Royal Enfield — sri velavan motors

Address:	600002
Website:	www.velavanmotors.com

I am putting forth this mail across the concerned authorities of Royal Enfield, to register a complaint/ grievance against the inappropriate customer service I received at the mentioned company service center.

I used to address myself as a proud owner of Royal Enfield, years back when I owned my first Classic 350. Not anymore will I even say that I own a Royal Enfield, since it brings such a shame to own one.

I am writing this with deepest grievance on the plight that I have been put through for the past 9 months, in the whole process of Booking, getting the delivery, owning and running to service center and yet tired of complaining about my experience about owning a TB 500

May 1st 2016, the day on which I took a bad decision of booking my long term love TB500 (Matte Black) at Sri Velavan Motors, Greams road. What a warm welcome have I received the week before, by the sales executive Mr.Balaji who offered a test drive for me and made me fall into this pit of lies and false commitments. I took the decision, basis his commitment of delivering the bike within 45 to 60 days. Mr.Balaji who convinced me to do the booking was never seen after that. Now comes Mr.Udayan, who is my so called relationship manager for vehicle delivery, who came up with all the following excuses. GST problem, BS4 bikes are in progress, 500 CC’s are in demand and hence the delay, RTO has kept hold on BS4 releases… and what not. With my network and known sources I found that none of the above stated was a reason for the delay. Sri Velavan Motors became a Private Limited company in the interim and hence the compliance internally caused this delay, which Mr.Udayan confessed after exposing the truth over a phone call.

The waiting was exiting until I faced the nightmare post 60 days. I started realising my mistake of not enquiring about the commitment levels of Velavan Motors and after sales services. Never knew that such a gigantic brand like Royal Enfield failed to deliver on after sales and left the customers to grope in dark. Despite of several escalations, none of the representatives were willing to give a clear picture, nor let me further escalate just to save their collars.

6 months of waiting and I lost my patience. Now I had to go by hard and fast rule of withdrawing my booking and called Mr.Udayan to convey it. Well, the surprising part is that there was no regret or remorse from this gentlemen who heard me whining about my issue and advised me to fill in a withdrawal form by visiting the dealership. Wow! what an amazing courtesy level from this Brand to its customer. My heart never let it go and I still convinced myself to go through the shame of requesting to expedite the process. Weeks fly by again and now I had to step down by asking to deliver any colour that was available. I was offered Classic Dessert Storm instead, which was not even on my list. I hope the reader understands, what kind of a traumatic experience it would be, to go through all this after booking a bike that costs Rs.2 Lakhs plus.

Another week went by and I had to pay a visit to the dealership to meet Mr.Udayan, since he was so busy that he didn’t even had time or courtesy to return my calls. Yet again with no regret or remorse the response was usual and not promising. Not knowing what to do, I had to call the customer care and place a complaint about this whole incident and now I really took the plunge of withdrawing my booking and go to a reputed print media to share my experience. There started the fire within Velavan motors team and I was offered a Marine Blue TB500 (please note that I booked Matte black), the very next day. I didn’t want to let it go since I had already lost my patience and time arguing and negotiating with these bunch of people who care a damn for their customers.

After paying the full amount, I had to wait for another 7 days to even get the vehicle delivered. Now for the second traumatic journey.

No pooja done or no wishes to the customer, the bike was just delivered in a shabby condition. The pillion seat and driver seat was shaking and it was not noted by the QA team before delivery. After pointing it, they made all their efforts to fit it but they left in vain, stating me to take it to service center directly, while their concentration was to finish the other deliveries pending for the day. How auspicious is to take the bike directly to a service centre from delivery instead of going to a temple. Half the way through Mr.Udayan, who accompanied me convinced me not to go to the service center since it was already 7.30pm (not sure what hurry was he in). There goes my sentiments on this bike, where I had to take it to the temple with the faulty seat by holding it in my other hand all the way through.

No follow-ups until the vehicle was due for its first service and I happened to get my seats fixed through a local mechanic who did the job in hardly 5 mins. The vehicle was hardly 100 kms run and I left the bike for first service and got it delivered the same day evening without a water wash that was noticeable under the pillion bumper. Was not in a mood to argue with these people and I left the place. Here comes the irony, In 400 kms the bike was due for its second service. Yet again the same day delivery and I realised the moment I came out the venue that that brakes were not functioning. How well does the QA team works here, by delivering a bike without even checking if the breaks are fitted properly. Called the service engineer and gave him a piece of my mind. They did all sort of running around dramas and gave the bike without inspecting again. Now to my surprise, I hear a rattling sound from the rear wheel.

Being a Sunday morning I go to the service centre and asked them to inspect it again. After one and half hours I get a reply from one of the engineer that there could be some problem in the rear disk and they are getting it fixed and hence he requested me to leave the bike with them by putting a job card. The vehicle was delivered with some temporary fix and I eventually started hearing the noise again. Inbetween my busy schedule (being a Chief HR for a BFSI sector), I had to force myself to visit the service center again on Saturday noon (following days are Pongal holidays). Was made to sit again for more than an hour and I see all these service engineers already in the holiday mood by exchanging sweets and not doing their job (as usual). 3 of the service engineers attended to it and finally the chief engineer (Mr.Dinesh) came back and said that being a holiday, it is not suggested to leave the bike in service center and had advised me to come and visit again post pongal and put a job card. They were still not able to find out as to what was causing the problem. This explains, how the customer is being made a joker.

I decided not to visit them anymore and I paid a visit to Jaf bullets (most renowned Bullet mechanic in Chennai; since Britishers). Just a ride for 100 meters and he found the fault. The rear wheels ball bearing had worned out. How come it could happen for a bike that is brand new and hardly run 600kms? He raises this question himself and inspected the vehicle further. To his surprise and to my vain, it was found that the rear disk has a bend in it and that touches the calibre frame while riding, which indeed was the actual cause for the strange noise. Being a renowned mechanic, he advised me to leave the bike at the service station and asked me to seek an explanation from Velavan motors for delivering such a faulty bike for me. I left my bike without any hints on the fault, just to see what they claim and as I expected they had no clue after several minutes of inspections. Further not to waste my time, I hinted them on whats the issue and had claimed for an explanation.

A job card was issued to me on[protected] with a wrong vehicle number (TN01BC006) actual no is (TN01BC0060). The advisor name is Mr.Praveen who had mentioned that the indicative delivery period is[protected], 2:00pm and it is already[protected] noon while am writing this complaint and NO NEWS FROM THEM YET as to what is happening to my bike. I have tried more than thrice since morning to reach out Mr.Praveen to know the status, but no response. At 2:00 pm today, I called the customer care number for this service center in Annasalai and the executive had promised that I will be receiving a call within 15 to 20 mins and the threshold had already crossed.

Despite of all these issues being shared as a feedback to the customer care of Royal Enfield, I haven’t received even a single enquiry on post effect of the complaints yet. I would like to know how is Royal Enfield planning to address this issue? Is it Velavan motors to be blamed? Or is it the Brand? End result, the customer is impacted and I feel that my money had gone into a drain for no fault of mine. Top of all, the time, energy and stress that I went through…can that be compensated by any means?

Are they going to replace a new bike for me instead? seek an immediate action on this.

The pleasure of owning a Royal Enfield is not any more a pride, rather a pain. Hence proved.