re: Review: 1st-gen Honda Amaze (2013) I'm not sure if this is the right thread to post this incident and I request the mods to move it to the appropriate thread.
What was planned to be a peaceful movie outing along the coast of ECR in prarthana drive-in theatre turned out to be a nightmare.I own a Honda amaze diesel variant that has clocked 74k kms.The car had its first visit to a car accessory shop in all of the three years of ownership as I had a practise of servicing only in the authorised dealership.I am the only one to drive the car as both my parents don't drive.New headlamps were fitted along with an ceiling mounted monitor that had its output"aux"ed to the stock audio system since I didn't want the local guys meddling with the steering controls.
The same day,I planned a 10.30p.m show in prarthana drive-In theatre with my family.All went well,till exactly at 12.00 a.m in the interval to the movie,that I discovered that the car wasn't cranking.Immediate memory of installing the powerful headlamps,coupled with the 74k kms run stock battery flickered my thought process.Cranking repeatedly provided no success.The car was coughing and troubling to get started.I was stranded at the middle of a night,with my family in a place on the outskirts of the city.I was just happy that we were atleast guarded inside the theatre premises.
My next course of action was to call Honda customer care and to my surprise,what happened in the next 90 minutes was crucial and a testimony to Honda customer support.The customer care guy asked info about my registration number,chassis number,my location and then promised to call back in 10 minutes.He later promptly called and informed that a team has been dispatched to reach my location within an hours time and asked me to sit tight.In the course of the next 1 hour,as the second part of the movie was being screened,I was called thrice by Honda customer care updating me regarding the service team's wherewittals.I was now feeling a bit relieved,yet skeptical.
The movie got completed by 1.15a.m and the security watchman in the theatre premise asked me to move my vehicle out of the theatre,whilst I told him of my ordeal,he brought an young chap and got him to try and start my car even after explaining that the battery is dead.When it was clear that the car wasn't starting,he called for his other companions and suggested them that the car be ousted from the premises as they had to follow a strict time schedule to close the theatre at the required time.This all happened,when i was stranded with my sister and my arthritis mother who cant walk for more than 100 meter without taking a break.Meanwhile thankfully I got the call from Honda roadside assistance that they were on the gates of the theatre.
Two guys in a scooty came rushing to our spot and frantically got to work.They initially thought that since our car was parked on an incline,on the ramp of the drive in theatre,there would have been an airlock due to the inclined position and low fuel,even though I reminded them that I had nearly a quarter of the fuel tank filled up.They turned over the backseat and stirred to try and release the airlock,while I was trying to start the car,but to no avail,the car was still coughing.
Then they brought out a battery and jump started the car,and voila it came back to life,and we were soo relieved.All this while,a group of 4 watchmen of the theatre kept pestering the Honda guys to speed up the repair process or tow the vehicle outside the theatre.The Honda guys gave a mouthful and explained that it is unbecoming of them to be so self centered so as to try and throw the customers out as soon as the movie is finished without any regard to their well being.
We thanked the two Honda guys,and carefully drove back home,ensuring that the vehicle doesnt stall whatsoever.I got a call at 2.45a.m from the Honda guy who helped us JumpStart the vehicle and enquired if we reached home safe.
This experience was in stark contrast to the tata customer care that I experienced 5 months back on our trip to coorg.MY uncles tata aria had its engine malfunction and abs malfunction led burning on the dashboard just in the border area of Karnataka,in chamrajnagar.We were travelling from coimbatore to coorg,via dhimbam ghats.The nearest major town was mysure,which is nearly 80kms from our location.I called the tata customer care and they asked me first whether I experienced powerloss, observed any different coloured smoke and then advised me to not drive the vehicle,while they contact the nearest tata dealer to get in touch with me and call me back.When I received no calls for 30 mins,I called them back with the provided complaint number,they informed me that since it was Sunday,the dealership at mysuru is closed and that we have no choice but to find an alternate source of transport.When I started questioning their hefty service ads,they offered to contact the tata dealership in mysuru to receive my car,and look into the problem while we had to find an alternate transport to coorg.This time too,I was with my uncles family,and we didn't take any chance with the tata dealership guys.We drove the truck along with the malfunction light all the way up to coorg,and surprisingly the light disappeared the next day,and didn't reappear for the entire trip.
This ordeal left a scary impression of customer care service of Indian car companies, and so I even contemplated the plan to send my family in an uber back home,whilst I stay with the car to repair it the next morning,due to the constant pestering of the theatre watchmen.Thankfully Honda's service saved me from a lot of difficulties.
Im not trying to glorify a particular manufacturere here,but to report my experience with both.It sure could have been the other way round for many folks.Our last car was an tata indigo that we used for five years before letting it go and I personally loved the vehicle to bits.I was upset when tata zest was launched just two months after we purchased the amaze,and constantly complained to my family every time I see an zest on road that,I should waited for two more months.I was and am a ardent fan of zest,but now I have found peace with my decision to buy the Honda after the latest ordeal and I thank the gods above for it. |