[Mpower]

Originally Posted by noopster

You are dead right about VW using their Facebook page for cheap advertising- stuff like "Which car would you take your girlfriend for a long drive in the rain...?"

I would've said 'Definitely not a VW' because I dont want to be stranded with a electrical/DSG failure

[k_ajay]

It's disappointing to know that someone [moderator or not] having spent ~20 lakhs on a car, is put through all these cheap and no good experiences. Even if a person has invested 5 lakhs, he shouldn't be experiencing such issues. Poor Ajit, he needn't have suffered the harrassment.

VW reading this thread would do well to acknowledge that they'll never have me as a customer and I will ensure I share these experiences with people who express to me that they desire a VW [already directed a colleague who liked the Polo to head the direction of Honda Jazz].

Good luck for the future, Ajit M.

[shajufx]

Ajit, you have shown great patience & tolerance level being a typical Indian customer. It could not be any better. I have been following your updates right from the day it was posted on FB. Although I am not a car crazy guy to advice potential customers to any brand, few of my friends had asked my opinions on certain variants and I informed them about your woes. They were grateful to me for that info. I am sure whoever goes through your updates would never even attempt to check the VW brand. I have around 9 VW vehicles within my society, already hearing unhappy feedbacks about the service.

Hope your vehicle serves you better in the future and wishing you happy times ahead !

[Doc Maanava]

I believe this is a disease which has spread across all *** (authorised service centre or the unfortunate play of word, in which case please make it plural) across all brands. The customer who is knowledgeable and is satisfied is rare. On talking with various people working in these *** on a one on one basis, the situation which lead to the strikes at Maruti are common place. The mechanics and technicians are not paid well, are over worked because the *** takes on more cars that they can possible attend to. They are not interested in doing a good job and in the way it needs to be done. If the junta try to repair the car, i can agree, that it is going to take time and will result in a less than par quality. But these *** are supposed to have the equipment required. Now do they? Where is the guarantee?
I have seen W B&A, done where the weights are loaded and banged into its place without removing from the assembly. Okay this is asking a lot. What about removing all the stones stuck in the treads before balancing? Is this asking a lot? How would it be if these people are treated by their doctors the same way?
Moreover, they are also trained on a regular basis on their respective cars. Now are they? Who needs to be watching them. The company reps? Who are paid off?
Why is it so difficult in our country for people to do their jobs with pride and honour?
Their should be a Team BHP ratings of all *** across the country. Unbiased, uninfluenced and independent. In the event of trouble TB can intervene for the customer. If needed we can start right away. I am game. What say all of you?

[snkjr]

I am sorry for what you had to go through. If you kept calm through all this it is really remarkable - but understandable as those guys had your car. It's like an extortion drama that plays out silently.

That brings me to a question I have asked before - how does one get hold of VW customer care? Yeah you have the email and the number to call, but that doesn't get anything done! VW are following a customer relationship pattern which is different from the one that all other manufacturers follow. And this pattern will do them more harm than good. For example, it is impossible to get an answer to your queries directly from VW, they always redirect it through the dealer.

Now I could understand that if I were in Europe, but I'm not. I'm here in India where dealers mostly indulge in unfair business practices and unscrupulous activities, and the concept of customer service has yet to make itself pervasive across service points. (Speaking from experience, got no stats to show you).

VW have already dug their own grave here, and unless they take corrective action and change their customer-facing policies, I don't see their reputation getting better.

I don't like the idea of being at the dealer's mercy for everything. And for that reason I don't see myself buying a VW in India although I like their products. I'll much rather buy a Skoda where at least a channel of communication exists directly between the company and the customer - but that is another discussion altogether.

VW - or any company for that matter - have got to get themselves positioned front and center to take care of customer grievances.

[BinFord]

Unbelievable in one word I would say. I never thought VW does this. Heard and read about the horror stories of Skoda and this looks too much to handle for anyone on any brands. I think it is high time that we need to raise voice for authorized service centers of brands other than dealers. I have seen at cochin,kerala, a private service center for Skoda has recently launched-"St Antonys". My friend had visited them few months back with his Rapid .But it was on a beginning stage and they were expecting few machines to deliver before a full-fledged service start up. So he had to return.

I wish the same should be done for other popular brands and that will give a real competition for these non-customer oriented dealers and definite boost for customer who owns these premium brands spending their hard earned money.

[GTO]

Come to think of it, my Jeep went from this...



... to this in 4 weeks! 15 year old out-of-production car handled by an Indian manufacturer known for patchy after-sales.



Me thinks VW Downtown ought to take lessons from (horror at the thought) MAHINDRA dealers.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by GTO

Come to think of it, my Jeep went from this........ to this in 4 weeks!...

Thats the curse of an indian customer who trusts the warranty given by brands ! Your image reminded me of the Chop Shop (Bernie & Leepu show) timeline of 3 weeks for all their projects

Personally I know of few unbranded workshops around me that outsmart any service centre here with regard to efficiency, time commitments & quality of work. Some of them also have regular Merc/BMW/Audi customers who are so confident in their reliability.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear Ajit Mathew - this is nothing new, at least for me. Considering that this is a german company, the process will certainly be there but its implementation does not seem to be in control. Why?

Please read the reality:
Very Big Boss - abroad!
Other Big Bosses - in meetings, half of them abroad!
Local Big Bosses - in meetings in hotel conference rooms but at least in India, pulling each others' legs with non-genuine smiles on their faces!
Area Customer Care Manager - in "training program" or in "meeting" in dealership conference room (small room)!
Area Service Engineer - in area office with computer which is not connecting to company network, unsuccessfully trying to open something called "SAP". If it opens also, it may not actually work!
Company trainee engineer - sent by company HR for 3 months to area office. Sitting in the workshop with a form, "ticking" everytime a service advisor smiles at a customer and "crossing" if he does'nt. Wondering why he did BE(Mechanical) for this!
Dealer Principal - has a white car with spotless white cloth seat covers with clean light blue colored rubber slippers placed in the rear left footwell, has a large office with God's statuettes, with a plush sofa where you disappear inside once you sit on it, with attached bathroom, comes in white clothes at around 11AM, goes for a business lunch with an "associate", goes to his bungalow in the afternoon, tries to establish a relationship with a local politician to contest the local election, attends Lion's Club dinner in the evening and goes home. Wife in silk saree, "namaste bhabhiji" and all that!
Dealer Service Manager - most of them (not all) retired, generally very tired, trying to make ends meet, wife not well / son wayward / daughter not married and all that, forced to attend "taining program" where everything is even more difficult than Latin and Greek to him!
Dealer Service Advisor - 3 days old in the company, wearing pink full sleeved shirt and all that, reluctant to touch cars because full sleeve will get dirty, it gets dirty anyways, already thinking of working in another dealership across the road for 500 rupees more per month! Mechanically going through the motions. Attends "training program" like a Zombie, also fulfilling the service engineers' MOP on number of people "trained". Obtains "certificate" and "group photograph" which service engineer uses to prove that he has worked!
Dealer accounts person / storekeeper - sits either underground or overhead, surrounded by parts. Partially understands only part numbers and part lists, self proclaims non-availability of part even if it is in plain sight, utters the sentense "order is placed in the system" at least 30 times everyday. Other things like dealer service manager. Accounts person makes bill on a dot matrix printer which prints so light that an optometrist will need magnifying glass to see anything except dealership name!
Dealer Mechanic/ Electrician / Door Fellow - goes by names like "Baba / Ustad / Shetty / Chettan" etc, (I must thank Dilip Bam for these names), dark blue dress, dirty hands with thick fingers, large diameter midriff, self proclaimed expert, but which is most of the times true by providence due to daily exposure to the vehicles with nobody to guide, assumes taking many days in a month off without information as a birthright, man Friday for "others" in the system to "somehow do something" to deliver the vehicles to customers by 5.30PM!
Washer boy - on contract with the dealership for less than a pittance, totally wet, only person who can operate the high pressure hose, washes everything with a vengeance including the ECU which leads to vehicle malfunction! Customer drivers try to get themselves washed from him as well, they end up washing their yellow washcloths instead. Disappears by birthright at 5.00PM when delivery load is maximum but is caught and physically brought back by service advisors to complete the day's quota, shouting expletives on the way back!
Tea boy - on contract again, "generally afraid" expression on his face, makes endless cups of tea, makes tea even stronger than an Irani restaurant, wears gloves as per "process", continues to wear them even after they become dirty, fills the cup halfonly, serves only half cup without spoon, cream gathers on top so customer has to remove the cream with his hand so his hand becomes dirty, so customer wipes his hand on the seat where he is sitting and all that. Pantry very small, smelling a little stale and all that. A4 size paper hanging on pantry door with tick marks on all days of the month, indicating that pantry is cleaned everyday!
Security Guard - almost non-existent human being (with the exception of the liftman) with an absolutely expressionless face, even after being taught to say "namaste" in "training program", opens and closes the gate umpteen number of times, waves to almost evetybody to stop even if one is going nowhere, gatepass upon gatepass collected and stored, God knows where!

Vehicle - a dreary looking unwashed animal standing forlornly in rows upon rows, dark blue colored dirty seat "covers" thrown over seats to protect clean seats, removed parts placed in the front right footwell, therefore oil on front right footwell rubber mat, glasses open or half open, hungry looking bonnets open even through the night, suddenly taken offline in an unplanned flurry of activity for washing at 4.30PM to deliver at 5.30PM to unsuspecting "customers"!
Customer - unsuccessfully trying to get the service advisor standing next to him to pick up his mobile phone so that he can talk to him, bewildered, confused, angry, shouting, even going to the extent of making gate pass and self signing it to get out of the place, finally selling off the car, only to start the whole rigmorale afresh with another manufacturer!

Got it? Good!

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

PS - I am insulated from all this nonsense. My personal car is still a Premier Padmini, thank God! My wife uses a non-power steering Alto which never goes to dealerships. For daily use, I only use CTC (Cost to Company) cars made by the company where I work, so I allow myself to raise hell if something happens! I work on my car myself, including driving it on and off the two post lift at dealerships where I go only to change oil and filter. I deal directly with dealer mechanics only, because only they know what goes on inside the car. I stand next to the washer boy when my car is washed so that he does not climb on the bonnet. I dry my car with yellow cloth purchased from traffic signal myself. I keep all doors, bonnet and tailgate open for at least 15 minutes and blow compressed air inside the car so that I do not get "washing smell" next morning. I try and change my car after 2 years, just before it loses all its rationality and sanity! But then, I am me naa!

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Ajit Mathew - this is nothing new, at least for me. Considering that this is a german company, the process will certainly be there but its implementation does not seem to be in control. Why?

DB Sir, although reading through your post tickles the funny bones and nerves, but sadly, you seem to be very right with your words. Well, I for one, who happen to be seeing the other side of this so called Germans and its really sad to see even these guys(not the Big Bosses but their local counterparts) behave such lethargically in dealing with their customers, who at the end of the day, contribute indirectly to their hefty salaries! I believe I can ask you this question, 1. you are in the same field (automotive) and 2. having held senior position in "another" company and now in "someother" company.
1. Why is this attitude seen only amongst us indians?

2. Isn't a person who pays lets says INR 2lakhs for a Nano(just an example!) not eligible for some respect and honesty from the service centre? Is it always expected that the customer should be either a Rudolf Diesel or a Karl Benz themselves? If everything is done by the customer himself, why do we need the service centres and so called "grease monkeys" (no offence meant!) in the first place?

3. Isn't it not the moral responsibility of the manufacturer/OEM to take care of their dealership networks? Don't they have a dedicated person to look into such issues? What is that "Dedicated" person doing then? Because every other day one such issue comes up from one or the other manufacturer operating in India and here in my current location, people seem to have no such knowledge of such happenings, or even if they do, they are one odd instances!

We as customers, at the end of the day are the pain bearers for their slackness, for the anger/vengeance that the service manager has on his superior or the mechanic has on his manager or anything in that hierarchy! Why is this?

Sorry about this ranting, but, day by day, the more I see of this, the more I feel sad for our people.

[tazmaan]

Some companies never learn and we as buyers end up learning the hard way. I have myself prevented at-least 20 people from buying a VW/Skoda in last 2 years. They went on to buy either a Honda or a Toyota, sure they don't have enough gadgets but their car does what its supposed to do, Stay on the Road.

Hope you get the reflectors replaced free of cost.

OT: I own a Swift DDIS 07, Accord 08 and A star Auto 11, Innova 07 (sold) / Innova 12. Although all my suzuki cars are not top of the line I have got the best service from Suzuki followed by Toyota and last Honda. I don't think I will ever survive a Skoda/VW service experience.

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

PS - I am insulated from all this nonsense... I work on my car myself, including driving it on and off the two post lift at dealerships where I go only to change oil and filter. I deal directly with dealer mechanics only, because only they know what goes on inside the car. I stand next to the washer boy when my car is washed so that he does not climb on the bonnet. I dry my car with yellow cloth purchased from traffic signal myself. I keep all doors, bonnet and tailgate open for at least 15 minutes and blow compressed air inside the car so that I do not get "washing smell" next morning. I try and change my car after 2 years, just before it loses all its rationality and sanity! But then, I am me naa!

Very well said Dhabhar Sahab. I do something quite similar. I don't let the car out of my sight at any workshop whether its a Toyota or a Skoda. And that for me has been the crux for getting the desired service levels I want. Sometimes I pick up the cleaning cloth too if they let some muck remain. I hear most people say, who has time to stand? Well, if you need to stand on their heads for a few hours once in a year (in my case) or say even every 6 months, isn't it worth it to have the work done to your satisfaction? I have yet to come across any ASC in India of any dealership which does work 100% honestly behind the back of the customer. Once they realise that you are not going to budge, then they budge. But then again, that's me naa!

[mempheS.D]

Originally Posted by dkaile

I don't let the car out of my sight at any workshop whether its a Toyota or a Skoda. And that for me has been the crux for getting the desired service levels I want.

This is a tip I vow to follow from the next time I decide to visit a service center.

But, do they not come up with silly excuses like "customer" are not allowed in the service bay, etc. etc. How do you deal with such situations? I'd love to stand by "her" when she's getting serviced just so that no one plays dirty behind my back.

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

But, do they not come up with silly excuses like "customer" are not allowed in the service bay, etc. etc. How do you deal with such situations? I'd love to stand by "her" when she's getting serviced just so that no one plays dirty behind my back.

Well knowing the owners of both the workshops helps. I had to use slight friendly persuasion at others while sometimes a little 'arm twisting' may also needed to be put in. Sometimes I relate the horror stories I have heard about them and ask who is going to be responsible if something similar happens to my car and then they sheepishly let me stand. A shouting customer at the workshop is sometimes sufficient to point them to the right direction. But as I said -

Once they realise that you are not going to budge, then they budge.

[bblost]

@dkaile,

Why should you do anything at all in the first place.

You should be able to leave the car whenever you want.
At any authorized center.
In a reasonable amount of time the issues must be fixed. Then the service guys must call you and ask if you would like it delivered to your house or would you like to pick it up.

If it sounds like utopia, welcome to the world of Maruti and Toyota.