Early Sunday morning, decided to go to nearest Bajaj Service Center (Suraj Bajaj Service, Majiwada, Thane) for getting minor things taken care of. I was out of chain cleaner spray so getting chain cleaned was one of them.
The authorised pro-biking showroom that I earlier preferred didnt work on Sunday. This one is not pro-biking but operated on Sunday. Now Bajaj announced that non-pro-biking centers can work on P220F, so wanted to try it out.
I remembered that it opened at 9.30am so went at 9.15 to be first in queue. I was indeed first and the shop had a board that mentioned time - 10am! Spent time watching cars and people on road and few more people lined up.
10.00am: no go, more wait
10.15am: 3-4 guys, who looked like mechanics, arrived
10.20am: Owner comes and hands over keys, opening ceremony started. They start taking out bikes from inside and parking outside. Aah, there was another board inside the shop that mentioned opening hours - 9.30am!!!
One guy seemed the most experienced one around (and probably formally trained). He took some bikes for test ride. Other guys spent time aligning parked bikes, starting them and revving happily.
10:45am: Finally my time comes, why late? well, they decided to prepare job cards for all others for free and paid service. I had asked for tightening chain and lubing it so i was asked to wait.
Meanwhile, I took a look inside service station. Barely 15x15 room, one corner was counter, other corner was spares shop. There was dirt, oil sludge and abandoned spares all around floor.
A blue board on wall mentioned Japanese 5S principles - seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke. But I did not find any of that given much importance :) There was a chain cleaner machine. I was wondering how it works and expected that I would get to see it in a while.
Finally my time came. The experienced guy was still busy with test rides so other guy came with spanners and oil bottle. Chain slack was adjusted and he was about to put oil on it to lube.
"Clean nahi karoge? chain ka spray nahi hai?" (wont you clean it? havent you got the spray instead of oil?) - I asked.
He went inside and asked the owner for spray. Owner had a small bottle but it was empty. He asked the mech to take the bike to a water washer behind building to get the chain washed (Apparently they did not have their own washing area)
It was time to get out of there! Needless to say, I would never go there again :)
Is it fair to say that an Authorised point like this reflects the after sales attitude of a company? I never had good experienced with pro-biking service centers and this was no exception :(
Is there any certification policy for Bajaj to grant authorised status to service centers or is it just an option on sale?
Is there any certification policy for Bajaj to grant authorised status to service centers or is it just an option on sale?
