Wisetechie Blog : Ctrl your Tech Life

The car in happier times

I own a Maruti 800 car which I like to maintain, the first owners of the car were a little careless which caused the car to rust at a few places, but ever since I have got the car I have tried to maintain it well. One of the most important things to maintaining a car well is of course good servicing from an Authorised Service Center.

If you search around the internet, you realise that Maruti Service Masters is supposed to be the best (and the most expensive) service centre in New Delhi. I took a day off as there is a lot of rush on weekends and was off to their service centre. The 1st time I used them they had messed up the butterfly valves in my engine, at that time I thought it might be an exception to the kind of service they offer.

At the service center, I noticed a distinct lack of concern for the customer, they get a lot of customers due to their name so do not need to take customer delight seriously.The reception person was more interested in passing the blame rather than assigning a SA and pointed me to a senior who told me they are short of staff. In the middle of the week ? I waited for half an hour before a service advisor came out and actually took down my problems.

He advised some changes, one of them un-necessary, he recommended the change of the water pump which I agreed to as he said it would lead to better fuel efficiency and smoother performance. The car servicing estimate came out to Rs. 11000 , which is pretty much near the resale value of the 14 year old car, but it being my first ever car I agreed to the uber expensive service with the assurance that engine work be carried out by an experienced mechanic who understands the old Japanese carburettor engines.

The service took one whole day and next day when I came the car was dirty from the outside, while I made payments, the car was wiped once more and cleaned for outer appearance.

Here is where it went downhill for me:

1. The service advisor insisted on a blank feedback card, thinking at that time that he had done an impeccable job, I agreed and gave him the blank feedback form which he literally snatched from my hands. He had given me a test drive.

2. On reaching home, I rolled up the windows and saw major brown dust on the windows, I didn’t feel it was worth the concern and wiped it myself.

3. After 2 days I took out the car and noticed engine oil underneath the car and lots of it. I called the service advisor and asked him what I should do, his response was to bring the car on a weekday. He did not offer to get it collected from my home or to service it on a weekend. He said there is too much rush on weekends.

4. The next day I went to college , at the college parking I noticed a super large amount of engine oil leakage, scared, I came back home early and stopped using the car so as not to cause engine damage. Also the car was giving blue smoke on cold starts.

5. Angry, I wrote 2 emails to Maruti to which I got automated responses, I decided to get the engine fixed outside the MSM as engine oil was low and I couldn’t go to their workshop with a car low on engine oil and leaking it steadily. The same day the customer care lady called me, she was apologetic, +1 to MSM here but she couldn’t really help me, promised to get back to me.

6. She didn’t get back for 7 more days, I got the timing seal issue fixed and paid 900 to the local garage to repair the problem + cost of engine oil. The blue smoke problem has persisted. She called again after 7 days and again apologised but didn’t offer to do anything, did ask me to choose MSM for my next service. I told her I would never like to visit them again.

7. I emailed Maruti and asked for a fresh feedback form to incorporate the low level of service given to me. I got no response. I even told them about blank feedback being collected, no response to that too. 3-4 days later, dad got a call from the service advisor, he gave him my number, I got the call during class and was unable to pick it up. So the grand total of 1 missed call was received by me.

8. The blue smoke at cold start issue was discussed with an engineer at Maruti (who prefers to remain anonymous), he says the MSM people probably ruptured a valve seal,

This causes engine oil to leak overnight and when I do a cold start, I see blue smoke. He told me that complaints are a regular feature at MSM and they cant handle the huge rush. Most complaints are swept under the carpet.

He told me the timing seal issue was a direct consequence of bad workmanship during water pump change.

I have decided to take things to a logical conclusion, I will keep contacting Maruti till they accept that the levels of service are actually below par at Maruti Service Masters Delhi and I have asked for them to repair my car’s blue smoke issue at another Authorised Service Center free of cost.

Till then, let this serve as a warning to anyone looking to get their car serviced at Maruti Service Masters Okhla, they seem good, but very little accountability. One expects this from them but when the company also ignores customer feedback, you know its a problem.

Just when we thought we were coming out of recession and with HDFC Bank having a profitable year again, the start to the year could not have been worse for HDFC. In this month’s statement, HDFC Bank discretely mentions that interest payments would be applied on March 31st and September 30th without a mention that is has switched from quarterly interest payments to a bi-annual system.

Probably some new MBA from a B-school decided to lessen the expenses and make this decision. This quarter will obviously see heightened profits for the bank. Its a little unethical of the bank to do this in my opinion especially to old customers.

I would suggest everyone to write an email to HDFC Bank detailing that you are disappointed in their latest cost cutting measure.

Update 2: I really hope this agent is wrong in what they wrote :

The email from Paypal says that the banning of personal payments to and from India is a permanent change. Please read the Paypal email below regarding the banning of personal payments.

Thank you for contacting PayPal.I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but the system did recognize that it was a personal type of payment processed in your account. It also shows that there’s no shipping address provided to you,and that’s one factor to consider if it’s a personal payment or not.

This change will be permanent in PayPal, and personal payments will no longer be allowed to be sent TO or FROM India. The personal payment option in the checkout page will no longer be available to India customers, but you can still continue to use other payment options, such as eBay checkout.

We hope you understand our situation and thank you for your patience. We’re available to answer any questions you might have. Just give us a call at 1-402-935-2080 and we will try our best to give you immediate answers. We appreciate your business.

Update: Techcrunch is the 1st major blog to catch it

‘If you are a Paypal user having your country selected as India and have gotten any payment from Paypal, it will be reversed if its marked as a personal payment. There has not been any clarification from Paypal in this regard , only emails detailing that the transaction is reversed causing a lot of problems to the account holders.

They claim that they are working on correcting this though. Here is the message I received :

Hello ABC,

Your payment of  $$$ has been sent back to the sender of the payment. 

We reversed this payment because we have stopped allowing personal payments to be sent to or from India.

If this was a payment for a purchase of goods or services, and not a personal payment, then you may contact the buyer and have him or her resend the payment as follows:  (a) click the Send Money tab, (b) select "Goods," and (c) provide a shipping address.

If this payment was a personal payment such as a gift, then we have requested that the sender find another payment method until we restore personal payments to and from India.

We are trying to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and we’re sorry for
any inconvenience.

Thank you,
PayPal

I recently made a trip to the passport office again to get a passport under the tatkaal scheme and it was as smooth as butter. No bribes, no harassment and no problems. I have decided to share my experience here so others can benefit from it. I have tried to cover all points and made it very comprehensive in nature. Ask in comments if you want a clarification on anything.

First things first, to get a passport under Tatkaal or even the General scheme, you need to have all your papers in order. People in the passport office had such gross errors on their documents and still expected the passport office to issue them a passport under the tatkaal scheme. I will given an example here :

This lady had a proof of residence which was made 30 days ago (Voter ID Card) , she claimed to have been born and brought up at the same place in Delhi but her 10th class certificate was from a Lucknow based school. If you do stuff like that , you will never get your passport. Do not conceal facts at the passport office. People like the above will then try to bribe officers and curse corrupt India. Its infact people like the one I have mentioned above who irritate the employees at the office. This lady had a fake Birth Certificate made which is a crime.

Here are the documents you will need :

1. Using a Verification Certificate : This is usually the option if you have parents in the Govt. who might be knowing people of the rank of under-secretary and above or if you know someone in the Army who is an officer above the rank of Major. If you have a VC, half your work is done. Dont forget to take the I-Card photocopy of the person issuing the VC.

The list of officers who can make the verification certificate is :

(i)       An Under Secretary/Deputy Secretary/Director/Joint Secretary/Add. Secretary/Special Secretary/Secretary/Cabinet Secretary to Government of India.

(ii)      A Director/Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary/Special Secretary/Chief Secretary to a State Govt.

(iii)    A Sub-Divisional Magistrate/First class Judicial Magistrate/Additional DM/District Magistrate of the district of residence of applicant.

(iv)     A District Superintendent of Police, DIG/IG/DGP of district of residence of applicant.

(v)      A Major and above in the army, Lt. Commander and above in the Navy and Sq. Leader and            in the Air Force.

(vi)     The General Manager of a Public Sector Undertaking

(vii)    All members of any All India Service or Central Service who are equivalent to or above the rank of   an  Under Secretary to the Government i.e. in the pay scale of Rupees 10,000-15,200 or above.

(viii)     Resident Commissioners/Additional Resident Commissioners of all State Governments based in Delhi.

(ix)      Concerned Tehsildars or Concerned SHO’s  for an applicant staying in the area under his/her jurisdiction. 

(x)        The Chairmen of the Apex Business Organizations i.e.FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM in respect of owners, partners or directors of the companies that are members of the concerned Chamber in prescribed performa as at Annexure “J”.

No one will make you a VC if they don’t know you well as its sort of a recommendation for a passport. Do not pester people you hardly know for a verification certificate.

Its recommended that the person issuing the VC be in the same city as you are (it wasnt true earlier, but recent experiences suggest this) and they can be in relation to you except your father/mother.

You will also need  a:

a. Residence proof : This is where Tatkaal gets tricky, your address proof should be more than 1 year old for the Tatkaal passport issue. This is not mentioned anywhere on the website or in the offices but is very much the policy. If you haven’t been at your current place of residence for greater than 1 year or don’t have  a proof of it, you will need to go via the General passport issue scheme.

For residence proof , private bank statements such as those of HDFC Bank and ICICI bank are unacceptable. It must be a government bank like SBI/UCO/Canara etc.

Also phone bills of Airtel/Reliance/Tata are not accepted. Must be MTNL or BSNL.

b. Proof of date of birth – The class 10th pass certificate is the de facto standard here. Wont go wrong with that. Illiterate people might be able to give a birth certificate as proof.

2. Using 3 ID proofs method : The information on the site is self-explanatory

The applicant also has the option to obtain a passport under Tatkal Scheme on submission of three documents from the Fourteen documents as mentioned below, provided one of the three documents is a photo identity document and atleast one of the three is amongst the documents indicated at (a) to (i) and a standard affidavit (Annexure “I”)  on non-judicial stamp paper duly attested by a Notary:

(a) Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC);

(b) Service Identity Card issued by State/Central Government, Public Sector Undertakings, local bodies or Public Limited Companies;

(c) SC/ST/ OBC Certificates;

(d) Freedom Fighter Identity Cards;

(e) Arms Licenses;

(f) Property Documents such as Pattas, Registered Deeds etc.;

(g) Rations Cards;

(h) Pension Documents such as ex-servicemen’s Pension Book/Pension Payment order, ex-servicemen’s Widow/Dependent Certificates, Old Age Pension Order, Widow Pension Order;

(i) Railway Identity Cards;

(j) Income Tax Identity (PAN) Cards;

(k) Bank/ Kisan/Post Office Passbooks;

(l) Student Identity Cards issued by Recognized Educational Institutions;

(m) Driving Licenses; and

(n) Birth Certificates issued under the RBD Act.

In the 3 ID proofs method, the scrutiny is much more, and much smaller mistakes will get your passport rejected outright.

(All above documents to be produced in original along with self-attested copies)

You also need a standard affidavit in which you pledge your allegiance to the republic of India. Annexure I .

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After all your documents are ready :

Fill your passport form completely, printouts from the website are valid as well. Fill the police verification form as well as all other forms. The photos must be on a white background.  Get it checked by your friends or relatives, cross out all info that isnt applicable. While filling the form do read the instructions very carefully.

Next step if to take the filled up form,an application for passport under tatkaal, all documents, 2 self attested photocopies of all documents to the RPO. Take care that for Tatkaal you must yourself be present , someone else cant apply for the Tatkaal passport on your behalf.

Go to the passport office (Bhikaji Cama Place, RK Puram, its 200 meters from the ring road) in the morning (around 10 am), move onto the backside of the office and get your form stamped , the stamp has your token number and date. This token number is your queue number.

Now you can enter the office with your form. Move inside and towards the right to get to another room, here is where the Tatkaal counters are, currently counter number 3 and 4 work for this. Wait for your token number and move to the counter that displays your token. Some people will be breaking the line, push them towards the back and politely tell them that its your turn by the token number and they can go after you. For people who don’t understand , tell them the concept of token number. Some people mistakenly believe its a queue system.

Incase your form is rejected at counters 3 or 4, don’t be rude or shout, just ask politely how you can rectify the errors.  They are very helpful and unlike the Sheikh Sarai RTO (which is pure unadulterated bull excreta and the officials are unhelpful), they will try and help you get your passport. If you lose your temper, no one will help you. If its something that cant be helped, like documentation incomplete, no amount of shouting or argument will get you accepted, better to leave at this point.

After you are done here , join the line at counter number 2.Here your documents will be checked again, always offer to show them the originals. If your documents and form are in order, you will be asked to make the payment, move onto the cashier who sits in counter 1 and pay him Rs. 2500 , he will issue you a receipt. Check father’s name , your name and DOB on the receipt. The receipt also has your file number.

If you are at this step, congratulations, your passport will reach you in 3-4 working days via India Post if everything is in order. The postman may ask for a bakshish. In my case he asked for Rs.50 which we gave to him. This bakshish business is very flourishing BTW. Even the private courier company which delivers Driving Licenses in Delhi asks for bakshish. While it makes sense to give some to the postman, you should generally scram the courier boys if they ask for any.

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Conclusion and Important points :

Getting a passport is easy, I got done in 3 hours flat. Do not hire agents and do not pay bribes.

The main reasons for passport application rejection are :

1. Errors in spelling of name on different certificates, ensure a uniform spelling everywhere.

2. Photograph not having a white background, the passport office will only accept photos which have a white background.

3. Form not fully filled or incorrectly filled, everything has to be fully filled including names of references on the Personal Particulars form. Put NA or ‘– ‘where the info is irrelevant to you.

4. Withholding information, if they detect a mismatch in information provided and the certificates, passport is rejected straightway and depending upon seriousness, other action might be taken. Issuance of passport under Tatkaal is no joke, be prepared for consequences of forging info.

5. Bank Statements must be from a public sector bank.

6. Phone bills must be from MTNL/BSNL.

7. Residence proof must be more than 1 year old.

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If you have anything to add, feel free to comment. Also all this info was true for me, I am not responsible for any actions taken after reading the above.

With the launch of the overhyped Nexus One , Google have entered the hotly contested mobile phone domain , but is it worth it to buy a Nexus one phone ? Also is it worth it to buy it in the US and import it into India ? The Nexus One has been dubbed as a superphone in many circles but does that justify its price ?

Currently Amazon.com lists the Nexus one phones starting at 680 USD or 31000 Indian Rupees. Add around 3-4 thousand to that and you get the Indian Grey market price of around 35000 rupees for an Unlocked Google Nexus One phone.

Before going into the viability of getting a Google Nexus One imported into India or for that matter asking a relative to bring it, we look at some of its features.

The Google Nexus One runs on the Android operating system, not a lot of Indian smartphones run on Android, heck not a lot of any kind of smart phones run on the Google Android operating system and the Nexus One Google hopes will change all that.

One of the USPs of the Nexus One is said to be its voice command feature for searches and normal phone operation etc. Ok, lets reverse a little, my Nokia Symbian phone does that too and I loaded the Google Symbian app on it a few days ago and it also has voice recognition.

The Google Nexus One boasts of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1 Ghz processor, now thats a lot of computing power for a phone. The touchscreen is  480 by 800 pixel and has a diagonal width of 3.7-inches. The phone has a AMOLED display which people are claiming is out of this world.

The phone has a 5 MegaPixel camera and has a LED flash. The phone features no hardware keyboard like the Iphone which its supposed to kill. The no hardware thing is a turnoff for me. I love the QWERTY on my Nokia E-series phone.

Overall, the Nexus One is one mean performance machine with good parts and excellent performance, but the price is a little out of reach for most people. I would much rather buy a laptop than this, but to each his own, Indian fanboys of the Google Nexus One will surely order one for them. Teardown by Isuppli pegged the cost to manufacture a Google Nexus One at 175 USD.

Its strange how company after company keeps ignoring India as a launch market for smartphones. First it was Apple with its delayed Iphone launches in India and now its Google. Even HTC waits a lot before bringing its obsolete world models into India it seems.

First a little background on the whole cell phone business, I love mobile phones. My first tryst with a powerful phone was with a Nokia 3100, ok do i hear you laughing ? , well the Nokia 3100 was a Series 40 phone and the 1st one for  which huge amounts of customizations were available and possible via wap sites (most popular one being the ones hosted on tagtag.com , those were the days ).

Anyway , since then I have had an Imate (JAQ) (pathetic service in India),  an Asus (P320) phone (bad build quality), LG (M550) (bad battery and availability of spare parts), a Sony Ericsson (K700i) (awesome phone, no complaints, but I hear service is bad anyway).

I have also briefly used the Samsung C100 (good phone) and Nokia E71 (which is my dad’s phone). Now the Nokia E71 is a powerful phone (not to mention expensive for my pocket too). So its the price factor where the Nokia E63 enters, firstly the looks and physical features.

The Nokia E63 has a plastic look with a matte finish , the E71 has a metallic look which makes it look much more classy.  The metallic look is also a fingerprint magnet and this problem is automatically solved in our Nokia E63 phone. I bought the phone from US BTW under a crazy Amazon deal. The phone has a similar keyboard with a small exception, the spacebar key is smaller than your E71 and allows you to start the flashlight instantly. The smaller spacebar is infact a hindrance to typing if you have big hands like me.

Other than that the E63 lacks GPS, I had grown quite fond of GPS and its omission is an obvious down-point. You can however pair up the Nokia E63 with a bluetooth GPS device.

This was the 1st part of the review, you may read the 2nd part at Indiantechblog.com