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BHPian ashutoshb recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Mini update on some warranty claims.
Headlight LED blinker not working.
Since the car is still under warranty, I sent the driver to one of the Delhi service centres. The service advisor there misguided my driver. Told him that this was due to external damage and that a new headlight would cost XX rupees. The car never met with an accident. Both headlamps were fine. The front bumper was fine. Even DRLs were working fine. How come damage was done only to a chip for the blinker?
When I spoke to him over the phone and confronted him, he changed his tune and told me that he had placed an order for a new headlight and I should send the car in two days for a replacement. Then he never picked up the call to confirm whether the part had arrived and never replied to my messages. Their customer care called for feedback, I explained the situation, and she apologised, promised to call back and never called back again.
Then, I sent the car to another service centre. They inspected the car and changed the headlight without creating any fuss.
Rear Camera's output is dark.
The reverse camera was pretty dark. At night could not see a thing. The service centre says this is external damage, and can't do anything under warranty. Charge me 1800 rupees as inspection charges. The car comes back to me, I take a look at the car, looking where the damage is. There were four scratches around 4 inches from the camera. No damage to the camera, bumper, or anything.
This time I visited the service centre and had to argue with them. They tell me all kinds of stories. That, when a bumper takes a hit, the internals of the camera get damaged. I told them, first there was no damage anywhere, and they should open the camera and show me the damage. They start opening the bumper, and in the process, we find out that it was just a case of loose cable. And they had charged me 1800 rupees for not doing anything.
Pale LED DRLs.
I knew the DRLs had turned pale, they never bothered me that much. But, when one headlight got changed because of the blinker, it looked horrible. One white, one pale yellow. I asked them to change the second one too, under warranty. They refused, citing minor scratches on the other headlight. They were really minor. Had the headlight been damaged, I would have paid for it without any fuss. I again had to argue, how are the scratches related to the LED turning yellow. They finally gave in and told me that they had sent a mail to the company and awaiting a go-ahead. The go-ahead came around 30-40 minutes later and the other headlight got changed too.
At Tata, in all these years, I never had to argue over a warranty claim. At Skoda, I haven't claimed any warranty yet, so can't say. However, I can compare the parts used with MG. MG parts, though look good, have given me quality issues. No such problem with Skoda till now.
Flat refusal, without even looking at the problem, should not be the default attitude. Since I faced this at two separate service centres, it shows the culture of the company, not the service centre. They should know the difference between genuine cases and freeloaders. I never asked them to refund the 1800 rupees they charged for warranty defects, but charging me in the first place was wrong.
On a related note, when I visited another dealership to check out the Windsor, I was told that test drives are being given first to those who are booking the car. Never ever have I heard this crap anywhere else.
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