[Dhar's]

@ patchyboy
Good narration of the events.
Its really shocking. All these days I beleived that the main difference between a way side mechanic and authorised service centre is the use of appropriate tools.
How do we know that Tata vehicles are also 'serviced' the same way? As a matter of fact other makes as well.
Good that you were present when your car was serviced.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

Rs.1257.

For? Oil filter + wheel alignment?

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

Too late to do anything now. I am never coming back"

[PatchyBoy]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

For? Oil filter + wheel alignment?

Nope,

Here is the breakup:

Engine flush 675
Oil Filter 116.44
Fuel Filter 126.22
Wheel weights for balancing 208.54

Balancing and alignment was free. Why is a different story altogether.

Cheers,
Rajan

[bottle]

haha loved the write up. thread rated 5 stars

it is not just tata fiat- I have had almost the exact same experience at MGF hyundai when I went for an oil change. and the same experience at popular maruti when i went for the tyre rotation.

when you are present during the service, you realise how shoddily things are done in every service station.

the only difference is, maruti and hyundai service advisors sweet talk you a lot better. atleast they make you feel good while they are destroying your car.

that and the spares availability is slightly better.

[aaggoswami]

The end result I can draw is :
TATA-FIAT alliance does not ROCK.
The respect for service center dies down.


Great writeup with patience ( the writeup shows that you have a hell lot of patience along with your wifey , sorry dont know what y stands for ) and moreover excellent tolerance.

We take care of our cars only to thrown into service centers where they dont know how to handle wheels or how to change oil filter. All the care from our side is of no meaning now.

But it was a good lesson for everyone and also good experience to learn from.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Hey what about the indica taxi.

By The Way Pretty Nice Conclusions.

[PatchyBoy]

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

Hey what about the indica taxi.

By The Way Pretty Nice Conclusions.

Thanks.

Guess I missed that bit out. I asked Javed about the SMS.

Sorry Sir. That must be a system error.
System error? How?
The person who entered the data must have mis-typed.

Oh. I would call that a data entry error.

Cheers,
Rajan

[zaks]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

Sorry guys. Got too sleepy last night and could not finish. Here is the rest.

31st morning, I am at the Airport Road place. Wifey wanted to tag along. I told her that she will be bored. This is not a TBHP meet. Nothing doing Sir. So along she comes.

I suddenly remember that wifey is sitting all alone in the customer lounge. So off I go to the lounge, carrying the left over engine oil with me. Wifey gives a sweet smile and asks how much longer?

Maybe another 30-40 mins.

If she is annoyed at being left all alone for the past 3 hours, she does not show it.

wifey coming along for a car service and suffer that drudgery-You are one damn lucky guy.

[dadu]

Nice writeup patchyboy, Manipal is like this only. Better to have used an outside Service station for oil change or try green tracks.

Concorde is well equipped with all tools but they dont allow you inside their service bay.

No experience with prerna though.

[roms]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

Sure Sir. We can provide you with Castrol.
No no, I was planning on Mobil 1
Sorry Sir, but thats not approved by TATA
But I do not want castrol
OK Sir. I will get back to you

Good write up. Good that it did not end up that bad in the end. But I tell you what, Mobil engine oils are being used officially at Shaman Auto in Mumbai for both, Tata & Fiat cars. Infact, they stock Mobil 1 and do not miss an opportunity to tell you how it could help enrich your car's..... or taxi's (as in your case) engine. The plastic covers or whatever its called that they use to cover the fenders while working near the engine bay are also supplied by Mobil.

In truth, the kind of experience you had at that Service center is nothing out of the ordinary. Really, how many people actually sit down and take a good look at how their car is being done at an ASC? Not many. What most do is that they drop their cars, or better still ask for a pick and drop facility for getting their car serviced, and the car gets done with.End of story for the next six months or so.

In your case, you wrote this stuff because you saw them working on your car. So you got to now how these guys work. The mechanics at any ASC do not really care much about your prized possession, and dont like you around, especially if you worry too much about your car. They are not paid that well, they work in hot and messy environs, and they have too many cars to handle.

The point is, if you would have dropped your vehicle for service and picked it up later, the end result would have been the same. You would get the car after the oil & filter change, wheel balancing and alignment, body wash, etc and you go "wow, good job!". Just that you saw how it was done for you. Anyways, its a good thing to let these guys know that you are around at all times. So please make it a point to never leave your car unattended at any ASC, whether its for a Mobil 1 or even a mineral oil change procedure for that matter.

[bmw_m5_titus]

patchyboy, Awesome write up of your service experience. This makes me wonder why do people even bother going to the authorised service centre?
Are nt there any other service centre in bangalore other than tata-fiat, something like they have castrol bike zone for bikes?

[khan_sultan]

Hey PatchyBoy,

that's a really stressed out experience you had. Coincidentally, I also had an oil change this weekend and went for Synthetic Oil for my S10 and my wifey had come along with me to the ASC :-) -- I got it done at Green Tracks. I also got mud flaps done and not for a moment I left my car unattended and got the whole stuff done in 2 hours (though Babu said it would take 1 hr).

I must say that going by your experience of Manipal, Green Tracks is much better -- though I must agree with roms analysis that it is only when we are at the ASC we come to know what happens there...

BTW, with the synthetic oil I am feeling the engine to be a lot smoother, responsive and more rev happy now. I do hope that at least your black beauty is now experiencing the same

[mahadev_kc]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

2:30

Javed, when can I get my car?
Let me check with Shivaram and get back to you.

I was there at Manipal Motors around this time, to replace right side ORVM mirror only. It costed me 472/- (OE mirror glass only). But, I got very quick service, within 15 minutes, they change the mirror glass and I was out of the workshop.

Was your car in black colour ? I saw them cleaning that black stile.

[PatchyBoy]

Originally Posted by mahadev_kc

I was there at Manipal Motors around this time, to replace right side ORVM mirror only. It costed me 472/- (OE mirror glass only). But, I got very quick service, within 15 minutes, they change the mirror glass and I was out of the workshop.

Was your car in black colour ? I saw them cleaning that black stile.

Yep. Must have been mine. I did see a couple of other Red Palios and one Grey Palio drive in. Which one was yours? Guess this is why we need Team BHP stickers. We were both there at the same time, but did not meet up.

cheers:
Rajan