[PrideRed]

Maintaining good relationship with dealer, Service advisor, technicians takes you long way. I probably had best experience with Ford, who in general have quite a bad reputation. Been visiting United Toyota and Nandi Toyota(Mostly Whitefield and Banaswadi) and have had good experience till date. Recently wood insert in steering had developed a crack in my Fortuner, which was promptly replaced without any hassle.

For service of all my cars I clearly instruct "Please do only what is prescribed in service manual, will not be paying for value added service" unless there are additional issues. Someone known to me had opted for pickup/ drop service for his car and was handed over a 25K bill with all possible optional extra. Toyota dealers are not from another planet by any means, they will try to fleece you and will look for every possible opportunity. back in 2010, whenever Innova used to go for service, Rat mesh, underbody coat, some special wax polish, interior cleaning etc. were being pushed. These age old services now have been replaced with modern names.

While I understand time is precious, I simply cannot let my car to be taken by chauffeur for service, that to someone whom I hardly know. Seeing examples in forum, personal experiences, I am certain that probability of inflating your bill is quite high when you opt in for pick up/drop service.

[harishpr]

Off Topic
Nandi Toyota (kudlu gate or Whitefield, Bengaluru) is becoming very arrogant with sales too.
They simply dismissed my query about Bronze coloured or Brown coloured Fortuner 4*2 AT and claimed Toyota is only producing white coloured options.
On contrary, Ravindu Toyota accepted the booking with no constraints on Color.

[KK2001]

Originally Posted by amalji

After being a customer of Toyota for close to 11 years and our family owning 3 vehicles from Toyota during this time, I have kind of given up on Nandi Toyota, Kudlu gate and Toyota Kirloskar.

Specifically with regards to the alloy wheel issue, I'll be sending them a notice soon and then follow it up with a Consumer court case. I understand that India's consumer protection laws are not very strong and it can be a very depressing experience. But, I've decided to still pursue that option more from an ethical stand point and since I believe that being a team-bhpian, we have a responsibility to fight against these manufacturer's unethical practices regardless of the pain one have to go through.

Hi Amalji,
I can completely sympathise with you and I agree with you on the same. I have even posted a thread about my issue on the forum, when Millennium Toyota Thane changed a wrong part on my 2010 Fortuner. What Madhuban Toyota Kurla had said was that there is a minor play in the left inner ball joint, which somehow Millennium misunderstood as the lower arm ball joint. I haven't had any issues with Wasan Toyota Nashik in the last 146000 kilometres on my Innova but I was left with this bitter experience. But, Madhuban Toyota Kurla is very good and is very accommodating of car fanatics like us

Nippon Toyota Thrissur(the one at Ayyanthole) is simply fantastic since my cousin's altis used to go there and he's had a wonderful experience

[RRM]

I service my Innova V D 2012 either at Nandi Toyota Kudlu Gate or at Amana Toyota at Palakkad. Surprisingly, I haven’t ever faced the issues mentioned at Nandi rather it has always been excellent service The odo is ~120k kms

I have been vocal in case of any after service issues and have been attended promptly. All the issues reported were sorted out to my satisfaction. Of course I do check the estimate but have never ever faced the issue of deliberately adding additional costs until I specifically asked for like Toyota diesel additive or bactaclean etc. My vehicle service history is only with ASSC. No FNG has ever touched it. This is frankly news to me!

I know the service head well and will bring this post details to them

[Transmission]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

In my many years of communicating with any manufacturer, Toyota has been the worst. Not now, not yesterday but forever. I don't know when OP got a reply from Toyota that sorted the query.

Exactly. I emailed them a few days ago regarding something about a test drive for the Hyryder - and I havent heard back a peep from the customer care.

If they dont even want to sell me a car, then I really wonder how I can trust them once my money is in their bank accounts.

[apocalypse]

My experience with the Shaw Toyota service center in Pune has been trouble-free with regard to quality of work, but I've found that they regularly try to sell snake oil and add unnecessary goodies to the service.

I've often had to firmly reject items such as fuel additives (being touted as the best invention since the IC engine itself) and some bogus "Mech Care" and a "Germ Free" package, as well as a few unnecessary engine oil flushes.

Made it a point since then to keep a keen eye on the list, and question them for every item listed.

[RRU]

My experience hitherto with Nandi Toyota - Banaswadi and Whitefield - has been excellent, especially with Whitefield. No instance of fleecing or misguiding or cross- or mis-selling. I hope it is not because i own a frugal Etios petrol and quite punctilious about the services. Infact, my family enjoys the hospitality they bestow on us every time i go for service or with a complaint. Yes, I do feel that SAs lack technical competence when acting as a liaison between customer and technician who service and language barrier sometimes pose challenge, but nothing that ever irked me. I do not know if it is normal, but to address my most recent complaints of loud sound of engine (or elsewhere) permeating into the cabin. This was a repeat complaint (third one routed through TKM as a "request" as opposed to "complaint"). They kept my car for nearly a week and solved the issue to my satisfaction. Knowing that this is the only car i use and drop my son every morning and commute to office, they gave me their showroom vehicle (Etios petrol) to use until i get my car back. We don't live in a perfect world and i have sometimes found their services not satisfying, but they have always been receptive and have eventually closed issues satisfactorily. Complaints to TKM are actually paid heed to and addressed on priority. Of course, over the past 9 years, i have built rapport with them and things get addressed pretty expeditiously and without hassle if you have that relationship with them.

I have also had experience with Ravindu, Bellandur and Avalahalli, for accessories, such as seat cover, fitting 100/90 bulbs and some others - these too have been pretty good.

Overall, i am quite satisfied with the ASS of Toyota.

[Samba]

My experience with Toyota service for the last 11+ years have been consistently good.

What I feel is, the quality of the service mostly depends on the relation you have with the service executive or their staffs. What I do is, I generally stick to the same person. This works well for me, I have seen it across all brands.

I get my Etios serviced from Saini Toyota, Howrah & I never had a bad experience, whereas my friend who own a Diesel Etios had a bad experience from the very same service center, so he shifted to Topsel Toyota, Budgebudge and now he is more than satisfied.

I strongly feel that the quality of service should not be dependent on the relation one has with the service executive. Ideally everyone should be treated equally, but sadly it isn't so.

[sparks4077]

Try Ravindu Toyota. I made a request via the website and got a call the next day. Got 2 test drives done in the past 2 weeks. Hope this helps

Originally Posted by Transmission

Exactly. I emailed them a few days ago regarding something about a test drive for the Hyryder - and I havent heard back a peep from the customer care.

If they dont even want to sell me a car, then I really wonder how I can trust them once my money is in their bank accounts.

[greenhorn]

I got my new to me liva service done at Nippon in Trivandrum, and I was blown away. After years of being at the recieving end of Tata service centers, i felt like i had died and gone to heaven
Not everything was rosy but still good
1. Only the necessary things were done
2. It had a lot of rat damage, and they said that the manufacturer recommended solution was changing the writing harness but they were open to just doing wiring repair but couldn't guarantee how long that lasts (which is fine by me. I do a lot of electronics repair as a hobby, and I'm happy this choice being given to me as this is a decent compromise as far as I'm concerned
3. I'm not sure they're telling me the entire truth. The fuel level gauge was stuck at empty and i had confirmed with my fng that it was an issue with the float sensor. He had given me a 2.5k worst case estimate. He had even shown me that it was not a wiring issue by shorting the connectors at the fuel tank end to get the display to work so i don't buy the bad wiring explanation. Anyway they billed me only 150 or so for the wiring repair so I'm not complaining. As long as it works I'm good
4) i wanted to buy an extended warranty but they said not recommended as the car had missed one service during covid, and I was not eligible for the unconditional warranty, and the one that i could get would be subject to toyota approval which they stressed several times that I'm basically giving away 15k without any commitment on their side, so they would rather recommend not to buy this unless i was fine with this. I was not and did not go for it. Having said that i wish they could have been a bit more lenient about a service missed during covid
5. Once I got an automated call 6 months after the purchase and called them up to book a service. They said the was an error because the system is set up to send alerts based on purchase date, come back only next year or if you've run 10k kms. Tata service would definitely set up the appointment and made me do it because " just tu be sure"
6. I wanted a blue footwell lighting kit installed. They didn't have any in stock. I offered to get a genuine piece from boodmo, but they declined saying they can only fit parts they procure. Sankar seems to have had better luck. Not sure what his secret is.

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

I got my new to me liva service done at Nippon in Trivandrum, and I was blown away. After years of being at the recieving end of Tata service centers, i felt like i had died and gone to heaven

I am also in the same space. After 4 years with Tata, when I moved to Toyota, it was a night-and-day difference. Maybe the Kerala dealerships are better in this regard or we have such low standards for dealership experience.

Sad to see so many proposing service engineer rapport as the only solution that worked for them. This was the reason I moved away from Tata. If I have to do it here as well, then I definitely overpaid for my car. That said, I have definitely been spared of the quarterly niggle-review-visit ever since I moved to Toyota. Hope at least that continues.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

Sad to see so many proposing service engineer rapport as the only solution that worked for them...

To be frank, sounds alien to me. Not sure if Nippon Toyota allows that, but each time I get assigned to a different SA. And since everything goes fine, don't really find the need for a contact there or to save the phone number of the person. If something is too technical for the SA, the service engineer/mechanic pops up to address the query.

But this time, tried the Toyota i-Connect app to book a service and I did have the option to select which SA I wanted, a couple of familiar names popped up.

[RRM]

Originally Posted by DicKy

To be frank, sounds alien to me. Not sure if Nippon Toyota allows that, but each time I get assigned to a different SA. And since everything goes fine, don't really find the need for a contact there or to save the phone number of the person. If something is too technical for the SA, the service engineer/mechanic pops up to address the query.

But this time, tried the Toyota i-Connect app to book a service and I did have the option to select which SA I wanted, a couple of familiar names popped up.

Absolutely right and the same has been with me as well. If I need more info then I am escorted to the bay by the SA and technician will explain as well as show the parts etc.

Once I tried to select the SA name via the app while booking for the service, but the actual assignment was different.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

Sad to see so many proposing service engineer rapport as the only solution that worked for them. This was the reason I moved away from Tata. If I have to do it here as well, then I definitely overpaid for my car. That said, I have definitely been spared of the quarterly niggle-review-visit ever since I moved to Toyota. Hope at least that continues.

Things do work even without rapport but with rapport experience is always better. For example, if I call care number on Friday and try to book for service on weekend, I get replay " Will get delayed", "No Slots", "Can we do on Monday". However when I call service advisor/someone known " Please get your car, will get it serviced". Interaction with Advisor, inflating bills has a lot to do with human nature which I can tolerate to certain extent if there are lapses, my trust would be broken, if technicians/toyota cheat on actual quality of service. And with Toyota this is what has been impressive to me. Triage is good, technical support from factory is good and workmanship has been good. Of course there have been misses, some not so good experience but overall 15 years with Toyota, I am quite happy how things have went so far.

A recent example, I had mild juddering while braking at high speeds. Below is what was done at Nandi Toyota Banaswadi:

1. Removed tires and checked for scoring- there were some scoring marks.
2. Checked for brake pad thickness- was found good at 7mm+
3. Went for a test drive to recreate issue.
4. Wheel balancing checked, found to be good.
5. And skimming was done only after they found everything else good.(I was asked for confirmation before doing as this was chargeable)

While handing over car, I asked technician to do skimming knowing its chargeable, but he said we will follow our SOP and do skimming if needed. The above process was not just eye wash but could see myself each step being carried out. If I have to compare with my VW experience, the moment I told juddering in my Vento, SA added skimming to invoice and they did not even bother to take a test drive.

[ranjith_cbz]

Esteemed Bhpians here who have been successful in establishing a personal relationship with SAs and are suggesting the same to avoid being fleeced by them should realise that not every enthusiast can be socially out going and extroverted like them. Maybe many of us are great with our skills inside the car and while interacting with machine and less so outside the car and while interacting with people.

I too enjoy a great rapport with many SAs at my VW service centre here but i would not suggest anyone to follow the same to get the genuine service every customer deserves. It's absurd to suggest that the only way to save ourselves from such predatory sales/fleecing tactics is to befriend the predator in the hope that he spares us and chooses the next one of us to fleece. Where is the standardised care and support brands so much strive to perfect and institutionalise within their organisations?

On the topic of Toyota brand of service devolving to levels of every other brands I wonder why we have to pay a Toyota tax upfront to own their vehicles. I was of the opinion that Toyota and their dealers collect their profits upfront while purchasing their overpriced cars and give us a predictive, reliable, trustworthy and more important of all affordable cost of ownership through the ownership life cycle.

If i have to pay huge upfront cost and also keep paying high and inflated service costs through out the ownership period then what is the charm left in 'T' badge? It's not that basic reliability is only provided by Toyota and rest of the brand cars are breaking down at the drop of a hat.