The Blue Streak Arrives. My Fiesta 1.6S Aquarius Blue: Update: Delivery Pics & Review Guys,
Its finally here. Got delivery around 1830 Hrs today and boy what a roller coaster its been. The games started yesterday when the dealer called to say that the DO from HDFC Bank had not yet come in and hence they couldnt send the car for registration. With Pujas from Friday, I was getting desperate. In this situation used my banking contacts to get in touch with the ops people at HDFC who confirmed that my file was processed and the DO would go out in the evening. Confirmed this to the dealer and breathed a sigh of relief.
A little while later, the dealer again called to say that my down payment cheques had not been cashed. Being a banker, I checked clearing ops and found that the cheque had not been banked only. Gave a big dose to the dealer salesman and showroom owner both before being assured that the car would be mine today.
Somehow got to work today, totally distracted with the delivery and the coming pujas. Tried reaching the salesman thru the day but no luck. He didnt take my call at all. Turns out he was in training for the new Endy. After spending the better part of the day in great turmoil, finally got a call at 1700 Hrs to come and collect the car.
After reaching the showroom, it was smooth sailing with a quick dekko. I’d missed the PDI and hence mentioned that in the feedback form. Car seemed ok and took it for a road test as well. Sadly, these guys didn’t even ribbon the car or take a snap. Seems that’s the general state of things with dealers in Calcutta. Finally checked out of Ganges Ford at 1830 with the car, service book, delivery challan, insurance Xerox and permanent registration plates (but no RC Book, Insurance, Extended Warranty Booklet or PUC Certificate). All this would be collected after pujas, so I guess I need to be careful till then.
Drove off into the heavy heavy puja traffic, so hardly got a chance to drive at speeds greater than 30 kph. Took a few turns slightly quickly and revved to 3000 RPM whenever I got the chance (Am setting myself this barrier for 1000 kms J ). And wow, what an experience it is. The rasp is too addictive that I wanna keep doing it again and again.
My views till now:
TD & Booking process:
Pluses:
1. Smooth with minimum documentation.
2. Finance handled very well. Apart from the DO phase
3. Car made available for TD multiple times at short notice.
4. Salesperson extremely affable and courteous.
5. Offers made are very competitive and direct.
Minuses:
1. Salesman’s knowledge could be better (I’d still give him 8/10).
2. The delays in arranging DO and banking cheques are purely admin glitches. Could leave anyone totally lost and confused.
Delivery Process:
Pluses:
1. Process was quick. Maybe that’s cos it was “No Frills”
2. All commitments made at booking stage were kept.
3. Company was willing to defer the balance payment and offer the car even though it was not fully paid for.
Minuses:
1. The lack of info about the time of delivery is very irritating
2. Lack of special touch at delivery time. No ribbon, photo, pujas etc…
3. No PDI. This was a critical point for me and I’ve highlighted it to Ford in the feedback form. Hope its looked into.
This is all that I have for now, apart from some pics of the delivery time. I plan to go on a long breakfast drive tomorrow, so will put more pics and share my pros and cons on other facets of the car tomorrow.
Thanks people.
PC |