Whrring #5 MG ZS EV 40k Service

Moonlight’s first paid service

This post was scheduled for late October / early November 2023. But I missed posting it somehow. Anyhow, here it is!

Let’s go

I bought my Moonlight, 2022 MG ZS EV in late April 2022. The car has completed over 39,000 kms in just over 18 months of ownership.

In Mumbai, I would call up the service center closest to me and schedule the service. It was a smooth process. I have recently moved to Delhi. Unlike Mumbai, I don’t have a relationship with any of the MG service centers in Delhi NCR. I decided to use their My MG App to schedule a service for my car.

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The app showed multiple available service centers and I decided to go with MG Gurugram Central Workshop. It is the “Central Workshop” naturally, they would have all kinds of expertise to solve car related problems. I booked for a pickup at a convenient date and time and the booking was accepted.

One day before the scheduled appointment, I got a call from their customer support saying that the Central Workshop doesn’t service EV customers.

I don’t know why EV customers are allowed to book a service at that workshop. The customer support asked me to cancel the booking and rebook it elsewhere.

I did not have the time or the bandwidth to deal with this issue. The car is my primary mode of transport in Delhi and I had cleared my day for the service. I requested the customer support to figure it out and rebook me at another workshop where my car can actually get serviced.

The customer support rescheduled my appointment at the same workshop for a later date(!!!). It seemed that I couldn’t put my point across to them. I reached out to the support to ask why they did this. They said that they don’t have the authority to cancel a customer’s appointment. I again explained my predicament and they finally decided to figure out a service center for me.

Eventually, Gurugram Sector 75 Service center agreed to service my car. They sent someone to pick up the car and drop it. On the call, I got an estimate of around INR 11-12k (~US $140) for the service. The major cost would be for the fresh coolant. They would replace the coolant only if necessary. Thankfully, the coolant didn’t need replacing and I paid ~INR 6000 (US $72) for the service.

The service included wheel alignment, replacement of the AC filter, fixing the creaking sound in the sun roof and other regular check ups. This is the first paid service for my car. The next one is due in a couple of months at 50,000 kms.

Few pointers for MG to improve their customer experience :

1. MG should learn from Tata’s EV TMSC app and provide realistic estimates for the car. The My MG App showed a service estimate of INR 36334.40 (US $436) without mentioning any specifics and what constitutes this price. The EV TMSC app shows exactly what all parts have to be changed and the charges for the same.

   

   Comparison of Tata and MG's EV Service booking

2. Oftentimes, I get a call from MG’s customer support to know my odometer reading. They want to know this so that they can call me again to schedule a service. What is the point of “Internet Inside” if such basic information isn’t shared with the customer support?

I will publish my experience at 50,000 kms in a few months to see if MG has made it easier for customers.