[mathew1105]

Hello Fellow BHPians,

My Figo was due for it's first service this week. I got an appointment for Tuesday and left the car for service in the morning @ 9:30.
Some of the things I wanted the service guy to check,

1.Noise from the break.
2.The inner plastic lining inside the front left wheel arch was not a proper fit since I took delivery.
3.My phone wasn't connecting to the bluetooth for the last two days and also I was not able to access the redial list (since I took delivery).
4.I did not tell him this though, I do not get any new SMS notifications on display Because I wasn't sure, if it was on the manual, However I vagely remember seeing something like that. Any Idea other Figo Owners??

The service guy who attended, says he'll look into it and promised to deliver the car @ 4:30 in the evening.I gave a call to the service guy @ 3:40 to check if the car's ready and he told me it is and I can come pick it up.
A friend dropped me at the service center @ 4:30 and he was with me till 5:00. As soon as I reached I was asked to wait in the customer lounge, I thought it's the usual routine, may be they are getting my bills ready.
At about 5:45 the service guy comes back to get me and says they've changed the oil and my bill is so much and he sends me to another rep to pay the bill. the other guy wants to know if I'm going to pay by cash or card and I said card. and he goes 'the card machine is not working sir, can you arrrange for cash'.
It was raining heavily and I tried calling some of my friends with no luck, because I needed someone to take me to the ATM and the nearest one was about a kilometer away.
The service guy comes back to me after sometime to find out if I've got cash, I said I don't and asked him why he couldn't tell me the machine wasn't working when I called him @ 3:40. I was there by 4:30 waited for an Hour. he says the machine stopped working just 'right now, sir'. Just then another customer waiting says he's been waiting since 3:30 and wants to know when he's going to get his car.
After about 15-20 minutes, They decide to take the cutomers who wanted to pay by card to the guindy service station to swipe the cards and then bring them back to velachery to get their cars delivered.
and the whole time, I have been telling the guys that If someone could take me to the nearest ATM, I can get the cash.
One of the service guys hears me and says what about him, another service guy says he's not my customer, I just want you to take these three to guindy to get the payments!!!
I'm still keeping my cool, @6:15 or 'my service rep' comes back to me and tells me that he'll send a driver with my car to the ATM, but he can release the car only after I come back and pay the bill. I was like 'ok, whatever'. I just wanted to leave.
Finally the driver takes me in the car and the ride was I have no words to explain, I have in so many years of driving, have never driven any of my cars like that. and to add fuel to the fire, returning back to the service center back from the ATM, instead of making a U turn a little bit further down the road, he decides to drive head on the on coming traffic 'Honking & Flashing' the light and fast. and I'm still quiet.
I go back to the service center thinking I trust you guys with my 6 lakh car and you don't trust me for 1,200 bucks. you had to send a driver to get the money. the service guy could've come with me and he could've saved me 30 minutes of my time waiting.anyways, I pay the bill and everything and then the service guy tells me this,
"Sir, you car is due for service is 10,000 or 6 months from now, which ever is earlier". and I go, but the service booklet says, "A year from the date of purchase or 12,500 kms whichever is earlier". He goes no sir "That's incorrect" you have to bring it in 6 months. I'm like are you sure?, yes sir. another service guys over hears us going back and forth, he interrupts and tell us that it's one year from the date of purchase. at this point I loose it, I'm like you are saying the ford's booklet is Incorrect and I had to start from, I was here from 4:30 and all that.
The service manager now wants to help me out by explaining how the service works, I'm like, I know how it works, it's your guy whom you need to explain".
After all this I was going to leave almost 6:30 in the evening, the serive guy apologizes for everything and says, 'sorry sir, I'm a trainee'. guess what his name tag said 'Senior Associate' ??? I was like, Whatever, you have a nice day, you sure messed up mine.
I have had a Maruti and a Hyundai before, Never have waited so long in a service center to take delivery of my car. only thing that kept running in my mind on my way back home was, When are the other three guys who went to guindy to make the payment, return to their homes.

Oh yeah btw, The bluetooth and the left wheel arch and the break noise was never corrected

My questions to the other Ford owners,
Should I email Ford about the whole drama?
Is Lousy service a normal practise at MPL ford Chennai?
This is not my first bad experience with them, I had to make so many phone calls and follow up for about a month to get my name corrected on the Insurance copy. I finally received the correct one, only after I emailed Ford about the whole ordeal.

NOTE: MODS please move the thread to the appropriate forum if I have posted it in the incorrect one.

Waiting for the feedback from other Ford owners.

[Torque123]

Sad to hear about the a.s.s experience you had with that dealership. Ofcourse, you need to give your feed back to Ford India. The email address is custmail@ford.com

I have emailed them once and it worked. Hope it works for you too.

[mathew1105]

Thanks Torque123, However I'm worried a little bit about the fact that If I do make a complaint, It would be the second one. How would they treat the vehicle when the next service is due. I don't have too many choices for ford in Chennai. I hope they don't mess something big in the vehicle the next time I take it in.

[NOTORIOUS]

please send the feeedback to ford . i did with hyundai and the chaps were at my home next day .

[mathew1105]

Thanks Notorious, I have emailed Ford, Let's see what happends next. I'll update you guys about the development.

[narchennai]

It must be a teasting time for your patience and pathetically this happens in Mahindra & Mahindra workshop @ chennai. My other car is a hyundai and its a fair better treatment there.

I thought Chennai ford was worse, thanks to you I was thinking of going to MPL Ford, Chennai to TD a Endeavour. I think i should watch for customer's opinion with MPL Ford too. Sorry this hapened to you

[chncar]

MPL Ford and Chennai Ford are competing with each other for the worst service award, it seems. Sometimes one edges ahead of the other, but its only temporary till the other one catches up. It is like having to chose between Charybdis and Scylla.

The general perception amongst Fiesta owners I know is that Chennai Ford is costlier and tries to inflate the bill with unnecessary expenses each time during service, while MPL is a bit more honest.

Recently had an conversation with MPL salesman at their showroom. The guy was clueless about about the Figo variants and gave me wrong information on several things and I had to correct him pointing to the brochure he was holding in his hand.

I also told him that if buying I will get the insurance done myself since the insurance quoted was like 2000 Rs above the actual rates and around 1500 Rs than what Maruti charged for a similarly priced model, he was like no its not possible since it comes with the car, and also had the temerity to tell me that since I am paying 6 lakhs for a car that amount should not be a big deal. The latter is kinda like the logic rickshaw drivers in Chennai use, "Saar you are going to spend so much money in the mall and for other things, so why dont you pay me whatever I ask for" (typically double the fair rate). I bluntly told him not to talk rubbish, after which he changed tack and said that Ford will not allow it since Ford are putting their name and reputation behind that insurance. I was like ***! What does Ford have to do with it? Is Ford going to provide the insurance themselves? Is the insurance they are providing, from some companies in any way different from the same insurance taken directly from the company? To which he didn't have an answer, mumbled something, and said he needs to check with his boss and get back to me.

I am at the moment torn between Maruti (mediocre product but better sales and support) and Ford (good product, still cheaper than Maruti after all the inflated insurance and what not, but frequently having high B.P dealing with the jerks at the dealership).

[aargee]

Originally Posted by mathew1105

I go back to the service center thinking I trust you guys with my 6 lakh car and you don't trust me for 1,200 bucks.

Very valid point; but when you ask them, they would immediately ask whether would you drop their person back at showroom? Anyway, its good that, they didn't burn your car's fuel for this free trip. Someone's car had become a taxi for this.

Originally Posted by mathew1105

"That's incorrect" you have to bring it in 6 months.

You should've instead asked are they finding pleasure in...
1. Seeing so many customers waiting in lounge
2. Providing free ride to Guindy
3. Driving in wrong way & taking customers on roller coaster?

and for this reason they find fault with Ford to see their customers once in 6 months?

[neutralgrey]

@mathew: If your bluetooth is still not working, try disconnecting the battery terminals for a few seconds and re-connecting them. It worked in my Punto, when I had a similar issue

[mathew1105]

@Chncar,
I too wanted to take care of the Insurance myself. However they refused, I remember seeing it on one of their fliers, one of their terms & conditions was that the Insurance will be done only by MPL or something like that.

[Gilead]

MPL Ford service is the pits. I bought my car at MPL, but it always goes for service at Chennai Ford. More specifically, it goes only to the Poonamalee service center because hardly anyone goes there because of the distance and there are some good people there. Their Arumbakkam service center was always too cramped and its become even more so after the Figo deluge.

[raju2512]

I had a very good experience at MPL body shop two days ago. I have updated my ownership thread with details

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ro-ritz-3.html

[anilisanil]

The ford website says that you should write to your service center helpline (emails attached here)Dealer email list.pdf

and they should respond to you with in 24 hours, if they do not (which will generally be the case) you will have to write to ford customer care custmail@ford.com

And if that too does not work you will have to write to the big guy and the id is write2md@ford.com

[nairrk]

Originally Posted by Gilead

MPL Ford service is the pits. I bought my car at MPL, but it always goes for service at Chennai Ford. More specifically, it goes only to the Poonamalee service center because hardly anyone goes there because of the distance and there are some good people there. Their Arumbakkam service center was always too cramped and its become even more so after the Figo deluge.

+
Not only Mpl Ford or any other ford SS in chennai, but all over the ford service centres are over crowded since Figo was introduced in the market.
More over, many service centres are still maintaning with the same place/size of the workshop without adding any additional space to accommodate more cars.(ofcourse many service workshops not in a position to expand as there is hardly any space available around them. only alternative is to shift elsewhere but this is expensive proposition). And it seems we,customers has to suffer!!?

[mjothi]

Sad to hear.

Never take the car in hurry. I know, its difficult but will really pay you. Actually, that's what they want to do, make you take car in hurry.