Before we start, a little background. This is going to be a long post so I will keep the background brief here.
Since the day Mahindra launched Thar and official review of Team-BHP was published, I was in love with it. Love at first sight, if I may say so. I so wanted to buy it but somehow kept suppressing the urge and tried to be practical. I already have three cars, two of them Kizashi, which is one hell of car in terms of driving pleasure as well as comfort. So I always used to think... Nah! A Jeep will not really work. I will buy this in impulse and then it will be just standing there.
However, from last 2 months all these efforts to think logically started going in drain. So I thought I will take the step and go nuts! After all, life is short!
Now starts the actual story
I tried to inquire at local dealership in Jaipur, K.S. Motors, and they couldn't care less. First time when I called, it was 11 in the morning and there was no one to attend the inquiries related to Thar. The receptionist took my number promising to have some one call me back but that never happened. I tried again after some time and gentleman told me that Thar has a waiting period of 1 month and they don't have a test drive vehicle. I was quite surprised that in these modern times, a dealership doesnt have test drive vehicles. When I asked the guy, he said, some customer has booked a vehicle and he is supposed to get it in next few days. He can bring the same for test drive. That was my second surprise. Note to self - when I book my Jeep, I need to speak to them about this. Anyway, days passed and nothing happened. The guy kept telling me that he will come today, tomorrow and so on but nothing happened actually.
I was a little frustrated by that time so I started checking with other dealerships across the Rajasthan, and well... it was same, nobody cared! It was like Mahindra has specially trained the staff/personnel to DO NOT give a damn to customers. They will never reply, never follow up and none of them had a test drive vehicle.
I mean, as a desperate customer, I was willing to go to Ajmer or Bhilwara or Sikar or even Alwar (all ranging from 125 to 300 KM from Jaipur) and the dealerships were like.. duh! who cares dude!
So I thought as a good and concerned Mahindra Fan (no pun intended, I seriously admire Mahindra for their vision and efforts, or should I say, used to admire. I should try reaching to Mahindra support. I tried to find their customer care email and wrote an email to them. And well, this is when it started getting all the more frustrating.
This is the mail I wrote to them
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Hi
I was looking to buy a Mahindra Thar and decided to inquire on the local dealership at Jaipur – KS Motors. Unfortunately they didn’t have any test drive vehicle which is quite surprising, as in a city like Jaipur, you would expect that dealership has at least one test drive vehicle. The guy from the dealership said that he will try to arrange something and this has been like 15 days with nothing happening. The guy called me couple of times but I am still awaiting for a test drive. I inquired at some other dealerships in Rajasthan and response was more or less same. They also asked me to make a booking which is quite surprising as I don’t think anyone would be willing to book a 9L vehicle without looking or test driving it.
This makes me think
1) If this is the case, before I have bought the vehicle, only god knows what will happen once I have bought it.
2) The whole thing of Mahindra trying to change its image from a rural utility vehicle maker to a mainstream player is just a propaganda and the attitude of your dealerships and staff is still same. Treat the customer as dirt.. coz people are lining up for buying Boleros and Scorpios and they can do whatever they want. They can treat the customers as they please.
3) Why Mahindra doesn’t do anything to keep a check that dealerships are doing their bit to keep customers happy and at least supply a test drive vehicle. I have 3 cars already, not to mention the ones I have owned in past but I have never had such experience in any of my previous dealings. So I am pretty sure it is something with the attitude of Mahindra dealerships.
4) If you inquire for any other car, they will be trying to follow up (sometimes even to extent of chasing) but I have never seen such “Who cares” attitude in my life.
All in all, either Mahindra is over occupied and too busy with the response on their vehicles or they just don't care so I guess it would be a right decision to move to some other option.
I would also like to thank you guys coz unknowingly you have done a favor to me. You did this in pre-sales experience. If it would have been post sales (which I am sure would have happened), I would be in all the more trouble.
Thanks
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The customer support sent a reply asking for my phone number and taking some Mr. Ritesh in loop who is area sales manager. So far so good.. Mr. Ritesh called me as soon as I sent them my number. I was impressed! Not for too long though...
According to this Ritesh guy.
1) Mahindra Thar is a very niche market vehicle and people don't really want to look at it or test drive it. They just come to showrooms already aware of everything and buy it.
2) This is why Mahindra doesn't force dealerships to keep a test drive vehicle for Thar.
3) If someone insists to take test drive or look at vehicle, they arrange it with the vehicles of other customers who have booked it and pending delivery.
4) They have 4 similar vehicles (for customer bookings) about to arrive and he will arrange a test drive then.
I was kinda speechless at this. I mean, you wouldn't expect this from a company official. Would you? So I told him, okay Ritesh, it was great talking to you.. please do me a favor, just reply to the original email stating all this you are telling me. He said okay and I disconnected the line.
Just after the call, I sent an email to this Ritesh guy and customer care -
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Ritesh
Thanks for the call. Would you be kind enough and write the discussion we had in this email. For example vehicle being niche and thus no need for test drive.. people buying it because they know about it. making customer’s vehicle available for test drives and so on.
Thanks in advance
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to be cont...
Last edited by moralfibre : 19th July 2014 at 07:27.
Reason: Back to back posts
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