[Resolved]  Hr Johnson Tiles — Tiles - Inconsistent

Address:

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

The following email was sent to CustomerCare of Johnson on Oct-18th and a reminder was sent on Oct-19th. No response has been received on the same and the tile vendor has been following with me for payment of dues by humpteen calls every day. I'm being forced to pay the vendor in spite of receiving non-standard material that ruined the look of my house when I was planning for a face-lift by spending so much.

--start of email sent to Johnson --

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

All mention of 'dealer' or 'vendor' or 'point of sale' directly or indirectly refers to Mr.Umapathy, representing M/S Swarna Ceramics, Medawakam Main Road, Chennai
All mention of 'company' will refer to H & R Johnson (India), A Division of Prism Cement Limited
All mention of ‘property’ or ‘house’ will refer to 11/4 Vijay Avenue, Nanganallur, Chennai (Landmark : Modern School)
Complainant : Vikram Karthick Kannan, Son of - and representing Mr. Kannan SV, the purchaser of the tiles, and owner of the property where the tiles were laid


I had bought, totally, 512 sq ft of Lucia Marbonite Vitrified tiles from Swarna Ceramics, Medavakam Main Road, Chennai, on 5th October 2010, as I was pleased with the color and texture of the tile named "Lucia".
The dealer M/s Swarna Ceramics (Umapathy, [protected]) had sent the tile lot as two increments, on 5th October and on 6th October, with mixed batches (N-52 and N-65) on both consignments, with knowledge that it is for the same property.
It is an independent house and the laying is for the ground floor and hence there is no room to be mistaken that there may be different door-numbers with the same parent address, as in an apartment.

The laid-out tile spread - is an unplanned collage, rather than a uniform canvas.

Several calls were made - to the dealer above, to inspect the DIFFERENCES in the tile delivered, but appropriate action was never taken, nor any proper reply provided. The tile laying workforce was kept waiting in spite of wages being paid - on many days, in anticipation of the dealer's concern about replacement of the tiles or escalation of this event. Eventually, after multiple futile attempts and unwarranted delay, the tiles were laid, as the space was awkward, with part tile-laying.

This is entirely the company's and the dealer's responsibility to compensate.

My questions to the company are :

1. Why does the color and texture of the tile change from one batch to another ? When the output lacks uniformity, there is no standard and I would expect this disparity to happen to every aspect of the tile. If this is deemed 'normal' then the showroom is misleading and it is explicit that 'what you see is not what you'll eventually get'. Otherwise called misrepresentation.
2. Why are a plethora of ‘points of sale’ allowed to penetrate into the market and different pricing followed, across these points?
3. In continuation of #2, Why do dealers (from my above experience) lack the basic skills to check for quality and content, be responsible, meet the delivery timelines and be polite to the customer?
4. Why can't an order for a single house of 512 sq ft be delivered from the same batch if #1 is a ‘regular’ event
5. The dealer has been threatening me for the outstanding payment when the tile delivered lacks uniformity. I have been receiving loud tones and harsh statements from the dealer in return for a request to inspect the differences in the tiles . Under such circumstances, what direction should I take? Should I pay the retailer and claim for damages from the company?
6. Does Johnson authorize its points of sale to levy a 2.5% Credit Card Surcharge for any card payment made? The dealer (above) gave me a credit of Rs.19500/- after swiping my card for Rs.20,000/-. It was shocking for me to digest the explanation from the vendor that I was supposed to “know” about it. Why is this information not being shared upfront OR Why does Johnson encourage its dealers to accept cash payments that provide room for unaccountable transactions?

This is a request, seeking for compensation of the above damages in cost and time, incurred by me - to the tune of INR 1.25 Lacs in phone calls, mental agony and facing harassment from your points of sale, the tile and laying cost, inclusive of delay from the dealer to inspect the difference in tile color and to respond politely.

If my case is not addressed within the next two working days (before October 20th, 2010), I will be proceeding with legal action on both HR Johnson India and its dealer, for misinformation, lack of standardization, extortion, differences in quality and misrepresentation in showrooms and for mental agony apart from the cost of the tile paid, the laying and all the associated costs.
I will not be paying the vendor anything more and I advise you to take this up with M/s Swarna Ceramics. I have part-paid Rs.20,000 upfront towards delivery of the tile on 5th October 2010 and I regret for the same.


Kind Regards,
Vikram Karthick Kannan
11/4 Vijay Avenue
Nanganallur
(Near Modern School)
Chennai 600061
# [protected], #[protected], #[protected]
Vikram.[protected]@gmail.com

----- end of email --