Comedy of Errors at Indian Dealerships

[chandrda]

Went with my friend to service Mahindra Xylo at Mahindra Service Centre, there was a lady serivce advisor who went ga ga about her knowledge in automobiles and servicing Mahindra Vehicles.

After 15 Mins.. asked her if she knows how to drive..A dead silence followed with a meek acceptance "NO".

Service Advisor who doesn't know to drive..

[greenhorn]

I wouldnt hold that against her , if she was competent otherwise

[l3g0l4s]

I was not able to control my laughter after going through this thread .

So i wanted to share another funny incident here ..

Couple of months ago io had gone to sprocket ameerpet to get my monoblock fixed . I kinda got close to the main technician who was overseeing the install and all . Then he kicks up a conversation about exterior modding and all starts about talking spoilers ..

Technician : "Sir , most of the people who want to flaunt their cars get spoilers installed but most of them are not aware of its true functionality . SPOILERS are meant for a reason saaar .. In developed countries like US , when people have a race , The spoilers help in SPOILING THE SPEED of the car behind it !!!!"

Me and my friends tried hard to control our laughter and we were like !

[chandrda]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

I wouldnt hold that against her , if she was competent otherwise

Agreed

But being old fashioned how do I know the vehicle was serviced properly if its not test driven by the service advisor thoroughly. How would I explain, how the vehicle behaves on the road to someone who doesn't know to drive. Theoretical solution for a practical problem....

Anyways, its on this thread

[shantnusharma]

At Tata Showroom in Jaipur (Kamal & Company) they sales guy was discouraging me not to go for Manza with Air Bags since it is expensive and Indian roads dosent need cars with Air bag and that time taken to open an air bag is 5 sec !!!

[Thad E Ginathom]

I always thought that spoilers spoiled the looks of a car!

...and that time taken to open an air bag is 5 sec !!!

"Aaaaarggghhhhh... Hang on, I'll just open this airbag... THUD"




.

[BlackPearl]

Once in a Tata-Fiat dealrship I had got two replies on ABS -
1> Absolute boot space.. the second person comes and rectifies it to
2> Anti braking system
These sales guys are just brilliant.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by shantnusharma

At Tata Showroom in Jaipur (Kamal & Company) they sales guy was discouraging me not to go for Manza with Air Bags since it is expensive and Indian roads dosent need cars with Air bag and that time taken to open an air bag is 5 sec !!!

Don't blame the sales guy and the SA here.
I have a colleague lining up to get a car who is dead sure that as the road he shall daily traverse is potholed and as he cannot get to speed over 60-70 kmph, ABS and airbags are irrelevant for him.
He is a knowledgeable fellow who knows, or at least is interested in knowing cars.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Actually, Absolute Boot Space is a big selling point in UK.

Here, nobody seems to care! I guess that people just get their driver to run along behind, carrying anything that wouldn't fit...

[greenhorn]

and somewhere else some SA was claiming that an alto had ABS too ( ABS plastic bumpers ), and that maruti did not advertise this fact.

When I asked him about the swift, he said that the lower priced swifts use some other, cheaper plastic ( the stuff they use to make buckets apparently) a, and that was also the reason the regular swift bumpers were so fragile

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

When I asked him about the swift, he said that the lower priced swifts use some other, cheaper plastic ( the stuff they use to make buckets apparently) a, and that was also the reason the regular swift bumpers were so fragile

Hmm.. That explains why the Swift's bumpers are so fragile!
Till date, I was of the impression that the owners might have hit something very hard!

[Forged_Piston]

A couple of years ago a salesman from maruti true value advised me against putting alloys on the 2nd hand zen i had bought from there.He said that they reduce the average of the car.

[e1t1bet]

It is appalling how some people on this board tend to condone the ignorance of SEs. Having ill-informed SEs, trying to inform customers on safety related subjects like ABS and Air-bags, is fraudulent and criminal.

And putting forward an argument that technical grads are not very adept, is a straw man. Technical grads who are really good in their subjects have an interest in their respective domains, and go on to become skilled professionals.
A lot of technical grads make the choice of studying engineering/science at an age of ~18. These guys realize later that they have little interests in the intricate details, and the pathetic education system in India further adds to the result that is a technical grad who is not good at his subjects. Most of these grads though, opt for a career change (IT/MBA et al). That being said, if a mechanical engineer in a car manufacturing unit is as ill-informed as our sales executives, his position SHOULD be criticized.

Originally Posted by johnjacob

Two words: domain knowledge. If he is working in the automotive domain, he ought to know the basics of that domain. Otherwise, he would not be a very good developer of automotive embedded software.

Unless the guy was working with stuff related to power and torque, this is absolute BS.
Who defines the boundaries of domain knowledge? If someone is in the automobile sector, for eg., what constitutes domain knowledge may vary from person to person. For someone inclined towards marketing, it may actually be car sales figures and market shares. For a performance fan, it may be torque/power. For the VFM guy, it may be "what constitutes FE?"
The fact is that the guy was NOT designing engines. A technical question could have been put forward after analyzing his exact roles. If that was not done, I am sorry to say that this is a classic example of an insecure interviewer condescending and trying to 'show off' his knowledge.

[Car&me]

I had a similar incident. A year ago when I went into a Chevy Dealer I was exploring the an SRV that was there. The salesman came and said "Sir, this is excellent car sir. It is sold in US as Honda CRV". I was stars and moons and asked him, so what happens to Honda CRV in US. He said "They sell it under different brand there. But this car is sold as Honda CRV". Then I called him aside and send please learn some basics about your brand if not the automobile industry and walked off.

[recshenoy]

Originally Posted by Car&me

I had a similar incident. A year ago when I went into a Chevy Dealer I was exploring the an SRV that was there. The salesman came and said "Sir, this is excellent car sir. It is sold in US as Honda CRV". I was stars and moons and asked him, so what happens to Honda CRV in US. He said "They sell it under different brand there. But this car is sold as Honda CRV". Then I called him aside and send please learn some basics about your brand if not the automobile industry and walked off.

OMG i could not control my laughter after reading this. this is hights

Next weekend, I shall visit some showrooms here to get live experience.