[JustCause]

I would like to highlight the exorbitant labour costs for the 1st paid service charged by M/s DD Motors, Mayapuri, New Delhi.


Needless to say, I was shocked to see that the labour charges were almost at par with consumables!


Inspite of charging Rs. 950/- right away as Paid service charge, they’ve added subsequent jobs at almost 150-200% of the market price. Just see the amount of balancing weights used. I cross checked with fellow member GPA’s thread & some more long term reviews of Alto & did not find the service cost to be as high as what I’ve been charged here.


Overall, I am deeply disappointed by the service costs. These costs are almost at par with the service costs of midsize sedans of rival Cos.



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[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by JustCause

I would like to highlight the exorbitant labour costs for the 1st paid service charged by M/s DD Motors, Mayapuri, New Delhi.


Needless to say, I was shocked to see that the labour charges were almost at par with consumables!


Inspite of charging Rs. 950/- right away as Paid service charge, they’ve added subsequent jobs at almost 150-200% of the market price. Just see the amount of balancing weights used. I cross checked with fellow member GPA’s thread & some more long term reviews of Alto & did not find the service cost to be as high as what I’ve been charged here.


Overall, I am deeply disappointed by the service costs. These costs are almost at par with the service costs of midsize sedans of rival Cos.


Attachment 556620
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These A.S.S. are fleecing the customers with that THROTTLE BODY CLEANING. item.
Outside in open market they open up the entire throttle body clean it with WD 40 then with spray with Choke cleaner cans. it takes good about one hr.They charge about 200/-.
In your case they charged you labour as well as that spary can cost, which might have not been used fully and pocketed by that mechanic.

Throttle body cleaning in less then 10000 kms car????.
In plain words these are Fleecers. Pls read my thread in MARUTI EXTENDED WARRANTY IS IT WORTH???

[libranof1987]

Well, you learnt one thing the hard way : never get wheel alignment/balancing done at an A.S.S. They not only not do it properly, but also overcharge. You'd have save 700 there itself.

You're car has run just 9941 kms, why was throttle body cleaning and radiator flashing required?? There goes another 1k.

The SA generally mentions such jobs and does them by default citing some reason or the other unless you tell them NOT to.

Just be careful when the SA opens the job card the next time.

[dhanushs]

I find the bill quite funny. The whole thing(- wheel alignment) could be carried out at your sweet home for less than 3k if you use fully synthetic oil. Another joke is the fully synthetic oil. IMO, there is no need to go fully synthetic before 20k.

Well, if you bought a 3 Liter can of mineral oil an oil filter, and a spanner the total work could be done for around 500 bucks.

[JustCause]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I'd been going there since the first service & was quite happy with the service experience & the costs. I made a colossal mistake of not shopping around before going in for paid service.

Overall, I would say that they took me for a ride with the service recommendations.

Their charges were too high & the time taken was too much. A job that could've easily been done in an hour took 6 hours at their service station.

I would be grateful if someone could provide me some e-mail IDs of execs at Maruti.

Wheel alignment receipt attached

[mayankk]

throttle body?
radiator flush?
and did you ask for Synthetic?
If you didnt, then youve been had because of these three.
Did you ask for any of the three specifically, making a note on the job card?
If you did, then i dont think anything will come of contacting any execs in MS.
Printed out rates, hence, even if they are high, they will be standard.
Otherwise, except for the synthetic oil(which is quite the bottomline builder for ASCs), you can dance on these guys heads.

PS:slight of context, how does one figure out if one is running synthetic or mineral?
if the persons senses are not so finetuned to pick any subtle differences of engine responses/reactions.

[CDM]

@Justcause,

I do not believe you have much of a case here. The service advisor has 'advised' you to have some work done which was entirely unnecessary. But thats how they make money. Take away the VAS (Value Added Services) and the profit would be much lesser.

That said, these jobs were optional and you could have refused them. The service booklet should mention when the radiator is required to be flushed. I am 100% certain it cannot be at less than 10,000 KM!

I feel you need to move on and be more careful next time.

I always make sure that I write 'NO VAS' on the job card.

Cheers

CDM

[honeybee]

For your first paid service, following items are completely unnecessary:

Wheel balancing
Throttle body cleaning
Radiator flushing

Also screen wash concentrate is purely a hogwash.

Distilled water was added where? To the battery or the radiator?
What is "One Shot"? One shot at your pocket?
What is Misc Consummables?

If you signed the jobcard with all those items on it, you can take it as a good learning experience and be careful next time. If you didn't sign it or authorize those jobs, refuse to pay up and ask them to restore the car to its pre-service condition. Whatever was not authorized by you will not be done. Check your owner's manual to see what activities are absolutely required at the first paid service / at the mileage your car has covered till the first paid service.

[libranof1987]

To be honest, I don't see any point contacting Maruti execs.

When you visit the A.S.S., the SA will advice everything under the sun, because that is his job. For him, everything is necessary.

It is for you to decide what should be done and what not. When I take my cars for service, be it Honda, Maruti or Chevrolet, I'm told the same thing - wheel alignment/balancing is necessary, the timing belt needs to be replaced, the A/c gas needs to be refilled and what not.

What I do is take a copy of the car's last service and show it to him and ask him assertively if it is really necessary. More often than not, they themselves say, "you can put it off for the next service".

With this service, you've learnt a lesson the hard way. No point mailing people because frankly, the SA ain't at fault. He simply "recommended" everything; whether it is to be done or not, is YOUR call.

[Habanero City]

Usually the MASS is supposed to provide an estimate for the works agreed to be done for the Customer.
This happens at the time of leaving the vehicle for service, so if any disagreement, the same can be sorted out there.
Later if any increase in cost is necessitated due to subsequent works, then MASS is supposed to contact the Customer and get the approval.
The above procedure is strongly advocated by Maruti and in case of violation, you can approach the local Maruti office with evidence.
This has worked for me in the past for a different situation.

HC

[Dry Ice]

Better stick to smaller service-only workshops. The dealers are anyways there to fleece you, in whatever form they can!

Once out of warranty, there is really no need to stick to even a company authorized workshop. Sometimes independent ones work out great too. Most of the spares for MS are available over the counter. Get the spares and have it fitted outside(if need be!).

Be careful from next time. D-i-c-t-a-t-e from the manual what all needs to be done, check the job card before signing and handing over the car.

[breezydrive]

I sincerely doubt whether they would have put synthetic oil in reality. These guys buy 200 litres drums in bulk from the manufacturers. Some of them might not even know that it is acually raditor flushing instead of "FLASHING"

[JustCause]

Originally Posted by mayankk

throttle body?
It was recommended to fix the petrol smell that was coming inside the cabin. Not sure whether I was conned here also.

radiator flush?
I wanted a coolant refill. The SA added the radiator flush to it
and did you ask for Synthetic?
Yes

.

Originally Posted by honeybee

For your first paid service, following items are completely unnecessary:

Wheel balancing
Throttle body cleaning
Radiator flushing

Also screen wash concentrate is purely a hogwash.

Distilled water was added where? To the battery or the radiator?
To the coolant & also to the screen wash

What is "One Shot"? It is the throttle cleaning spray

What is Misc Consummables?No satisfactory answer from the SA. Once, he said throttle body gasket & later, he said that it is some damping in suspension to fix squeaks.

If you signed the jobcard with all those items on it, you can take it as a good learning experience and be careful next time. If you didn't sign it or authorize those jobs, refuse to pay up and ask them to restore the car to its pre-service condition. Whatever was not authorized by you will not be done. Check your owner's manual to see what activities are absolutely required at the first paid service / at the mileage your car has covered till the first paid service.

This is my only grouse. The job card wasn't signed by me at all. In fact, a copy wasn't even available to me all the while. It was supposedly lost by the SA. Whenever I asked for it, I was given an excuse till at evening when they presented me with the bomb. Only thing I knew was that the bill was in upwards of 5K & the expenditure was on wear & tear parts.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Better stick to smaller service-only workshops. The dealers are anyways there to fleece you, in whatever form they can!

Once out of warranty, there is really no need to stick to even a company authorized workshop. Sometimes independent ones work out great too. Most of the spares for MS are available over the counter. Get the spares and have it fitted outside(if need be!).

This has been sort of a learning experience as I found an over-the-counter genuine dealer in Mayapuri itself & am currently on the lookout for a good garage to fit parts.

Be careful from next time. D-i-c-t-a-t-e from the manual what all needs to be done, check the job card before signing and handing over the car.

As my car is low mileage, I always go by time duration specified in manual for getting jobs done. For eg. I change the engine oil after one year even if car has not covered 10000kms.

Should I start going by Kms run ?

Originally Posted by libranof1987

To be honest, I don't see any point contacting Maruti execs.
After signing the dotted line, there isn't much that can be done. What I despise that I was kept in the dark about the labour charges till I got the bill. I was only told about the parts expenses. I felt forced to pay the amount as they claimed that the job is already done & was in benefit of the car etc.

Find my replies in bold.

The car was still delivered without the necessary job card copy .

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by JustCause

This has been sort of a learning experience as I found an over-the-counter genuine dealer in Mayapuri itself & am currently on the lookout for a good garage to fit parts.

Hope you find one soon, will prove to be much more economical than DD. Do share it with us.

Originally Posted by JustCause

As my car is low mileage, I always go by time duration specified in manual for getting jobs done. For eg. I change the engine oil after one year even if car has not covered 10000kms.

Should I start going by Kms run ?

You are doing the right thing. Just make sure to have a good look at the manual prior to giving the car for service, so that you know whats needed and whats not.

About the labour charges, checkout mdsaab's thread - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ear-ended.html, here too almost 50% of the estimate is towards labour charges! I wonder if Maruti is taking cues from other manufacturers!

[libranof1987]

I don't understand why you weren't given a copy of the job card. NOW, you have a case.

Unless you've signed it saying you authorize the jobs, they can't really process it.

About labour charges, they should be standard across all A.S.S.. The A.S.S. have a cardboard mentioning the labour charges of common jobs like replacement of filters, oils, wash etc.

Here's what I think of the situation - you seemed unsure about the service and the jobs and the SA took a royal advantage of it.

Henceforth, go in for servicing as per the manual. It would do you good to refer to ownership threads to get an idea about the replacement/repair schedule of parts.