[audioholic]

When I brought my Dio, there was absolutely No Waiting, for Any Model and the vehicle would be delivered in two working days after receiving full payment if registration was required, and immediate delivery without registration. Not sure why in other cities there is such a huge waiting. When it comes to attitude of the dealers, most of them are more or less the same, ie the dealers who are getting good sales. Its just that two wheeler owners are not treated so well compared to car owners at the time of buying. When I entered a Honda showroom expecting a Maruti Dealer experience, I was seriously wrong, and after visiting two wheeler showrooms, yes it is more or less the same. The Yamaha Ray was a new product, and hence a TD was offered and apart from that, nothing so spectacular. With the maestro, no TD, and a sales lady came, wrote the on road price and walked away asking me to contact her when I was paying the full amount.

Sadly, I am not very impressed by this, but I think once Honda Sales come down slowly, they will definitely pull up their socks. Also, in case of car owners, we usually escalate issues to the parent company, but considering an average bike commuter, especially the group of customers from rural and semi urban regions, I dont think this practice of escalation, strict service recommendations etc work and hence the dealers are acting as they want.

Also, technically speaking, I brought a Honda because I wanted a Honda, for the product in itself, and not the Sales or After sales. Especially when it comes to engine refinement, nothing else impressed me better. Hence, that is what is moving numbers for HMSI, and these days Access too.

[riteshritesh]

I just can't understand how and why did Honda Feedback notify the dealer of your e-mail. It has to be kept anonymous and steps should be taken against the dealer and not the other way round where the dealer calls you up and asks you "Why did you complaint".

My complaint was against this specific dealer in Govandi. I mentioned the showrooms name, etc and I am glad they forwarded my sour experience to the dealership.
The call from the dealer was ,them asking me who had attended me and what exactly was the problem ( in a concerned way ), etc etc. Sorry if I sounded like the dealer called me to threaten.

O Yes, by the way, I and dad will be going now to book our Hero Maestro And the icing on the cake is that Hero service center is just 1 and a half minute from my place !!

Thats a good deciding factor. I ruled out the suzuki or TVS since there is no service centre around Dadar. The Yamaha service is some 3-4 kms away at Sewree, that being accessible for the free services.

Just want to understand if this thread is started for the purpose of clarifying a question or HMSI bash thread? Reason to ask is because, I haven't come across one dealer IN INDIA who can do better than HMSI

The thread most probably started because HMSI was unable to meet the demand for a particular buyer. Then ' like-experienced ' customers chimed in with their 2-bits. My experience with Yamaha Dealership was much better, than my Honda ( 4 wheeler) experience and much much much better than Honda( 2 wheeler) experience, which I shared briefly.

[sandeepmohan]

It is the same story in Bangalore. My uncle had to wait a month for his Activa. He did not pay anything extra but I believe the wait is just a tactic. Scooters are available off the shelf.

I don't see the point in dealing with Honda anymore when competing products are as good. Consider TVS Wego and Hero Maestro. Two outstanding products with the same levels of quality and reliability.

[snowmane]

This is not much compared to waiting periods for the RE.

It was just the other day when I noticed some ads on OLX for RE 350 bookings.

These guys book it and then sell it for a premium so that someone who wants it immediately can pay him and take his place.

People really find innovative ways to make money!!

[rangarx]

[quote=Octane_Power;3044592]Will have to give it a look then! Will definitely try the Wego.


Wego is definitely worth trying. I have recommended this excellent product to at least 3 of my relatives / friends and they are delighted and pleasantly surprised to say the least.

[Octane_Power]

Originally Posted by rangarx

Wego is definitely worth trying. I have recommended this excellent product to at least 3 of my relatives / friends and they are delighted and pleasantly surprised to say the least.

Thanks rangarx! But we have booked the Maestro.
No doubt the Wego is a great product but as I have written earlier also the service center's situation from my place was taken into consideration and we chose the Maestro which is just 2 minutes away from my place(walking).

-Bhargav

[ashis89]

We were facing a similar situation in my home town Bhubaneswar until 3 more dealerships opened up in the twin cities Cuttack-Bhubaneswar. Now there are 5 dealers in total. So more sellers less buyers = buyer at ease. But still there isn't much discounts available.

Earlier when there was only 1 dealer, we bought our Activa from a another dealer of a nearby small town. We got it immediately. A staff from the dealer rode the scoot for 170 km and delivered it at our door-step and still gave us some accessories for free.

[riteshritesh]

Originally Posted by Octane_Power

Thanks rangarx! But we have booked the Maestro.
No doubt the Wego is a great product but as I have written earlier also the service center's situation from my place was taken into consideration and we chose the Maestro which is just 2 minutes away from my place(walking).

-Bhargav

Do you stay in Mahim by any chance? .. I stay in Dadar. The only Hero shop and service I know of, is at Mahim, near the Bus depot.

[Octane_Power]

Originally Posted by riteshritesh

Do you stay in Mahim by any chance? .. I stay in Dadar. The only Hero shop and service I know of, is at Mahim, near the Bus depot.

Ritesh, I stay in Malad. You talking about Fort Point right, Mahim bus depot?
There is a Fort Point branch here in Malad(Which is also 8 minutes from my place) and the service center is right 2 lanes away from my place.

-Bhargav

[RX135]

I do not think it can be marketing gimmick for multiple reasons:

1. HMSI has been selling 2 wheelers like hot cakes. Remember, Activa is the product which banished geared scooters from market. Also, this is the product which brought scooters back in vogue, when everyone thought that scooters were history.
2. HMSI's success to 2nd largest 2 wheeler manufactures rides on success of its scooters, Activa and Dio. So reality is that there is great demand for these products.
3. If there are better options available in the market (which there are now), no one is going to pay "premium". It's open market economy and runs on demand-supply. Clearly there is more demand for Honda scooters than they can supply.
4. Every time a customer turns to another scooter due to non-availability of a Honda, Honda is losing customer and market share to competition. No company likes that.

Of course, Honda dealers, knowing the high demand, are en cashing it, which is hurting Honda, but it's unlikely that Honda can control it everywhere due to large volumes.



BTW, I don't find Activa any great shake compared to competition (I own one) and I find Access more refined, Vespa far more stylish and with aspirational value.

[Rajith]

hi,
I brought a new honda activa black col with HET engine from City honda Bangalore on the same day. Jan 23 -2013. Done as on today 300kms in city, Got an average of 62kms/ltr. working good.

[rajeshsundaram]

My sis owns a TVS Scooty (2 stroke) for almost 9 years. It still runs good. We decided to upgrade / buy a new two wheeler.

Three reasons put HONDA 2 wheeler out of our list when we searched for the options.

1. The artificial demand created by the dealers. Min 3 months.
2. Service issues. One has to reach the service as early as 6:30am to get into the queue.
3. Dealer attitude

So we looked up other choices, and found TVS dealer attitude was really good. They were respecting the walkins, proper follow ups, offered test drive even when we did not ask for it. Finally we decided to go with a TVS WEGO, white color.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by RajeshK

I think the so called scarcity is only for Mumbai... please correct me if I am wrong. When I purchased my Aviator 4 months back, all the dealers in Bangalore had many Activas, Deos, Aviators in their stock. There were little shortage in white colour for Activa. I got my vehicle within 2 working days(to complete the RTO formality)

Agree! My freind got an activa for himself weeks back in bangalore, and there was literally no waiting period.

But of course, we did see a huge notice outside the dealership saying that Activa is now in stock!

[Octane_Power]

Aah! Guys one more twist to the tale!
Just today it struck my mind that the 2 month waiting period quoted by the dealer for Maestro is too long and just for experiment purpose called another Hero authorized dealer and it was quite astonishing what I found!
I asked "How long will I have to wait for a white Maestro? Payment full by cash."
After a brief hold the answer came "7-8 days maximum"
It was way past 7 so Fort-Point(from where i booked my maestro) didn't pick up my call but tomorrow he has got some serious answering to do!
Also can someone tell me if it is possible to get my booking amount back?
It is Rs.5K. Had it been a thousand bucks I wouldn't have cared much.
But I will no way donate my 5k to the dealer.

-Bhargav