Ford Showroom experience - Bangalore

[marathp]

Today I went to Lathangi ford in Bangalore for a Fiesta TD as I was in market for a sedan. I was surprised to find out that the salesman bluntly told that there is no TD vehicle available today as they are doing some servicing of vehicles. I already heard lots of complaints about Ford and this experience confirmed the same. On a sunday when there will be more prospetive customers, they don't have the TD vehicle.

Even at this time of economic crisis, they don't bother to treat their customers well. They didn't even bother to collect my name or contact details. I was about to finalize Fiesta, but this experience made me to rethink on Ford. How pathetic on their side !!! Thank god, I could sense their lack of customer centricity upfront.

[abhijit 2284]

why dont you try the sx4 instead? and as far as I know you cant go wrong with MUL sales and service

[amtak]

Or for that matter even Fiat has upped the stakes with its Linea. In the same price range, which you may consider?

[cruiser_1982]

Originally Posted by marathp

Today I went to Lathangi ford in Bangalore for a Fiesta TD as I was in market for a sedan. I was surprised to find out that the salesman bluntly told that there is no TD vehicle available today as they are doing some servicing of vehicles. I already heard lots of complaints about Ford and this experience confirmed the same. On a sunday when there will be more prospetive customers, they don't have the TD vehicle.

Even at this time of economic crisis, they don't bother to treat their customers well. They didn't even bother to collect my name or contact details. I was about to finalize Fiesta, but this experience made me to rethink on Ford. How pathetic on their side !!! Thank god, I could sense their lack of customer centricity upfront.

This could be because of the bad attitude of the Lathangi Ford Dealership and not the Ford itself. Why dont you check the other Ford dealers and then decide on going for a Fiesta.

[RakishRam]

Originally Posted by marathp

Today I went to Lathangi ford in Bangalore for a Fiesta TD . I already heard lots of complaints about Ford and this experience confirmed the same.

They didn't even bother to collect my name or contact details.

hmmm, I have to disagree with you here. I was at Lathangi for Fiesta test drive and the way the treated me and provided the car for some really bad road test drives were really commendable. And the sales chaps followed me up for nearly three months with alluring discounts.
Note:- I didn't buy one from them, since it was for my bro and he picked one from Kairali ford kerala.
Maybe my experience is an exception or maybe yours is, so check other ford dealers (or Linea )

[rkavthekar]

Originally Posted by cruiser_1982

This could be because of the bad attitude of the Lathangi Ford Dealership and not the Ford itself. Why dont you check the other Ford dealers and then decide on going for a Fiesta.

Why don't the car makers send dummy customers to the dealerships once in 3 - 6 months to find out the customer experience at their dealerships and evaluate attitude along with other stuff. I know for sure, such a practice is been done by various brands in various malls to evaluate their outlets. If you need to sustain this recession, you need to convert even 1% interest shown by customer into a sale. This attitude will not last in this recession for sure.

Last month, Maruti and probably Tata lost me (as a customer) to Hyundai. While the vehicle (i10) had its own merits, I was completely sold by the service rendered by Hyundai dealer.

take care and drive safely

[krish3]

Marath-: Certainly a bad experience that you had, but i would call it a one-off. I myself had gone to Lathangi Ford, and they did treat me well and did follow up as well with good discounts. But it was my father who wanted the car, and he's in Kerala. So we bought from Kairali Ford, Cochin. Even there we had a nice exp, were offered water, tea and snacks when we went there, even before we decided on the FIESTA.

Do try out some other dealers, if you dont want to go to Lathangi or maybe a different sales person might bring a different experience

[condor]

@marathp, if you went yesterday (1st Feb 2009), as per your post, it was a sunday.

A showroom would like to keep TD vehicles ready during weekdays & saturdays, when most of the prospective customers would come in.

OTOH, the service at their Bannerghatta Rd showroom is closed (atleast for public) on sunday.

[marathp]

Originally Posted by condor

@marathp, if you went yesterday (1st Feb 2009), as per your post, it was a sunday.

A showroom would like to keep TD vehicles ready during weekdays & saturdays, when most of the prospective customers would come in.

OTOH, the service at their Bannerghatta Rd showroom is closed (atleast for public) on sunday.

condor - Beg to differ here. I have called up and confirmed that their showroom is opened on Sunday before visiting there. Even otherwise, I guess most of the customers will be shopping around on a weekend rather than on a weekday.

Anyways, bottom line is they lost a customer who almost decided on a Fiesta and who will be moving to a Linea now. My other Ford showroom/service center is a bit far hence ruled out for now.

Slightly OT: I have seen even the service centers are closed on Sunday. Don't you think a sunday will be good to drop the vehicle for a service? Just wondering why can't they take a holiday on a weekday?

[benbsb29]

Marath, arent you jumping to conclusions rather early?
Since the TD vehicles are at their peak runarounds all through the week, it makes sense for them to be serviced on a Sunday. I have observed that customers coming in for TDs are really a trickle on Sundays, as majority aim for a Saturday or else schedule them on weekdays.

@Condor, how about sending marath a PM about the salesguy you dealt with for your car purchase?

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Marath, arent you jumping to conclusions rather early?
Since the TD vehicles are at their peak runarounds all through the week, it makes sense for them to be serviced on a Sunday. I have observed that customers coming in for TDs are really a trickle on Sundays, as majority aim for a Saturday or else schedule them on weekdays.

@Condor, how about sending marath a PM about the salesguy you dealt with for your car purchase?

I agree to this viewpoint. I've had a pleasant experience with both the Ford dealers in Hyderabad. Fortune Ford did not have a TD vehicle on a Sunday as it had gone to Sanat Nagar (far away) for a TD there. But they brought the MD's vehicle on the following day.
Mody Ford also brought me a TD vehicle on a Sunday on my request.

[DieselFan]

Originally Posted by abhijit 2284

why dont you try the sx4 instead? and as far as I know you cant go wrong with MUL sales and service

I second this suggestion. Also now SX4 TD drive is going on and MUL will be very proactive. You will also win a surprise gift if you TD SX4.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by marathp

Slightly OT: I have seen even the service centers are closed on Sunday. Don't you think a sunday will be good to drop the vehicle for a service? Just wondering why can't they take a holiday on a weekday?

The earlier dealer before Lathangi, ie Cauvery Ford used to be open on Sundays , both the showroom as well as service center. Somehow, Lathangi doesnt believe in having the service center open on a Sunday. Beats me, as to why.

Why dont you ask the sales guy to get the vehicle over to your place for a TD? They usually do that.

[condor]

Dealers may not oblige a door step TD for a new, in-demand vehicle (ties up their demo cars). But Fiesta should not be in this category.

@Marath, I have sent you a PM. try it out, else revert to me. Let us see how it goes.

[deepakhon]

To me, the reason that the car is being serviced is genuine. Thankfully, they did not give you a customer's vehicle for test drive.

I make it a point to call up the dealer before going there on a test drive. If you had called up and after confirming the vehicle, they still did not have the vehicle for test drive, then I feel they have messed up.