[trek]

This is in reference to our recent experience with Apex Honda dealership at Santacruz West in Mumbai.

My family was interested to buy the Amaze Sedan and I had visited the Apex dealer and interacted with Mr. Aseem regarding the available colors and trims since we needed an early delivery.

I was assured of our desired color in stock and ready availability of the same.

The next day, I spoke on the phone again with Mr. Aseem & the Manager Ms. Gia and it was decided that we will book the car with an outright cheque payment. I requested them to send over a person to my dad's office to collect the cheque while me and my family will visit the showroom to sign the booking documents and also so that my family can see the car for themselves.

About noon time, the above was finalized and while we were getting ready to leave for the dealership, my brother who was outstation called me to hold on for a day so that even he can come and see the car the next day. So I called up Mr. Aseem and asked him to hold on as my brother too wanted to see the car and that we shall come and book the car the very next day along with him.

Somehow within ten minutes, my brother again called and told me to proceed with the booking and I immediately called up Mr. Aseem and confirmed that we shall be coming to the showroom and booking the car today itself. He agreed and we arrived at the showroom within an hour.

My family saw the car and they were happy with it and then I proceeded to fill up the paperwork. I had filled in half the documents when suddenly Mr. Aseem got called into the Manager's office and he returned saying that the said car is already been allotted to someone else and is now no longer available!!! .

I demanded to speak to the Manager Ms. Gia and she had some lame excuse on how she wasn't aware of the booking and they just came to know now about it. I told them that this will cause huge disappointment and embarrassment to my family (including my 90 year old grandfather) who came all the way to see and book the car today! I immediately left the premise and my family was confused on the happenings and I had to later explain them the situation outside.

The whole episode shows how one in-demand product can change the attitude of the dealers. This is clearly a case of greed wherein a car supposed to be reserved for us was sold to someone else (for a premium i am sure).

The whole experience with Apex left a very bad impression of the Honda brand.

Hope Honda is listening to this feedback!

[hellmet]

Buddy, move on. Honda doesn't care as long as the unit is sold and it can show it in its sales.

Have a look at this post by GTO for some amazing Amaze alternatives and pick one.

Edit: There are some well maintained used cars in your segment for sale on our own Classifieds. Honda Citys, Accord for huge discounts.

[raj_5004]

Why crib about one car? There are other cars out there. There are other variants or colour choices.

If not, you can probably get the same car in the same variant with the same colour from another dealer. Call up and ask the numerous Honda dealers in the city.

[trek]

Originally Posted by raj_5004

Why crib about one car? There are other cars out there. There are other variants or colour choices.

If not, you can probably get the same car in the same variant with the same colour from another dealer. Call up and ask the numerous Honda dealers in the city.

Thanks for the obvious suggestion!! Well the reason for 'cribbing' is because I did NOT like how my family felt at that seemingly important moment. We did not go to this particular dealer for any charity to be dealt this way!! We had inquired at other dealers for this particular color and unfortunately only this one had it in stock. And hence after all the required confirmations with the SA we drove all the way to the dealership and filled in all the forms when halfway we were treated in this unprofessional way.

And if you still feel the dealership is not wrong and this is just me cribbing then so be it. You are as much entitled to your opinion as am I.

[raj_5004]

Originally Posted by trek

And if you still feel the dealership is not wrong and this is just me cribbing then so be it. You are as much entitled to your opinion as am I.

Dont feel bad 'Trek'. I understand how you and your family must have felt and I did not mean to offend you.

Anyways, the dealership did not earn your order, too bad for them. Cheers.

[baludharmarajan]

I know its not customer friendly but when they have a winner in their hands suddenly showrooms act as their are doing some charity. When I went to book swift I really had a bad experience with 2 dealers in Thrissur. They treated me like they were doing me a big favor by selling swift.

I can understand the frustration you felt, since I was in same place, so I went ahead and bought an I20. The dealership should not have treated you this way, but the easiest way is to go to another dealer or buy another model and forget all about this. Buying a new car is moment of joy and event in life, it should not be associated with a bad dealer.

[IshaanIan]

Hey buddy, it is not healthy to harbor such hatred If you haven't already made up your mind, might I suggest the D-Zire? Far more reliable, diesel feels like it is from this generation (that i-Dtec is noisy) cheap to maintain, better feel inside and powering it is the "national engine" Fiat's MultiJet. If Diesel Lovers are to be believed, this thing gives better real world mileage than Honda's also the Honda runs out of steam quickly and the MultiJet is the more free revving of the two diesels (if there ever could be such a thing).

Also though it pains me to suggest this car everytime, since it looks ugly inside, out, do please give the Nissan Sunny a shot. The K9K motor is as simplistic, easy to drive and reliable as it gets, the ride quality is a dream and the rear bench along with the near flat floor, can put to shame anything this side of 12 lacs. Since it is Japanese, the thing is reliable too. Barring the fact that it isn't very engaging to drive, I have begun to see why it is so popular.

Sorry for posting stuff like this even though you might already have made up your mind. :P

[trek]

Originally Posted by baludharmarajan

I know its not customer friendly but when they have a winner in their hands suddenly showrooms act as their are doing some charity. When I went to book swift I really had a bad experience with 2 dealers in Thrissur. They treated me like they were doing me a big favor by selling swift.

I can understand the frustration you felt, since I was in same place, so I went ahead and bought an I20. The dealership should not have treated you this way, but the easiest way is to go to another dealer or buy another model and forget all about this. Buying a new car is moment of joy and event in life, it should not be associated with a bad dealer.

That's true. And I too think that most dealers behave the same way once they know that the product is going to sell irrespective of the level of customer service. I am sure most dealers in this place would resort to tricks like these to get the additional premium. I know it's not that a big deal for me but what ticked me off was the look on my family's face when they realized what happened!

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Hey buddy, it is not healthy to harbor such hatred If you haven't already made up your mind, might I suggest the D-Zire? Far more reliable, diesel feels like it is from this generation (that i-Dtec is noisy) cheap to maintain, better feel inside and powering it is the "national engine" Fiat's MultiJet. If Diesel Lovers are to be believed, this thing gives better real world mileage than Honda's also the Honda runs out of steam quickly and the MultiJet is the more free revving of the two diesels (if there ever could be such a thing).

Also though it pains me to suggest this car everytime, since it looks ugly inside, out, do please give the Nissan Sunny a shot. The K9K motor is as simplistic, easy to drive and reliable as it gets, the ride quality is a dream and the rear bench along with the near flat floor, can put to shame anything this side of 12 lacs. Since it is Japanese, the thing is reliable too. Barring the fact that it isn't very engaging to drive, I have begun to see why it is so popular.

Sorry for posting stuff like this even though you might already have made up your mind. :P

Thanks for the suggestion but we are looking for a petrol sedan. Nonetheless the options you quoted are indeed better for anyone to consider. We did check out the Sunny and Scala but my Dad did not find them too attractive and was more inclined towards Amaze.

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by trek

Thanks for the obvious suggestion!! Well the reason for 'cribbing' is because I did NOT like how my family felt at that seemingly important moment. We did not go to this particular dealer for any charity to be dealt this way!! We had inquired at other dealers for this particular color and unfortunately only this one had it in stock. And hence after all the required confirmations with the SA we drove all the way to the dealership and filled in all the forms when halfway we were treated in this unprofessional way.

And if you still feel the dealership is not wrong and this is just me cribbing then so be it. You are as much entitled to your opinion as am I.

Hi Trek,did you try Linkway Honda at saki naka?My honest suggestion would be to look into the other models too.Though i havn't bought a Honda,the 3 purchases i made-(98 Zen,2010 Swift and 2012 Alto) i never had a bad experience.Call me a maruti fanboy,though i hate the build quality but its the support i got all these years from maruti that keeps me glued to it. Do look at the petrol dizire too,its not a bad package.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by trek

This is in reference to our recent experience with Apex Honda dealership at Santacruz West in Mumbai.

I had filled in half the documents when suddenly Mr. Aseem got called into the Manager's office and he returned saying that the said car is already been allotted to someone else and is now no longer available!!! .

I demanded to speak to the Manager Ms. Gia and she had some lame excuse on how she wasn't aware of the booking and they just came to know now about it.

The whole episode shows how one in-demand product can change the attitude of the dealers. This is clearly a case of greed wherein a car supposed to be reserved for us was sold to someone else (for a premium i am sure).

The whole experience with Apex left a very bad impression of the Honda brand.

Hope Honda is listening to this feedback!

I had a similar experience during the purchase of my Vento TSI. I had called and confirmed the car was blocked in my name. Went the same day to pay the advance amount and start other formalities. Gave the cheque. The next day the SA called me and said the car was no longer available because it had been allotted to a leasing company on the same day and he was not aware of it. But in my case he said that he had blocked it first and would work with his management. He was able to do that and I got the car as promised.

Pretty sure something similar would have happened in your case. I don't think it would have been sold at a premium. Either it would have gone to someone who had 'connections' with the dealership, or it would have been allotted to a leasing company which unlike people like you and me ensures regular business for dealerships.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by trek

I was assured of our desired color in stock and ready availability of the same.

Trek,

What puzzles me is why didnt you pay a token amout to confirm your booking of the said variant? You could have paid the balance amount when your family had a look at the vehicle. IMO the dealer is not entitled to reserve a car based on verbal booking, had there been any amount paid they would have be liable to reserve the car for you.

Yes, the miscommunication part between the Honda dealer staff is definitely to be cribbed about. I guess the dealer staff played a game here thinking that they already have a customer on hand and would have hoped that you may want to pay a premium to book the car. Did you try to extract the info from the dealer reg the same? I bet they would have given you the same car which you wished for.

[trek]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Hi Trek,did you try Linkway Honda at saki naka?My honest suggestion would be to look into the other models too.Though i havn't bought a Honda,the 3 purchases i made-(98 Zen,2010 Swift and 2012 Alto) i never had a bad experience.Call me a maruti fanboy,though i hate the build quality but its the support i got all these years from maruti that keeps me glued to it. Do look at the petrol dizire too,its not a bad package.

I did inquire at Linkway too, they did not have the particular color and trim in stock. I am trying to convince my Dad to consider the Ertiga too.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I had a similar experience during the purchase of my Vento TSI. I had called and confirmed the car was blocked in my name. Went the same day to pay the advance amount and start other formalities. Gave the cheque. The next day the SA called me and said the car was no longer available because it had been allotted to a leasing company on the same day and he was not aware of it. But in my case he said that he had blocked it first and would work with his management. He was able to do that and I got the car as promised.

Pretty sure something similar would have happened in your case. I don't think it would have been sold at a premium. Either it would have gone to someone who had 'connections' with the dealership, or it would have been allotted to a leasing company which unlike people like you and me ensures regular business for dealerships.

Lucky, you got the same car as you wanted. As you mentioned, I am sure a lot of dealers indulge in these tactics.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Trek,

What puzzles me is why didnt you pay a token amout to confirm your booking of the said variant? You could have paid the balance amount when your family had a look at the vehicle. IMO the dealer is not entitled to reserve a car based on verbal booking, had there been any amount paid they would have be liable to reserve the car for you.

Yes, the miscommunication part between the Honda dealer staff is definitely to be cribbed about. I guess the dealer staff played a game here thinking that they already have a customer on hand and would have hoped that you may want to pay a premium to book the car. Did you try to extract the info from the dealer reg the same? I bet they would have given you the same car which you wished for.

I had already instructed the SA to send a person to my Dad's office to collect the cheque payment of the entire amount. The pick up guy had also left from the dealer and was on his way to collect it. During the same time, I just took my family to see the car. So to clear your doubt, the booking was confirmed and the full payment too was ready to be picked up.

I didn't grill the dealer further after the episode as I just left the showroom with my family. No mood to go and speak to any of them.

[mints21]

Trek buddy, move on in life and leave behind these thoughts. Up and downs, joys and sorrows are all part of life. Why waste our precious time and energy on something that didn't materialise. Very rarely you get to see professionalism in dealerships. I have always remained a Hyundai fan because of the product quality as well as because of their own company owned outlets. You do not see such situations in such outlets.

Buy a car which suits you the best and your parents like. Don't even think of the past incident else it will always fill you with anger and frustration. These things do happen. Best is to ignore them and move on in life.

I will wait to hear from you about your car decision and the pictures. Best of luck friend.

[trek]

Originally Posted by mints21

Trek buddy, move on in life and leave behind these thoughts. Up and downs, joys and sorrows are all part of life. Why waste our precious time and energy on something that didn't materialise. Very rarely you get to see professionalism in dealerships. I have always remained a Hyundai fan because of the product quality as well as because of their own company owned outlets. You do not see such situations in such outlets.

Buy a car which suits you the best and your parents like. Don't even think of the past incident else it will always fill you with anger and frustration. These things do happen. Best is to ignore them and move on in life.

I will wait to hear from you about your car decision and the pictures. Best of luck friend.

Thanks for the concern buddy. It was a momentary disappointment and am already out of it. It's not a big tragedy or trauma either to ponder over it. I just mentioned the incident on the forum as it was a first time experience! And hopefully the last one at that.

I am already in talks with other dealers and hopefully something will materialize soon.

Have a nice day.

[sansvk]

Its a bad experience when your eagerly waiting for a new ride.
Its been emphasized on this forum repeatedly not to make a full payment until you get the VIN in writing (by email). This way the all the higher ups at the dealership would have known of this booking.
This happened to you with a Honda dealer, it could have happened with any other manufacturer as well. If you liked the car, select another dealer or move on to another car. Don't repeat the same mistake.