Poor Service & Unhelpful Staff. Review on Next Store, Mumbai

I purchased a Samsung 26" LCD TV from NEXT last Sunday(13.06.2010) from the Mandpeshwar Road, Borivali(W) NEXT showroom. The salesman Narendra(9702517533) was very helpful when he finally realised that we were going to buy the LCD after all & convinced us to go for SAMSUNG instead of BRAVIA(our original choice).

I paid by card & was assured that the TV would be delivered "after 8:00 PM the next day" since my wife & me both are working. We left the showroom happy with our choice & overjoyed that we would watch the FIFA World Cup on LCD. Little did we know that this would only be the beginning of a lesson in horrific customer service. It all started off with the delivery taking place at 10:00 P.M. on Monday(14.06.2010), that too after incessantly hounding the delivery guys. This was inspite of being assured by Narendra & team that the delivery & the installation would happen the same day. Needless to say, given the time of the delivery, it was fairly obvious that the installation would happen only the next day. We convinced ourselves that it was a matter of 24 more hours only & held on. Given the heavy rains in Mumbai, the delay was understandable and condonable. The next day(Tuesday, 15.06.2010) started off with a call from the SAMSUNG Centre(28781545) stating that the installation guys wouldn't be able to come after 8:00 P.M. I pointed out that this was a pre-condition to buying the TV as the people at NEXT had assured us that the delivery & installation would happen after 8:00 P.M. This matter was however sorted out after a couple of calls to the NEXT showroon(28931596) who assured us that the installation would indeed happen after 8:00 P.M. At 8:00 P.M. Sagar(9833154098) from SAMSUNG came in to install the TV & that's when we got the rudest shock of our lives. Sagar informed us that since we had purchased a 26" LCD, it could be mounted only upto a height of 4' as it would be impossible to view at any height over 4'. He also pointed out that given the size of our bedroom, 32" LCD would be too big. In order to view the LCD we would have to procure at our own cost a moveable bracket(cost Rs. 2500 approx.) which would be used to install the LCD since we wanted to install it at a height of around 8.5'. This was a rude shock to us because we were not informed by Narendra that LCDs cannot be wall-mounted beyond 4'. To clarify matters my wife called up the showroom & spoke to Narendra & his manager / senior(Manish Singh - 9029228279). Not only do the staff have no manners to talk to a lady, but they completely washed their hands off stating that their job ended with the sale and we were solely responsble for our predicament. They also categorically pointed out that we would have to bear the cost of the moveable bracket & it was purely our fault. We refused to even let Sagar unpack the TV & inspite of our objections, Manish & Narendra were trying their level best to convince Sagar to install it "as-is-where is". The best part about all this is that Narendra & Manish were blissfully unaware that 26" LCDs cannot be wall-mounted beyond 4'. When NEXT has such such "knowledgeable" sales guys & even more "intelligent" seniors / managers, it is but obvious that such screw-ups would happen. It is hardly any wonder that the Borivali(W) showroom is mostly empty & sparsely populated at best. To cut a long story short I'm not going to bear the cost of the bracket & would expect NEXT to procure it & install it since it's a clear case of mis-selling. We usually shop at Vijay Sales because of their superior serivce & courteous staff and this experience with NEXT has taught us the bitter lesson that while the TVs are cheap, they are definitely not as cheap as their sales team. Their staff has to be taught to behave with customers in general & women in particular so that other customers do not have to go through the same nonsense. All of you out there, please note that LCD lesser than 32" have to be installed at a maximum height of 4'. Please keep in mind otherwise you too will be running around like me. Also make it a point to tell the salesman clearly where you plan to install the LCD, so that he cannot wash his hands off later, if any installation issue arises.