[aaggoswami]

This is very unfortunate incident. At best, the dealer should have called out security guy (if they have one and most probably there would be one) to isolate the abusing customer.

In my first job back in 2010 before I joined post graduation, there was a rule of tolerating abuse for three times. Abuse could be foul language, but not a customer shouting occasionally. Another aspect is that usually sales staff is seen as a "not-so-value adding" job/team and hence a few customers might get arrogant (have been in this situation more than once).

In this specific incident, even in case of an abusive customer, there was no reason for dealership staff to get violent. If the customer is getting physical and coming down to blows, then violence from staff in self defense was understandable to an extent. It doesn't seem to be the case. The "note" put up doesn't mention customer getting violent. Clearly dealership staff at fault here. Abusive customers will be there, and more so in India. But more often than not sales staff or service staff is quite rough. I was threatened too by service staff of telecom operator when I tried to know why my USB dongle stopped. My recent experience with Jeep was far from good but definitely not threatening towards violence.

In my books "You pay peanuts, you get peanuts". Getting quality staff or rather a more professional staff that can absorb training while acquiring soft skills for operations is not easy or simply put, expensive. And rest is pretty much obvious.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by bikerzindia

.....

But again I would say a customer can take it personal as it is his hard earned money which is rotting in front of his eyes but dealers & their employees should not take it personally as even if there was a donkey in his place then the customer has all right to shout on it. But neither the customer nor the dealer have any right to flex muscles.

I've been both a service provider and a customer, so have experienced both sides of the equation. Can't comment further without repeating myself, so I'll leave it at this: Everyone is free to do as they please, as long as they understand and accept the consequences of their actions. Said as much in an earlier response, quoted below.

Any behavior beyond that has legal repercussions, to be indulged in at either party's own peril.

[VinodDevil81]

The dealer's explanation doesn't give any ground-breaking twist to the story.
That is more or less the same story what one would guess after seeing the video - That the owner used abusive language and they man-handled him.

So now since the dealer's version of the story is also known, clearly it is the dealer who has done more fault.
They have no right to assault a customer under any circumstances, unless as a defensive measure when the customer himself resorts to physical attack.
But that was clearly not the case here.

Also they are not really very apologetic in their statement too.
They seem to be more in a defensive mode than an apologetic mode.
They have not mentioned the man-handling incident anywhere in that statement.
All they have mentioned is that when the customer used foul language, they dialled 100 and police came!

If that was indeed their motive, why did they attack the customer by the time police came?
What was the need to call police then, if they themselves decided to settle the issue by hand?

The final outcome of all this is quite obvious.
Only the dealer is going to be the loser here.

Customer can find another authorised Jeep service centre and get his issues sorted out.
Jeep will also not suffer any huge setback, if it sets an example by taking strict disciplinary action against the dealership.

But the dealership will find it hard to regain its lost reputation, which in my opinion has been lost forever.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

If am not wrong this is the same dealer who refused to give a test drive to one of our Bhpian cause he was wearing "slippers".

Bhpian or not, I think you should atleast wear a decent pair of sandals, shoes or sneakers when you head out to a car showroom. Be it to drive an Alto or a Mercedes.

If I was faced with someone walking in wearing slippers and requesting for a drive, I would most definitely hesitate.

On the matter at hand, appalling. Can't really point a finger at anyone without knowing too much. To be honest, there are dealers that can test your patience. Been through this once with KHT Fiat. No hands raised from my end. I just walked away.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by GTO

Landmark Group has put up a statement on their website:

What rubbish! some "Intelligent" person would've given this idea of giving this the women angle. "It's the easiest way out" they would've thought. But it's missed the target by a long way. They could've remained silent instead of this.

[sub.g84]

There used to be an old saying I would see in many shops when I was kid "Customer is King". Remember at the end of the day it is the customer, no matter how abusive he maybe, brings business and growth. Customers can be always be irate. If needed call the cops. But physically abusing a customer is a complete no no.

FCA must:
-Terminate the dealership
-Tender a public apology to the customer
-Probably give a new car in exchange of the old one.

Compass has been a hit for FCA after decades and the last thing they would want is such a bad PR from their dealers.

[Elito11]

IMO this is a simple case of 'physical violence' or 'temper tantrum'. It has absolutely nothing to with JEEP India or for that matter even with the dealership.

Individual responsibility needs to be fixed. Action needs to be taken against 'individuals' who struck the customer. It can be seen that dealership employees were trying to control tempers and resolve the argument however once few employees who could not control themselves entered the room violence followed.

The dealership needs to fire the errant employee and apologize to the customer without further delay both to pacify the customer and fix responsibility.

The sad part about this whole saga is this is nothing new and unfortunately there is a cultural aspect to it. Often use of strong language is required to get work done or get heard and usually arguments follow. A 15k per month employee can easily choose to lose his job and retaliate than be abused for a situation on which he may have little control.

[srishiva]

Customer was abusive, they called the police and it was amicably settled ? What action was taken other than saying they have taken some action ?
Who are they kidding, There was just one customer and they could have directed him outside easily.

[nishsingh]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

there was a rule of tolerating abuse for three times. Abuse could be foul language, but not a customer shouting occasionally.

People can infer anything as an abuse. A couple of days back I told a biker that he was crazy to be driving on the wrong side of the road, and that got him offended.

By the way, the sales guys dressed in their black suits reminded me of the Men In Black song by Will Smith -

But then like BOOM black suits fill the room up
With the quickness, talk with the witnesses
Hypnotizer, neuralizer
Vivid memories turn to fantasies

Here come the Men In Black
They won't let you remember

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

If I was faced with someone walking in wearing slippers and requesting for a drive, I would most definitely hesitate.

Casual is the new cool. I wouldn't hesitate in wearing slippers if visiting a showroom over a weekend. I am the customer - I can wear what I want (as long as it isn't vulgar).

Ignore such customers at your own peril:

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Bhpian or not, I think you should atleast wear a decent pair of sandals, shoes or sneakers when you head out to a car showroom. Be it to drive an Alto or a Mercedes.

If I was faced with someone walking in wearing slippers and requesting for a drive, I would most definitely hesitate.

Shouldn't matter, especially for a car showroom. When I was in Thrissur, I got a call from the Jeep dealership around 9 in the morning, asking if I can drop by in next 30 mins so that he can arrange for a TD before the crowd pours in. I got to the showroom in next 20-30 minutes, wearing shorts, t-shirt and sandals; did not notice any drop in behavior because of my attire. The experience earlier with the Mercedes showroom in Kochi was also pretty much the same

[aadya]

Originally Posted by GTO

Casual is the new cool. I wouldn't hesitate in wearing slippers if visiting a showroom over a weekend. I am the customer - I can wear what I want (as long as it isn't vulgar).

Ignore such customers at your own peril:

I beg to differ. Yes you can wear what you want - customer or salesperson - commodity sold does not have any relation to the attire. But how a clerk or sales assistant gonna have a first impression whether they are possible customer or a meandering unemployed looking for passing some time and end up damaging something or driving away other probable customer.

As an alternate point of view if I see somebody in shabby dress wearing a slipper, I would rather think that person as a cleaner/janitor at the most.

Though it could be either way - a possible customer with slippers and somebody for time pass coming in suit. Try entering a star hotel with slippers - Louis Vuitton might work.

In the said picture we know who is that person standing near the jaguar. Otherwise seeing the attire we might think he is some good looking Chauffeur cum Bodyguard standing near the boss' car.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Bhpian or not, I think you should atleast wear a decent pair of sandals, shoes or sneakers when you head out to a car showroom. Be it to drive an Alto or a Mercedes.

That is odd. It is quite possible that someone thinks of having a test drive at the last moment just while passing by the showroom.

If that is the criterion to determine purchasing power, then essentially they are saying we will offer test drives to only prospects who will buy in the short term. That does not build any brand value for that car.

Is the 'no slipper' policy dictated by the dealer or by the manufacturer? or is it a judgement passed by the sales advisor?
For good heaven's sake they are a car dealership, not a fine dine restaurant

Originally Posted by aadya

Though it could be either way - a possible customer with slippers and somebody for time pass coming in suit. Try entering a star hotel with slippers - Louis Vuitton might work.

So they should put up a sign stating that we offer test drives only to people who intend to buy immediately.
I have been in multiple showrooms without any intent to buy. While this has been quite obvious and also stated upfront by me, the SAs have not refused a test drive.

[Sankar]

"Please keep your footwear outside" Post this sign on the door and make it a level palying field

Now i understand why some shops do this, all are equal in our premises we don't judge you by your chappals

[NiInJa]

This just took ego clashes to the next level !!
If FCA wants to calm things down, they should apologize the customer first , remove those sales persons involved and then do all the investigations they want. Whatever fight happened, it happened under their dealership and they were FCA's representatives. And looking at the video, it looks like everyone in the dealership had a part to play. The first thing you do in office as a Sales-person is to keep your ego at home and never lose calm, whatever the customer says. (That was told by a Gujarati friend of mine )

I might sound a bit biased but things work a lot differently in the North side of India, so was not surprised to see that happening. You will hear the term "choude hona" (literally to become wide, implying 'You are inferior') a lot there.

I have observed that people (even educated) are a bit aggressive in their tone and some of them can be really abusive if things dont go as per their wish. But there are ways to handle such cases, beating is definitely not one of them !
Couple of examples:

1. When my friend/colleague (he is from Delhi) came to our Pune office, I gave my car to him and he parked it in the wrong slot in our office, the guards put a jammer on the car as per the rules. When we saw it, his first reaction was of anger and he asked the guard who did that : 'Teri himmat kaise hui jammer laganeki'. We went to the security office, the guard's supervisor was calm, he quickly understood my friend's origins ( Supervisor was an old Sardar uncle) and he explained all the rules calmly to him in a very friendly tone. We all agreed, my friend cooled down and apologized to both of them.

2. I was in a mall in Delhi and a man was abusing a sales person in Marks and Spencer just because he was not giving the exact thing his daughter wanted.
It was disgusting to see a man hurling the worst abuses to a helpless man in public. His Manager walked up to that man and he himself handled the situation (attending his daughter's needs) taking the sales person off his sight for some time.