Whilst Club Mahindra may be one of the largest and longer lasting time share companies in India, I am quite disappointed in their level of service and their helpline.  This is my true experience during the nascent stage of a relationship.

I am the owner of a timeshare in Club Mahindra and am in the process of taking my first holiday.  While I will certainly write about my experience on the holiday itself, I just wished to rant a bit about what I call snake oil salesmen

Prasenjit M is a "bright" sales manager for Club Mahindra out of Mumbai.  Unfortunately, he is also slipperier than an eel and I daresay can do a disappearing trick faster than David Copperfield or Houdini.  At the time of selling us the time share membership, Prasenjit was hell bent on meeting us at any hour of the day or night as well as selling us the best that Club Mahindra had on offer.  This was accompanied by promises of free vouchers, regular customer service calls to help us plan our holidays, etc etc.  Sadly NONE of these have materialised and neither does Prasenjit take my calls or show the slightest interest in helping us out.  He is the quintessential Mr. Make-A-Promise-Without-An-Intention-To-Keep-It!!!  I am personally upset as hell with his attitude.  Funnily, even if he is a busy person, the least I would expect is that one of his customer service associates at least call me.

Coming next to the customer service and holiday booking.  We were promised a week of free holidays in India and abroad and given our eligibility we needed to inform Club Mahindra upto 48 hours in advance, is all.  Imagine my wife’s surprise and disappointment when she called almost a month in advance to be told that we will not get a full week of domestic stay as the resort of our choice was fully booked.  This despite the fact that (a) we were entitled to a short notice booking, and (b) we were visiting the resort in what Club Mahindra decribes as an off-peak season period.  Finally, after waiting on the line endlessly (see crib no. 3 below), my wife managed to obtain a booking for five days.  Talk about keeping promises.

The third crib I have is that their customer service lines never work.  The 1-800 equivalent that they have is pretty sloppy and difficult to connect to.  Once connected, the staff put you on hold for so long that you get very tired and feel like disconnecting.  My wife had this sordid experience.  She also experienced not receiving our confirmation either through email or post till she had to call their service line and follow through almost 3-4 times.

Finally, the free food vouchers... We are yet to receive them!!!!

What am I arguing about here with Club Mahindra:

1.  In the service industry, it is important to keep your promises.  Actually, that is true in any industry!!!

2.  In the service industry, please invest in multiple working phone connections for your customer service team and ensure they are manned by bright people who can empathise with customers.

3.  Extend basic courtesy towards your customers, afterall we are investing in a lifetime partnership with your company and spending a large sum of money as well in the process

And I sincerely hope, Mr. Ramesh Ramanthan of Mahindra Holidays gets to read this as well.

On an added note, I will be sending in my comments on the resort itself once I finish my holiday.


To all fellow travellers who wish to invest in time shares:

1.  It is a great idea and a great concept, invest in it if you have the means

2.  Unlike my bad sign on experience, I am sure there are members who have had good experiences.  Read the fine print carefully and understand it well.  You may well turn out luckier than I did

3.  Pray that you do not get saddled with a relationship manager like the one I landed.  You are screwed thenceforth!!!

Happy holidaying.

Cheers
Sumanth