[Resolved]  Chennai Ford — Irresponsi​ble behavior o[censored]nskilled staff at the Chennai Ford, Arumbakkam

Address:

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

I would like to introduce myself as Yega Kumarappan, one of your most distressed Ford vehicle owners who was taken through an unpleasant and unprofessional experience at the Chennai ford dealership located at Arumbakkam Chennai. I work in the IT industry and have owned several cars prior to stepping into Ford – I have never experienced this kind of an irresponsible, non-committed and lethargic behavior ever before.

Around the first week of July we made an enquiry on the Ford Figo. Mr. Rajkumar (Sales person) explained the features and the pricing structure for the car. He promised an overall offer price of Rs.5,92,900 on road after an offer of Rs.13,500 (Rs.5000 off Essential pack + Rs.5000 off insurance + Rs.3500 off Corporate discount).

On 07/07/2011, Mr. Rajkumar called us stating that the overall on-road marked price of the vehicle has gone down from Rs.6,06,400 to Rs.6,03,700 since the insurance prices have been reduced by Ford. We rushed the same day to make a booking and now he stated, he will not be able to stick to the offer he promised. Instead he cooks up something very different and offers only a discount of Rs.8,500 (Rs.5000 off essential pack and Rs.3,500 corporate discount) + Rs.2000 worth of accessories. Since the sales person was unable to justify his decisions and no senior person even showed up to facilitate a constructive discussion, we left the dealership with disappointment. We felt like the dealership lacked responsibility and we were not taken care of with due respect.

Given that our experience was bad at Ford, we decided to look at other options and the other brands had a significant wait time on their diesel variants. On 12/07/2011 the VAT taxes were increased by the government and the vehicle prices went up from Rs.6,03,700 to Rs.6,14,100 Irrespectively, since we were still interested in the car, we accepted the price increase and made a booking with Rs.10,000 (no receipt) on 17/07/2011.

On 21/07/2011, Mr. Rajkumar called me and said, the prices are further going up since Ford had increased the base price of the vehicle. He precisely said the price hike was Rs.10,000 on the zxi model. After losing out on an already promised offer, increase due to VAT and still making a booking, I was agonized by the ask for more and more money. I voiced out that, I will reach out to anyone in the organization and it was unfair to take advantage of a customer in this manner. In 10mins, he returned my call – he advised me to pay the complete balance of Rs.5,95,600 by 06:00pm the same day (I was later told by Mahesh, the existing customers were given 3 days time), so that my vehicle can be delivered at the same price I had booked for. I rushed from work (Siruseri) to the dealership in order to make the payment. Rajkumar clearly indicated that as part of the price change, the music system was no more available with the Exi and that the Zxi had no changes in spec except an increase of Rs.2,700 (instead of the Rs.10,000 he talked about on phone). I went ahead and paid Rs..5,95,600. I did not even receive an acknowledgement receipt for the payment.

I was promised that the vehicle will be ready on 25/07/2011 and we preferred to take delivery on 27/07/2011. After a week, I got a call from Rajkumar asking for 5 passport size photographs and address proof by the next day morning and that the vehicle will be ready for delivery by 28/07/2011 (delayed). I had already planned to take off from work on the day of delivery and I was not happy with his reasoning and excuses. I had to again talk about escalating and the sales person agreed for delivery on the promised date. I had to immediately arrange for photographs on the same day for him to pick up from my home. He then wanted the Form 20 to be signed the next day morning. When I asked about what time he will reach my place, he said “ I cannot commit a time for every activity – what if internet does not work at the office?” I did not want to argue and decided to wait. The customer care denied the next level manager’s contact information even when we were persistent.

The next day, Rajkumar got the Form 20 signed in the morning and left. I was waiting for an update and finally I had to call him at noon and understood that the vehicle was not taken for registration and that, they will not be able to deliver the same day.

I personally walked in to meet the sales manager (Sasi) and explained all my grievances and how the order was treated. He called in Mahesh (Lead) and Rajkumar (Sales Person) - he could listen to what happened but, he was not able to help either. He suggested I take delivery without registration (illegal – Against the M.V act) and have the registration done later. After all the commotion, surprisingly, my vehicle was sent for registration and was registered as well. I still do not understand, why did they not make an attempt when it was possible.

The next issue was, there were no rear parking sensors (promised) available in stock and was asked to come later to get this fixed. I had to again talk to Mahesh to look at alternative options. I did not ask for the car to be delivered the same day – We had given them more than 2 weeks of lead time and surprised that none of this was planned for. Later, I assume, it was sourced from a different location and made available the same day.

The last surprise was when I took the vehicle for delivery on 27/07/2011. I noticed that the vehicle was missing the electrically adjustable mirrors and the rear wash/wipe. When I asked the sales person – he just plainly said “the zxi model does not have these features”. I asked – “What if the brochure had these options” and his response was – “If you see in the manual get back to us”. I got back home and yes it was there on the manual. Then I had to call up Mahesh and he justified that this was removed from the model and was communicated to all the sales men. This was news to me! We had these features when the vehicle was shown to us and booked. There were changes to the features, which were never communicated to us? I demanded, the vehicle has to have all features that were promised at the time of booking – It is unacceptable to have features removed from a car especially with no communication to the customer. Mr Mahesh accepted their fault and had promised to get back to us the next day (28/07/2011) after discussion with the management and has not got back to us yet.

I’m unhappy that after all the confusion, Mr. Sasi nor Mr Mahesh had even stepped up to interact with us to check if things were ok. I’m writing this long email in complete distress and planning to post this out on all possible forums for the benefit of the consumer market to understand the painstaking experience they may have to go through if they chose the “Chennai Ford”.

To summarize the sequence of events and the non-committed work that I experienced:
July 1st week: Initial enquiry – On road price was Rs.5,92,900 with a promised offer of Rs.13,500
07/07/2011: Second enquiry – On road price was Rs.5,95,200 with an un justified offer of only Rs.8,500
07/17/2011: Booked the vehicle – On road price was Rs.6,05,600 with an increase in VAT taxes
21/07/2011: Increase in Vehicle price by Ford and we were asked to bear the increase else make a payment in the next 4 hrs. Payment made for Rs.5,95,600 – No receipt / acknowledgement issued Promised delivery date
26/07/2011: 1 day before the delivery date – call from dealership asking for photos and documentation and intimation and change in delivery date
27/07/2011: Personally at the dealership to meet the sales manager – not much he could do. Manager proposes to take the delivery without registration.
27/07/2011: Rear parking sensors not in stock – Had to scream on the floor for not planning appropriately for a delivery.
27/07/2011: The car was registered and made available for delivery the same day
27/07/2011: Electrically adjustable mirrors and Rear wash and wipe missing in the car
27/07/2011: Reported the issue – Mahesh (lead) promised to return the call by 07/28/2011 and there has been no communication from the dealership till date
Not even a courtesy call till date from the sales manager nor the lead to confirm, if everything was ok.

I’m expecting that the audience I have addressed this email to, will treat this issue with seriousness, investigate and will revert with an explanation and a fair response at the earliest.

Invoice Number: MC00653 Dt. 26/07/2011
Model: Ford 1.4 D TDCI ZXI
Vehicle Serial Number: FG[protected]
Chasis No: MAJIXXMRJ1BS67254