Booked a Compass but no sign of delivery: Harrowing dealer experience

When I called myself to check on the date of delivery the SA could not give a clear answer. This should have been my red flag, but I decided to ignore.

BHPian dular recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Disclaimer: I still like Jeep Compass (as a product) very much.

Part 1: Prelude to the Dream:

I used to have a childhood crush on the old Willys. As a young boy in his pre-teens, I used to be fascinated by it. Whether it was Rajendra Kumar riding it in “Kaun hai jo sapno main aya” from “Jhuk Gaya Aasman” or Shashi Kapoor in “Keh Doon Tumhe” from “Deewar” or any other instance of a Willys in old movies, it used to make me drool over it.

Fast forward to me now being in my 40’s, that fascination was still there somewhere hidden inside me but had transformed towards Jeep Compass. I used to secretly read about it online, specially on TeamBHP. Then, one fine day came across this Thread from Roadster17 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ct-review.html (American beauty from Italian parents | My Grey Arrow | Jeep Compass 1.4 Multiair DCT Review)). After reading it, I started sharing my fascination of Jeep Compass with my wife and the hidden desire to own it someday.
It so happened, that last year around Rakhi time (August, 2021), we went to visit my in-laws in West Delhi. On the way back home, my wife gave me the idea that since the Jeep showroom is in Moti Nagar (which is quite nearby), why don’t we stop there and have a look at the Compass. At the back of my head, I was thinking that I might not be able to afford a premium brand like Jeep. At the same time, I thought that it might not hurt anyone to view it once up-close.

So, decided to take a detour towards Landmark Jeep, Moti Nagar. We were pleasantly welcomed at the dealership by Sales Assistant (SA). Very patiently, the SA showed us the Compass, explained all the features on the different variants, and even offered us a test drive. We were blown off by the interiors, build quality, the fit and finish of the product. I politely told the SA that I am here just to see the Compass and I am not even sure if I can afford it. He still spent a lot of time with us and said it is not problem if you don’t buy it in the end.

I told the SA that the closest that I can think to afford is a MT Petrol and if it is possible, I would like to take a Test Drive. Unfortunately, there was no MT Petrol available, so I was offered a Test Drive on the Limited Petrol AT (DCT) variant. As I had read about it previously, I could evidently feel the lag below 2k RPM while driving. Apart from that, everything impressed me. The comfort, the premium cabin, the ride quality, the overall feel really gave me happiness. It also made me realize the need for an AT. One thing was clear after the test ride, that my next car will be an AT.

Before leaving the dealership, I told the SA that although I might be able to stretch my budget for the Sport MT variant but the premium on the Sport AT is a bit too much and somewhat not justifiable. I still wanted to give a second thought on whether I should really go for a Compass. With this in mind, I left the dealership by telling the SA that I will get back to him in case I decided to go ahead. The whole experience was a bit overwhelming for me and made me think more and more towards the possibility of owning a Compass.

Part 2: The Dream:

Over the next few weeks, I kept thinking about stretching my budget a bit more to see if I can really get home a Compass. While I was making up my mind on the variant, the SA called me and told me that there is a good discount on the Longitude Petrol AT. After making some calculations, I realized that if I really want to go for the AT, then Sport variant is the best one. After adding additional cost of putting up the roof rails and the parcel tray at the back (since they are not included in Sport), I realized that the difference between Sport AT and Longitude AT is not too much. Therefore, I shortlisted the Longitude variant. Next was to arrange of additional funds. I knew I was stretching myself a bit too much but keeping in mind that I will be keeping this vehicle for another 10 years, I felt it would be ok.

This decision to go for Longitude Petrol AT took some time. It was somewhere in October when I shared my interest again with the same SA to look into the possibility for Longitude. He confirmed that the discount still holds. I had almost made up my mind but before taking the final plunge, I wanted to see the Longitude in front of me in flesh and blood. I felt that if I am paying such a huge amount for a product, then I should at least see it once with my own eyes. Unfortunately, Longitude variant was not available at the dealership when we visited them in August.

So, I told the SA that I would like to see the car once before going for the booking. The SA said that when the car is available at the showroom, he will notify me. A few days went by, and the SA called back saying the car is available on a particular day and we could come and check it. We went all the way from Ghaziabad to Moti Nagar to see the Compass Longitude variant. When we reached the showroom, which was after lunch, we were told by the SA that the car is gone. What he meant was that the car was a delivery vehicle and the customer had already taken the delivery. I complained that why did he not informed us before since he knew we were coming to see the car. He started making excuses and said I can explain you the features verbally and can show you pictures of the car. I told him that I have seen enough videos and pictures online and we specially came this far to see the car in real before making the booking. This left a bad taste for us. We could not believe that we traveled 2 hours for nothing. This brought me back to the question how I can buy a product before seeing it at least once.

After this bad experience, we decided to look for a nearby dealer. The Landmark dealership in Noida had just opened so in November we decided to go and check it out. We were hoping that we would find Longitude here. Lucky us, we finally were able to see the variant in real life. Since we had already spent a lot of time investigating and deciding on the variant, we aske the SA that we want to book the car. The SA was surprised at us and asked us to at least take the test drive. We said we had already made up our mind and want to go through since we waited enough. The SA still took us for a test drive again out of courtesy and the ride was again very satisfactory. After the test drive we asked the SA to book Magnesio Grey Longitude Petrol AT. He went to his manager to check something and came back to tell us that the car is not available. We were a little surprised and ask him to book the vehicle and we will take it whenever it was available. He said he will let us know in a few days and the booking could be done over phone. We agreed and waited for the SA to come back to us.

Sometime in December, the SA from Noida called and said that there is a car available for your variant but in another color and you will have to do the payment today. Since I was traveling during that time, I could not commit to him. Also, I told him that since it is anyways December, we would like to buy the car in January so that we have 2022 mode instead of December 2021 model. The SA told us that he will get back to me in February since it would take a month or so to get the 2022 model manufactured. I did not receive a call from the SA in February so decided to get back to him in March. Finally, we booked the car in March 2022. The SA confirmed that we will receive the delivery in May 2022. We received a confirmation email from the Noida dealership that the delivery will be in May 2022. We also received booking conformation email directly from Jeep India. We were really happy, excited and could not wait to get our hands on the car.

Part 3: The Nightmare:

Finally, the month of May arrived, and I kept waiting eagerly to hear back from the SA. When I called myself to check on the date of delivery the SA could not give a clear answer. This should have been my red flag, but I decided to ignore. I kept calling the SA every week to check on the delivery date and finally towards the end of May, the SA said there is no concrete day for delivery since Jeep India is not providing them with a car. In the meantime, I also kept sending email to GM Sales at Landmark Noida but my calls and emails either got ignored or were replied without any solid information on the delivery. The dealership interaction was mind numbing. There were no efforts being made to find a delivery timeline for my booking. Each time I enquired; I just got a standard reply that we do not have any information regarding the delivery of your vehicle. I kept asking them to give me a timeline. Whether it would take 1 month or 6 months or 18 months to get the car delivered. Again, the answer was that they did not know.

The nightmare had started. We even paid a couple of personal visits to the Landmark Dealership in Noida to enquire about the delivery. The behavior from the staff was unexpected. The SA did not want to talk to us. He just kept standing there saying he cannot provide any information. After checking with his manager, the response was not different. They kept saying that they don’t know anything about the delivery. I kept asking them if this was the case then why did they accepted the booking? There was no response.

After getting no assistance or help from the dealership, I started calling and sending emails to Jeep India customer care from 31 May onwards. It has been two months and there has been no help, no timeline, no support provided by Jeep India. They keep saying that we cannot provide you with a date on the delivery. I kept sending emails to the Jeep India customer care every week and till today the only response I get is that they are looking into the matter and asked me to bear with them. So, my experience with the Customer Care has been frustrating.

So, in a nutshell, I booked a car I loved in March 2022. It was confirmed in writing that the delivery will happen in May 2022 and till today there is no clarity on when and how the car will be delivered. The Landmark dealership has no answer for me. Jeep India has no answer for me. The only information I could gather was that Jeep India has troubles manufacturing the Longitude variant. Also, it is important to mention here that Jeep India has increased the prices two time in this time period which will have to be born by the customer which will be me. I had never expected this kind of cold and non-supportive behavior either by Landmark Jeep not Jeep India.

I decided to share my experience on this Forum to find out if other people are also going through this issue with Jeep India.

My few questions are:

• Has Jeep India stopped the production of Longitude variant? If yes, then why did they accepted booking for a car they would not produce?
• Jeep India is still advertising Longitude variant on its official website. So, this should mean that they are manufacturing the car.
• If Jeep India is manufacturing the Longitude variant of the car, then why can they not give me an answer on my delivery?
• If Jeep India is not manufacturing the Longitude variant of the car, then why does it still advertise it on their website?

I have exhausted all my means to get answers to my question from Landmark and Jeep India. I am now asking for your help to get these answers.

Here's what BHPian shancz had to say on the matter:

Sorry to hear about your ordeal.

Something does seem fishy but since I don't have any info I am not even going to hazard a guess.

While I cannot feel what you're going through why don't you cancel the booking and start looking at other options. Since you've had similar experience with two dealers, Jeep clearly isn't interested in selling it and the lack of transparency towards a paying customer doesn't fly well for its image.

Hope you get a car soon, whichever it may be.

Good Luck.

Here's what BHPian vinitbhavi had to say on the matter:

Hi Dular,

Really sorry to see your story.

A vehicle for most of us in India and especially Tbhpians is a dream. This dream is something many chase closely and wait for the end result putting in hard earned money and hopes.

My suggestion or so what I have heard in the short time that I have owned JC, try to change the booking to some of the dealers in GJ.

The demand there is minimal in the state and chances for an early delivery look much better there.

Here's what BHPian CrAzY dRiVeR had to say on the matter:

My Compass was March booked and May delivered.

My original booking was for Longitude and hence I am sure that it was available for delivery even faster than the Limited I finally bought. In fact, Longitude was the only variant with a 1L discount back then!

Something is definitely wrong with this dealership and I hope this thread visibility forces Jeep to take action soon.

Here's what BHPian amit1agrawal had to say on the matter:

When the delivery of the Slavia that I booked in March was getting delayed I started looking for Compass Petrol AT. This was in May. I was told that the Longitude variant is stopped & instead they launched Night Eagle which was based upon the Longitude variant with an all-dark exterior & interior plus some other changes. The Night Eagle was supposedly a limited-time variant. I enquired with 2 dealerships here and both of them were not taking bookings for the Longitude variant. As Night Eagle is a limited-time variant, maybe they will start producing the Longitude variant once they stop production of Night Eagle.

It seems all companies work in the same way. If you raise a complaint against a dealer they forward the complaint to the dealer itself. I had the same experience with Skoda.

My suggestion would be to drop the Compass. If the sales experience is frustrating, the A.S.S would not be too different and Compass is really not niggle free. As you are overstretching it may pinch you a bit more.

Here's what BHPian Shreyans_Jain had to say on the matter:

Landmark has an absolute monopoly in Delhi-NCR. This group solely operates all Jeep dealerships and workshops that cater to Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad. Anything related to Jeep, they are they ones you have to approach. They know it. Jeep also knows it. That is the crux of the problem.

It is appalling that the company has allowed the creation of such a monopoly in the biggest car market of the country. This shows in their service as well. Workshops remain overloaded and you have to run after them for appointments for service and support. High time an additional dealer is appointed for Delhi NCR.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.