Here is another example of the quality of service provided by Maruti. I am pasting the mail that I had sent to Cheif General Manager of Maruti Suzuki 2 months ago without any response from him till now!
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To
Mr. Pankaj Narula
Chief General Manager (Service)
Maruti Suzuki India Limited
Gurgaon
Subject: Dissatisfaction with my Swift issues & dealer’s service around them
Dear Mr. Narula,
Wish you and the entire Maruti staff a very Happy and Successful New Year!
I own a Swift VXI 2006 model car and I have had some of my best moments shared with this car as this happens to be my fist car. Prior to buying Swfit VXI, I have driven multiple cars (owned by my people) and was always proud of the value Marti delivered as a brand to its customers. The major reason to choose Swift over other brands was its technical strengths and overall promise of the brand value projected by Maruti as an organization.
My car dealer is: R.K.S Motors, Somajiguda, Hyderabad.
After I purchased the car, initially I had no issues and I was very happy with it. I drove the car at prescribed speeds for the 1000 KM limit, which I completed in a matter of 20 days. Right after this, I noticed a problem with the A/C. There was a strange smell from AC (a mix of chalk-piece, spirit and old damp dirty cloth kind of smell) when I accelerated the car at 1st, 2nd or 3rd gears. I took it straight to the dealer for repair and explained the issue, for which they said they cleaned the air filter and A/c blower parts and the problem is fixed.
To my surprise, the problem was far from fixed; I could observe the same smell from A/C right at the time of driving my car home from the service workshop. Then started a saga of follow-ups and check-ups with the dealer which continued through the 1st till 3rd service and is continuing till date after 2 years of owning this car. The A/C smell problem is not resolved so far and I gave up surrendering to the technical incompetency of the staff working at this dealer location.
Just before my 3rd paid servicing, I noticed another problem, a strange sound coming from my brakes area especially front wheels whenever I applied the breaks. I informed this to be a problem and the technical representative said they will look into it. During the delivery of my car after 3rd service, he said the problem is fixed, which was true for a period of 2 weeks, only to return back. Again my saga of follow-ups and multiple check-ups with the service center started but right till this moment, my break noise issue is not resolved! This is only an addition to my existing A/C smell issue which remained unresolved for 2 years now.
The break noise issue was first diagnosed as breaks cleanup problem, next it was diagnosed as metal touching the break problem, next it was diagnosed as the differential problem and I was asked to take less sharper turns with the vehicle (contradicting what you show as Swift’s USP in the advertisements) which I adhered to and now, it is diagnosed as just a problem! This time, I am afraid if this problem turns out to be life threatening by way of break-failure at some point of time and I simply cannot surrender to the technical incompetency for such a potentially big problem.
I see these two problems as an eloquent testimony of the technical incapability of the staff working at my dealer location. This has not only costed me my time and energy but have bought a lot of heart-burn towards overall Maruti’s service setup.
I believed Swift to be a safe and dependable car (which it was till it got these irresolvable issues) but me and many others like me would not be able to afford their time and money for the multiple visits to compensate for the technical inability of employed personnel at the service center. Especially with the potential situation of my 2nd problem around noises coming from applying breaks, I see it no less than life-threatening which has negatively impacted my confidence in the safety and dependability of the car.
I have great respect and pride in Maruti as an Indian organization which has played a great role in improving the overall standards of life for Indian car customer and is continuing its efforts to do so. But with issue like the ones I have with my car, not getting fixed on multiple painful visits, it is disheartening to note the state of your service setup which is again advertised as the USP for Maruti as a brand.
I believe one cannot own a product like a car without a strong technical service support. Due to this, I am now planning to sell my Swift VXI to buy another brand car. Initially I wanted to upgrade my Swift to an SX4 but I see very weak chance of that happening especially with competitor brands like Honda (Honda City to be specific).
For all the loyalty I had for Maruti and the love I had for my Swift car, I am taking out this time out from my busy schedule to write to you my heartfelt feedback. I seriously suggest you to look into the lack of technical knowledge of the staff at this dealer’s location and plan for upgrading it at the earliest.
I am myself a manager for software development in a reputed organization and I understand the importance of customer feedback to improve my products and services. I hope you also give the same significance and importance to a customer feedback and will take steps for improvement of your services to your customers.
Please let me know what do you want me to do with these 2 problems in my Swift car! I would love to hear from you before I take any further steps away from Maruti as a brand and a reputed Indian organization.
Thank you,
Ramgopal Marepally
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