I have been driving a Honda City for the last four years and I have been one of their satisfied customers as far as the car and its performance is concerned.. The car has been giving me good mileage, good driving comfort, low maintainence etc.

I was also fortunate not to have been caught in the downpour that flooded Mumbai last July and damaged most cars that were caught in it (fortunately, I was out of Mumbai then)..

The trouble began when I met with a minor accident last week while I was driving to work.. One trucker decided to squeeze his way past two cars and ended up touching my car and causing a dent on the back door..

I took the car to the dealership on tuesday (31st Jan, 2006) and was asked to park outside as I had no appointment (as if accident cases will come with appointment) and made to wait for an hour before someone could attend to me.. You see, they had only two people to handle this and both were busy..

After a long wait and some grumbling on my part, I got the appointment with the inspection engineer who came along with me and identified the parts to be repaired and replaced.. I organised for my insurance surveyor whose OK was needed to start the job..

My insurance surveyor gave his OK the next morning and was told that the car has very little work to be done and will be ready by saturday or earlier.. I called up on friday to enquire the status and was told that saturday was tough but I should check again the next day..

I called on saturday and was told that monday the car will be given.. I called on monday and was told it will be ready on tuesday ’’pucca’’... I called on tuesday and was told some issue has come up and the car will be ready only on wednesday.. I called on wednesday and guess what ? the car was not ready and will be ready only on thursday........

Each time I called I had to be routed to about 5-6 different people all of whom were busy and had no time or indormation on what was happening.. People kept me on hold, on music or sometimes even disconnected without any announcement.. Similarly, in the midst of a conversation with a guy, he would suddenly (without warning) transfer me to another guy !!! I was promised a call back several times and the calls never came as either the people were too busy or did not have the courage to come on line...

I tried speaking with the general manger only to be told that he is not available and will be coming to work only in second shift at 7pm... My messages obviously did not reach him as he never called back...

It is frustrating to see that while the manufacturer takes pain to make such a lovely vehicle, the service bit is not looked at all.. The manufacturer is only interested to see that the showroom looks big and spacious and alluring to the prospective buyer.. No point in wasting time on a customer after he has brought.... As if the customer will ever buy another vehicle form the manufacturer or dealer... Neither will a customer, ever refer to his friends and acquaintances about the vehicle in a positive way...

It is high time that the manufacturers pay attention to this key factor and shape up their services... Otherwise customers will just look the other way..

God help the Honda customers !!!

In the whole dealership, I only found one responsive and responsible girl (who obviously is a new joinee and therefore has not become part of the ’’system’’)....

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