I bought a Scorpio and was delivered by Sterling Motor Co (Gurgaon) on 23rd Oct. After 4-5 days the 3rd row seat started giving trouble as it did not stay in it’s folded position. After about 16 days of delivery (400 kms) the 5th gear stopped working, it did not stay engaged, it would slip back into neutral position as soon as the gear was shifted to 5th.
Since I was out of town I wrote to Sterling Motor Co . and chose to address it to Mr. Manish Sharma as he was the person who sold the vehicle to us. He has been very professional and helpful throughout our dealings with Sterling Motor Co. Mr. Manish Sharma booked an appointment for the vehicle to be inspected at the Sterling Motor Co workshop and informed my wife about the appointment set for the 9th Nov.
On 9th Nov at around 10:30 am, my wife took the Scorpio to the Sterling Motor Co Workshop in Sector 18, Maruti Industrial Area, HUDA, Gurgaon. Upon reaching the workshop Mr. Vineet Rana took up the case for the Scorpio. After a test drive it was determined that the 5th gear did have a problem and Mr. Vineet told my wife that it would take about 4 hrs for the repair of the 5th gear and 3rd row seat (was missing a screw). It was 11 am, so, with the 4 hr time given by the work shop to resolve the problem the vehicle was due for delivery at 3 pm. My wife went home and came back to collect the Scorpio after 3:30 pm, the vehicle was not ready and Mr. Vineet Rana would tell my wife that it would take another 15 – 20 mts more, after several excuses like these the vehicle was finally ready at around 7 pm!!! To add insult to injury it took another 15 – 20 minutes for the billing department to print the bill so my wife could take the vehicle and go home. The final task of printing the bill was passed around between 2 or 3 different billing clerks. My wife had to raise hell and scream at the staff there for them to take the matter seriously and finally print the bill. Anyone who has been to this workshop knows that this place has a predominantly a male clientele. She finally left the workshop around 7:30 pm.
I wrote about this incidence to Mr. Manish Sharma a day or two after the incidence and asked him to forward my concerns / complaint to the relevant person and also copy the mail to me so I know some concrete steps are being taken in Sterling Motor Co to minimize such incidents in the future. It has now been over 2 weeks and I have not heard from Mr. Manish on this matter (solving complaints is not his department and he has done enough to help me with my problems).
I then wrote to Mahindra & Mahindra customer care directly on 18th Nov in the hopes that these problems will be rectified in the future. Then a week later I wrote back to M&M as there was no acknowledgement from M&M (although their web site states that they respond within 6 hrs of receiving comments from customers) With M&M having a large urban client, it is in their interest to push companies like Sterling Motor Co to have better trained employees and also have a system of holding them accountable for poor performance. How could an Executive from Sterling Motor Co give and estimated time of delivery as 3 pm and finally the customer walks out of the workshop at 7:30 pm (4.5 hrs after the promised time of delivery!!!) Someone senior in the company needs to start by auditing the station / workshop manager, as such slack performance would come only if the senior management is complacent.
It has been 20 days since I wrote about the incident to Sterling Motors and about 14 days since I wrote to M&M, neither companies have acknowledged my concern. When I read other comments regarding Mahindra & Mahindra after sales service, my issue sounds relatively small but if M&M really wants to excel and stand shoulder to shoulder with the multinational companies then they need to heed these finer points. In the past I have driven a Maruti, a Hundai and a Honda and these 3 companies delivered excellent service while they were in the process of selling me the car and most importantly their service stations were handled in a very competent and professional manner.
I am investing my time and I hope to see a positive outcome from this constructive criticism.
Sincerely
Ajay Pradhan.
9810190485
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