[ivor]

Victor, we cannot blame customers here. The BIGGER problem that resulted in customers getting angry was the COMPLETE AND TOTAL mismanagement of the event!

Originally Posted by gvvictor

chennai is no different.Customers went overboard and messed up. Many got fuel vouchers,goodies many times but others were left empty. Owners shouted,fighted. See the apologies from Maruti people
MarutiSuzukiSwift | Facebook
marutisuzukitiswift (marutiswift) on Twitter

As I mentioned before, it was terrible that drivers were overtaking, etc, but this is India and it's sad but true that few Indians have the road discipline and courtesy one sees in the West--couldn't Maruti have organised pilot cars and better management to take care of this issue?

I did not see EVEN ONE pilot car or bike being used. And the person who manages the Maruti Swift Twitter account (@marutiswift) is giving lame excuses saying the crowd was unexpected! Come on--the last cars I saw in that lot in BKC were numbered in the 390s. They were expecting 550+. It was just plain bad management by Maruti. It is clear they just wanted the record and customers were to be used and discarded. And there's ample evidence--the Maruti officials disappeared even before the parade ended! It's okay if violence starts and these guys disappear to protect themselves, but to disappear even before the event is over--that is just plain 'to-hell-with-the-customer' attitude.

-Ivor

[samdarshi.pali]

Swifts in queue for events:







Irritation & impatience starts:



People running around:





Participants confronting organizers:





Some of the humiliated participants:







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[aargee]

Clear mismanagement from Maruti unless they're testing the patience of Swift owners. Why didn't Maruti think in lines of chaos management?

In fact, there is no need for a parade, just wait and count the number of Swifts for an hour and claim Guinness world record

Man, hilarious comment & absolutely loved it
They could've even counted the number of sales & applied for Guinness.

[NutsNBolts]

If I know correctly, to claim a Guiness record, event has to be attempted in presence of Guiness Officials according to parameters laid out by those officials. I may be wrong, but this is what I could understand by watching all those Guiness shows on TV. As per these reports, it appears Maruti was going solo without any participation by Guiness. Confusing.

[samdarshi.pali]

Following is a twitter post about the record status:

"marutiswift: @motorbeam @vickydotin @TeamBHPforum Maruti set the record in Delhi...in Mumbai and in Chennai massive crowd .."

[xingamazon]

As far as my knowledge goes, in other countries that the records were set, they are set because of the loyalty that goes with the brand. For example I know of families which would stand by Ford for generations together.

But here, the companies are forced to give out goodies and freebies to attract crowd. I do agree there might have been few real loyalists but I can bet more than 80% of the crowd would have come for the promised petrol / certificate or bag of goodies.
Thats one prime reason for the mess, once they knew the record was set (not sure if it was in first place) everyone got interested in taking the goodies and leaving the place as soon as possible.

I really doubt if they parade would count if you promise goodies like this to the participants, if I were the Guinness Record guy, I would have said to Maruti heck the record, you technically hired these guys by promising goodies.

Sorry if that offended anyone, I do know there are lots of loyalist in TBHP, I am not telling with them in mind.

No point in blaming the event management guys/ Maruti, they expected a loyalist crowd not a materialistic crowd

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by aargee

Clear mismanagement from Maruti unless they're testing the patience of Swift owners. Why didn't Maruti think in lines of chaos management?
Man, hilarious comment & absolutely loved it
They could've even counted the number of sales & applied for Guinness.

Thanks ! But seriously, those cars are too common a sight in our roads and that itself may qualify them to have some kind of world record! Anyway, I don't want to drive one such car no matter how great it is!

[kkg]

ok, i may me the odd one out here. I attented the event at Gurgaon and i was in for a surprise. It was a magnificent event, wonderfully planned and very well executed. Kudos to the Maruti and all associate organisers for putting up such a event.

Sorry to hear the tales of people at Mumbai and Chennai but nothing like that in Gurgaon. The compere Monty Singh did a commendable job and all the games and events kept every one busy and happy. I reached there at around 7:15 in the morning and was 25th car on the parade and there were around 350 cars overall. And yes the Guiness officials were right there and their lady official someone named Dennis ( very beautiful) indeed presented the guiness certificate to Maruti after the feat. We did get a participation certificate, movie vouchers and fuel vouchers( and no fighting for these here). Somehow this is the first time that crowd at DElhi/ NCR behaved better than the ones at mumbai/chennai ( i am suprised)

All in all that was a great event, atleast i enjoyed it.

Disclaimer: I am not a maruti fan ( i don't even own one, i went there with a friend of mine who has a swift). I expect other fellow BHPians who attented this at Gurgaon to back my views.

[Cyrus43]

The Bombay Chapter wasnt all that Bad. The problem was there were just too many cars there. And As there was no shade as such, it was very hot. Otherwise the event was good. IF ONLY CERTAIN OWNERS LISTEN TO WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO AND NOT DRIVE LIKE IDIOTS!

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by kkg

there were around 350 cars overall. And yes the Guiness officials were right there and their lady official someone named Dennis ( very beautiful) indeed presented the guiness certificate to Maruti after the feat. .

So 350 cars was a record?

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by sjcherian

People were racing on the track and there was no one to regulate flow.

This is shocking. The track officials should not have allowed hundreds of cars on the track in the first place. Things could have easily turned fatal.

[kkg]

I am not sure. But i feel the record was for all the cars at Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi taken all together. Moreover, the did not mention the number of cars.

[neutralgrey]

Has a new record been set?

Going by the description of the events in Chennai and Mumbai, it looks like people participated just for the goodies and nothing else.

Any photos from the events?

[greenhorn]

is the scam allegation valid? we don't have anything yet which looks like a scam. just bad event management...

[kkg]

+1
We just can not call this a scam because few people created rackus at the event and some people didin't like the overall level of management. For me, and hopefully all the people at NCR/ Delhi, it is a sure shot success and was well managed event. And as far as the question of the record goes, it has been created and i am sure we will hear plenty about it in the days to come.