[Guna]

https://www.republicworld.com/india-...CEevq1zK2zMqZP
Looks like these showroom guys in Tumkur had it completely wrong and the person who is allegedly been insulted is determined to make them pay.
It is only matter of time before Mr. Anand Mahindra takes note and these showroom guys better make peace with the gentleman.

[PaddleShifter]

Similar incidents have happened in the past also.

I think at least one such is documented here at Team-BHP and is a very old one when that particular manufacturer used to sell at least 4 different car models starting from a 4.4m long sedan as their cheapest offering to a 25 lacs SUV and a D segment sedan. A dealer of this Japanese brand saw an old man trying to enquire about a car where the sales person made remarks about his purchase budget based on his appearance.

The customer complained to the manufacturer and the dealer sent all car models to his home for test drive. I am not able to find this here on the forum so have refrained from citing the manufacturer in case I am wrong.

[deehunk]

Today, I saw a farmer sharing his embarrassing experience at Honnasiri Mahindra, Tumkur on a regional language news channel. The farmer had initially enquired about Mahindra Bolero, later the Sales team started to follow up by calling the farmer. He seems to have told the Sales team to wait for sometime, then he has visited the showroom 2 days back to finalize the deal with his friends. Initially he offered to pay Rs.2 lakhs as D/P and take the delivery same day, when the Sales team refused, he has offered to pay the full amount of Rs.10 lakhs in cash. The Sales team intentionally have made fun of the farmer and commented

"ನಿನ್ನ ಬಟ್ಟೆ. ಮುಖ ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಜೇಬಲ್ಲಿ ಹತ್ತು ರೂಪಾಯಿ ಇಲ್ಲ, ನೀನು ಕ್ಯಾಶ್ ಕೊಟ್ಟು ಗಾಡಿ ತಗೋತಿಯಾ"

(looking at you and your face, we know that you don't have even 10 rupees, are you going to pay Rs.10 lakhs cash?)

This irked the farmer, later realising their bad mouthing, Sales people have told him

"ಆಯ್ತು ಇನ್ನು 25 ನಿಮಿಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಯಾಶ್ ತಂದು ಕೊಟ್ರೆ ಗಾಡಿ ಇವತ್ತೇ ಕೊಡ್ತೀವಿ"

(Ok, if you bring the money within 25 minutes, we will give you the vehicle today)

He immediately called up his friends to arrange the cash and went back to the showroom to collect the vehicle. Then the Sales team have told him that they need at least 3 days to deliver the vehicle. The farmer has approached the Police Station for defaming him and hurting his ego, the culprits apologised in front of police but unwilling to give an apology statement. The farmer has decided to fight till these people are punished.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko2ONvbi_6c

[deehunk]

Guna, I just started a new thread as I had so far appreciated Honnasiri Motors in Tumkur on the forum. I have been their customer from 2 years and their service job was always . It is really unfortunate that people are treated by their looks and dress, me too have been a victim of such embarrassment in the past. I was given a similar treatment by Anant Cars while buying my XUV 5OO in December, 2019. They sold me a repainted car and caught red handed at the time of delivery. The escalation and excuses went on for 2 months, their Works Manager was shivering to talk with me, later I left them at the mercy of god.

[PGA]

Knowingly or unknowingly I have accumulated a lot of Mahindra stuff at home, two cars, a tractor, a rotavator and CM membership, there maybe something more as well which am unable to recollect at the moment. I first purchased an XUV 500 and then couple of years later a Bolero. The difference in conduct and attitude was huge at the same Mahindra showroom and its not changed over last ten years of my dealing with Mahindras. I experience it when I take these vehicles for service. Initially, I would get angry at this discrepancy but now have reconciled that its in our blood to evaluate, size up and behave based on amount a person flashes in his pockets or shows off his social pecking order.

Mahatma Gandhi saw it decades ago and advised us "A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so."

PS Just checked on the internet, it was 1890.

[concorde24]

First rule book : Salesman need to respect the customer

I am reminded of a similar incident in a Tamil movie Natpukaga, where 2 farmers go to buy a Car. They got mocked in the car showroom (Ford in that movie) and Salesman getting shock of his life when they pour currency from gunny bags to pay for the car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUoKKWNkTns&t=285s

Watch from 4:50 onwards till 6:30

[Guna]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Guna, I just posted the same topic here as I had so far appreciated Honnasiri Motors in Tumkur on the forum. I have been their customer from 2 years and their service job was always . It is really unfortunate that people are treated by their looks and dress, me too have been a victim of such embarrassment in the past. I was given a similar treatment by Anant Cars while buying my XUV 5OO in December, 2019. They sold me a repainted car and caught red handed at the time of delivery. The escalation and excuses went on for 2 months, their Works Manager was shivering to talk with me, later I left them at the mercy of god.

When I read about this incident, I felt that there may be other side of the story, as I can't think that someone working at the showroom will be dumb enough to mock at prospective customers. But your experience shows that it can potentially happen.
Looks like this got in to some kind ego fight. Manager should have explained them that he can't technically deliver the car the same day instead of mocking them and challenging them to arrange the full amount in 2 hours. 10 lakhs is not a big amount for anybody to gather these days. Now that farmer's (so called) ego is hurt, he is going to make it a big issue.

Originally Posted by concorde24

I am reminded of a similar incident in a Tamil movie Natpukaga, where 2 farmers go to buy a Car. They got mocked in the car showroom (Ford in that movie) and Salesman getting shock of his life when they pour currency from gunny bags to pay for the car.

Apparently there is similar Kannada movie starring Vishnuvardhan.
In fact news channels/portals are trying to sensationalise and projecting as if someone with shabby cloths walked in to the showroom and the showroom guys shooed him away only to see him coming back with full cash to buy a car

[CARDEEP]

Unfortunate that mass auto makers play premium experience that results in discrimination based on appearance. While we thump chest in pride for Indian prince buying Rolls Royce & using them for garbage collection, we ourselves mock people who turn up in Dhotis & Payjamas. I can buy a 5-Series now, & in general roam around in Payjamas on the weekend & even cotton kurta-payjjamas & I dread if such incidence happening to me... Hard earned pride & prosperity.

As many has said, I hope Anand Mahindra takes a note & this salesman is demoted with a public apology from him & company to farmer.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by deehunk

...
(looking at you and your face, we know that you don't have even 10 rupees, are you going to pay Rs.10 lakhs cash?)
...

This is hardly an exceptional incident. We have a number of such incidents described in this thread ('Dress Code' when visiting car showrooms for a test-drive?).

The farmer has decided to fight till these people are punished.

I doubt any such punishment would legally happen. The farmer taking his business elsewhere after showing this dealer the money, and Mahindra taking cognizance of this thread and penalizing the dealer for losing business, may be the only two options. Even then, the only outcome might be a half-hearted apology from the dealership's manager.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

This is hardly an exceptional incident. Mahindra taking cognizance of this thread and penalizing the dealer for losing business, may be the only two options. Even then, the only outcome might be a half-hearted apology from the dealership's manager.

Mahindra surely knows that it is the rural people who have promoted their brand especially an outdated Bolero. I have experienced myself in 2020 how Mahindra can bring a dealer to his knees.

[sagarpadaki]

These are the kind of incidents that Anand mahindra has to take action on. Hope this misbehavior incident reaches his notice.

[Cresterk]

I can't believe people are still falling for the same old sleazy sales tactics that some particularly unsavory salesmen use. They play up to your appearance/status or even subtly insult them in order to goad you into spending your money just to show them what a big man you are. This salesperson just turned a potential window shopper into a customer that paid in full that day itself without them being able to pester for any discounts or even considering any other competitors.

Insulted by this, Kempegowda then accumulated 10 lakh rupees in an hour and demanded immediate delivery of the car. He reached out to his friends for the money.

So what should be a carefully thought out decision turned into an emotional need and for what? Imagine borrowing money just to show some sleazy salesman how much you care about his opinion. Sure in this case, the bad publicity might make the dealership take a hit but 90% of the time these salesmen know how to play this game just subtly enough that it stays between them and the customer.

[wanderer007]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

I can buy a 5-Series now, & in general roam around in Payjamas on the weekend & even cotton kurta-payjjamas & I dread if such incidence happening to me... Hard earned pride & prosperity.

I think this is very common with the luxury names. Happened very recently with a friend of mine. He prefers dressing up (down!?) in a polo tee with bermudas and sneakers on weekends. He is in the market for his first luxury car purchase and has a budget in the range of 60-80L. He was leaning towards Merc just for it's brand/snob value.

Over a couple of weekends in December last year he visited showrooms of BMW, Audi and Mercedes, in that order, in Bangalore. He recounted that the folks at BMW were courteous but not too enthusiastic (he was made to wait as the sales folks were attending other customers who were there before him) and felt the overall experience was underwhelming, the folks at Audi were enthusiastic and willing to please while the Merc experience was downright disrespectful. When he asked to look at/shown a C class he was right away asked what he does, where he works, how much does he make and on giving responses to these the sales guy even asked for his Form 16 which my friend of course didn't have handy. He was eventually not shown the car and the excuse used was that the particular variant he was looking for was not available (there was a C class in the showroom, my friend doesn't know which one though) and that looking at another variant would not be helpful.

He found this immensely disrespectful and he's sworn never to buy a Merc in his life and to ensure whoever he can influence to stay away from that brand.

I'm sure all car makers have to deal with tens of prospective enquiries daily from those who don't have the budget and just want to look around but that is still no way to treat a walk-in customer.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by wanderer007

He found this immensely disrespectful and he's sworn never to buy a Merc in his life and to ensure whoever he can influence to stay away from that brand.

While everyone has the right to exercise discretion, the fact is that India is an over-populous country and almost all the luxury car dealers deal with clowns on a regular basis and some take a rather firm or rude stand at times.

This is not to defend the dealer or the sales staff, but a word of caution that since we live in such an environment, a good product shouldn't be written off based on first experience with the sales staff.

If I was in such a position then I'd rather spend 5 mins getting my Form 16 on my phone, walk up to the manager instead and tell him what kind of buffoons they've hired. I would then obviously deal with another sales guy and if I liked the car, definitely have the other guy get the commission. It'd be a pretty good burn n lesson for the rude sales guy also.

[GKR9900]

Reminds me of the time my folks went to see a Jeep Compass in our Maruti Swift. The salesman wasn't impressed and made some snarky comments which led to us dropping the plan to own a Jeep. Picked up an XUV5OO.

At the other end of the spectrum, I once went to an Audi showroom to ogle at the R8 present there. Made my intentions clear to the executive too. But was treated with cool drinks and a comprehensive overview!