[aravind.anand]

The whole "pulling-with-a-donkey" act is in cheap taste and the only intention is to make the TRP hungry news feeds to take notice of this and blow it out of proportions. This is just another way of blackmailing a manufacturer.

Reminds me of the "Owner dumps his Limited edition Royal Enfield Pegasus into garbage" stunt that was again a sensational news few months ago.

Coming to the issue, cars should probably have the feature to record driving patterns - like engine speed, gear, vehicle speed, etc which might help resolve such issues between the manufacturer and the customer with facts, than go about slinging mud on each other.

On the other hand, "Its an animal thing" sounds like a nice catchy tagline

[libranof1987]

When your customer is aggrieved and makes a public spectacle, what is that one thing you don't do? Threaten him with legal consequences. It'll only make things worse.

I hope MG sees the irony in their statement:

MG Motor India has refuted the allegations saying that they took all the necessary measures to resolve the said customer's concern.

While replying to a query in the Facebook group MG Hector Club India, the carmaker said that despite MG's wholesome efforts to completely satisfy the customer and resolve the matter, the customer has showcased his vested interest in the concern and is leveraging on MG's "customer first" approach to get an undue advantage.

If this was so, the customer wouldn't have resorted to this action. I agree that tying the donkey is quite some theatrics but in the absence of consumer protection laws, one might often be left with no choice.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

By filing a counter complaint against their customer MG are only bringing twice the attention to their ASS than what debit the ass alone would have brought onto them.

Bang on. Reminds me of the Streisand effect!
Social media can & does cut both ways.

What also bothered me was the "top fan" who reported the story on the Facebook page was asking MG to take "action against such allegations" of the complainant.

[Kosfactor]

MG's response on FB is in line with their brand, it's Chinese and they aren't the ones to take criticism positively.

So what next MG? You're going to deny warranty to those who do not praise you in every online forum? I hope this goes to court and MG gets a taste of our judiciary.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

I hope this goes to court and MG gets a taste of our judiciary.

I don't think it will go that far. This is just posturing to get the guy to stop this stunt. A legal mess would make matters worse and they know this.

[Sasanka_Sanga]

This is a clear stunt of cheap publicity. There is obviously communication gap which could’ve been resolved by a small meeting. May be he wants to promote his favourite automobile by defaming this brand.

However, this stunt of his could’ve triggered PETA as this is a clear example of animal abuse. Poor donkey should’ve gone through hell.

Company action against this customer and PETA action, to be honest, he dug his own pit.

[Amrik Singh]

I am reminded of similar incident decades ago.

Standard Motors in India had introduced a very fancy model of Rover 2000 in India. Unfortunately, it was marred with many defects which the distributors, or rather, even the manufacturers were not able to handle.

Public outcry went unheeded and anger grew.

One such victim, who could take it no longer, went a step ahead in showing his dissent. He managed to park his Car in the middle of a busy Roundabout and put up a huge signboard reading Stranded in lieu of Standard. I do not remember how well his complaint was attended or even attended. At least, it was a news on National Newspaper.

[FrozeninTime]

It was a golden opportunity for MG to show its customer centric approach by sending their representatives to customer and try to solve his issue instead what we see is the ostrich like attitude. Also I didn't understand why MG choose a man to run Indian operations whose record in India is nothing to write about.

[gutsy]

Are we really certain that MG has initiated legal against the customer?

If I am MG, I would simply say sorry to customer, take the car back and refund his full money along with some goodies.

Thereafter, would simply ban him (this erring customer) from the MG network.

[GTO]

From the wording, it certainly appears that MG has taken legal action against this Hector owner. If true, it is TERRIBLE on so many levels. Whether in India or internationally, a business suing a customer has never ended well. It just shows MG's immaturity as a young car manufacturer in India. Eagerly awaiting more details. Not to mention, they're looking at a minimum 20 year length for a defamation case.

@ Vishal Pancholi: If you're reading this, please share the full story via our share page (include emails, scans of service invoices / job cards, pictures etc.). We will publish it.

[sudev]

P e t a? come on guys I am never seen any protest for the overloaded horse or donkey or cattle carts here. Biblically ignore their plight driving on daily commute.

Bad side do not assume that the owner not have try to get his problem resolved after all he spend 20 lakh rupees in getting a vehicle. I am all for the owner and against MG provide full details and resolve issue... Remember we are all petro heads here

[gutsy]

Originally Posted by GTO

From the wording, it certainly appears that MG has taken legal action..

I am aghast and speechless. Initially, I thought it was just a casual comment by MG. Then I browsed to see MG's FB wall, they are copy pasting the same reply, clearly indicating stance taken by them:

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by gutsy

I am aghast and speechless. Initially, I thought it was just a casual comment by MG. Then I browsed to see MG's FB wall, they are copy pasting the same reply, clearly indicating stance taken by them:

Attachment 1944061

"Compliant" instead of Complaint , is this a formal communication from MG?

And what vested interest would the customer have in this? Waiting for more details...

[2000rpm]

There is one very simple principle in business and in Life, "You need to pick the right battles", and MG has chosen a bad one. There is no possibility of any gain from such a interaction to the brand, irrespective of how the case goes.

I think MG has no future in India. With such a horrible treatment of customers, MG will go the Skoda route. They have introduced a blingy car with gimmicky features at a relatively cheap price and our market has fallen for it at reaction level. The sales numbers are unikely to sustain.

[nikhilthegunner]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

There is one very simple principle in business and in Life, "You need to pick the right battles", and MG has chosen a bad one. There is no possibility of any gain from such a interaction to the brand, irrespective of how the case goes.

I think MG has no future in India. With such a horrible treatment of customers, MG will go the Skoda route. They have introduced a blingy car with gimmicky features at a relatively cheap price and our market has fallen for it at reaction level. The sales numbers are unikely to sustain.

This is a rather premature statement to make. I agree that this is not the ideal way of dealing with a customer but again, this seems to be a one-off. You can't judge the sustenance of the business basis this one incident. If they repeat it more frequently then we can say that MG will go the Skoda way.