[wolfy]

Super job catching this on tape!!
I suggest getting yourself a lawyer asap.

Most have seen what this is about. The video is enough proof that this is something they do regularly (especially the guy saying "at least let the customer leave"!!!)

Pull down the video, keep it as evidence and sue them anyway. If that is the way they want to go! But get yourself a lawyer first.

Cheers and all the best!

[SuhasManjunath]

Originally Posted by Midas

Do you think this happens only with Maruti? These kind of malpractices are common with almost all manufacturers and dealers all over India. There has been many such horror stories reported in this forum. Only that these guys got caught red handed this time.

I would say it's due to the bad business/work ethics of Indians in general. Reasons can be either under-compensation, greed or corruption is in the blood of many. Just waiting for a chance to cheat others. I'm not saying everyone is bad, but the percentage such people is higher than what we would want.

Definitely agree with you on this ! In-fact I have also been a victim of untoward practices by a dealer and I have raised my voice against it . You can even see the post on team-bhp.
Here's the link : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...lar-rapid.html


But what boils my nerves is the astonishing way these manufacturers and dealers handle the issues ! What could have easily been solved has gone viral now ! A company like MSIL have lost their trust by unruly behaviour with their customer . They could have come out clean by setting a frame work for all their procedures and accepting their mistake but instead they have threatened their customer when their dealer has not only played havoc in their procedure but also have inculcated a banned practice of wet-washing their cars. MSIL could have easily spent a little of their funds to set a framework for their entire dealer network and also handing over the black-box during their national dealers meet to mandovi motors (this has been a practice by MSIL to hand over a black-box to their worst performing dealer who has received numerous negative feedbacks) and then come out in front of the media and show the new work and accept their mistake but instead they have foolishly washed off their hands by feeding the greedy media to not publicise their names for this matter.

In a country like India, where the growth of the automotive industry has been rising rapidly and being one of the hubs for manufacturing and one among the largest consumers of the industry , we have always paid a premium to buy a vehicle but have also received substandard products and treatments when compared to other countries like USA or the Europe markets as various governing bodies have been setup to look into the industry and help the customers to get fair treatment for their purchases.
I also feel we as a forum should pressurise the government to setup a regulatory body to govern all the automotive manufacturers to follow a strict process while manufacturing and during after-sales.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

...
Guessed based on my limited understanding of how things could be interpreted.

Not a lawyer.
I put up a certain interpretation of facts for scrutiny here. IMO if it made sense, OP could explore into it & not get sued for the video. ...

Thanks GrammarNazi. My point of view is that where law is concerned, it is better not to assume. Of course, if the OP feels that he is genuinely at risk of action, he's going to get professional advice anyway.

Just for the record, my assumption goes something like this: a visitor, personal or business, is on your land/property by your permission. You may withdraw that permission for any reason whatsoever, even including that you don't like their face. Or that you don't like the, filming or taking photos. But that does not make being ugly or filming illegal.

(For personal interest, I would love to have one of our lawyers answer, just because the subject is so interesting.)

Originally Posted by archat68

Just sharing my recent service experience at Tata service center in Kolkata. My car has a IVRM with a integrated dashcam.

At the time of delivery I found a big yellow star shaped sticker beside the camera. I didn't have the memory card installed and so it didn't record anything.

I guess it is for warning to their service people.

Big Yellow Star might mean Make sure you do a good job. Customer might be watching!

Why are not all cars fitted with cams? Cost. It is a fairly recent thing: I wonder if they have even thought much about it yet. They will not add anything unless they believe it will make the car more saleable. If we look at the Indian market's attitude to paying for even basic safety equipment, I doubt it will be much impressed with cams. Unless they can be turned around for selfies, of course!

[JohnyBoy]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

... If we look at the Indian market's attitude to paying for even basic safety equipment, I doubt it will be much impressed with cams. Unless they can be turned around for selfies, of course!

I think people will go for dashcam. Agreed, today only few enthusiasts are installing dashcams. "You can record what your driver is doing" will appeal to taxi owners and Uber/OLA cab owners. May be this will have more takers than for airbags and ABS.

[naren_kk]

I was totally frustrated after reading this whole article. My only sincere advice is to be in the service center till our car gets serviced, but practically its not possible. Normally I go to the nearest service center and visit the center couple of times to check the status of the car.

After service is done, I ask for all the worn-out and replaced old parts and trash it in the garbage at my home.

All Bangalore Maruthi owners should be attentive while giving the car for service in Mandovi motors and every time the owners should mention this incident to the service manager and make them feel embarrassed.

Thank you so much for bringing this issue to our forum.

[sleepyhead148]

It has been ten days since this scandal came to light. And yet, not a single peep from the Maruti top brass. This has surely snowballed into a massive PR disaster for them. And their silence on this whole incident is a matter of grave concern.

This reminds me of something that I often see on my Instagram feeds, shared by romantics and jilted lovers alike;

Sometimes silence is also an answer.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by sleepyhead148

It has been ten days since this scandal came to light. And yet, not a single peep from the Maruti top brass.

I suppose they were waiting for the video to hit the million views mark.

AAAAANNNNNNNDDDDD... it has!!! Today the video has crossed million views.

What are they waiting for now? I have never seen a retail services company (Mandovi) that relies on repeat business be so indifferent about PR damage. This could have been fixed before the video went viral. Just an honest introspection and action taken report would have clinched it. Instead, they let their reputation gained over decades to be spoiled over 10 days because they didn't know how to handle it honestly.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I suppose they were waiting for the video to hit the million views mark.

AAAAANNNNNNNDDDDD... it has!!! Today the video has crossed million views.

What are they waiting for now? I have never seen a retail services company (Mandovi) that relies on repeat business be so indifferent about PR damage. This could have been fixed before the video went viral. Just an honest introspection and action taken report would have clinched it. Instead, they let their reputation gained over decades to be spoiled over 10 days because they didn't know how to handle it honestly.

Every single person I meet has seen the video. From office colleagues to my mom's physiotherapist. They are all asking me about Team-BHP video on mandovi service. And a lot of the guys asking don't even have a car! They were all thinking when they buy first car the safest choice is Maruti cause of service and after sales.

They are saying after this video, we can look at Tata and other cars if Maruti itself is doing this to customers.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I suppose they were waiting for the video to hit the million views mark.

AAAAANNNNNNNDDDDD... it has!!! Today the video has crossed million views.

What are they waiting for now? I have never seen a retail services company (Mandovi) that relies on repeat business be so indifferent about PR damage. This could have been fixed before the video went viral. Just an honest introspection and action taken report would have clinched it. Instead, they let their reputation gained over decades to be spoiled over 10 days because they didn't know how to handle it honestly.

And we have some people making up stupid V-Logs and driving like crazy and posting clickbait titles just to get so many views. A well deserved million views Hope to see some constructive corrective measures being taken instead of things like banning photography and dashcams.

[sagarpadaki]

Also think about the loss the Maruti company is incurring . The company pays the cost for the free service to the dealer. In these cases, the company pays the labor for service not carried out on the car. So it is also the case of the dealer scamming the parent company by billing it for the service never done on the car.

Considering the number of number of free service done by the service center each day, the parent company is scammed big time! This is fraud on two fronts - The dealership is taking the company as well as the consumer for a royal ride.

[asingh1977]

I really doubt Maruti is even seeing this as a drop in the ocean.

If they had felt in their boardroom discussion, this as a hazard, damage control would have started. Rather than that, the service center is running rampant and sending pseudo notices to the affected. It is more like Maruti and Mandovi are totally independent entities.

Maruti is an old school company, they fail to understand the importance of communication and what the net actually is. And that: even one customer should he heard out and responded to. Post sales mostly the game is over for consumers in India. They become "hot clients" when they reach the garage for service. Rinse, repeat. It is sad. Will we actually see a marginal dip in sales for October..? I doubt it.

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by asingh1977

I really doubt Maruti is even seeing this as a drop in the ocean.

If they had felt in their boardroom discussion, this as a hazard, damage control would have started. Rather than that, the service center is running rampant and sending pseudo notices to the affected. It is more like Maruti and Mandovi are totally independent entities.

Maruti is an old school company, they fail to understand the importance of communication and what the net actually is. And that: even one customer should he heard out and responded to. Post sales mostly the game is over for consumers in India. They become "hot clients" when they reach the garage for service. Rinse, repeat. It is sad. Will we actually see a marginal dip in sales for October..? I doubt it.

True. Don't think anything will come out of this.

Even after reading what the OP has posted, how many will stop giving their cars for service at A.S.S? How many will stop buying cars from MSIL? Maybe the incident will remain in the back of everybody's mind (some are already aware of what goes on even before this post was started) but is there any other option for the end users? Sadly the thinking is "If I lose one customer, there are hundred others waiting to buy". The A.S.S and MSIL are both aware of this. Apart from treating the A.S.S with kids glove, if at all, do not foresee anything significant happening.

[harishpr]

I'm not surprised or shocked. Infact, a long time 'gut-feel' is proven right with video evidence.
My wife drives a ritz and she is super compliant with service schedules. Whenever we give to service at Bimal @ Bannerghatta Rd, Bangalore , i witness a huge sea of cars coming in every morning and always wondered how would they even service half of them the same day. For the last 3 years, Bimal's service center space remains the same, and oflate the cars are spilling onto the road and neighboring sites.
With Maruti selling like crazy, i don't see their service center scaling up at the same pace.
Maruti is like SBI - Too Big to Fail ! (Therefore, it won't be allowed to fail).

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by harishpr

... Whenever we give to service at Bimal @ Bannerghatta Rd, Bangalore , i witness a huge sea of cars coming in every morning and always wondered how would they even service half of them the same day. ...

It's the same at the VW-dealer service centre that I use. Frankly, there is not that much to doing the average annual service on a fairly young car. I would think that they have a work-like-machine setup and just get through it. Of course, in that, individual attention may be a bit lacking.

Maruti, of course, is on a magnitudes-bigger scale. Had to take my Swift back in, after noticing a loose door panel, and the service advisor took me through to get it fixed. It was like an ants' nest in there! And even a cabbie might have found some of the inch-clearance driving hard.

[Arjun Reddy]

Here is what I found on money control.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bus...h-2413539.html