Wednesday, October 03, 2007

A day in Dubai...

On Sunday, after three weeks on holiday I said: Just got back to Dubai - it's nice to be back too.

Then today dawned.

Even before I'd had my coffee - not the way I want to start my days - the day jumped up and bit me.

The car was booked in for service so I drove from Media City to Galadari Mazda on Al Ittihad Road. The traffic was heavy but moving...until I hit the disaster the RTA has turned Al Ittihad Road into. Murphy's Law - Galadari Mazda is slap-bang in the middle of the disaster area.

I eventually got through it and then the usual nonsense - for a simple, mundane, ordinary service: the car will be ready tomorrow sir.

Tomorrow!! Forget it, it's today or nothing.

I've had many different cars serviced in different countries and never has it taken more than a few hours. Not even when extras need to be done, such as new brakes or other parts. But not Galadari Mazda.

Anyway, ranting is the way to get things done in Dubai, so I ranted and eventually 'later today' was agreed.

I eventually got my first coffee of the day at 11am.

Boy, it tasted good.

Afternoon and the taxi I'd booked turned up on time.

But.

Sheikh Zayed Road was jammed.

Emirates Road was jammed.

Al Khail Road was jammed.

The airport tunnel was jammed.

Al Ittihad Road was its usual gridlocked disaster.

Two hours later we were sitting in a jam close to Galadari Mazda so I payed the driver and abandoned the cab. Walking was quicker.

The car was ready, the computer was down so I wasted half an hour standing around the service centre reception.

The drive back was reasonable - again heavy traffic but moving.

And here I am, having done very little today, just logging on to try to catch up with my blogger friends, sort out the rest of the holiday photos, read the papers, and write to Mazda in Japan to ask them to get stuck into the non-service service department of their Dubai representative.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So still feeling relaxed after your break then... ;-)

Seabee said...

Sand Man, I had that problem last time - they wanted two days for a standard service, backed down to one day when I started shouting, then wanted to add another full day to change the brake pads. I yelled even louder, threatened physical violence and eventually got the lot done in one day.
I'm writing to Mazda today to bring it to their attention.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear that you've been flung back into DSS (Dubai Stress Surprises) right after your holidays. It's not only Galadari: I am yet to find or hear of a UAE car distributor / dealership that is good with customer service or repairs. I used to have ridiculous problems with Jeep, Al Futtaim. My fiancee has nightmares because of dealing with Landrover, Al Tayer. My friend almost had a nervous breakdown in Audi, Al Nabooda. They all seem utterly useless.