[Newpunter]

My Punto had a few scratches on the rear door and a small dent on the quarter panel while parking and i gave the car at Carnation to get it fixed. I gave it on Friday and they said it would be delivered on Monday by 2 PM. I called today at 3 PM and the service advisor told me that the car was ready and that he was about to call me. When I reached the place, it was ready and parked near the entrance.
The paint job was very well done. I couldn't make out any difference from when my car was new and the dent is gone too. There is one small bubble on the quarter panel which the service advisor told me that he would get it fixed if i bring my car again in 10 days time. They charged me around 4400/- for the job.
The service was good and the staff was quite courteous. However, when i reached home, i noticed that they had reset my trip meter completely and everything including date and time were reset. This has made me suspicious and now I'm wondering what they did with my car. I was cursing myself for not checking everything properly before leaving.
Another problem was that the service advisor seems keen on selling the 3M paint protection to me. Due to an unfortunate incident of my neighbours painting their walls recently, my car now looks like a dalmatian :( . I asked him if proper cleaning would remove those marks and he kept telling me that i need to go for the 3M paint protection for me to get rid of those spots. I haven't opted for that yet, as i want to know if there is any other way to get rid of those ugly paint marks.
On the whole, my experience was satisfactory and think they did a good job with the painting, but it would have been better if they didn't mess with my trip meter for whatever reason.

[asdon]

Originally Posted by Newpunter

My Punto had a few scratches on the rear door and a small dent on the quarter panel while parking and i gave the car at Carnation to get it fixed. I gave it on Friday and they said it would be delivered on Monday by 2 PM. I called today at 3 PM and the service advisor told me that the car was ready and that he was about to call me. When I reached the place, it was ready and parked near the entrance.
The paint job was very well done. I couldn't make out any difference from when my car was new and the dent is gone too. There is one small bubble on the quarter panel which the service advisor told me that he would get it fixed if i bring my car again in 10 days time. They charged me around 4400/- for the job.
The service was good and the staff was quite courteous. However, when i reached home, i noticed that they had reset my trip meter completely and everything including date and time were reset. This has made me suspicious and now I'm wondering what they did with my car. I was cursing myself for not checking everything properly before leaving.
Another problem was that the service advisor seems keen on selling the 3M paint protection to me. Due to an unfortunate incident of my neighbours painting their walls recently, my car now looks like a dalmatian :( . I asked him if proper cleaning would remove those marks and he kept telling me that i need to go for the 3M paint protection for me to get rid of those spots. I haven't opted for that yet, as i want to know if there is any other way to get rid of those ugly paint marks.
On the whole, my experience was satisfactory and think they did a good job with the painting, but it would have been better if they didn't mess with my trip meter for whatever reason.

You should not have given your new car to Carnation, the Fiat service station would have charged the same or less to do the Job, don't go by JKs name, please check your car, you might find some more intersenting things.

[asethi]

Originally Posted by Newpunter

My Punto had a few scratches on the rear door and a small dent on the quarter panel while parking and i gave the car at Carnation to get it fixed. I gave it on Friday and they said it would be delivered on Monday by 2 PM. I called today at 3 PM and the service advisor told me that the car was ready and that he was about to call me. When I reached the place, it was ready and parked near the entrance.
The paint job was very well done. I couldn't make out any difference from when my car was new and the dent is gone too. There is one small bubble on the quarter panel which the service advisor told me that he would get it fixed if i bring my car again in 10 days time. They charged me around 4400/- for the job.
The service was good and the staff was quite courteous. However, when i reached home, i noticed that they had reset my trip meter completely and everything including date and time were reset. This has made me suspicious and now I'm wondering what they did with my car. I was cursing myself for not checking everything properly before leaving.
Another problem was that the service advisor seems keen on selling the 3M paint protection to me. Due to an unfortunate incident of my neighbours painting their walls recently, my car now looks like a dalmatian :( . I asked him if proper cleaning would remove those marks and he kept telling me that i need to go for the 3M paint protection for me to get rid of those spots. I haven't opted for that yet, as i want to know if there is any other way to get rid of those ugly paint marks.
On the whole, my experience was satisfactory and think they did a good job with the painting, but it would have been better if they didn't mess with my trip meter for whatever reason.

They must have removed the bettery connectors, and thus your trip meters and rest are reset. The meters only retain their values till they are connected with the battery (except the main odometer), and once disconnected, get reset to initial values.
And recently when I had to get my car repaired, Carnation quoted more than MASS and obviously, I preferred MASS.

[Newpunter]

Originally Posted by asdon

You should not have given your new car to Carnation, the Fiat service station would have charged the same or less to do the Job, don't go by JKs name, please check your car, you might find some more intersenting things.

I wanted to give the car to KHT Motors but I wasn't too confident about their paint shop. I had heard that Carnation was good for paint jobs and i have to say that they did a pretty good job except for the trip meter.

Originally Posted by asethi

They must have removed the bettery connectors, and thus your trip meters and rest are reset. The meters only retain their values till they are connected with the battery (except the main odometer), and once disconnected, get reset to initial values.
And recently when I had to get my car repaired, Carnation quoted more than MASS and obviously, I preferred MASS.

That makes sense. Thanks. Carnation and KHT Motors quoted the same amount of 5000/- and I preferred Carnation as i heard their paint shop was good. The final bill came to around 4400/- though. On the whole , I should say the experience was quite good.

[5kmiles]

While searching for new wheels for self, I did consider used cars and CarNation Gurgaon was one of the stops. Few things I really liked about the place were:

1. Clean, very clean, workshops
2. customers can view the operations - can go in, can watch from the other side of glass
3. Paint jobs are excellent and so are the 3M detailing stuff (I did see on Honda City before and after body treatment)
4. Much much more polite than Maruti's A**
5. Well informed people - CNG guy there was really expert. Not that he told anything beyond T-BHP offers but told most of the right stuff.

Based on gut feel, would love to take Manza Aura+ there considering TATA A** is bad.

Did not pick anything up, so cannot comment on the billing delays.

Any idea if warranties are voided on getting vehicle serviced at CarNation? In US it does not, but then can't compare the two markets.

[ambujlal]

It was while (about 3 months) since I hopped into Delhi from Bangalore driving cross country and then driving around in Delhi and Gurgaon. Especially on Gurgaon's non-existent roads. It was some 9 thousand Kms of driving in 3 months and my Indigo CS was crying for service.

I asked around for a good Tata A**, but never got any really enthusiastic response. Since I spend major part of my day in Gurgaon, I also checked on service levels of Gurgaons' Tata A**, that too did not inspire confidence. I am hugely time constrained and didn't want to take chances with service center and then keep running around them. I wanted someone to do an honest job (so rare to find!)

I hit on Carnation, Gurgaon and it came out that it was 5 mins walking distance from my work place. I discovered it by chance! I thought even if I have to do some follow up work I can get it done easily, since its just next door.

I gave my car to Carnation for a 30 K service on 1st October. Complaints with the car were not much but I asked for a oil change and to look after a low mileage. Since I shifted to Delhi, I was getting around 10kmpl while back in Bengaluru, I used to get anything between 13-14. I thought I would still point it out.

I reached the place around 9 in the morning. There were not many cars. But I was pleasantly surprised to see a huge facility and extremely clean. I have not seen a service center as clean in last 2 years. The staff was polite and patient. They understood the problem. The car was scheduled to be delivered at 5 PM.

I was there at 5.15 to find it is still in washing and cleaning. In the meanwhile I enquired about the resolution and the service advisor told that they changed spark plugs, the spark gap was not proper. Other than that there was no problem with the car, a normal oil change, some retuning and brake tightening. Total bill was about 2600 Rs. About 1000 for oil change (4 lit), something between Rs 300-350 for 4 spark plugs, oil filter change and labor for the rest. I am set for next 6-7K Kms.

The cleaning job was fantastic, a complimentary body and tyre polish which would last for some time. Its been some 500-600kms since car got serviced. The mileage is back to around approximately 13kmpl. It can be more if I do some sedate driving .

In summary, I am pretty satisfied with their job. Got a feedback call from their Hyderabad office. Rated them good. The only sour point was that I had to wait for about 45mins more than the scheduled time given. But surely much better than Tata A**.

[PatienceWins]

There was a free checkup camp by Carnation at Sankara Eye Hospital, Marathahalli. I got it done for my car, a Hyundai Getz. I am not confident to give my car for service to them as I could make out that they are not at all familiar with the car. I had to assist them in releasing the bonnet and showing the control buttons as they were searching for everything. It was just a minimal check up of coolant, engine oil etc. I really doubt whether they have the competence to service a car. Better to wait and watch!!

[prajwalkashyap]

Hi guys,

today I gave my M800 for its 50K kms service. It was a major one and quite a few things needed to be worked on. What I am not sure are the prices of the parts that is being quoted by Carnation. There was a rattle coming from the drive shaft (I think) and it would increase in frequency when accelerating and would not be heard when depressing the clutch. There was also some rattle from the steering. The following is the estimate I got overall.


1. Oil Filter - Rs.160
2. Fuel Filter - Rs.220
3. Brake Pad - Rs.600
4. Wheel Cylinder (2) - Rs.650
5. Brake Fluid - Rs.320
6. Front Strut Bush Kit - Rs.400
7. Rear Wheel Bearing set - Rs.2000
8. Front wheel bearing set (left) - Rs.800
9. Steering ball joint (2) - Rs.550
10. Coolant - Rs.275.
11. Wiper blades - Rs.450
12. spark plugs - Rs.300
13. Labour - Rs.2000


There was caliper overhauling as an item and the service supervisor said he'll let me know that tmrw. Roughly, it estimates to about 9K. The Service supervisor said that all parts are Maruthi Genuine Parts and sold on MRP and can be verified. I was told that the work will need more than a day and I can pick it up tmrw in the afternoon which I thought was reasonable so I was ok with that. The SS also said this these parts being replaced are normal for a can that has run 50K kms. mine is close to that, it has run 45K kms so far. I wasn't sure of that. Is this normal?

I did notice that the workshop space was clean and work can be watched from a distance from behind a glass wall. The Lounge was comfortable to sit around. There were 2 mechs dedicated to the car and were not being shuffled around on other jobs which I appreciated. The SS was courteous and was straight to the point. I need to see what condition the car comes back to me though. I also noticed too many management phrases all around. Let me see if I need to Pull them up for anything or not.

I had planned to change the engine oil to synthetic and get some better seat covers, but when I got the estimate, I have decided to leave it for later and stick to mineral oil which will cost me Rs.900 for 2.7 lts. I think the oil is Mobil.


Prajwal

[carboy]

Got a minor service done by Carnation Workshop on Wheels. 2 Guys came to my house in a fully equipped Versa.
Paid 1500 (no washing/vacuuming done) for the service plus 120Rs for some stupid spray they sprayed in what was a white metal duct coming from my engine and which had a butterfly value (looked like a carburetor valve). The spray was labeled Carburetor spray - I know my car doesn't have a carb. I didn't fight with them about this because I was otherwise very happy with the service.
The charge would have been 1800 instead of 1500 if they had also done the washing etc.

They cleaned the sparks, they cleaned air filter, cleaned the brake linings/pads, changed oil & filter, checked/topped up everything else, checked the A/C temperatures and anything else which was needed. Took around one and a half hours and because it was in my building, I could watch what they are doing. And also answered my stupid questions patiently. Oil was filled up using a pipe with a digital reading - not from a bottle - so couldn't figure out what grade oil was used. It was Castrol however & the advisor didn't know whether it was GTX - he just said it was 20W50. However, their website says they use GTX & GTX is 20W50, so I assume it was GTX. This is one advantage - MASS uses MGO (Castrol or Servo) which is Grade 'SL' - SL is an obsolete oil which is supposed to be used for cars manufactured before 1988. GTX is Grade SF which isn't the latest greatest (Grade SM like Magnatec) but is a current oil and is 4 grades higher than MGO.

MASS charged me Rs. 500 odd for brake cleaning last time I went for a major service.

Overall, I am satisfied & won't probably go to a MASS again for routine service.
One bad point was that before I could stop them, they dumped the old oil & filter into a gutter in my building instead of taking it back with them. Next time I will make sure they take it back.

[arunksaral]

Carnation: It looks like a good initiative. People who are not happy with their dealership, their eyes twinkles when they initially see/read about carnation.

Please note: Carnation is not authorized from any car manufacturers as of now.

If your vehicle is under warranty or extended warranty, it may not be wise for you to visit Carnation for any repair/service. Please read your warranty terms and condition for this.

Carnation claims that they have tie-up with the same spare parts supplier as your dealership is.
Please note: The supplier is same but they do not guarantee that the parts manufacturer will also be the same.

I own a Honda City 2007 model and my car is not under warranty now. I'm already having lot of problems with Dakshin Honda, Bangalore dealership. Magnum/Whitefield Honda are very far for me. Hence I was thinking of going to Carnation.

For trial basis I wanted Carnation to replace my cars cigarette lighter which is not working. I checked with Honda and they will charge me somewhere around Rs. 1400/- for part replacement. Carnation claimed that they will get me the same part and replace it for approx. Rs. 500/-.

First thing that I noticed that the part which is available with them is of very low quality. Secondly it did not match with the part that is available with Honda. I assume that they are new players and they will need time to establish things. They wanted my cars cigarette lighter as a sample so that they can try to get me the same part. It's almost 2 weeks now and I do not have any update on the same.

Once they get back to me, I'll update this thread.

[guptavis]

Went to enquire a few weeks ago about the service of my Alto Lx at carnation chandigarh. The SA did not look knowledgeable at all. Talked to him for 2min and made up my mind that im not bringing my car there.

Had bought two snapdeal coupons of Rs199 (wheel alignment and balancing). Tried to take appointments many times in the morning but was always being given expected delivery time of evening. Couldnt understand why such a small job should take 5-6 hours?
After taking this nonsense at least 4-5 times i got fed up and wrote a mail to info at carnation. Got a call next day from the manager sandeep bakshi. He asked me to give him a call the day i wanted to bring the car and he would personally look after the matter. When i called him he said he is out of station but he will talk and call me back. I received a call from carnation to bring my car and it would be ready in 2Hrs. I reached at around 11am. When they asked my name they quickly got to the task. The mechanic immediately started checking oil, coolant etc. And pointed out 10 minor things. I said will get them done during service. The SA came and asked me to take a insurance claim for the small scratches that were there on the rear side!! I told them to just do alignment and balancing. The mechanic removed tyres and said ' koi fayda nahin balancing ka, shocker kharab hai ' (no use of balancing, the shockers are broken). The SA also asked me to get the shockers changed and then mechanic said the disc pads are also gone. All this without starting to do the job that i went there for! (Afterwards i went to MASS for servicing and they said shockers are good for atleast 10000 Kms if not more and brake pads can also go for around 5000Kms )

Within 5min of touching my car they made me feel like it was ready to be scrapped!!!

I asked them to just forget everything and do the balancing. Finally the SA asked the mechanic to proceed. The mechanic balanced two front tyres. He used hammer to remove the old weights! Then he started removing the car from the jack. When i said the rear tyres had not yet been balanced, he said only front tyres need balancing. I had to raise my voice to get the rear tyres balanced. Then alignment was done quickly. I was so happy to get out of the showroom by 12.30 pm.

The workmanship is good but the overall experience was bad. Not recommending this place to anyone. Just reinforces the experience stated by others.

[nitin.rai]

Ankur - Please visit SP Road and get the lighter for 200 bucks; top quality

[RajeshK]

I been there at the WS @ NS Palya, B'lore.

What I don't like:
1. Delays in Billing
2. Difficult to understand the details in the bill
3. More non-tech staff than Mechanics
4. Don't go there if you are in a hurry, work is usually slow as only one mechanic allotted per vehicle
5. You need to keep reminding about the pending jobs

What I like:
1. The attitude of 'repair instead of replace'. (A.S.S always replaces the entire set of unit)
2. You can be with your car during the work.
3. They will explain you the working of each parts if you want. Very friendly mechanics and supervisors
4. Modern equipments and tools.
5. Many promotional offers.
6. Very good bodyshop.
7. Much cheaper than the A.S.S

I went there with my NHC with complaints of hard clutch, AC idler arm sound, and front strut making excessive sound. Dakshin honda's estimate for these work are
Clutch overhaul -> ~20K
AC Idler replace -> ~2.5K
Strut Assembly replace -> ~12K

At Carnation, they replaced only the faulty parts. For clutch they replaced the Pressure plate and bearing mount, for AC, they replaced only the bearing. The strut was fully damaged, so replaced the full set except the coil springs. Here are the bill details

Clutch Overhaul
Clutch Set : 4561.40
Clutch Bearing Assembly : 1192.98
Tax on spareparts : 818
Labor : 1620.00
Total : 8192.00
Clutch cylinder was not replaced and it was working good.


AC Idler Repair
Bearing 6203 : 256.19
Labor : 135.00
Total : 391.19

Front Strut Replacement
Strut Mount : 2*596.49 = 1192.98
Front Strut Kit : 2*664.91 = 1329.82
Damper : 2*1742.98 = 3485.96
Tax on spareparts : 846.35
Labor : 380.00
Total : 7235.00

My total bill including couple of other services was 16295.00.

I will surely recommend this place to any one even though they works little slower than A.S.S

The contact person at the WS is Mr. Venkat. He is very good and has patience to explain the details.

Thanks
Rajesh

[Rajesh1968]

Hi All,

It seems to be my duty to forewarn Team BHPians about a fatal mistake of giving my Scorpio DX 2.6 Carnation Auto, ORR, Bangalore, never will I ever trust them.

In July 2011, I gave my vehicle, they did all the changes, Clutch, Brake Pads, Filters and Suspension Overhaul, they charged me 38K, it was not the cost but the performance that was disappointing, took it back to them, but no improvement.

In preparation for my GQ in a ,months' time, the vehicle which has been with my mechanic, that is just 3K kms since Carnation did the service, I have tears in my eyes when I see that how they have ruined the car , there is no greasing done, Diesel Filter replaced with a cheap local one, but charged for a premium one, brake pads refitted, not new ones as mentioned in the bill, oil of poor quality than what was mentioned. I also had an issue, the Joint Star was to be replaced, checked with M&M ASC, they don't sell spare parts, but would do so only if we paid for Labour too( which was unofficially mentioned) not sure if this a Secret Defence related spare part, checked with Carnation, they too mentioned the same. But had an insider in Carnation who mentioned that they too buy the spares from a certain shop in Bangalore, as they do not stock all the parts and asked me to buy it from them, so much for the genuineness of the M&M spares.

Not sure if Jagdish Khattar is aware of the bad name his team is getting him, if so they would have talked to me once in 3 months since I wrote a scathing feedback.

[ambujlal]

Been thinking of putting few lines down for a long time on Carnation but never got enough time and sufficient push! Finally thought that before someone else makes a fool of himself, especially someone from our fellow Bhpians, I should write it down.

For over a year I have been visiting Carnation Gurgaon as it was convenient for me to do so. They did an okay okay job, I wouldn't say they were bad. Basically with carnation you cannot drop in your vehicle and be assured that they understand your vehicle. You have to be on top of them and understand the functioning of your ride to get the better of their mechanics.

There was one problem that I have been repeatedly telling them and that was some petrol leak from somewhere in my vehicle. I could smell it strongly and it reflected in the mileage my vehicle was giving. But according to carnation there was no problem. After a lot of haggling and pushing them, they supposedly checked the entire fuel line and declared that its my mind playing games with me. Recently the problem grew and I could not drive my car as there was substantial petrol leak. But I could not locate from where! I called them up and asked for my vehicle to be towed. During my conversation over phone I told the service advisor that I have been reporting this at your workshop but nothing was done.

The reply, "This is not our problem sir". I said open the log of my vehicle and check whether I reported it or not. The reply, "we checked your car sir and everything is fine". After a lot of pushing - "ok sir, our towing vehicle person would call you back" peeep, phone cut.

The tow vehicle person- "sir we would send the tow vehicle in one hour (it was 5pm). I said no, send it in the morning and I would call you when I want my car to be picked up. Can you please tell me the towing charges? Beeeep, phone cut.

That was it! In the whole conversation, they were least bothered about the problem and their attitude and tone was "playing god". I decided to dump carnation and get back to Tata motors workshop. Called up one of the service centers recommended by one of our Distinguished Bhpian Suman. Although, it took them some time for them to reach me, but my car was well taken care of and problem fixed in 3 hrs and what was the problem? A loose clamp because of which the fuel line was loose at the point where it meets the engine. The bill? Rs 220/-

By the way in my last visit to carnation they could not get the my car's wheel balanced and the reason they gave was, my car tires have a problem and all four needed to be replaced. Went to a wheel balancing shop and got it done . Nothing rocket science about it.

A small piece of advice for people who want to try out carnation anywhere in country; Bargain hard on their labor charges. They can put any value which they think looks good, basically they do a "inky-pinky-ponky" and decide a value. Recently my bro got his Indica fixed at carnation Bangalore (ORR) and with my advice of bargaining hard on charges got his bill down from 70k to 45k. They had given estimate of lot things which were just fine but according to them needed a replacement!

For me its the end of story with carnation, RIP carnation! Mr Khattar, yours is a noble idea but people manning your workshops don't seem to share your dream.

I am back with good old Tata workshops!

PS: This post comes exactly one year after I discovered carnation! One year from one time happy customer to disillusionment!