Team-BHP - Just a regular Ford Service in the Netherlands: Technician shares a video walk-through

Contrary to the popular belief that honda technicians and service advisers would not fleece and they claim to be more reliable than anyone else in the business, i never had a very pleasant experience. The dealership-Classic honda(through its service adviser) has been pressing me to change my brake pads since last 35000 kilometers. But whenever i take my car to the workshop for any quick checkup, i make it a point to ask the technician to confirm the brake life and they tell me that they have almost 50% life left in them. Similarly, in one of the services, i was told that the service center would clean my silencer. I was very firm in showing him the service booklet and asking him as to where it was mentioned and in which service it has to be done. OEM knows better than the service center. Everytime they tell me some lubrication etc, i make it a point not to allow them to do it. The reason is that they do not do any lubrication anywhere. It is just an eyewash. Maruti is also not far behind. They make useless cars and insist that customer uses synthetic oil which costs almost 3 times the normal mineral oil. the rattling never goes away and once you complain, you will be asked to change the entire assemble which will be hugely costly.

Above are just some instances of fleecing dealership and their service centers. Taking advantage of lax laws prevailing in our country, every tom, dick and harry wants to take advantage of another person who is not a subject matter expert. They are well aware that customer will rarely think about approaching the authorities. If the issue blows out of proportion, the selling dealer always has some bouncers at his disposal who will threaten the customer. Police is already bribed. So in the end, nothing is going to happen.

Last but not least the biggest pleasant surprise for me has been Ford. The service advisers never will offer anything additional and will stick to the service manual. Even the ford service promise has been fulfilled and the service charges have been exactly what is mentioned on their websites and elsewhere. They have taken all the pains to explain and show me everything whenever i have wished to. Last recall from Ford was some BMS issue. I asked them if i could video-shoot the entire exercise. They were more than happy to allow me. They even asked me to publish it over social media and anywhere i wanted to do it so that public and car users are made aware about it.

It clearly shows the malafide intentions of other established manufacturers. And a fringe player like Ford is trying to build a reputation. Its time we start thinking and stop being moved by herd mentality. Else what do we expect from a company whoose chairperson issues a statement in public that they do not make safer cars as it would cause more accidents:Frustrati.