The AC gas was recharged. About 500g of gas was recovered and then refilled completely. The Mahindra XUV700 holds 900g of gas!
BHPian abirnale recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
You might have noticed that as part of a pan-India XUV owner’s group (TORC – XUV5OO days formation), some of us who are members of the group are also part of TeamBhp. As part of this group, most of the members, including me, prefer Chrome Motors as our go-to service centre for all things XUV (5OO and/or 7OO). The management as well as staff at Chrome Motors treat its customers and their cars with extraordinary care and attention and hence many folks prefer to go there even though it’s far away from their place.
With growing car numbers, similar to all other ASCs, they are getting flooded too and it’s difficult for them to entertain last-minute service appointments. Hence they reached out to the group with a request to plan the special Sunday Service camp for all the group members if they can coordinate to be together – it will serve them as a meet-up as well. And as for Chrome Staff, since it’s a holiday, no other distractions and fewer cars to attend to.
It was very well received by us – we confirmed our availability, relayed the service or repair needs in advance, ensured the stocks were ready and the required skillset available on a Sunday. Today being that day, a bunch of cars and their owners showed up at the service centre, and various scheduled and unscheduled jobs were done on various cars that showed up.
The best part was having the technical service managers/skilled staff members take owners around in the working bays, explain the work, and help them understand what was being done and why with the rationale. A lot of owners who were first time experiencing this came out super impressed.
The two key highlights from my perspective were, some repairs that were due on #TheRedSparkle were carried out today. And the other being, fruitful and knowledgeable discussions about cars.
First thing first: Unscheduled Work on #TheRedSparkle:
The work done on my car is:
- AWD shaft – Flexible coupler replacement
- Suspension creaking noise all around
- AC coolant refresh
- DEF Top-up
The broken coupler, in pick below, was replaced – and that the costliest part of today’s repair job.
The car’s rear suspension was making some creaking sound – some bolts were loose and needed greasing as well as tightening. Got that major thing addressed – I can’t bear the unwanted noises from the car.
While there, also got the DEF topped up and the AC gas recharged. There wasn’t anything wrong with AC but sensing the time we had spent in this car, decided to make use of the time while the car was at ASC. Incidentally, about 500g of gas was recovered and then refilled completely. The 7str XUV7OO holds 900g gas! #TheRedSparkle runs with 99% of the time with Auto AC settings at 23.5-24 degree Celsius temp.
Highlights of our discussions while waiting for cars to be ready:
We were told that M&M enforces tons of SOPs to dealers and service centres. One such important SOP is the SCR – Service Complaint Report. Every day the ASC is expected to file a report with all unique service complaints they receive and the status of those incidents – whether addressed, needs escalation or any support from M&M to address.
Often the ASCs like Chrome deploy innovative ways to fix certain issues, niggles and they are reported too. This forms the knowledge base for M&M and is used to spread that information to other ASCs. I was delighted to know that M&M runs a TechNet which is a specialised group of skilled engineers who keep an eye on all kinds of issues, basis TAR (Technical Assistance Request from ASCs) get involved in the incidents behind the scenes. Customers aren’t aware of these things most of the time. M&M also involves the plant teams (including the QC teams), and R&D teams as needed. The results of this coordinated help are sometimes seen in the proactive recalls as well as the overall time it takes to service the cars!
Some of the issues are peculiar – they are also based on individual perspectives and sensitivity to the owners. A lot of the customer base doesn’t understand all the technicalities. While there can be technical explanation to everything, customer needs to be assured of things being in control regardless. (And it’s a tough task for sure – still doesn’t make sense for customers to suffer for whatever reason!) ASCs and Dealers are key links between manufacturer and customer here. Some ASCs like Chrome go out of their way and extend support from their side which shows in increasing footfalls in their place, but the issues or niggles and failures are still the responsibilities of the manufacturer.
The quality checks, SOPs are defined – execution is the key. As the volume grows, not all ASCs can cope up with it and this is the biggest takeaway for the day that someone like Chrome is doing everything they can to support customers.
By the way, DEF and Regen was a hot topic today – the TL;DR is – this thing is dependent on driving conditions. If the car runs for sufficient time that helps build the temperature required for unclogging the filter, you will never see the Regen on your car’s console. The traffic conditions and distances are indirectly responsible here. I must still say that M&M has done a pretty decent job on the DEF/Regen stuff on the 7OO. A 20-litre DEF tank and performance-oriented tuning of the M&M engines are done right, unlike some big brands. And for the record – #TheRedSparkle has not seen the REGEN even once in its life – and neither has it seen the Driver Drowsiness alert – sometimes makes me wonder if the system is really working.
By the way, #TheRedSparkle odometer now reads 82500 Kms and soon we will need new shoes it seems!
Will be back with more updates soon – for now, drive safe and keep driving!
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