Well after reading about Jagdish Khattar's muti-brand service centre in
the Indian car scene section, I recently noticed banners in my area about Carnation's centre across the road in Sector-63, decided to check out the place and then get my car serviced.
I had already registered in the website
CARNATION | A Jagdish Khattar Initiative, received a call from Sec-63 centre about car service and visited the place day before yesterday to check the place. The place and equipment was adequate and was almost satisfied with the charges, discussed in detail about the car and problems and finally decided to get the car serviced tommorrow.I wanted the car before lunch so the Customer Advisor suggested me to bring the car by 8:30 am.
The Job card was pepraed, I mentioned all the problems and was properly noted down by the CA, the car was lifted up to check the underbody and noticed that engine oil is leaking from the distributor case, the CA advised a simple gasket change and I asked them to do the needful, the front shocks also were almost in the last leg of their life so asked them to changed the shocks which was available in the store. Rear leaf and other gaskets were also mentioned and were available. All the brake shoes were in their last stage so also mentioned them to be replaced.
The mechanic was allotted, had a chat with him regarding the engine condition and all, to which he honestly replied. I was satisfied by the kind of treatment, because for me the car service is the primary concern which was begin taken care of. Although there was entry restricted sign in the service area no one stopped me from standing near my car and I did spend quite a lot of time near my car looking at the work being done.
While I was standing near my car, the mechanic working on Maruti 800 next to my car asked the floor Manager about whether to change a particular spare he replied
“sab change karo, agar 1% bhi kuch kam dikhe change kar do saale ko” ”Jitna bill ho sake banao”(Change everything, even if its 1% fault still change it, prepare a bill as long as you can). I decided to stick to my car so that they don’t go ahead and randomly change parts. It seems the Floor manager was poached from Skoda A.S.S
The real drama began after lunch I asked them about the status of availability of ‘Distributor case gasket’ which wasn’t available in the store, below is the conversation.
Me: Is the gasket available now?
CA: Sir, it will be available in sometime sir
Me: Fine, by what time, I need the car by 3
CA: Half an hour sir, you will get the car by 3
Me: Okay
After this conversation, I went to the service area; the mechanic was setting up new set of brake shoes and adjusting the play. He asked me to test drive and check the brakes, the car felt tight in driving so I asked him about this he said “sir, new set of brake shoes will take some time to set”. After we are back in service bay I noticed white smoke from the rear left tyre, blasted on the CA and mechanic about the kind of job being done, the play was adjusted and but it was still running little jammed.
Almost everything was done only remained was the one simple gasket which wasn’t still available
Me: Where is the gasket, I asked you for this spare at 9 in the morning and its 4PM and you haven’t been able to procure a simple piece of gasket.
CA: Sir, I am getting it from our store in Sec-127 in 10 mins, the person is the on the way
Me: okay
I was amused on his reply as I knew about the company and that Sector-127 is merely their office in a business park…LOL never knew that they keep your spares in those huge glass offices.
The car was checked again trims adjusted, and was finally sent to wash at 6.30 and the simple gasket wasn’t still available!
Me: Where is the gasket???
CA: Sir, we couldn’t procure it, please give us some more time.
Me: How much more time, I have a very important work in Delhi, I need to leave asap
CA: Sir, we have sent your car for wash, and the gasket replacement will not take more than 10 mins
Me: What is the problem cant you procure a simple gasket, you have more the 10 authorized service centers in Noida??
CA: Sir, there lil problem here. The people there are having a meeting regarding spare problem. Pointing at a meeting going on in the other corner of the office.
I was very angry at this point of time, thought of blasting off at the senior people there, I remained calm just because I wanted to get the service completed asap and leave.
It was now 7 in the evening, it’s been more than 9 hrs since I asked them to change the gasket and still they haven’t been able to procure a simple 2 Rupee gasket!!
Finally at 7.30 the person lands up with the gasket and the work begins again and continues till 8.30 it’s been more than 11 hrs now. Made sure that the brake play problem was addressed to properly and left the car for final cleaning and polish job paid the bill and left the place by 9 in the night almost 12 hrs later.
The points which I observed:
-All the staff is poached from different service centers in NCR, they have the same problem as regular A.S.S.
-I had given a very stern warning in respect to grease monkeys as in Omni the engine is below the front and middle seat and I had got the seat covers dry cleaned last week. Thankfully that was taken care of.
-The whole setup is not sorted out and seems no different from a regular service center, same chaos same poor handling of car and same set of problems.
-I saw more crowds of CA’s and other executives than regular working staff and mechanics. It seems carnation is interested in developing army of CA’s and white collared executives rather than focusing on developing a strong bunch of highly skilled and trained mechanics and support staff.
-There is clear lack of communication in the setup, poor organization skills is clearly visible.
-They have surely lost focus before they have actually established themselves.
The important question is:-
#Am I going back for next service? NO I am not; I would rather look for a private garage.
#Will I recommend others to get their car serviced- NO, until they improve the service quality and ensure availability of spares (or can arrange critical spares 'in time')
#Are they any better than regular M.A.S.S? NO
Ratings:-
Service: ** 1/2
Spares availability: *
Customer Care: **
Overall: **1/2
All in all they had the potential to become successful but it seems they are not interested.
I have attached the final bill with this post for reference.Check the price of Gasket which took cool 12 hrs.