Update as on 17 October 2019 From the latest updates, it looks BMW India have also embraced our laid back desi approach and have gone cold on this subject! Probably when this complaint got highlighted here & on social media, they did a quick temporary damage control and left it there.
As reported here, back on 17 September the head of BMW Motorrad India operations had personally assured the owner that the bike will be fixed and ready within max 20 days as parts are being air-lifted on priority basis (since the bike has already been in the workshop untouched for more than 4 months since 7 May and the workshop had already collected an advance of Rs 8 lakhs). Given how things work in such situations, the owner told me even if it takes 30 days instead of the promised 20 days for delivery he was more than ok with it after having waited for so long.
Apparently, post that assurance in mid September, absolutely nothing on the ground has moved at all. The bike remains as is, while written email follow-ups to the dealer and BMW have remained unanswered. Phone calls have been met with a standard reply that parts are on their way but no other information or updates on any potential timeline for the work.
I keep wondering for premium brands like BMW that sell a few 100s of bikes per year in India and a tiny number of their flagship 1600GTL bikes, is it all about product launches, promo events, competitions and Sales targets only. Isn't post sales revenue, customer service & customer goodwill part of their business model or am I missing something here...or probably BMW bikes like some of the other premium superbikes are being BOUGHT and not SOLD so this 'we-are-out-for-lunch' kind of attitude from them??
Anyway for customers parting with 30+ lakhs on a dream bike and then being treated so shabbily, this is not something pleasant to deal with. In fact the case in question here is very straight forward- The customer had an accident, the insurance company agreed and paid an advance and the dealer has to fix the bike...unlike other complicated cases of warranty or out of warranty repair claims etc where the customer, dealer & BMW could have conflicting views and that drags on.
Anyway, the owner who has been patient for so long is now working on escalating this a step further up including legal option.
Last edited by Haroon : 17th October 2019 at 21:47.
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