Customer Care at Mahindra

[beejay]

Hi,

I had given my vehicle to the Mahindra dealer at Ooty, to have my rear door and bumper replaced after it had been rear ended by a truck, I had to wait for more than a month as the inventory for the Xylo had to yet come from Bombay. I was fine with this and waited patiently for a month.
After a further weeks time of repairs and insurance formalities I took delivery of my vehicle.
The work done was very shoddy and my local tinker and painter would have done an even better job with the old door. I still took delivery of the vehicle as the service manager was a nice person and he had tried his best to solve the problem at the initial stages when I had pointed out that the door did not look right and was opinion that it would turn out well after the paint job, sorry for him that it did not and had escalted to a level which was beyond his control as replacing the door was the only alternative. Further, the antenna which has been embedded in the rear glass failed to pick up signals and water seeped in through the rear glass.
The clear coat had been sparayed all over the right hand side of the body and the finish of the door was rough as it had attracted dust. The door was wavy and did not have straight lines and was dented below the number plate.
I had sent a mail to Mahindra at their customer care id, and this is the turn of events after that.
I had sent a mail at 10.30 on the morning and they replied to my mail within half an hours time, also, I received a call from them asking to take my vehicle to another dealer further 80kms from where I stay. A kind gentleman called Mr.Arif Rizway from Mahindra Bomaby called me on my mobile to understand the first hand situation of the problem and took down the details, he instructed me to take delivery of the vehicle after I compare it with another vehicle in the showroom preferably of the same colour. If I am still not satisfied I was asked to get back to him and he would send someone from Bombay to have the problem sorted out.
I have given my vehicle to the dealer yesterday and they have given me another alternate car till I am to receive the Xylo.
What can I say, I am shocked. I had never expected the CRM at Mahindra to be this strong.

[mmmjgm]

Nice to read this, incidentally the head of the service department is a prominent Team-bhpian. "-).

Way to go Mahindra.

Cheers

[Red Liner]

And who may that be?

[beejay]

Originally Posted by mmmjgm

Nice to read this, incidentally the head of the service department is a prominent Team-bhpian. "-).

Way to go Mahindra.

Cheers

Well, However this is my first thread on the incident and I needed to highlight the same as I had mentioned earlier their swift actions have left me gaping .

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by beejay

A kind gentleman called Mr.Arif Rizway from Mahindra Bomaby called me on my mobile to understand the first hand situation of the problem and took down the details, he instructed me to take delivery of the vehicle after I compare it with another vehicle in the showroom preferably of the same colour.

Arif Rizwy is the senior Brand Manager for Mahindra, usually seen at Mahindra Great Escape events.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Arif Rizwy is the senior Brand Manager for Mahindra, usually seen at Mahindra Great Escape events.

Yes, I guess he now takes care of CRM too.

[pawan_pullarwar]

wow thats really great. So Mahindra is in competition with Maruti in terms of service.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar

wow thats really great. So Mahindra is in competition with Maruti in terms of service.

Thats right. I guess they are better than Maruti now reason being I have had a couple of cars from Maruti before this and even they were not this efficient.

[Gregory]

Really nice! Mahindra has come a long way..
Skoda should learn from this.. what happend to the person from skoda who had registered? Still reading? Then read this!

[rkbharat]

Originally Posted by beejay

and they have given me another alternate car till I am to receive the Xylo.

Did you said alternate vehicle . Wow that is first I have ever heard. Things are really getting better here in auto industry.

[hvkumar]

Looks like one of those freakish incidents, my experience with Mahindra is not good.

The Scorpios are well-engineered, but they have monkeys in their service centres who have poor workmanship and are callous in their approach to following good work practices.

....here is a joke - this particular ASC has been voted their best dealer/ service centre several times!!! This is also the same ASC who also steals objects from your car when it is in the workshop! Quite some "With You Hamesha" slogan that from Mahindra and its dealers.

I have reported several episodes to Mahindra - and that too senior people - apart from the ASC itself, and have received no responses. Maybe Mahindra thinks that those owners who have driven 194,000 kms in their Scorpio are idiots, not worth talking to or communicating with! Or maybe we are illiterates who howl our heads of.

I have taken up the issue of how my Scorpio's safety has been endangered by poor workshop practices - jammed accelerators caused by wrong routing of the wire, failure to replace bearings of belts resulting in brake failure and refitting rear leaf springs without bushes, resulting in spring breakage - and I can only say it is my good luck that I am writing this mail now. In all these cases, Mahindra has not responded, the ASCs have laughed it off and their poor service levels continue.

All I can say about the helpline is that they have some good call agents who have directed the nearest ASC to contact you for assistance.

It is just that we have no other choice that we have to persist going to the same ASC despite bad experiences because we hear even larger horror stories about the others. I have visited ASCs in different parts of India, and I think service standards are more or less bad everywhere - whether in Bombay (where I live), Jaipur, Guwahati or Trivandrum, which are ASCs which I have visited to trouble-shoot problems.

[beejay]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Looks like one of those freakish incidents, my experience with Mahindra is not good.

The Scorpios are well-engineered, but they have monkeys in their service centres who have poor workmanship and are callous in their approach to following good work practices.

I have reported several episodes to Mahindra - and that too senior people - apart from the ASC itself, and have received no responses. Maybe Mahindra thinks that those owners who have driven 194,000 kms in their Scorpio are idiots, not worth talking to or communicating with! Or maybe we are illiterates who howl our heads of.

I have taken up the issue of how my Scorpio's safety has been endangered by poor workshop practices - jammed accelerators caused by wrong routing of the wire, failure to replace bearings of belts resulting in brake failure and refitting rear leaf springs without bushes, resulting in spring breakage - and I can only say it is my good luck that I am writing this mail now. In all these cases, Mahindra has not responded, the ASCs have laughed it off and their poor service levels continue.

All I can say about the helpline is that they have some good call agents who have directed the nearest ASC to contact you for assistance.

Probably, even I think they might be rendering their best of services primary reason being the Xylo is a new launch and mine is the first car in the district. I might have been able to ward of potential buyers with my door.
However we must appreciate the fact that things are looking at the brighter side in the industry. My ASC was also of opinion that nothing can be done from his side, now it has been done.

[Lalvaz]

I think HVKumar makes a very valid point. Good customer service should begin with proper training of personnel at the ASC. Seems like M&M is lacking in this dept or else they would not be faced with complaints like Kumars and for that matter even Beejay.

While its nice to know that the senior folks at M&M are trying to sincerely resolve Beejays issue they need to look at the underlying reasons for the bad quality of repairs done initially. It just points to a lack of training and QC at the ASC.

[HappyWheels]

That is a good followup. I hope this is not a initial, one time experience. Hope this becomes a habit with M&M.

Anyway, for what is being done now, hats off to them!

[beejay]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

While its nice to know that the senior folks at M&M are trying to sincerely resolve Beejays issue they need to look at the underlying reasons for the bad quality of repairs done initially. It just points to a lack of training and QC at the ASC.

Arif Rizway who got in touch with me from Bombay had called me primarily to understand the first hand incident. I must say that he sounded genuinely interested and had asked me a lot of questions, like, whether the vehicle was painted in a booth, and things like that. He was apologetic and even asked me not to take delivery if I am not satisfied and get back to him.
However as Kumar points out I guess all this customer delight must be of more help to them than me and this will not be the same after even the Xylo clocks 100,000.