[Zenster]

Hello Friends,

I visited the Balaji Autoworld Fiat Service Center and Dealership on 2nd Feb 2013. I own a TJet+ and it had done close to 5500kms in a lil 0ver 3 months. So I went there for the first free service.

I reached at 10:35am for a 10:30am appointment. I reside in Kandivali and this FASS is in Thane, so I could excuse myself for the delay blaming traffic. I parked my car and saw the Service area from far and was delighted to see no Tata cars. No Cabs getting serviced next to the gorgeous Italian Beauties. I reported at the reception of the Service Center (More on this later). The receptionist prompt checked for my car number in the list of appointments and requested me to wait in the lounge/waiting room till Mr.Wilson got free.

Wilson is the name of the Service In-charge. He was busy explaining something to a customer who reached before me and so I didn't mind waiting. I waited in the lounge for about 7 minutes and around 10:42am (yes, I was clocking all this) he greeted me and asked me to join him at his desk. He sat me down, asked for my personal details and then asked for details of what all i need Fixed. The explained the issue I was facing like
-the Rear Right Side Power Window mechanism seemed jammed and
-some scratch on the bonnet which I wanted touched-up before rust sets in.
-Headlight Beam adjustment etc
We then proceeded to the car that I had earlier parked outside and there I explained the issues to him again. He completed the job-card formalities, got my signature and asked me to visit the nearby malls till he settles all the reported issues and service.

I then strolled out of the Service Area and reached the neighboring building. Again it was great to see no other excuse of a car sharing space with our Beloved Babes in the Balaji Autoworld Fiat Exclusive Showroom. The showroom looked spacious as it had only 4 cars parked in it, 2 Lines and 2 Points. The whole Freshly Constructed ambiance that the place wore reminded me of a quote from one of my favorite movies "I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in....Titanic was called the ship of dreams. And it was. It really". You get my drift by now, I'm sure. Anyway, the place was clean, with crisp basics. I was again greeted by the smiling receptionist at whom I smiled back and politely explained that I just wanna look around, I already have the TJ and its in service. I then inquired about the staff etc. They currently have 3 Sales Executive, 1 Sales Manager and 1 Sr. Sales Manager. And this would be anyone's escalation levels if need be. I will add a few contacts at the end. I requested to speak to the Sales Manager to have a chat. The 2 Managers were in a meeting, so I waited. In about 10mins, Mr. Ashish Pagare came to meet me. I introduced myself and the one of the ladies from the reception quickly pointed out that I had the big Fiat Stickers on my car. This made Mr. Pagare very excited and asked me about the visit. Anyway, we then discussed about the dealership and the few points that were given to me are as below:
(These may be correct/incorrect/speculative in nature but these are not my points, these came up in the discussions, so please take it on face value for now)

1. Fiat know how big Mumbai and other cities are and has plan to more dealerships by year end. As for Mumbai more specifically, besides this one at Thane, there will be 3 more Fiat Dealership cum Service Centers in North, South and New Bombay areas. These will be up and running by year end.
2. The delivery time for cars remain unchanged to about 4 weeks (average). This is because even though this FASS takes orders, it still has to send the orders to Tata and from there the orders go to Fiat's Factory. In the post-March2013 future, this time will be reduced as the TATA link in the chain will be bypassed.
3. Fiat will most-probably launch a car smaller than Punto in this year (mostly by Diwali) (This sounded speculative)
4. All Fiat car accessories are either in stock or can be ordered and delivered within a max of 2 weeks time.

Mr.Pagare was positive and enthusiastic about Fiat's Plans and Future and this was great to see compared to the constant comparisons one would see during the FIAT-TATA era (Thank God that era is ending soon).

After a good chat with the sales manager, I proceeded to the nearby mall as I knew that 1pm to 2pm is the lunch time. After some shopping and lunch, I returned back by 3pm. It was now time to eat Mr.Wilson's head Wilson also was well aware of TFI and our factory visit (and TBHP too). He then showed me the whole Service Area. There was the parts store which he claimed is stocked to the brim and after March Fiat has assured that any and every part will be made available in a week (max) including that of the Palio. Then we saw the Paint Booth where a HHB Punto was being painted, followed by the paint mixing booth while the painter was mixing the DuPont Auto Paint to the given specs. The Service Area itself has about 12 Bays. It was squeaky clean because it was so new. It was also fairly well staffed with the Mechs wearing Fiat JumpSuits. Just then my car was being dried after the wash in the sun. It was then taken near the paint booth and Wilson asked the painter to touch-up the exposed metal spots. The painter did a decent job given I was not ready to paint the whole bonnet because of some jealous lunatic. Then Wilson called upon his trusted technician to fix my cock-eyed Low-Beam. He took about an hour, blew of the bulbs but in the end he did an excellent job of aligning the Beams which a Accessory shop guys had botched while checking for upgrade bulbs. Then we went over one final check of the list things I asked him to correct. And all got a check. The Winder in the power-window assembly was changed under warranty and the windows is back to normal. I also got the ugly mudflaps removed for the time being (will get the moulded ones soon).

My bill was Rs.0 as it was the first service and the Winder was replaced under warranty. By this time there were a few Tata Service Techs in our vicinity, so further questions became I lil awkward to Wilson. But I still asked him about the crucial Labor Costs. I asked if they will change? will they be handed down by Fiat too? To this Wilson could only say that "These things are the same for now, The change will happen only after March" I could sense the tension of the split in his voice and ceased any further questions. I was then handed over my Bill by a exec to which Wilson quickly responded "Saab ko naye wale envelope mein dal ke do, aapne online sab acha review chahiye" (Give the Bills in the new envelopes, we don't want negative comments online). I smiled, He smiled, we shook hands, and I started my journey back home.

Contacts:
Aashish Pagare - Sales Manager - 9821192745 (Email: aashishpagare999@gmail.com)
Aarif Shaikh - Sr. Sales Manager - 9224397735
Bilal Ahmad - Accessories Incharge - 9970728799

Balaji Autoworld (Balaji Group)
Mohan Mill Compound, Ghodbunder Road, Thane (w) - 400 607
Tel.: +91 22 65999999, 6500 8888, 6500 7776

Service Center: 022 2589 5855
Mr. Wilson - 9819864847

Hope this helps!

[MetalBuff]

Hello zenster,

Man, this is good news! All that people had a grudge and fright against, was this "chalta hai" attitude of the FIAT folks. Top it with people waiting endlessly (sometimes years) for spares.

If they have buckled up and intend to go up the ladder, customer satisfaction should be the utmost priority! And which looks like is indeed happening.

Fellow FIAT owners have time and again highlighted, how beautiful and fun-to-drive their cars are. Change in their focus should definitely pour in the volumes for them in addition to consumers getting the opportunity to driving and enjoying their vehicles.

-Shivang Gandotra

[sandeepmohan]

I pray and hope that this quality of experience will be extended across all Fiat support centers across the country. We need chaps like Wilson everywhere.

It will also be good if Fiat work on improving the quality of the cars from the factory itself. Some of the parts found on the car appear to be straight lifts from Tata vendors.

[fiat_tarun]

This is indeed some very good news. The reviews of the Pune Fiat workshop are terrible. Hopefully that gets better as well.

Originally Posted by Zenster

.
.
.
The showroom looked spacious as it had only 4 cars parked in it, 2 Lines and 2 Points. .
.
.

Guessing auto correct / spell check is the culprit here ?!

[Zenster]

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

Guessing auto correct / spell check is the culprit here ?!

Nope no auto-correct, that was me Punto = Points and Linea = Lines in Italian (no kidding)

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by Zenster

Nope no auto-correct, that was me Punto = Points and Linea = Lines in Italian (no kidding)

Oops ! I didn't know that. Thank you !

One does learn something everyday

[iceman7]

Thanks Zenstar. Wilson is probably one of the oldest hands at Balaji. I have known him since I had the Palio back in 2006. I am glad he made the shift to Balaji Fiat instead of staying on with Balaji TATA.

I hope more Fiat Workshops open around the city and country soon.

[Sommos]

Very heartening to know about your experience with the new Fiat workshop.
Sincerely hope that Fiat delivers the same good experience across all its workshops.

[rikhav]

Good to read that Balaji has even parts for palio because till date every Fiat service centre has told me that they don't service palio/petra/siena anymore

Will try my luck by contacting Mr. Wilson on monday

[ghodlur]

My Office colleague's Wiper stalk switch in his Petrol Punto had gone bad and I had the opportunity to visit the Balaji Service centre in Thane. My friend had called them earlier asking them about the timer for the wiper which they said they disnt have in stock, whereas the stalk switch was confirmed to be available. However the cost was around 8K, is this not exorbitant? Are Fiat spares that costly?

The car was attended by one mr Ramesh and he confirmed that the stalk switch was the culprit however there was a new issue which had cropped up. Every time the front wiper would operate, the fuse would blow off. The SA said he would recheck the wiring to find the fault. The car is at Balaji for the past two days.

BTW Mr Ashish Pagare is no longer with Balaji Fiat, they are looking for a new workshop Manager. Anybody interested?

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

My Office colleague's Wiper stalk switch in his Petrol Punto had gone bad and I had the opportunity to visit the Balaji Service centre in Thane. My friend had called them earlier asking them about the timer for the wiper which they said they disnt have in stock, whereas the stalk switch was confirmed to be available. However the cost was around 8K, is this not exorbitant? Are Fiat spares that costly?

The car was attended by one mr Ramesh and he confirmed that the stalk switch was the culprit however there was a new issue which had cropped up. Every time the front wiper would operate, the fuse would blow off. The SA said he would recheck the wiring to find the fault. The car is at Balaji for the past two days.

BTW Mr Ashish Pagare is no longer with Balaji Fiat, they are looking for a new workshop Manager. Anybody interested?

Check out the below links.

For Active,dynamic
http://www.99rpm.com/combination-swi...3aa9390c153bb8


For Emotion
http://www.99rpm.com/combination-swi...3aa9390c153bb8

Also the website has many other fiat parts too! may be you can order it from here and get it fixed at a competent local mechanic

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Also the website has many other fiat parts too! may be you can order it from here and get it fixed at a competent local mechanic

Thanks a ton for the info. My mistake of putting the post late on the forum. My friend had gone ahead & given the car for repair. Since he would be needing the combination switch with Blue & me, the cost works out at par with the Fiat workshop quote. he could have saved on the labour charges by servicing at FNG but would had to shell the shipping charges if bought form the website.

Is the website authorized to sell Fiat OEM spares?

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Thanks a ton for the info. My mistake of putting the post late on the forum. My friend had gone ahead & given the car for repair. Since he would be needing the combination switch with Blue & me, the cost works out at par with the Fiat workshop quote. he could have saved on the labour charges by servicing at FNG but would had to shell the shipping charges if bought form the website.

Is the website authorized to sell Fiat OEM spares?

Don't know if its authorized to sell or not. But you get original FIAT parts . Atleast an alternative source of the parts in case the FASS does not have stock. You also have choice to get it fixed outside FASS. Also many parts of the erstwhile Adventure, palio are also available which is a boon for FIAT fans!

[rudrah]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Is the website authorized to sell Fiat OEM spares?

No, the website is not run by Fiat but by a PUG member. He stocks all the critical parts for Palio, Punto and Linea

I and my other friends have placed orders from him and the orders are shipped on time too. You also have option of Cash on delivery!

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

My Office colleague's Wiper stalk switch in his Petrol Punto had gone bad and I had the opportunity to visit the Balaji Service centre in Thane. My friend had called them earlier asking them about the timer for the wiper which they said they disnt have in stock, whereas the stalk switch was confirmed to be available. However the cost was around 8K, is this not exorbitant? Are Fiat spares that costly?

The car was attended by one mr Ramesh and he confirmed that the stalk switch was the culprit however there was a new issue which had cropped up. Every time the front wiper would operate, the fuse would blow off. The SA said he would recheck the wiring to find the fault. The car is at Balaji for the past two days.

A total twist in the tale. My friend who had initially wiper problems, later turned out had BCM problem. It seems the BCM in his Punto had gone bad. After lot of dilly dallying for about 2 weeks, Balaji finally sourced the BCM and replaced the same. Total loss - 22K incl labour and all. So much so for the assurances from Balaji about maintaining sufficient stocks.