[mithun]

Some day in Jan 2013:


This tale starts when I had decided to buy my first car and as a long-term TBHP-ian it was a cakewalk to select my car based on my priorities (including safety features) & budget. Till then I was playing around with the vehicles in my family and since it was the first ever vehicle that I was going to buy with my money, it was having a special place in my heart.

Also got inspiration to book from this thread.

12 Feb 2013:
So went straight to the Indus Motors, Kochi (Vytilla sales & service outlet) to book a Breeze Blue Ritz ZDi.

I selected Indus Motors, Kochi because I had nice experiences in the past (5 years ago to be exact) with their A.S.S.

The pre-sales deal was easily sealed by the salesperson (Mr. Fiddle from now onwards) because I was certain on the variant (ZDi) and also the colour(Breeze Blue).

So I paid Rs.3000 as booking amount and with a feigning smile; Mr. Fiddle promised me the delivery of Ritz within 30-40 days.

Mr. Fiddle was very confident about the delivery date because Indus Motors is Kerala’s largest Maruti dealer and he promised that he will get me a Breeze Blue Ritz ZDi from any of their vast dealer network.(which is having roots all over Kerala)


Counting from that day onwards, every week I called Mr. Fiddle to enquire about the status of my vehicle and he solaced me always.

Waiting starts…

3rd week of Mar 2013:

Waiting continues…

Decided to make a call to the honorable Mr. Fiddle to enquire about the status of my Ritz and he assuaged me saying that the vehicle can be registered in my name before Mar 31 2013.


19 Mar 2013:

34 days have passed since and there was no sign of the car, so I decided to mail Maruti since car sales were plummeting and all manufacturers were doling out discounts.


Got the usual mail template reply from Maruti:


Dear Mr. XXX,

Thank you for contacting Maruti Suzuki Customer Care.

We have received your communication regarding delivery status of your booked car (Ritz ZDI).

We do highly appreciate the interest shown and the faith entrusted by you in our product and in Maruti Suzuki.


With reference to your queries we request you to kindly contact the nearest Maruti dealer showroom that will be able to help you. In order to get details regarding the dealer showroom, you may visit the following URL.
http://marutisuzuki.com/dealer.aspx

We request you to kindly confirm us the name, address and code of the Maruti authorized dealer showroom from where you have booked your car.
...


Fifth week of Mar 2013:

Mr. Fiddle is still having the reply that he will invoice the vehicle in my name when the vehicle is put into transit and provides me with more verbal sugar coated pills.


31 Mar 2013:

Waiting still continues…

No signs of vehicle yet…

First week of Apr 2013:

Mailed Maruti multiple times till now, got the same old wine in a new bottle (the corporate template replies).

Second week of Apr 2013

Calls the Maruti regional office and got the reply that ZDi is short in supply and you have to wait. Maruti’s regional sales manager, Mr. Jose (not sure about his exact designation) calls me and promises me that he will use all his powers to allot me a Breeze Blue ZDi. He was a little bit more supportive and compassionate with my case than others at Maruti.

Third week of Apr 2013

Mr. Jose told me that he has blocked me a Breeze Blue ZDi for me. Felt exuberated after days of waiting.

28 Apr 2013

My marriage day…

Ritz not in sight or freight…

Last Week of Apr 2013

Mr. Fiddle runs short of his excuses, now pleads not to cancel the order and compels me to get a VDi or some other colour.

77 days have passed since and waiting still continues even in the month of worst car sales for Indian Auto industry…

First week of May

Got a call from Mr.Fiddle that a Granite Grey Ritz is available for you and the vehicle will reach you within 7 days. He told me that Breeze Blue ZDi is in short supply and you’ve to be content with that (after waiting for 90 days).

Since Granite Grey was my second choice after Breeze Blue, I thought of going for it; so paid the full amount within 2 days.

Second week of May

Still waiting and wasting my money on phone calls to Mr. Fiddle and others which includes the sales head of Indus Motors, Kochi.

The sales head plays the usual corporate drama and provides me with a much better and refined placebo.


Third week of May

Still expecting my baby….

20 May 2013 – The delivery day

97 days have passed since and got the call that my Ritz has finally reached the shores.

Done a PDI from their yard and gave the vehicle for registration since I don’t want to waste my time with them anymore.

I asked for freebies (mats, mud-flaps etc) although Mr. Fiddle told me that they don’t have the habit of providing freebies with any car because Maruti forbids them from doing so. What I felt to be the real reason was that they just want to upsell all of the accessories and mint money, nothing more.

Anyway the vehicle was delivered to me on time and without any issues including the docs.


The delivery experience was pathetic; they didn’t even provide me any free accessories and not even a box of chocolate as a matter of courtesy and for taking me for a ride for 97 days. Mr. Fiddle and his team also requested not to provide any bad feedback to Maruti.

Finally, got hold of Ritz and drove home ASAP…

End of a long saga.


Indus Motors Review:

Stay away from them as far as possible, when it comes to buying.

I’ve always seen top management going to greater lengths to satisfy the customer even when the lower strata fail to do so which was devoid from the Indus Motors top management.

I’m not sure about the A.S.S of Indus Motors since I haven’t done any services yet, but one of my cousins had a pathetic service experience recently.

Some questions:

1. A Maruti employee told me that it’s the sole responsibility of dealer to take care of the sales process since they buy the cars after making full payment to Maruti and Maruti has nothing to do with the sales process, is that true?
2. Which is the best MASS in Cochin other than Autoteam ?

[mithun]

I'm going to give the Ritz for 5K service on Tuesday.

Is Popular better than Indus in Cochin or should I give Ritz to Autoteam ?

[ontheroad]

I would avoid both Popular and Indus. I had bad experiences from both these guys, at Tcr and Kannur. I prefer BRD at Thrissur and read good reviews about Autoteam in the forum.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by mithun

I'm going to give the Ritz for 5K service on Tuesday.

Is Popular better than Indus in Cochin or should I give Ritz to Autoteam ?

Auto team is pretty good although I dont have any personal experience. Indus was really bad and stopped after my first two services. Then it was Popular till I had the car with me and I had pretty good experience with them although they screwed the car once.

[julupani]

I dont think you can squarely lay the blame over here on Indus Motors. Primary cause of the problems you faced is due to Maruti's inability to supply you the car of your choice. At the end of the day, all the dealer can do is relay the order to Maruti. The obligation to supply the said car is on Maruti's shoulders.

This, I think, is due to technical limitations at Maruti factories, and the fault of Maruti management of not correcting those manufacturing limitations.

Maruti follows a batch production technique at its paint shops, ie a certain number of cars all having the same color are painted in a single batch, after which the shop shifts to another color. Many manufacturers today have paint shops that can paint two completely different colors one after the other. If you remember, when the new Swift had come out, the inital batch was almost all white. Thus color availability depends on the production schedules at the plant. It also means that if a particular color is not popular, the plant managers may not want to put that color on the schedule so as to be able to maintain high utilisation of the plant.

Technically, even if your Ritz was made completely to order, it could have got to you in about 30-50 days if Maruti had actually bothered to make the car. But due to batch production technique they could not do so, and you had to settle for a color that was available.

This limitation, also meant that the dealer could not have concrete information regarding when and if your particular color would actually be available. Thus all he could do was either keep giving excuses, or force you to change your choice.

[seafalkon]

Why didn't you just cancel the booking with Indus motors and look somewhere else after 40 days of waiting. I would not have the kind of patience which you have displayed.

[mithun]

Originally Posted by seafalkon

Why didn't you just cancel the booking with Indus motors and look somewhere else after 40 days of waiting. I would not have the kind of patience which you have displayed.

An ex-Maruti guy told me that even if you cancel the booking and switch to another dealer, then that dealer will also take 40-45 days more. So I waited.

Originally Posted by julupani

I dont think you can squarely lay the blame over here on Indus Motors. Primary cause of the problems you faced is due to Maruti's inability to supply you the car of your choice. At the end of the day, all the dealer can do is relay the order to Maruti. The obligation to supply the said car is on Maruti's shoulders.

This, I think, is due to technical limitations at Maruti factories, and the fault of Maruti management of not correcting those manufacturing limitations.

Maruti follows a batch production technique at its paint shops, ie a certain number of cars all having the same color are painted in a single batch, after which the shop shifts to another color. Many manufacturers today have paint shops that can paint two completely different colors one after the other. If you remember, when the new Swift had come out, the inital batch was almost all white. Thus color availability depends on the production schedules at the plant. It also means that if a particular color is not popular, the plant managers may not want to put that color on the schedule so as to be able to maintain high utilisation of the plant.

Technically, even if your Ritz was made completely to order, it could have got to you in about 30-50 days if Maruti had actually bothered to make the car. But due to batch production technique they could not do so, and you had to settle for a color that was available.

This limitation, also meant that the dealer could not have concrete information regarding when and if your particular color would actually be available. Thus all he could do was either keep giving excuses, or force you to change your choice.

But a Maruti personnel told me that it was solely because of the dealer that the vehicle was delayed. Maruti has no role to play rather than supplying the car which the dealer has ordered(by making full/partial payment) and it would take a max of 45 days because it was the time of pathetic car sales.

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Auto team is pretty good although I dont have any personal experience. Indus was really bad and stopped after my first two services. Then it was Popular till I had the car with me and I had pretty good experience with them although they screwed the car once.

IIRC, Autoteam is not a MASS but a Maruti Service Master, can I go for free service there ? Will it void the warranty ?

[julupani]

Originally Posted by mithun

But a Maruti personnel told me that it was solely because of the dealer that the vehicle was delayed. Maruti has no role to play rather than supplying the car which the dealer has ordered(by making full/partial payment) and it would take a max of 45 days because it was the time of pathetic car sales.

Obviously the company will try and shift the blame on somebody else. Did he say what exactly did the dealer do that caused a delay?? Did the dealer not place the order with Maruti after you booked the car?? Or did the dealer lose the car while it was being transported from the factory?? Or did the dealer knowingly not bring in your color choice while making you pointlessly wait for 3 months??

After the dealer places an order with the factory, the dealer's responsibility is only to transport it to its facilities and deliver the car. If a car is already available, at the company depot, the dealer will use his transport facilities to bring your car according to the dealer's booking order. If the car is not readily available, then the dealer has to wait for such a car to become available.

How is the dealer responsible for short supply of a particular color??

And as I understand it, your vehicle was not delayed, it did not arrive for more than 3 months. What exactly did the dealer do that it caused such a huge delay??

[mithun]

Originally Posted by julupani

Obviously the company will try and shift the blame on somebody else. Did he say what exactly did the dealer do that caused a delay?? Did the dealer not place the order with Maruti after you booked the car?? Or did the dealer lose the car while it was being transported from the factory?? Or did the dealer knowingly not bring in your color choice while making you pointlessly wait for 3 months??

After the dealer places an order with the factory, the dealer's responsibility is only to transport it to its facilities and deliver the car. If a car is already available, at the company depot, the dealer will use his transport facilities to bring your car according to the dealer's booking order. If the car is not readily available, then the dealer has to wait for such a car to become available.

How is the dealer responsible for short supply of a particular color??

And as I understand it, your vehicle was not delayed, it did not arrive for more than 3 months. What exactly did the dealer do that it caused such a huge delay??

Thanks for the wonderful info. I was misled by the Maruti team. I think I should change the thread title.

But I've always felt that the dealer could have used any pressure tactics to please the customer since they are the biggest dealer in Kerala.

[Viju]

Originally Posted by julupani

I dont think you can squarely lay the blame over here on Indus Motors. Primary cause of the problems you faced is due to Maruti's inability to supply you the car of your choice.

This, I think, is due to technical limitations at Maruti factories, and the fault of Maruti management of not correcting those manufacturing limitations.

Maruti follows a batch production technique at its paint shops, ie a certain number of cars all having the same color are painted in a single batch, after which the shop shifts to another color. Many manufacturers today have paint shops that can paint two completely different colors one after the other. If you remember, when the new Swift had come out, the inital batch was almost all white. Thus color availability depends on the production schedules at the plant. It also means that if a particular color is not popular, the plant managers may not want to put that color on the schedule so as to be able to maintain high utilisation of the plant.

Technically, even if your Ritz was made completely to order, it could have got to you in about 30-50 days if Maruti had actually bothered to make the car. But due to batch production technique they could not do so, and you had to settle for a color that was available.

Dear julupani

I hope you have visited the Maruti factory before making such statements. The reason for most of the first batch of Swift or any other vehicle being white is, it is the most popular colour and will find the most takers. Your understanding of 'batches' made in a single colour is absolutely not true. I have walked through the MSIL assembly shop for 5 years and I have seen the painted bodies coming from the paint shop. Although they try to make 10 or 15 bodies with the same colour, the robot that paints the bodies takes around 5 - 10 seconds to change to a different colour. This is NOT a limitation and no production manager tries to work this way. Cars are made according to the orders from the dealers and forecast from marketing department.

When I booked my Ritz ZXi (Pearl Blue Blaze) in September 2010, there was no vehicle in that configuration available at the dealer (Gurgaon) or the factory. It took exactly 6 days for the company to make a new car and have it sent to the dealer.

In the case of the OP, 100% of the fault lies with Indus Motors (one of the worst dealers out there!). If they had placed the order with Maruti, the car would have been delivered within 30 - 40 days for sure. Ritz is not a hot-selling model, nor is the colour Breeze Blue ultra rare or exotic.

Originally Posted by julupani

Obviously the company will try and shift the blame on somebody else. Did he say what exactly did the dealer do that caused a delay?? Did the dealer not place the order with Maruti after you booked the car?? Or did the dealer lose the car while it was being transported from the factory?? Or did the dealer knowingly not bring in your color choice while making you pointlessly wait for 3 months??

After the dealer places an order with the factory, the dealer's responsibility is only to transport it to its facilities and deliver the car. If a car is already available, at the company depot, the dealer will use his transport facilities to bring your car according to the dealer's booking order. If the car is not readily available, then the dealer has to wait for such a car to become available.

How is the dealer responsible for short supply of a particular color??

And as I understand it, your vehicle was not delayed, it did not arrive for more than 3 months. What exactly did the dealer do that it caused such a huge delay??

You have asked multiple times 'what the dealer did to cause the delay'. What he definitely did is NOT to place the order with Maruti for reasons best known to him OR to sell a car from his existing stock. Simple. For a car like Ritz (ZXi / ZDi or any other variant) which is not a hot-seller, MSIL will not take 3 months to make a new car. Period.

[julupani]

Originally Posted by Viju

Dear julupani

I hope you have visited the Maruti factory before making such statements. The reason for most of the first batch of Swift or any other vehicle being white is, it is the most popular colour and will find the most takers. Your understanding of 'batches' made in a single colour is absolutely not true. I have walked through the MSIL assembly shop for 5 years and I have seen the painted bodies coming from the paint shop. Although they try to make 10 or 15 bodies with the same colour, the robot that paints the bodies takes around 5 - 10 seconds to change to a different colour. This is NOT a limitation and no production manager tries to work this way. Cars are made according to the orders from the dealers and forecast from marketing department.

If you check my statement, I had added a, "I think" part because I was not so sure. I had read about batch painting in some news paper article, which I know can always be wrong.

If you have concrete information, then I thank you for the clarification.

Originally Posted by Viju

What he definitely did is NOT to place the order with Maruti for reasons best known to him OR to sell a car from his existing stock. Simple. For a car like Ritz (ZXi / ZDi or any other variant) which is not a hot-seller, MSIL will not take 3 months to make a new car. Period.

But I still dont think its so simple, as the dealer not placing the order. In such cases where the dealer doesnt place the order, the dealer will generally continually be pestering the customer to change his order and say that this particular color may not come for months or any other lie to convince the customer to change his order. Such a thing does not seem to be the case here.

On the contrary, a Maruti personnel even said that particular color model had been blocked for the customer, but still the car did not turn up for more than a month after this.

Like I said, something doesn't seem right here.

[Manzone799]

Friends,
I am here to report the deplorable experience that i had to go through when i visited the Indus Motors Kochi (Thevara) for the third Free service of my Maruti Ritz Zxi.
I have had a long relationship with Indus motors Kochi, having purchased two cars from Indus motors. One was a maruti alto (in 2006) and the other my maruti Ritz Zxi (2012). I have heard a lot about the unscrupulous attitude of the service guys at Indus Motors, so I always go there only for my quota of free service and not for the paid service as they have a habit of digging deep into your pockets. I took my Ritz yesterday for the third free service on 12-08-2013. I waited for a service agent who turned up after 30 mins. He checked the vehicle and estimated a tariff of Rs. 4000/-. I was shocked to see this estimate. He said he will charge me the following:
1) Engine Oil: Rs. 1600 (When the actual cost is 1000)
2) Wheel Alignment and Balancing: Rs.1000 (Which should come free with the 3rd service as per Maruti)
3) Filter replacement:Rs. 600 (Not needed for a petrol car that has run only 5K kms)
4) Labour charges: Rs. 800 (When it should be free)

As a BHP-ian, I really wanted to know the reason for charging me for the things that should come with the free service like the Wheel Balancing and Alignment, Labour charges etc. He started threatening me saying that if i don't do all this my extended warranty would be void. This agent tried to fool me around for a job that should be done for less than Rs. 1000. Having had enough from a stupid service agent after having spent an hour, I drove off back to my home. I then decided to handover my third service to Auto-team in Padivattom - who said they only charge for the engine oil change, which is around Rs. 1000/-. I was fine with this estimate and gladly gave them for service today.

I was about to book a new swift from them - but, after this incident i have decided to cut off all the bonds with such a dealer. I would like to warn all my fellow bhp-ians about the fraudulent practices done by Indus motors. Please make sure you think twice before approaching this dealer.
Advance wishes on Independence day. Jai Hind !

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by Manzone799

Friends,
I am here to report the deplorable experience that i had to go through when i visited the Indus Motors Kochi (Thevara)

I had reported similar incident before regarding the same dealer. I did the same thing. After my free service quota, I switched over to another service station. Indus, Thevara is not recommended. Their customer management is horrible and me working in a customer management sector in the IT field always felt this is the main reason why their reputation is going down.

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I had reported similar incident before regarding the same dealer. I did the same thing. After my free service quota, I switched over to another service station. Indus, Thevara is not recommended. Their customer management is horrible and me working in a customer management sector in the IT field always felt this is the main reason why their reputation is going down.

I don't think its mandatory to go the dealer from whom you bought the car even for free service. You can as well go from the first service itself to the dealer of your choice. Isn't that so?

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by arvind71181

I don't think its mandatory to go the dealer from whom you bought the car even for free service. You can as well go from the first service itself to the dealer of your choice. Isn't that so?

Yes, you can go to any service stations. I didnt buy from Indus Motors. But since it was close to my office, I gave it there. But after my horrible experience, switched the place.