[dushmish]

I had a horrific experience with Michelin on Saturday (28th Feb). Sharing the mail I have written to their customer support.

Dear Ma'am,
It was some time back that I interacted with Michelin (refer mail below). I had decided to change to Michelin XM1+ for my car. The last Saturday (28th Feb 2009) I decided to drive down to a preferred Michelin partner, Acme Tyres (as recommended by Tarini on phone). I am listing down the sequence of events as they took place.

1. I prepared a schedule for the day - getting my car's tyres changed to Michelin, buying a pair of binoculars from a shop in Charni Road, taking my two little daughters out in the evening to a place such that we could enjoy the drive on the new tyres and use the new binoculars was on my list.
2. The day started well, I drove to Acme Tyres, reached their shop at 12:20 pm.
3. Met Subhash (the owner) and asked him if he had Michelin XM1+ size 185/70/14. He confirmed the availability. Checked the price. Decided to exchange my JK vectra tyres for a price agreed mutually between Subhash and myself.
4. I requested Subhash to show me the tyres. He took me to a section in shop where tyres were stored and searched. Didn't find any XM1+. He said he will get them from the storehouse which is on MG road (Acme tyres is located on a crossing on MG road).
5. I checked at least 5 times with different people at the shop as I wanted to see the tyre once before getting them fitted. They all said it is coming.
6. They took my car on the work area and took all the wheels off. The tyres were removed, the wights were taken off from the wheels.
   Subhash disappeared. I was told he was at a petrol pump (100 metres away) and his Kinetic is not starting. Once he comes back, someone will go get the tyres from the storehouse (which is very close to the shop, as told by them).
7. After 15 minutes of waiting, I offered to pay for an auto so that we could get the tyres and I could leave. They refused citing a reason that the key is Subhash.
8. I patiently waited. Subhash came at 1:15 with two tyres. They looked old (dusty, cobwebs all over).
9. Then they again searched the section in shop and found 1 XM1+ lying at the bottom of the stack.
10. On seeing the tyres stored as a stack, I had asked Subhash on what is the correct way of storing tyres (horizontal stacks or vertical like dominoes) to which his response was it doesn't really matter. I remember reading some place that tyres should be stored standing. Would appreciate some help on this from your tech support.
11. Then I was told that they just had 3 tyres and the other 2 will come from some shop in Andheri. From my experience of living in Mumbai for 10 years, I knew it could anything from 90 minutes to 3 hours for the tyres to come.
12. I checked the mfg dates of these tyres and found them to be 3307, 1408 and the third one was even older. I am part of Team-BHP - The Definitive Indian Car Community - Home and I have read there that it is not a good idea to buy tyres which are more than 6 months old. It goes on to say that at max the tyres should be not more than 12 months old. Here I had tyres which were much more than one year old. As a customer I reserve the right with myself on how old a tyre to buy. I have requested Mr Vishal Singh to share the report on effect of time on rubber of tyre.
13. I had gotten impatient by now as I was running way behind my schedule for the day. I had already spent one hour on the shop.
    On realising the situation the first thought that came to my mind was that I have been cheated. The dealer didn't have the tyres and he got the wheels off my car so that I couldn't go anywhere. This was not a good situation to be in. And to think of this happening at Michelin Preferred Dealer. I have a lot of respect for Michelin.
14. I called up Tarini to report this. He was not patient enough to listen to what I had to say. I had to tell him to be patient and hear me out.
15. His response was shocking for me, coming from a Michelin employee. His first response on listening to what I said was "Are you done with what you had to say? Did I hear you patiently?' This was with lot of sarcasm. He gave reference to my mail and said "you had said you will change the tyres in 6 months time and you have turned up at the shop in just one month, I can not take responsibility for this".
16. I didn't know Michelin needs to be informed 6 months in advance for purchase of 5 tyres for one of the fastest selling cars in the country.
17. I then called up Mr Vishal Singh (marked on my previous mail and this one as well). Vishal was patient enough to hear me out.
    I then requested the dealer to fix my original tyres back so that I could leave.
18. They fixed the tyres - in the process I lost the benefit of rotation as the tyres had been mixed.
19. They also didn't put the weights back. I requested them to balance the tyres. The dealer agreed for this.
20. Now when I see my tyres, I know they are not balanced. If Michelin wants to establish the truth, Please let me know a tyre shop where I should drive in to get the wheel balancing checked.
21. I left the dealer's shop exactly after 1 hour 50 minute having undergone a lot of pain and bad treatment.
22. The parting sentence of the dealer was, "do watever you can".
23. I leave it to Michelin to decide what they want to do to such dealers.
24. I was late for my binocular purchase appointment.
25. Not to say, I could not take my family out for a drive as promised to my kids.

The problems I had interacting with Michelin were:

• The dealer took the tyres off my car and made me wait without having the tyres in stock. This was plain and simple cheating.
• The three tyres that were offered were not packed and were very old and dirty.
• Tarini was rude. His responses were shocking and of no help to a customer in distress.
• My tyre rotation was disturbed.
• The wheel balancing was disturbed.
• My entire day was spoilt.

I write to request you to please let me know a tyre shop where I can get my tyres changed at a time convenient to me. Yes, surprisingly I still want to buy Michelin. I believe it is a great product. I propose that Michelin should pay Rs 5000 to me towards the trouble caused to me. This cost may be booked by Michelin towards training of its employees and dealers on how to interact with customers.
Awaiting an early response.
Warm regards,
Dushyant Mishra
_____________________
Use Blackle - Energy Saving Search instead of Google. It has a black screen and therefore saves electricity. It is a Google initiative so the search results are just the same.

.

tarani.patra@in.michelin.com
27/01/09 11:49 AM
To
Dushyant.Mishra@Bharti-axalife.com
cc
Ameya.Wadatkar@in.michelin.com, Vishal.Singh@in.michelin.com, customer.care@in.michelin.com
Subject
Re: Ref No: 1219



Dear Sir,
Thank you so much.
We the MICHELIN team are Pleased to give u any Information u want at any time in future.

Thanks & Regards
Tarani Patra
Account Manager - PCR
Mumbai.
Michelin -A Better Way Forward
Call Me-98339 24 9 85.

Dushyant.Mishra@Bharti-axalife.com
01/27/2009 11:14 AM

To
ameya.wadatkar@in.michelin.com
cc
Ameya.Wadatkar@in.michelin.com, customer.care@in.michelin.com, Tarani.Patra@in.michelin.com, Vishal.Singh@in.michelin.com
Subject
Re: Ref No: 1219





Dear Team Michelin,
Thanks for your mail and the information therein. I appreciate help. Tarani and Ameya were patient and helpful in clearing my doubts about which tyres to use. I shall be changing to Michelin in 6 months time as my car completes 20,000 km (I have already done 6,000 km in 3 months). You all can be happy at Michelin as you have one more customer converted to Michelin.
Thanks and best wishes!
Warm regards,
Dushyant Mishra
_____________________
Use Blackle - Energy Saving Search instead of Google. It has a black screen and therefore saves electricity. It is a Google initiative so the search results are just the same.

.
ameya.wadatkar@in.michelin.com
24/01/09 10:35 PM

To
customer.care@in.michelin.com
cc
dushyant.mishra@bharti-axalife.com, Tarani.Patra@in.michelin.com, Vishal.Singh@in.michelin.com, Ameya.Wadatkar@in.michelin.com
Subject
Re: Ref No: 1219





Dear Customer,
Thanks alot for writing us at Michelin india Tyres Pvt.Ltd, and interest shown in our product.
coming to your query,
For Maruti Swift Dzire, We are offering 185/70 r 14 Energy Xm1+,
As per your need, this tyre is meant for silent ride, and the silica compund(Energy Concept) will give you fuel economy with good milage.
As upsize will give impact on fuel efficiency,but it improves on grip on the roads so for your requirement we are not recommending upsizing of tyres.
You will get it at our authorised dealership M/s Super Janata Tyres, Goregaon (E).
The Recommended Customer Price(RCP) is Rs3800/- per tyres.

Regards,
Ameya Wadatkar
Accounts Manager,
Pune.
Mob.- 919960956560
Michelin A Better Way Forward
Michelin India - Home
Vishal-G200062 Singh/IN/AS/MICHELIN
01/23/2009 05:45 PM

To
Customer-G200096 Care/IN/AS/MICHELIN@MICHIN01
cc
Tarani-G200233 Patra/IN/AS/MICHELIN@MICHIN01, Ameya.Wadatkar@in.michelin.com
Subject
Ref No: 1219






Reply below




Best Regards
Vishal Singh
Michelin India Tyres Pvt Ltd
Unit 401-404, 4th Floor,
Copia Corporate Suites,
Jasola District Centre,
New Delhi 110076
Michelin India - Home
Hand Phone +91 9892767736
----- Forwarded by Vishal-G200062 Singh/IN/AS/MICHELIN on 01/23/2009 05:45 PM ----- Tarani-G200233 Patra/IN/AS/MICHELIN
01/23/2009 12:30 PM

To
dushyant.mishra@bharti-axalife.com
cc
Vishal.Singh@in.michelin.com
Subject
Michelin Tyres.







Dear Sir,
Thanks for ur Interest in Michelin,
As Per ur Requirement, u have a Car Maruti Swift Dzire ZDi the size is 185 / 70 R 14.
we have the same, 185 / 70 R 14 for this u can fit, MICHELIN ENERGY XM1+ ,
Form Upsizing it may not fulfil ur requirement of Comfortable & Silent ride.
u can purchase from Goregaon (E) SUPER JANATA AUTOMOTIVE Contact Person Mr Mahon das-9869 007 119,, 022-26864939.
Customer Price-Rs.3800/-per tyre..
any further enquiry any time u can call me.
************************************************** *****<>*****************************************
Ref No: 1219
From: Dushyant Mishra
Company Name: Bharti Axa Life
Address: NDDB, Off Western Express Highway, Goregaon (E), Mumbai - 400065
Contact No: 9820291372
Comments:
I have a Maruti Swift Dzire ZDi. It came with JK tyres (Vectra Tubeless). They are very uncomfortable and noisy. Once a month I undertake a long (1000 km) trip on the highway, rest is city driving. I want a comfortable, silent, economical tyre for my car. Kindly suggest. Please let me know the place to buy and the price. Do you recommend upsizing? How does it help? Does it improve economy? How? Kindly reply to all the queries. Thanks!
Thanks & Regards
Tarani Patra
Account Manager - PCR
Mumbai.
Call Me-98339 24 9 85

[lohithrao]

dushmish thats a bad experience, i think one has to be very careful when buying automobile parts/tyres. it depends a lot on from where you buy.

XM1+ is pretty hot and am sure any Mich dealer will have in stock, but anyways i feel though you lost on time you dint buy a bad product. so you should be happy on that.

You can try "Bridgestone Turanza"


btw am not very sure if this post is supposed to be posted in this section??

[tsk1979]

This indeed is pathetic customer service. If a potential customer is treated this way, I shudder to think of the treatment to somebody who wants warranty! I suggest you vote with your money. Do not buy Michelin, instead go for other brands. I recommend Apollo Acelere or Acelere sportz.

[Nikhilb2008]

Good of you to write a mail and everything, but rest assured, NOTHING is going to happen.

The attitude of Tarini itself is pathetic.

End result is this: Customers dont matter. Dealers dont matter. Ethics dont matter. As long as their "preferred partners" give them enough sales, they really dont care. Numbers are everything. Loyalty or anything like that is not that important.

They dont realise that first of all people pay a premium for Michelin products. I feel that somewhere along the line, they have started taking the Indian customers for granted. Now, with recession combined with their ridiculous prices as compared to Yokohama/Bridgestone, their sales have suffered.

At the most, they will make the dealer call up and apologise. That is all. Maybe someone from the company will call up and apologise(that too because you had corresponded by email prior to your attempt to purchase). No action will be taken on the dealer.

A dealer who tries these kind of dirty tricks will continue to do it. The only solution is to strip them of their dealership.

Secondly, there is no perfect way of storing the tyres. Most places stack them one on top of another. The only problem with storing them like that is that the sideall gets pressed in and if you are fitting a relatively thin tyre on a broad rim, it is a little difficult to fill air in it the first time. Apart from that, there is no prblem.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

This indeed is pathetic customer service. If a potential customer is treated this way, I shudder to think of the treatment to somebody who wants warranty! I suggest you vote with your money. Do not buy Michelin, instead go for other brands. I recommend Apollo Acelere or Acelere sportz.

Warranty? with Michelin? Dont joke yaar.

Michelin's is a paper warranty. Very rarely do they actually replace tyres. On the other hand, it is not their fault that the roads are pathetic and most of the bulges, etc are caused due to external factors.

[zaks]

I think it has to be put in tyres&alloys section.

That part what you have gone through is very upsetting in the least and it is good that you have written to Michelin on this matter. Avoid this dealer in the future.

[ntomer]

I replaced my Getz' tyres with Michelin XM1+ about six months back, from BK Tyres in Lajpat Nagar. This shop was recommended by Ishan. I gave them his reference and they treated me really well. I was shown the tyres, packed in immaculate condition and only after that they replaced them. Team-BHP ki jai ho :-)

\N

[esteem_lover]

The dealer is pathetic. If he could afford to wast a bay to just take off the wheels in your car & wait, it shows that he does not have a good running business and as such is likely to cheat. Always better to go to someone who is busy & you have to wait your turn.

[nitrous]

You went to the wrong store,dushmish.
Atleast one dealer in Mumbai should be a decent chap and should definitely be known in the car enthusiast/Team-BHP circle.

[dushmish]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

The dealer is pathetic. If he could afford to wast a bay to just take off the wheels in your car & wait, it shows that he does not have a good running business and as such is likely to cheat. Always better to go to someone who is busy & you have to wait your turn.

Good observation esteem_lover. I didn't realise this. His shop though is located in a very busy market area (SV Road, Goregaon - west).

Am yet to hear from Michelin. I know this is painful but for the next customer, I have to bear this pain. Their service needs to improve.

Thanks for suggesting alternate brands, TSK.

Ntomer, you are lucky, I talked to Ishaan post the bad experience. He was very patient and offered help.

Am seriously contemplating changing to some other tyre and not Michelin.

[Eddy]

Dushyant, please do follow it up and make as much noise as possible...

"Do whatever you can ? " Ok. Do not buy Michelin ever. Go for Yokos !!

[dushmish]

Originally Posted by nitrous

You went to the wrong store,dushmish.
Atleast one dealer in Mumbai should be a decent chap and should definitely be known in the car enthusiast/Team-BHP circle.

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?

[ravibhat]

Thats bad experience, but it happens, best way is use some contacts or visit another shop and based on your experience make sure they have stock and check if tyres are not more than 6 months old and go head with XM1+ which is very good tyre.

I simply love them except they are too soft (might end up with side wall cut in bad indian roads).

Couple of days back during my week end trip to Kabini River Lodge we had to travel last 10km in worst roads with metalling going on in road repair work, although my driver was finding alternate route and we had to take only that route to reach there and I am impressed abaout ride quality and almost ZERO road noise.

Thats damm good tyre as long as you are carefull in bad roads and travel less bad roads. Just don't care about how Michellin treated you buy good products from good people.

Regards,

Ravi.

[dushmish]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Dushyant, please do follow it up and make as much noise as possible...

"Do whatever you can ? " Ok. Do not buy Michelin ever. Go for Yokos !!

Thanks for all the help Aditya! I am pursuing with Michelin. It is so painful to write such mail, it is like going through the pain all over again. But don't you worry bro, I shall see this to a finality.

[finneyp]

Pathetic attitude by the dealer, he should be Blacklisted!

Do check out the other Michelin dealers in Mumbai, visit them prior & check if they have the tyres in stock, check the manuf date, if fine, give him some advance & ask him to block the tyres, later go and fit the tyres.

[esteem_lover]

Do not compromise on quality by changing brands just because of one dealer's bad dealings, stick to what you have selected as the best in the price bracket. Go ahead & get your tyres from someone else while following this with Michelin in parallel.