Jan 22, 2008 06:04 AM
3858 Views
Lets get into the mind of the indian consumer when they go to buy a car. For 75% of the people, buying a car is a very big deal as cars in India are not cheap. Case in point - A Honda Civic costs Rs. 11, 45, 300 in India and Rs. 5, 78, 486.80 in the US.(Rs. 40 to a dollar). The car in US has more std safety features that the Indian consumer will have to pay for as optional accessories if he wants the same value to his life as an American.The Indian consumer is already cheated of his money at the mere thought of buying a car and his life is already considered to be of a lesser value by his own country as the safety laws are not as strict as elsewhere in the world.
When people buy a car, they also pay to get service from the dealer after all part of the extra money that the consumer shells out goes to the car dealer as commission. This is the money that is being paid to get quality service.
When I was buying a car for my family, I was bound with some restrictions - I had to buy it over the phone, get it in a certain time frame(most imp for me) and there should not be a compromise in the product. Having heard horror stories about Tata dealers' lack of service, I choose Maruti!
Now, we know that certain vehicles, when newly launched fetch a premium price in the market. We even talked about that with the dealer and told them upfront - Dont give me an unnecessary discount and then scr*w me in service. Give me what I want and make the experience pleasant for me. The rules were clear - I will pay more for a good experience.
Did they deliver? Lets go thru my experience chronologically!
~Booking~
The process of booking is where all my requirements were made clear and the written and verbal terms were agreed upon. I wanted a Red Swift with engine date of March 07. I made it clear that I did not want a car that's sitting on the lot for a while. As I wanted delivery in April, I was told that the car is transported from Gurgaon and hence the newest car can only be of Feb 07. I said OK - thats reasonable. The model was choosen as Swift ZXi as it was feature loaded. The dealer by this time has guaged the consumers taste.
~ The car was booked. A promise was made by them - A downpayment by me!~
~Payment~
I showed reluctance in parting with the money as I knew that after the check was signed, the power would shift to the dealer and I would be left at his mercy! I was paying in full and not thru any finance option - My money is hard earned and I dislike giving it away to a bank in form of interest.
The dealer assured me that they know what I want and to not worry - everything will be taken care of. By now I did not have time to start things over with a new dealer - I wanted to be doubly sure that things go smooth with this one - I reconfirmed the delivery date, colour and engine date of the vehicle. This is when things started going downhill -
I was told that the vehicle in my colour choice was unavailable! If I wanted a vehicle manufactured in Feb 07, I have to settle for a White instead of a Red Swift. My colour choice was being compromised - I was unhappy. On complaining, I was given an option of buying a Dec 06 vehicle that was Red.
Question is - When the booking was made, why didn't the dealer reserve a Red vehicle made in Feb 07 for me? Why was I offered a car sitting in the lot for 4 months instead of a newer car?
As I had no time to search for a new dealer, I compromised for a measly discount in price
~ The promises was broken. The damage was done.~
~Delivery~
I was in euphoria. We were welcomed, a cake was bought, a pic was clicked - to go up on their "happy customer" board, etc, Nice marketing gimmick to make the customer feel good.
A) I decided to give the car a once-over before driving it off the lot! On opening the hood, I saw a car alarm siren in the hood. I asked the sales lead about it
him: "thats for security"
me: "Is it active?"
him: "No. You will have to buy door sensors for Rs 2500/- to activate it"
I was in disbelief and thinking, why would Maruti give a security system without including the sensors? If they wanted to save money, wouldn't they also save on the siren? It didnt make any sense. I didn't pursue it. This made me angrier and I desided to calm myself by going out of the office and drooling at my car.
On drooling at it at the correct angle, I found numerous scratches on the hood of my brand new car!
I was shocked! scratches? already? I checked their demo car to see if it was a poor paint job on all Swifts - but no! The demo car actually had much much fewer scratches in it!
~ I was disappointed~
B) I called the sales guy and pointed the problem. A crowd of employees formed! He immediately pointed to 3 people and they magically made a bottle (liquid wax?) appear, poured it on the hood and started rubbing vigourously!
A few rubs later and the result was dramatic - there were more scratches seen now than earlier! The car had been sitting out in the dust and I know that you should wash the car before waxing it, else the result is what we got - more scratches. Also, never wax the car in direct sunlight or when its hot! My car was sitting in the sun for hours. They claimed the bottle was a teflon powder and I'm thinking - dont you need a machine to do teflon coating?
- read more about teflon coating in the comments section and avoid paying your dealer for it
I told them - I cannot accept this car in this condition.
I made them see the demo car; made them compare the hoods, the paint job, the number of scratches.
~ Angry and cheated, I made their life miserable by making them see and feel what I saw and felt!~
I was thrown a deal - The sales lead graciously offered to throw in the security sensors for free - his words "I'll pay from my own pocket and give you the sensors". His pride was hurt or was it really.? Lets find out.!
C) All this time my family was standing in the hot sun for over an hour, while their staff was in their air conditioned office. No one cared for us anymore - we were now troublemakers - the guys who raised a stink for the bad sales service given to them. We were no longer fit for the "happy wall of fame(shame?)". I pointed this out as I had already paid them to treat me nice "Will we have to wait under the hot sun while the sensors were being fit?" - We were asked in and my family was offered water.
(Sorry folks, this'll be long)
