| Address: 605502 |
| Website: hidesign.com |
This is to bring to your notice that my mother purchased a bag from the hidesign store situated in Mehrauli - Gurgaon road, Aya Nagar, New Delhi last year. The bag had an issue later on and we gave it for repair at the same store in Oct 2016. The bag was never returned to us despite our repeated follow up with the store manager (Mr. Mahender Singh - +91 -[protected]). My mother visited the store sometime in Feb this year and we got to know that the store was closed. On checking with Mr. Mahender, he reluctantly agreed to return the bag and deliver it to our place. Post delivery of the bag discovered that the bag was wrong hidesign bag delivered to us. We tried contacting him again on this issue and he did not pick up our calls.
This led to me contacting the customer care at Hidesign (Ms. Bhuvansehwari +91 [protected]) who after discussing the entire issue told me that this was a dealer owned store of Hidesign and not an exclusive store of Hidesign. This store is owned by Mr. Ravi Khanna (+91 [protected]) and we were asked to speak to Ms Surekha (+91 [protected]) who is an employee of Mr. Ravi Khanna. Ms. Surekha told us that they are unable to contact Mahender and that his services were terminated. He was not taking their calls as well. She took some time to discuss the issue with Ravi Khanna and post her discussion with him told us that we can visit their store and pick up any bag of our choice from their inhouse brands (Kara and Bern) in exchange of the wrong bag given to us. My mother along with me visited the store and found the bags to be of inferior quality compared to Hidesign. We reluctantly picked one bag out of compulsion and were asked to pay the price difference of the bag. This was not what we were told in the initial conversation that we had with Ravi Khanna and Surekha. When we asked for a compensation instead, they offered us an amount which was half of the original MRP. We left the premises along with the wrong bag given to us.
I contacted Bhuvaneshwari again and told her the entire situation explaining her that we are not happy with what is being offered as the bags are of inferior quality and the compensation is half of the original MRP. I asked her I wish to speak to someone in Hidesign about this matter, however she declined telling me it is not possible. She also told me that she cannot do much in this case as it was a dealer store and not a hidesign exclusive outlet. She also told me I need to speak to Ravi Khanna on this matter as the bag was lost by them.
I contacted Surekha who disconnected my phone.Then I called Ravi Khanna and told him that we are not happy with what is being offered.The bag has been misplaced by them without any fault of tours. He was rude and blatantly said that the following things to me:
1) He boasted stating that they have built Hidesign brand and promoted it over 10 years but we are no longer associated with it. He said he cannot offer any compensation for the misplaced bag.
2) You can contact Hidesign on this issue and see if they are keen to retain a customer.
3) When I told him, they asked me to speak to you as you were the dealer, he said you can do whatever you want to.You can go to consumer court to file a complaint and he simply disconnected the call.
I as a customer feels completely cheated in this situation. Both Hidesign and the dealer are passing the buck in this case. As a customer, I would not know whether a store is Hidesign exclusive store or a dealer run store especially as it was advertised as a Hidesign Factory outlet
Whatever arrangement Hidesign has with it's dealer is an internal matter of Hidesign and a customer is not privy this arrangement. I am chasing both Hidesign and the dealer to get the issue resolved, however both are conveniently passing the buck to each other now that both are no longer under any arrangement. I am left with a bag I do not want and have lost my bag because of some irresponsible Hidesign dealer who is trying to escape out of this situation by offering me inferior quality bags or a compensation less than half of the MRP of the bag. It is a clear case of exploitation of customer's situation by the dealer and Hidesign has not been very helpful in this whole matter.
Hidesign owes responsibility to its customers whether they are selling bags directly or through some dealer. The customer is fooled into believing that Hidesign owned stores are selling bags and it is only later that customers like us get to know the whole truth.
Hidesign India customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.
