[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

So, a couple of obvious questions from me:

1. Why in the world did you go back to them after the bad experience during your 4th & 5th service?

The only and only reason was that I was attending to a family emergency and hoped to rush to the hospital if and when required. Sai Service being bang in the middle of town offered that convenience. Moreover, this was going to be the simplest form of service and couldn't go as bad as it actually did.

2. Why didn't you try Chowgule or Sehgal or Mahalaxmi? Even if they weren't great, they would surely have been better than these bottom of the barrel jokers?

Cheers,
Vikram

There is another reason for this. During my purchase, I made the mistake of buying a dealer level warranty which gets unlimited mileage coverage with more benefits (on paper) than standard Maruti warranty. This one gets void if any of my services were carried out on record at any other Maruti dealer. Kind of stupid I know.

The warranty can take a hike, I am fixing my car in my parking lot going forward.

[AkMar]

What a coincidence that this thread should be posted at this time.

Sai Service tried to pull off another one on us this year, even after what happened last year (link to thread) Car went in for 5th year service, with the odo just above 27K. These days every one at home is busy as a family function is approaching, so I could not accompany my dad to drop the car at the service station this year too. He specifically mentioned that only jobs mentioned in the owner's manual should be carried out. Still, the SA tried to add Silencer Coating, which was struck off by dad.

While collecting the car too, I was not available & dad collected it in a hurry. When I checked the bills, to my horror I found "service pluse" and "caliper pin greasing" added in the bill, something which was not mentioned in job card. These two items cost Rs 1114.

On my insistence dad escalated this in Sai Service Borivali. They have agreed to refund the amount, claiming it was "wrongly billed" to us. I am sure these unethical folks at Sai Service will be looting most of the customers.

Sai service charged Rs 680 + taxes as labour for Caliper pin greasing during last service (which was refunded as it was part of unnecessary jobs). A few months later, another member posted his service experience, where the same job was charged Rs 350 + taxes in Mumbai. (link to service bill). I had written to Maruti asking for clarification on this enormous difference in labor charges of 2 authorized workshops of the same manufacturer located less than 30 km away from each other. To this Territory service Manager of Maruti replied:

We have already taken up with issue with appropriate authorities at the said dealer and have rectified the discrepancies.

I have also been told that the excess amount has been refunded to you by the said dealer.

For your information the labor charges for caliper greasing for swift in Mumbai is 473/-.(Without taxes)

The service managers of Sai Service Borivali too were marked in CC of this mail. In spite of this, Sai Service continues to charge Rs 680 + taxes for Caliper pin greasing till date. It speaks volumes of the ethics followed by the dealership chain.

The only reason why we went to Sai Service this year was because they offered a free paid service in order to try and keep us happy after the issue last year.

But now, in all probability they have lost a 15 year old customer.

Total bill apart from the extras was 3115. After subtracting 1685 for paid service labour, it comes to Rs 1430. We will get a refund of the extra jobs soon.

[Rajeevraj]

I owned 3 Maruti's between 2006 and 2013. Can safely say that the experience during every single visit (both for regular service and for issues) was at most above average. While I did not have any extremely poor experiences, I never came out from the service center happy with the service. Either it was an unresolved issue, or the attempt to push unnecessary things (which I fell for multiple times initially).

Now I own a VW and have been to the service center twice-Once for 6 months service and then for the 1st year service. My rating would be above average. I really like their approach of not allowing walk-in's and insisting on an advance appointment.

[Gansan]

I think you have compared a worst Maruti service centre with a best VW one! I have read horror stories about the latter too.

The MASS I frequent in Chennai, Maruti service masters, is in fact better than the VW service set up you have shown. Their shop floor will be spic and span. I have hardly seen any spills on the floor or my tyres. I know, because I stick around during service, despite their protests! And the service costs are mostly lower than other brand cars (A.S.S. to A.S.S. basis, not independent workshops). They can afford to keep it that way, because of the service volumes they generate.

But yes, in general I agree SAs try to sell something that is not needed from time to time if we are not well informed. It is no secret Maruti has a lucrative revenue stream from service, to compensate for the lower prices of their cars. I generally say no to most offers, but do permit some innocuous ones (AC vent cleaning, side slip and suspension tester, wax polish etc.) from time to time to keep them in good humour! But I have never heard of them cheat on something and bill for it.

I would not say I am 100% satisfied every time. But I could give them 8.5 out of ten, most of the visits.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Thank you for sharing this eye opening write up of the state of affair at the service station of countries’ largest selling car manufacturer!!
So much for being the most loved, trusted and one number in the country!

I briefly owned an Alto (F8D model). Two years and 8000 KMs on the odo was sufficient for me to part ways with it. Nothing against the car/service station. My father used to be the one looking after the servicing and maintenance of the car since I was away for most part of those 2 years ownership.

I have owned a FIAT Palio in the past for three years and it used to be serviced at B.U Bhandari. The overall experience was good. Since it was back in 2005/06, do not remember the all the details though.

Currently I have the second Ford car and almost similar to VW is the servicing experience. The bays are clean and the work is normally done to my satisfaction. That’s Talera Ford, Nigdi – just for the records.

The work area is kept clean with the clean attendant is always around to quickly clean of any dirt/muck which might accompany the car.
Only one gripe though is – the car is never washed to my satisfaction. The under body is invariably dirty. Though I do not mind it much as I get it washed with the dedicated washing guys outside.

Within extended family and a few friends, in total, I know of atleast 6 (including mine) Ford cars which are regularly serviced at Talera Ford. Have never been a victim of “upselling”. A polite 'no' is all it takes to get rid of the un-necessary stuff. Tentative bill/consumables are also explained in detail right at the time when the job card is prepared on-line. Needless to say, the final bill is more or less in the same ballpark.

Have been a happy Ford customer since 2010!

[Vishyvish]

Agree with the view points above of Maruti dealers, trying to dump unnecessary services. I too got conned with engine coating. In fact was advised that I would have to replace the shock absorbers as per the service manual. Since my run was short and having got a wisp of the canny nature of the advisor, gently refused. However, their follow ups have been bang on spot. Initially, used to get calls directly from Maruti, which stopped after the third year. Having sold the car around 2 years back, I still get a reminder regarding service from their dealer despite having informed them, something that is lacking with VW. Absolutely, no follow up except when they called me to request for a good rating of I receive a call from VW direct. VW does insist on rigorous standards to be followed, but do not follow up directly with customers. Well that's my experience.

[AkMar]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I think you have compared a worst Maruti service centre with a best VW one! I have read horror stories about the latter too.

Yes, I missed mentioning this in my previous post. We should not generalize based on the 2 service centers. I do not think all Maruti service centers will be so bad, and neither will all Volkswagen service centers be this good Gansan, you said it perfectly - its a comparison of Maruti's worst & VW's best (at least one of the best) service centers. I have heard only good things about B U Bhandari's VW service.

"Terrible Sai Service (Maruti) Service quality vs B U Bhandari's (Volkswagen) best practices" would probably be a more realistic title for the thread.

[speedgun]

I think with Maruti you got multiple options when it comes to service centres ,here in cochin itself Maruti have around four different service partners with each of them having multiple MASS . Trick here is to find the best among them .Where in case of VW its pure monopoly with single service centre and hardly any alternative's.

[noopster]

When you sell a lakh cars a month and open "authorized" service stations at the drop of a hat, your service levels are expected to be higher than what MSIL is offering currently. As moral rightly points out, the MAS experience has only got worse over time. The irony is that Sai Service is actually one of the better MAS in Pune- you should try MyCar or Sumankirti to see what truly abysmal service is! The only decent experiences I have had are at Chougule but their workshop is in Katraj and am loathe to drive so fat for a basic service. For my Swift's 80000 km service I took 3 separate quotes from MAS and FNGs alike and ended up handing it into Tune Up Plus. A thorough job brilliantly executed cost me 9k odd including fixing the noise in the suspension for which alone the MAS quote was 20-25k!!!

With VW it's been a mixed experience. There is a clear issue with parts availability at both their Pune dealerships. The service levels at Vidyut Motors are not significantly higher than at Sai Service. BU Bhandari however manages to maintain a good level of service which is why they still get my business.

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I think you have compared a worst Maruti service centre with a best VW one! I have read horror stories about the latter too.

...

I would not say I am 100% satisfied every time. But I could give them 8.5 out of ten, most of the visits.

Thanks for your points Gansan. I went ahead and changed the thread title despite having a strong conviction that 8.5 out of 10 Maruti Service stations try and fleece you. Pune has the following service centers:

Sai Service
Wonder cars
Sumankirti
MyCar
Chowgule
Maruti Care point

I can categorically state that 5 out of these 6 dealers will try and fleece you. And 6 out of 6 will try and pass on what I call "fake fixes to non-existing problems" like underbody coating in a city with dry weather like Pune.

I strongly suggest you go through all pages in this thread and read up on the exorbitant quotes provided to bhpians. We as bhpians are still a very small percentage of all of Maruti's customer base and are at the liberty of rejecting most of the unwanted jobs that are being pushed. Can you imagine the number of customers who are fleeced due to their ignorance or expertise in basic tech stuff? This in itself will run a huge amount.

Let me quote an experience from Chennai for your benefit from that very thread:

Pedalpoint writes in post #151:

Now he says that he wants to re-calibrate the injectors and will cost some 1500 Rs more. I just did a quick check up here in the long term DDiS reports and none of them seem to have done a re-calibration during their service. So i asked him not to do it. Is this something that has to be done at 30K service?

All DDIS engines are fitted with Bosch injectors. These injectors are almost never opened for the life of the car. But, it is a good practice to open them and clean as well as calibrate them after 75,000 kms. This is a thorough process and costs roughly Rs. 12,000/-. I would like to know how MSM (Maruti service masters?) in Chennai were going to do it for as cheap as Rs. 1,500/- bucks? Since you visit them, can you ask? Just so that you know, most of these cleaning jobs are outsourced to Bosch outlets who clean and calibrate these injectors on specialized machines. In a few cases, the injector nozzles need to be replaced if the spray pattern is not as per spec.

Originally Posted by AkMar

"Terrible Sai Service (Maruti) Service quality vs B U Bhandari's (Volkswagen) best practices" would probably be a more realistic title for the thread.

Partially agree and thread title edited. Thanks for your insights.

EDIT:

Slightly off topic but, with VW's 15,000km service interval, I am atleast seeing the dealer less than once or at the most twice a year.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

I went ahead and changed the thread title despite having a strong conviction that 8.5 out of 10 Maruti Service stations try and fleece you. Pune has the following service centers:

Sai Service

Not to point out MASS or VW or any other manufacturer's ASC quality, what I honestly feel is the lack of awareness and the ignorance to read the owners manual that states EVERYTHING which is required to be carried out on the car for its normal functioning (Read reliability).

The common man blindly believes what the SA says and hence they get the chance to fleece to earn more brownie points at the year end.

With our History with MASS - - 11 years with Varun Motors and 8 years with Sai Service, I haven' had the need to complain of fleecing or any sort of cheating by the SA's when my car goes for servicing.

I visit the ASC every 3 months on my Swift, all I do is ask them to do the prescribed works mentioned in the maintenance schedule in the manual for which they smile and do it quietly. Before getting into Team-BHP, I was fleeced but now a days it is not possible for them to play around with me on this subject.

They try to hard-sell treatments like:

• Engine de-carbonising;
• Engine Flush;
• Silly looking tree-like perfumes;
• Interior cleaning;
• A/C vents cleaning;
• EGR cleaning and the list goes on....

All I say "Please go as per the manual!". Now the moment they spot my car it is a routine job with less talking.

We as members have to spread the awareness and the need to read and understand the manual which carries the required data to keep the car healthy as well as the pocket light.

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Slightly off topic but, with VW's 15,000km service interval, I am atleast seeing the dealer less than once or at the most twice a year.

Is this statement coming with a sigh of relief?!

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

All DDIS engines are fitted with Bosch injectors. These injectors are almost never opened for the life of the car. But, it is a good practice to open them and clean as well as calibrate them after 75,000 kms. This is a thorough process and costs roughly Rs. 12,000/-. I would like to know how MSM (Maruti service masters?) in Chennai were going to do it for as cheap as Rs. 1,500/- bucks? Since you visit them, can you ask?

Slightly off topic but, with VW's 15,000km service interval, I am atleast seeing the dealer less than once or at the most twice a year.

Sure, I will find out next time I go there. There will be a couple of glib talkers in any service set-up, and we should locate the ones who are (mostly) neutral and try to give value! But we must keep in mind all of them will have targets and incentives / commissions tied to those targets! That is the reason I allow some extra (cosmetic) item to be carried out once in a while! I want to carry my own oil and stick around during service after all, and they accommodate me even though rules don't permit it. I also refer friends' cars to them (known SAs) for service, and will vet the job card and bill before the friend pays up! And those friends are generally happy when compared to their previous set-ups.

I am more comfortable with factory service set-ups with their specialized tools and facilities, as compared to "one tool fits all" independent set-ups. The body shop and paint booth they have are top class.The extra items I allow from time to time are a trade off for that!

But any mechanical work or replacement, I go strictly by the manual. And write "no additives" in capital letters before I sign the job card!

There have been instances when I was unhappy and gave them a piece of my mind too. But remedial action will be immediate and to our satisfaction. I had got warranty replacements when all I expected was repairs.

Like you said, with the 10k Km or one year service interval, I go there for service only once a year as my running is not that much. If I visit in between it will be for redeeming some coupon (water wash, wheel alignment) or some running repair.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

All DDIS engines are fitted with Bosch injectors. These injectors are almost never opened for the life of the car. But, it is a good practice to open them and clean as well as calibrate them after 75,000 kms. This is a thorough process and costs roughly Rs. 12,000/-. I would like to know how MSM (Maruti service masters?) in Chennai were going to do it for as cheap as Rs. 1,500/- bucks? Since you visit them, can you ask? Just so that you know, most of these cleaning jobs are outsourced to Bosch outlets who clean and calibrate these injectors on specialized machines. In a few cases, the injector nozzles need to be replaced if the spray pattern is not as per spec.

Just out of curiosity, why would you clean the injectors every 75000 km ?

I mean, if you have filled fuel at nice places, removed water from the fuel filter on time and changed the fuel filter at regular intervals, your car is showing no signs of spluttering, smoke or loss of mileage, why touch the injectors ?

Secondly, there are quite a few Maruti service stations in Mumbai which are brilliant. Navneet in Thane is epitome of quality and technical knowledge, they have never failed me in all these years. Vitesse in Prabhadevi is also brilliant.

PS: I agree with you about Sai Service, they are the worst even in Mumbai. Even Spectra is downright pathetic. Imagine this, with every insurance renewal, I get a free service coupon for Spectra- Ghatkopar including some washes and alignment/balancing free. I would not make my enemy go there even if they were overhauling the entire car for free.

[arnabchak]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

MF,

Thanks for this detailed review. You should not generalize so simply.

Just for comparison, I must quote Maruti Service Masters in Chennai.
Its a pity I don't have the photos for these guys but it is very close to what you mentioned for VW. Of course, their service advisor quality varies but there are a few stellar folks- last week just the initial diagnosis/road test pre-service was over 30 mins. The car got its highest ever service bill (17100) courtesy extensive suspension work but I am happy.

Completely agree with you.
@Moral
I visit Maruti Fortpoint Thane and the services have been superb to say the least.

Case in case, during my third service, my car bumper got scratched by a Taxi before the service.
They were kind to repaint the area and did not charge a penny for that.

Also, many services are done on a pro active basis and does not lead to inflated bills.

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

- Thereafter, he used a hammer and chisel to break the disc brake protection cover. I was mighty pissed but it was too late until I could stop him. His retort was "this is a useless part and not required and it cannot be replaced either"

Needless to say, reliability issues aside, my next car will not be a Maruti Suzuki.

The Disc brake protection plate plays a very import role here, How could that nincompoop say that this is useless??

This Plate helps keep brake dust off the suspension parts and other internal parts.
This plate also protects the brake rotors/pads from stones, mud and large particles.

You can get this part from any Retail Maruti Authorized parts outlet.
Please try and fix this back.

And another point never ever use tap or regular water for the Radiator/engine cooling system!
Flush the Radiator ASAP and use Distilled water.

Couple of years back when my car was in for a routine service they flushed the radiator and filled it up with tap water + coolant.
The moron doing this gave me the same explanation. We use tap water only.
A week later did a DIY flush, and used distilled water.

Most people dont know why we shouldnt use regular tap water.
When I asked JK Automobiles for a ready to use coolant 3-4 Liters. He told me to buy coolant concentrate and use regular tap water.