[narsi_6989]

Originally Posted by Samba

I second that but in few service station's i was not allowed to go inside. There excuse was if all the owners enter the service bay there mechanics feel disturbed. I generally avoid these service centers where the owner is not allowed to go inside. Before giving for the service i straight away ask the service manager whether the owner will be allowed to go inside or not. I take a whole day off when ever i give my car for a service and i stay all along with my car till the end.

You are lucky to find a service center which allows owners to be inside, but that is not the case everywhere. For instance, Gurudev is the only dealer in Chennai for Skoda and they never allow the owners beyond the lounge. Moreover they never give the car back on the same day for regular service. I would love to stay with my car during service but not able to do it

Originally Posted by Samba

Man that's scary! Forget about doing the PDI this can turn out to be life threatening. As in monsoons the snakes will prefer the engine heat of the car and in summer they will prefer the shade under the car. So if a guy is doing a PDI unaware of the snakes he can be a victim of snake bite. This is sheer callousness from the management of the showroom. Forget about cars, a showroom worker can be a victim of this. Thanks a lot for sharing this. If possible please add the exact location of the yard. So next time any one reading this goes to the yard to do a pdi can be extra cautious!

Yeah that is true. The building is in Ambattur IE and I have posted a photo below. You can see that the totaled cars are also parked there. I do not see much of activity happening over there except for the loading, unloading of the vehicles and the guys driving in and out. In fact I have never seen any PDI happening there. I suspect these cars are parked here when the other yard does not have parking space. This is my speculation as I see cars coming from other places within Ambattur IE (The only showroom is in Nandanam).

[Samba]

Originally Posted by narsi_6989

The building is in Ambattur IE and I have posted a photo below. You can see that the totaled cars are also parked there. I do not see much of activity happening over there except for the loading, unloading of the vehicles and the guys driving in and out. In fact I have never seen any PDI happening there. I suspect these cars are parked here when the other yard does not have parking space. This is my speculation as I see cars coming from other places within Ambattur IE (The only showroom is in Nandanam).

Thanks a lot for sharing.

Am attaching two more example which i witnessed a few days back at a Maruti showroom.

Case1- A brand new Celerio was scratched while taking it out from the stock yard for preparing it for the delivery. It scrapped its front left fender beside the gate.



Case 2- This brand new Alto800 was ready for delivery after the washing was complete. The driver talking over his cell phone was reversing the car looking forward and hit the bull bar of the Maruti Omni. Plus notice the scratches around the Alto 800 logo. They were there from before. I wonder how can the owner accept this car with these scratches!

[MSC]

Something similar happened with me also couple of years ago. I had given my old Maruti 800 for service at the M.A.S.S. I was promised delivery by 4.30 in the evening. I got free by 2.30 from college and thought it would be wise to go to service station to pick the car rather than going home first and then returning back.
I went with my friend on his car and* about 3 or 4 kms away from service station my car was found parked at a secluded spot. I asked my friend to not to stop and just pass the car. We returned back after going 250 odd meters away from the car. I was shocked to see what was going on in the car. 2 mechanics ,both in uniform of service station were merrily enjoying beer with some puff of smoke in hand. Again we bypassed the car.Then returned back.This time my cellphone was ready in video mode . While slowly passing the car I made a nice 55 second video clip as a proof. When the mechanics saw me shooting with cellphone,both were startled and hurriedly they dropped beer bottles out of car.
Then began the race to reach service station. They did their best but could not pass us and we were the ones to reach the gate of service station first .We blocked the entrance gate with our car leaving the 2 idiots red faced .
Once in service area I blasted the mechanics,service advisor like anything. How dare they use my car in this manner. Service Manager said car was sent on test drive . First they tried denying but once I showed them the clip,the matter was already out of their hands.
Every high up staff was literally begging me let them go off the hook. They even offered me to wave off the 3500 rs bill of service. ;-)
In the end I too relented but only after getting 3500 rs bill waved off and a free teflon coating.
But the problem remains as it is.Who shall be responsible for any mishap during the time vehicle is in custody of service station. Behind the job card and estimate,its is very finely printed that in case of any damage or mishap the damage shall be drawn from the insurance of the vehicle. Means in that case also its the poor owner who suffers for no fault of his .
Best option is to strictly advise service representative that any test drive shall not be carried out ,until and unless the owner is himself present in the car.

P.s. Moderators please remove one post. There was a network trouble and one post has got posted twice. I apologize for this

[humyum]

I have seen quite a few cars from a reputed car company who have a lot of godowns Vasai side of Mumbai being driven like hooligans on the prowl while going to the showroom for delivery or the RTO for registration. They go over potholes like it was nothing, not to mention the speeds at which they fly.

Once, I thought of videoing all this on the phone (my mom would have taken the video of course and not me while driving), but even with all the turbovurbo my Swift Diesel had, they vanished like wind, 2 of them in a convoy.

As a preventive measure, I take all deliveries of all my cars from the Godown. When they have to get it registered, I go with them.

[Vishyvish]

Unfortunately, in Mumbai due lack of space the stockyards are either in Vasai or Bhiwandi. Well the drivers have a job to do, so they hardly care. What's important is to ensure you have a thorough PDI before the papers are put in for registration.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by MSC

This time my cellphone was ready in video mode . While slowly passing the car I made a nice 55 second video clip as a proof. When the mechanics saw me shooting with cellphone,both were startled and hurriedly they dropped beer bottles out of car.

Must admit, you really have an awesome presence of mind. Most people will straight away go and blast the mechanics without keeping the proof. You did the right thing. Kudos to you.

[model-t]

I do not see this as the fault of the ownerships alone. I live barely 500 metres from the Maruti Suzuki factory on Old Delhi-Gurgaon road. I have seen cars being driven rashly from the factory to nearby showrooms 20 cars at a time. I almost missed banging up one as the guy was zipping through the roads at night!

Why is the Maruti Suzuki factory allowing crs to be driven from the factory to showrooms? Mind you, these cars do not even have temp registrations !!
Do not know who will be responsible in case of a fatal injury!

[rovingeye]

Gents - need to pick your brains on this one. I am to get delivery of a new car tomorrow. The car is currently standing at the unloading spot and has not even gone to the yard. Its got 3.3 on the odo. I had instructed the salesman to get me their PDI report before I take delivery. Today the salesman calls me and tells me that in order to provide PDI report, the car will need to be sent to their service station and the service manager will provide PDI report card.

The service station is approvimately 15 Kms away from the unloading spot. What's a bit unusual is that they're saying by the time I get the car tomorrow, it may have 40+ on the odo. This has sort of got the alarm bells ringing in my head. Because

1. The chap who drives it about to service station and back will not drive it with care
2. I'm not sure if they're asking for a 40+ on the odo approval because they'd like to take the car for a test drive with another customer.

I'm unable to decide at the moment if I should give them the approval. PDI from the company is important and so is the need to avoid potentially irresponsible drivers drive the new car without giving due consideration to the run-in period requirements.

Help please!

[Samba]

Originally Posted by rovingeye

I'm unable to decide at the moment if I should give them the approval. PDI from the company is important and so is the need to avoid potentially irresponsible drivers drive the new car without giving due consideration to the run-in period requirements.

Help please!

Yes, they should do a PDI from their end.

If you are skeptical to trust your dealers driver, call up your sales executive in the morning and tell him that, you want to accompany the driver in your new car from the unloading spot till the service center.

If you are busy, then send someone along with the driver whom you trust.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

I recently gave my EcoSport for the second free service. Mine is an AT. During the entire servicing I was with the car and the service guys were driving it like crazy, the engine was making alien sounds that I've never heard before! After all the service related jobs were done, I asked them to park it near the exit, while I go and settle the bill. It took me almost 30 minutes to pay the bill due to some network issue in their computers. When I came to the car, I saw no one around, the engine was running, windows were down and the AC was blasting at full speed. All these I suppose must have been going on from last 30 minutes I was at the billing counter! Absolute irresponsible and careless people who really don't care about customers' cars!

[NaXal]

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

Absolute irresponsible and careless people who really don't care about customers' cars!

Ford has a good feedback system. Usually after any ASC visit, the respective service centre will give you a feedback form. Have you marked your concern there?

Ford will give you a feedback call in couple of days. Make sure to attend that & express your concern there. Mind you, they do take feedback & complain really seriously & concerned dealership will definitely face the heat.

Thanks.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Originally Posted by NaXal

Ford has a good feedback system. Usually after any ASC visit, the respective service centre will give you a feedback form. Have you marked your concern there?

Ford will give you a feedback call in couple of days. Make sure to attend that & express your concern there. Mind you, they do take feedback & complain really seriously & concerned dealership will definitely face the heat.

The respective service centre did call me a day or two after the service and I gave them an earful. They apologized profusely and promised to rectify their staff's attitude. They also begged me not to raise complaint during Ford India's feedback call as it would lead to an official escalation against them.

The car's handling during unloading (I was present) and delivery were fine as was during the first free service visit. Its only during the second service that I encountered this type of mishandling. Hence I decided to cut them some slack this time and when Ford India called for feedback, I gave favorable remarks. During future service visits, I plan to be more watchful and verbally forthcoming on the spot if I see my car being abused and convey my full displeasure to Ford India.

[digitalnirvana]

I wouldn't want you to burn bridges and can understand why you're thinking of not complaining, but a complaint to Ford is absolutely justified here. They might be doing the same to other people's cars too - and they deserve to be called out for it.