Fiat service woes: Whose fault is it anyway?

narayan · 1st June 2008, 19:34

GOOD WRITE UP !!

they say the service station is supposed to strengthen the bond between the car owner and the company but i can see that taking the better half really helps to strengthen the bond with her !!

lastly - another good thing is that u got treated this way in a TATA MOTORS station...be happy about this because, a HONDA owner gets treated pretty much the same way ( or worse ) in a HONDA service station

Gautam Misra · 1st June 2008, 19:51

@ patchyboy
I must congratulate both of you for your tremendous patience. You can write about such ill treatment to the local news papers and also to FIAT India and you may also warn them of legal action if you think it appropriate.

finneyp · 1st June 2008, 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gautam Misra

You can write about such ill treatment to the local news papers and also to FIAT India and you may also warn them of legal action if you think it appropriate.

Illtreatment? Legal action?

Then I guess we need to take legal action against all Car makers in India for mishandling our Cars in their Service centers!

Rajan, congrats on the upgrade to Synthetic oil!
And thanks for sharing with us the internal affairs of a ASC.

PatchyBoy · 1st June 2008, 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gautam Misra

@ patchyboy
I must congratulate both of you for your tremendous patience. You can write about such ill treatment to the local news papers and also to FIAT India and you may also warn them of legal action if you think it appropriate.

Gautam,

I have already written an email to FIAT. Also provided link to this post. I may have patience, legal action??? Oh no, I am not yet retired

Cheers,
Rajan

phamilyman · 2nd June 2008, 03:23

Fundoo it is. Proof that it takes a mettle of a different kind to buy a FiAT

Gautam Misra · 2nd June 2008, 05:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

Gautam,

I have already written an email to FIAT. Also provided link to this post. I may have patience, legal action??? Oh no, I am not yet retired

Cheers,
Rajan

What I meant was to "warn" them of legal action.

In fact this is a classic case where the reputation of a good car is marred by shoddy after sales service.

PatchyBoy · 2nd June 2008, 06:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Fundoo it is. Proof that it takes a mettle of a different kind to buy a FiAT

It is not about FIAT. It is about the Tata service centre's attitude. I still do not regret my decision to buy a FIAT. The car is superb. I just have to find another service centre who are interested in employee productivity and are more professional.

Cheers,
Rajan

mahadev_kc · 2nd June 2008, 10:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

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

Mine was Canary Yellow. When will be the next TBHP meet in Bangalore ?

dadu · 2nd June 2008, 12:01

Rippergeo is bang ON, its only that since are not there, you dont know and see a shiny washed car in the end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rippergeo

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.

ravikn · 2nd June 2008, 12:20

Excellent writeup PatchyBoy,

It really was interesting to read the entire story. good to know that it was a happy ending at the end of the day

PatchyBoy · 2nd June 2008, 22:16

New update:

Today morning I get up nice and early, eager to go to work just to experience the magic of Mobil1. 50 meters from home, I brake to turn the corner. The brake pedal jumps up an down, the whole car shudders. I stop using hand brakes. When I start rolling again I hear a khat khat noise from the front wheels. I slowly back up and come back. Park the car and call the Service Hotline for Manipal Motors - the one displayed in the sticker in the car windshield.

"The number you have called is either switched off or is out of reach" - lovely.

I come back inside the house and look up Team-BHP for other numbers and call Green Tracks. They send a service engineer right away. The guy arrives, takes the car for a spin, takes off the left front wheel ans says " Your disc brake pads are gone". 13500kms is a bit too early for the disc pads to give up, isn't it?

Fiat service woes: Whose fault is it anyway?-02062008002.jpg

Anyway, he fits them back and we drive down to Green Tracks not exceeding 30 kmph. The service manager, Babu, also feels it is unusal for the brake pads to give up this early. I go ahead and get the pads replaced on both front discs and drive to work. All is well.

My question is:
1. Weren't Tata-Fiat engineers supposed to check the condition of the brakes during the 3rd free service and detect this on Saturday?

2. What if I had decided to go for a long drive yesterday, and got stuck in the middle of nowhere, because the Tata-Fiat guys did not bother to look at the brakes?

The customer is always right, i.e. if there is any left of the customer, after brakes fail on the highway at 110 and the customer crashes

Cheers,
Rajan

eclectix 1st · 2nd June 2008, 22:37

Dude, try prerana on OMR, I had a fantastic experience today.

After the Fuel Pump replacement I had last week (refer this thread) http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...breakdown.html
the Manager of Prerana called me in the morning around 10-30 and asked me if I can drop by for a check up. He said that they just wanted to make sure if every things OK.

4-30 PM I go to the service station, they checked up the ECU declared everything OK.

Then the guys took it for a FREE wash & Interior cleaning (it was quite dirty after yesterday's rain).

Icing on the cake, they offered to polish off some minor scratches on the bonnet. I was like why not?

The two hours I spent there, It was hard to believe that it was a TATA-FIAT A-S-C.

Its was not just me, while I was there another 1.6 guy came for some minor query and even he was attended quite well.

cheers:

LLL · 2nd June 2008, 22:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

My question is:
1. Weren't Tata-Fiat engineers supposed to check the condition of the brakes during the 3rd free service and detect this on Saturday?

True, 13k is too early. They usually conk off after 40k.

I had similar experience with Hyundai' motor plaza (Hyundai's own service center). My brakes pad gave up within 300 kms after a service, indicating they never checked the brake pads.

androdev · 2nd June 2008, 22:59

interesting read. reminded me of that standard electricals MCB TV commerical. only in this case the specialist kept giving blank stares :-)

PatienceWins · 2nd June 2008, 23:27

That was a very stressful experience. Tata-Fiat alliance has a long way to go.

1st June 2008, 19:34	#31
narayan Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 3,114 Thanked: 2,372 Times View My Garage	GOOD WRITE UP !! they say the service station is supposed to strengthen the bond between the car owner and the company but i can see that taking the better half really helps to strengthen the bond with her !! lastly - another good thing is that u got treated this way in a TATA MOTORS station...be happy about this because, a HONDA owner gets treated pretty much the same way ( or worse ) in a HONDA service station
	() Thanks

1st June 2008, 19:51	#32
Gautam Misra BHPian Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Bhubaneshwar Posts: 222 Thanked: 41 Times View My Garage	@ patchyboy I must congratulate both of you for your tremendous patience. You can write about such ill treatment to the local news papers and also to FIAT India and you may also warn them of legal action if you think it appropriate.
	() Thanks

2nd June 2008, 03:23	#35
phamilyman Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 5,968 Thanked: 4,641 Times	Fundoo it is. Proof that it takes a mettle of a different kind to buy a FiAT
	() Thanks

2nd June 2008, 12:20	#40
ravikn BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 343 Thanked: 25 Times	Excellent writeup PatchyBoy, It really was interesting to read the entire story. good to know that it was a happy ending at the end of the day
	() Thanks

2nd June 2008, 22:16	#41
PatchyBoy BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Goa Posts: 917 Thanked: 2,022 Times View My Garage	New update: Today morning I get up nice and early, eager to go to work just to experience the magic of Mobil1. 50 meters from home, I brake to turn the corner. The brake pedal jumps up an down, the whole car shudders. I stop using hand brakes. When I start rolling again I hear a khat khat noise from the front wheels. I slowly back up and come back. Park the car and call the Service Hotline for Manipal Motors - the one displayed in the sticker in the car windshield. "The number you have called is either switched off or is out of reach" - lovely. I come back inside the house and look up Team-BHP for other numbers and call Green Tracks. They send a service engineer right away. The guy arrives, takes the car for a spin, takes off the left front wheel ans says " Your disc brake pads are gone". 13500kms is a bit too early for the disc pads to give up, isn't it? Anyway, he fits them back and we drive down to Green Tracks not exceeding 30 kmph. The service manager, Babu, also feels it is unusal for the brake pads to give up this early. I go ahead and get the pads replaced on both front discs and drive to work. All is well. My question is: 1. Weren't Tata-Fiat engineers supposed to check the condition of the brakes during the 3rd free service and detect this on Saturday? 2. What if I had decided to go for a long drive yesterday, and got stuck in the middle of nowhere, because the Tata-Fiat guys did not bother to look at the brakes? The customer is always right, i.e. if there is any left of the customer, after brakes fail on the highway at 110 and the customer crashes Cheers, Rajan Last edited by PatchyBoy : 2nd June 2008 at 22:20.
	() Thanks

2nd June 2008, 22:37	#42
eclectix 1st BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: BANGALORE Posts: 381 Thanked: 5 Times View My Garage	Prerana-omr Dude, try prerana on OMR, I had a fantastic experience today. After the Fuel Pump replacement I had last week (refer this thread) http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...breakdown.html the Manager of Prerana called me in the morning around 10-30 and asked me if I can drop by for a check up. He said that they just wanted to make sure if every things OK. 4-30 PM I go to the service station, they checked up the ECU declared everything OK. Then the guys took it for a FREE wash & Interior cleaning (it was quite dirty after yesterday's rain). Icing on the cake, they offered to polish off some minor scratches on the bonnet. I was like why not? The two hours I spent there, It was hard to believe that it was a TATA-FIAT A-S-C. Its was not just me, while I was there another 1.6 guy came for some minor query and even he was attended quite well. cheers: Last edited by eclectix 1st : 2nd June 2008 at 22:38.
	() Thanks

2nd June 2008, 22:59	#44
androdev Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: bangalore Posts: 3,089 Thanked: 22,031 Times	interesting read. reminded me of that standard electricals MCB TV commerical. only in this case the specialist kept giving blank stares :-)
	() Thanks

2nd June 2008, 23:27	#45
PatienceWins Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,416 Thanked: 807 Times View My Garage	That was a very stressful experience. Tata-Fiat alliance has a long way to go.
	() Thanks