Ripped off by ABT-Maruti, Ambattur

[BrainyLad]

Have you seen yourself in the Bakra position... Well i did just yesterday evening when my dad came home and informed me the after service charges.

First paid service @ 23500 Kms for my alto K10 - I land up with a 10k bill -
Major stakeholders -
Engine Decarbonizing - 1600
Brake Bleeding - 335
Wheel Spray (Any idea what is it for ??? ) -458
BG Injector Cleaning - 1538
AC Disinfection - 533
Grease Caliper Assy - 52.40 + 167 (this is labor charges)

Other pieces -
Paid service @ 20k - 1060
Coolant (SB) Non Amine - 205.24
Brake Fluid (100 ml) - 283.85 (0.5 Ltr)
MGGO (75W90)TOTAL - 723.15
Synthetic Oil (0W40)-MOBIL1 - 3316.60
BG Engine Oil Flush - 790.39
Filter Assy. Oil - 77.73
Disc and Drum brake cleaning -
Engine system flushing engine system flushing-BG (Labour) - 67
Misc.Labour - 100

I am indeed a
As suggested by supremeBaleno i am going ahead with a complaint/write up to Maruti.

Guys its a clear rip-off... With both my previous cars (M800 - 1.5 lac KM exchanged for Alto k10. My Alto - still serving me @ 1.1 Lac) I never touched the 10k until it was in the 80k-1L range.

Never expected it to turn out this way.

Note From Team-BHP Support-Staff: Please stick to the 'two-smiley' rule. Go through the Announcements section thoroughly before proceeding. Thanks.

[selfdrive]

I think we all have these kind of situations once in a while when a service station pushes off some such services without any real need or specific request. I had such an experience a few weeks ago too with Honda.

I think you should follow this up with Maruti and let them know what you think of it. Especially if the job cars did not include your requests. They should have at least had the courtesy to call you and confirm if they had any doubts. Honda did this, so I am not complaining this time. But I have learnt my lesson and will be very specific in my requests during subsequent service stops.

[supremeBaleno]

Goutham, it's a pity your 1st post had to be about this rip-off. Anyway, as discussed take this up with MSIL.

Regarding the engine-flush, I understand this is usually recommended when you switch from mineral oil to synthetic. So, if they did this flush because car came from factory with mineral oil, I wonder why they would move to synthetic when MSIL sends out cars with mineral oil ? And if MSIL does recommend synthetic oil for the car, it would have come with synthetic oil from factory - in which case, a flush was not required. Either ways, they fleeced money on the oil and/or flush.

Is there a way to know whether the oil is synthetic or mineral via visual inspection or feel/texture ?
I guess not because we went down to the parking-lot and checked the oil - to me, it just looks like how new oil looks - orangish-yellow in colour and clear.

The whole bill is a rip-off like I detailed in http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2828026 (Maruti service is cheap - A myth)
Eg. they say they put in 1litre of coolant. Hello ? That is almost the full reservoir capacity of the K10's coolant tank. And for the coolant level to be so low, the car should have some serious leak in the coolant system, so early in its life. And if it did, then there should have been an entry in the bill for fixing the leak, which is not the case.

[BrainyLad]

Yes Biju, i am indeed going to write to them. I am surprised as i would have been their long-timer with almost 30 service visits (M800+Alto) to these guys so far.
My neighbor (Alto) now changed to Kapico from ABT as last time these guys did a teflon coat without his acceptance.
Shall keep you posted.

Self-Drive,
Noted you point too. I will double check with my dad on whether they gave any advance notice on the certain charges to him.

[RaSing]

Well this problem has been on my mind too. I was thinking to start a new thread as to how to avoid being overcharged by service stations. I have been getting my cars services from Motorcraft ,Sec 8 , Noida. Though the service is good but recently i have started feeling that the service advisors will always try to make money here and there. On all my recent services, they tried to add engine flushing charges which is rs 500 even when i always put mineral oil. They always charge haphazardly for labour jobs like bumper repair(anything from rs200 to 500) even if it is like putting only a screw.I complained about this to maruti during one of their feedback calls only to get a sorry call and a free car wash from motorcraft which anyways i dont like to avail.

All my regular services for swift vdi cost around 3000-4000 and a major service anywhere between 5000-8000. I get my cars services at 5k interval and this much amount after every 5k hurts.

Guys , i think its high time for maruti to wakeup and monitor any overchargings from these service stations.

I will suggest someone knowledgeable to start a thread about tips and tricks to save money when you get a car serviced which will be of much help atleast to people who are not that technical.

Rs

[mayankjha1806]

Did you request them to change to synthetic? If not that charge is straight disputable when you did not ask for Synthetic. Most normal service never put Synthetic unless specifically asked for.

Whats this
MGGO (75W90)TOTAL - 723.15 - Engine oil, then what is this
Synthetic Oil (0W40)-MOBIL1 - 3316.60?

Two engine oil entries?

Thanks for alerting everyone, my friend used to use them for his Zen a lot 9 years back, and at that time they seemed to be good.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Whats this MGGO (75W90)TOTAL - 723.15

I also got confused by the 2 entries initially. I think that is gear-oil which needs to be changed at 20K km intervals.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by BrainyLad

Have you seen yourself in the Bakra position... Well i did just yesterday evening when my dad came home and informed me the after service charges.

First paid service @ 23500 Kms for my alto K10 - I land up with a 10k bill -
Major stakeholders -

1. Engine Decarbonizing - 1600
2. Brake Bleeding - 335
3. Wheel Spray (Any idea what is it for ??? ) -458
4. BG Injector Cleaning - 1538
5. AC Disinfection - 533
6. Grease Caliper Assy - 52.40 + 167 (this is labor charges)

Other pieces -

1. Paid service @ 20k - 1060
2. Coolant (SB) Non Amine - 205.24
3. Brake Fluid (100 ml) - 283.85 (0.5 Ltr)
4. MGGO (75W90)TOTAL - 723.15
5. Synthetic Oil (0W40)-MOBIL1 - 3316.60
6. BG Engine Oil Flush - 790.39
7. Filter Assy. Oil - 77.73
8. Disc and Drum brake cleaning -
9. Engine system flushing engine system flushing-BG (Labour) - 67
10. Misc.Labour - 100

I am indeed a
As suggested by supremeBaleno i am going ahead with a complaint/write up to Maruti.

Guys its a clear rip-off... With both my previous cars (M800 - 1.5 lac KM exchanged for Alto k10. My Alto - still serving me @ 1.1 Lac) I never touched the 10k until it was in the 80k-1L range.

Never expected it to turn out this way.

Note From Team-BHP Support-Staff: Please stick to the 'two-smiley' rule. Go through the Announcements section thoroughly before proceeding. Thanks.

Total rip off!!
In the first set items 1, 4 & 5 are not mentioned as mandatory in the manual iirc. Item 1 isn't required in a 23k run engine. Item 4 should be done only if there's some missing during acceleration. Item 5 is upto your discretion. Don't know what Item 3 wheel spray is.

In the second set item 5 should have been optional unless asked for by the customer for this car. Regarding item 6 & 9 even with the switch to synthetic from mineral, engine oil flush was not required. At 23k the engine is still fresh and healthy if previous oil change was done on time.

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Is there a way to know whether the oil is synthetic or mineral via visual inspection or feel/texture ?

Mobil1 0W40 has a fruity Esther kind of smell
But once its already in the engine i don't know if it will retain that smell, if one is to take some out on the dipstick and smell it.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Whats this
MGGO (75W90)TOTAL - 723.15 - Engine oil, then what is this
Synthetic Oil (0W40)-MOBIL1 - 3316.60?

Two engine oil entries?

Transmission oil and engine oil.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by BrainyLad

Major stakeholders -
Engine Decarbonizing - 1600
Brake Bleeding - 335

Engine De-carbonizing and brake bleeding on a relatively new car ? When did you run into braking problems.

Originally Posted by BrainyLad

Wheel Spray (Any idea what is it for ??? ) -458

Originally Posted by Sankar

Don't know what Item 3 wheel spray is.

Sounds like an expensive deodorant they used for the wheels.

Originally Posted by BrainyLad

Synthetic Oil (0W40)-MOBIL1 - 3316.60

Could take the 1st place for being the 1st service station in India for using synthetic oil instead of regular engine oil for an engine oil change.

This is nothing but a pure rip off man. Write to MUL and see what they can do about this.

Sankar I don't think there is anyways you can distinguish between the two oils man. You can check this only in a lab, unlikely that you can achieve this by smelling the engine oil. Have used Mobil 1 before and there is virtually no ways you can distinguish between the two.

[esteem_lover]

Looks like they just about covered it all and brought your car to showroom condition now, what with engine decarb et al. They might as well have reset your odo to 000000 and charged a fee for that too.

The wheel spray is something that is used for alloy wheels, do you have alloys ?

[BrainyLad]

Thanks all for the responses-
- Some facts after i talked to my dad
- Synthetic oil - yes he was informed on that and had agreed. Hence I will not blame it on them. However i saw in another thread that Engine flush is required only when migrating from mineral oil and not from synthetic.
- In the initial period (within 1 month time) we had to change the silencer bed for a manufacturing defect. After replacement the noise subsided and it was ok after that.

Sankar - I checked my previous bill and it looks like they had filled up with synthetic oil. I am not sure why an Engine flush is required. Also I remember doing engine decarbonizing in my old cars @ around 1Lac Km by the same service centre.

- The bill quotation was done around 8k and my dad believed them as we do service there regularly and he was not aware of the specifics and what is the purpose for.

Mayankjha1806 - Yes these guys were really good BUT for the past 1-2 year we have been seeing issues with them. The better guys have left and i am seeing a good level of degradation and this bill has escalated it and planning to move away from them the next time. However the next immediate choice is CARS and KAPICO situated nearby my place. I will have to stick on with these guys until the warranty period.

rjstyles69, - I did not have brake issues hence brake bleeding i am not sure why they did that. Wheel spray and AC disinfectant no idea why was that done.
Biju (supremeBaleno) and myself checked the oil well actually smelt it too but it felt like any other oil used in bikes. The feel and color looked new though. So they have indeed changed it.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by BrainyLad

Thanks all for the responses-
- Some facts after i talked to my dad
- Synthetic oil - yes he was informed on that and had agreed. Hence I will not blame it on them. However i saw in another thread that Engine flush is required only when migrating from mineral oil and not from synthetic.

Sankar - I checked my previous bill and it looks like they had filled up with synthetic oil. I am not sure why an Engine flush is required. Also I remember doing engine decarbonizing in my old cars @ around 1Lac Km by the same service centre.

rjstyles69, - I did not have brake issues hence brake bleeding i am not sure why they did that. Wheel spray and AC disinfectant no idea why was that done.

Biju (supremeBaleno) and myself checked the oil well actually smelt it too but it felt like any other oil used in bikes. The feel and color looked new though. So they have indeed changed it.

Flush is not required even if the change was from mineral to oil in an engine which has run only this much. Use the flush only if there's heavy sludge buildup. Its not required in most cases.

The brake bleeding could've been done after filling new brake fluid, Its mentioned in manual that brake fluid should be changed in this service alongwith other fluids.

I never smelled oil after putting it into the car, my current car doesn't have Mobil1 filled so can't check. But i will try to check if the esther smell persists in my colleague's esteem which was recently filled with Mobil1.

[mayankk]

Brainylad, Your list has EVERY item that is used by A.S.S to inflate bills.
There's threads of people getting gypped on one or two, but how the hell did this happen?

On the job card, what all was mentioned?

[babu.sundaram]

Originally Posted by BrainyLad

...
Sankar - I checked my previous bill and it looks like they had filled up with synthetic oil. I am not sure why an Engine flush is required.
...

I remember (being told by Maruti SA) that oil change interval for mineral oil is 10K Kms and for synthetic is 35-40K Kms.
Your car had 23K on odo when it went to service. By Maruti recommendation, the first oil change would have been at 10K Kms. Now, if your previous bill has synthetic oil, why would they change synthetic with only 13K? Looks fishy.. you need to shout at Maruti!

Originally Posted by Sankar

...
Flush is not required even if the change was from mineral to oil in an engine which has run only this much. Use the flush only if there's heavy sludge buildup. Its not required in most cases.
...

Really? I was told it is needed anytime of switch as mineral oil would have built up deposits even on one 10K interval! (Again, quoting a Maruti SA!)

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by babu.sundaram

I remember (being told by Maruti SA) that oil change interval for mineral oil is 10K Kms and for synthetic is 35-40K Kms.
Your car had 23K on odo when it went to service. By Maruti recommendation, the first oil change would have been at 10K Kms. Now, if your previous bill has synthetic oil, why would they change synthetic with only 13K? Looks fishy.. you need to shout at Maruti!

Synthetic oil would never last for 35000-40000Kms. The SA who said that was probably ill-informed. Some manufacturers abroad provide a 20000 km interval for oil change for synthetic oils. Synthetic or Mineral its best to follow manufacturer recommendation almost always and more so when the car is in warranty.

Really? I was told it is needed anytime of switch as mineral oil would have built up deposits even on one 10K interval! (Again, quoting a Maruti SA!)

Not required for a well maintained (oil changes at correct interval) vehicle. Useful for old vehicles with lot of sludge buildup.