Re: Friendly Neighbourhood Garage - World of Service (Sector 63, Noida) Disclaimer: This is my personal experience and may not reflect the actual capabilities or service levels of WOS, which may be better or worse based on individual experiences.
Let me share my experience about World of service too. I had visited them couple of times in last 1 year for service and some repair work. Last year after Tuli Fiat closed down I was looking for another place for service and repairs for my Punto and came to know about this workshop on T-BHP and MFW. Hence called them to check about my Punto servicing and while talking came to know that the owner is an old acquaintance and I knew about him since PUG days and attended couple of FIAT meets organized by him in past. So no doubt left and went their next day to give my Punto for servicing.
Apart from major service of 60k I also took the EGR package. Most of the issues were taken care of during service and received the vehicle after a day. Some of the items they use are not exactly OEM items, such as Engine Oil, Brake pads, Wiper etc. The owner told they are using their own items but those are actually better than OEM parts, and I trusted him.
The prices for parts and labor were approx. same as being charged by ASC, except for 2 items which I noticed later, Air Filter, which was charged at Rs 422 and front wiper set, which was charged at Rs 750. The Air Filter cost was almost double and Wiper set cost was half than OEM prices.
Next I went to WOS when my AC blower was not working, went there and the mechanic checked and told the blower resistor is conked off. As they didn’t have replacement part available at that time, asked me to check in the evening or next day. I called WOS in evening and was told that resistor is now available, so went immediately as it is near to my office and got the resistor fixed. The cost of resistor was at MRP and Rs 300 were charged for fixing it.
The issues I encountered:
• WOS doesn’t give proper tax paid bills, for me this is a major flaw when I am not exactly paying less than what I pay at ASC for work. I requested multiple times for the original bills, but never received. I need to submit bills for tax benefits and ended up losing approx. Rs 8k, which I would have saved in tax payment. So eventually I ended up paying Rs 33k (Rs 25k bill + 8k tax saving lost) for the work at WOS.
• Only cash payment, even for large amounts. My bill was of more than Rs 25k, which I had to settle is cash. Whereas at ASC I can easily pay by card and doesn’t require any cash. With virtually no benefit of cost I don’t see any need to pay in cash too, especially when the amount is anything upwards of 5k.
• I noticed that the non-oem brake pads started giving squeaking sounds as soon as I came out of WOS. I told this to WOS owner and he told as the brake pads are new it is giving this sound and will soon get settled, and I believed him. But the brake pads continue to give squeaking noise even after 6 months and had to get those and caliper replaced at Kashyap Motors.
• The AC blower resistor, which WOS replaced, gave up in less than 2 months. This time I decided to check it myself as taking it to anywhere else needed time, which I was not having at that time. When I checked, I found out that not just the resistor, but its connector plug and wiring is also burnt. I pulled out the resistor and saw its manufacturing date was of 2008 as well as it was not looking like a part installed just 2 months ago. Do remember this part is inside dashboard below the glove box, so don’t get much of dust or anything else. Then I felt the part installed was not new, but was an old part, which may have been saved from some other car and I was charged full MRP of new part. I ordered another resistor from 99rpm and it was 2016 manufactured and after comparing both, I was absolutely sure that the part installed at WOS was old and not new. I didn’t expect this from WOS.
• The half priced wiper didn’t last even 6 months and cracked when cleaning side rubber came of the wiper. The original OEM wiper were good for more than 3 yrs. So price is half and life is not even 20% of the wipers installed by WOS. Again ordered wipers from 99rpm and replaced myself.
• Personally I am not really sure if the EGR clearing was really required and now feel it is little hyped activity as initially for a week felt a little (5-10%) light in acceleration but after that it was as it was before EGR cleaning.
So in the end the million-dollar question, Will I go to WOS again?
May or may not be, not sure at this moment but highly suspect that in immediate future. Despite being only one FIAT ASC (Kashyap Motors) in Delhi now, I will prefer to go there and take help from trusted O.P Sharma Ji, rather than going to WOS, where I effectively ended up paying extra price compared to ASC, and where old or inferior parts are installed and no tax paid bills or card payment options are provided. |