A horrible car service

It was august 14, 2014. Only two days more for my engagement. I wanted to clean my car interior and exterior to use it as grooms vehicle for the function. It was full of dirt following the recent heavy rains. So decided to take it to a newly opened car cleaning centre 'CAR ZONE' near NH bypass junction, Thondayad, Calicut who cleans car interior and exterior. They also have a cafe attached to the place for people to relax and wait until their cars are serviced. It's 400INR for a hatch back(I have a Renault Pulse hatch back) and more for a sedan. Cafe charges of course are extra as per the purchase made.

There was a huge queue when I reached there in the evening. Around 10 cars. The lady in reception told me that it won't be possible to clean my car that day. She also informed me that they were working on August 15 i.e Indian independence day. It didn't look good. But the requirement was mine. I again looked towards my car. It was dirty as a pig. I looked inside the service center towards the cleaning area. All were from the north and north-east. Majority Bengali speaking. No wonder they are working on independence day.

The next day I took my car there around 12 in the afternoon.  The queue was bigger than what I saw on the previous day. More than 15 cars already. People took privilege of cleaning their cars on the national holiday. I approached the lady at the reception with the car keys. Initially she refused to accept it for cleaning. But when I told her that I had come the day before and was asked to come that day she agreed. It seems there were less worker attendance due to the National holiday. I was asked to come in the evening around 6PM. I agreed. Anyway I had some work to do including a grooming session to prepare for the following day. My brother had followed me in his car, so we set out to complete those works in his car.

It was dark by the time we reached back to take the car. Around 6:30PM. It took me by surprise that none of the cars I noticed earlier in the afternoon was there at the time I reached back. How fast do they clean them? They were still cleaning cars in the dark. The lady at the reception was already gone. I enquired about my car with the guy sitting there now. He seemed to be the owner/manager of the service station. He checked the list and told that my car cleaning was completed already and ready for delivery. I paid INR400 and he handed over the keys to a guy there who lead me to my car.

The car was parked in front of the cafe. I unlocked the doors and switched on the lights to check the interiors. Interiors seemed fresh and awesome. The dashboard and seats are well cleaned. The floor also seemed clean. I happily shook hands with the guy there and got ready to leave. It was then under the light from the cafe I noticed a muddy patch left uncleaned on my back right door. They might have missed it as it was dark. I called back the guy and brought it to his notice who inturn called a worker to clean it up. I thought to examine the whole car for any more such patches left so that those can also be cleaned. There were a couple more such mud patches left on the car which they missed. But it came to me as a shock when I examined the bonnet. It was full of scratches. Please see the picture below.

BONNET

I called back the guy again and demanded an explanation. Initially he tried to retreat meanwhile I decided to do a thorough check-up all over the car. I could find one more clear scratch near one of the wheels and some minor scratches on the door and bumper. I caught him again demanded an explanation.

NEAR THE WHEEL

 ON THE DOORS

Now he started arguing with me that those are scratches which I already have on my car. My car is my daily pal and I exactly knew where all I bumped it and where all I have bruises on it. I took him to see some of those and told him that I am not talking about those. Even if I agree to his point that the scratches on the door/bumper/near-the-wheels came on the car without me knowing it, how the heck in the world do I agree to him that it came on the bonnet automatically.

Now I demanded the manager of the service station to give an explanation. I wanted to hear his perspective. Initially he tried to shrug off but I didn't leave. Gradually people in the cafe came out to check out what was happening. Some of them asked me what was the matter. The manager was yet not making any responsible statement. I started showing the scratches to them. They started talking between each other now. The manager went into an alarming state and wanted me out of the place.

It followed with heated argument between my cousin and the manager when the manager finally told the following statement - "It was not the responsibility of the service station to check whether any scratches are coming on the vehicle. The responsibility of the service station is just to clean the vehicle which is done". Then why the hell are we paying money? To get our car scratched? And that too 400 bucks. Isn't that amount enough for them to take good care of the car? And moreover the car was not completely cleaned too. It was left with mud patches. Okay. There is no point in arguing with the guy. We decided to leave. He finally told one more statement - "Please don't come back". Me, my brother and my cousin replied in a single voice - "Never again"

വേറിട്ട കാഴ്ചകള്‍ - VI - Thailand - Part I

A water monitor lizard seen at Lumpini Park, Bangkok

Lime Stone Formation inside a cave in Thailand

Hanging root of a plant in the Tortoise Temple in Bangkok

 Sand Barges in Chao Phraya River, Bangkok

 The Great Swing, Bangkok

 Plate form leaves of special kind of lotus - Found in Bangkok

 Small boats used by Thai people



Traditional Thai huts



Traditional Thai drums

 Mangrove cultivation

 A hanging flower found in Bangkok

വേറിട്ട കാഴ്ചകള്‍ - V

Only found in Kerala

Leaf color paper plates

Houseboats parked in order - Aleppy, Kerala

വേറിട്ട കാഴ്ചകള്‍ - IV

 Two birds sleeping on a tree in my house

A frog flattened and dried

 A tortoise found near my office

Examining the tortoise

 A insect in the butterfly genre

വേറിട്ട കാഴ്ചകള്‍ - III

വെള്ളം ചുരത്തുന്ന പശുവിന്റെ മുല

(സൂക്ഷിച്ച് നോക്കുക)

കാനായി കുഞ്ഞിരാമന്റെ യക്ഷി - മലമ്പുഴ 

A broken bridge at Shornur, Kerala

 Dragon Fruit

മുളയുടെ പൂവ് 

The road to buying my new car - Part II - Diesel Models

I hope you read about the Petrol Cars I checked out from the below link

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-road-to-buying-my-new-car-petrol.html

Continue reading for information about Diesel Cars which i looked into.

My brother had checked out Chevrolet Beat DIESEL during its launch and as our current range stands in around 5lacs, he insisted that I should check it out as we have a large difference in petrol and diesel prices as of now. If I am to drive to and fro office everyday then fuel will be a critical thing which i should keep in mind while selecting a vehicle. I decided to test drive the new Chevy BEAT. The Chevy SMARTECH 950cc engine is not offering you good power but comes with a mileage claimed around 26kmpl. The handling is ok. The LT model excluding the optional items cost 6lacs.

Now I wanted to test drive all diesel variants available the B-Segment Hatchs which I was looking for. The MARUTHI SWIFT and HYUNDAI i20 seemed costly for its features and I have drived them earlier. So i didnt check them out. My criteria or my requirement for my car is decent mileage, very good driving experience and handling, which comes on road around 6 lacs, good turning radius and optimum width so that it can enter the small way to my house easily and low maintenance. I was also loking for some safety criteria for me like driver side airbag and crash resistance body. The below ones are the cars which i considered.

FIAT PUNTO

The tuff built heavy PUNTO. You feel very much safe inside. The driving quality is not bad. The 1.3L multijet diesel engine which is the same used in SWIFT and VISTA seems to sit back due to the weight. I mean it better fits PUNTO than the other two :-P. The fuel economy seems to be affected by its weight. The fuel economy claimed to be near 20. It claims a ground clearance of 195mm which is the best i have heard. The handling and drive experience was below my expectations. The worst thing was its turning radius. It was very difficult for me to turn a 90 degree turn coming out from our office. It definitely wont be able to enter the small way to my house with that. But its the most stable car among the ones i test drove. The DYNAMIC version was costing around 7lacs on road and it was not having the airbags in the driver seat as per my requirement. Actually the price is not so high compared to SWIFT or i20 as there are many features in the DYNAMIC version. They just forgot airbag it seems.

FORD FIGO

This was the car with best handling and drive experience among the ones i test drived. I agree with something they have written in their brochure - "Best in class ride and handling". The 1400cc engine perfectly matches the vehicle. Car claims a good mileage also. The only thing i didn't like about the car was its shape. The full option Titanium version costs 6.8lacs on road. The Ford Figo stands among the ones i short listed.

TOYOTA ETIOS LIVA

The Etios Liva is almost as good as Figo in handling and drive experience. It costs around 6.6lacs on road. The 1300cc D4D CRDI engine gives good response. The outside look is stunning. But you will feel to puke when you see the interiors. The plastic seems to be such a bad quality. I was expecting more from Toyota. The interior design also seems to be done not for India. The ac vent positions are awkward. Seeing the interior i rejected the car from my list.

RENAULT PULSE

It was very recently that a RENAULT showroom got opened in my native place. I am a fan of REDBULL RENAULT racing team which is now at the top of the F1 championships. It was actually about RENAULT DUSTER which people were talking about. A SUV at 9lac. I decided to give a look into the RENAULT offerings. DUSTER was costly for me. So i settled down to check the PULSE. The looks seemed to be quite cool. It is same as NISSAN MICRA which is owned by one of my colleague. But he commented that PULSE is somewhat more refined than MICRA and is a good option. The 1500cc engine seemed to be too much for the small car. The torque was extra ordinary and the car seemed so powerful. The ride quality and handling seems to be ok. One thing RENAULT boast about in their brochure is about the turning radius of PULSE which is 4.65m. I also tried it out during my test drive and i could do a U-turn in a stretch where-in if I was in my Indica V2 it would have cost me a couple of shifts to reverse gear. PULSE had the best suspension among the cars i tried. Moreover the seat exactly rested my back and I felt more comfortable in my ride. The  gear shifts were smooth. The fuel efficiency claimed is around 23kmpl but my colleague is getting near to 30kmpl which was the highlight in my case. The car was having a slight more width than my indica which may give difficulty in the turn to my house. Another negative point I found about the car is its stability when turning curves in high speed. There are chances of rollover if the speed crosses 80kmph in an average curve. The PULSE RxL option with driver side airbag costs around 6.6lacs on road. Checking the features I shortlisted PULSE also in the final list.

Now it was time to choose. The final list contained HONDA BRIO, FORD FIGO and RENAULT PULSE. In the stage wise filtering BRIO got filtered out as it is a petrol model. Finally after many thoughts i decided to go with PULSE hoping I will get good service from the new launcher. Its a risk I am willing to take. The color i chose is METALLIC GREY.

I think you got pretty much information about cars available currently in the market. Hope it will help you people in selecting your car. 

The road to buying my new car - Part I - Petrol Models

It was back in 2010 i wrote my last review about a car. That time it was about TATA NANO. NANO was the most expected car of that time. Something everybody was looking into very eagerly. Read my post from the below link

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2010/08/tata-nano-test-drive-feedback_28.html

Now I myself wanted to buy a new car. Was not fixed on what I want. Inititally was looking for a low price petrol car which can suit my daily needs. A doubt that central government would increase diesel price soon added fuel to that decision. Started looking into the options. When looked for a range of 3 lacs, in front of me I saw MARUTHI ALTO and HYUNDAI EON. I had long back discarded Alto. Reason - very less space inside. Even NANO had more space than ALTO. So I went to check out Eon. I was impressed with the looks of the car. Hyundai has done well in giving the car a noticeable look. The ERA+ model of EON costs around 3.6lacs. Mileage claimed to be 20+. But the test drive of Eon changed my opinion. On higher speed the body of EON jerks. The ride is not so smooth. I had a better experience with my friends ESTILO which i had tried earlier. I felt it very much smoother than EON and it was of a comparable price and better spacious.

The price band was increasing. If i can consider ESTILO, i could also consider WAGON R. And now my price was standing near a 4.5lac. Then why not the all new HONDA BRIO??? For around 5 lacs Honda is offering its all new low cost car. I decided to have a look at Honda Brio also before taking the final decision.

BRIO comes in a 1200cc HONDA SOHC i-VTEC engine which should be familiar to all HONDA lovers. From the test ride experience the engine is smooth and awesome. The gear shifting not bad. HONDA claims a mileage of 18+ for BRIO. Its is coming in four models - EMT(entry), SMT, SMT(O) and VMT(full option). The base model was costing around 4.25lacs and each successive models will have a difference of around 40k each. I was attracted to the feature set of SMT(O) coming at a price of 5.35lacs(with discounts during the time) on road. It had its own integrated audio & speakers and steering mounted audio controls. Along with driver/front passenger airbags and ABS and also a hell lots of features. My brother didn't like its rear looks. But overall i found the car ok. It was the first car shortlisted by me.

Read about the Diesel models i checked out from the below link

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-road-to-buying-my-new-car-part-ii.html

Feel Qatarish

The first thing which comes to my mind about Qatar are the roundabouts. What is a roundabout? A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which the traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The traffic entering the roundabout must always yield to the traffic already in the roundabout. That means the vehicles already in the roundabout have a higher priority than the vehicles waiting to enter it. What i have noticed is that the roundabout is very useful in low traffic times. The vehicles need not wait for the traffic signals. But during high traffic times there is a huge wait to enter the roundabout and problems in leaving the roundabout to any direction. 

This was my first visit to any of the Gulf countries. I was planning for a desert ride to the sand dunes. I was expecting nice sand all over. But I didn't see sand anywhere in Qatar. All the places are desert only, but instead of sand i could see a type of mud which has major percentage of limestone. You can also see many types of limestone formations in many parts of Qatar. I understood that Qatar doesn't have sand dunes except in Umm-Said. Moreover its very sad that i didn't see even a single camel in Qatar in whole of my ride from Doha  in the Eastern coast to Dukhan  in the Western coast.

The Qatari economy was based on pearl trading and fishing till the abundance of oil and natural gas was discovered in her soil. Now Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world. Qatar Petroleum is the national organisation which controls the oil wells. It has off-shore as well as on-shore oil wells. The most famous on-shore oil wells being in Dukhan. The first on-shore oil well in Dukhan was dug in 1930s. Petroleum products is one of the cheapest stuff available in Qatar. You can get petrol for as cheap as 0.85 dirhams (INR 12 dated Dec 2011).

There are not much places to visit in Qatar. But there are lot of malls, shopping places and souqs where you can spend time. But they are not so cheap compared to other countries. Bachelors are not allowed in some malls on Fridays as its the time when Arab families visit the malls. Taxi and house rent are costly affairs. House rent will be a minimum of 5000QR for a well furnished apartment in Doha. Almost all people in Qatar own a car. I think its because of the low fuel charges and its actually cheaper to own a car than using public transport. Buses are available but not to all routes. Food is cheap when compared to the income you get working in Qatar. You can easily find cheap restaurants where you can get any cuisine food at reasonable price. 

The telecom providers available in Qatar now are Q-Tel and Vodafone. Q-Tel dominates the telecom grid and has network all over the country. But the call rates of Q-Tel is little high compared to Vodafone. ISD rates are lesser compared to the rates in India. Calls to India are cheap as 0.65QR/min. But the paradox lies in the fact that local calls cost 0.55QR/min in place of 1p/sec in India. Vodafone offers better call rates compared to Q-Tel, but with a trade off of bad network. But its reasonable to use Vodafone if you are not gonna leave Doha to any other place in Qatar.

People who are visiting Qatar. Feel Qatarish and have a nice time in Qatar.

The land of thousand smiles - Thailand

Before going there I was wondering why Thailand is called the land of thousand smiles. Reaching there I understood why it is so. Everywhere they welcome us with a breach of smile. The hospitality towards tourists should be appreciated. The way they treat us there definitely bring a smile in our face too.

If you have not read the first part of this blog, please read  from the below link before continuing with this.

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2011/10/way-to-thai.html

Day 2 :-

At Phuket we had planned for beaches, islands and other sea based adventures. But heavy rain actually tumbled our plan. The sea was dangerous so we dropped our Day 2 plan to James Bond Island and made it to Phang Nga province. Phang Nga province was a 3hour ride from our hotel and was a forest covered area(We were going to some wild life sanctuary). The plans were monkey caves which is on the way, a waterfall in the sanctuary and adventures like rafting, Elephant Safari etc in the sanctuary. Rain again was not in favour. Heavy rain increased the flow in the river in which we were supposed to raft and made it dangerous. So rafting was cancelled and we could manage only a photo in the rafting boat. In the place of rafting, ATV(All Terrain Vehicle) ride was introduced in the package. 

The waterfall was a small one but enjoyable. It was the elephant safari which was worth it. A normal elephant safari in Kerala would cost us a lot and only does a round of some tree or go for 5 minutes on a level road. But in this one the elephant was rid through the forest and the river. Steep ups and downs made the ride adventurous. I was surprised to see the elephant using its trunk effectively to climb up and down. He was also plucking up small plantations and eating throughout the way. As said earlier the rain had made the flow in the river pretty dangerous and still the elephant managed to traverse through the branch of river quite easily. See the video of our elephant ride embedded below.

Monkey temple which is also known as Wat Suvannakuha is home to hundreds of long tailed macaques and hence the name. The cave is formed in a limestone mountain and it has a main hallway and slippery walkways which lead to the chambers high up. Inside the cave there is a giant reclining Buddha and countless other buddhist art works. The farthest walkway lead to a deadend which has nice limestone formations due to fall of water. 

I will end the description about Day2 by writing about the ATV. The change of package from rafting to ATV was a disaster to me. Much strength is required to control the ATV. Its not like riding a bike. Turning the handle took lots from my energy. Twice i met with accident including once falling from a height :-P. But if you have enough strength and get an initial touch with the vehicle, it is really fun to ride it in the forest terrains.

Day 3 :-

We had booked for cruise trip to Phi Phi Islands. The cruise was full. It was good that we booked VIP tickets as the ordinary tickets were seated in the open deck which was so congested and it was raining during the trip. The VIP tickets was seated inside and had cushioned seats compared to plastic seats for the ordinary tickets. Also coffee and snacks were available for VIP tickets.

It took more than one hour in the cruise to the Phi Phi Island. On the way we could find marvelous land formations. The Viking Cave, Maya Bay and may other attractions are on the way. From the starting of the trip, people started vomiting. Sea sickness caught majority of the boarders including my friend. Ladies are more easily caught by the vomiting sensation it seems.

We could see and feed fishes in the underwater aquarium setup. Also snorkeling was a different kind of experience. The water resources and coral reefs here are attractive. The lunch was setup as a part of the cruise trip package in a hotel in Phi Phi Island. Thai food added to the fun. 

Day 4 :-

We had flight to Bangkok in the afternoon. So day four was spent on local sight seeing which includes Chalong Temple(Wat Chalong), Big Buddha and the local aquarium. We also went to Nai Yang beach which is just a 15minutes walk from Phuket airport. We can see this beach from the air during takeoff.

Day 5 :-

Our last day in Thailand. The Grand Palace and other relevant places were planned in the morning and the afternoon was kept aside for purchases. We had heard that we get real cheap electronic goods in Thailand. Other items like pearls and Thai Silk were also in our list to check out.

Grand palace was really grand. There are lots of sculptures, ancient paintings and the temples of Emerald Buddha(Wat Phra Kaew), Reclining Buddha(Wat Pho) and the temple of Golden Buddha(Wat Traimit). Wat Arun across the canal is also a good view.

There are lots of shopping malls in Bangkok. We selected MBK as it was near to our hotel. Electronic goods are cheaper than India, but still not cheap enough that we should bring it from there. Only thing we saw so cheap was LCD and LED TVs.

Overall we had a nice time in Thailand. And we wish a very nice and happy trip to everybody who wish to visit Thailand.