Over the last nine days, I have tried my level best to get a TD of the Alturas G4 in Bangalore. The experience started at India Garage Whitefield last Thursday. I walked into the dealership at around 1145 AM and there was nobody there except for a cleaning lady and someone who looked like a security guard behind the reception. After loitering around the showroom for about 5-7 minutes, I was finally asked what I wanted. The moment I said I am interested in the Alturas, the prompt reply was that they did not have any details or a TD vehicle. I was asked to leave a phone number and they will get back. I was certain that they were not going to call me (since I had an earlier experience of this), so I asked for the sales manager. The sales manager came after about 20 minutes and assured me that someone from Mahindra and not India Garage will arrange the test drive.
A week and 2 days later, I have been stood up twice by Mahindra with no communication from them as to any change of plans. I have been following up with them, almost as if I am the salesman and not the customer. The Alturas TD in charge from Mahindra, a gentleman who only introduced himself as ‘from Mahindra’ never responds to messages and does not return calls. I was finally able to talk to him last evening, where he said that the backend team has messed up. He almost made it sound as if I was at fault.
During the week, I had also written to the VP of Mahindra Service and the South Zonal Head of Mahindra asking if they have a separate service network for the Alturas. I have it on email from them that the service network is different. He is an extract from the email.
We have bifurcated Alturas Showroom & Services within dealerships to cater to our valued different segment / hi-end customers. People, facilities will be different.
This was important to me because service of my existing Mahindra has almost always been a harrowing experience except for the regular oil-change kind of service. I checked on this independently with three people at India Garage who all confirmed that the Alturas will be serviced at the same workshop as the Scorpio, XUV, e2o, Veritas and others. I further probed if they have got the regular spares for the Alturas. The service managers that I spoke to did not know if they had any spares for the Alturas. This is scary
To get a context of Mahindra service, I have to mention that I have had a Scorpio AT for the last 7 years and has done a shade shy of 50k in mileage. During this time, I have had to write to the head of Customer Service at Mahindra, Mr Sonjoy Gupta, twice for separate incidents. They have also tried to oversell un-necessary things to me. At 40k they tried to sell me a transmission oil change which was estimated at INR 45,000. I had to quote the service booklet and tell them a firm no since its a sealed transmission and then oil is to be inspected at 80k. I have also felt that the cost of regular service is way too high. The last 45k regular service cost me about 10k and it was all regular stuff with no additional issues and no oil change. Now I wonder what will happen if the the Alturas service is going to be handled by the same people.
The Alturas looks impressive on paper and all reviews are positive. If only I was able to see one and TD it. I guess its only for royalty and not for us lesser mortals. So after 15 years of loyalty to Mahindra, I am ready to move on. Thanks to the pathetic sales and service network.
The first time I was stood up, I contacted Ford, who quickly arranged a TD. The 3.2 Endy is impressive to say the least. And Cauvery Ford seems to be much better than India Garage in terms of professionalism.
Hope this helps people on the fence make a judgement.