Swift- Mismanagement at its best. Review on Maruti Suzuki Swift

Swift a good car ?

Yes it’s a good car, but the credit goes to Suzuki.

Swift in India, Mismanaged?

Yes Credit goes to Maruti.

Read on to know why …

I live in Bangalore and I work for a Fortune 100 company here. I and my wife were so excited when we first saw the swift; we took a test drive and booked immediately (May 2005) paying 50,000.We were told that waiting period is about 4 weeks. Full payment for the invoice value was made later and I have started paying EMI for the loan also.

I have document from my dealer, given in writing, in which he says that they are in a position to deliver the car in 20 – 25 days.

But I am still waiting for the car & after 5 weeks (July 5, 2005) I am told that I will have to wait for another 4 weeks. I am not speaking about waiting period alone but also the way the dealer & Maruti are responding.

Not only did the dealer respond to my phone calls, nor did Maruti office respond.

Only response I got from Maruti call center is that the booking is between me & the dealer and there is nothing that Maruti can do about this.

I tried a trillion times to speak to Maruti regional office; they don’t care to answer because it’s not their money, its some customer’s money.

The dealer, if he happens to answer my call, will say there are too many bookings and so I will have to wait. I can’t understand how I can help Maruti if they have 36000 bookings. How can I help them if they have production problems? I write software programs to make a living and if I knew to make cars I would have gone and helped Maruti!

Readers before you put in your money in any car, make sure that you are interacting with a dealer whom you can trust.

I had to visit the dealer to find out what is happening, no one from the dealership (Energizers) were willing to answer my phone calls.

And it took my dealer 5 weeks to find out that they can’t deliver the car in the next 4 weeks

Maruti did not do there homework properly, they should have studied the market and estimated the bookings, they should have kept a plan to handle bookings exceeding there estimates. They should have a plan to handle breakdowns in their plants .They should communicate to customers what is happening.

It’s not fair for any manufacturer to take a huge amount for booking and then remain silent. Dealer says ask Maruti, Maruti says go ask your dealer.

This reminds me of an old Sardar Joke, to keep a sardar busy, give him a sheet of paper with P.T.O on either side!

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An update to my review

I have received my car, and I am extremely happy...

I love driving the car, and there hasn’t been any problem till date (5 months)

Dealer and dealer service remains same as described above.

Dealer is GOD and customers are slaves.

I plan to write a detailed review about my swift soon