[asethi]

Similar thing happened with me last week when I gave my Thunderbird for it's 4th free service to Advaith Motors, Marathahalli in Bangalore. Since it's only a service center & that too a small one, he said I'll get the bike after 2 days and he'll call me once done. I never received the call & I went to collect the bike on 3rd day. What infuriated me was that the bike was run for 22kms in between these 2 days!!
When I asked him he rudely said he had done multiple test rides to check the issue with speedometer, while the issue I reported was with the trip meter & reset buttons on the instrument console & not speedometer! But still 22kms for a test ride!!

[Jose.solorider]

That's totally unacceptable behavior from these service centre employees, I use to go prefer going to ess aar mayapuri, Delhi RE service centre and observed the same thing.
Moreover evey time I went they use to say. Sir brake bad need to be replaced and once a hilarious incident happen I went there and the service advisor after checking my bike said your bike piston need to be replaced. I was dazzled to core, I told him the bike is just 4 months old and left. I went to a mechanic in karol bagh who has expertise in RE from generations, and he said everything is okay. He cleaned the carbolator and replaced the oil and bike was again good to go. Let me remind you I still had those two free service slips.
Since that day onwards my trust on these services center has gone.
It's preferable to stay there during service and know few things about your vehicle these people do suggest Un necessary parts change just to shoot up the expense.

On your experience, better to shoot a mail to RE authorities and tag manzil motor also. Then see what is their ultimate solution

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by Deep_Shri

Dear All:

The objective of this post is threefold:
(i) To seek your inputs on what recourse(s) is available in the event a car/motorbike service centre engages in malpractices........didn't find a suitable thread to make my post a part of. Please merge if necessary but I feel a single thread for all dealer malpractices may not be a bad idea. Cheers Deep

This is a great idea, Deep - in my limited experience, this is an established malpractice in the northern belt service centres, particularly in places like Lucknow. My experience with UP Motors (M&M's largest authorised service set-up in Lucknow at the time) prompted me to wash my hands off this dealership & go to another one nearer home. Granted that UP is the accepted badlands of the country with netas & their associates patronizing much of the service industry for gratis, this service sector doesn't really care who makes what complaint to whom.

But starting this thread is a good place to build consensus & gather opinions & experience.

[sam_sant2005]

Originally Posted by NiInJa

Nothing in this world hurts more than filling petrol in a bike which does not belong to you. No mechanic will ever do that.

I completely disagree. Do you think mechanic would 'buy' petrol and fill the bike, a BIG NO. They simply take petrol from the next bike and fill this one

[NiInJa]

Exactly, and no mechanic will take that extra effort to fill petrol from other bike in this one just to run errands ! He will simply take another functional bike.
If it is for a special purpose like impressing his lady then I can understand. But the point is to reduce the probability of doing something like this by making things difficult.

Trust me sir, I grew up in downtown Pune Nana peth, the home for local garages and shady used bike/ spare part sellers. I know how these guys abuse other's bikes if they have fuel in it. Heck, I've seen them taking bikes for long rides to Lonavala.

[Deep_Shri]

Thanks for your responses gentlemen. I typed nearly two pages during the day and then hit the back button. Perils of working on a Dell and an Apple.

From your responses I have gleaned two main takeaways. One is that malpractices at service centres is quite rampant and the only possible counter is to be physically present throughout the duration of the service. Now there are concerns associated with this solution. (i) Many people get two days off in a week and some just one. Unless one is lucky to share their vehicle related passions with their spouses, tending to vehicles is a 'waste of time' and there are many 'important chores' to attend to like buying vegetables, replacing a fused bulb in an inaccessible corner of the kitchen etc. I exaggerated a bit but I hope you get my point. (ii) Even when one is physically present at the service centre one must have basic or ideally advanced knowledge of vehicle mechanics to avoid being taken for a ride by the mechanics. I am severely challenged in this area.

This is where adherence to basic propriety, integrity, accountability become important because these engender trust. My point on minor vs major misdemeanour pertains to this loss of faith. I will always have a lingering doubt in my mind whether some major change was/will be done to my bike or not. And there is no way to ensure that a dealership is "ethical" enough to engage only in minor misdemeanours. So when I stated that there is no way to figure out if parts were changed I was expressing a concern and not alleging that particular wrongdoing.

That brings me to my allusion of Royal Enfield being a cheap brand. It appears that it didn't go well with some of my fellow T-Bhpians. I completely understand your point of view and clarify that the intent was not to hurt your sentiments. Nevertheless, going by my personal experience and statements by many on this forum that such malpractices are commonplace I would continue to maintain my position. My rationale is that it is the responsibility of the brand owner to ensure that the brand reputation is not tarnished. Systems and processes should be put in place to ensure that and compliance enforced. If brand owners allow weakening of consumer bonds with their brand because of dealers indulging in malpractices, I hold them guilty. Firing a mechanic is like bolting the stable when the horses have left but that is perceived as a convenient solution because labour is cheap and easy to come by in our country. Loss of faith on the part of the consumers should not be allowed to happen in the first place. I live in Gurgaon and often send my Pajero SFX and Pajero Sports for service to Excel Motors in Faridabad using their pick-up & drop service. I have never faced a situation where my vehicles were misused or used without my permission. Indeed there was one instance of additives being added without asking me but that was remedied suitably and never recurred. Yes they have taken a long time for service occasionally but I understand that it is a function of the load they have on a particular day. So I would like to submit that my 'over-reaction' was not to the second free service at Manzil Motors taking 7 hours. It was purely to their utter disregard of my sentiments with which I bought the motorcycle. The discomfort I had was exacerbated by the fact, as stated in my opening post, that it was purely a passion led decision when I knew full well that I will not be able to do any serious riding and not a decision based on usage analysis or need. Even if it was a need based purchase, I would argue that no one has the right to misuse my property.

The second key takeaway is that most people feel it will be a hasty decision to sell my bike. Maybe you are right. It is quite possible that with the benefit of hindsight I will perhaps think a few months down the line that I should have kept the bike. Maybe not. As on today, I have understood that there is a price associated with this value (of indulging in owning a bike). That price is to find time to be physically present at each service. I am not sure that I will be able to. Further, a junior colleague owns a Desert Storm. He was denied the second free service because he was a few days late and the service centre counted the service as the third free service. Second one was wasted due to delay. Given that condition, I feel I will be constrained with not only finding time to be physically present for service, I should also find that time exactly when the service becomes due. Wish I had that luxury and a Boss who shares the love for motorcycles. Presently have neither.

In the circumstances the pleasure-pain ratio works in favour of not having a motorcycle at all. This was my first ever motorcycle purchase and I am at an age where 20 year olds call me uncle (not that I like it much). When I was growing up the Bullet was THE MOTORCYCLE. I finally won over the family resistance to ride a two-wheeler in the mad traffic of Delhi but lost to dealer apathy. I was hoping to get some favourable opinion on Triumph/Harley ownership experience and then I would have considered a Street Twin but looks like there is not much solace there either.

I am drinking a lot of water and practicing deep breathing but if after a week I still feel there is no point in holding on to the Bullet my brief sojourn with the biking world will end unceremoniously. Credit goes to Manzil Motors and to Royal Enfield.

Thanks once again for your comments and suggestions. I will share with you all what Royal Enfield has to say about this once I get a chance to write to them and IF they choose to respond.

Cheers

Deep

[sam_sant2005]

Originally Posted by Deep_Shri

I am drinking a lot of water and practicing deep breathing but if after a week I still feel there is no point in holding on to the Bullet my brief sojourn with the biking world will end unceremoniously. Credit goes to Manzil Motors and to Royal Enfield.

Deep

Hold on hold on hold on. I am sad to hear this and I admit it hurts. When you say that this doesn't happen when you give your Pajero, it makes sense because those dealers are big and they don't usually need to do this. They have transport cars and they are much more organized and more under pressure from the Company as such to provide quality service.

However you should agree to the fact that the Indian motorcycle franchisees and smaller players. They fight hard to make both ends meet. I don't support their fraudulous activities but still, I beg you to forgive Manzil and do not end your biking because of this reason. Yes you should take this up, fight with RE however please do not quit biking.

Bottomline is that, yes lots of things happen during a bike service, however I don't think all of those dealers really intend to break a motorcyle. They might do things ranging from running errands, oil frauds, steal petrol and stuffs but I don't think all of those will really cut short anyone's motorcycle life substantially. I am saying this because I have been using motorcycles for past 20 years now ranging from Bajaj Sunny, Kinetic Honda, Bajaj 4S, Honda Activa, Pulsar 150, Pulsar 220, Bullet CI 350, Karizma, ZMR and now NS200. All of my bikes have kept rolling, except for few niggles here and there. Hence I beg you, ignore these and ride on !

And lastly, I always tell my friends - In these days of bad service, bad fuel quality, cheating in fuel quantity, if our vehicles are doing this well with x amount of mileage, imagine how good our vehicles are

[ArizonaJim]

Deep_Shri

Sell the motorcycle and get on with your life.

Because one dealership allowed a mechanic to use your motorcycle while it was being serviced, you feel that all of them are unworthy of your trust.

There is no doubt that some of the dealers and mechanics who sell and service the Royal Enfield and every other motorcycle you can name may do the same and are not to be trusted but, if each and every one of them were 100% trustworthy, you still would not trust them.

You should sell your Royal Enfield to one of the thousands who will appreciate it for what it is.
If you ask a reasonable price, I'm sure you will have no problem selling it.

After it is gone, I'm sure you can find some nice automobile to buy.

When you take your auto in for service beware. The auto dealerships and mechanics often take the vehicle for a "test drive" too and some of those test drives may involve picking up a few parts for some other vehicle that is in the shop.

[Deep_Shri]

Arizona_Jim

Thanks for the detailed advisory. Appreciate your sarcasm.

My post was to solicit advise on an effective recourse against malpractices/dealers. I never intended to seek a validation of my decision but once people did comment on that I accepted and acknowledged that.

Each person is wired differently and responses to same stimuli differs from person to person. I have owned cars for the past 30 years so I know what to expect. Perhaps you will understand that when I reacted to my bike being misused it was because it was a new experience for me.

To each his own. Thanks for taking time out to post.

Cheers

Deep

[XD2]

Originally Posted by Deep_Shri

...
In the circumstances the pleasure-pain ratio works in favour of not having a motorcycle at all. This was my first ever motorcycle purchase and I am at an age where 20 year olds call me uncle (not that I like it much). When I was growing up the Bullet was THE MOTORCYCLE. I finally won over the family resistance to ride a two-wheeler in the mad traffic of Delhi but lost to dealer apathy. I was hoping to get some favourable opinion on Triumph/Harley ownership experience and then I would have considered a Street Twin but looks like there is not much solace there either.

If service is the issue - the solution is fairly straight forward. Pick up another dealer. My Oct'2015 DS500 is serviced from Brawn, Gurgaon. I pick a Saturday morning - ride to the SS at 9.30 - and they have me free by 10.30 (earlier if I am willing to skip the wash). So far so good.

I have faced odd service center issues with my Maruti Suzuki, Fiat, Mahindra and Renault. Most were addressed by the manager and did not repeat. For others, where the management was found clandestine I switched over to another center. The only time I would ditch the brand would be if I found the brand to be unresponsive or the product is not what was promised.

My RE is also not running as much as I had imagined - I have done a meager 1400km in my 6 months of ownership (lots of other pressing commitments). The odd weekend that I do get to suit-up and ride - that's a feeling no meditation parallels. So it is worth something holding on to.

To be honest, your premise & conclusion are not adding up.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by Deep_Shri

I have owned cars for the past 30 years so I know what to expect. Perhaps you will understand that when I reacted to my bike being misused it was because it was a new experience for me.

I've experienced shoddy & below standard service from both Maruti and Honda and I've only had about 6 years of true car ownership.

I remember an instance when my Swift's underbody was scraped on some debris at the Maruti service center right in front of my eyes, let alone what they would do if I was gone. Then there was an instance of my dad's Honda City being dropped home after service with an odo reading of about 20kms more than it should be.

In the past 6 years I've had so many incidents when I wanted to kill (if not break their bones) these so called "service center" folks. But then I learnt an excellent concept over a period of time which has made me so calm that I really wonder if its still the same me.

Its called Cost of Living in Delhi/India.

I've been through times when I had an emotional connect with my car but the stress and frustration (if not trauma) was so much that I had to accept the fact that its a machine after all and will be treated like a machine/piece of metal by everyone else except me.

What you are going through is a similar thing and nobody wants their car or bike to be treated badly but unless you are willing to spend time or money or both you better brace for such surprises. You've owned cars for 30+ years and are probably a far learned guy than I would be in another 20 years but this is how a customer is treated in India. Population Explosion and Illiteracy are real problems of our country and are at the root of all this that we are going through.

I could've gone on but then you say something like this...

Each person is wired differently and responses to same stimuli differs from person to person.

I only hope that you play around with the wiring and still enjoy driving cars with nicks and dents and bikes with not so great service history & experiences.

But before I conclude, give a different service center a try and befriend the owner/manager, maybe, just maybe, you might get a good service! All the best!

[ksameer1234]

Why not ditch the service center and find a convenient friendly neighborhood garage for periodic services? In fact, considering the low mileage, periodic services at SVC will be nothing but unnecessary oil changes and avoidable bike washes. Anyways, all the activities that take place during services can be counted on fingertips and can be completed in an hour or two by any guy with a spanner.

Of course one still needs to go for services in warranty period but once out of warranty, good riddance authorized service center!

[audioholic]

Quite a rampant practice. My approach is simple. I am very well sure about the carelessness shown by the service center people when it comes to two wheelers. Hence I make it a point to stand by my Dio when it is serviced. This way, the vehicle doesn't even go out for a 'test drive' unless I authorize them to do so in case required. Such things are very difficult to control in your absence and they will find some or the other excuse to make up for odo readings or fuel levels.

[Deep_Shri]

Thanks everyone. Moving to a different service centre is an option but going by how rampant the practice is stated to be, where is the trust?

There has to be some way to make these guys accountable. No one suggested a legal recourse so I guess no easy legal recourse is available.

Latest update is that I received an acknowledgment from RE to my email but nothing further. Tweet to @sidlal has had no response.

The bike sale is in the final stages of negotiation and will likely change hands on Wednesday as I am travelling till Tuesday. Losing about 5000 on the purchase price which I don't mind.

Cheers

Deep

[MHG]

Hi Deep,

I see a lot of people bashing you or reacting sarcastically to your decision to sell your motorcycle. I would like to stand up and support you fully.

Here is the thing about buying a motorcycle - you pay for a motorcycle which is expected to have a certain minimum quality and part of the money you pay also includes payment for the free services which are to be done according to certain standards.

The manufacturer is NOT doing you a "favor", nor should it expect you to be "proud" because you had an "opportunity" to buy the motorcycle. This is true even for the limited edition luxury cars whose purchases are invite-only. A lemon among these is still a lemon and shoddy service is still shoddy service. Once money has been exchanged, you have every right to expect minimums.

A motorcycle is not the first born child which you accept with all its faults and tenderly raise hoping for the best and pump a lot of money into very willingly. It is a mechanical device which should be built to certain standards.

An incident like this, coupled with the arrogance usually displayed at Royal Enfield showrooms (I have been to a few and the expectation to feel "privileged" to be there is always present) does indeed make Royal Enfield cheap.

While I am happy that you aren't loosing too much on your initial investment whilst reselling the motorcycle, ideally you should not have to lose ANY money on the motorcycle. Royal Enfield is duty bound to replace the motorcycle with a brand new one or refund the original purchase price in its entirety.

If they don't, they are going to continue living upto their reputation as the cheapest and lowest quality brand of motorcycles in India, only in the market because of extensive amounts of hype coupled with the fact that nobody else makes such retro/classic looking bikes or pseudo cruisers and they thus live competition free.

If you intend to buy another motorcycle, I suggest getting one backed by a company with a good service network and some self respect. A good research in your area of domicile and speaking to existing customers should help. If that is too much of an effort, buy a Bajaj CT100B. Click here to see how it looks. It is as classic and retro looking as a Royal Enfield (1980s look instead of 1950s look though), is very light in weight, has a really long seat and a luggage carrier (I actually intend to buy it for touring purposes here in the Himalayas), but costs under 38,000₹ on-road in Bangalore (highest tax in India - your city would be cheaper) and has an ARAI mileage of 99.1 km/l. Atleast it really is cheap to run and own, which should be a consolation if your Bajaj service center proves to be as bad as your Royal Enfield service center.

I must add - there are quite a few Royal Enfield dealers and mechanics who are extremely knowledgeable and sincere. Those who deal with them are truly fortunate. It is a pity the bad eggs are common (and visible) enough to ruin the goodwill the brand would otherwise enjoy.

Happy motoring!