Cycle & Carriage

It has been almost 10 years since the last time I went to Cycle & Carriage and it has changed when I went there a few days ago to service the family car.

From what I remembered previously, it was quite a typical place with no bells and whistles or fanfare. It was pretty no frills. That was when I needed to fix the window and side mirror.

Now, the entire experience has changed. I have read about it in the papers, how some car distributors or service centres have upped the ante by providing a little bit of comfort to the customers.

Before Cycle & Carriage, it was at BMW car centre that I saw there was a decent tiny cafe providing food and wireless internet service to the customers. Then I did not think much about it since I hardly go to such places.

So over at Cycle & Carriage at Ubi branch, when I took the car for servicing, it was politeness all the way. Seriously, it is so hard to receive basic good customer service that when a place practices that, it gets all the accolades :p

At the service centre, a staff asked me what beverage I would like while waiting. There was a machine dispensing milo, coffee, tea, water, etc. Plus pastries and pies from Delifrance. These were served to me on a proper plate. Then I spied 2 computers, probably offering customers the option of checking their emails or surfing the internet. A massage chair. Rack full of the latest magazines and daily newspapers.

They also provided a free shuttle to Eunos MRT. Pretty thoughtful and decent service. Then again, one may argue that it is only normal for them to do that since the customers are already paying a premium for the car servicing fees :p

In any case, it was quite a pleasant experience. At least I was not bored when I was there while waiting for my ride.