[zoom_vroom]

Maruti guys are extremely good when it comes to after sales.
If per chance you have trouble in warranty period, you can be rest assured you don't have to fight to get things done.
Honda doesn't accept its fault,Skoda repairs are costly.
They take regular feed backs even after selling the car. I had bought a Wagon-R from Maruti and i am truly impressed by their after sales. After every service within a week i get a call from the dealer asking about my experience and car's performance.
Inspite of selling cars in such large numbers they manage to maintain an impressive after sales record.Thats really an achievement in itself.
I have heard of good stories only about Toyota apart from Maruti that Toyota takes care of its customers.
With its great after sales, Maruti manages to make up for its not so good products.But at the price the products are being offered, and great support for them afterwards its great VFM.

[normally_crazy]

When Honda and MUL topped year after year no one laughed?

Skoda does and everyone goes ballistic

[amit]

Originally Posted by zoom_vroom

Maruti guys are extremely good when it comes to after sales.
If per chance you have trouble in warranty period, you can be rest assured you don't have to fight to get things done.
Honda doesn't accept its fault,Skoda repairs are costly.

The survey is on Sales Satisfaction. It has nothing to do with after sales service or cost of spares. Parameters for sales satisfaction are timely delivery, salesperson's knowledge about his product, smooth processing of papers before sales among others.

[i10]

I have only done a single car purchase till date, and that was from Hyundai. And from whatever I experienced, I thought it was an absolutely wonderful experience considering the timely delivery, the helpful staff, the offers, and not to forget, the post sales feedback on the whole process. We were also handed over the car amidst speakers blasting out 'Congratulations' [might sound too 'touchy', but my family was delighted considering it our first purchase], and pujas done with a couple of photographs - thank God for that since we had forgotten to take ours.

If that is the worst one can get (as per the survey stats), I wonder what a 'good' provider gives. A chaffeur for the first one month, along with unlimited petrol, and lifetime warranty on all future sales?

[anjan_c2007]

The JD Power Asia Pacific 2008 India Sales Satisfaction Index study is not fully representative of the customer satisfaction index at all. If about 10,00,000 cars are sold every year in India and if for the entire year's survey 5416 cars are included for the polls thats what percent? Maybe 0.5% or so. The questionnaire is very comprehensive taking care of all factors that deserve attention like courtesy of authorised service centres, cost of spares and many many more queries.The questions get full marks.
But the cases taken for sampling viz. 0.5% is questionable. The most unlikely companies will emerge champions and may sing" we are the champions".No way at all.

[agentsmith2]

Originally Posted by amit

I am amazed Maruti tops customer satisfaction survey's year after year. Or is it that for Indians, good customer service is being addressed as sir and being offered coffee?

Yes. So I went to this BMW Dealer. They have Apple iMacs running windows alright - but the salesperson would only know the price [in rupees]. He exhibited remarkable stupidity when asked about engine specs OR internals. He wasn't even sure if BMW makes SUVs.

He owns a pulsar, I was told.

Salespeople here are underpaid, undereducated and lack any passion for cars. They are doing their 9k a month job and walk with their resumes on their sleeve. With no future prospects, they lack the will to learn anything new and quite understandingly so.

[balaji_n29]

I am not surprised at this. The fact that they are able to sell Fabia's is a great complement to the sales force of Skoda. As you can see in the sales figures, Skoda sells more Fabia's than Fiat(Palio) and Ford(Fusion).

[nickatnite]

The Fabia is a neat looking hatch, much better than the Swift in all aspects, including build quality. This is so evident.

[evo]

Hehe. Skoda tops customer satisfaction survey? Right. And India won 29 medals at the World Cup.

If they`d only know that you deal with Skoda sales only once but you deal with Skoda service n number of times.

[snaronikar]

But they need to get it straight with all the 3S's. Sales, Service & Spares. They are good in only one part of it and the other two is not even satisfactory (according to the posts here). Hope they will catch up with the other two. The sooner the better.

[GreenmachinE]

With enough "will" I guess even Tata-Fiat can top JD power next year . When ever there is very low expectation from a manufacturer, JD power ratings for the next year is great even if they improve their Service/Quality marginally.

But with Skoda there is a general perception of premium image with respect to their products and service. Only the owners and insiders know that Skoda service is as bad as their products are good. Sure am surprised with the JD survey unless the majority of Skodas customers are repeat customers.

[agentsmith2]

J. D. Power conducts multiple surveys for multiple segments and award ratings based consumer response. Consumers are selected randomly based on standard demographic parameters. There's no single 'JD-Power Award' AFAIK. Note the categories here: JDPower.com | Ratings: New & Used Cars

Do note that the American Market works in a very different way it works in India. Most Indian after-sales issues are unthinkable in the western markets. Service is more-or-less taken for granted for as long as the contract holds - or the company risks a class-action suit. Not Indian consumer courts.

So JD Power focuses more on Car Quality, Performance etc.

We don't see a lot of Americans talking about After-Sales. Even the fine print is kept to a minimal - for fear of being sued. India needs more pro-consumer lobbies and more lawsuits. I'm sure the car companies here can't figure out how to deal with the franchisee + customer relationship.

Just look at how a honda franchisee deals with its hapless consumers in India in the other thread posted today. I don't blame Honda - they have never been sued here - the way they are sued in the west - so why should a Honda Manager be worried. If they are sued more often, the senior management will ensure strict guidelines in place.

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by amit

Thats one question I'd like an answer to, too.

I went to Ratan Maruti at Chembur today to take a look at the SX4. The salesguy was totally clueless about the car. In fact, as soon as I told him I wanted some information about the SX4, he asks me to sit down, offers me coffee hands me a brochure and starts pricing the car! So I ask him if I can see the car first before we talk about prices. He sends someone else to take me for a test drive. When we start taking a look at the car the guy with me is as clueless about the car as the earlier guy. I take my chances and ask him what size engine the car has. The guy says and I quote him here, "It's in the brochure sir. Didn't you get it?!" I open the trunk and tell him its a pity the rear seats don't fold down. The guy says, "Sir, they do." I tell him to check it out and he actually opens the rear door and starts trying to see if the seats fold down! After I got back to the dealership after the test drive, the first guy that priced the car for me is nowhere to be seen and some other guys (3 of them to handle one customer!) start.........what else.....pricing the car! How about asking me how the car was?! And I am not even going to talk about the feeble handshakes I got when I left.

I am amazed Maruti tops customer satisfaction survey's year after year. Or is it that for Indians, good customer service is being addressed as sir and being offered coffee?

off topic :
I think Amit has stumbled upon the most important point about Marutis, a similar Incident, when the Maruti 1000 was launched, to make the 1000 customer feel Good and special and upgraded, Mr. Kattar had set up a different coutner for After Sales at their dealership which was exclusive only to the 1000 owners, but what it actually did was made the other customer feel bad, and insluted. Realizing that Mr. Kattar immediately removed that system. Maruti connects with the Indian customer at the base. Kudos to them.

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

When Honda and MUL topped year after year no one laughed?

Skoda does and everyone goes ballistic

When the expected wins, its not a big deal, but with Skoda, it was never expected. May be that is the reason ? and if am not wrong they won the last year too.