Horrible experience with Maruti AVG Dealer in Kerala(Need Advice) - Team-BHP

micraft · 28th May 2006, 18:12

This is the mail I had send to the GM of AVG Maruti Dealer, you guys wil realize the whole story from here. I purchased a Swift from AVG Motors Thiruvalla branch. In the mail, KTM stands for another branch of AVG in Kerala.

"We purchased the Swift Vxi Metallic Azure Grey and the car was delivered to us on April 18th. We realized a gap between the front fender and bumper which we reported during the first service. We delivered the car to AVG Thiruvalla for the first service on May 19th. We also reported gear shifting problems, rear seat problem and a scratch at the front left door which happened when our car was parked in TVM airport. The gear and the seat problem was corrected, but the scratch they said could only be rubbed on and painting that area would make the scratch more noticeable. About the front fender and bumper gap, they said that it was a manufacturing defect and that he had called the manager and the manager said that nothing could be done about it.
Next day we received a call from the customer support AVG Thiruvalla. I told about the unattended gap between the fender and bumper, but again the customer support lady didn’t say anything about it. The very next day AVG KTM customer support called and I informed them about the problem. She immediately called back and told that she had informed the GM, and the GM had called me and informed me to meet Mr Johnson in AVG Thiruvalla and he’ll take care of it. We needed to fit a stereo as well, so we gave the car the next day at 11:30am along with the stereo and we bought 2 pairs of Sony Xplod Speakers from their accessory shop. They said the car would be ready by 6:00pm.
At 3:15 pm, I called to know if the speakers have been installed and about the bumper gap, they said it is being looked at. At 6:30pm, they called and said that the car had been hit before and that the fender had been hit straight and repainted.
We immediately reached there and they accused us of getting the fender hit straight and getting it repainted from another local workshop. They also said that the fender had a little bit of rust developing. They removed the fender and showed us the mark of the fender being hit straight. We asked whether the paint work could be recognized from the Teflon coat which was applied on our car before it was delivered to us. They said that the new paint and Teflon cannot be distinguished. We asked them when they came to know about the damaged fender and they said at 2:00pm and we asked them why they had called at 6:30pm after knowing the problem at 2:00pm. They had no reply. We called the GM and said that we were only taking the car after the GM has a look at our vehicle. We left the car there at AVG Thiruvalla.
We weren’t called by anyone from AVG the next day, but on Friday we called the GM and he said that he was at KTM and he was having the car delivered to AVG KTM, and we reached there with the car. The GM had a look at the car and had it fixed, and also informed us that rust had not developed under the fender. But the problem is not over. We were harassed and accused of giving the car to workshop and getting it hit straight and repainted. We know for a fact that if the fender has been repainted it will be noticeable, and it is not noticeable in this case.
We were having problems with AVG Thiruvalla since the day we purchased the car.
1) The finance papers said that we had taken loan for the car, but we informed them that we were paying by cash cheque. We had a lot of issues to clear that mistake.
2) The chasis no. in the tax paper given by AVG to Pathanamthitta RTO office was wrong, and we had to go for the registration of our car again on another day.
3) The service executive in AVG Thiruvalla said that the scratch on the front door could only be rubbed and that painting over it will make the scratch more noticeable.
4) The service executive said that the bumper gap was a manufacturing defect and that he had informed the service manager and the manager said that nothing can be done about it and that we have to send a complaint to the Head Office. Why would the manager say something like that?
5) Accusing us of getting the fender hit straight and repainted.
6) They said that we had the fender painted from a local workshop and that the new paint is not recognizable, but when it came to have our scratch repainted they said that painting the scratch would make it more noticeable.
7) Irrespect to customer.

The first two problems can be considered as unintentional errors and was rectified with complete support . But the rest of the problems cannot be left unattended. We need to know how our fender has been hit straight, because the fender bumper gap was present when we received the car on April 18th, and it is obvious that the fender has been hit straight before the Teflon coating had been done, ie before we received our car.
We don’t care about the fender, it doesn’t make much of a difference to us, it’s a very nice car, but we need to know what had happened to the fender, because we had been illtreated and harassed because of that fender by AVG Thiruvalla.
We’re really impressed with the car but extremely disappointed with the service of AVG Thiruvalla.
We’ll really appreciate it if the matter was investigated and informed to us at the earliest. "

If there was new paint on the fender could it be distinguished from the old teflon coat? This car is just a month old.
What do u guys think i should do? I won;t have any piece of mind till i get someone fired from AVG Thiruvalla or just want to know how that happened to my fender. I'm 100% sure that it didn;t take place after i received the car, since only me and my dad dirve the car and no one else has had the chance to drive it.
Please guys long message i know, please read and reply your comments.

Poseidon · 28th May 2006, 20:09

Micraft, my sympathies are with you.
You are being treated like a private garage customer, not a Rs 5 lakh new car customer. I'm sure the dealer was all smiles before u paid up.
You could prove the intactness of teflon coating by consulting another Maruti dealer on the matter and bring him into the picture. That way, you could prove that you took delivery after whatever repainting was done. The dealer's veiled aggressiveness appears to indicate dishonesty in the matter. But I must say you stand on weaker ground because because you noticed the defect some time after delivery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by micraft

They said that we had the fender painted from a local workshop and that the new paint is not recognizable, but when it came to have our scratch repainted they said that painting the scratch would make it more noticeable.

The dealer must have repaired the dent and repainted the entire fender panel so it is not recognisable. Similarly, to obviate your scratch, the entire door panel has to be repainted. A mere touch up job would on your scratch would show prominently - the dealer is right here.

spdfreak · 28th May 2006, 21:24

A similar thing had happened to our senior t-bhpian mclaren..

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-de...ing-story.html

mithun · 4th June 2006, 06:29

Fire them up saying that you'll go and file a case in the Consumer Court and above all, these type of pathetic/irresponsible behaviour can never be tolerated and if they are being allowed to go scott free they will repeat it to others and as Team-BHP-ians we've to nip it in the bud itself.

I'm wondering why you've wasted your money for crappy things like Teflon coating since if you had gone through some of the postings(at here) you would have never taken up such coatings.

jkdas · 4th June 2006, 11:47

Sorry, I didnt have the patience to read the full story. I wanted to make thsi post asap when I read "AVG". They are crappy and good at giving you a BIG bill. My cousin has a Zen and i was suprised when I saw the paid service bill. According to teh bill, his car needed 3 bottles of Distilled water, was charged for filling the damn wiper wash !!!! ***! and etc!

I will post the details if I find taht bill.

oh, forgot; consumer court time.

...finished reading. What if the sales guys had fun with your car and sold a bad product? Last day a sales guy in a red swift was chasingme from Kallambalam to Pettah in a brand new car. Donno which poor chap is gonna buy that car which should have been doing 100kmph for most of teh time.

shibujp · 16th June 2006, 02:17

Hi micraft,

any followup on the mail you sent to AVG?

Drive on,
Shibu.

mclaren1885 · 5th August 2006, 13:57

Its very disheartening to hear of such malicious practices time and time again ... Yes , the same happened with me too .. Front bumper , condensor , radiator damaged BEFORE DELIVERY .. In the excitement to get out of the showroom never bothered to check .. Actually it couldnt have been possible for even a trained eye to pick up the damage , but on day 2 itself the AC problems showed up ..

RNS.Motors accused me of banging it somewhere and then shifted it to the car accessory guy who fitted my stereo .. Utterly disgusted i left my car at the showroom , told them that i dont need such a car and that i would go to the court .. 15 days my car is parked at the showroom while none have the courtesy to do anything about it .. Without much choice took back my car , posted about this on TBHP , the top brass at RNS saw the negative publicity , coupled to the complaint that i had made to MUL they requested to see my car and got it repaired for free of cost .. It took a while coming but it came indeed ..

Well seeing that u too have had a similar problem , i suggest u strongly deal with them asking them to fix it any cost .. Replacement of a car could not be possible as the damage is not significant , would suggest u to get some necessary checks to see if the aprons , chassis etc are OK ... That said , go to the court if the need arises .. Still better would be to forward this link to all the top brass at AVG and MUL and showcase their pathetic service .. With the kind of negative publicity this incident has warranted and with the reach that TBHP has on the indian automotive community im sure they will get deterred into loosing more customers ...

For them to build a reputation , its very important to settle scores with u just like what RNS did with me .. Today RNS stands as one of the most recommended showrooms on TBHP .. Almost every TBHPian who buys a car at RNS gets royalty service apart from the marginally better discounts ..

If AVG guys are reading this , dont take things lightly .. For this could just spell more trouble for ur company in the not so near future ..

28th May 2006, 18:12	#1 (permalink)
micraft BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: kerala Posts: 58	Horrible experience with Maruti AVG Dealer in Kerala(Need Advice) This is the mail I had send to the GM of AVG Maruti Dealer, you guys wil realize the whole story from here. I purchased a Swift from AVG Motors Thiruvalla branch. In the mail, KTM stands for another branch of AVG in Kerala. "We purchased the Swift Vxi Metallic Azure Grey and the car was delivered to us on April 18th. We realized a gap between the front fender and bumper which we reported during the first service. We delivered the car to AVG Thiruvalla for the first service on May 19th. We also reported gear shifting problems, rear seat problem and a scratch at the front left door which happened when our car was parked in TVM airport. The gear and the seat problem was corrected, but the scratch they said could only be rubbed on and painting that area would make the scratch more noticeable. About the front fender and bumper gap, they said that it was a manufacturing defect and that he had called the manager and the manager said that nothing could be done about it. Next day we received a call from the customer support AVG Thiruvalla. I told about the unattended gap between the fender and bumper, but again the customer support lady didn’t say anything about it. The very next day AVG KTM customer support called and I informed them about the problem. She immediately called back and told that she had informed the GM, and the GM had called me and informed me to meet Mr Johnson in AVG Thiruvalla and he’ll take care of it. We needed to fit a stereo as well, so we gave the car the next day at 11:30am along with the stereo and we bought 2 pairs of Sony Xplod Speakers from their accessory shop. They said the car would be ready by 6:00pm. At 3:15 pm, I called to know if the speakers have been installed and about the bumper gap, they said it is being looked at. At 6:30pm, they called and said that the car had been hit before and that the fender had been hit straight and repainted. We immediately reached there and they accused us of getting the fender hit straight and getting it repainted from another local workshop. They also said that the fender had a little bit of rust developing. They removed the fender and showed us the mark of the fender being hit straight. We asked whether the paint work could be recognized from the Teflon coat which was applied on our car before it was delivered to us. They said that the new paint and Teflon cannot be distinguished. We asked them when they came to know about the damaged fender and they said at 2:00pm and we asked them why they had called at 6:30pm after knowing the problem at 2:00pm. They had no reply. We called the GM and said that we were only taking the car after the GM has a look at our vehicle. We left the car there at AVG Thiruvalla. We weren’t called by anyone from AVG the next day, but on Friday we called the GM and he said that he was at KTM and he was having the car delivered to AVG KTM, and we reached there with the car. The GM had a look at the car and had it fixed, and also informed us that rust had not developed under the fender. But the problem is not over. We were harassed and accused of giving the car to workshop and getting it hit straight and repainted. We know for a fact that if the fender has been repainted it will be noticeable, and it is not noticeable in this case. We were having problems with AVG Thiruvalla since the day we purchased the car. 1) The finance papers said that we had taken loan for the car, but we informed them that we were paying by cash cheque. We had a lot of issues to clear that mistake. 2) The chasis no. in the tax paper given by AVG to Pathanamthitta RTO office was wrong, and we had to go for the registration of our car again on another day. 3) The service executive in AVG Thiruvalla said that the scratch on the front door could only be rubbed and that painting over it will make the scratch more noticeable. 4) The service executive said that the bumper gap was a manufacturing defect and that he had informed the service manager and the manager said that nothing can be done about it and that we have to send a complaint to the Head Office. Why would the manager say something like that? 5) Accusing us of getting the fender hit straight and repainted. 6) They said that we had the fender painted from a local workshop and that the new paint is not recognizable, but when it came to have our scratch repainted they said that painting the scratch would make it more noticeable. 7) Irrespect to customer. The first two problems can be considered as unintentional errors and was rectified with complete support . But the rest of the problems cannot be left unattended. We need to know how our fender has been hit straight, because the fender bumper gap was present when we received the car on April 18th, and it is obvious that the fender has been hit straight before the Teflon coating had been done, ie before we received our car. We don’t care about the fender, it doesn’t make much of a difference to us, it’s a very nice car, but we need to know what had happened to the fender, because we had been illtreated and harassed because of that fender by AVG Thiruvalla. We’re really impressed with the car but extremely disappointed with the service of AVG Thiruvalla. We’ll really appreciate it if the matter was investigated and informed to us at the earliest. " If there was new paint on the fender could it be distinguished from the old teflon coat? This car is just a month old. What do u guys think i should do? I won;t have any piece of mind till i get someone fired from AVG Thiruvalla or just want to know how that happened to my fender. I'm 100% sure that it didn;t take place after i received the car, since only me and my dad dirve the car and no one else has had the chance to drive it. Please guys long message i know, please read and reply your comments. Last edited by v12 : 28th May 2006 at 18:19. Reason: Removed Tags.

4th June 2006, 06:29	#4 (permalink)
mithun Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Cochin/B'lore(Land of Speed-breakers) Posts: 1,564 View My Garage	Fire them up saying that you'll go and file a case in the Consumer Court and above all, these type of pathetic/irresponsible behaviour can never be tolerated and if they are being allowed to go scott free they will repeat it to others and as Team-BHP-ians we've to nip it in the bud itself. I'm wondering why you've wasted your money for crappy things like Teflon coating since if you had gone through some of the postings(at here) you would have never taken up such coatings. __________________ Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams dry, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

4th June 2006, 11:47	#5 (permalink)
jkdas Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Thiruvananthapuram-Shertalla! Posts: 6,934 View My Garage	Sorry, I didnt have the patience to read the full story. I wanted to make thsi post asap when I read "AVG". They are crappy and good at giving you a BIG bill. My cousin has a Zen and i was suprised when I saw the paid service bill. According to teh bill, his car needed 3 bottles of Distilled water, was charged for filling the damn wiper wash !!!! *! and etc! I will post the details if I find taht bill. oh, forgot; consumer court time. ...finished reading. What if the sales guys had fun with your car and sold a bad product? Last day a sales guy in a red swift was chasingme from Kallambalam to Pettah in a brand new car. Donno which poor chap is gonna buy that car which should have been doing 100kmph for most of teh time. __________________ Audio, video, disco Tat tvam asi** Last edited by jkdas : 4th June 2006 at 11:58.

16th June 2006, 02:17	#6 (permalink)
shibujp BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Trivandrum Posts: 124 View My Garage	Hi micraft, any followup on the mail you sent to AVG? Drive on, Shibu. __________________ Road Sense is almost as important as Common Sense

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28th May 2006, 21:24	#3 (permalink)
spdfreak BHPian Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Trichur, presently in Qatar Posts: 119 View My Garage	A similar thing had happened to our senior t-bhpian mclaren.. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-de...ing-story.html

5th August 2006, 13:57	#7 (permalink)
mclaren1885 BANNED Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bangalore (the city of modded cars) !! Posts: 4,779 View My Garage Infractions: 0/1 (10)	Its very disheartening to hear of such malicious practices time and time again ... Yes , the same happened with me too .. Front bumper , condensor , radiator damaged BEFORE DELIVERY .. In the excitement to get out of the showroom never bothered to check .. Actually it couldnt have been possible for even a trained eye to pick up the damage , but on day 2 itself the AC problems showed up .. RNS.Motors accused me of banging it somewhere and then shifted it to the car accessory guy who fitted my stereo .. Utterly disgusted i left my car at the showroom , told them that i dont need such a car and that i would go to the court .. 15 days my car is parked at the showroom while none have the courtesy to do anything about it .. Without much choice took back my car , posted about this on TBHP , the top brass at RNS saw the negative publicity , coupled to the complaint that i had made to MUL they requested to see my car and got it repaired for free of cost .. It took a while coming but it came indeed .. Well seeing that u too have had a similar problem , i suggest u strongly deal with them asking them to fix it any cost .. Replacement of a car could not be possible as the damage is not significant , would suggest u to get some necessary checks to see if the aprons , chassis etc are OK ... That said , go to the court if the need arises .. Still better would be to forward this link to all the top brass at AVG and MUL and showcase their pathetic service .. With the kind of negative publicity this incident has warranted and with the reach that TBHP has on the indian automotive community im sure they will get deterred into loosing more customers ... For them to build a reputation , its very important to settle scores with u just like what RNS did with me .. Today RNS stands as one of the most recommended showrooms on TBHP .. Almost every TBHPian who buys a car at RNS gets royalty service apart from the marginally better discounts .. If AVG guys are reading this , dont take things lightly .. For this could just spell more trouble for ur company in the not so near future ..