[sparameswaran]

This is about how a pleasant (Jeep/Fiat) service experience mitigated a really bad sequence of events I faced recently with my car.

I own a 2014 version of Linea T Jet, which I bought at Pondicherry (where I live) and have been servicing at Pondy/Chennai/Salem. I had shared my initial ownership experience here earlier : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157529

I have had my share of ‘horror experiences’ with Fiat service centres which I had shared here : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198972

I was driving with my family to Kerala from Pondy (Via Palakkad, with overnight stay at Ottapalam) in November 2019 and my car engine ‘switched off’ while driving, when I was at a place near Koothattukulam (between Koothattukulam & Mutholi). There was a strong smell of petrol when I stepped out and I found petrol leaking from underneath the car (somewhere ahead of the rear right tyre). Fuel and engine warning lights had come on in the MID. With the help of a family who were staying near by (who also graciously hosted my family while I was getting the car repaired) I managed to contact a car mechanic. He found the fuel line ‘disconnected’ (underneath the car, approximately below the rear seat, towards the right side) and the guard/cover damaged, possibly by a hit from a loose stone or a boulder. I had left from Ottapalam in the morning and the road between Ottapalam and Thrissur was pretty bad and I guess something hit the car belly, though I didn’t notice anything. Anyway, he was able to reconnect the fuel line (apparently there is a connector with a ‘lock’) in a jiffy and we drove the remaining distance home uneventfully.

Since I had to drive all the way back to Pondy, I thought it better to get the car checked at a proper service centre before driving back. I had noticed a new Jeep dealership at Kottayam during my previous visit home in July (Hyson Jeep). Fiat service centres in Kottayam had closed down couple of years back. I took the car to the service centre at Nattakom and explained the sequence of events.

They found no problems with the fuel line but the cover/guard was deformed and it was repaired. The work took couple of hours but the service personnel kept giving me updates and explained why it was taking more time than I had expected. While I was at the service centre, when I shared the difficulties faced with the car breaking down midway while travelling with family, the service personnel informed me about the availability of Fiat Road Side Assistance (RSA). It was available when I had bought the car in 2014, but I was informed by service centre in Chennai that it was no longer, available after the warranty period got over in 2017. Now I was given the option of subscribing to the RSA program again and I promptly agreed to it and paid for 2 years.

I again drove (alone) from Pondy to Kodungoor via Trichy - Dindigul - Theni - Kumily in the second week of December. While I was at a village called Hanumanthanpatti between Uthamapalayam and Cumbum, warning messages about ABS, EBD & Airbag failure appeared on MID and I noticed battery and engine warnings too. I stopped the car by the roadside and switched off the engine. The car would not start after that. It was raining (all the way from Pondy along the way) and I got out of the car and with the help of some passerby, contacted a car mechanic. There was a ‘make shift’ car repair place adjacent to where the car was parked and he got the car moved there and checked the car. He felt the problem was with the alternator. I spoke to someone at Expert Spanners, Chennai, where I had serviced my car couple of months back (for the first time) and he also felt the problem must be with the alternator and suggested I get my car towed to the nearest MOPAR service centre.

This meant that I was stranded because the nearest Fiat service was 125kms away (in somewhat the opposite direction of where I was going) at Madurai. I called the Fiat RSA. The lady who attended the call (toll free number) said she will get the car towed to Madurai, which has the nearest MOPAR service Centre.

But this was highly inconvenient for me, because Madurai was 340kms from Pondy and 300kms from my native place in Kottayam (where I was going). The distance to Kottayam was only 25kms more (Vs going to Madurai from where I was stranded). But the lady refused to listen to all this and insisted on towing to Madurai. When I finally made her to listen to what I had to say, she told that towing to Kottayam will cost me ₹10000 + tolls and tax. I realised the futility of trying to talk to the lady and told her I wanted some time to decide. She said she will call me back in 10 minutes and I should tell her my final decision by then (whether to tow my car to Madurai or Kottayam, the latter at my own expense). Fortunately, I had the contact detail of the service manager at Hyson service at Kottayam Mr Ameerudin and I rang him up and explained my situation. He promised to speak to the RSA people and get back to me.

He called me back in about 15 minutes and said it is possible to tow the car to Kottayam if I agree to pay the charges for the additional distance (compared to the distance involved if the car is taken to Madurai). The difference was 50kms (to and fro) and I will have to pay ₹3000/-. I readily agreed to this because sending the car to Madurai made no sense, when the service centre at Kottayam was at a distance of 5kms from my home. The RSA agreed to this.
A flat bed towing service was sent from Kottayam to transport the car and the car was transported uneventfully.

The next day was a Sunday. Mr Jithu, the concerned service person at Hyson service called me on Monday morning and asked the details about the problems with the car and later called me back to inform the problem was with the alternator as well as the tensioner. The alternator would be sent to a Fiat authorised service provider for alternators at Kochi and they will decide whether it needs replacement or can be repaired. The tensioner needs replacement and it will have to be ordered.

Now, this put me in a fix, because I was supposed to return to Pondy on Thursday. Ordering the parts meant that it will take at least a week for it to arrive from Pune. I explained the situation and I met both Mr Ameerudin and Mr Jithu at the service centre later in the day. They promised to try with other MOPAR service centres in Kerala and see whether any of them had the tensioner stocked. If it was available with any of them and if the alternator could be repaired (instead of requiring replacement), they said they will try to return the car by Thursday.

Unfortunately, there was an all-Kerala Hartal on Tuesday (CAA protest) and the alternator could be repaired only on Wednesday and was returned to the service centre in Kottayam only by Thursday. By that time they found that a service centre in Thrissur had the tensioner and they got it transported to Kottayam. When they were trying to place the alternator back, they found that the cover for the alternator was missing. Mr Jithu had asked me about the missing cover even before the alternator was sent for repair, but I didn’t realise he was asking me about the alternator cover. I knew that the mechanic at Hanumanthanpatti had removed the engine guard while checking the alternator and I assumed Mr Jithu was asking about it. I contacted the mechanic who helped me at Hanumanthanpatti and he was clueless about the alternator cover. The cover was not available for purchase and the mechanics at the service did some jugaad to cover the alternator and prevent water from getting to it. The car was repaired and returned to me on Friday after a good wash.

Throughout the ordeal, the service staff at Hyson was very cordial and kept in constant touch with me, giving regular updates. I believe they went out of the way to get the car back on road within 2 to 3 days, despite the odds (hartal, lack of stock of parts, missing alternator cover etc), in addition to helping me with convincing the RSA people to get the car towed to Kottayam.

While the car breaking down, stranding me on the road twice within a span of two months is nothing to write home about, the ‘silver lining’ I see in this whole ordeal is the really pleasant experience I had with the MOPAR service from Hyson Jeep service at Kottayam. I must admit that this was the best service/support experience so far for me (including Fiat and Maruti service in Pondy and RamKay Fiat service in Chennai).

Both Mr Ameerudin and Mr Jithu were polite, helpful and appeared keen to help. I felt they showed real concern and made genuine efforts to get the car repaired quickly and properly. I must admit this attitude was a refreshing change from what I’ve been experiencing so far at my earlier Fiat service centres.

I must add that I had a good experience with Expert Spanners service at Chennai (the authorised Fiat service centre in Chennai now) for my last service. However it was a routine service and there were no major issues to be addressed. I am looking forward to a continued good experience with servicing my car with them at Chennai.

I hope what I experienced at the Hyson Jeep service centre at Kottayam was not an ‘aberration’ and is now the general attitude of MOPAR service centres to all customers and I also wish it stays that way.

[shankar.balan]

What an ordeal!
Good on those guys at MOPAR.
Thing is that once you connect politely and build a relationship with the 'human' side of the service world rather than just with the nameless and faceless IVR enabled machine, things tend to move well.
We are humans after all.

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thread moved to the dealership section. Thanks for sharing! Always nice to hear of positive experiences.

[VWAllstar]

Post reading the entire ordeal, I see you ended up with a good service station. It wasn't Jeep or FCA, it was the two service guys who made you feel the experience was positive. And this entirely is the case in every brand. Overall we make a perception that VW or Skoda or Fiat service guys are incompetent and money minded. But several such experiences including mine with VW prove them wrong. Hopefully we see such efforts throughout all dealerships and becomes a Norm with each brand.

[nkrishnap]

It is good that the service support you got was good. Its a human thing after all as rightly pointed out by Shankar.

However, I have a very different experience of my customer who has a Grand Cherokee to share. The dealership had the audacity to share a used car dealer number when they were asked why the car is having the same problems inspite of repeated replacement of the same parts. Service levels with FCA can be at extremes, fantastic to pathetic. What it lacks is consistency.

Do build a good relationship with the Kottayam one, it would help a lot in having a happy ownership of the car.

[sparameswaran]

The message really is that it is the service support that makes life a lot easier, not the make of the vehicle.
We should, of course, have a trouble free vehicle, but even if your car gives trouble, if the service support is reliable and consistent, life will be much easier.
I hope the service centre staff and managers everywhere takes this to heart!

[Sandeep500]

This is reason why people trust maruti blindly because they can find their service center even in the remotest of places. All the machines are bound to throw up some trouble but if you get the required part and service easily all that failures are easily forgotten. Fiats despite being better and more suitable cars than maruti for India did not succeed only due to service aspect.

[gururajrv]

Well, service sector is indeed in a bad shape across the line and not only in automobile sector.

I see most of it is because, personal touch is being taken away from customers. You go online, all you have to talk / chat is to a chat / talk bot which answers all your basic questions and you don’t really feel connected. I experienced the worst customer service for an insurance I bought recently and I had to deal with it myself.

All this is because of cost focused and computer influenced industry who thinks efficiency can be improved only through the ways of automation & not through manual touch anywhere in the process.

I do agree whoever is pardoned from this automation are those who are least bothered / less knowledgable staff who are dealing with customers who aren’t really bothered / are pretty aware of the fact their jobs are on the line who will be taken off the charts due to automation of their current lines.

I am not sure if I spoke a bit off the script, but yeah, a decent service customs is hard to find anywhere you go.

Hope Fiat realizes before they pack their bags with Jeep brand and bid adieu like they did earlier this year.

A good experience is always a good story and these days it’s not available in abundance.

[alokn87]

It's good to hear a positive review about a brand/company that is otherwise known for poor service. I do agree that more than FCA it was because of those two sincere service guys that all the technical problems and logistics issues were resolved in good time,however if this was a story about a Maruti Suzuki or a Hyundai car,then we would have taken it as a norm.Since its FCA it will be regarded as an exception
Credit to Mr.Sparameswaran for highlighting a good experience

[landcruiser123]

People generally voice their opinion when they are not satisfied with a product/service they've paid for. As long as people are happy with the service, most people will not write a single sentence of appreciation. I'm happy the the OP has taken time to write about his experience as this means a lot to him. If anyone from Fiat is reading this, they must take note.

How many Maruti/Toyota owners have we seen posting about good service experience?

[rshnvjy]

This is very good to hear. I would also like to point out that I've dealt with Hyson Tata at Thrissur, Kerala and they have always been professional, cordial and give utmost priority and go out of the way to help the customer. We've been having our Hexa serviced there along with minor repairs among other things and the work satisfaction has always been top notch. I hope this extends to other Tata / Fiat dealerships to slowly remove the bad name brought about by previous, less attentive dealer chains.

[clementj]

Mopar service (VTK) has been good in Chennai so far.

I have my Jeep Compass serviced at VTK in Chennai now (who happens to be the only dealer in Chennai after RDC Royale on the OMR went out of business). The service center has been very pro-active in following up, picking up my vehicle on schedule, advising me on the estimated service costs and delivering it back on time.

I hope things stay this way with Jeep as I really find the car enjoyable and full of character compared to other bread and butter models.

[JohnKT777]

My own experience with Hyson's Kottayam dealership, with its service centre located near Chingavanam has not been too good. The main problem is the way the service manager Ameer ( 75104 22200) dealt with a complaint I had followed up with Hyson. Back in Feb 2021, I had done major repairs for my Linea involving rust at the Kochi workshop. The front bonnet was replaced, among other rusted parts. The body shop advisor Rajesh Kannan did a few corner-cutting jobs with the work. He was a bit of a crook. This was in the Kochi dealership of Hyson before it closed permanently in Sep 2021.

Seam sealer was not applied to the folded edges of the bonnet, and within a few months rust started appearing there as water got stuck in the seams. I contacted the dealership (Shruti- 75109 11111) and got a follow-through with Autocar India prior to the visit, as the magazine wrote directly to Stellantis. When I arrived at the dealership, I was asked to speak directly to Ameer who came from his office.

Ameer's logic was that as part of company policy Seam Sealant is not applied to bonnet and other replaced components, unlike the case when they are fitted in the factory. This was a totally illogical statement, as these seams would rust, and sealant is not something that is done only in the factory. For my major works, sealant was applied in the welded areas. That work was done reasonably only because of the commitment of the then AGM- Santhosh Sunny. Sadly, he is no longer associated with the company. He was fair and transparent in all his dealings, and had a customer first attitude.

I was shocked at Ameer's responnse and contacted KrishnaKumar of Stellantis (Kerala region)- 90192 47167. He promised to intervene, and got the issue sorted out. In the end, seam sealant was applied and my car was fixed.

[JohnKT777]

For me, the service experience with Hyson back in May 2022 was one among the possible last. Almost everyone I knew in my 7.5 years association since 2014 December had exited, with the last being Sreekanth Manoharan (Service Advisor). The rest are now new faces, with no knowledge of my car's service history. Things will be different from now on. Yet, the Hyson Kottayam dealership also has some very helpful people. Notable among them is Anoop of the Parts/ Inventory section (75104 32200/ 81138 81334). He got me some parts I had requested at no extra charge. They did counter sale for me as a favour, considering my long association.