I was never a fan of dealership services like Underbody protection, Teflon coating etc. They add little value for the price they come at. Basically its one of the tools for them to leech more money from customers. For this very reason i didn't opt for these treatments till date on my 4 yr old Ecosport.
Of late i noticed that the underbody along with silencer is gathering some rust. So i decided to get underbody treatment done at 3M itself. I always missed a branded detailing store like 3M in Kolkata. After relocating to Pune last month i was looking forward to experience their services for the first time. I went to their Kharadi branch which is pretty close to my office and got a quote.
Prices seemed to be reasonable. 2 Year warranty version is normal paint while 5 yr one is rubberized having sound dampening properties. The latter will also come with free inspections and retouching every 6 months till 5 years.
The Pune Bhpians seemed not to be a fan of 3M due to bad experiences they had previously. They swear the services of Aquatint, which is owned by a fellow Bhpian himself:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/other-...tint-pune.html
I decided to give 3M a try and went for the 5 year warranty underbody + silencer coating on 12th May 2018. They promptly took my car inside. They classified my car as medium. (not large as many places do given its SUV branding) Total cost was quoted 5.7k.
From there all trouble started. I expected them to handle a lot of Ecosports before. I noticed they mounted my car on wrong point as given in picture

I alerted the technician and he said "Sir the original point is having some issues that's why its on left". During my last service a week back, Ford technicians lifted the car at correct points without issues and they didn't even bother to check the markings before putting the car on lift.
Condition of underbody & silencer
Underbody getting a thorough wash. They allowed around 15 mins for the area to dry. I asked if they are going to remove the existing rust buildup. They said its not needed as the rubberized coating will take care of it all
For silencer, one of the best approach is to rub it clean and put a galvanizing spray. A emery paper can be used to clean the dust and a moist cloth should be used to wipe it off. The car can be started for 10 mins to heat up the surface before spraying. Here they did none of that. They will simply spray the paint over rust collected for 4 years.
The rubberized coating which will be sprayed.
I went outside for a quick snack. On coming back i saw the technician spraying the coating without covering up the silencer ! I alerted the manager and he came up with all kinds of excuses like "New paint doesn't require the silencer to be covered up" ! The rubberized coating will fall off due to the heat produced by exhaust. When i said you painted the silencer over the rubberized coating, he ran out of excuses. He said
sir please complain this to 3M. We will handle it. You cannot do anything.
Post application image.
Notice the paint spill on lower side of my bumper applique as they didn't use masking tape while spraying. Granted it wont be in line of sight, but its a shoddy job to apply paint like this.
5 Year warranty card
List of scheduled checkups. I need to come to this store only. In case of relocation they will arrange a new store for this checkups on request.
The final bill
The store manager contact
I was totally shocked by the arrogance of the store manager and the apathy of the technician towards his job. Even in their official youtube video they demonstrated how the work should be done by properly covering up the silencer. Here they didn't even allow enough time to dry and released my car within 20 mins of applying paint mentioning its advanced enough not to require enough drying time !
Even after spending 5.7K, they didn't bother to do a simple water wash before handing the car to me. What i realized is that their services will appeal to the wider audience who come here for the 3M brand, enjoy themselves in lounge while their car is worked upon, not bothered about how the work is done and get back to their car when done. 3M likes that kind of customers only.
This is probably my first & last service taken at 3M. I am really looking forward for the new Kharadi branch of Aquatint where i plan to do all my detailing from now onward. I will request all readers of the forum to exercise caution while doing anything at 3M outlets !