[trek]

This is a long post but please bear with it.

It took a long time coming but I am relieved that I am finally writing this down. It’s very important for others to know about how two service centers of the same company can be so different. One being downright ruthless in making sure that you spend more money than required and the other treating you fair and doing business responsibly by caring for its customers.

The two service centers about which I shall be writing here are Wasan Motors in Kandivali West and Banai Auto Works, Andheri East, Mumbai.
The crux of the matter is our misfortune of owning a poorly engineering, utterly unreliable Tata Indigo CS GLS model. This is based on the initial Indica/Indigo platform and created a new segment of compact sedans. The only reason we bought this car on launch was our requirement for a spacious vehicle to accommodate taller people in our family. And that is the only good thing about the car apart from a good suspension which cushions well on our barely existing roads in Mumbai.

In the 5 years of ownership, we have had several experiences of breakdowns and the hassle of dealing with Wasan Motors from where the car was purchased. So since the past year or so, I had tried the company owned Concorde Motors at Worli and Banai Auto Works (Authorized Center) at Andheri East for servicing the car. Concorde was better than Wasan but nothing too good. Banai was the best bet out of the three.

This post is however about the recent experience at Wasan & Banai. The car had developed the following issues lately:
1. Engine jerking (again)
2. Vacuum in the fuel tank (not sure about the right technical term)
3. Coolant leakage
4. Minor stuff like loose boot hinge
5. Dad felt that the gear was bit notchy, however I felt it to be okay.

I was to take the car to Banai Auto for a checkup, however due to some crazy work schedule I was delaying the matter and Dad got impatient and took it to Wasan because it was closer to our place. Dad was in a hurry for some work and he left the car at the center and asked the service advisor to call him regarding the estimate and only begin the work on approval. After a while the SA called my Dad to inform about the estimate, however since Dad was busy he asked him to text the details. The initial estimate was about 19k for the above issues. Dad then called him for some suspension work too for which he later emailed a separate quote of 35k. Please note that all this while Dad had not given him any approval to start work on the car. Dad spoke to me about the whole thing and we decided that the quote was too high and so we will pull the car out of Wasan and give it to Banai later during the week.

So I call the SA and tell him that we do not want to go ahead with the estimate and will need the car back. The guy then says that they have already started work on the car!! I called my dad urgently to see if he had given any confirmation to the SA to begin work but he denied. Then a few calls were exchanged between them and Dad then called me saying that since they have already done some work, we will tell them to stop at it, pay for the done work and pull the car out.

I called the service advisor and asked for the bill amount and the fellow says 11k! I rushed to the Wasan service center to see the estimate breakup and I was shocked to see that they had gone ahead with a major servicing on the car!! This was ridiculous because I had done a major servicing on the car at Banai Auto just few hundred kilometers earlier. I mentioned this to the SA and he had nothing to say, he then mumbled some excuse that the system was down and so they could not check the service history on the car. I remained firm that this was unacceptable and he finally reversed those charges on the bill.

Secondly, the car was still not ready and I had to come next day morning to collect it. The saga does not end here, the next day when I see the final bill, there was a mention of a minor service (INR600+INR150 for washing/cleaning) mentioned on it. The SA said that it was mandatory to do a minor service every 5000kms. I was on my wit’s end and I wanted to get out of there ASAP so I just paid the bill (about 6.5k after reducing the major servicing charges) and got out of there.

I immediately took the car to Banai Auto and spoke to Mr. Arthur D’souza (General Manager) about the pending work on the coolant leakage issue. I have interacted with him earlier and he is a very genuine, humble and down to earth guy. He assured me that he will look into it and update me shortly. After a while I received a call from Banai and they said that it was just some loose electrical connection that was causing the leakage issue. They even fixed the minor jobs on the car. The total bill was less than INR 1500!!!!. This also includes the replacement of the coolant fluid and the PUC too which had expired on the car. Mr. Arthur from Banai also assured me that the gear lever was fine and there was no need to do anything about it. Compare this to the SA in Wasan who had listed changing of the bushes in the gear assembly and had added that cost in the estimate!!!

So in total, I paid a total of INR 6500 at Wasan (for engine jerking resolution, vacuum in fuel tank, minor service) and INR 1500 at Banai Auto (for the coolant leakage, new coolant fluid, PUC, minor boot hinge work etc.). So incase if I had done the entire work at Wasan (excluding the suspension), the bill would have been about 19k whereas I ultimately got the stuff done at 8k. That’s a difference of 11k!!


Summary of the above rant:

Wasan Motors Service (Kandivali West) – Avoid them at all costs as there seems to be a scam sort of thing going on in duping customers to pay more than required. The SA will always talk in heavy technical terms so that the layman has little to understand and question about. It is because of teambhp that auto enthusiasts like us area aware of such things, the layman gets easily duped by these guys.
In short, you will develop anger management problems on repeated interactions with the guys at Wasan.

Also, I usually get calls from the Tata corporate office after every service asking about the feedback on the work done. I still have not received that call, could it be because I gave a very bad review at those instant feedback form that I filled at the Wasan, I am wondering now if they ever got forwarded to the TATA team.

Banai Auto Works (Andheri East) – They are smaller in size compared to Wasan but the team is good and headed by a genuine guy (Mr. Arthur D’souza). They are trustworthy in their dealings and I am much relived to have found them after innumerable bad experiences at Wasan.

Now I am just waiting for the feedback call from the Tata office so I can rate Wasan motors for what they deserve after trying to dupe their customers.

[trek]

Usually after every service at an authorized TATA Serivce Center, we have received a call from the TATA Pune office inquiring about the feedback on the same.

I still haven't received a similar call yet for the recent services at Wasan & Banai as mentioned in the post above. Is anyone aware if the these feedback calls have been discontinued? Is there any way I can get in contact with the officials at Tata Motors and forward my above feedback to them?!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[MBstoTBs]

I agree totally. I take my car to Banai, which is quite far off, only because the people there are genuinely interested in keeping the car well maintained. Concorde is not as good, though lot more glam.

Now that you mention it. I also havent been getting feedback calls from Tata Pune as earlier, though the service center does call after a couple of days. Guess they have left it to ASCs, after they've upped their game? Very satisfied with the 3 ASC's I've used so far - 2 in Delhi, 1 here - would rate them much better than Maruti (minimal work) and Hyundai (rampant overbilling) for now.

The new car decision is certainly driven by my service experience and the reviews on T-BHP. Kudos and thanks for this great forum, mods.

[sumeethaldankar]

A bit off topic. I think Banai motors is now a Maruti authorized service station. Can anyone provide feedback related to their service?

Thanks.