[subratasenn]

Originally Posted by Apple Master

1st Service

I believe I made the right call to select Toyota as my brand, despite having mixed experience on two counts.

I think so too. Topsel Toyota is normally very good and quite understanding.
Can you tell me what are the exact paint/retouch jobs you did? And how much did it cost?

My car has picked up some minor scratches and I was just wondering…

Though I am still in two minds as picking up scratches is a way of life in Kolkata, specially when you have to park your car at public parking lots. even after the retouch a new scratch would come up in just about a month.

[Apple Master]

Originally Posted by subratasenn

Though I am still in two minds as picking up scratches is a way of life in Kolkata, specially when you have to park your car at public parking lots. even after the retouch a new scratch would come up in just about a month.

Mr. Senn I completely agree to this. These drivers I tell you. Everyone is just so keen to overtake. Nobody enjoys driving

Originally Posted by subratasenn

I think so too. Topsel Toyota is normally very good and quite understanding.

Can you tell me what are the exact paint/retouch jobs you did? And how much did it cost?

I believe my neighbour did the paint job in good faith, he didn't charge anything. A gentleman he is I must say. So I have no idea what the cost of paint job would have been like.

As for the procedure, I was said that the entire car was covered except the affected corner protector and the technician applied the classic grey metallic paint in that region and then it was allowed to dry. As for the scuff, since a spray paint would have spoilt the look, they applied grey color paint and the minor scratch got camouflaged. After the retouch was complete, the car was cleaned again.

[driving_smartly]

A bitter experience turned to better thanks to your neighbour, you are a lucky chap to have such a friendly neighbour .

How serious was the nature of abrasion ?

Why was the service center so reluctant not to do the job at first instance when you pointed out ?

Did they accept that it was their mistake and something went wrong during the tenor they had vehicle with them?

As far as i know before servicing the SA would have done complete exterior body checkup and marked his remarks in sheet of paper. As done in my case during first service.

Did you click any before and after pictures ?

[Apple Master]

Originally Posted by driving_smartly

How serious was the nature of abrasion ?

Here is the picture



It is not that serious but still it happened due to the carelessness of some technician, and they must have accepted that.

Originally Posted by driving_smartly

Why was the service center so reluctant not to do the job at first instance when you pointed out ?

No idea, I guess that person in-charge was trying to save his skin. I tried to reason but it went in vain.

Originally Posted by driving_smartly

Did they accept that it was their mistake and something went wrong during the tenor they had vehicle with them?

No they didn't accept their fault. I took the above picture this morning. So you can understand this problem was never solved.

Originally Posted by driving_smartly

As far as i know before servicing the SA would have done complete exterior body checkup and marked his remarks in sheet of paper. As done in my case during first service.

Yes they followed the same procedure in our case also. Here, I'm to blame. It was our first time, didn't know all the procedures that Toyota follows. We parked the car and the lady in-charge took over, she checked and scribbled something. I didn't know she was noting down any defects in the car. I guess my inexperience was to blame. Otherwise I could have challenged in a different way while receiving our car after service. The process became clear to me while I visited them the second time for car wash.

Originally Posted by driving_smartly

Did you click any before and after pictures ?

No, I didn't. Had no idea something like this would happen in service center. The second time that I went, clicked some pictures as proof.

As it turned out, the entire episode was a bitter learning curve for me.

[driving_smartly]

Originally Posted by Apple Master

Yes they followed the same procedure in our case also. Here, I'm to blame. It was our first time, didn't know all the procedures that Toyota follows.

Its a common process followed by every service center at-least that is my experience with both Toyota & Hyundai. I will not blame you, the SA should have been prompt to inform you if there was any observation regarding abrasion, dent or any minor scratches. We may assume as the SA did not inform you means the vehicle was fine when you handed them for servicing. In my case there was minor scratch on right hand side fender near indicator and SA was quick to inform me the same to which i agreed as i knew it existed.

I had bitter taste with Hyundai dealership, my Santros jack was missing while taking back delivery from paid service where the SA was hell bent that jack was not present when i handed them the car. Then i insisted to see the paper where he jotted down details and it was clearly marked that jack was present in the car. I said you beg borrow or steal i want my jack back or get ready to face the music. What he did next was a shock for me he went inside showroom opened a new santros boot which was there on display took the new jack and placed it in my boot.

From my next service which was last in any of the Hyundai A.S.S i made them write no of mattings, no of spanner and screw driver etc apart from their standard note down

Experience is a great teacher which takes test first and then teaches lesson

[Samba]

Even i had a similar experience at Topsel Toyota. Off-late i must say there service has deteriorated than what it was a year back. Its not the service executives its the technicians over there. Last day i was surprised to see how one technician misbehaved with a service executive in front of all the customers in the customer lounge. The reason was the service executive asked him to deliver one Fortuner a bit quickly and he refused but the service executive insisted him to get the job earlier and he lost his cool and blasted the service executive!! The service executive just kept quite. I was surprised if these guys are so hot tempered then how they handle the cars when there is no one to see! Just to share an experience just have a look on my Etios thread on post number 92 & 96. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...nt-view-7.html On the second instance just like you they did the work in a satisfactory way. But why should one has to waste his time and go for a second visit?

Just to share, one Etios owner at Topsel Toyota told me now a days Saini Toyota at Alampur do a far better job than Topsel Toyota. But am yet to experience the work of Saini Toyota. If Topsel Toyota continue to be reckless i will definitely shift to Saini Toyota.

These kind of mishandling of cars were not there at Toyota earlier but presently it seems they have joined the game too! Just few months back i started a thread solely on mishandling of cars by India Dealers. You can even have a look over here. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ny-remedy.html

[Apple Master]

Originally Posted by driving_smartly

Regarding rear speaker I had enquired at two different dealerships in my city surprisingly both had contradicting suggestions.

Wasan toyota said you cannot install rear speaker even if I get it done through them.

Millennium toyota said that i can get it installed from them and it won't void any warranty.

I asked Toyota India regarding this matter and they said fitting rear speakers will void the warranty. What I don't understand is the fact that if installing rear speakers voids warranty then why provide grooves to install them in Etios and also mention it in ownership manual.

Originally Posted by driving_smartly

Toyota technical person from Bangalore called me to inform any kind of modification with tachometer even if dealers agree would void warranty from toyota.

After that even the dealer called me to informed that they cannot make any changes to speedometer.

Got the same reply from my SO prior delivery.

Originally Posted by driving_smartly

Well I was not at all disappointed as I am thinking of buying OBD2 from eBay as discussed in team bhp.

I was initially inclined towards buying a OBD2 but then decided against it. A lot of settings had to be entered in Torque or Dashcmd app, and the funny thing is about half of them I have no idea.

driving_smartly, if you end up buying an OBD2 and figure out the perfect settings, feel free to share them. At this moment they are way too confusing to me. But yes a lot of the settings will be different for Liva compared to Etios like kerb weight etc.

[Baddychat]

Congratulation Apple Master on your first car. Wishing you thousands of happy and safe miles on your new ride.

As dr mohit pointed out in a post, I am also of the opinion that you could have opted for the G-SP variant. Other than that there is nothing much which can go wrong with a Toyota. My major grouse with G-variant on both the Etios and the Liva is that Toyota does not provide a tacho or a trip meter. I wonder why for a car which would cost someone nearly 700k.

Cheers. And do keep updating the thread.

[Apple Master]

Originally Posted by Baddychat

Congratulation Apple Master on your first car. Wishing you thousands of happy and safe miles on your new ride.

As dr mohit pointed out in a post, I am also of the opinion that you could have opted for the G-SP variant. Other than that there is nothing much which can go wrong with a Toyota. My major grouse with G-variant on both the Etios and the Liva is that Toyota does not provide a tacho or a trip meter. I wonder why for a car which would cost someone nearly 700k.

Cheers. And do keep updating the thread.

Thank u Baddychat. Will keep it updated.

When we booked the car the the Xclusive editions were coming in G and GD versions. G SP didn't have xclusive edition, which meant we had to give the rear sensors and bluetooth audio system a miss for safety features. So our only option was GD Xclusive and a deisel version was not the requirement and also it would have been way out of our budget. It was a tough decision, and we decided to stick with G 'xclusive'.

Before booking I had to chance to go through @Samba's ownership report where he shared his experience with the remarking braking system of Etios without ABS. I took courage from that. Link to post #2 of his review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post3135090

From my short experience I can say that the braking in Etios without ABS is extremely good. While driving encountered a couple of occasions to apply emergency brakes and the car stopped instantly. My speed was always below 60kmph.

One of my colleagues said that one can fit airbags as a aftermarket accessory. I know Toyota will not provide it, but I was wondering can an car accessories shop achieve it without compromising the stock electrical systems, obviously the warranty will get void. Asking it just out of curiosity.

[subratasenn]

Originally Posted by Samba

Even i had a similar experience at Topsel Toyota. Off-late i must say there service has deteriorated than what it was a year back.

Just to share, one Etios owner at Topsel Toyota told me now a days Saini Toyota at Alampur do a far better job than Topsel Toyota. But am yet to experience the work of Saini Toyota. If Topsel Toyota continue to be reckless i will definitely shift to Saini Toyota.

This is bad news that Topsel Toyota service has deteriorated. This can always be a problem if you have a monopoly in a region. That was one reason why I was initially a bit sceptical to go for a Toyota in West Bengal.

Good news is that there is a new dealer of Toyota now. Would like to hear more about Saini Toyota from people who have actually experienced their service. By the way, where is Alampore?

Originally Posted by Apple Master

One of my colleagues said that one can fit airbags as a aftermarket accessory. I know Toyota will not provide it, but I was wondering can an car accessories shop achieve it without compromising the stock electrical systems, obviously the warranty will get void. Asking it just out of curiosity.

Would suggest not to go with after-market accessories like air-bag. These sort of safety features are better bought factory-fitted.

[Apple Master]

Originally Posted by subratasenn

Would suggest not to go with after-market accessories like air-bag. These sort of safety features are better bought factory-fitted.

I have no plans to fit airbags, I just wanted to know what do the aftermarket guys do to fit these bags. How do they achieve it? Just for the sake of knowledge.

[Baddychat]

Originally Posted by Apple Master

Thank u Baddychat. Will keep it updated.

When we booked the car the the Xclusive editions were coming in G and GD versions. G SP didn't have xclusive edition, which meant we had to give the rear sensors and bluetooth audio system a miss for safety features. So our only option was GD Xclusive and a deisel version was not the requirement and also it would have been way out of our budget. It was a tough decision, and we decided to stick with G 'xclusive'.

Before booking I had to chance to go through @Samba's ownership report where he shared his experience with the remarking braking system of Etios without ABS. I took courage from that. Link to post #2 of his review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post3135090

From my short experience I can say that the braking in Etios without ABS is extremely good. While driving encountered a couple of occasions to apply emergency brakes and the car stopped instantly. My speed was always below 60kmph.

One of my colleagues said that one can fit airbags as a aftermarket accessory. I know Toyota will not provide it, but I was wondering can an car accessories shop achieve it without compromising the stock electrical systems, obviously the warranty will get void. Asking it just out of curiosity.

I am not saying in anyway that the brakes on the Etios are not up to the mark. IMO you would need the ABS to kick in maybe once/twice in the lifetime of a car and at that point it is a good to have thing.
I understand you conundrum. I was in the market for a small car last year, a diesel. The Liva and the figo were on my list. The Liva top end was the GD-Sp or the Exclusive. I liked the interiors of the latter. One of my requirements was ABS/Airbags and hence had to skip the Liva. Went for the Figo instead.
I still think that the Etios/Liva are extremely cheap to maintain.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by subratasenn

This is bad news that Topsel Toyota service has deteriorated. This can always be a problem if you have a monopoly in a region. That was one reason why I was initially a bit sceptical to go for a Toyota in West Bengal.

Good news is that there is a new dealer of Toyota now. Would like to hear more about Saini Toyota from people who have actually experienced their service. By the way, where is Alampore?

Hope Topsel Toyota reverts back to there flawless servicing once they start to feel the heat from Saini Toyota.

If you want to visit Saini Toyota take 2nd Hooghly bridge and come to the Bombay road (Nh6) crossing through Kona expressway. From Kona expressway turn left on Bombay road, with 2-3 minutes of drive you will find the Saini Toyota showroom on the right hand side. Its before the first toll both on Nh6. If you reach till the toll booth then you have left Saini Toyota behind.

[Apple Master]

Originally Posted by Samba

Hope Topsel Toyota reverts back to there flawless servicing once they start to feel the heat from Saini Toyota. If you want to visit Saini Toyota take 2nd Hooghly bridge and come to the Bombay road (Nh6) crossing through Kona expressway. From Kona expressway turn left on Bombay road, with 2-3 minutes of drive you will find the Saini Toyota showroom on the right hand side. Its before the first toll both on Nh6. If you reach till the toll booth then you have left Saini Toyota behind.

Got a glimpse of a showroom of Toyota in Howrah beside Bombay road while returning from Digha few months back. From your description and after googling now I recollect that it was Saini Toyota. Two things come to mind. First, the place is really dusty, I could only imagine the effort it takes to keep the showroom clean. Second, the showroom is located in an inconvenient location for people of Kolkata.

I feel Saini Toyota should expand their business to Kolkata, only then there will be true competition between Topsel Toyota and Saini Toyota.

[Wanderers]

Hi Apple Master,

How do you rate the attitude & service quality of Topsel Service Center staff.

When I was in Kolkata ( till 1998), The Maruti ASC behaved like superheads obliging us with the service.

I thought the Bengal would have changed for good but last year, the same old bitter experience was repeated with Renault Duster ASC. Less said the better.

I hope Toyota's are different in Kolkata as having driven Maruti, Honda, Hyundai, Mahindra & Toyota, I find Toyota ASC to be the best of the mentioned lot.