Such is the might of Hyundai dealers in New Delhi that they dare to sell Test Drive vehicles in place of brand new ones.
We are first time Hyundai buyers. We still have Honda and Toyota vehicles and are extremely satisfied with their Customer service and quality of their products. We thought of trying Hyundai this time around. The new Sonata appeared to be a good car. Hence, we got in touch with Mr. Sanjay Kapoor, GM, Sales, Rishabh Huyndai, Okhla, New Delhi.
We got to test-drive the car on 17th June 2012 before booking it on 18th June 2012. Mr. Sanjay Kapoor along with Mr. Akil Khan, both representatives of Sales team from Rishabh Hyundai, came to our residence for the test drive. After the test-drive they explained the various features of the car and especially helped us in pairing our phones using the Bluetooth feature of the car. We were successful in pairing the phones and as a result the car stored our phone names as a paired Bluetooth device.
My parents took delivery of the car on 18th July 2012. I was NOT able to go as I had to leave for Australia the very same day.
Upon returning back home on 04th August 2012 I came to know that the new car was NOT driven at all in my absence. It was driven only from the showroom to our residence. It still had an odometer reading of 150 kms... unusual for a brand new car.
Anyway, out of happiness and curiosity upon seeing the new car I thought of exploring the features and getting my phone paired with the Bluetooth feature of the new car. To my disappointment I found that the capacity of the car to hold paired Bluetooth devices was already full. This was again a bit strange for a brand new car.
Upon attempting to delete some of the paired devices I saw my father's phone name, my phone's name, Mr. Sanjay Kapoor's phone name (Dj Sans), Mr. Akil Khan's phone name (Nokia) and another phone's name as a paired Bluetooth device that the car's memory had in store. It was very alarming to see our phone's name already paired with the Bluetooth feature of what I thought to be a NEW car.
This is when I realized that we have been sold the same car that we had previously test-driven.
I realised we were cheated and were lied to all along from booking to delivery by Rishabh Huyndai's Sales Team. After booking I got regular calls from Mr. Sanjay Kapoor and Mr. Akil Khan about the status of our booking, dispatch of our vehicle from the Chennai factory of Hyundai Motor India Ltd. and receiving the car here in Delhi by Rishabh Huyndai. But, this was all a drama.
I suppose "lying to your first-time customers" is a habit of Rishabh Hyundai's sales team members. I called Mr. Sanjay Kapoor on 05th August 2012 and complained about the misdeed they had done. It was very easy for him to obviously deny, initially but, then he called again on 10th August 2012 and agreed that this in fact is the same vehicle that we had test-driven. Mr. Kapoor was not coming to office due to his grand father's illness and so our case was hanging with no one taking responsibility.
I expected HMIL to be a customer-friendly company and I hoped that HMIL will look into the matter. I had emailed HMIL on
cr@hmil.net on 05th August 2012 but got no response. Finally, I called there Customer Care number and lodged a complaint on 11th August 2012.
Rishabh Hyundai's, so called, GM Corporate Sales, Mr. Kul Bhushan Malhotra called me the following week and requested a meeting. He wanted to compensate us for their fraudulent act but we clearly refused. After another meeting with Mr. Malhotra, Rishabh Hyundai proposed to replace the car with a new one as an alternative to compensation that we had denied. But, we are not completely sure whether we should accept their offer or just demand to be given our money back. I am skeptical about the level of service they will provide after the sale. If this how to they treat their customers before sale then I cannot even imagine what could be the level of service after the sale.
So much for HMIL not a single call from them or apology email. May be I am expecting too much out of these superficial-customer-friendly car companies. May be Hyundai dealers are not yet trained to cater to customers of luxury vehicles or may be it is the same with all car dealers and companies they just take chances. We were lucky that I was able to find out about the used car. As per Rishabh Hyundai they had completed the sale with their cake-cutting ceremony.
Extremely disappointed!
Mohnish
Car specifications:
Make: Hundai
Model: Sonata (NEW)
V.I.N. - MALEC41DMCM010255
Engine No. - G4KJC4708624
Delivery date: 18-July-2012
Dealer's name: Rishabh Huyndai, E-46/14, Okhla Phase-2 Main Road, New Delhi-110020, Ph: 011-43433000.
Owner Rishabh Hyundai: Mr. Jain
Contact person: K.B. Malhotra, Sanjay Kapoor, GM, Sales, Rishabh Huyndai, Okhla, New Delhi.