Yeah, They are serious about business this time.
I am going to share some extreme ends of bitter and sweet experiences I faced at Fiat this time.
Let me start with the sweet piece first.
In 2012 a BMTC rear ended my car while I was waiting at signal, police case filed, I forgave the driver and car was deposited to KHT for repair. The rear bonnet was replaced under zero dep coverage. No issue with any moving part since the car was stationary.
The repair was done by KHT motors, who back then took their sweeeet time to do the bodywork. The new boot was painted in a hurry since I wanted my car ASAP after 30 days of car lying at workshop.
The paintjob was awful, as expected from KHT motors back then (ironical consequences to follow).
So back in 2012, it was hard to get service appointments at KHT. Their appointments whiteboards use to overflow with SA's assignments. Like maybe 25-30 odd cars or more per day.
So coming to present. I opened my boot one fine day in Jan/Feb this year and was aghast to find rust formation on the boot sealings.
Here are the images
My extended warranty got over in Nov 2014 so I knew that I will have to spare few thousands to get the work done.
But before putting moolah, I thought I would better report this to Fiat for record. Within a few hours after I sent the email, I got a callback from KHT service Manager asking the time when they can pick up the car?
FYI, my Linea was bought in Nov 2010 and warranty was over in Nov 2014.
Since I was busy at office I asked if I can give the car on a weekend. The SM was reluctant and wanted to the car asap. I could sense panic in his voice.
He later told me he has to close this issue in within 5 days of reportting. Thats the new SLA defined by Fiat apparently
I went to KHT by myself to give to have a personal inspection. It was a new surprise awaiting at KHT makeshift service station.
There is a complete overhaul wrt human resources. The jokers have been removed and I came to know that they have joined Carnation and VW.
I vowed and pledged that I will never visit VW and carnation in my life.
And another big surprise was their appointment whiteboard on a saturday. 7 cars only on a weekend versus 50 odd back in 2012. In that list 2 of them were for repairs and 5 for service. KHT seems to have learnt it pretty hard way.
And so I gave my car. But there is a pattern with KHT, the car has to go back again due to inevitable recurrence. They put sealant, painted the ends and gave the car back with new scratches on top of the boot. I was furious, gave my piece of mind and they took my car again and painted the entire boot.
This was all done for Rs. 0.00
Here is post painting condition.
Apart from that they also fixed the rattling doors and boot locking issue(My key was not working with the boot.)
While I was at KHT waiting for the manager to come meet me I was noticing the people around in their makeshift office. Everything was going fine when all of sudden one of the SA took out a pack of gutkha and put it his mouth like a pro - Disgusting !
So this was the sweet side. Finally I got my car back with lots of Oil Polish on the dashboard-
Tried my best to save the shirt sleeves.
Here is one bitter experience at Vecto which ended sweet at Pride Cars.
I think every single Linea has a problem of left/right pulling. Mine had too since day-1 and fixing the alignment could only fix the issue temporarily.
Second I was getting creaking sound while turning the car at slightly high speeds say 30 kmph or while going over the potholes.
I took it to Vecto and they royaly told me to replace the suspension since it has gone bad (exact words) and slapped me with a quote of 18k. I refused it for further inspection.
And to my utter surprise when I took the car back from there it started to pull like crazy. I knew they have screwed up something badly during the diagnosis.
I could not believe them since last time they told me to replace clutch when water entered the clutch which expelled automatically and car normalized. They gave a quote of 35k back then.
With that issue, I went to multiple forums and got to know about Pride cars in Banshankari. Took the car there and Mr. Harsh was kind enough to inspect my car immediately. He laughed and told me not to worry.
The left pulling was due to improper adjustment of head nut. He calibrated the tensions in no time and voila ! the 4 years problem was solved. Now no more pulling left/right and the car runs in a straight line like a horse.
Here is the nut getting tuned by Mr. Harsh
Next was the turn to fix creaking sound, which was not fixed after tuning the suspension rod adjustment. Then what was the issue?
Sherlock Holmen anyone?
Haah ! It was the engine guard deformation which was touched by the turbo while the car was turning or going over potholes. Mr. Harsh opened the engine guard and showed me the point where turbo was screeching the guard-
With careful eyes you can see the deformation.
So the solution was - a few hammering on the engine guard, bring it to shape. Problem Solved.
I wanted to get more work done at pride cars for simple reason that I was very happy and satisfied.
I recalled the rat issue in my car. Since the wiper cowl was opened I asked him to replace the rat mesh. There was another surprise for me right there.
Back in 2012 I had paid 500 rs to KHT to install a rat mesh, and here is how they did it -
Even a snake, small sized racoon, fox, puppy could enter the AC vent.
And this how it was done by Mr. Harsh, well this is how it is supposed to be done.
For all this work the bill was Rs. 800/- (Eight Hundred Only).
I came back with a big grin on my face full of satisfaction. How my 4 years old car feels better than new since some simple issues were conceived as Congenital.