| Four Seasons, Tardeo - Disgusting Experience....TWICE!!!
Hi guys,
I am writing my experiences dealing with Four Seasons Auto at Tardeo in Mumbai as it has probably been the most disgusting experiences I have faced with them and not once but…..TWICE!!! Now please don’t get me wrong here, this is probably negative publicity for Four Seasons Auto but this is not my intention as my genuine intention is to purely share my feedback. With this feedback, I am not saying that Four Seasons Auto is good or bad; that is for you guys to judge and experience (which I personally wouldn't recommend). I am sure most of you have had good experiences there so, even though I refuse to believe it, this could just be a matter of ‘bad luck’ striking me twice. So here goes….
EXPERIENCE 1:
I believe I have written about this experience on Team-BHP before but stating it again.
I had bought a set of 05 OZ Racing alloy wheels in 2006 from Performance Alloys, UK for my 2005 Swift and paid a bomb for them as they were imported. They are literally my prized possessions till today. I had done this as at that time I did not know of anyone in Mumbai who were ‘officially’ selling OZ wheels. Not sure if Four Seasons were selling them at that time and I had either ways not heard of them at that time. In 2007, I had unfortunately met with a car accident which led to one of the rims being damaged. Fortunately, I had the spare. I had still decided to buy one rim. So after checking out through various sources and TBHP too, I land up at Four Seasons Auto at Tardeo, Mumbai. I met with Mr. Lalit Jogani who owns the place and also spoke to his colleague Mr. Rezza a couple of times on the phone. After Mr. Lalit checked out the damaged rim, we decided that it cannot be repaired and that this calls for a new piece. Here is where my ordeal begins.
I was quoted around 7.5k for the rim and was told to pay an advance of around 3.5k to which I agreed. I was told that the since its being imported directly from Italy, it would take a month to come and I would be informed of the same. A month passed and I did not hear anything from Mr. Lalit or Mr. Rezza. For some reason, they never seem to answer their mobile phones and even if by some miracle they do, they claim to be busy in a meeting and promise to call back but that never happens. This went on for almost 04 months!!! I was given various reasons like, the rim had come but was the wrong size and had to be sent back and then their next reason was that they are having logistical issues with OZ Italy so there is a delay. I don’t know whether they believe that all customers are fools or what but I don’t believe that such silly excuses are a customer’s problem. The bottom line is that advance has been paid 04 months ago and item not delivered as promised. After probably almost 50 calls from my end out of which probably only 03 were answered, Mr. Lalit Jogani had the audacity to tell me that he doesn’t want to deal with me as I am a fussy customer and that if just for one rim, I am creating so much problems, he can’t imagine what would happen if it was a bigger order. So we agreed that the deal be dropped and my money returned. Of course, another 03 calls had to be made to follow up on that too but money was finally returned. I should have asked for interest on this amount as I blocked it for nothing but all that mattered to me was to just finish off with Four Seasons Auto and its unprofessional owner and staff. This incident put me off totally and I just decided to use a stock rim and tire as the spare and that was the end of it.
EXPERIENCE 2:
However, years past and with the condition of Mumbai roads, my rims were all scratched and had lost their shine. So I decided to get them refurbished. Again, after a lot of suggestions and recommendations from members on Team-BHP, I decided to get it done from Mazda Motors at Tardeo. However, unfortunately Mazda Motors could not provide mw with a set of spare rims and I would have to keep my car with them for 05 days. I thought about it and it wasn’t possible as I stay at Bandra and my office is at Prabhadevi and to travel that distance for 05 days without my car would be a pain. Besides, I didn’t feel the need to keep my car there for just a rim painting job. So then like a good Samaritan I decided to give Mr. Lalit Jogani and his crew at Four Seasons Auto a second change believing my first incident may have been pure bad luck. So after a couple of calls to Mr. Lalit, I end up meeting him at his workshop. He remembered me clearly and we immediately got to the point of my visit. He seemed helpful and friendly with various suggestions and I thought to myself that this guy isn’t that bad as I thought. So after deciding on the color of the rims, which would be silver, we decided to meet on Saturday, 30th October 2010 at 10am sharp. He also said that he would provide me with stock rims for this duration when I would be without my OZs to which I agreed. I called him on Friday evening and reconfirmed our meeting and it was confirmed by him. I planned my Saturday accordingly.
I reached his workshop on Saturday at around 10:15am and was told that Mr. Lalit was not around. I met another gentleman who I believe is Rezza and he didn’t know anything about my requirements so he calls up Lalit and after a brief discussion, I am told that I should come post lunch as the spare rims have not yet come. Now, I thought to myself that I was probably wrong about Lalit again!! If I could be professional and courteous enough to call him a day before to reconfirm our meeting the next day, why could he have the decency to do the same and call me and inform me that the spare rims had not come? I was a little upset and still told myself that these things happen and let it go. So I told Rezza that I would call post lunch and drop in then. I left disappointed again.
Post lunch I call Lalit and as usual no response. I send him an SMS asking for an update and get a reply that he will call me in 15 mins. After 45 mins there is still no reply so I call again and the phone is unanswered. I had made a total of 08 calls to Lalit between 1440 hrs to 1700 hrs on that day and neither did he answer my call nor did he have the decency to reply by an SMS. This was the last straw!!! I had had enough of Lalit and his crew at Four Seasons and decided to just forget about visiting that place again. I was totally disgusted by his attitude and lack of professionalism. By the way, it is 01st November 2010 today and I have still not yet got a call from Lalit for anything.
CONCLUSION:
I have come to a conclusion that Lalit and crew will probably only attend to you if you drive a high end car as he kept boasting to me that they get all sorts of cars for repairs so OZ rims are not a big deal or probably if the cost of your job is more than 15k-20k. I guess painting my four rims for 08k was pocket change for him and he didn’t need it.
SOLUTION:
After all the headache I was put through for the second time by Lalit and crew at Four Seasons Auto, I decided to give the car elsewhere and came across Rio Designs at Pali Hill, Bandra. I was wondering why I didn’t think of them before as they are just down my road. However, they too didn’t have a set of spare rims. So I quickly called up Saifee Tyres who promptly organized the spare rims and with that my precious OZ rims have been given to Rio Designs for refurbishment. All this was done today itself. I should get them back in two days. | 
7th February 2008, 22:40
: With Shivsuma's experience, it is a lesson for us to choose the correct dealership to buy the vehicles or give our vehicles for servicing. If they use our cars for TD'ing and then s***w up the vehicle, everybody will think twice before taking this huge step. 
