Tuesday, January 02, 2007

A 'good service' story!

Parked near the cafe for my early morning two-double-espressos, trotted out of the cafe when I'd finished, jumped into the car, turned the key...nothing.

Not even a suggestion that it was going to start.

Lights, radio, windows all worked, which suggested it wasn't the battery. Starter motor? Probably.

I have insurance with AXA which gives me breakdown recovery, so I called the number. Gave the details, they said the recovery people would call within 10 minutes.

Guess what? They did!

They'd had a few call-outs and were busy but they'd be there as soon as possible.

One hour later the driver called my mobile - he was close by and wanted precise details of where I was parked marooned. He told me the Dubai depot fleet was all tied up so he was from the Sharjah depot. He'd made it from Sharjah to Knowledge Village in an hour at 9am. Amazing.

I'd called the dealer, Galadari Mazda, to tell them the car was on the way. They said they were fully booked today but they'd inspect it tomorrow.

Fair enough.

At 3pm they called: "Mr Seabee, your car needs a new battery. Give me the go-ahead and it'll be ready for you at 4pm."

I called for a taxi, which turned up in ten minutes, got to Galadari at 4pm and there was my car, fixed, ready and waiting.

Not much of a story, but I complain when service isn't up to scratch so it's only fair that I acknowledge this good service delivery.

6 comments:

nzm said...

Strange that all the electrics worked but the motor wouldn't turn over, and the battery was at fault!

If this battery also goes flat, tell them to check the alternator!

Fall In Line.... said...

I had the exact same experience while I was in Melbourne. We were driving from Sydney to Melbourne ( Yeah, really long drive), it was past midnight and out car broke down in the middle of no-where( It was really cold, my guess 12'C -15'C). We called the RACV and they were there in less then 30 mins.

The RACV van with all the tools and the spare parts was there and replaced the Alternator of the car and we were ready to go.

However, the best customer service in Dubai that I have noticed would be at the Austrlian Consulate and Kenyan Embassy.

Seabee said...

nzm, yep, I'm keeping an eye on that - they swore that they checked and there was nothing wrong but the battery...

trailingspouse said...

Surely your car isn't old enough to need a new battery, Seabee? We just had a similar problem . . . turns out there was an electrical drain in the system and we needed a new ignition. I'd suggest you invest in a cheap battery tester and check the voltage daily for a little while to avoid being caught out again. Mr TS can supply full details if needs be.

trailingspouse said...

Oh, and our dealership also supposedly checked the car the first time it died and swore there was nothing wrong with it.

Seabee said...

ts, good advice - I'll look for a battery tester at the weekend.