Jan 14, 2007 03:24 PM
7761 Views
I had booked a Maruti Gypsy King MPFI (ST) model from Sai Service JM Road over 2 months back by putting a down payment of INR25000/- vide cheque drawn on ICICI, having sold off my second hand Gypsy King (carb) a few days earlier! I was told that I would get my car "within a month". Now I understand that since the Gypsy is not a "regular" model, there is a waiting period involved. However I would much appreciate if there is transparency in this process and the customer is clearly informed of the date on which he can expect delivery of the vehicle.
I am very sorry to say that this has not happened in my case. To add to the problem there seems to be some confusion over color. I had very clearly mentioned at the time of booking the vehicle that I am looking for ICY BLUE (1st preference). I got a call sometime late Dec asking if White was ok since that was immediately available, to which I replied in the negative. I also mentioned at this point that if ICY BLUE was a problem, then BRIGHT RED (2nd pref) would be a second choice.
I called up on 4-Jan to check on the progress and was told that currently only WHITE and BOTTLE GREEN colors are available and other colors will take time. I was quite intrigued with the BOTTLE GREEN option suddenly coming up because it is not on offer on the catalogue. Anyways I re-iterated my choice of ICY BLUE or BRIGHT RED and asked to be kept informed. Since then I have got a number of calls from a number of people and everyone seems to be convinced that I had asked for a change of color! Even the call center apparently has this on their records! Let me reiterate that there was NEVER, NEVER any change in my choice of color, I am not sure how that got into this equation!
Going by the experience so far, I am quite apprehensive about the car delivery itself, especially considering Sai's very well deserved reputation in this regard. Do I start worrying about quality of the unit I would be allotted? There have been cases in my knowledge where customers have found defects in brand new cars delivered by Sai. I have seen brand new Wagon R's delivered by Sai with corrroded rear hatch doors etc. Imagine going to pick up your brand new car and finding it corroded from the inside at the showroom!
And the customer ( a senior citizen uncle) has been told bluntly that since the car has already been alloted to him he has to accept the delivery and later claim the warranty for the repairs!! Amaazing!
Maruti makes great cars and their pre-sales is good. However they fail poorly on all other counts. Even a hardcore Gypsy fan like me who has had one or the other model of Gypsy since 1996 at various times is now seriosuly considering the TRAX GURKHA 4WD!!
