Shaman Auto says tata to TATA-FIAT and gives way to Honda!

[rudrah]

I was about to give my Palio for first service. Decided to get it done with Shaman Auto at Sewri. 3 days before called up Shaman service centre and they instantly booked for 24th Oct. There are 3 other Palios with me for service. All frm T-BHP

Today called up to confirm, they now say since its a Free service, Shaman will not entertain any Fiat cars for service. When asked why, the guy says they are no more dealers for TATA and FIAT and hence no free services will be accepted. Only paid service will be done.

Even people who have purchased TATA/FIAT cars will have to get it service from other centers!

The only choice left for me now is Fortune Cars at Nerul which is not at all worth. Other is Wasan Motors at Chembur.

No choice but I'll be taking my car to Wasan!

This news came as a shocker. The service and delivery incharge persons at Fortune Cars themselves recommended me to get serviced at Shaman as they had the best technicians!

Shaman would be dealing with Hondas now!

Thought to share with the Mumbaites TATA-FIAT users!

Cheers~

[DueLLeR]

Tell me about it! I had taken a day off from work to go to Shaman. Now this news. But thankfully, Wasan has come to our rescue. Worry not

OT: You said 3 other Palio's with you. Who's the fourth one?

[rudrah]

Originally Posted by DueLLeR

Tell me about it! I had taken a day off from work to go to Shaman. Now this news. But thankfully, Wasan has come to our rescue. Worry not

OT: You said 3 other Palio's with you. Who's the fourth one?

Oops correction..that should be 2 excluding me! So in all 3.

Sorry for the typo!

[amit]

Originally Posted by rudrah

Shaman would be dealing with Hondas now!

Shaman has been dealing with Honda's for a while now. Arya Honda is part of the Shaman group.

[Aditya]

Thought as much.
Shaman had two showrooms in Prabhadevi - one for Ford and one for Tata-Fiat. Sometime around the end of August, Arya Honda came in place of Shaman Ford and Shaman Ford shifted to their Tata-Fiat showroom. It was goodbye to Tata-Fiat. I guess this happened because Tata has another showroom just down the road - Concorde Motors, but, they don't sell Fiat cars.
I guess Wasan Motors, Marine Lines is the place to go to if you stay in South Mumbai.

[DueLLeR]

Also, this might have serious implications in the future. TATA-Fiat had just Balaji, Fortune, Shaman and Wasan and now Shaman is out. This might result in significant wait times for service appointments!

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by amit

Shaman has been dealing with Honda's for a while now. Arya Honda is part of the Shaman group.

I feel that this particular dealership is fed up of mass deliveries. They have to sell taxis and cabs also and not to forget Sumo's. This becomes frustrating handling after sales service.

They now want class deliveries. No Taxi's all high end customers. Less headache in after sales service.

[rudrah]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

I feel that this particular dealership is fed up of mass deliveries. They have to sell taxis and cabs also and not to forget Sumo's. This becomes frustrating handling after sales service.

They now want class deliveries. No Taxi's all high end customers. Less headache in after sales service.

totally!! Also dealer commision is another part of the dealership with car manufacturers for such transition from one car maker to another!

[yogi1771]

I think Concorde Motors do service Fiat cars thats what my neighbour said,he owns a Palio and had been to their service center to check the place out.

[GTO]

Shaman had shuffled their dealership locations very recently; one of the sales guys had mentioned that they are moving the Tata showroom somewhere in the suburbs. I am surprised to hear that they have given up on the brand completely. I bought my Indigo from Shaman and was overall happy with their after-sales. However, for the last service, we gave the Indigo to the Tata-owned company workshop at Worli (just after the naka). They are very efficient, thus I don't think I will be missing Shaman Tata at all.

[sridhga]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

I feel that this particular dealership is fed up of mass deliveries. They have to sell taxis and cabs also and not to forget Sumo's. This becomes frustrating handling after sales service.

They now want class deliveries. No Taxi's all high end customers. Less headache in after sales service.

But I thought people who bought high-end cars are more demanding. Don't you think so?

[abdriver2000]

I had only one encounter with Shaman - a bad one! Had booked an appointment for my XETA. They took my car for service and asked me to come the next day. 'Aaj mechanics nahi hain, saar!'

I said tata to Shaman that day.

[roms]

I was the third one in this tri-party brigade. Ok the story goes like this...

The three of us, i.e. rudrah, dueller & myself were to go to Shaman together for a service. Mine was obviously a paid service since I have a 6 year old S10, while the other two had their first free services. The message conveyed to us, as rudrah explained, was that Shaman has stopped selling Tata - Fiat cars since October. So, they cannot give the company provided free services. And from now on, they are only dealing in Honda and Ford for sales, while they would be servicing Fiat, Honda and Ford cars. In effect, one can switch over to Shaman after the free services are done.

Basically, Shaman Auto workshop at Sewri is a designated and authorised 'Fiat Service only workshop'. Infact, the signboad outside now reads " Shaman Auto Fiat Service". In a way, it was nice to see Shaman go back to its roots. The entire workshop looks clutter free. Tata cars had started occupying most of the service bays and ramps, and the quality of service had been affected due to the workload. In contrast, the service advisors were quite relaxed and my car was taken in quickly. What worries me is the fact that "most" of the cars were Fiats. I say "most" because apart from the Fiats, there were quite a few Hondas lying around.

What's in the future - Well, who knows actually. I personally dont think this could be a long term plan. They say that are going to continue with Fiat, but only for their current or past line up, which includes the Uno and all the cars on the 178 platform (including the Stile 1.1,1.6 & Multijet). None of the upcoming models from the Tata- Fiat line up will be serviced by them. So for how long can such an arrangement continue?

In any case, its a bad thing to happen for prospective Fiat customers in Mumbai. One of the premier and most experienced service centres would no longer service the upcoming Linea or Punto.

I for one am keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that these guys service my car for as long as possible. They are also servicing Tata cars, only if they are under AMC contracts.

[sudipt123]

There is another branch of Shaman in Bhandup near Mangatram Petrol pump, Bhandup L.B.S Marg which they opened up a year or two back. You guys may want to try there.

[roms]

Originally Posted by sudipt123

There is another branch of Shaman in Bhandup near Mangatram Petrol pump, Bhandup L.B.S Marg which they opened up a year or two back. You guys may want to try there.

You might need to read my post (just above yours) friend. What holds true for one branch of Shaman would be applicable to the other one as well.