[kkg]

Sad to know your experience Mayankk. In my view, MFC is nothing but independent big used car dealers who take the Mahindra franchisee just to get some goodwill out of it. They practice and work just like other local dealers.

This whole used car business is full of cheaters and people that can do anything to get cash out of your pocket. Those fools never think that when they sell a 60k done vehicle at 37k to someone, the new owner will carry out all services and maintenance as per 37k. Some important services like timing belt change,coolant change would be further delayed and that may cause some irreparable damages to the car and people. Who will be responsible then?

Leave alone MFC, I almost bought a Fiesta for a friend from Toyota Trust thinking that it has done the showing 60ks. Few days later we managed to get hold of the previous owner who told that he sold it on 100k two months back. We were shocked and surprised because we were confidently told by the sales executive that the car has all its service records.

Don't let these cheaters go. Goodluck.

[swiftnfurious]

I would suggest you try to haggle with them for the price of a 60K run car instead of the 37K; if you are still interested in the car. If they don't agree, look for future course of action [try & mail M&M senor management]. Let me know if you need some help in tweeting Anand Mahindra [I keep sending such incidents to him and have seen positive action from his side].

Once they get pressure from above, they will refund your money. Please keep the legal stuffs for later; it takes a lot of effort & time. Let's try the easier ones first.

[niranjanrvce]

Mayank, thanks for this thread- now I know to keep off First Choice.

In your case, it's irrelevant if Mahindra's 118 or whatever bollocks checklist includes ODO check or not. They tried to sell a 60k run car misrepresenting it as 37k run car. This is a clear case of cheating. Who's to say if the ODO was tampered by the previous owners or the FC dealer!
You have their receipt showing 37k, get Honda service records as suggested and send them a legal notice.

[Tapish]

Mayank,

I'm glad that you found out the truth before it was too late. MFC is known to be indulging in such practices. Even I bought my Esteem from them in 2009 with the odo reading of 51k. However, subsequent repairs proved that the odo had been reversed at least 15-20k.
My only relief is that the car is technically sound and barring one incident, hasn't given me any trouble.

PS. Have Tweeted to AM about this

Cheers,
Tapish

[mayankk]

Hey guys,
There is resolution in sight.
Regional management from mfc contacted me last night.
5 hours from when this thread came up.
Jk is providing full refund.
I will update once that is in my hands plus when I am on my laptop.

Full kudos to us guys!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Hey guys,
There is resolution in sight.
Regional management from mfc contacted me last night.
5 hours from when this thread came up.
Jk is providing full refund.
I will update once that is in my hands plus when I am on my laptop.

Full kudos to us guys!

Probably what helped in your case was this -

@anandmahindra - Shubho pls look into this..“@free_rider:MFC outlet cheats by trying to sell 60k+ done City as 37k & when caught, withholds cust deposit

@AM tweeted this about 6 hours back; and the result was that phone call within an hour! Nice of @AM to respond back to complaints in a positive manner.

[Mik]

Thats some good news to start the morning with

When i was looking for a used car, i visited the MFC AutoMall gurgaon outlet. The salesman there tried his best to take me for a ride. Luckily, instinct took over and i walked away from the deal.
In my experience, True Value was a tad more reliable though one needs to do the basic checks oneself/with mechanic, instead of relying on them blindly.

Cheers to Anand Mahindra. It reaffirms my belief about most automobile companies. The guys higher up are responsive, its the lower management which is still stuck in the chalta hai attitude.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Tapish

PS. Have Tweeted to AM about this

Cheers,
Tapish

So did I. He promptly RTed it for his staff to pick up. Very nice gesture at the highest level.

Trust the dealer will now find it profitable to relinquish than prolong his stupidity.

[reventon2010]

I am appalled to learn that a reputed company would resort to such cheap tricks and then had the audacity to not even give you a refund right away! If i were you, on top of taking legal action against them, i would get this out to as many people as i could through whatever medium i can think of. It would serve them good if they lost a chunk of their future customers on account of this.

[drmohitg]

How I wish Mr. Mahindra had a magic wand in his hand and could inculcate similar values amongst the lower rung staff too who actually happen to be the company's face in front of the customers. Good to hear that you will get your money back finally but Mahindra surely lost a lot of face. I will probably never consider buying from them without establishing the car's history myself which ultimately makes all that "118 point check" redundant.

BTW would you be still going ahead and buying the same car at a renegotiated price or snubbing them for good?

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Thanks guys.
Sort of overwhelmed by responses.
One thing though, how do I get Honda records.

Mayank,

Honda wont part with the records unless you are an onwer of the vehicle, although they might allow you to look at their system if they feel the case is genuine. Although I am not advocating MFC, but any chances that the Honda response might be wrong too?

As suggested by everyone best option is to write mail to higher ups in M&M, alternatively threaten MFC about filing a case in consumer court. They might mellow down and return back the 20K amount. All the best.

[iliketurtles]

Excellent to hear of a potential refund in the pipeline Mayank! There's no way MFC should be taking you for a ride, kudos on choosing to fight it out rather than cow down, you did the right thing.

MFC has a bad name around these parts, and incidents such as yours only reinforce that reputation. Shamelessly unethical functioning on MFC's part.

BTW Mayank, please don't pick up the car even for an insanely good price. Just snub MFC totally. Take your money and walk away. It's for the best.

[condor]

The more I read of such instances, the more I want to stay far far away from used cars & dealerships.

@Mayank, did you pay the deposit in cash ?

[mayankk]

Guys, I feel everybody's pointing to this thread on twitter, FB etc is what has worked.

MFC contacted me yesterday, and told me that the booking amount amount will be refunded.

Now, I was told of the whole process, as to how mileage checking is not done.
The logic is, it is next to impossible that each vehicle will have service records.
Some do, and some dont.
It is too much of a hassle to keep tabs on those which dont have records.
Hence, not done.
Cars are bought on the odo they come with, and sold as such.

I feel they should give a sale letter of sort with the car signed by the original owner saying he sold the car with X mileage.

I am sure most prospectives with MFC would be willing to pass some 400-500, even a 1000, odd kms as TDs, no?
I would.
IMO, that is not a headache or too much extra effort,since the owner is already there, signing stuff over!


Back to this book, though.
Also, the reason the blocking amount is forfeited is because a lot of times people block the car, look around, and buy from somewhere else, or just block the car for some other reason.
the dealer is left with holding costs, lost opportunity etc.

So apparently it is to protect the dealer, and get only serious buyers on board.
(well, you wouldn't get one more serious/genuine on board than me.very serious.grumpy, in fact!)
Some dealers twist that forfeiture to suit themselves, as was tried by JK.
Unsuccessfully, i am happy to report!

So, lets hope the cheque clears..


I would really like to commend MFC for their action, but it would still be unwarranted.
It really should not have come to this.

This is because I tried to work it out with JK and got shot down.
JK's attitude was almost like "you cant do a thing".

I tried to work it out with the MFC area manager, he didn't give a reasonable solution except for just reiterating what JK offered.

It is only when people much higher in the MFC and mahindra chain were involved did this get resolved.
I hope this causes all other dealers in MFC to be more transparent in their sales and reflect the same attitude as professed by people above.

With all due respect from before and still present to Mr. Mahindra, for personally taking an interest in this issue, I would really like to point out that not all people are on TBHP so as to be able to create such a targeted response, and neither would they go to any lengths to double check the dealer's word.
It was the reason I did not go to my closest neighborhood dealer, but straight to MFC.
Be as it may, that i chose the bad apple out of MFC's bunch,but what has happened has happened, no two ways about it.

Will flash once when the credit comes in!
cheerios Guys, and TREMENDOUS thanks to everyone!!!!

[drmohitg]

Good to know that your problem got resolved. I hope you can wash some of that smirk off JK's face now because the attitude is just not warranted specially when they are at fault.

I am still not really happy with the explanation that they can't make sure whats the exact ODO of the car. When you run a business and claim to be one of the best and most dependable then the primary thing you should be bothered about is what car are you selling on to the customer. A Car undergoes a lot of wear and tear as the Odo increases and they should have a mechanism in place to verify the same. While buying a car if they feel the ODO is not genuine by looking at the condition of the car then they should buy it in the first place. If this is not possible then I am sorry but they should not be into this business. There is a reason why the customer is willing to pay them a little extra for the car than what its available for outside.

The take home message from this experience of yours for me is to only buy from genuine individuals and give these dealers a skip. Show the car to your trusted mechanic and then go ahead with the deal, the good old way.

BTW whats the status with the Used car businesses of Merc, BMW and the likes? Recently VW also said they will venture into the same too. Are those guys too plagued with such issues?