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-   -   Samara Automax Honda, Mayapuri - Service scam (unbelievable extras) (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-dealerships/194150-samara-automax-honda-mayapuri-service-scam-unbelievable-extras.html)

Just a word of caution if anyone is planning to get his/her Honda car serviced at Samara Automax Honda, Mayapuri.

They are recommending treatments/procedures which are not endorsed in your service booklet. A friend recently burnt his hands (and his wallet) when he decided to "trust" the service advisor hoping they would know better since he isn't much familiar with cars. He bought a Honda basis the good brand name.

Coming to his 30k service for 13'Brio. Even though the car has run about 30k KMs only, this particular service was for the 50k interval based on the time elapsed.

The bill is attached below. Have a look at how you will be fleeced.

The thing that jumps out is a labour charge of whopping 7000, compared to the parts cost of 1500. This in a country where labour is cheap supposedly. :).






Usual suspects for fleecing money -

1. AC cleaning
2. Fuel tank cleaning
3. Silencer clean and coating (?) Not even sure what is this now.
4. Brake disk turning
5. Motor care treatment (?)

Irrespective of the Brand you own, ALWAYS carry your service booklet with you and ask for things to be done by the book. Deny everything else.

Oh, and Honda, he has lost faith in you. Just in case you want to do something for your falling market share. :)

:Shockked: Even by stealership standards, this is a new low.

Did they remove the tank of a new car, empty the fuel, clean it and install it back? And what the hell for?

rl:

Oh stop it! I'm rolling on the floor now.

Caveat emptor, car owners! As Dry Ice mentioned, ONLY get the stuff done that's listed in your owner's manual. Everything else is plain rubbish.

Absolutely! The new excuses they come up it are amazing. And a regular Joe believes them as they are supposed to know what is best for the car. He trusts these authorised agents to be doing what is authorised! So people rarely compare with their manuals.

These days, it is *critical* to go only by the book to not get loaded with such unnecessary ad-ons or recommended procedures. Ask them to show where the manufacturers are recommending it. Sadly, that's only the first part.

If they don't do anything after taking the car in, like what happened with the Baleno recently, well, not much you can do. :)

I guess just like the pre-delivery checklist it's high time we compile such a checklist for servicing too. :Frustrati

It's not only Honda, but has become a standard practice across all stealerships of every brand. I strongly believe the manufacturers should step in, and not allow this nonsense to go on. In this day and age, things spread on the net faster compared to say the 90s, when you could escape with such cheap tactics.

Regards,
Shashi

On top of everything said and discussed here, there were some more 'serious' issues which should have been actually attended which are listed in the comments - 'Both wiper rubber cut, LHS lower arm hitted' [sic] etc. I will be surprised that after a 9000 rupee service, a wiper blade wasn't changed!

By the way, how serious is the lower arm hit? Ask your friend to inspect/ get inspected the same.

Regards,
Saket

Actually, this Motor Care nonsense is prevalent among all Honda dealers at least in NCR. They won't lubricate the door hinges and rubber beadings etc if you don't opt for it. They openly mention "customer refused motor care" on the bill. I confronted the service manager at my local dealership here and he candidly said that this is a directive from Honda. He said that is why they put it on the bill if the customer refuses and that this a standard practice with all Honda dealers.

It has been this way for about 2 years now.

You know how they try to wash their hands off from everything. :)

A minor scratch, which is not visible normally = Tail light broken
A small bruise/scrape on the lower arm (happened while crossing a biggish pothole at crawling speeds) = Hit on lower arm.

Wiper blades seem to be working fine, haven't noticed them to be cut or anything, but will confirm again.

Thanks for sharing! So greasing essentially costs you ~700 bucks. I guess it is better to do these things at an FNG rather than these stealerships :Frustrati

This is a very common thing; Pearl Honda has tried to sell me this "value add" during every service. As someone mentioned, it only involves lubrication of door hinges.

Having read the service bill, I'm disappointed with Samara. They haven't charged the other common value add: Honda Diagnostics, where they connect the OBD device to check for errors. It earns them about 600ish.

Point is, lubrication of key points is part of regular service schedule as mentioned in the manual. This should be INCLUDED as a part of regular service labour charge. It not being done unless it is billed separately seems malicious.

I had initially been outrightly refusing Motor Care, along with their other scam 'Service Plus' (a flat charge for top up of fluids like coolant, brake oil etc. No thanks, bill me as per actual). However, hinges, locks and beadings do require periodic lubrication, otherwise they become very rough. I now get this lubrication done every 15-20k km

Wow! A new low for Honda dealerships as well. BTW, here's what I think VW adds as an extra in their service bills:

- A/C Disinfectant - Don't know if other manufacturers resort to this but VW charges 900+ for this job, which only involves spraying a can of foaming agent into the vents. Funny thing is that the can itself costs Rs. 900 or less on Amazon

- Lock cylinder lubrication- Another daylight robbery. 800+ for this job. Again, spraying a can of lubricant into the door locks. Not needed at all as far as the system works fine

Apart from these two cheap tricks, they do charge a bomb for wheel alignment and balancing as well, which I think is common across all service centres. They are not as greedy with the car wash though and only recommend changes to be done at the bottom of the bill. They don't actually change it without consent.

Don't know how much they charge for diagnostics. Had been to them once when the airbag light on my Jetta came on when I inadvertently disconnected the airbag light, but they cleared the error for free. Another issue with a stubborn electrically folding door mirror was also diagnosed free of cost.

Looks like I should be satisfied as a VW owner, at least for now. lol:

When servicing one of my cars, one of the SAs at Trident Hyundai said that engine lamination needs to be done (at Rs.4000 or so) since they are not allowed to use water to wash the vehicles as per government regulations in Bangalore. He told me "Sir, after you laminate the engine, it will not get dirty at all!" Having read one of the threads on engine lamination where one Bhpian had mentioned that the laminate started cracking after some months, I was prepared for this scam. I told him that on TBhp there was already a thread on this and please explain to me how the engine will never get dirty after it is laminated and what happens should the laminate start to crack.

Of course, he had no answer and had to back off visibly irritated that I was able to counter his sales pitch of a totally useless service.

Its sad, but we should be on our guard every time our car enters an AS* otherwise we will be taken for a nice and expensive ride every time.

I'm glad it helped you at the right time. For other BHPians, this was the post: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post4330303

My Brio is on 3rd year with 25,000 km on it, which is my daily office drive in the cities.

Apart from initial two services which were free, never went back to the service center again - that means I let go my warranty too. There were minor issues like rattle sound under dash which I was able detect myself and resolve. Apart from that I have full confidence in this trouble free car.

I monitor the parameters like oil, brakes, filters etc myself. Hell, when time comes i will do valve adjustment myself.

Of course DIY may not for everyone, if you dont feel safe then better to give the car to a professional, but before that refer to sticky posts.

:uncontrol

Absolutely, and that is what gets my goat - they are taking undue advantage of the trust people place in them. :Frustrati

DIY culture is slowly picking up, it is the best thing you can do! But it's not viable for a lot of folks. They do need the service centers. Having said that, all manufacturer's should start selling the parts OTC.

For regular Joes who are not that into cars, I think the manual can still save them from 90% of these frauds.

This is the natural progression and it is only a matter of time that people start doing regular maintenance tasks on their own. The simple reason being the consistent rise in manhours rate. For my bike, chain cleaning and lubing is charged 300. If one diligently lubes the chain every 500 kms, going to service center everytime simply doesn't make financial sense.

Just invest in tools and weekend time. Payback period for DIY has come down dramatically since service center is bent upon charging ridiculous amount for small tasks.