[tsk1979]

One dealers bad dealings?? The Michelin customer support itself told him to buzz off. And its not that Michelin is the only company selling good tires in India!?

[tazmaan]

Thats really sad. I went through the same, I had gone to infinity tires to change my stock JK's on swift to 195 good years. He removed all my brand new tires and later came up and told me he had only 3 goodyears and the fourth one can be fitted the next day. Although the tires were new I couldn't wait as I had to go to pune next day. If I would have driven on my stock tires I wouldn't have got a good exchange rate later.

After everything he gave me good discount on Continentals and I put them. The only difference was this guy was polite and apologetic.

I am very happy with the tires though.

I have learned a lesson never allow the mechanic to touch your existing parts until you see the replacement yourself (in this case tires but applicable to everything).

[nitrous]

Originally Posted by dushmish

I went to the dealer referred by Michelin.

we should have a list of dealers (for all products pertaining to automobile) for all major cities. How about TBHP certified / recommended stores. This could be sans the commercial interest for TBHP if it wants to stay clear of biases that might arise out of such situations. What do you say fellow BHPians?

You can post this thread in the following section.
Indian Car Dealerships - Team-BHP

[Nikhilb2008]

Originally Posted by tazmaan

Thats really sad. I went through the same, I had gone to infinity tires to change my stock JK's on swift to 195 good years. He removed all my brand new tires and later came up and told me he had only 3 goodyears and the fourth one can be fitted the next day. Although the tires were new I couldn't wait as I had to go to pune next day. If I would have driven on my stock tires I wouldn't have got a good exchange rate later.

After everything he gave me good discount on Continentals and I put them. The only difference was this guy was polite and apologetic.

I am very happy with the tires though.

I have learned a lesson never allow the mechanic to touch your existing parts until you see the replacement yourself (in this case tires but applicable to everything).

At least in your case, it seemed to be a genuine mistake. Mistakes happen but in the OP's case, it seems to be a clear case of trying to take the customer for a ride.

A similar thing happened to Bottle in MAdras. He wanted PP2s in 185/60-14. They removed the tyres and then said no PP2s. He had to get XM1+s. I dont know whether they told him the yhave the tyres before removing it though.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

One dealers bad dealings?? The Michelin customer support itself told him to buzz off. And its not that Michelin is the only company selling good tires in India!?

I agree. If it was only the dealer, I would have said go for the same tyre from another dealer, but here the company representative himself was so rude. It may not mean much to a company the size of Michelin, but take your business elsewhere. Yokohamas are good VFM tyres.

[Samir Taheer]

Have you tried to contact Michelin on an international level?? The idea is to google who the CEO of michelin is, also the head of sales and everything possible. Send out an email to all them, with a copy of all pervious interaction between you and Michelin India. You probably wont find the email address online, but try ceo fullname@michelin.com. Go buy the format you already know, most international companies will keep the same format emails.
Seeing the attitude of the reps in India i dont think they will care if you take your money elsewhere - The idea is to make them start caring!!!

Its pathetic that customer service for a company like michelin is lacking. I bought a pair of tyres for my car over the weekend, but i had to pre order them because of the odd size. I called the dealer, he ordered the tyres, called me when they came in (next day) and i went and got them changed. He even did a free wheel alignment for me.

[dushmish]

Originally Posted by Samir Taheer

Have you tried to contact Michelin on an international level?? The idea is to google who the CEO of michelin is, also the head of sales and everything possible. Send out an email to all them, with a copy of all pervious interaction between you and Michelin India. You probably wont find the email address online, but try ceo fullname@michelin.com. Go buy the format you already know, most international companies will keep the same format emails.

Thanks Sameer for the suggestion. I have already contacted Michelin USA. Shall send a mail to Michel Rollier (group managing partner) as well.

[sonirohit]

Well - it might well be the effort to move a litigation against the dealer in a consumer court. The basis could be - breach of trust, wrong promises, selling sub-standard stuff, deceiving the customer to buy an old & slow moving stock, and when customer decided to go against the dealer and opt out of the purchase the dealer intentionally did an incorrect rotation of the tyres leading to increased wear & tear, harassment and putting the safety of yourself & passengers at risk. File a case where the the total expenses incl the litigation expenses will come out to be around 12K.

With such an attitude of the dealer - it's very unlikely that the dealer would be present to fight this case at every hearing and the judgment is likely to be decided ex-parte. With the winnings of the case go & buy a new set of bridgestones or others

[harry10]

Honestly Dushyant if i was in your place i wont buy a Michelin product no matter even if they are worlds greates tyres. There are good ones in Yokos and Bridgestone to consider.
Yes if Michelin replies back to your mail and apologize considerably for the behaviour of their dealer then i may think again but not otherwise. Our time and money is important.
BTW is there any thread available which tells which dealer is good and honest and which ones to avoid? Can be highly useful and informative to all Bhpians.

[Prithvi]

Mera Bharath Mahan, IF you are so keen on these brands look at another dealer who has them. If I was in your place I will never buy this brand anymore. Period.

[Nikhilb2008]

What makes the dealer's behaviour worse is the fact that he is supposed to be an MPP. Not just another Michelin dealer.

[dushmish]

Thanks everyone for your comments/suggestions. I have been interacting with Michelin in the meanwhile. Things have only gone from bad to worse. Please refer to my mail below:

Dear Ma'am,

Please refer to my mal dated 2nd March 2009.
Post sending that mail, I called up Vishal Singh to check if he had got the mail. He has been travelling and couldn't access his mail. It was fine. A little while back, I got a call from Tarini. He spoke in hindi and I am putting the brief of what he said below:
*Boss called up and said that you have written some mail and I need to reply to that apologising in it.
*I was out for the entire night so I can not mail you now. I have just returned at 11 am.
*Net is not working so I cannot send mail.
*Your tyres will be changed. Dont worry, you will get good service.

I thanked him. I requested him to please give me the name of the CEO Michelin India and the postal address. I also told him, he had the option not to give as I have net access and can find it. To my susprise he retorted - Go find it on the net.
He had a lot of sarcasm through the conversation. Things don't seem to improving at Michelin.

Warm regards,
Dushyant Mishra


My next mail to them:

Dear Ma'am,

The entire experience of dealing with Michelin has been traumatically funny. Vishal, as I told in my first mail was patient, had taken the details of my place of work and residence in Mumbai. His reason for taking these details was to recommend me a dealer close to either my work place or my residence. When we talked today, he proposed me two options viz. Sion and Mahim. Both these places are far away from my place of work or home. On seeing my response, he realised his mistake and offered another dealer in Jogeshwari (W). This is with all the research he would have done to provide me "good" service.

With every interaction things are getting bad. I have requested you to please share the email id of select people (as listed in my previous mail). I have posted my experience with Michelin on Team-BHP - The Definitive Indian Car Community - Home , I would want to share what auto enthusiasts have to say about it. Am also sharing my experience with Michelin with your Managing Partner Michel Rollier's office.

Awaiting an early response.

Warm regards,
Dushyant Mishra

____________________

I also talked to the head of service. He said, sales has to guide him on what to do. He is junior in org hierarchy to Vishal Singh. You can very well imagine the state of affairs at Michelin. I heard someone talk about warranty, you can forget it. If customer service reports in to sales, who will service the warranties?!

All this from a company which we all always believed to be a world class company.

[Prithvi]

Why are you desperate for this brand, just use another brand. They do not deserve your order. This is the right forum to show these guys you mean business.

Wake up sir and go and get another brand of tyres. Take your kids out enjoy life and do buy that Binocs.

[dushmish]

Originally Posted by Prithvi

Why are you desperate for this brand, just use another brand. They do not deserve your order. This is the right forum to show these guys you mean business.

Wake up sir and go and get another brand of tyres. Take your kids out enjoy life and do buy that Binocs.

Hey Prithvi, am not desperate about this brand. It is just that I want them to know that they can not take me for a ride as a customer and treat me like a piece of you know what. Someday someone has to get up and tell them to behave.

And yes, I am buying the binoculars soon.

PS. your post, reminded me to put a timeline for Michelin to get back to me with a resolution.

[Samir Taheer]

Prithvi is not about buying another brand of tyres, its about standing up to large multinational companies. The people working in Michelin India, obviously think they can treat their customers how they want. We have material supplier from home here in the UK, but the quality of material was really bad, when we try and help the companies bring their quality to scratch, they are not interested because they think they can take their business elsewhere. All this changes veryyy fast when you hiot them with big bills. Why should we have to fight - If we want not to be a 3rd world country we have to change the way we think. No one would dare behave like this in the UK or USA because they know there would be consequnces - The Customer Should Always Be The Number One Priority!!!

Dushyant - Make out a full report about what happened, including the fact that you are seeing adice to take this to a consumer court and the fact that its one a forum with other pottential customers and then blast it off to as many big wigs, that you can find across Michelin all over the world.

I will be veryyy shocked if something is not done about it then.

Just found on Wikipedia that Michelin is the 2nd largest tyre manufacture in the world - I dont think this is a professional way to behave for a company of that size!!!

CEO Michelin India is Herve Dub or Jean Paul Caylar.

[iraghava]

Dushyant - Like I told you the other day, let me know if you need any help from my side.