[kbk_75]

I thought I'd post a few thoughts about my experiences with Shaman Ford and Talera Ford, with regard to my 2002 Ford Mondeo.

During warranty I had repeated failures of a couple of components, viz. the in-dash 6 CD changer and the fuel gauge sensor. The CD changer would just drop CDs off inside that could not be ejected and the fuel gauge sensor would fail EVERY time the friendly petrol-pump wallah overfilled the tank. To recover the CDs Shaman would send my player to Chennai, where they would take 2-3 months to get the CDs out and send them back to Bombay. In the meantime, I'd get a replacement player. Once I never got back my Pink Floyd CD.

For the fuel gauge sensor, the entire fuel pump assembly would have to be replaced, if you please. Of course you could use the car without a problem as long as you didn't mind not knowing how much gas you had left. In addition the trip computer and other such features would not work either.

These are chronic problems with the car. Shaman's service...well it's bad. They don't have a clue about the Mondeo. On two seperate occassions I have sent my car to them for a service and had it come back SLOWER than when it went in for service. They have not been able to get the car's wheel alignment right after at least half a dozen attempts. It's all pretty hopeless.

I thought I'd try Talera in Pune since I travel to Pune quite often. Their service is as pathetic. For months on end their alignment machine was not properly calibrated. I had some personal belongings stolen from the car when I inadvertently left them behind one day. To top it off, they are as clueless about how to fix problems with the Mondeo. It's quite scary, because I've seen Porsche Cayennes being sent to Talera for service.

Both dealerships told me that I'd need to replace my front struts to get my alignment right on my car. Apparently it's not possible to replace just a knuckle.

I think it's sad that the dealerships have a philosophy to "change parts" to make money. The sad part is, the Mondeo is a fabulous car. It really is. Unfortunately Ford India hasn't taken the effort to ensure that their dealers are well enough equipped to deal with the car's problems.

[GTO]

KBK, its depressing to hear about your Mondeo experience but at the same time...its not surprising. The two problems you noted - CD Changer and Fuel gauge - are known issues with the Mondeo. In fact, newer mondeos come with a different Sony (?) music system. THe fuel gauge only conks off when you fill it up fully, and I know some friends who have made it a habit to fill 10 liters less than full.

Shaman is notorious for its horrible service. But there arent too many other options for people from South Bombay.

This is just one of the reasons that the Mondeo bombed.

GTO

[lamborghini]

I agree with you,
had bad experiences from Shaman myself.
When we bought our Palio, we took the car from them as they promised to deliver it within 10 days while the wait was over 2 months.
Well they stuck to their promise and even their service was good but the last two times we sent our car there, it came back dirty, gave less mileage, less performance, and had to be serviced again from outside.
Also when a bike came and banged the car, Shaman over charged us by 6K and the quality wasn't as good and they didn't even touch up the bumper.

Next was during the time we planned to upgrade from the nexia/ikon, i went to Shaman and when a salesman walks up to me, the receptionist cooly tells the salesman in Hindi, in fromt of me that , the other sales person says that i should not be given importance as they think i am not seriously looking at buying a car. Now i had gone there a couple of times before to find out the deals and discounts on cars like the Mondeo and the Ikon as my brothers and bro in law were intrested and the last time i went, i went with my brother for a TD of the Ikon Flair (he now got a city), we went and the car (brand new) ran out of petrol jut 5 minutes after we left, then to make matters worse, the guy accompaning us (the salesperson who i spoke about mentioned above) didn't know squat and i was correcting him and after the car ran out of petrol, he tried to get the car to the showroom so we had to walk fully uphill kemps corner to the showroom and the way he drove to get the car to the showroom was also reckless.
I piy the owner of that Flair.

[bikefreak]

I too have had some very bad experiences with my Ikon at Shaman.
They take u for a ride !
And charge a bomb for it !!
Had quite a few tiffs with them and got a discount for the shoddy and incomplete work done by them only when I threatened them that I'll make hired guys sit outside their second-hand car sale locations and see to it that their sales suffer !!!

I had bought a 1.6 ZXI from their second-hand division which is supposed to check the cars on a 101 point system & provide 6 months warranty.
I paid much more than current prevailing market rate for the car just because I was under the wrong assumption that the car would be trouble free !!
Had numerous problems from day 1 and had to spend tens of thousands of bucks to get the car back to a good condition.
Ultimately I've started getting the work done at Wassan (Chembur) and apparently they seem to be much better.

[libranof1987]

This is more specific to Talera Ford Pune.

When I was in the market for an EcoSport, I looked at Sai Sakshi Ford and Talera Ford. I dropped an online query to both (and each eventually responded to that after three weeks) and also called them up. Sai Sakshi being closer to both work and home, I visited them the following day while I skipped Talera since it was the other end of town.

Long story short, I went ahead with Sai Sakshi.

Meanwhile, some SA from Talera called up (responding to the online query) and asked when I could come for a TD. When I mentioned that I had already made the booking with another dealer, the SA started trash talking Sai Sakshi.

SS promised me delivery within the week and actually showed me the status of my car, since the exact model was on order. The Talera SA went to the extent of saying that SS had no cars on order and that they haven't made any invoicing for almost month. He then quoted examples of several bookings at SS that were cancelled and moved to Talera. He promised to not only match but exceed the offer SS was making to me and assured delivery in a month (!!).

Naturally, I wasn't quite amused and spoke with SS to fact check. SS mentioned how they had been beating Talera in terms of sales for consecutive months becoming the top dealer in Pune which was making Talera resort to this.

Business went on as usual and SS lived up to their promise of delivery within the week.

While I understand business and target pressure may make one take unconventional and often grey recourse, I think Talera stooped low in this regard. This may be just me but I wouldn't want to take my business to such a SA; his persistence is borderline unethical.

[RedRaider]

Slightly off topic : Need to get my Fiesta serviced. Which service center is recommended.... Talera, Sai Sakshi or Dhone ? Could Ford owners from Pune reply ?

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by RedRaider

Slightly off topic : Need to get my Fiesta serviced. Which service center is recommended.... Talera, Sai Sakshi or Dhone ? Could Ford owners from Pune reply ?

Sai Sakshi has closed down ! I have been going to Dhone and they are ok. You can choose between Talera & Dhone based on where you live / work. Both these places are quite loaded with Sai Sakshi closing down, so make an appointment.