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-   -   Ritz ZXI - Bimal Bangalore Experience (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-dealerships/69707-ritz-zxi-bimal-bangalore-experience.html)

Hi All,

I am posting below my experience with the Maruti Ritz ZXI purchase. Rather than writing the whole story again, I would post the letter which I had sent to Bimal - Whitefield expressing my dissatisfaction and concerns.

Hope this would help other prospective buyers take better decisions in a new Maruti Car purchase....

The following is what I had penned on the feedback form they had provided:

As you have asked for additional comments/suggestions, let me share my experience at Bimal associated with the Ritz Zxi purchase. Maybe you are able to address these issues, maybe not, but I believe as a customer I shall have the right to express my concerns. So here we go....

Although the sales person was very vocal about the PDI process performed before delivery, it was very unfortunate that I was handed over a car which did not have a working A/C. Surprisingly it seems that the A/C Gas was not filled before the vehicle was delivered to me and it was shocking to note that whoever did the PDI had not bothered to check it. I was made to understand that somewhere around 3-5 cars out of 300 which are received at Bimal come without A/C Gas filled. Given the fact that vehicles do come without A/C gas filled it should be a standard practice to ensure that this is completely checked before delivery. This naturally raises questions in my mind as to the level of quality you exercise on PDI. I mean how could you ever deliver a top end vehicle to a customer without something basic like the A/C gas being filled ???. Naturally I wonder if there are further surprises down the road in terms of the Airbags and ABS.....Maybe time will tell.

During delivery process I wanted my car tyres to be filled with Nitrogen gas. This was not done to my satisfaction as the standard process which the staff followed was connecting the machine, deflate the tyre for 60 seconds or more and refill with Nitrogen. This process does not allow for tyre to be deflated completely, and you end up mixing air with Nitrogen, which defeats the key points of filling Nitrogen. This had to be redone after escalation. Surprisingly though Maruti recommends 29 PSI as the standard tyre pressure on all tyres, the staff in the workshop was filling 33 PSI for the front tyres and 29 PSI for the rear tyres. I would assume the manufacturer knows best on what should be the tyre pressure and would recommend figures on the basis of several factors, but apparently your workshop staff feels they know better!. Even more surprising is the fact that this was not the first instance this was being done, which means this is a standard practice for cars and I wonder how this has not been noticed by someone responsible like the manager.

The day after I took delivery of the car I had returned for my number plates and while I was at Bimal requested for the steering grip to be redone as it was not fixed tightly. Though why it was not done right the first time is a separate discussion, I would like to highlight the fact that the vehicle upon return had a 3-4 inch blade lying on the driver seat. Fortunately I noticed the blade just as I was about to sit which probably saved me from a serious injury. I would rather not elaborate on the consequences, but would prefer to leave it to your imagination on what could possibly happen if you happen to sit on a razor sharp unprotected blade of 3-4 inches on a car seat. This is nothing but serious negligence on the part of your staff and I can only say - God help us all!.

I stay somewhere close to the Mandovi outlet in Wheelers Road, and my decision to purchase my car at Bimal Whitefield was due to the reputation you had in the market and the reviews which I had read on several websites. It was with much expectation that I walked into Bimal and the whole purchase process was going smooth until the actual delivery without A/C. Maybe I am jinxed, but I would rather believe that there are several process gaps within your organization at different levels - delivery process, workshop, electrical section (A/c), accessories support etc.. Maybe, just maybe it is time you revisited the quality process to see if everything is functioning as it is supposed to be. You might have stickers and posters proclaiming on the quality standards, Kaizen, process improvements etc., but the ground reality seems to be different..at least to me. Remember, quality is not something you build and decide in board rooms, it should actually be practiced at ground level.

God Bless!.

P.S: I would also like to appreciate the fact that Hussain Basha was very supportive during these trying times and he took the right decisions in involving the customer care manager, accessories manager etc, giving me opportunity to raise my concerns to the right people. I would like to place on record that he is a great guy who understand customer pulse and that I have the highest regards for him among all I have met at Bimal. I wish him all the best!.

I hope I am not expecting too much to think that you would indeed look to address these issues and save another customer from these harrowing experiences!.

I was made to understand by the Sales person that action has been taken against the people who were involved in these mishaps in terms of penalties. But I wonder why no one was interested to think of the customer who faced these issues?. I guess I am asking too much!.

Congratulations on your new car!
one more Ritz!!!

I understand that you have been let down, but let this not rob the excitement of the new car.
Now, let's talk abt good things ... shall we :)
How's the car doing? Share your experiences with car (helps to forget the bad things).

PS: I guess, this belongs to dealer reviews.

First and foremost, congratulations, and dezpo when i saw ritz zxi.... i also thought, wow another ritz, its raining ritz in t-bhp after the rain of fiestas and puntos, now i do think even the Why is Ritz not a hot selling car (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...lling-car.html) thread will have to agree that, even though indians are not buying the Ritz, bhpians are. :D

Hi sajirm,

Congratulations on buying a new Ritz Zxi! clap:

You did NOT ask too much, in fact this is what every customer expects when they spend their hard-earned money on a car. Glad to hear that the dealer has taken some action against their careless-workers.

What colour is your new car? Please post some pictures. In fact I’ve locked my decision on Ritz Zxi as well.

Congrats on your purchase. I too have booked a Ritz Zxi with Pratham. I had visited Bimal, but the attitude of the sales guy didn't give me any confidence in booking the car with them.

As everyone has said, you were not asking too much. Basic level of quality checks should be expected at least.

Now don't let this small things ruin your new car experience and enjoy your new ride :thumbs up. Post more details on the car with pictures.

Many tell that Bimal-whitefeild has arrogant people, then how come there are very good reviews for the same dealer. I think some people are Jinxed everytime or out some "X" people "Y" people are jinxed in the dealer office

Congrats Sajirm on your new Ritz ZXI. I service my car in Bimal. Although they are good 90 % of time, they mess up things once in a while.
Anyway Nice car you have. Can we have some pictures and some initial words about it please.

Thanks to everyone for the wishes.

Ritz ZXI is an "amazing" car. No two thoughts about it. It's just that you feel disappointed in the way you have been dealt with by the dealer. Anyway, i will leave that behind and move on!.

Yes, I will be getting pics of the car posted by Saturday. I picked up the Blue Blaze color as the only other color immediately available was the Baker's Chocolate, which my wife and daughter did not fancy much. All the same, this color is also good; maybe a little difficult to maintain.

I do recall some guys having questions on the ICE. The HU is Nippon and so are the speakers in the ZXI. The sound quality is passable with basic features alone on the HU. I was told you can't expect the works on a 5.67 Lakh car where they throw in free ICE....Fair enough. But watch out for the fact that the rear panel houses only a single channel output, which means when putting an ampllifier it does not make much sense to go for a 4 channel AMP. You would end up bridging the AMP input using a splitter cable and the overall effect would not have the audiophiles screaming from the roof. The other option would be to use a 2 channel AMP and either go for a sub-woofer alone. Anyway I leave the choice to you.

I bought a spoiler from the outside market which came at Rs. 1000 lesser. Some of the accessories done were the door side mouldings, front and rear bumper protectors, leather (lace type) steering grip, Lumar sun film, Under chassis coating and Teflon coating for body. I wanted to go for genuine leather steering grip, but the dealer said it can't be done as removing the steering wheel would pop open the airbags, it seems.

Next trip was to the local accessories store. Bought a JBL GT5-S644 Amp. Had a set of Polk Audio db691 which I had removed and kept from my Santro. Also I had an old Pioneer 150 Watt RMS 12" subwoofer, which was lying unused at home. Got the sub a new box and installed in the boot. Had the db691's mounted on a plank in rear parcel tray location. Now music has improved a lot and the thump can be felt at low volumes, which was the requirement.

Had an extra wiring kit purchased and upgraded the headlamp bulbs to Philips Essential Vision 100/90. I drive a lot in the night and powerful headlamps are a must for me.

The car as I said earlier is just Amazing. Very stable ride, though the steering feel tight at times. Maybe I am yet to get used to the electronic steering. The power steering on Santro was kind of different though and lighter. The Ritz gives you a great deal of confidence while driving..you tend to feel like you are driving a Bolero. The gear shift is slick and I love the way the gear shifts with a click.

The tilt steering and seat height adjustment is a boon. Myself being 5'10" i was extremely happy with the seat height adjustment feature. You get a real good vision with the height set high. There are no squeaks, rattling noise etc and I guess it is too early to comment on that. The ABS is a saving grace in Bangalore traffic where you never know when you will find a soul right in front of your car.

One minor hitch I found was that switching off the ignition with the head lights on does not turn off the lights unlike my earlier Santro. I found that feature to be good in Santro when you tend to turn off the ignition in traffic signals at night. Compared to other cars, you might take some days to get used to the smaller rear window pane when reversing the vehicle. Another thing you might take some time to get used to is the horn switch. As ZXI has steering mounted stereo controls, there is a small dummy silver panel on the right side of the steering level to match the controls on the left. When suddenly trying to honk you will end up initially pressing the dummy panel and it would require some time for you to get used to reaching with your thumb over the dummy panel to depress the horn switch. Not too much of a problem, and all these are part of getting used to a newer car.

The engine is very silent and stopping at a signal you would not realise the engine is running unless you look at the tacho. I found the power to be very good and the car effortlessly pulls from second gear once you slowly cross a speed breaker. In my Santro I always had to go to first gear, but then again I only had 63 bhp and now I have 85bhp with 113nm torque if i recall right. Rear leg room is sufficient and there is not much of jerks on bad roads.

Overall a sold built car which gives you a lot of confidence and pleasure while driving. I am really impressed with this vehicle and truly glad that I chose this over an i10. I would recommend this vehicle to anyone looking for a hatchback any day.

I have only done about 250 Kms so far and hence would comment on the FE later on.

Those of you interested in asking questions, please feel free to fire away. I will try to respond to the best of my ability.

Happy Ritzing!.

Thanks for the detailed review.

• Where did you buy the spoiler from? Does it look exactly same as the MGA spoiler for Ritz or is it different? Please post some pics.
• Did you get any discounts on accessories purchased from dealer?
• How much did you pay for under chassis treatment and teflon coating? What brand are these treatments from? How much warranty on both? Did they coat wheel archs and panels inside the doors or only under chassis?

I have booked a Ritz ZXI too and is interested in knowing answers to above questions.

Congrats on your new car sajirm, does Ritz have AT variant available?


Gandhi, you were enquiring about i10 automatic what happend? Changed your mind?

Cheers,
L&S

Not yet. I asked the sales guy about AT version of Ritz, but seems they don't have any plans in near future.


My confusion was between Ritz Zxi and i10 Asta. I finally decided on Ritz Zxi. Check out my thread - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchb...-ritz-zxi.html

can you advise, the cost of teflon treatment and if you got any discounts from the dealer ?

Hey Sajirm,

Congrats on the car . It should have been a bad experience. Anyway its over and enjoy the new car.

Delivering the car without AC is a total let down. Disgusting it is.

Coming to nitrogen filling, Its not it deflates for 60 seconds. Once the inflator is connected to the air inlet. The inflator automatically removes all the air inside and once its senses no air inside, only then starts filling nitrogen.

i think you have misunderstood the operation.

Also the pressure you want to fill to your car's tyres is your discretion. I dont see a reason why anybody will not listen to what you want. So no point in discussing this.

All said and done, forget these petty issues and enjoy your time with the car.

It's reply time! :)

@Gandhi: The spolier was purchased from accessories store - Car Explorer, near my residence in Kammanahalli. They did not have ready stock and picked it up for me in a short while. So i believe you should be able to get it in any accessories store. There are 2 types of spoilers as per the dealer; plaster of paris type and fibre type. The fibre type is expensive and that is what i have picked up., Seems it is manufactured by a company named Classic, which also supplies to Maruti. Not sure about that, but the spoiler looked exactly the same and so was the fit and finish. The color is matching exactly with the body color and i am completely satisfied with it. clap: Pics are posted below.

No discounts on accessories. They just offered me Rs. 2000 worth of accessories when picking up the car.

Under Chassis coating = Rs. 3200/-
Teflon Coating = 3500/-.
Both are 3M and they call it 3M detailing. The under chassis coating comes with 5 year warranty. They even do coating in tyre wells and wheel arch, but not sure about the panels inside doors. The teflon coating comes with 1 year warranty and they will do a free coating after 6 months.

@ Lancer&Shotgun: At present there is no automatic version of Ritz. If they had i would have picked it up definitely.

@del.guy22: Hope you got your answers from my above post.

@nandans2005. I appreciate your clarification, but the situation is little different. The machine when connected for a while does not deflate your tyres completely. It only lets your air escape for the time you specify. In my case after they disconnected the hose, the tyres looked as if the air is less, but not deflated. Hope you understand what i mean. There was still a lot of air left in the tyre and it was emptied (or almost emptied by opening the tyre filling nozzle pin). This was the time the tyres looked flat.

Coming to tyre pressures, the point i was making is that the staff were not filling the tyres as per manufacturer specification. In my case I was beside the vehicle when this occured, but not everyone might stand and watch when their tyre pressure is checked inside the service centre. Filling 33 PSI would end up with over inflated tyres and we all know that this is not advisable. That is all.

And now it is picture time!.

Sajirm,

I was checking the pictures. I like the mute option on the steering wheel, its very useful when you get a phone call.

Isnt the steering operation on EPS ? From the wagon R days, Suzuki has been on EPS. Why is that you feel the steering tight at times ? when does this happen?

Also, is the spoiler a cosmetic ? Does the spoiler on top of the roof have any value addition functionally ? I have seen this on many swifts in our city. Don't you think you have compromised on boot space?