My Palio was due for a service and this time since I was feeling too lazy to drive down to Shaman, I decided to give Wasan in Chembur a try. Called them on tuesday asking for a friday appointment and was given a 12 PM slot which was the first avaliable slot on that day.
I reached outside the dealership at 11.45 am and was greeted by a long line of about 15 vehicles all waiting to get in! There are two buildings, one for Tata-Fiat and one for Ford. I was told by the service advisor later on that the vacant land outside their center was sold to a builder and because of that they were no longer allowed to park their cars on that piece of land. Thus the resulting chaos. However, the Ford service was in the process of being shifted to a new location soon, so the chaos would be temporary.
Finally, I drove into the center at 12.20 PM!! Walked into the reception area and felt like I had walked onto the floor of the BSE in the midst of a crash. Phones were ringing, printers were frantically printing out sheets of paper, job cards were being made, one guy took my service booklet and made out a job card. I was asked to wait for my service advisor who was at that moment making out a job card for the Indica. Fair enough. That gave me a chance to look around and in the midst of the Tata's I could spot two Palio's (One was my own) and a Petra. The advisor was with me in about 10 mins and promptly took the inventory and job to be done. Following was the jobs, I asked him to do:
1.) Paid Service
2.) All fluids change (except Gear oil and Power Steering oil).
3.) Check and replace brake pads if necessary. My car has done approx 53,000kms and is still running on it's original brake pads! There wasn't any problems with braking but still asked them to check the pads out for safety reasons.
4.) Decarbonising of the Engine.
5.) As soon as I turned on the ignition all the three brake lights used to remain on. This electrical problem was to checked out.
The service advisor asked me if I had any more compliants apart from the electrical issue, I didn't. He took a test drive to diagnose any problems with the car. Even he didn't find anything. Saturday was the delivery day.
The next day, it was raining heavily in Mumbai and I was told that due to low attendance from technicians the car would be ready only by Monday. I called them on Monday at 2pm and was told that the car would be ready for delivery by 6pm. Service was done by then and the electrical issue was being investigated. Just as I reached the center at 5.30pm on Monday, my bill was being printed. As I was filling up the feedback form at the cashier, I got a SMS from Tata Motors saying, "Your Palio 1.6 S10 number MH-02-NA-xxxx is ready for delivery after service. Please contact your service advisor at xxxxxx for delivery". Pretty neat. Seems like as soon as the bill is generated the SMS is sent to customers. Seems like a new feature, this wasn't done at the time of my last service at Shaman. So I go and check out my car. It felt wonderful. The engine was smooth, the electrical issue was solved and the washing was first rate! Still, I would wait for a few weeks before giving them good marks since electrical issues have a nasty habit of recurring.
Couple of issues here with Wasan:
1.) Decarbonising was bloody expensive. Wasan charged me Rs. 2,000
. In 2005, Angad charged me Rs. 1,500 and in September 2006, Anuroop charged me Rs. 1,400. I am guessing, dealerships are free to price this product?
2.) My left headlight is fogged up. Wanted to replace it. The part was in stock. I was quoted Rs. 4,000 over the phone. I knew it's BS. In December, Anuroop charged me Rs. 1,547 for the right headlight. Called Shaman and was told it would cost Rs. 1,920 plus labour. I wondered if Wasan had lost it! When I went to take delivery, I was told it would cost Rs. 3,000 for the headlight and about Rs. 175 labour. I told them to go take a walk since Shaman was charging me Rs. 1,920. The service advisor tells me to go with him to spares and he would show the packaging with the amount of Rs. 3000 printed on it. I refused telling him about my conversation with Shaman and also told him at this rate you will lose a lot of business. He calls up the spares and they ask him the model year after which he says it was his mistake as he thought my car was the new one with the levelling mechanism. So according to Wasan, the motorised headlights cost Rs.3000 while the non-motorised ones would cost Rs. 1920. It was 5.30 pm so I told him, I would do it next time. Still, I don't understand how headlights have become more costly over the years. Normally spares prices are reduced. How did Anuroop sell me the headlight at Rs.1547 while the same one now costs Rs. 1920?
3.) The service advisor surprisingly knew about the Grande Punto and Linea models. Said they get a couple of Fiats everyday for service. In his words, "the cars are very good. Only issue is sometimes spares aren't readily avaliable"
4.) Got a chance to see the Palio Stile from close for the first time. The Passat like headlights are mesmerising!
5.) The problem with all Tata-Fiat dealerships is the total absence of anything Fiat. All the posters are of Tata, Service policy notices are of Tata, Fast running spares prices and labour rates are of Tata. This isn't confidence inspiring to a Fiat owner. A Rs. 5 lakh Palio owner will take this but would a Rs. 8 lakh Linea owner be as forgiving? I hope Fiat becomes more visible at the dealerships and both these companies do something about this before their new launches.
6.) I was charged Rs.650 as labour for the paid service. Anuroop and Shaman charge Rs.500.
Finally,
1.) Another good expereince with Fiat service or should I say Tata-Fiat service.
2.) They did a good job with servicing the car. Complaint was understood well by them and from the looks of it they managed to solve the sole issue I had with the Palio.
3.) Even in the midst of all the chaos I was attended to promptly. Seems like there was a method to all the madness at Wasan.
4.) The reception area is pretty basic. If you are the sort that likes nice interiors, stylish decor and a swanky customer lounge, you will be disappointed. BUT, this has to improve. Once again, Indica, Indigo and Palio owners will accept this but not a Linea owner. (Provided he goes for service and not his chauffer)
5.) Specific to Wasan, some of the rates are on the higher side compared to other dealers.
6.) The washing of the car was brilliant! I rate Wasan's washing as the best compared to Angad, Anuroop and Shaman.
7.) An Indica owner (I knew this from the service booklet he had in his hand) was asked to pay up his bill at the cashier and fill in the customer feedback form. Amazingly, he made a big issue about filling up "all these forms". "yeh sab kya hai? "zarrori hai kya?" And then we complain about poor service standards!