{"id":237312,"date":"2023-09-06T07:23:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T07:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/?p=237312"},"modified":"2023-09-06T07:23:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T07:23:14","slug":"third-service-of-my-tata-altroz-dca-experience-observations-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/news-features\/third-service-of-my-tata-altroz-dca-experience-observations-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Third service of my Tata Altroz DCA: Experience, observations & costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The engine has opened up nicely and feels a lot more eager to drive when we mash the accelerator.<\/h2>\n

BHPian W.A.G.7<\/strong> recently shared this with other enthusiasts.<\/p>\n

So, around a week and a half ago on 5th Aug 2023 (to be precise on 8th Aug) we had our third and final free service done with Garve Tata. I refer to this as a “true” service because it involves an oil change. The prior two services were general checkups and involved only “top-ups” of certain fluids.<\/p>\n

On 5th Aug 2023, we reached the service centre in Narhe and it was a “haaaawww” moment for us. There were so many cars coming in for servicing, that it was impossible to even get the car inside the premises. The watchman told us to park the car right there and leave the keys in the car. When we went inside, it was another story. The whole area was choc-a-bloc with customers waiting to be assigned a service advisor. When we approached the reception, the overworked lady told us to take a seat and wait for at least 45 minutes! This was the story at 9.30 AM in the morning. We waited for 15 mins and figured out that we were surrounded by overworked receptionists and flustered service advisors who were just running around in circles with job cards and a different set of customers every time!<\/p>\n

Long story short, both of us instantly figured out that due to the overload on the particular Saturday, these unfortunate headless “chimkens” would hoodwink both of us like a couple of kids and possibly just wash and hand over the car to us. Actually, they did hoodwink us and we realized it today while we were penning down this report! How? Read on…<\/p>\n

Coming back to the main story, we approached the reception lady and asked to reschedule the appointment to 8th Aug (Tuesday) – she quickly assigned a Tuesday slot and almost stood up and thanked us both for getting ourselves and her out of the mess! Oh, the irony of selling too many cars and having the same “sized” service centres and dealers as yesteryears!!<\/p>\n

Tuesday turned out to be a blessing in disguise – there were hardly 4 or 5 more cars for servicing. Lesson learnt – never ever go to a service centre on a Saturday. While we were waiting, we were offered a mandatory coffee which we gulped (and instantly burned our soft palates once again; though the taste was really good!) while they assigned a service advisor. And guess what??<\/p>\n

Horror of horrors – he had a bad case of conjunctivitis and looked straight at us like this:<\/p>\n

My wife told him with a deadpan expression to get some rest and asked him to get hold of someone else. Someone else came and another “haaaawww” moment for us. The person coolly took over the pen and job card from him! We realized that we had to use Dettol Hand Sanitizer liberally when we got home, or else the same pen and job card would make us sitting ducks for conjunctivitis after we had signed the job card.<\/p>\n

But the other person was quite cool with the situation. He accompanied us to the car and wrote down the mandatory things. We asked him to check the TPMS warning once again and also check the seat height adjustment. Apart from this, there was really no other complaint about the car. He explained that this service will have the oil and oil filter changed along with the general checkup. He also offered us to change the front wipers to “frameless” ones – which we obliged because the original ones were making some noise. Usually, we make it a point to change the wipers once a year, no matter the condition. While we were leaving my wife told him to ensure that the car was washed properly when we would come to collect it in the evening because it was horribly muddy when we left it at the service centre.<\/p>\n

4 pm and they call us – saying the car is washed and ready and we can pick it up. We agreed to a time of 5 pm because we assumed that we would be back by 6-6.15 pm, as we both had meetings around 6.30 pm onwards. Classic case of assumptions gone bad. We reached there at sharp 5 pm and they assigned a person to us after 10 minutes or so. He said let’s check out the car before we get on with the paperwork – not a very good idea on his part!<\/p>\n

When we approached the car – we instantly saw was not washed completely – quite a lot of places still had muddy traces and swirls For some strange reason we realized that the car was completely fogged up from inside. My wife told him in no uncertain terms that if she doesn’t see the clean car in the next 10 minutes, he can very well go home with 0 out of 10 stars in his rating. Not a good start I told my Ecosport and we both agreed remotely. The conjunctivitis guy and his non-conjunctivitis friend (who got the job card signed by us) were nowhere to be seen. The new person got on the phone in a double and after a shouting session to someone on the other end of the line, we saw some 4 or 5 cleaner guys running towards the car. To cut the long story short (again!) they had the car exterior cleaned up in no time. That’s when part 2 of the cleaning saga unfolded!<\/p>\n

The new person confidently opened the door and another “haaaawww” moment for us. The driver-side doormat was dripping wet! Someone at the centre absent-mindedly had put the wet mat in the car after cleaning and closed it. With the wet mat and the car standing under the partly sunny, partly cloudy weather – the interiors got fogged up. This time, we both raised our voices and said we want the car cleaned up nice and proper else we are calling the TaMo customer care right now and escalating it to them. After some frantic shouting matches and around 4-5 service advisors running helter-skelter, they got the wet mat partially dried and the car cleaned up from the inside in the next 30-40 minutes. Again realisation dawned on us that neither of us was going to make it to our respective meetings – so a couple of frantic phone calls to colleagues excusing ourselves and we were back in the middle of this fiasco.<\/p>\n

In the meanwhile, they got the mat partially dried up and apologised to us saying it was an oversight. All said and done, we dried the mat at home but the wet water stench has remained in the car for 5-6 more days. Overall this time, the service experience at Garve Tata Service Centre in Narhe was underwhelming as compared to the prior two ones. Now, enough of the whole chimichanga and side stories – let’s get to the basics:<\/p>\n