[GTO]

Holy cow! This scam is more widespread than I originally thought.

Ganeshwaran Nadar drops the following email:

I had booked a Vento TSI on 9th September, 2017.

I was promised a delivery date of 29th Sep, 2017. My entire booking and payment process was done in the name of "Novaa Motors Private Limited". I had done a full payment of Rs. 975000 of my hard earned money from my own pocket.

They failed to deliver the car and in October, I came to know about the dealership's mess and immediately requested (on Oct 12th, 2017) for cancellation and refund. After relentless followup with them and personally visiting the showroom last week, they assured (in email also) that I will get the refund in 10-15 days.

But now, a couple of days ago, I again got a call from the sales team saying refund might take another month and they won't commit to any date after that.

They are not responding to any calls and the showroom is also closed. In the above process, I happened to get the email and phone number of Mr. Karun Gupta (Mumbai Regional Sales Head) from a sales guy in the dealership. After multiple attempts to contact him, I managed to speak to him yesterday.

I explained everything to him and shared the payment details done to "Novaa Motors". He said VW is working on this issue and asked for some time for a resolution. To be honest, he did not sound confident on the timelines. I am also raising all this with VW India's customer care all along. But all I get is a standard reply of "Concerned team will get back to me" .

As a respected forum in the automobile space, I'm requesting Team-BHP in guiding me what further steps I can undertake. All my hard earned money is stuck with them for more than a month now.

[Vishyvish]

Scary situation. Brings back memories of what I went through in 2014 when I booked the GT TSI in late September and got delivery in December from the dealer in Mumbai west. The car had a registration plate, but what was missing was the road tax receipt which I was assured will be available in two days as their agent had it. On regular follow up was given to understand that the dealership was closing and tax had not been paid. One scrutiny of the documents, realised that they had paid a one time charge of INR 5000/- for a number, validity of which would lapse if the tax was not paid and receipt tendered at the RTO. The sales guys at the dealership were relentfull and expressed their helplessness, as their salaries were pending too. Tried calling the owner but he just did not answer. Took it up with VW customer service verbally and written and followed up regularly. In fact got numbers of some other owners who never even realised they had a car with a temporary registration numbef, validity which has lapsed. I had stopped taking the car and same was parked for a month or so. Finally after relentless follow up received the tax receipt in January second half with a new registration number. The new plate was installed at home. By then, the dealership had changed hands but there were some old employees who were very helpful.
Similar situation happened with a friend of mine who had purchased a Terrano and went around driving for more than a year before he realised the problem. He went on with a legal notice and lot of follow up with the new dealer before he got his papers regularised. Ironically the owner was the same!
Could only advise you to regularly follow up with VW and the new dealer. Legal processes as such, takes time in our country. All the best.

[sumukha]

OMG ! This is getting serious.I doubt, many might be out there. The affected should go to The Court of Law against VW India and the dealer as a party. I feel VW India is responsible for this mess.

[niteshk_GThead]

Originally Posted by GTO

Nitesh, unfortunately, you aren't alone.

Sunil John shares the following via email:

Thank you GTO for updating on this.

Just to provide the latest update to all the team-bhp members and customers who are in this situation. Another customer, in a worse situation, had tried to do a lot of violence at the showroom, by breaking their glasses, etc., on Saturday, 30th October, 2017 last week. After which, he tried to register an FIR at the kapurbawdi Police station in Thane. He has not been delivered with a vehicle and he has made 95% payment.

The senior police inspector in Thane police station refused to take the FIR as it is a non-cognizable offense and it requires an order from Magistrate. He offered to call the owner of the current dealership, by the name of Nova Motors Limited at the police station on Monday of the following week. The current owner offered this other customer a test drive vehicle. The previous owner, Mr. Manish Malhotra, has apparently gone bankrupt and due to that Mr. Kumar (Mr. Malhotra's father-in-law) and the owner of the current dealership, tried settling the matter with the test drive car for this other customer. The other customer was threatened that if the matter is taken to court, it may take years before it is resolved. He has not taken the delivery yet and has got frustrated and is helpless like the rest of us.

We have now been informed by the sales team that the Thane Muncipal Corporation had seized the showroom sometime last week, due to other issues. As suggested by many, we will keep following up and try to approach the VW head office. Some of the owners, including myself have got in contact and are communicating regularly to take the next course of action.

Following things we have planned:
1. Meet the current owner at the showroom as soon as it opens
2. Approach the VW head office in Andheri and explain the situation to them and demand settlement
3. If this all takes too long, go ahead with the registration on our own.

I would appreciate, if this matter is brought to light by sharing it on social media as much as we can so that other customers boycott this brand till this mess is resolved. I understand it will be too much to ask for, but, a brand as big is VW cannot just let this pass.

[hangover]

You need to speak with VW Germany, NOT India.

Write a letter on paper. Put the required stamps and post it. Airmail.

Address the letter to the ceo. You can get both on the international website.

I guarantee, the problem will get resolved.

I got a bad watch from titan. I wrote to their then ceo, one Mr. Xerexes Desai. One month later I got a repaired and refurbished watch. It's still going strong.

[hangover]

Originally Posted by niteshk_GThead

I would appreciate, if this matter is brought to light by sharing it on social media as much as we can so that other customers boycott this brand till this mess is resolved. I understand it will be too much to ask for, but, a brand as big is VW cannot just let this pass.

Is anyone boycotting Mahindra products?

Is anyone boycotting ever-ready Batteries?

NO.

Keshub Mahindra (father of current Ceo, Anand) was a majority share holder of union carbide during the Bhopal gas tragedy. The E batteries are made by UC. Now it's Dow Chemicals.

People only care about themselves.

[bikerzindia]

Originally Posted by GTO

Holy cow! This scam is more widespread than I originally thought.

Ganeshwaran Nadar drops the following email:

Is this not reminding of the Palm Beach Kawasaki dealership Saga?

Its funny fact that Indian Consumer protection laws are a bunch of Joke. You have to go through the consumer courts to get the solution. Nobody is going to take it all the way till end except the one who is in the soup sadly. I sympathize with you guys. All the best. Stay strong.

[GTO]

Sadly, there is no resolution yet. And VW wonders why its getting a bad rep in India?

Thanks to Sunil John for sharing!

From: "Sunil John"
Date: 6 Dec 2017 5:52 pm
Subject: Re: Distressing Experience from Volkswagen Thane
To: "NSCI R: Mumbai, Customer-Care"
Cc: "Bhat, Vishal (NSC India)", "Gupta, Ashish (NSC India)", "Lauermann, Andreas, Dr. (VW India)", "Dsouza, Christopher (EXTERN: Randstad)", "finance", CustomerCare.India@vwfs.com, "jency sunil"

Dear Christopher,

This is not the resolution I requested for. Throughout our mail and verbal conversation, I have been requesting only the following.

Refund of the down payment made with appropriate interest till date.
Refund of the vehicle insurance taken by me.
Loan foreclosure of Volkswagen Finance at your end.

Since you have indicated that the refund process could take more time and also since I wanted to be an understanding prospective client to you, I have indicated the following as a second option:

A completely new vehicle from a different dealer with all formalities done.

Reason for the above is also well explained to you several times in phone conversations. For your records, I am drafting it below:

I do not want to end up with a car that is poorly stored at their stockyard on marshy soil, amidst a scrapyard nearby, for several months after landing, vulnerable to hidden storage damages which could pop up at any point of time during usage.

The amount of distress me and my family members are undergoing since September had made us consider this vehicle as a bad omen. I can change my mind, but I cannot force my kids and wife to do so. There is no reason why I should invest in a car in August and get a car which is several months old, that too at the end of the year. In spite of clearly stating all of these points several times, without valuing the customer’s state of mind, you have unanimously decided upon a totally different option of dumping on me the same vehicle - that too without a stern commitment of delivery.

I have patiently waited for almost three months to get an amicable resolution from VW. In these three months, I have been made to understand that VW is neither a customer oriented organisation nor has people who can take decisions to resolve an issue. I am sure nobody at VW, right from the top management to bottom level staff is interested to listen to my grievance.

However, do have the patience to read the below carefully.

· Enough of me waiting for your emails and commitments from the last three months.

· You have been given enough time to settle these issues.

· You have now turned a frustrated customer into an angry customer.

See my deadlines below:

Please settle the issue before 15th of Dec 2017, failing which I will take this up legally. In such case, in addition to the interest on the payment, there will be a considerable amount of compensation for the mental agony that I and my family members have undergone all these days.

When I mean to "settle", it is not about your giving another automated mail or dates.

I feel I have been exploited for being an understanding prospective client to you from the beginning. I am left with no option if you continue to take me for granted.

Also, I will have a moral obligation to create public awareness about the reckless customer centricity of VW.

Sunil John

[Varun_HexaGuy]

Originally Posted by GTO

Sadly, there is no resolution yet. And VW wonders why its getting a bad rep in India?

Thanks to Sunil John for sharing!

Holy Cow! I guess it's high time all the victims of this should approach the consumer court for justice.

While I agree that it's time taking and the consumer laws in India has many loopholes but that doesn't mean that they give up. It's ultimately their hard-earned money at stake.

VW wake up! It's your reputation at stake. That's why people still end up buying a Maruti or a Hyundai instead of a Volkswagen for this reason. Build up your reputation first and instill that faith in customers what MSIL and Hyundai have done and what other companies are trying to do.

Thanks to Sunil John for coming out and sharing this to us and keep us updated about your case and just don't forget that Team-BHP is there to protect you against the odds.

[samaspire]

Has this issue been resolved?

The OP, in his Introductory post, has mentioned that he has got his car. So what was the resolution - have everyone effected got their money / cars?

[AnniHilat0R]

Slightly off-topic on this one, but people of Thane, which is the nearest VW Workshop to get the car serviced from ?

[Brumby]

Hi friends,

A good news for those staying in Thane, VW North Mumbai dealership is going to start operations (dealership and service facility) in Thane in around two months of time. Though unofficial, but for sure the VW owners in Thane will have a VW service either somewhere on the Ghodbunder road, or at Wagle estate. Will save a lot of hassle travelling either to Mira-road or elsewhere for service related visits.

Regards.

[Torque_Curve]

Update:

Volkswagen has opened a showroom ar Kasarvadavli. The showroom is located diagonally opposite the Maruti showroom on Ghodbunder road.