.
 
Joined
Apr 25, 2016
Messages
1,302
Likes
2,137
Location
Coimbatore
I buy service manuals, tools and borrow trusted mechanic on weekends do job by own. Some of my older cars crossed 2 lakh still running like new. Spare parts availability is not issuse anymore now most of the brands started selling over the counter.
Sorry to go off topic. Where do we buy those service manuals? I have no interest in visiting ASCs after warranty period is completed (4 years though) and would like to know if service manual can be bought for Tata cars, specifically Tiago.
 

Top Bottom