Croma Retail
Customer Harrasment by store employees

Rajat Sinha
12-23-2008
112

Today was the first day I went to Croma in Krome, Sopan Baug, Pune. Needless to say the experience was horrendous and a complete waste of time - in true TATA style.

I called last night, before arriving at the store... I had seen a Yamaha RXV 459 at the Delhi store during my visit there, and enquired about its availability in Pune (since I live in Pune). The Store checked up the stock and told me I could visit at Pune and pick up the piece. Last night when I called a lady (Ashwini) informed me that the piece was indeed available and would be handed to me at a list price of INR 7990/-. I booked it in my name and told them I would pick it up personally in the afternoon.

I made it all the way to the store only to be harrassed by the store employees - someone named Mahesh Kapanchi (or something like that), and the store supervisor Imran.

First they told me there was NOTHING like RXV 459 available. Then they took almost 10 minutes checking their console for the availability when the piece was lying right in front of them!!

When I told them my friends in Delhi had bought the piece at Croma, and had recommended I pick it up for myself as well, these gentlemen conjured up a combination of the RXV and added a lot of junk speakers (I dont remember which brand) and offered me a 'package' worth INR 30, 000, when the RXV was just INR 7990!! i told them I only bought Yamaha speakers and I already had them, so won't be interested in the 'package' - to which Imran told me that they would not be looking to sell the RXV singly, unless I bought the other add-ons... incidentally the add-ons are not even part of the box pack - its just something that the Croma people are trying to palm off to you to increase their flagging sales.

These gents even went to the extent of telling me that if Croma Delhi was offering the piece singly - I was most welcome to go there and pick it up!!!

On visiting the Croma website one is treated to the CEO's message which says:

Croma is focused on understanding your needs and meeting them in a manner that delights you. Consumer Electronics shopping can be quite a challenging experience due to the wide variety of choices and the technical complexities of electronics products. Making the right choice in such a scenario is essential but difficult. We will be your friends in this process by understanding your needs and suggesting and demonstrating all suitable options. We will help you buy.

Quite an example, i must say, that the store boys are bringing the CEO's message alive in truest form. Anyway I went to a couple of blogs and found that this kind of treatment is meted out with utmost regularity to many customers across the country with breathtaking consistency.

I am copying this mail to some Tata senior execs in the hope that this catches light. I am also copying it to NDTV. I hope this incident catches light and Tata management shapes up this slum-hole before their pathetic customer service drives them to bankruptcy, just like some other Big Corporate houses I know about :)