[A.G.]

As a loyal M&M customer for 31 years, a journey since 1994 which began with Armada, I have always appreciated the brand and its vehicles. I never imagined that my experience with M&M's channel partner Mighty Autowheels (Haridwar) would turn completely sour. What started as a simple issue with my XUV7OO had, unfortunately, turned into a prolonged process, testing my patience as I navigated to work through the challenges with the service provided by Mighty Autowheels.

On 25 October 2024, I initially approached Mighty Autowheels with a Check Engine Alert (CEL) issue on my vehicle. What should have been a simple fix led to the final Job Card (for this issue) of February 2025 having 29 recorded issues, most of which were either unresolved from previous repairs or due to new complications surfacing after each visit.

The actual issue


Link to video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ohekNGAzDM

Since this issue, the service journey at Mighty Autowheels had been riddled with delays and missteps. After escalating my concerns to M&M when the CEL evolved into Emissions Check lamp leading to encountering de-rated performance / limp mode, a final round of repairs was promised by M&M as a "one-stop solution" for all outstanding issues. However, instead of resolving the problems, Mighty Autowheels left me caught in a cycle of repairs where new issues kept surfacing. Highlighting the major issues:

1. Battery Cannibalization: One issue that raised concern was the battery replacement process followed by Mighty Autowheels. As per M&M, cannibalization of parts from new vehicle is not allowed. However, upon asking for the invoice/warranty card of the replaced battery at the time of delivery, the GM (Service) of Mighty Autowheels initially mentioned that the details would be included on their invoice. When I raised the issue of probable cannibalization with M&M, he later explained that they had installed a battery from a new vehicle to expedite repairs and reduce vehicle downtime. While I understand the intention of Mighty Autowheels to minimize downtime, this has raised concerns about the process where cannibalization seems casual.

New vs Old Battery (Both carrying the same stickers from assembly line)


Unsurprisingly copy of Invoice not showing any Battery replacement, as mentioned by Mighty Autowheels



2. Mishandling of vehicle: To make matters worse, during the last service visit at Mighty Autowheels, my vehicle was driven in a manner that raised concerns about its handling - including excessively high speeds during test drives, taking my vehicle to some technicians home during a road test and ferrying multiple staff members of Mighty Autowheels not involved in the service or data collection process.

Test drives reaching questionable speeds





Driving over Iron rebars in a construction site in Rishikesh during test drive


And then there were the barrage of issues related to physical damage, scratches and dirty panels.

Misfit / damaged trim panels


Damaged / missing locks


Cleaning issues


These are the issues which can be seen. Imagine about what cannot be seen, especially when during the last round of repairs at a different channel partner of M&M, it was shocking to find just 515 grams of AC gas being recovered – probably the cooling system was incorrectly charged by Mighty Autowheels for 5 seater variant (600 grams) instead of 7 seater variant (which has cooling coil in 3rd row and needs 900 grams). This is something which cannot be checked without specialized equipment and severely hampers the trust I had put upon Mighty Autowheels.

AC gas recovered Vs the spec sticker placed prominently inside the bonnet itself by M&M


I had always trusted Mighty Autowheels to uphold a standard of professionalism, but these experiences left me feeling uneasy about the care and respect given to my vehicle.

3. Safety concerns: There were also major safety concerns that remained unresolved after the January visit at Mighty Autowheels. The brakes of my vehicle were not checked to M&M's standards, as I found that the rear brake discs were over-skimmed by Mighty Autowheels during a previous repair, when I measured them to be below minimum thickness spec of 10mm (Thanks to a friend who wishes to remain anonymous – he raised this doubt after just looking at the skimmed disc picture posted here (The Silver Surfer | Mahindra XUV700 (AX7L D AT) | Ownership Review) and asked me to measure the thickness). For almost 5K Kms, I was driving with sub-standard brakes which were not checked in multiple subsequent visits for the CEL issue. Even when concern related to Brakes was mentioned explicitly in the Job Card at Mighty Autowheels during the last visit, the below spec thickness was not noticed. This leads to question why the SOP was not followed for critical safety system like Brakes.

Rear Discs where the 10mm mark is also skimmed with thickness as measured


The airbags were removed and refitted, which raises doubts about their proper functioning, especially when the Airbag warning lamp remained lit up during a drive post the January repair done by Mighty Autowheels.

Airbag Malfunction Lamp during one of the drive post repair


There was also damage to one of the front tyres, increasing the risk of a blowout, probably from being driven over iron rebars in Rishikesh as pictured above.

Side wall damage to Front tyre


4. Multiple visits: Since 25 October 2024 till 23 February 2025, there had been 6 recorded visits at Mighty Autowheels, out of which 4 were day visits and 2 where my vehicle spent multiple days each time at Mighty Autowheels – meaning total 37 days as per records. During these visits, my vehicle was driven over 700Kms by Mighty Autowheels. Loaner vehicle was provided on both the occasions when my vehicle was kept more than a day – once it was the ScorpioN Petrol AT demo vehicle (which hampered mobility as it was unregistered and without Fastag) and second time it was a XUV5OO D AT. Ironically, the latter loaner needed RSA support on the first day itself as the HVAC was non-functional which remained that way and couldn’t be fixed, again hampering mobility due to windshield fogging issue.

Loaner 1 – ScorpioN Petrol AT


Loaner 2 – XUV5OO Diesel AT (itself getting RSA support)


I am sure I had cooperated enough with Mighty Autowheels and till the last visit, any escalation to M&M had a clear rider that the issue is with the product and not the channel partner. Yet it seems they were overwhelmed by the repeated CEL issue which showed in their actions and lack of professionalism. The CEL just kept resurfacing after each visit, and despite addressing a few other problems created in previous repairs, new issues continued to arise, leaving me in a state of constant uncertainty.

Mighty Autowheels had consistently failed to communicate clearly during this entire period and on 12 February 2025, when a meeting was convened at their workshop between all the stake holders including a person from M&M, rather than diffusing the situation it was elevated further by the CEO of Mighty Autowheels, who on my face barred my vehicle from any future service attention at their workshop – all because of raising the above issues and somemore to M&M. Further, when I had offered to share the summary of meetings discussion via email, the CEO of Mighty Autowheels instead concluded that he will be sending an email which was never received, instead an email, which was completely different from the discussion, was received from M&M, that too from a person who was not present in the meeting.

I want to emphasize that my frustration is not with M&M as a whole, but with the service provided by M&M's channel partner Mighty Autowheels. I still trust M&M and believe in the company’s commitment to customer satisfaction, which has been displayed at another workshop where the vehicle underwent repairs, with all due attention. However, my experience with Mighty Autowheels has been distressing and has led me to question the standards upheld by their service team.

In the spirit of transparency and to raise awareness for other M&M customers, I am sharing my experience with the hope that M&M will take steps to improve their service standards. I hope this serves as a reminder that service quality and professionalism should always be top priorities, especially when dealing with something as important as vehicle safety.

As for the vehicle, I finally got all the pending issues and some more addressed under the able guidance of Mr. K. K. Chauhan, an old timer in M&M service since 2003, who is now leading the team at Prime Automobiles (Faridabad). The support from M&M was also exemplary as they too went all in and had the vehicle inspected by their technical team, flying-in 3 people to assess the CEL issue, and finally ordering complete Engine replacement with all the damaged trim / functional / safety parts being replaced along with replacing 2 tyres instead of just the damaged one with wheel rim.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[BoneCollector]

That's a horrible experience faced by you due to incompetence of the service center. And glad that the issue is being resolved by Mahindra. Do update about the final resolution once everything is taken care of.

[asbshyam]

Several threads like these here in our forum for various Mahindra Cars is what prevented me from getting a 3XO. I ended up buying a Kia Seltos DCT instead. Hope Mahindra can learn from Maruti and not from Tata.

[IamNikhil]

Maruti corporate leadership would have hauled the dealership and the regional team over hot coals by now, even at the slightest whiff of such trouble being caused to the customer! It's unfortunate that the continued success of models and long wait times has emboldened Mahindra dealerships to take customers for granted and treat them in the shabbiest manner possible. One would expect to be treated royally after shelling out upward of 30L of their hard-earned money on a vehicle, but alas! Mahindra only believes in spending big bucks on heavy marketing, but wish they invest a fraction of that budget in customer delight!

[KI07]

Instances like this eliminate the joy of driving your car, I would have stopped admiring my car and felt hateful and stressed when I would see it.

Indian companies and dealers need to realise the long term effects of a good customer support.

Today you have the products and are doing well, in the future you might not, All brands today focus on having customer loyalty as its 50% of sales done.

[Amrit@wheels]

What an absolutely disgusting behaviour by the dealership! This needs to be escalated to the highest level and made viral across the social media platforms. I would genuinely encourage you to please post it across all the major social media platforms and also share it with the relevant YouTubers. Only if Mr. Mahindra wasn't so busy on his Twitter posting irrelevant tweets and focusing on his own company and their customer service.

[uneaz]

This reeks of not just mere mishandling but potential fraudulent practice involving vehicle/vehicle parts by the dealer. Many customers would be oblivious to this unless they carry a keen eye like BHPians.

[AVL500]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

Maruti corporate leadesrship would have hauled the dealership and the regional team over hot coals by now, even at the slightest whiff of such trouble being caused to the customer!

I completely agree and second that. Back in 2004, we purchased our Alto 800 from Joshi Auto, Chandigarh (if my memory serves me right). The sales team was apparently upset that we purchased insurance from an external provider, and as a result, they denied us all complimentary accessories and made the delivery process extremely difficult. The situation was resolved only after intervention from the loan representative.

At that time, I was away, but when my parents narrated the ordeal to me, I detailed everything in the feedback form sent for new car buyers. Within a day, the entire sales team was held accountable, and the same salesperson showed up at our home with an apology and all the previously denied accessories. Apparently, the dealership had accumulated multiple complaints, and Maruti eventually revoked the Dealership!

If Mahindra ever aspires to take the top spot, it must learn customer service the Maruti way. While Maruti’s service may not always be exceptional, it is at least consistent. More importantly, if an authorized service center (ASC) makes a serious mistake, Maruti intervenes directly—ensuring that customers are never left at the mercy of the ASC.

[humyum]

Horrendous. I would still put this out to Anand Mahindra and take Mighty Automobiles to task. they can't treat a customer like this, they need to pay through loss of reputation and a super big reprimand from Mahindra.

[GS2323]

Some worrying trends surfacing with the domestic OEMs:

1. Price Hikes - The top end variants of the Safari and the XUV700 are nudging the 35L mark in some states - They are really professional when it comes to price hikes!! Aren't they
2. Deteriorating service quality post jump in sales

Tata has started to see the outcome of this trend with barely any takers for the Harrier and Safari now.

Coming to think of it, maybe I can still convince myself to buy a Mahindra and try to side-step these issues one way or the other, but what will one day in case of accidents where major repairs are required, how can one trust service centres like these to put a vehicle back, really scary to be such position.

[avdhesh15]

Request you to post this ordeal on X and tag Anand Mahindra and Pawan Goenka. This is absolutely horrendous. I'm glad that in the end the situation was handled, but it's one which shouldn't have happened in the first place.

[abirnale]

So sorry to hear about your ordeal A.G. This is insane and unacceptable.

Sometimes I feel we should have had the niggles thread for 7OO too. If not niggles, the blunders thread would justify it - not just on this forum, elsewhere like FB etc also we see and hear horror stories everyday. I can't help thinking that unless you have deep pockets or higher reach, the M&M is not a pleasant ownership.

[JoseTheScorpion]

Originally Posted by A.G.

2. Mishandling of vehicle: To make matters worse, during the last service visit at Mighty Autowheels, my vehicle was driven in a manner that raised concerns about its handling - including excessively high speeds during test drives, taking my vehicle to some technicians home during a road test and ferrying multiple staff members of Mighty Autowheels not involved in the service or data collection process.

Test drives reaching questionable speeds
Attachment 2743287

Attachment 2743288


Driving over Iron rebars in a construction site in Rishikesh during test drive
Attachment 2743289

And then there were the barrage of issues related to physical damage, scratches and dirty panels.

I can't even imagine the agony you might have faced after witnessing this happening to your car. If you have the time and the energy to pursue this further, I think you should. This should reach M&M and action needs to be taken against the dealer or the culprits.

You can use X as a platform and also tag Anand Mahindra, or reach out to any famous Youtube car reviewer to share this story.

if they have the courage to go for a joyride in a car which has all the tracking features enabled. Just imagine the number of cars they might have misused till date, where there is no such tracking features, like my Mahindra Scorpio-N Base variant Z2. If someone was to take the car for such a joyride, I will not have any way to find it or prove it.

[Saturn-V]

What an absolute horrendous thing to do with a customer's car!! Pardon my anger but I am livid after reading this experience you shared, I am a person who adores my vehicles like they were family. If someting like this would happen to my vehicles I would respond in a way as I would if doctors mishandled a loved one in the hospital.

Such instances need to be recorderd in a public platform by whoever experiences them as I feel that by each passing day, the people in the business of caring for our vehicles are becoming increasingly careless, unprofessional and egoistic.