[amtak]

Hello all,

I am sorry for the long post but just wanted to share my email that I wrote to Mr. Khattar for what's happening in his company:

Dear Mr. Khattar,
Greetings of the day!
I would like to start this email with a compliment on the way you headed Maruti and took care of the Customers out there. This is precisely the reason why I moved to Carnation as soon as my car's warranty expired and I started looking for a reliable garage to take care of my car. In the last 6 years of ownership of my car (Maruti Zen), my car has never been to any roadside mechanic but only at the authorized service centers (***). It is only after my car's warranty expired and I realized how these *** are fleecing the customers, I decided to change my service partners.
I would like to bring to your attention that I was a very happy customer of carnation too, till the time you had good service engineers hired from Maruti. Things have been changing however...

My car went into the Dahisar carnation on 9th December, 2010 for a regular service with some minor issues which I am listing below:

1. Regular Service with Oil/filter change
2. LHS, headlamp replacement
3. Wiper Arms to be changed
4. Rattling issues
5. RHS Headlamp assembly replacement
6. Front fog lamp switch to be fixed as it was broken
7. Front Monogram (I still believe it went missing inside carnation as I am pretty sure, it had it when the vehicle was parked in my building
8. Minor touch up

With this minor service list, my car was taken in and assigned to a gentleman named Vikrant Paradkar (I believe this is the name). Kindly note that, I had booked my service through a phone call and my vehicle was picked up from my residence. The pick up happened sometime post 10.00 AM and I did not get any call from any service advisor till 12.30/1.00 PM. I got Mr. Paradkar's number from the reception and I told him the above mentioned things to be fixed and arrange the car to be delivered by Saturday morning.

I would like to highlight here that, it was me who was doing all the follow up and no one else bothered to call me to give a status update on my car. Every time, I used to call, I was told that they would call me within the next 10 mins with the total cost estimate.

Next day (Friday, 10th December, 2010), there was no update and I was getting impatient. I received a call from Mr. Samkrit, citing that my car's windshield is broken and they have a spare one which they are fixing for free. It was a good gesture, however, I expected my car to be treated more professionally. How can one break a windshield while working on the wipers?

I was then told that my wiper arms are fine, but it its a problem with the linkage, on which they were working on. This was a shocker to me, as no one had bothered to inform me what work they are doing on the car! Further, I was told that my car cannot be delivered on Saturday as the windshiled has to dry out.

To cut the long story short, my car was not even delivered on Sunday ( I was waiting at Carnation on Sunday for over 2 hours also inspecting the car for the damage that was caused and also to make the necessary payments for the services, appx. INR 5760); It was delivered yesterday evening and I got to drive it today for the first time after 5 days and I am now facing the following problem/issues:

1. Car was too dirty, from inside and outside
2. Seats have become dirty (Black)
3. Steering alos had gathered dust and my hands became dirty as soon as I held the steering
4. The new windscreen was not cleaned properly and was dusty
5. LHS headlamp bulb not replaced
6. Wiper's not checked before delivery - Was fluid pipe was not connected and it was hanging inside the engine bay
7. Wiper linkage cover not fixed properly - All the rivets loose or missing.
8. Front Monogram still not fixed
9. To fix the new windscreen, one of the beadings was damaged, and not fixed properly
10. Windscreen beading in not proper

I am told that my car would be fixed properly by them and they would fix the issues higlighted above. If you notice, most of the issues which I have highlted above are something basic items which every professional should check while performing his job.

Requesting you to please look into the same and assist!

Just my honest feedback. I still have faith in you Mr. Khattar, for what you have done to the automobile industry. You may reach me on the below numbers:

Thanks!

[NFS]

Sorry to what happened all along. I too own a Zen and was wondering who should be entrusted for services (was considering Carnation) and with your story why should one go there?

Did you report the problems to the Carnation Service Center? was there a Service Manager who you could have approached? Or did the Service manager himself against your claims? How did the Windshield break? was this noticed before the car was moved out of your premises?

Hope things get resolved for you faster.

[amtak]

@ NFS - The windshield broke while they were working on the wiper linkage. The service managers were no where to be seen or approachable as I went there over the weekend.

Also, all the problems are reported in the Job card. My only query to them is, if they have use the PDI checklist?

[amtak]

Dear All,

Post my email to Mr. Khattar, my car was picked up propmptly by Carnation and delivered to me yesterday night to my satisfaction. The only glitch for the time being is the monogram, which they have promised to fix soon.

Also, it seems that Mr. Khattar paid a surprise visit to Dahisar Carnation yesterday to understand whats happening there. I got this information from a source, who is now a friend of mine.

I would say hats off to you Mr. Khattar and a big thank you!

Mods: Please update the thread title to Problems resolved.

[sgiitk]

Hats off the Mr Khattar. At the end of the day you have to deal with the (Grease) monkey on the ground. He has to be taught. What better way than the Big Boss himself.

[amtak]

@SGIITK, I agree. It was indeed a good gesture on his part to visit the facility.

[devrajman]

This the BIG difference in running a major car manufacturing company and car servicing company!

Such reactive approchs is not good in long run.

As per your email, your car was way beyond manhandled.

If tomorrow I send him an email of Bangalore Carnation and someone sends an email of Delhi Carnation, will he keep flying around??

[bblost]

Originally Posted by devrajman

This the BIG difference in running a major car manufacturing company and car servicing company!

Such reactive approchs is not good in long run.

I agree.

As per your email, your car was way beyond manhandled.

If tomorrow I send him an email of Bangalore Carnation and someone sends an email of Delhi Carnation, will he keep flying around??

But with both the Delhi and Bangalore carnations worried about his surprise inspections, they would hopefully do a good job.

[kuttapan]

I had the opportunity to email Mr. Khattar once, when he was head of Maruti and the response was prompt and the issue was resolved to my satisfaction. Hope he is able to take this new venture to success.