Oct 18, 2011 12:41 PM
18065 Views
This is regarding the ordeal we are going through post our decision to buy a Skoda Fabia 1.2 TDI Elegance”
The Dealer: Tafe Access Limited – Hosur Road Branch.
Customer name: Mr. Ashok Patel. C/o Hanuman wood industries, Bommanahalli.
Booking Amount Paid: 8000.00
Dated: 30/ 08/2011.
Promised time span before delivery, post 30th Aug 2011: 15 to 20 days Maximum.
We had been in contact with 1 executive Mr. Shivanand at the dealer’s place who in turn stated that his boss as Mr. Jose Thomas (GM for the showroom) would be part of the team who would be offering customer support to us. All was well till the date it has been promised that the car will be delivered . We were all set to pay upfront as we require the car as early as possible. The executive told us that the car will take atleast a dozen days to be delivered which made us think about the loan for the same. The idea that the loan could also be beneficial to us by means of accounting and taxation fueled the need for loan. We were told by the executive to approach ICICI Bank for the same.
We did as said and were in dialogue with the bank thru the bank executive. As per the recommendation by the bank loan executive, it is better for us to wait till the car reaches the dealer and gets allotted to us, and then proceed with the loan finalization, however our approval and other verifications etc can be finished off. All were done as planned and the bank executive seemed helpful and courteous.
Post 20th when we enquired about the status of delivery of our car, the TAFE executive had no clear answer and fumbled a lot while he asked for 2 more days of time. Well we had no problem in allowing the 2 days as asked by the executive from Skoda.
The next time we called after the allowed 2 days, the executive was bolder and demanded 3 more days. We agreed even though we did not want to as there is nothing much we could do about this. The asking / demanding more time for delivery only kept on happening for 4 more of our calls from the span of 20th September 2011 till the 1st October 2011.
Furious by the uncouth and non professional behavior, we demanded the executive’s visit to our premises and wanted a final date from him as to when the delivery can be made. The executive in consultation with his GM, Mr. Jose Thomas promised delivery within 15 days. We gave them a grace period and said we give 20 days but that should be the final postponement. This but we demanded in an email communicate.
The mail with the said terms did not reach us and thus we wanted to enquire about that and the executive to our surprise stated that our car has been allotted. Engine and chasis number has been communicated to them from the company and thus the car will reach us in a couple of days. As the day approached, we called in to know the status and the executive told us that the car has come and we may take delivery.
Meanwhile we had the bank procedures on hold due to the inconsistent delivery promises from the dealer side. We did tell them that this is the situation, and thus the bank will take 2 days to give the hire purchase amount cheque to the dealer. Meanwhile we asked the executive to come and collect the Down payment cheque for Rs. 2.32 lakh.
Since we did not see anyone from Skoda to collect the down payment cheque, towards the end of the day we called them to check what happened. The executive gave us a weird excuse that the day was cloudy and rainy time to time. To our enquiry as to when he could come and collect the cheque, he said that he ll return us a call in 10 minutes to confirm.
Indeed the executive called us (for the first time ever) but to give us this shocker and said "Sir, Your car has been sold to some other customer by my GM!" The bad customer service was topped up by even bad blow to us. He said that if we need, we can take a white car that was always available (the car that they all compelled us most of the time to pickup and we denied all the time) . The executive was not done, till he told us that if we needed the same Beige color car, we will have to wait for a month or more.
We are speechless!!!
Help us and choose words for us now…
I guess we will pursue this even if we have to take time off our business and spend a while at the consumer forum.
This calls for a small doubt from us that even if the down payment was taken from us by the executive, they wouldn’t mind making us run pillar to post for the car. How trust worthy are the dealers of Skoda? Is this the same everywhere? Everyone?
Regards
Jitendra Patel,
