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Vehicle Service Stations & How They Cheat Their Customers.


AJIT

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 HOW YOUR FAMOUS FIVE STAR VEHICLE SERVICE STATION IN SRI LANKA, CHEAT YOU / RIP OFF.

a. Filter Px : They insist on using their Filters. ie. Oil, Air, Fuel. If you challenge it, they will say that, there Filters are the most reliable & they will take t
he responsibility. But, the truth is that, there is no way for us to prove that, THE BREAK DOWN OF YOUR VEHICLE IS DUE TO THE QUALITY OF THE FILTERS. Therefore, even if you use Service Station Filters or any other parties filters or Authorized / Sole Agents Filters, the result is same. The Px of their Filters are aprox. Rs. 1,000.00 - 3,000.00, more than the Filters available in reputed Spare Parts Shops. As the service stations are highest users / bulk users of Filters, they should charge less than the Spare Parts Shops. But, the Service Stations charge very much more. Pl. get the DISCOUNTED Pxs of the Filters from a reputed Spare Parts Shop & compare with the charges given in your next service bill. If you do not have a reputed Spare Parts Shop, check with G.S. AUTO SPARES (PVT) LTD. TEL. NO. 4542666 / 3136977 / 0773404497 - This is where I buy it.

SOLUTION : ALWAYS BUY YOUR FILTERS FROM A REPUTED SPARE PARTS SHOP, AT THE HIGHEST DISCOUNT.

b.Filter lifetime : Each type of Filter has a lifetime for usage. It is given by the manufacturer. eg. Oil Filters - 5,000 kms ; Air Filter - 10,000 kms ; Fuel Filter - 15,000.00 kms. When the vehicle is handed over to the Service Station, they will fill up a check list & get your signature. They will always put it to your mouth saying that, we will change all Filters & it will be marked in the check list. Specially, if you are sending the Vehicle through a Driver / Employee, they will do so. At some Service Stations, a tip is given to the Driver / Employee, based on the value of the service bill. The truth is that, at 5,000 km service, you have to change only the Oil Filter & the other two Filters are still usable. But, they will change all Filters & if you challenge, they will show the check list signed by you. They replace all the Filters & keep the Fuel Filter & Air Filter (which is still usable) with them. They will clean your Filters & use it to another Customers Vehicle & charge him for new Filters. Therefore, even your Vehicle will get used Filters & you will be charged for new Filters.

SOLUTION : ASK FOR THE LIFE TIME OF EACH FILTER (OR READ THE LIFE TIME GIVEN IN THE BOX) & CHANGE ONLY THE EXPIRED FILTER/S. AT LEAST, BE PRESENT, WHEN CHANGING THE FILTERS.

c. Extra Labour Charge : The Service Stations doing the above will ask for an extra Labour Charge, if the Filters are brought by the Customer. There are enough normal Service Stations, which will fix the Filters brought by the Customers, without an additional charge. In case of the so called five star Service Stations, even if you pay the extra Labour Charge, you will have a saving & you are sure that, your Vehicle has a new Filter.

SOLUTION : SELECT A SERVICE STATION, WITHOUT SUCH EXTRA LABOUR CHARGE.

d. Cost of Engine Oil : The Cost of Engine Oil should be cheaper at the Service Stations (in Drums) than the Spare Part Shops (sold in sealed Cans), as the Service Stations use Oil in bulk on Drums & the usage is very much higher than the Spare Parts Shop. However, the Oil Price is higher in Service Stations than the Spare Parts Shop. The reputed Spare Parts Shops give a discount of min. 15% per 5 litre Can for cash purchases. In case of promotion times, a litre is given free, as well. If you do not know a place, contact G. S. AUTO (CONTACT DETAILS GIVEN ABOVE). Pl. get the DISCOUNTED Px of the Engine Oil from a reputed spare parts shop & compare with the charges given in your next service bill. It is best to buy from a Spare Parts Shop than an Oil Mart, to ensure that, the Cans are not adulterated.

SOLUTION : BUY YOUR ENGINE OIL IN CANS OF 5 LITRE, AT THE BEST DISCOUNTED PX.

e. Volume of Engine Oil : The five star Service Stations use a pump to fill the engine oil, from their large Drums. There is no guarantee that, the engine oil in these Drums are not adulterated. They will pump it to a 5 Litre Oil Can & you can not see how much they fill to the Can, as the Can is not transparent. ie. it is a black Can. Therefore, you will not know how much Engine Oil is filled. They will fill only 4.0 - 4.5 litrs & charge for 5 litrs. In some cases, they will put 4.0 - 4.5 ltrs from the 5 litr Can & then another 0.5 Litre will be filled to a litre Can & charge for 6 litrs. As per manufacturer of the Vehicle, the empty engine could hold only 4.0 - 4.5 litrs.

SOLUTION : BUY YOUR ENGINE OIL IN CANS OF 5 LTRS & ASK FOR THE CAN TO BE GIVEN TO YOU TO CHECK WHETHER THERE IS ANY REMAINING OIL. ALSO, ENSURE THAT, YOU ARE PRESENT, TILL THE OIL CHANGE IS COMPLETED.

f. Extra Labour Charge : The Service Stations doing the above will ask for an extra Labour Charge, if the Oil are brought by the Customer. There are enough normal Service Stations, which will use the Engine Oil brought by the Customers, without an additional charge. In case of the so called five star Service Stations, even if you pay the extra Labour Charge, you will have a saving & you are sure that, your Vehicle has right quantity & good quality Engine Oil.

SOLUTION : SELECT A SERVICE STATION, WITHOUT SUCH EXTRA LABOUR CHARGE.

g. Additional Work : As said before, they will add at least one more Job (eg. change of Auto Transmission Oil, Cleaning of Engine, etc), in the same manner given in (b) above, for each Service, which is not required.

SOLUTION : BE ALERT FOR SUCH SUGGESTIONS & IMMEDIATELY INSIST ON BASIC SERVICE ONLY. ALSO, READ THE CHECK LIST, BEFORE SIGNING IT.

h. Incentives on Profit / Turnover : The five Star Service Stations employees / Managers adopt all this to show Profits & Turnover, as they get a daily / weekly / monthly commission, based on Turnover & Profits.

SOLUTION : SELECT A PROPRIETOR OWNED & PERSONALLY RUN SERVICE STATION.

I. The worst is that, when the above is exposed to the Manager & asked for the contact details of the Chairman / M.D., the Manager accuses the Customer of scolding him & misbehaving / taking it up at the reception. He goes to the extent of black listing the Customer, saying that it is done with the blessings of the M.D., who was abroad. In addition, he inform all Branches not entertain the Customer or provide contact details of Chairman / M.D. When asked to show the CCTV footage of the incident, it is refused as well. So, you are left at their mercy, after getting cheated.

Please read this, too. 

https://www.facebook.com/ken.vijayakumar

 

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well i think your fb post has been shared many times, but also the service station you went to gave a good reply but im not justifying them or you. There are always 2 sides to a coin, what you have written is from your side. And yes there are alot of negative reviews about that place. I Have never visited this famous service station and is not planning to. But if their reply is true, i think you have failed this city.  Just my 2 cents :)

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Sounds like the whole problem here is about the cost and is nothing to do with the quality of their service. This is like complaining about Jacqueline's Appa Kade after eating her hoppers :)
If you don't like to spend 100+ bucks for a hopper, don't go there. Simple as that.

I did a bit of a Google search on this post and looks like its been posted in many many FB pages as well as in elakiri since November. Seriously, don't you have a life?????

PS. I actually couldn't find the response of the service station. Could a kind soul copy paste the response please? It should help create a balance to the story.

Edited by Crosswind
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35 minutes ago, Crosswind said:

Sounds like the whole problem here is about the cost and is nothing to do with the quality of their service. This is like complaining about Jacqueline's Appa Kade after eating her hoppers :)
If you don't like to spend 100+ bucks for a hopper, don't go there. Simple as that.

I did a bit of a Google search on this post and looks like its been posted in many many FB pages as well as in elakiri since November. Seriously, don't you have a life?????

PS. I actually couldn't find the response of the service station. Could a kind soul copy paste the response please? It should help create a balance to the story.

Went once to that aappa kade of Jackee expecting for something more than hoppers from her for that price, but sadly it was just hoppers with katta symbol. :lol:

Don't expect extra care just because you pay more at these service stations. Wherever you do the service, stay around the vehicle throughout the procedure, get dirty and wet but get it done as you want it. If you find the parts like filters or oil are expensive there, buy them from places you can get discounts and take them to the service. (Don't know whether some service stations allow this)

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3 hours ago, Crosswind said:

Sounds like the whole problem here is about the cost and is nothing to do with the quality of their service. This is like complaining about Jacqueline's Appa Kade after eating her hoppers :)
If you don't like to spend 100+ bucks for a hopper, don't go there. Simple as that.

I did a bit of a Google search on this post and looks like its been posted in many many FB pages as well as in elakiri since November. Seriously, don't you have a life?????

PS. I actually couldn't find the response of the service station. Could a kind soul copy paste the response please? It should help create a balance to the story.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1135527823229159&id=559300354185245

That's the response I found from Aut0M!Raj for the incident about which OP has shared a link to. 

Edited by Davy
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4 hours ago, Crosswind said:

Sounds like the whole problem here is about the cost and is nothing to do with the quality of their service. This is like complaining about Jacqueline's Appa Kade after eating her hoppers :)
If you don't like to spend 100+ bucks for a hopper, don't go there. Simple as that.

I did a bit of a Google search on this post and looks like its been posted in many many FB pages as well as in elakiri since November. Seriously, don't you have a life?????

PS. I actually couldn't find the response of the service station. Could a kind soul copy paste the response please? It should help create a balance to the story.

Nope this is the customer's complaint : 

Quote

Guys Beware of Auto Mirage's Customer service which is unacceptable ..!

I took my car for a full service on the 29th November at Mt Lavinia Branch . Usually I dont wash the engine because the water could damage the sensors . However the service advisor said that they have a chemical called " EDC" and by using this chemical the Engine could be cleaned without any damage .The cost of the chemical is Rs. 1100.00. Then he said I could this chemical twice. I asked can he gurantee that threre will be no damage to the engine sensors. He said yes he can do so 
But after the wash the worker used water to clean the edges and immediately asked him to.stop and there after could not start the car the end result is the damage to the Starter Motor and dual ECU relay. I Spoke to the manager and he wanted recover the loss of Rs 45k from car washer's salary over 12 months salary on installment basis.
What kind HR practice is this ?.I said I dont want blood money .I asked the dont you all have an insurance scheme to cover these kind damages ? He said no and he said he will contact me . I waited four days there after he was not answering my calls .Then the washer is calling and pleading not deduct from his salary .What kind of un professional attitude by sharing the customers no,s with staff ? Later I contacted a Director called Mohan and he referred to a CEO called Janaka amd he spoke to me like supervisor promised settle the money in 4 days . But he asked the manager to pay the money from his and manager calling and Pleading me that he cany as getting a lower salary ? what kind of a company is this ? Then I spoke to the Director again and he directed me to their chairman called Iroshan . But this idiot wanted me come to the thier workshop for fact finding . I went there try to shake hands witn him and and his attitude was like a thug and he is taking staff's side not even bothered to listen to the customer. Bloody idiot with a big attitude . Then I told him that will stick other actions if doesnot settle me .Then said you you take whatever action I will not pay you . The moral of the story is had I accepted to take the money from the worker I could have got my money...! These guys are not business men but great exploiters of the society . please share this as much as possible ..!

Response from automiraj. They accepted they do recover any losses from their workers

Quote

Dear Customers,

At Auto Miraj, customer service is our main priority. Serving the largest customer base in the automotive care industry in Sri Lanka over the past two decades is a testimony of this fact.

All products and machinery used at Auto Miraj are globally renowned brands. In addition we are authorised and appointed agents of several globally recognised automotive brands. Our products and operations are regularly audited as well as being closely monitored by related organisations. Hence, we ensure in maintaining the highest standards at all times. Furthermore, all our centres are covered by comprehensive insurance policies against workman error.

The incident related to Mr. Vijayakumara’s vehicle, was personally taken up by the chairman for the following reasons:

1. Since Mr. Vijayakumara had been compensated on a previous occasion when a domestic carpet brought in for a clean up was damaged. Although, Auto Miraj is only involved in the automotive care business, this job was purely undertaken on customer goodwill basis.

2. The concerns raised by Mr. Vijayakumara on this occasion too, was rather inconsistent and complicated.

3. Refusing to follow our company policy, which is to conduct initial investigations at our own workshop for any workman errors. This can then be referred to our insurance provider.

4. Mr. Vijayakumaras personal mechanic had also confirmed the cause of the initial symptoms, which was an existing problem in the vehicle.

During the discussion with all parties concerned including the customer Mr. Vijayakumara the following was explained:

1. After the undercarriage wash the vehicle developed a misfire and started to stall. Mr. Vijayakumara had repeatedly cranked the engine against the advice of all our staff.

2. The reason for the moisture to escape through an open space was due to a broken bolt near the flywheel sensor. Not due to an engine wash but at the time of high-pressure undercarriage wash.

3. The starter motor has given way due to repeated and excessive cranking, which fact most vehicle users are aware of and avoid.

While the above facts were being discussed with a motive of providing reasonable solution to the customer, (although it was no fault of Auto Miraj nor the staff) Mr Vijayakumara started abusing the chairman using inappropriate language along with personal and racial abuse and a threat of crippling the Auto Miraj network.

The purpose of this discussion was to amicably settle the issue and provide a reasonable solution to the customer, as both related issues may have occurred due to his lack of awareness. But due to the immature behavior of Mr. Vijayakumara, the chairman decided to walk away from the discussion.

This so called high profile; well-educated gentleman continues to delete positive comments about Auto Miraj on his Facebook post, which identifies his motive in this particular campaign.

The management of Auto Miraj would like to inform the general public not to be mislead by organised social media campaign purposely propagated to tarnish our image.

Yours Sincerely,
Auto Miraj Management

Quote

 Hi Mr. Cooray,

It is our responsibility to ensure that customer’s valuable property is well taken care of. Therefore we have certain standards and policies which have been clearly communicated to to our staff. If any of the staff members is found guilty of not following company policies and standards they are penalised. I'm sure you will understand that this is done in the best interest of the customer and their valuable property. In this particular incident the customer accused the employee of washing the engine using high pressure water, which is against our company policy and we mentioned to Mr. Vijayakumara that the employee of who was guilty of this will have to take responsibility and partly recover the costs of any damages. However, in the enquiry, which was set out to amicably settle this matter by cost sharing basis between the customer and organisation, we found that this accusation was false and the employee had never washed the engine, so the reason the employee had pleaded to Mr. Vijayakumara was because his lie would affect this employee’s salary.

I hope this resolves your issue,
Best Regards,
Auto Miraj Team

 

Edited by Jor-el
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Reading both sides, it's crystal clear that, 

some of Our Big Names are just an infants in Customer Care, Marketing and HR. 

 

Note: After this incidents, there are plenty of customers raised their voice against this so called place for several incidents 

 

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On 12/30/2016 at 10:24 PM, fiatLife said:

well i think your fb post has been shared many times, but also the service station you went to gave a good reply but im not justifying them or you. There are always 2 sides to a coin, what you have written is from your side. And yes there are alot of negative reviews about that place. I Have never visited this famous service station and is not planning to. But if their reply is true, i think you have failed this city.  Just my 2 cents :)

I went to a so called reputed place to get a professional service done & not to get cheated. If you do not understand the diff. of getting a prof. job done & getting cheated, bad luck.

It is my wish to post my exp. anywhere any number of times, so that I expose it to as many people, for them to know the black sheep operating as five star Companies, so that genuine ones will have the business. 

It is for you to decide, who is right & take your own risk. Some people learn from others exp. & some people do otherwise. I went to a reliable service station, to get a prof. service & not to waste time in talking about getting cheated for 10 years. But, if a person ends up doing so, is it fun? I am not a story teller or film script writer, too. However, I will not let go any cheaters.

They are accusing Ken (who is not known to me personally, too) for misbehaving, which was same with me. It is obvious that, any Customer will not accept their silly excuses & always defend our position. Once it come to a point that, they cannot stand up with their excuses, they interpret it as Customer misbehaviour to avoid responsibility & get away the Customer from their premises & not to deal with the Customer any further, to avoid paying for the damage, well knowing that, they do not come under any regulating authority & it costs more to go to courts. I challenge them to attach the CCTV footage of Customer misbehaviour, for others to know the truth.  

Just read the comments written by so many Customers, under the FB posting of KEN, to understand the extent of their cheating & decide for yourself.

Yes, it is the Sri Lankan culture that, if I am a good friend of this black sheep & I am a part of it, I will do my best to defend my friend, without revealing it. You scratch my back I will scratch your back. Don’t get caught to this. Let the readers decide for their own, whether they wish to get cheated & put their own vehicles at risk.

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10 hours ago, AJIT said:

They are accusing Ken (who is not known to me personally, too) for misbehaving, which was same with me. It is obvious that, any Customer will not accept their silly excuses & always defend our position. Once it come to a point that, they cannot stand up with their excuses, they interpret it as Customer misbehaviour to avoid responsibility & get away the Customer from their premises & not to deal with the Customer any further, to avoid paying for the damage, well knowing that, they do not come under any regulating authority & it costs more to go to courts. I challenge them to attach the CCTV footage of Customer misbehaviour, for others to know the truth.  

Just read the comments written by so many Customers, under the FB posting of KEN, to understand the extent of their cheating & decide for yourself.

Yes, it is the Sri Lankan culture that, if I am a good friend of this black sheep & I am a part of it, I will do my best to defend my friend, without revealing it. You scratch my back I will scratch your back. Don’t get caught to this. Let the readers decide for their own, whether they wish to get cheated & put their own vehicles at risk.

Always I am for customer side since any organization should know, how customer should manage irrespective of whether they are correct or wrong. There are plenty of organizations in SL which treat customers just like they pay for customers for coming to their place. 

As you mentioned, having no regulatory authority is the main cause for this type incidents. 

1. Proper regulatory authority is a need of the day for vehicle service sector now and it should be deal with technical aspect and environment aspect as well. 

2. However, this authority should not be just another government institution who only collect money for giving license to organizations and sleeping in other times. 

Highly agreed with your last para. That's why still we are named as developing country since 75 years. 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

Auto Miraj customer service!

If something goes missing from your car at their premises, this is what will happen - they hold absolutely no responsibility - and what's more, you'll get a beating from them for spending your hard earned money at their business.

Edited by Hyaenidae
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This particular enterprise has a bucket load of bad experiences. I wonder why people still run behind them 

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30 minutes ago, tcfern1 said:

According to reliable information these type of mud slinging is carried out by other competitors in this field.there is lot of image tarnishing in matara area where the other service stations are involved by provoking the people.

Irrespective of the incident (whether its correct or not), the  behavior of the person who representing so called A** M** shows the quality of the place.

Thugs are better in customer care  than him :laughing-smiley-002::laughing-smiley-002:

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8 minutes ago, gayanath said:

Irrespective of the incident (whether its correct or not), the  behavior of the person who representing so called A** M** shows the quality of the place.

Thugs are better in customer care  than him :laughing-smiley-002::laughing-smiley-002:

That’s true. I would avoid A$$ M**. Don’t want to deal with these type of people.

Thanks for the person who recorded and share this post. Helps others to avoid these kind of places.

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The car owner has complained about the loss of his carpet after 2 weeks of the car sevice.then the au mi people have amicably settled this matter with the person concerned.but with the advice of other service station people he has agained taken up this matter in a more rude manner by publushing in FB and other social medea and gone to the police also to tarnish the au mi image since most of the other service stations have lost their business due to au mi.

So this actually a purposely organized matter

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Just now, tcfern1 said:

The car owner has complained about the loss of his carpet after 2 weeks of the car sevice.then the au mi people have amicably settled this matter with the person concerned.but with the advice of other service station people he has agained taken up this matter in a more rude manner by publushing in FB and other social medea and gone to the police also to tarnish the au mi image since most of the other service stations have lost their business due to au mi.

So this actually a purposely organized matter

Further the above vedeo clip is recorded at matara police station and not at the service station

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1 minute ago, tcfern1 said:

The car owner has complained about the loss of his carpet after 2 weeks of the car sevice.then the au mi people have amicably settled this matter with the person concerned.but with the advice of other service station people he has agained taken up this matter in a more rude manner by publushing in FB and other social medea and gone to the police also to tarnish the au mi image since most of the other service stations have lost their business due to au mi.

So this actually a purposely organized matter

IF that was the case still the manager should have acted in a different manner knowing that whatever he says will be used against him. 

The only time I go to A.M is to wash/vacuum the car while wifey shops since its located next to a shopping center.  HOWEVER once they did overcharge me by mistake once and I was stupid to not check - they soon called me and told me that they had overcharged me before I found out and promptly returned the money.

Misplacing carpets is something associated with the regular under the tree service stations. BUT the owner should have gone their and sorted it out then and there.  Nevertheless this conduct is apalling from the AM guy

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13 hours ago, tiv said:

This particular enterprise has a bucket load of bad experiences. I wonder why people still run behind them 

Beats me. Actually i got a quote from them once for regular service for a Honda which was waaay above what Staf$$$$ charges.

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So it happened inside a Police station and still they behave like underworld thugs? If they haven't done anything wrong they could have sue the customer or something like that instead of acting like that knowing the thing is getting recorded. And this is not the first time I hear such stories about them so all of them were fabricated  by other service people?

One of my friends car was installed a cheap replica of original oil filter and still  charged for the genuine filter. Not even a gas yata garage would do such.

Edited by hrm
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17 minutes ago, hrm said:

So it happened inside a Police station and still they behave like underworld thugs?

Exactly what i was thinking. If thats the way they treat their customers inside police I can't imagine their customer service at the site. 

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එතකොට ඕගොල්ලො carpet එක දෙනව කිව්වෙ?
-- Customer care නම් එහෙම කරනවා. එක "Customer Care". තේරුනාද?

"Customer Care". Yeah right.

I probably have to go to the doctor now to get my blood pressure checked after watching that.

Edited by Davy
Removed profanity
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3 hours ago, tcfern1 said:

According to reliable information these type of mud slinging is carried out by other competitors in this field.there is lot of image tarnishing in matara area where the other service stations are involved by provoking the people.

a cousin in Matara also got his car serviced there before emigrating. His colleagues was using the car randomly for a while after that and noticed after about 1 month that one undercarpet was missing. When I called, they said store the carpets inside the premises and someone could come and look. And guess what, the colleague found it! True story.

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1 hour ago, ajm said:

a cousin in Matara also got his car serviced there before emigrating. His colleagues was using the car randomly for a while after that and noticed after about 1 month that one undercarpet was missing. When I called, they said store the carpets inside the premises and someone could come and look. And guess what, the colleague found it! True story.

"Matara Carpet Stores" - a subsidary of Autom#### :D 

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