Quote:
Originally Posted by snappysam One thing that really sticks out is the snooty behavior of the executives. We were promptly attended by the receptionist who promised to give us a TD. And then we were left to our own devices. There were only 2 other sets of prospective customers. I had to ask them thrice before they nodded their heads for a TD. |
Had a very similar experience at Peninsular Honda, Marad, Kochi.
Case 1 ( SMS Spamming )
I registered for the test drive from Honda's website. Once every 2-3 days, I receive a price list from one of the Honda executives. After waiting almost 2 weeks for a test drive, I got irritated and replied to these sms asking them not to spam me again, and to let me know only if a test drive car comes. Spamming stopped after that. But, not even a reply with regards to test drive car.
Case 2 ( Arrogance, Disrespect towards a senior citizen & "buy it if you want" attitude from Peninsular Honda Executives )
My friend Vinu got a call from Honda saying that the test drive vehicle has come and he can come and do a test drive. He called me along with him, and I too went. His father also accompanied us, because Vinu and his father shares all their vehicles.
Vinu started the test drive. When he tried to take the vehicle in to a side road, bang came the first shock.
"Sir, we are permitted to allow customers to drive only on the highway"
Now, Vinu tried driving straight to test out the in gear acceleration capabilities on each gear.
2nd shock - "
Sir, Test drive is permitted only for 3 kms"
Fed up with the attitude, Vinu drove back and on reaching the dealership, he mentioned that now his father and I also need to try it out.
3rd shock -
"Sir, Test drive is only permitted for one person."
Vinu was really fed up by now and told that me ( Amal ) and him was from different families, and if they want, he can show ration card or voter's id. Ofcourse, he told it sarcastically because he was really fed up by now.
The person told, he will have to take another slip for test drive, but there are a lot of people who are in the queue. I asked him, how many are in the queue and what's the ETA?
He mentioned he is not sure about the ETA since there are a lot many people in the queue. I repeated - "How many". ( I asked this question because I saw only one person on the showroom )
4th Shock -
"Sir, one person and then you two"
We told, we are ready to wait for that one person! He said ok, and told that he'll let you know. Now, Vinu's father was a senior citizen and they didn't even show the courtesy to ask him to wait inside. He was left to wait in the sun on a hot summer day.
After waiting for 30 minutes, and seeing the car sitting idle on the dealership parking for more than 20 minutes, we asked them for an ETA. They communicated the 5th shock - "
Sir, there are a lot of people in the queue."
Unless we are blind or something, we did not see a single person waiting for the test drive. The person who was already waiting for the test drive has already done it by now. We asked them 'who' is waiting and they told many had booked the test drive. That was the most funny answer. They won't give a test drive to a person in their dealership because someone from somewhere had booked the test drive even though they did not show any sign of showing up.
Anyway, fed up with their pathetic customer service, we told, is there a way we can give a feedback regarding our sales experience ?
6th shock -
"Sorry sir, we have such processes only after you buy a car."
We would not have been so irritated, if it was one person, who did this kind of stupidity to one of their potential customer. We interacted with 3 different persons at different levels and each one of them were either arrogant or clueless.
Since, Vinu owns a Honda City and takes his car to the same service center for service, he called all service engineers whom he knew and complained about the incident. One of them showed the courtesy to forward the complaint to sales. Sales head called Vinu and apologized for the behavior. He told that he will check it up with his staff and call back. It's been 1 week and there is no call back after that.
PS: I wouldn't have posted this, had the sales lead called us again, and offered a test drive at his home. But, this simply did not happen and we understood that it's not just about 1 or 2 employee misbehaving, but there's something seriously wrong with the culture followed by the dealership people.
Such dealerships doesn't deserve business. If I ever buy a Honda, I would never ever do that from Peninsular Honda, Marad, Cochin even if that means travelling another 100 kms. And I dearly hope, dealerships like these don't bring down the sales of the Amazing 'Amaze'. They lost a potential customer in Vinu who was seriously thinking of booking an Amaze. I'm sure they would have lost many others as well with this kind of an attitude.