[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Here is some information I got from the Bangalore biking groups.

Dont shoot the messenger. I can't personally attest or verify the accuracy of the information, nor can provide more information on how this was carried off! I got these messages forwarded, so the original source is not known.

• Multiple people paid full payment for the bikes in cash to Rakesh. No company accepts more than 2Lacs, so all this was black money.
  
• Rakesh took the bikes in stock which were supposed to be given to legit customers, and gave it to these people who paid in cash and they were happy. But these bikes were not registered.
  
• Problems arised when Ducati India got in and realized that they never got paid for some of the bikes as Rakesh took the money and gave the bikes in stock for other customers.
  
• Now all these people who paid, some got unregistered bikes, some didnt, Ducati India got paid for some bikes, some didnt. So now Ducati India has launched an FIR. some Internal affairs guy has come to VST.
  
• Ducati wasn’t aware, he sold bikes on cash payment to customers, luring theme with huge discounts and did not update the sale in Ducati system (as per Ducati record bikes were unsold and in VST warehouse).
  
• He has done fraud in resale bikes too, exchange bikes left with the dealership to be sold were sold to an external dealer and he pocketed the money, owner neither received money and nor is the external dealer returning the bike.

[100Kmphormore]

This explains the "internal issues" that the Bengaluru showroom Instagram page told me a couple of days ago when I asked for a price list, not even a test ride, for an entire month! In general they are snobbish, arrogant folks with a take it or leave it attitude. Not only is this an embarassment to what is an excellent automobile company with a great history, but also outright illegal to ride on public roads without a registration. Except the Panigales which some own for track use and ship them, I have seen most of these on the road.

[GoBlue]

This means Ducati is not billed for the bike in advance before shipping units to dealer?

This should help customers when other Ducati dealers ask for full amounts to be paid prior to bike delivery.

Show the unit, do the PDI and only then transfer funds.

Someone has to be really stupid on Ducati’s part here to realise they haven’t been paid for units shipped so late in the day!

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by GoBlue

Someone has to be really stupid on Ducati’s part here to realise they haven’t been paid for units shipped so late in the day!

On the contrary, I would say how can customers be so stupid to buy these products in full cash mode. They went for the easy black money route without due diligence.

Also one thing for sure, a staff alone can't pull off such transactions, maybe other people are involved.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Here is some information I got from the Bangalore biking groups.

Dont shoot the messenger. I can't personally attest or verify the accuracy of the information, nor can provide more information on how this was carried off! I got these messages forwarded, so the original source is not known.

I also received this but this just seems to be a cooked up thought of an individual with some information available and some added. I refuse to believe that management had no clue of bikes being sold in cash, they hardly keep 20-30 bikes in stock and majority of orders are placed after getting booking amount. Cash payments made by customers is also an angle needs to be explored in this case, cheapest Ducati will probably be 8 to 9 lacs exshowroom, why were customers paying such huge cash amounts.

Seems like bikes were being sold and they used to come back to dealership after sometime and probably readings reset and then sold again, some where some place this well oiled plan leaked and some one made all the ruckus. This again can be my made up story and might go around in whatsapp, there is much more on play here.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Seems like bikes were being sold and they used to come back to dealership after sometime and probably readings reset and then sold again, some where some place this well oiled plan leaked and some one made all the ruckus. This again can be my made up story and might go around in whatsapp, there is much more on play here.

Now that's scary. How can we be sure the bike or say car is clean if such practice is followed? There are many instances of cars/bikes being in the showroom for more than 2 to 4 months before being sold off. In such a scenario, the modus operandi mentioned by you can be easily played. Even with our due diligence/PDI, we can stare at the wrong end of the barrel.

Thankfully nowadays the demand is so high that most of these cars/bikes are ordered only on demand. But that leads to delay in the delivery time.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Vasuki

Now that's scary. How can we be sure the bike or say car is clean if such practice is followed?

There was a seller on OLX who had brand new Ducati bikes listed for sale. Now i am not sure if it was fake so not getting into revealing his OLX profile or shop details (not that i remember too- it was way inside some residential areas, not in any mainstream roads), but strangely all his ads have been removed now.

I had visited him two months back for a friend and he had unregistered bikes like Monsters and Diavels with him. This is what his stock room looked like, unbelievably so -



(Note- Two of the bikes in this pic are registered ones with number plates. I have masked the plates to respect the privacy of those owners. Other bikes were unused, even the plastics were intact on some. The Supersport was AR registered to avoid BS4 cutoff, but with 0 miles on the clock, easily verifiable with the tyres and spotless forks).

These bikes were being sold slightly cheaper than showroom prices, but not too cheap (as showroom won't negotiate much on brand new bikes he said). I never understood the connection with the showroom properly, but surely there was some tie-up with the used bike dealer to have unregistered bikes sitting with him.

I assumed it would be old stock getting disposed and I still think that could be a possibility. Anyways thankfully my friend didn't get into this deal. Also he is thanking his stars for the poor customer service from Ducati for turning a sale away by constantly telling the TD bike is sitting in Chennai VST since more than a month.

[sf71hvettel]

For big dealer groups, niche brands like Ducati are often ignored as they are tiny in terms of turnover/profit compared to the major brands.

As such, the management focuses on the more important brands and the smaller setups are often ignored or forgotten.

Fraud by employees is prevalent in all companies from the smallest to the largest. At times like this, I am reminded of the saying- Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity.

I don't want to accuse people of being stupid. Just that in the grand scheme of things, smaller business fall by the wayside and are ignored.

As for Ducati- OEMs hire ASMs to oversee operations at the dealerships. ASMs only ever look at the DMS (Dealer Management System) data to analyze the stock. I have never seen any ASM look at bank statements or analyze dealership finances.

[shastryBLR]

Funny how members in the forum are better at reporting than 'journalists'

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by shastryBLR

Funny how members in the forum are better at reporting than 'journalists'

There is nothing funny about it, majority of members here are actually way better than journalists.

[wbd8779]

Originally Posted by AtheK

There is nothing funny about it, majority of members here are actually way better than journalists.

A "majority" of the members are "trying" to be journalists. Please don’t disrespect a profession by generalising.

As to this entire saga - the man they have complained against is a scapegoat, or has had a fallout with others over sharing of the proceeds.

As someone who knows this business from the inside - a "fraud" of this level is just not possible without the management in the know. All these firms are in other words "Lala companies" where to even buy a tool you have to get the master’s approval. A couple of crores unaccounted? Just not possible.

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by wbd8779

As someone who knows this business from the inside - a "fraud" of this level is just not possible without the management in the know. All these firms are in other words "Lala companies" where to even buy a tool you have to get the master’s approval. A couple of crores unaccounted? Just not possible.

Exactly what "majority" are saying here. "Exactly" what is missing in the article. While they obviously cannot call it out, the article reads out that it was just one man’s fault.

[Xaos636]

Looks like their auditor was fired during covid and forgot to hire one when business stared again.

No wonder why I see so many AR registered V4’s running around. These are all Bs4’s and just because it cannot be registered from states which used Vaahan portal, VST team paid the right guys at the AR RTO’s where registrations through Vaahan portal was delayed and VST took full advantage. I am sure all these owners gave black money to get things moving and got their V4 registered at AR illegally, however the papers are made to look legal. So in short, all AR registered Ducati’s in south India(mentioned south because I believe all AR Ducati’s were sold by VST) went through this fraud bt the VST team.

With what VW group do with customer complaints, they usually sent the customer issues back to the dealer to solve it. I am sure that Ducati forwarded the complaint back to VST to solve it without even reading the content, till they noticed money wasn’t coming in ! Funny at this day and age, and can mostly only happen in India.

I believe @no_fear can get us more information as I believe he knows about Ducati stuff more than Ducati themselves.

[clementw]

It started in 2019, surely the owner is not riding around with a FR plate so long? This story hides more than it tells.

[carsirdar]

Total flawed management of the dealership either some of the employees were in cahoots. All the invoices are tallied in a dealership after year audit.Another the registration of the vehicle has to be done before the delivery happens