I am sure everyone of you must have faced bike service center problems – one or the other! Why are things not improving? Why are makers quiet…?
I’ve never been satisfied with the way the authorized 2-wheeler service centers operate in India. I’ve visited workshops from almost all brands and various cities for some reason or the other, but none of them stood upto satisfactory levels.
Even if you buy the costliest bikes from Bajaj, Yamaha, Hero or any other manufacturer, chances are that you will not get proper service with all your complaints attended. Case for the basic, cheaper models would probably be even worse. Sometimes even the most basic attributes like washing and cleaning are not taken care of.
Recently, I gave my bike for servicing with just a single complaint – it was the malfunctioning of the digital speedometer console. I was surprised to see that the ONLY problem I’d mentioned was left unattended. I, then, was not interested in talking to the guys out there. So, I went to the service manager and he finally assured me (after showing my id card and of course after blasting him) that he’ll get it rectified in a day’s time.
I am not naming the brand of my motorcycle since I don’t want to target one single maker – this is applicable to almost every manufacturer out there!
Why is it that the service centers pay least attention when it comes to servicing? It’s not a low margin/low profit business by the way. In fact, it is the service and spare parts that earn every maker the majority of their profit margins. Then what makes them so lethargic in their working style?
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Here are a few pointers that make me highly unsatisfied with most of the authorized service centres…
- The area where they operate is not all spacious enough to get all the bikes coming for servicing to be parked. This results in close parking of the bikes, thereby getting scratched even when the guys working there try to pull your bike out.
- I have seen them accelerating brand new motorcycles and scooters to red lines and they don’t care about it.
- The job sheets are not given due importance. When the service attendant makes an entry of your bike’s problem into it, you will notice the fact that they sometimes write something irrelevant – could be lack of knowledge or simple plain negligence!
- Customer satisfaction at every service centre should be directly measured and monitored. Manufacturers should be most interested in knowing how the service centers are treating their customers!
- The entire set up of service centres in a lot of cases is highly unorganized and non-professional to the core. Quality training has to be provided to these service centres by the company directly. It so happens with my nearest service center that I see random mechanics performing jobs on customer’s vehicles, specially when flow is higher.
- Make the customers feel that irrespective of whatever model you bring for servicing, be it the most expensive one or the least expensive one, the service quality will be the same throughout the range.
- Most of the showrooms have a customer lounge and again in most of the cases, it is not properly maintained.
- A lot of the times customers are charged for jobs/parts they do not order. If a part has to be replaced or a job has to be performed, the service centers should call up the customer and take permission rather than give him an painful surprise in the evening!
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Above all, it is the attitude of the service center folks that is problematic and the willingness to put the customer first is missing. They try to cross-sell when clearly that product is not required. Some of them terrify the customers that if he/she doesn’t get a particular job done at his service center (for instance purchase of engine oil), his bike’s warranty will get lapsed!
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Why is it that manufacturers also focus more on the sales side rather than the service side? I do not expect any drastic change in the way things work in these service centres but it is high time makers notice and crack the whip!
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Are you also affected by such bad experiences? Share your thoughts with us below..
–M.Naren
