[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Looks like I am an exception here. I always ask what else can be done. I love spoiling my cars. These little extras are small compared to the cost of owning and operating a car. I think the service engineer must be viewing me as a sucker! Things like interior cleaning, exterior polish normally gets done gratis. Maybe they feel sorry for me.

They probably do it gratis cause you opted for all the scams and the least they can do is clean the interior and polish the exterior cause they will not do any of the stuff you opted for additional.

I don't even get wheel alignment and balancing done from them as they make a hash of it. Better to go to a known tyre store and get it done in front of you.

The Ac disinfectant is a scam, window lubrication for the channel, engine bay lacquering is terrible way to loot money, interior bacteria cleaning is nothing but wiping the seats with a scented cloth.

Your car will be more spoiled and pampered outside the dealership for a lot lesser money. Right now you are not pampering or spoiling, just paying someone to pretend to pamper the car.

[V.Narayan]

Let me stick my neck out again even at the risk of being whipped or chopped again. I often read in T-BHP about service centres cheating customers with extras or forcing there way, or short circuiting the work. I am not an engineer nor am I a very mechanically minded but I get by. In all my years of owning cars and getting them serviced I have faced unscrupulous service executives maybe a handful of times and all with Skoda. The others I have dealt with repeatedly are Maruti, Opel, Honda, Premier, Lexus, Toyota and Volvo. I always build a friendship with the service executive and that I think takes care of a lot of distrust. I presume other members do this too. Mind you I am not decrying the sad experiences others have suffered. All humans like being stroked and praised by others. You can get even income tax assessing officers to start behaving in a civil way. A service engineer is a simple case in comparison. Any way I better stop preaching because it goes against the grain here.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Let me stick my neck out again even at the risk of being whipped or chopped again.

I do deny extra addons but keep the SA happy by buying for example roadside assistance from him. As long as you speak in a friendly manner and convince him you know what you’re talking about things should be fine.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Let me stick my neck out again even at the risk of being whipped or chopped again. I often read in T-BHP about service centres cheating customers with extras or forcing there way, or short circuiting the work. I am not an engineer nor am I a very mechanically minded but I get by. In all my years of owning cars and getting them serviced I have faced unscrupulous service executives maybe a handful of times and all with Skoda

You can build a rappo with service executive and the shop floor manager but not the team that is usually outsourced for these addons.

They use 3M, Wurth, Waxoyl and others to do these additional addon tasks and generally the guy doing it will shorthand on the work. The service advisor who knows you will be assured that work is done by these guys.

I know all the guys at Ford and Toyota very well and they themselves tell me, no point in telling you all this cause you know guys who do better job in detailing, AC disinfectant, wheel alignment and balancing than what our guys do.

[carfreak7]

I had given my Etios Liva petrol for a service at Wasan Toyota, Mumbai. I had asked them to replace the tail light and wipers but they didn't do that, but charged me for it.

Also, they sold me unnecessary things like silencer coating and car sanitization which was just spraying a bit of sanitizer on the dashboard. Thanks to their add ons, a simple service costed me Rs 14911 which is too much for a Etios Liva.

Decided to make a video on my experience :-

https://youtu.be/ou3CpQBnOuQ

[hserus]

Originally Posted by carfreak7

I had given my Etios Liva petrol for a service at Wasan Toyota, Mumbai. I had asked them to replace the tail light and wipers but they didn't do that, but charged me for it.

Also, they sold me unnecessary things like silencer coating and car sanitization which was just spraying a bit of sanitizer on the dashboard. Thanks to their add ons, a simple service costed me Rs 14911 which is too much for a Etios Liva.

Did they take your signature / approval before performing all this? If so I am not sure what the point is, making a youtube video about all this upselling which is routine at dealer service centres. If they did all this without your approval and then billed you for it, that'd be interesting.

[carfreak7]

Originally Posted by hserus

Did they take your signature / approval before performing all this? If so I am not sure what the point is, making a Youtube video about all this upselling which is routine at dealer service centres. If they did all this without your approval and then billed you for it, that'd be interesting.

The Service Advisor had clearly mentioned that they don't have the Right Hand Side tail lamp in stock and they would not touch it. Also, the SA gave me some nonsense explanation about the whole wiper blade assembly needing replacement hence I asked them to skip these two things. Only after asking him not to change these things, I had signed on it. Inspite of all this, I was charged for a tail lamp and wiper blade.

I agree upselling is a common practice at all ASCs, however I am against them billing me almost Rs 1500 for "brake cleaning" and Rs 778 for "sanitization" which I had never asked for and was billed to me. The point of making a YouTube video was to explain my ordeal in detail.

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by carfreak7

The Service Advisor had clearly mentioned that they don't have the Right Hand Side tail lamp in stock and they would not touch it. Also, the SA gave me some nonsense explanation about the whole wiper blade assembly needing replacement hence I asked them to skip these two things. Only after asking him not to change these things, I had signed on it. Inspite of all this, I was charged for a tail lamp and wiper blade.

I agree upselling is a common practice at all ASCs, however I am against them billing me almost Rs 1500 for "brake cleaning" and Rs 778 for "sanitization" which I had never asked for and was billed to me. The point of making a YouTube video was to explain my ordeal in detail.

If you have not given approval for the additional tasks or services, you can always deny the payment.

As precautionary measure, I will always make service advisor write on the job card, "Any job or value added service should be done only after approval from the customer"

Sanitizer charge is daylight robbery. Brake cleaning is routine part of the service. You should directly reject to pay if you have not approved the job for sanitizer and for brake, cleaning, you should have probed to understand what extra did they do.

Whatever explanation they give for brake cleaning, you should not have paid since it was not approved by you

[Turbanator]

I can feel for you having experienced it again 2 days before. I got him strike a lot of things but missed - Bactakleen treatment costing about 1100 Rs. They have now mandated some sanitizer treatment Rs 300 compulsory.

I don’t see any harm in making a video or pointing out such optional services added by dealers in estimate. Manufacturers must take a note and instead of allowing these optional by defaults should be added only after a consent is taken. So many times, one skips to check estimate which is normally given on mail or WhatsApp. I was never asked if I need any optional treatments and these were simply added on to the estimate. It has to be the other way, they need to first convince and take my consent before adding in estimate. Now it’s the other way.

Why should a customer be responsible to check and pay for the option if not recommended by a manufacturer?

[carfreak7]

Originally Posted by gkveda

Whatever explanation they give for brake cleaning, you should not have paid since it was not approved by you

Thank you so much for your valuable reply. Brake cleaning costing Rs 1500 is too much for Etios, whose front brake pads cost about Rs 1300, while the rear brake liners cost Rs 1000.

The reason why I paid is because I had to leave for my hometown as soon as the service got over and hence didn't have the time to argue with them. However, I did learn from my mistakes. Lesson learnt

Originally Posted by Turbanator

I can feel for you having experienced it again 2 days before. I got him strike a lot of things but missed - Bactakleen treatment costing about 1100 Rs. They have now mandated some sanitizer treatment Rs 300 compulsory.

I don’t see any harm in making a video or pointing out such optional services added by dealers in estimate. Manufacturers must take a note and instead of allowing these optional by defaults should be added only after a consent is taken. So many times, one skips to check estimate which is normally given on mail or WhatsApp. I was never asked if I need any optional treatments and these were simply added on to the estimate. It has to be the other way, they need to first convince and take my consent before adding in estimate. Now it’s the other way.

Why should a customer be responsible to check and pay for the option if not recommended by a manufacturer?

Thank you so much for your reply! Exactly my point . As a Toyota customer, and having heard such good reviews about their service, I trusted the SA which proved to be costly for me. I can't imagine how many people must be conned by ASCs in a such manner

[bharatbits]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I always build a friendship with the service executive and that I think takes care of a lot of distrust.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

You can build a rappo with service executive and the shop floor manager...

I am fedup with all this building friendship and rappo with them. It becomes difficult to refuse addons all the time when you build friendships with them. Even the SAs are trying to befriend the customers all the time so the customer finds it difficult to say no to some add ons or not create a scene when something goes wrong.

End of the day they are working for the dealership which is a business and not a charity. SAs will be loyal to the dealership which pays them their monthly salary to run their house and feed their families. I have walked into employee areas in service centres which otherwise are not for customers - i had seen white board with names of SAs, their targets, who achieved their targets and who did not, employee of the week who brought most billing for them, congratulations etc. This usually happens on Monday early mornings and also serves as a motivation to them for the rest of the week. Their conversations will be like
SA: Sir, i billed this i20 Rs 7500 for the 30000km service.
TeamLead: What's the big deal? In that Rs 7100 is the fixed component which anyway the customer has to pay. What amount have you billed over and above that matters to me. You have to hone your upselling skills.

Which SA do you think will get promoted and get salary hikes? Someone who gets x revenue month on month, or someone who gets 2x revenue month on month. Their salaries have a fixed base pay and a variable component which is a function of the additional, addons, extras business they get for the service center.

When a over enthusiastic SA tries selling me some silly AC disinfectant, engine cleansing, regular wash or premium wash etc i look into his eyes, pause a moment and simply tell This is my 12th car. Most nonsense usually ends there.
I am usually curt with what i want and i am upfront in telling i wont tolerate bullshit. They are not doing me a favor by servicing my car.

Usually people befriend them to sometimes get certain odd jobs for free like replacing a fused bulb without the service charge,replacing the wiper blade without the service charge, swapping the stepney and the front right tire without charge, warranty replacement after the warranty period is over etc. I don't want their favors. I will pay for what i have to pay. I can afford to because i buy my cars below my means.

One SA once tells me that "Sir, you called in the morning for service. We were nice to you and asked you to get the car by noon for evening delivery. Now you are refusing these addons. It was our mistake to give you such a early slot for service." It was a routine 45k service for my Fiat Linea MJD with no complaints. Only filters, oils and wiper blades change was required. They are no Tata or Maruti to have volumes of cars to service. I was in no rush. I just called them when i could get my car to service. They asked if i had any complaints. I said no. Just routine service. They asked me to get by noon. Even a day or 2 later also would have been fine with me.

Once, i faced a billing discrepancy for the 60k service of my Ford Classic. What i see on the Ford website Ford Service Price Promise and what they billed me showed a variation of nearly 10%. They tell me things have not been updated from Ford's end on their website but we have got the updated prices. I was in no mood to budge. I tell them the ones you see on the Ford website are the latest prices and your systems have not been updated yet to reflect those prices. Basically, certain part prices have increased and some have decreased. I asked them to give it to me in writing that what is shown on the Ford website is incorrect. They said they cannot. They said i don't have any option but to pay in full to take the car. I told them, i won't mind paying you double the bill and not just that 10% extra that you had billed. But, you will be running to my office with a cheque for the extra amount once i take it up with Ford. I took it up with Ford. They resolved the issue in my favor. I didn't bother calling them up to tell them my office address to deliver the cheque. I was no way going there to collect it. When they didn't respond even after 24 hours i talked to the same person at Ford again that i had not received the cheque from the dealer yet. In less than 2 hours, they called me and coordinated with me to deliver the cheque.

Also, i am no way going to a service center thats far away from home because i had a unpleasant experience with the one close to home. I will still go there. And they are bound to service my car. Service centers cannot selectively choose whose cars they want to service and whose they won't.

I have experience getting my cars serviced at Maruti, Tata, Chevrolet, Ford and Fiat.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by carfreak7

Thank you so much for your valuable reply. Brake cleaning costing Rs 1500 is too much for Etios, whose front brake pads cost about Rs 1300, while the rear brake liners cost Rs 1000.

The thing about any and every toyota dealership is that if you leave negative feedback on the post service call it is taken up very seriously. If the dealership did perform repairs or provide addons without your signed approval and you protest about it, it will go badly for them.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by bharatbits

I am fedup with all this building friendship and rappo with them. It becomes difficult to refuse addons all the time when you build friendships with them.

To each his own on what each of us wants to get lathered up about and lose our cool over. Building a relationship with a service engineer does not necessarily mean becoming his yaar-dost and exchanging risque jokes. A relationship can be arms length and firm where it is clear where the line is drawn. Christ, I even try and build a bridge with that most hated of all folks - the income tax assessing officer. Or maybe I am just an old man soon to extinct as the dodo.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

To each his own on what each of us wants to get lathered up about and lose our cool over.

Sir, it’s because of the relative cost of vehicle and charges. Charging Rs 1500 for the brake cleaning and the treatment I mentioned will be a big amount for a smaller car like Etios. More so in these circumstances when most folks are not earning much.

Instead of conveniently adding line articles in the estimate, they should mention all Optionals separately. I hope someone takes these manufacturers for a task.

Originally Posted by hserus

If the dealership did perform repairs or provide addons without your signed approval and you protest about it, it will go badly for them.

I have never got a call or an email from Toyota askIng feedback about service. Whenever I have tried to raise a complaint, I used to hear some standard answers.

Toyota India must be at bottom of all the car manufacturers as far as customer handling of complaints is concerned. They route everything via a dealer and even if you are not satisfied with the dealership they will route the complaints back. And this is true even overseas, Lexus on the other hand is eager to get engaged and help owners directly.

Maybe they have intentionally kept this difference to sell more Lexus cars.