If you thought your vehicle was in safe hands at a service centre then you may be surprised to know that an alarming number of gaffes are made by authorised showroom mechanics themselves. From minor irritants like a scratched headlamp or dysfunctional tail light, to serious problems like reduced mileage, city motorists have begun to compare trips to the service centre to opening a Pandora’s-box.

Aditya, an employee of Satyam, says, “My car met with an accident that damaged the chassis, the local mechanic suggested we replace it. Since it’s a major procedure we decided to get it done by an authorised dealer and took the vehicle to the Talwar Hyundai service centre.” To their surprise, the executive at the service centre insisted that there was nothing wrong with the chassis and the problem could be solved in a couple of days. “When we went to collect the vehicle five days later, he sheepishly told us that the chassis indeed needed replacing. This took another 10 days. What was worse is that once we got the car back, we noticed that the mileage had reduced drastically and the wheel alignment was faulty,” adds Chandrashekar.

Raja Sanjeeva Rao, general manager (sales and marketing),Talwar Hyundai, clarifies, “On any given day we have 80 vehicles that are brought to us for servicing and repairs. But such occurrences are rare. If customers are dissatisfied, we send our mechanics to sort out their issue.” Sandeep Gabbula an IT employee had a similar experience when he took his bike for servicing. “I used to take it to the Hero Honda showroom in Sainikpuri. But I noticed that the performance wasn’t as good after servicing and there were scratches on the headlight,” he says. Unhappy with the ‘authorised’ service, he now relies on a local mechanic. Rashmi Singh who bought a Honda Activa from Pratul Honda in Somajiguda was dismayed when after the first free service, she discovered that the both the indicators and the tail light of her bike were not working. “The bike was fine before the servicing. Now I have to wait till  my next service is due,” she says.

But showrooms are quick to defend themselves. C.S. Rao of Pratul Honda adds, “We have a quality control team that double checks vehicles once servicing has been carried out. If despite this there is a problem we request customers to come back. We even have postservice follow-up services