Incompetent service from Pratham Motors (Bellandur, Bangalore)

[kousik]

Though it wasn't 100% satisfactory 6 months earlier, my wife decided to get our Wagon-R's regular service done again at Pratham Motors, in ORR Bangalore because it is kinda close to her workplace. She had been mildly complaining about the wheel alignment before, saying a little bit of different strength is needed to steer the vehicle to left or right. I mean, turning left would be easier than right. Those guys told they'll check it. In the evening when she went to collect the vehicle, she took a test drive and found the problem is aggravated heavily. She went back, and they "tried" fixing it, making it worse. Then they claimed the entire power steering assembly has gone bad, and it is beyond repair. She has to replace the steering assembly now, which will cost us thirty five thousand rupees! At this point she called me and narrated their story. I asked her to instruct them not to fiddle with the car anymore, and bring it home immediately. They have clearly demonstrated that they don't have any expertise to fix the problem. And I also advised her to hurl some of his choicest rude words to the service engineer Mr Rajkumar.

She signed the dotted lines that she received the car in satisfactory condition and drove home. Later in the night I came home and took for a test drive. It was impossible to drive the car. The steering wheel will literally spin to left if you hold it loose. I had to hold the steering tight to keep the car steady. And turning right would require you a couple of month's gym strength. We were very depressed and mentally prepared ourselves for a 35K expenditure.

Next saturday early morning I took the vehicle to Sagar Automobiles in Bannerghatta Rd where I used to get my services done before, and they said they'll have a look. Around lunchtime I got a call from the service engineer Nagesh Kumar who said the vehicle is ready. When I took the delivery, he said they had to adjust the power difference of the steering assembly, and claimed it is an unusual problem (yeah I know, unless some clueless guy tries some experiments), and as a return customer, they did the adjustment completely free of cost, only I need to pay four rupees for a nut-bolt replacement they had to do.

Since then, my car is running trouble free I sadly noticed the difference between Pratham and Sagar. The first being incompetent, clueless, damaged my otherwise fine car and tried to extort money from me; whereas the latter was prompt, accurate, and shown a great gesture.

I have written feedback to Pratham, no followup. I have written to Maruti Udyog, no reply. I don't expect any, though. So thought of sharing my bad and good experiences with two service stations in the forum.

Kousik

[ajmat]

If you read my Swift report, the clutch failed and they accussed me of driving with the hand brake on. I dug my heels in and Maruti intervened.

Never went back even though I work opposite it

[ad75]

its evident that pratham guys were trying to make quick buck from your wife. it was wise on your part to try sagar before spending 35K!!

Im told that the supervisors have a per mechanic per month billing targets,they are incentivised in the targets.no doubt try to con the customers.

[Hellcat]

Kousik I think you should meet the service engineer/Senior Management at Pratham Motors and ask him for an explanation. These guys get away easily because we don't take any serious action on them.

Hellcat

[kousik]

Originally Posted by Hellcat

I think you should meet the service engineer/Senior Management at Pratham Motors and ask him for an explanation.

I already gave a piece of my mind to the dumb service engineer. That bugger said "it is a learning experience for us" ... what? I understood I am wasting my time blasting him left and right, and demanded to speak to his supervisor. After being redirected twice, they told me the General manager will get in touch with us. I said he better do, if he doesn't want his customer base to dry up.

Sigh, its been two weeks since then, and no contact from Pratham. I have decided to move on with life, but not before sending strong feedback to both Pratham & Maruti.

Kousik

[Sush]

Thats the limit. I don't know what Maruti is doing. Even the service quality at the Rohan Motors workshop in Noida has deteriorated quite a bit.

[benbsb29]

Pratham has this tendency to earn itself a bad name. It was no wonder for me when my friend went to a different Maruti dealer when purchasing his Swift.

[Ajaybiz]

Was about to book my Swift Diesel from Pratham as i stays very close to them took test drive also from them but my friend warned me that they have ver bad record even few years back when they were operating with some other name Maruti took the dealership back from them but later on they bribed heavily and got the dealership back with new name as Pratham is it true?Thanks for this thread better i will go with some other Dealer, any suggesations as most of them are telling 6 months waiting period and few are saying 3-4 months.

[Ajaybiz]

Tnaks a lot for this valueable inputs as was about to book my Swift Diesel from them, enquired all other dealers and they are saying 3-6 months waiting period.Need help guys as 6 months is too much, is it true?Suggesations for booking and service from any good dealer in Bangalore.

[ownerofazkaban]

Many of my colleagues just went to pratham falling for their discounts on Swift.

Should also try out new dealer Kalyani Motors.

[tsk1979]

How does it matter how bad the dealer is when you purchase a new car??
You can always get it serviced from some other good dealer, and purchase from where you get the best deal

[ownerofazkaban]

Yep. Thats correct, but the numbers is hardly 5~10% who take the car at dealer and get it serviced at other place (esp. when you are still in same city and Car is new ).

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by ownerofazkaban

Yep. Thats correct, but the numbers is hardly 5~10% who take the car at dealer and get it serviced at other place (esp. when you are still in same city and Car is new ).

Why??
If a city has 5 dealers for Maruti(I am sure Bangalore has more) how much effort does it take to go to some other dealer.
Many of my friends got their indigo's from dealers giving maximum discount and went for services to other dealers.

[alabjarus]

When went for a repair work of my wife's Esteem after she managed a shunt, Pratham Motors (ORR, Sarjapur road, BLR) came up with a figure of 28K, with the work taking min of 7 days. To top it, I was asked to claim insurance and do the paper work personally, as they did not have a tie-up with Tata AIG.

I came out and drove straight to a private self-proclaimed Maruti workshop in my neighborhood, who did the work for 5.5K (which incl. a new front bumper - non body coloured, RHS head light, indicator and a neat wash). He delivered the car home in 5 hrs.

So much for the authorised service centre of Pratham!

In retrospect, I feel the guys was 28K short of meeting his weekly / monthly target...!

[snaronikar]

Hi,

Its not the questionof Pratham Motors.....The service is equally bad in RNS motors (Y'pur). I had given my Wagon R for servicing on 16/06. They gave the delivery on 17/06. It was a normal servicing which was due afgter 6 months.

to my astonishment when they handed over the car, they had not even wiped the car (interiors). I had to ask them to do the same.....had to wait for another 1/2 hour for delivery......

I feel we should have a law to sue these guys with hefty penalties if they donot understand what customer satisfaction is.......