[petertheo]

Hi

I am in the process on buying a new sedan in Mumbai, and have tried many options. I thought I would share my experiences with the dealers when trying to BUY a new car from them. Perhaps you can draw your own conclusions from them, what kind of service you can expect later on!

Honda City - went to a dealership in Kalina - forget the name. The guy seemed snooty - was not very keen to give me a test drive - packed me off with brochures - the car with safety features was beyond my budget anyway.

Maruti - Sai Service - Lower Parel. Registered on their website, inquiring for a new car purchase, and got a call back from them within an hour!! Now that's something. The sales girl Jinal chased me diligently until I told her the decision was postponed. When I called up two months later she remembered me and arrranged for a test drive promptly. When I visited the showroom, though she was not technically knowledgeable about cars like the Team BHP experts, to her credit she knew all the features, prices, options of Maruti vehcicles and the competition etc very well. The guy who evaluated my Old baleno for exchange tried to rip me off, offering me Rs. 80,000 for a 2000 model done 120,000 km (I got offers from outside for Rs. 1 lac). Later on Jinal kept following up with me with reasonable intervals, not too often to get on my nerves, but not so far about that I felt forgotten. Overall a good experience. If I buy the SX4, will sure buy from them

Continental Hyundai -Khar, Mumbai. Their contact numbers on the Hyundai website were wrong. Went there in person, collected the brochures. Sales girls there were not too knowledgeable beyond the basics of the different models and their price points. Feature knowledge was not their strong point. They followed up couple of times for test drive but I was busy. Then a week later, I called to ask for a test drive, they said they will come Saturday 11:00 am, but no one turned up or called. For a week. Then I called Hyundai tollfree number, they promised to have the dealer call me, but no luck. After a week, Continental called me and sent the car over for a test drive, with a driver only! No sales person!! I took a test drive of the Verna and sent the driver back with the car. They could do with some lessons on selling!

Skoda Fabia - Autograph cars. The sales guy came promptly with the car for test drive. He was knowledgeable and friendly. Only thing the car was beyond budget. So had to drop it.

Mahindra Logan - Prabhadevi Dealership. Walked in. Guy gave me all the brochures, showed me the various options and price points. Did not know too much about warranty options etc. I gave my contact numbers but they did not bother to make a followup call. Guess they have too much of business on their hands.

Bhavna Ford - Kalina. Newly opened Branch, headed by Dharmendra Desai. The pick of the lot. Dharmendra is very dedicated towards selling cars, especially Ford vehicles. He knows a lot about these cars, inside out. Over two visits, he spent almost three to four hours with me, going over my requirements, my driving patterns, economics of petrol/vs diesel for my mileage, options on the cars available, service options, warranty options. Then over to the car, detailed explanation of all the features, safety features, etc etc. The guy really knows his stuff. prices, competition features, plus and minus etc. Does not seem an out-and-out sales person either, gave me reasonable opinions, not trying to sell me the moon. Gave me three test drives (two diesel, one petrol). Showed me all the features, how they operate - higher power at lower gears for city driving etc. If you are planning to buy a Ford vehicle, talk to this guy. Don't know about their after-sales-service, though, since I have postponed my decision to buy, based on Team BHP advice to wait for NHC and Fiat Linea!

Hope this two-cents worth from my side helps other prospective buyers somewhat!

Cheers
Peter

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

since I have postponed my decision to buy, based on Team BHP advice to wait for NHC and Fiat Linea!

So why don't you see what is in store for you at a Tata/Fiat dealership?

;-)

[GTO]

Dealer experiences always make for an interesting read.

1. Honda = arrogant as expected. Also, the Ichibaan @ Kalina is now parting ways with Honda.

2. Sai Service : Typical Maruti efficiency in followup.

3. Continental Hyundai : Surprising! Hyundai showrooms are known to be meticulous in their handling of potential leads.

4. Skoda : Deserving by a premium car.

5. Logan : Surprised again. With the amount that Logan sales are falling, you'd think its sales team would have an element of aggression.

6. Bhavna Ford : Great experience! I don't know of too many dealers who would spend 3 - 4 hours with a potential customer. I hope he doesn't lose his enthusiasm once the new showroom kicks off.

Thanks for sharing this, Peter!

[1000Horses]

nice report man. Yeah my experience with bhavna ford was similar. They do spent time in explaining things.

I also had a terrible experience with hyndai dealer located in navi mumbai (sharayu hunydai i guess). They did not bother to unlock and show me higher spec getz . And later on followed on calls couple of times.

[maddy42]

I had a bad experience with the Sakinaka based Hyundai showroom. Made me wait an hour for a testdrive of the I10 and worst of all they send a lady who didnt know anything about the car. She must have been free to just go along. 1 km testdrive.
In case i was serious on buying a car that place was the last one i would go to.

[anumod]

Hi Mods couldn't see a similar thread for putting these opinions . If there is already one please, merge it.

My wife was looking to change her car and that is when I started to look for a new car. Currently she is having a Fiesta (Classic), but she feels it is big to maneuver in the city.

Initially only two names were in my mind. Tata and Fiat. (I test drove all the cars from Tata in the recent past and was fully bought on any of the cars from a quality point of view . Fiat was in the list, because we wanted a good build quality with Fiat we get the value for Money proposition as well. )

I started with Tata, I inquired about both Tigor and Tiago (Personally I like the rear end design of Tigor). Initially I contacted Venkataramana motors, over phone. They said that, they have a 2017 Tigors in stock. I asked about the pricing. They said that I had to come down to their showroom as the pricing discussion had to be done with the showroom manager and he can't visit my place (which is just 4 KM ). I was like, this is like the worst customer experience. But as the cars are good, I thought of dropping to their showroom and found out that the cars are June 2017 Manufactured and they are ready to give a depreciation benefit of just 40 K for more than a year old car. I said that it would not work out. I said that there was a price revision of 40K on Tigor in that period, at least consider that. After that there was no follow-up from this dealer.

Next I went to Concorde Tata Motors personally and they also said that they have 2017 Tigors. I asked for a test drive of Tigor , and startled to hear that there is no petrol in the test drive vehicle . (This was on a Saturday morning and ideally they should prepare for a busy weekend on Friday itself, I was like this is a bigger bummer than Venkataramana motors). Later they provided me a Tiago to test drive. There I talked with Showroom manager and he was ready to give 60K depreciation benefit on a March 2017 manufactured Tigor. For him also i mentioned about the price hike of 40K happened on Tigor, so effectively my depreciation benefit is only 20K. They said that they would let me know, if there is any updates. And that chapter is also closed. There is no follow-up from them also in the last two weeks.

Then I moved on to Fiat. I wanted to check out Urban Cross powered by Abarth. (I loved the T-Jet engine and I wanted a good ground clearence, hence looked for UC). My wife used to drive a Palio and she was also happy with Fiat's build quality. After multiple follow-ups I got a test drive of a Urban Cross. This was from Pride motors. They were ready to give a discount of 1.5 Lakhs on a 2018 model. (This was without any bargaining ) and I was sure I could get a couple of ten thousands more, if I bargain more. So the sales executive left and the next day he informed me that , there are no new UC available , they are ready to sell the test drive car. (Which was a temporary registered car, so I will be the first owner), I asked him to find out the price and tell him to update me.

As Pride was not having a new car, I thought of checking with AV motors (the other fiat dealer in Hyderabad ) and they said that they have a 2016 UC in the stockyard. They were ready to give another 1.6 lakhs as depreciation benefit, so overall 3.1 benefit. I told them that I would come and check the car myself on the next day noon and the sales executive agreed to do so. When I was about to leave to the showroom on the next day, the executive said that they sold that car to another customer. I felt that it was not handled in a professional way. Then they said that they have an Avventura in the stock, which is also 2016 (March) manufactured and with 1.4 engine. They asked me for my price and I said that I am ready to pay a premium with the normal depreciation benefits (I gave the IRDA depreciation chart to them ). But they haven't come back to me and this is the third week and there is no update.

As I was having this experience (no pro-active follow-up with customers), I thought of doing window shopping with other manufactures as well. Just to do a litmus test. I did experiment with Datsun, and the result was exactly same. No follow-up in 3 weeks. Did a try with Hyundai, super positive experience, the people are there to sell the car, no head weight, nothing. And that is what you need when you want to sell the car. The sales guys brought his manager to my office, when the sales guy was not able to convince me (As Hyundai was not in my list). Kudos to Hyundai. Next I checked with Ford as well, an equally positive experience from them as well. Well done Ford as well. (I was thinking not buying a Ford again immediately, as the last 3 purchases are from Ford . Wanted to try out other brands as well).

As a prospective customer, I have built a perception on Tata, FCA and Datsun with my look out for a new car.
Tata should come to the customers, if they want to win the market again. The competition is taking customers along with them.
fiat is dead, that is true, but Jeep is just getting the action right. So please be pro-active, if you want to win the hearts. Else you will dye down in the same way as Fiat in India.
Datsun, you have to be super positive and exponential pro-active, if you want to get the customers from Maruti and Hyundai. Else, you will be like dead on arrival.

[swiftnfurious]

Good thread. I was trying to help my brother when he was planning to buy a car. My experiences went like this. All these are with showrooms at Kottayam, Kerala.

Maruti:
TDed Swift and when I asked for a Dzire, the sales guy bluntly told "it's not required as both are same cars". Didn't tell him anything and got out saying thanks. The guys made 3 calls in a span of 30 mins asking for booking amount. Very aggressive follow up - got to give it to them for that (though it's annoying).

Toyota
Very Professional. Was given a TD of the Liva / Etios. Followed up once or twice and stopped bugging me after I told him it's off the list. Offered me a TD for Innova as well, even though he knew I'd not buy it. The showroom ambiance also was the best among all.

Chevrolet
Wanted to check out Sail twins. There was a display car but no TD. Told him am checking for my brother - he said he'll give a TD to my brother. Told him I'll come for a TD and he says, "it's you brother who is buying, what's the need for you to TD :-)" ! Smiled at him and came out.

Honda
Guy gave me TD for a Brio - though I had to wait. No enthusiasm or zeal for a sale though. Polite dealing - never followed up.

Ford
Got a TD for Figo & Fiesta Classic. Never followed up after, but quite a satisfying experience.

Of all the brands, the Toyota experience was the BEST! If I had to buy a car based on the experience, it's Toyota. Sadly, the product is not enticing (Etios / Liva). An interesting product might sell without much of a sales push. A boring product may not sell even with a splendid sales pitch.

[anumod]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

the Toyota experience was the BEST! If I had to buy a car based on the experience, it's Toyota. Sadly, the product is not enticing (Etios / Liva). An interesting product might sell without much of a sales push. A boring product may not sell even with a splendid sales pitch.

I had an exactly opposite experience, when I was looking to buy 7 seater SUV.

Two times I visited Harsha Toyota Showroom for test driving new Fortuner. Both the the times the test drive car was not in the showroom. They said that, they would follow-up with me. But no response. I called them back and asked for a test drive at my office. The response was that, I had to come to the showroom as the car is appeared to be in bug rush for test drive. Come on Toyota , when I am ready to put in 40L bucks on a product, should I get a good buying experience. At that point of time I dropped the plan of Toyota.

[sabby_4c]

Interesting thread OP and I had a very similar experience last year. I wanted to test drive a bunch of cars from different makers. Didn't get any call back from Maruti for Baleno, a call after 2 months from Ford for Figo twins, a call after 4 months from Honda for Jazz. Tata dealer called me every week but never could schedule a test drive on any day siting lack of TD car. Volkswagen scheduled but postponed a couple times for Polo but they persisted although I had decided on my car after 3 weeks so informed them not required anymore - they still wanted me to take the TD at least.

And just like your experience, Hyundai salesmen were very active and wanted me to TD all of their cars to decide and really wanted to sell a car. I never liked Hyundai cars for driving, only thing positive being the interiors. But what do you know, I am now a happy owner of a Hyundai. I chose them for the interior, discounts, their attitude and this car was mostly to be driven in the city.

[behaln]

Similar incident happened to me while buying the fortuner.
Checked with all the dealers in NCR, most said that delivery time was between 6-8 weeks depending upon the color.
Galaxy Toyota promised to deliver the car within a month. After I booked the car with them, the SE tells me that I have to take loan and insurance from them, to get the delivery within a month. I told them that I am getting preffered ROI from hdfc bank being their NRI customer. I told them if they can match the ROI and the insurance quote I would take it from them. They could never match that.
Then the low balling started, the SE tells me to opt for alternate color and starts to put pressure on me to take loan and insurance from them if I want previously selected color.
They even created problems for the fancy number I had booked through the RTO. They asked me to personally go and collect the number from the RTO, had to give them peace of mind as I knew the procedure very well.
Finally on the day of delivery all their courtesy cars get busy and this is when I lost it. I directly rang their marketing GM and told him the entire story. He did help but it was not worth.
The mood of the new car was spoiled.
I did complain to Toyota in their post purchase feed back call but did not know if any action was taken as Galaxy Toyota is the biggest dealer in terms of volumes in NCR.

[TechNomad]

I have booked a Vento TDI Highline with VW NCR EAST ; While booking I paid 25K as a booking amount - and rest of the amount was agreed to be paid after PDI , and before car delivery ; The car reached dealership on 25th December and I completed the PDI yesterday 26th December and informed the dealer that I will start processing the loan and arrange the rest of the payment asap . While negotiating the price with the dealer - we agreed for a Final price but I did not take in writing - it was all verbal agreement ;

Now the dealer (VW NCR East) has come back and informed that the agreed price is valid only for December 2018 , So if the loan gets processed in January - there will be a price hike of 3% above the agreed price between me and VW NCR East ; meanwhile - they also pressured me to arrange Loan through their dealership only , and said that if I process the loan through them , they will arrange delivery the next day ; Which I declined saying I have better loan rate offers from other banks ;


When we could not reach an agreement , I requested the sales person I was dealing with - to cancel my booking , and then , to confirm / understand the issue , I called up the Sales Head of VW NCR East (one Mr. Lokesh ) ; He informed that the Car Model I am after is a hot cake and in very high demand - which I refuse to believe anyway, and they came to know of the price hike around middle of December 2018 etc. , and he offered me a deal - that I pay 1 Lac Rs. as some kind of assurance and they will hold my price up to January first week; I verbally agreed to pay 1 Lac by 31st December 2018 , but needless to say I don't like this pressure tactics and in two minds whether I should cancel the deal ; BTW - I also requested my bank to stop the loan processing until further notice from my side ;

My concern here is - What if they ask for more more money / make other excuses , after I pay 1 lac to them ? Now I have only paid 25K , so my stake is low ;

And secondly , If I get such a bad taste with the dealership , should I go ahead with them for a longer association ? In any case - VW dealers are an infamous lot , the forum is full of issues with VW dealers in spite of VW making good , strong cars ;

My hunch is that they might have gotten another customer and have struck a better price with him/her than me , and now they want to get rid of me (and their agreement) in this way;

Any suggestions ?

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by TechNomad

Any suggestions ?

This is a common nuisance at dealership recently. Always remember customer is king and act like a king.
Regarding assurance, that is what we call a "booking amount", which you have already paid. When VW sets up a booking amount, they consider that amount is good enough for assurance. You on your part should ask the dealership for an assurance that they will honor the contract.
Hyundai dealer tried to play similar tricks with me, but I asked for written confirmation of the deal, a loner car till delivery and zero cancellation with written guaranty to refund booking amount within 2 working days, in case they would fail in any of the clause that they promised. This put them on track. On your part, you could part with a smaller amount against allocation of the car in your name and email confirmation of the deals. Also remember not to release the loan amount before a PDI.



Your second point, your long term relationship would be with service center which is a different entity than showroom (although ownership is same). Even, you can get your car serviced at any of the VASS in your city without any string attached.

[TechNomad]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Always remember customer is king and act like a king.

That I did or at least tried to !! good advice and thank you for that reminder , more often than not , we get scared by these arm twisting acts by the dealers even if we are paying them .

So here I will try to give a short narrative of the twists and turns with the Volkswagen Dealer in Ghaziabad , UP - and the Bank as well , that I went to for a Car Loan - on the assumption that these events maybe helpful to other members and readers of the forum in general .


Act I - The Dealer
--------------------------------------------------------------
I was looking for a diesel sedan and finalized Vento Highline Manual after lots of test drives and reading in TBHP of course ; After the finalization of the car , came the Dealer; From my previous experiences I knew this could be a make-or-break decision irrespective of my liking of the Car I have chosen ;

What I mean is - I had actually tried to get my hand on a Skoda Rapid , but the dealers are simply not interested to sale any , so I backed out ; I was hoping my second choice - Volkswagen, would have a better dealer response - and lucky me they actually are ; In Delhi NCR region at least - the VW Dealerships are much better than their Skoda counterparts in almost every way ; To cut a long story short - I contacted multiple dealers and took quotes from each of them , and pitted them one against another ; I continued this until I got a price near to my liking ; When I look back now - I think I could get it a little better but I felt ashamed , ; though there is nothing to feel ashamed about it ; I guess all those pleadings and 'nautankis' by the sales guy had some effect on me after all ; Anyway - as I was also trading my old car here , so I was looking for a Final Price including my old car exchange ; I was lucky to have it go my way - that I got a good Final Price - all inclusive on-road price - and the deal looked sweet !!

In order to do that - I had to speak to the Sales Head of the Dealership at the time of booking and told him clearly that this is my expected Price - If he wants it , I will book it right away ; If He doesn't , well there is always another dealer larking behind !! He/They agreed to the final price and also agreed to my demand of providing a reverse camera installed free of cost because the Highline doesn't come equipped with one , only the Highline Plus has it ;

All conditions accepted - we both agreed , and I gladly paid the 25K booking amount ; They took my booking and said that they will inform me once they have the Car with them , because they will have to get it from Volkswagen Factory in Pune ; So far so good - I went home a happy man , not realizing I made a mistake (or, Two , I should say) already !!
The date was 30th November 2018 ;


ACT II : PDI & A Twist
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Dealer sales person (SA) called me on 25th December 2018 and informed that they have the Car ready and I can PDI ; I took a print-out of the PDI check-list and went point-by-point ; All satisfied , I said I will go ahead and arrange the payment in a week ; At this point - the SA informs me that the payment must come through before 31st December , otherwise there will be a 3% price hike amounting to 35K ; In other words - our agreed price does not hold good if the payment is coming through in January 2019 ; I had a heated argument , the SA did not say much and I left dealership thinking that this is another of their petty tricks ; The SA also tried to persuade me to arrange funding through their own agent and said if we do it through their own agent , I can take delivery next day !! I did not agree to any of their offers - the rates they were offering were much higher than those available in the Market , so I decided to go on my own ;

However after 2 days I receive another call from the SA - saying that they really can not honor our agreement if the payment doesn't come through by 31st December 2018 ; I gave him a piece of my mind and asked him to cancel my booking and return booking money. I had decided not to pay any more than the agreed price already and wanted to stick to it .


ACT III : The Phone Call
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
After fallout with the SA - I decided to call the Sales Head of the dealership , with whom I had discussions and it was him who agreed to the price and conditions ; And surprise !! He sings the same tune as the SA - No car if payment is not received by 31st December ; When I asked why did he not mention this at the time of booking - He simply says , " let's not discuss that - there's no point " ; I was stunned !! Couldn't believe the Man !! And then , he offers me another deal on the phone - that if I pay 1 Lac. by tomorrow - He will hold the car's price as we agreed ; I simply said - Ok let me see if I can do that and dropped the call ; But what intrigued me was that there was no guaranty that he will not do this again even if I pay him 1 Lac !! He just kind of broke my trust ; Needless to say I was feeling bad about it all and frantically looking for alternatives ; There wasn't any ; Finally I decide not to pay one single rupee under the circumstances and cancel the booking ; So much for the new car !!


ACT IV : The Mail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
At this juncture , I thought , the deal is cancelled anyway , lets see what Volkswagen says about this little Incident !! So I gathered mail ID of Volkswagen Customer Support , and also the then VW India CEO Dr. Andreas Lauermann - and shot them a mail writing in detail the acts of the dealership and I'm planning to cancel my booking ;

Lest I should say - I wasn't expecting any action from VW India - as I had read long threads in the Forum about issues and complaints and a lot of them were lack of control and lack of corrective actions by VW India to their dealerships ;

However - someone from VW Customer Care called me the next day - and I told him the full story - He heard me patiently and promised action ; I thanked him too , but still I did not expect any action ; There's always a difference between lip service and action ; Anyways - after One Day - I get a call from the same Sales Head again , this time he inquires about my mail to VW and wants to know whether I'm paying up or not as per our last phone chat ; I tell him that I'm not paying any advance and he can cancel the booking if he wants - next he says then why I had requested the Car , and I remind him again that the booking was done based on our Verbal agreement and there was NO condition of any price hike or anything in January; He wants to settle the matter , we have some heated arguments , but I stand firm and tell him that I will only go ahead if he agrees to all my conditions in writing ; He agrees to do that and we end the call ; While all of this was going - I instruct the Bank not to proceed with my Loan application until I confirm back;

So, I draft another mail - a rather longish one with 5 conditions , covering everything (well, almost !!) that I could think of going wrong , copy the same audience into it , and send it across to the dealer , this time directly to that Sales Head !! I get a response after two days from the CRM Head of the Dealership - they agree to all my conditions in writing , payment schedule and everything , so we're back on track with the Car again !!


ACT V: The Spoilsport - Bank Loan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I was already out in the market scouting for the best loan when all this issues with dealer were taking place but stopped it midway ; I wanted to settle the matter with dealer first ; So I go to the SBI branch again near my home and meet the Loan Lady ; She seemed to be helpful with clear information about documentation and Loan Rates/Terms and Conditions etc. , so I request her to proceed and on the sideline , I also talk to another bank just to see what they offer ; In the meantime - I checked all other bank offers in the Net for the Best Rate / Terms etc. and SBI offer seems to be the best and I decide to go with it .

After two days - I get a call from the Loan Lady asking me a few questions about my CIBIL report and informing me I have a very low score !! I am surprised and ask her how did she check it all ; Not that I'm very keen on CIBIL scores and such but I like to keep my affairs tidy , so I'm surprised !! Then I go to SBI Portal and extract a personal CIBIL Score (not a free score as maybe obtained from many sites - I should mention here) and find that my score is far ahead than what she mentioned over phone; So I decide to pay her a visit with a copy of the CIBIL report ; There I'm informed that SBI considers something like a CIBIL 2.0 Score , and what I got from SBI Portal is CIBIL 1.0 !! I don't know what it is but I ask her - what will be the Loan ROI - and she quotes a much higher rate than what she told me initially and as a reason she explains my CIBIL score is not up to the mark ;

Needless to say - I'm not happy about it and ask her to hold my application;
To cut a long story short - I went to the other bank that had quoted a higher rate (but quoted same rate from the beginning nonetheless) and finalize the Loan there; I also calculated the difference and it came to about three thousand rupees for the entire tenure , so no point pursuing SBI Offer anyway !! There was also another marketing stunt of buying an Insurance worth 15K which would lower my Loan ROI - which I refused and went for the simple Loan ; The point here is - that the Loan rates are highly negotiable , what you see or hear about them may not be what you get , and depends on a lot of parameters !! Ultimately as all matters related to the banks in India - It all depends on how much muscle (financial) you got !!

ACT VI : The Conversation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
After all that happened , we complete paperwork and take delivery of our new car on 16th January 2019 !! We exchange pleasantries and shake hands , the dealer offers a box of chocolate ; I'm shown the details of the Car , gizmos explained , photos taken and sent to whatsapp , I take the Car to the nearby petrol pump , fill the tank , drop wife to work and trot back home !!
A vague sense of satisfaction is with me for all the problems sorted out so far;

I already like the car , its driven about 180 KM only , so a review maybe sometime in near future !!

Last but not the least - clearly the dealership is not too happy about not making a killing over the purchase , the Sales Head is busy in meeting and doesn't meet us during the little ceremony (no offence taken !! but I hear he usually does so for other customers from their own staff !!), and the SA tells me while leaving - " Sir, what is the point in mailing Volkswagen ? Do you think they will come from Germany and sort your problems ? We have to make a good relation with each other , We want a long term relation with you ..." ; I respond by saying that in any buy/sale such as this , both parties have responsibility to fulfill their side of agreement , and that includes you , too !!
He again asks me to give him a good rating , I promise him to give a good rating , because I think he was just doing as he was told anyway;
However I can't refrain but comment here that this is the attitude of VW dealers at large and running amok with customers - the only way to change needs to start at the top ;


Conclusion
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Already echoed by many in this Forum , and I repeat that , during a car purchase one needs to have a clear mind and patience , not to be carried away by the thrills of your new car , because there can be people / entities fishing out there and trying to maximize their profits out of you; And I don't mean anything bad to anybody , just as they are doing their job , we should be doing ours too ;
As a buyer , one has to stick to their own decisions and it's a buyer's market so you will definitely get options (maybe better !!) to choose from !!
though my experience is with Volkswagen Dealership but this type of issues can be with any other car dealership ;

However I would like to thank VW India in this whole purchase experience - hoping that they had a positive role in this and would continue to look after their customers who put money on their product ;

Disclaimer : This is simply my personal experience with different entities in the Car purchase process and not intended for any professional or personal malice towards any entities described here !!!

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by TechNomad

Last but not the least - clearly the dealership is not too happy about not making a killing over the purchase , the Sales Head is busy in meeting and doesn't meet us during the little ceremony (no offence taken !! but I hear he usually does so for other customers from their own staff !!), and the SA tells me while leaving - " Sir, what is the point in mailing Volkswagen ? Do you think they will come from Germany and sort your problems ? We have to make a good relation with each other , We want a long term relation with you ..." ; I respond by saying that in any buy/sale such as this , both parties have responsibility to fulfill their side of agreement , and that includes you , too !!
He again asks me to give him a good rating , I promise him to give a good rating , because I think he was just doing as he was told anyway;

All well that ends well. Forget the incident like a bad dream and enjoy your steed. At the end, your transaction with them is over and you are not going to see or hear from them in future.

BTW, VW from Germany did come and help you if I guessed it correct.
My request, if there are going to be any rating request from VW (not dealer), give an honest rating. Your SA will make your life miserable by calling you day and night and ultimately force you to change your rating, but at-least your initial rating and comment will get stored in VW system and you will have your sweet revenge (up to some extent) .

[Styler]

The Marketing People at Dealers do petty scams. I don't know if it is to just meet their booking targets or there is more malicious intent.

I was on the lookout for a Baleno Zeta / Alpha Blue Color for my daughter who has just got a license. I was thinking of getting an Automatic but since the deliveries of the Automatic Baleno 2022 are delayed endlessly, and they have switched to AMT from CVT I thought we will go in for a Manual Car. It will be also good for my daughter to learn well on a Manual. Also if she starts with an Automatic she might never be able to drive a Manual.

I was clear in my mind that I want to buy a car which is available ex-stock with immediate delivery. I was in touch with a few Nexa dealerships in Delhi and they had other colors of the Manual Baleno for ready delivery but not blue.

Since I have owned a Toyota Camry for 12 Years and was pretty happy with the Toyota Service I had also put in an inquiry for a Toyota Glanza on the official Toyota Website and it was forwarded to Galaxy Toyota, Charrarpur near Vasant Kunj which is closest to my house.
I was in touch with a Marketing guy from there and he sent me Brochures and Price-List etc on Whatsapp. On 19th April 2022 I inquired from the marketing guy of this dealership over whatsapp if they have any Blue Glanza V or G Model for immediate delivery. He informed me they do not have V or G but have a Glanza S Manual in Blue color in Stock, ready for delivery. I agreed to buy the Blue Glanza S Manual on full cash payment the next day. I was told that they will show me the Car the next day and we can complete the purchase immediately. It was evening around 6.00pm and the guy insisted that I transfer the booking amount of Rs 11,000 to their bank account that day itself and he will post it in his whatsapp group and confirm the booking. I transferred the booking amount of Rs 11,000 in good faith and on his commitment given to me in Whatsapp and on phone. After payment I messaged him to confirm the booking, he told me that since people have left at 6.30pm he will confirm in the morning.

In the morning when I tried to contact him his phone was switched off. In the afternoon I called Galaxy Toyota Chatterpur and they gave me the number of his senior manager. I spoke to this senior and inquired about my booking as confirmed by the marketing guy. He asked for some time to check his stocks and in about an hour he got back to me saying that they do not have a Blue Glanza S Model in Stock.I thought maybe it was a genuine error in checking stock or something so I politely requested them to refund the amount as I was being offered an Alpha Blue Baleno Manual by a Nexa dealer for immediate delivery. He promised to get the amount refunded through marketing person who had originally taken the booking.
No booking has been done with Toyota by the dealer, I have got no booking confirmation message or email. They could simply refund the amount without making a booking. In the evening of 20th April 2022 when I was finally able to speak to the marketing guy and asked him about my refund. He tells me refund is a long process and will take 45-60 days.
I was shocked. First they took the booking fraudulently by giving commitments for a car they did not have in stock. And when I politely told them to refund the amount they tell me it is a long process and it will take 45 -60 days. If this is not doing a fraud with the customer then what is it ? I have all the whatsapp chat showing what he committed. I also have the payment receipt of the online transfer done by me to the Galaxy Toyota Autombiles Pvt. Ltd account. Even in this I clearly mention "Booking Glanza S Blue "

They folks at the dealership Galaxy Toyota became pretty rude and simply told me they cannot do anything about it and a cheque for refund will be made in 45-60 days.
I did not want to take this sitting down and have escalated it to Toyota.
It's not a big amount, but it's the hassle of following up and waiting for the refund for 2 months.

For just a petty thing they've made a loyal Toyota Customer of 12 years change his mind about Toyota.

Update : I did get a call from toyota after they saw my mail, I hope they will pull up the dealer for what he did and get the money refunded soon.