[TellATaleAL]

Any idea where is Sameer Ajgaonkar ? He was the best adviser in Ashwamegh/BUBhandari. Sameer moved to BUB Wakad after Ashwamegh. But BUB Wakad was too far away and out of way for me. So I had to somehow manage keeping the car on the road with Pandit guys.
Going to Pandit with my car feels almost criminal - like going to a substandard doctor with your kid in her illness. It hurts me to get the vehicle serviced from them. They have mishandled stuff like replacing timer-belt - such an important yet routine job. I am always on tenterhooks when it comes to giving the car for servicing. The quality of advisers is up and down. You never know who would handle your car, and how much he would know about discontinued cars like mine. Now, Pandit is having a waiting period of more than a month for PAID servicing. And for a routine servicing last time they took 3 working days - including a weekend.
If I rue buying a Fiat, it is primarily because of A*S*S and service at Pandit.

[determinus]

Sameer is with Skoda now. Also there has been quite a few horror stories about Shivaji while he was in BUB. My interactions with him has been very disappointing. YMMV.

[TellATaleAL]

Had one servicing done at Pandit last month. While my appointment for the servicing was in late May, almost a month from my booking date, the car stalled on me, on the road. I had stopped to fix a flat, and it just did not start. The battery had died. Push-started it, and it turned out that the battery was ok, the alternator had a problem.
Had a strange experience then. I called up Pandit Towing service. A smooth-speaking guy, with a faux Marathi accent and - even worse - pretentious willingness to help, came on line. When I related my problem and requested for a car tow, he told me that I should contact Fiat service (whats that?) to find out whether I am eligible for the service. I was bewildered. However, it was a hot summer afternoon, and my kid was with me. I did not want to waste time in arguments or investigations. Just got hang of a battery charging fellow, arranged to get a replacement charged battery from him, put it in the car and drove it back home.
Can any one help me about this Fiat service? Never heard about it before.
Took it to Pandit the next day, they had to accept it. Took they 8 calendar days to fix the alternator, and do the normal servicing. Whoa!

[great_guns]

I bought my car (Fiat Palio MJD) from Pandit Auto in Pune in October 2008. Since the very start, I've always had problems with the service.

In the latest instance, I had reported my clutch getting stuck.
1) They asked me to change the slave cylinder. When they changed it, they realised the master cylinder was actually the problem so they changed it again. Later I was told that the slave cylinder was not damaged but since they had replaced it already, I had to pay for it anyway.
2) What is strange that their store in the TilakRoad quoted the prices as Rs. 1500 but the service center in Akurdi where I got it serviced charged me Rs. 2300 for it. They said it was a different model etc. but I got it double confirmed from the Tilak Road branch that it was the EXACT same part they were talking about. I even made the service advisor talk to the store person on phone in front of me. They still went ahead and billed me for 2300.
3) Basically so I had to pay 1.5 times the price for a part that didn't even NEED changing.
4) After delaying the car for two days, I ended up at the service station at 5:30 to make sure they don't delay my delivery any further. The next day I had to drive 500 KM to my native place and I had even taken leave from the next day on. I waited until 9:30 PM when I FINALLY got the car.
5) As I drove out, I realised that the steering had been jammed! When turned, it refused to go back to original position. The steering was also off-center by almost 45 degrees! One of their service advisors had CHECKED the car after the work and had done a test drive. I'm VERY surprised he didnt notice this at all.
6) SO at 9:30 in the night, I was stuck with the car which now had a completely unrelated major fault caused by negligence of the servicemen. I called up the manager who asked me to leave the car at that time in the night and come back the next day.
7) The next day again, I called and asked them to make sure they start work on my car immedately after their start of day i.e. 9:00 AM. Wonder of wonders, I turned up at 11:00 AM to find my car was still parked on the side. After another complaint to the manager, they finally got my car up on the ramp and proceeded to tinker with it for another couple of hours and then they handed me the car. I took a 20 meter test drive and gave it right back because the steering was still VERY heavy -felt like a truck steering.
8) They kept doing this till 4:30 PM when I finally got the car delivered to my home. The steering still felt quite heavy but I needed the car so I accepted it and paid the full amount which turned out to be a whopping Rs 7500+ for nothing much a master cylinder replacement which cost about Rs. 1100. They charged me Rs. 3500 for labour! For all the trouble they cause, they should have instead given me a compensation!
9) A few weeks later I realised that my AC direction knob (face/feet/face+feet/defog) was bolted on wrongly so it only turns in two settings instead of four.

This is the story of my latest interaction with Pandit Auto. I've decided to post this here because every time I get my car serviced, it seems to come back with some completely unrelated problem induced into it. The seats are ALWAYS dirty, the interiors are never wiped, there is a big stain on the inside of my instrument console, the hinges are never greased (even during one instance when they CHARGED me extra for lubircant in door hinges), the suspension is never sprayed with oil+diesel mixture. After every service, there are small plastic parts, fasteners etc that have been broken by negligence and just carelessly thrown into the glove-box.

All in all, I've consistently seen how good my friend's Maruti service station does the job. His car comes back spick and span with all parts cleaned, greased and shiny. There are never any grease marks on seats or interiors.

We have such a strong community here in Team-BHP and there is also the Palio Users Group. Isn't there a way we consumers can stand up together against this kind of service?

[libranof1987]

Whoa! You are one patient man. Given the kind of service you have been getting from them, you should be giving each person involved a good piece of your mind.

Originally Posted by great_guns

We have such a strong community here in Team-BHP and there is also the Palio Users Group. Isn't there a way we consumers can stand up together against this kind of service?

Absolutely! Send a nice email to Fiat about the whole thing and stop going to Pandit.

[gauravdgr8]

Do the following steps:

1. Write to Ratan Tata
2. Call customer service and lodge a complain
3. Call the GM service or walk into the cabin of Manager service at Pandit Auto. It helps
4. Visit their link on FB and post there. They respond asap.

[silverado]

One of our T-bhpians maulik ( forgot his handle ) who owns a punto 90hp, got his car serviced at ARCEM near Baner.

He was mighty impressed by the service.

Pandit auto has given me decent service for my Nano, the Shahu college Outlet is really good.

If you have all the things on paper, kindly try to meet some senior level individual with your case.

[great_guns]

Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : Please do NOT post one-liners that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the overall quality of this forum.

Please read our rules before proceeding any further.

[shashihegde]

I have had a recent bad experience with Pandit Auto in Akurdi. I had taken my Fiat Punto for the third free servicing. I dropped it off on Saturday morning and was expecting to pick it up in the evening since there were no issues with the car.

I did not receive a call till late in the afternoon, so I called them up. The service adviser tells me, "Sir ek chota problem ho gaya hai. Aapke gadi ka windshield crack ho gaya hai". So I get to the service station and I am told that while changing some pads, under the bonnet below the windshield, the mechanic tightened the bolts too much cracking the windshield, which was hard to believe.

I meet the manager and he tells me that they will replace the windshield but asks me if I can claim the windshield cost from my insurance. I tell them i will not do that, as i stand to lose out on my no claim bonus.

After i get back home i remember that i had filming on the windshield, i call the service adviser and he tells me to come back and meet the manager on Monday. I meet him on Monday taking half day off from work, I am told the filming will be done, so i give them the original receipts and tell them the make which i originally had on it.

I finally got the car back on Friday but with a much much cheaper film on it, about 3500 Rs cheaper. I was told i will get the difference back after i pointed this out to them. But its been a month now and all I have been getting are promises to reduce the bill amount during the next servicing and I seem to be ending up wasting my money on phone calls to them.

You get a feeling of them being highly unprofessional. I can understand that the breaking the windshield was a mistake, but atleast they could make sure that the customer does not incur a monetary loss.

I don't think I am taking my car back to them again.
-Shashi

[Micki9559]

ello everyone! I'm relatively new to the forum, but not new to either Fiats, nor Automobiles in general. I own a Palio 1.2 ELX 2003, a Palio 1.9 D ELX 2004 and an Uno 1.7D AC. Looking to add another Italian beast to my stable. So the query I have right now is I am picking up a Palio 1.6 GTX for myself from Pune. I need to know the best place nearby Kharadi where I can get it checked up for the 500Kms drive that I need to travel to bring her back with me. Can anyone here please shed some light? Time is a constraint as I need to get everything done in a day and leave early the next Morning. Some help would be much appreciated!