Croma Store Gzbd is bad news, with happy ending!. Review on Croma, Ghaziabad

If there is one thing Croma store does not lack in its staff...they are everywhere talking, laughing, discussing lunch or gossiping. If they do notice you, they arrive in packs by your side.

Croma staff works only in groups it seems. We went there to buy a pedestal fan, can't get simpler than that! We were shown one crompton greaves fan by three semi-efficient sales people. It took two of them to turn on the fan and one to say that "that's all we have".

I spotted an Usha pedestal fan , still in its box by my feet. It was a discovery of great surprise to the attendant staff "We had that???!!!" We asked the price. It was about a hundred bucks more expensive than the next door (mariginally more efficient) store.

I mentioned that. There was commotion. Three more floor staff were called for consultation. "Ok, I will ask my manager" said the sales gal and sauntered away. She was in no hurry. The rest of the half a dozen people around asked (one by one) if we wanted extended warranty. "No Thank, you". Cut to approx 7 minutes later, the sales girl appeared and asked me to accompany her to the next door store. She wanted to verify if I was telling her the truth!!! and wanted me to go with her!!!

Never heard of such a thing. Either you sell it at the price quoted or you dont. In the mean 20 more minutes had passed, our fan had been dragged listlessly to the cash register (at one point I asked if the gal needed help carrying the fan to the counter (because by this time her back up guys had conveniently disappeared.All the dragging across 40 ft of space was for nothing, because there was no one at the cash register. Someone was summoned, who had to then summon someone else.

Lots of whispering and shuffling ensued. After 20 minutes of hemming and hawing, I asked for the manager. The staff shaking in fear, pointed to a guy who was ...yes chatting...with another person by the gate. The manager came, made some appropriate noises, asked the billing guys to get cracking. You would have thought he'd stay till the transaction is complete, seeing that we made for some rather unhappy customers. No.

The gentleman disappeared to the back before we could say "croma !". Seriously, this has to be the saddest state of affairs. The sales people are well meaning youngsters who have not been taught to value their work, time or effort. They are there biding time and wasting ours. If the manager is anything to go by, the inspiration definitely isn't flowing top to bottom. A very sorry excuse for customer service. Shame on Tatas for running such a shoddy show.

PART 2 (4 Hrs. Later)

So if you thought that was all, it wasn't. We came home with the fan, trying to put it all behind us after writing the review above. Upon taking the 6 assorted parts of the fan out, we realised that a vital part was missing...the rod that would hold the fan up. So back we went (by this time it was peak traffic hour too) sitting in the car, quiet and seething with anger. We asked for the the manager at the gate and this time he arrived more promptly. He agreed that a part was missing and as an apology asked if we would like to have someone assemble the fan for us too, while we are here. "Sure knock yourselves out, we've wasted a perfectly good day anyways". The fan was taken to one of the back aisles and two employees and one manager got down to assembling the fan.We loitered around, checking out stuff we would never buy, and certainly not from Croma, even if we did. I wandered to the back after about 20 minutes, to see the men still at it, opened boxes of a similar fans strewn about (in an effort to collate all pieces I guess). They were almost done and asked if we could attach the grate in front of the fan when we got home. Reason: They did not have a screwdriver!!! Upon close examination of what they were doing , we found that they had been using a blade ...A BLADE from one of the mixers as a screwdriver. Attaching the grate using the MIXER BLADE screwdriver would have been difficult...or suicidal, so they wanted us to go home and do it. "Sure, all we asked for was a pedestal fan not a pound of junior employees flesh" . So there, you have it folks, if you want to see some creative damage control (preceded by damage of course) Croma is the place to go...er...I wouldn't buy a MIXER there though!

Part 3 - The Bonus!

So a week ago, the door bell rang mid -afternoon. Lo and behold!! Two guys from Croma store showed up...with a bouquet and a card of apology from their manager. Now that's sweet, isn't it? The guys were clearly very embarrassed and apologetic. We did our best to assure them that we will be visiting the Croma store ( and we will what the heck!), accepted the sweet smelling roses and rajnigandha and offered them thanda paani. If they take their reviews that seriously- we say, lets give them another fair chance. And we do need a music system....hmmm...