My experience with Maruti True Value     This Page has been Viewed by unique visitors.

 I AM TRYING TO REACH SOMEONE AT MARUTI WHO MAY SUGGEST SOME ADVICE ON THOSE AREAS

 WHERE WE MAY HAVE TO EXERCISE CAUTION WHEN DEALING WITH TRUE VALUE DEALERS.
 UNFORTUNATELY NO ONE RESPONDS FROM MARUTI'S OFFICE(s).
 HOPE SOMEDAY I WILL FIND A SOMEONE TO CREATE AN AWARENESS TO THOSE GOING FOR A

 NEW/USED CAR. UNTIL THEN HANGON...
Latest addition :
1. Letter to Gaurav Sharma on 2nd Jan 2006 (NEW)

1. The letter from Royal Sundaram & My reply
2. The Letter to Maruti requesting for the person in charge of True Value 
    (No reply till date, Left message with receptionist)

Happy knowing this I requested them to give a thorough check, for other faults too. The starter motor too had a problem (and it still has). This was a complaint I made, and the reason Popular guys forced me to get the second free service done so they may claim a new started motor under warranty. I still have the problem intermittently.

I decided to have my second free service done on 7th Dec 2005, as I had planned to travel to Bangalore by Car to take up my new job, as well my Starter motor problem would get solved & cost claimed under warranty.

Gaurav Sharma : In the mean while I got in touch with the Maruti reginol office at Bangalore over phone and explained the situation to Gaurav Sharma. I have completely no Idea what he is in Maruti, but this man was real help. I expected all the people at Maruti to be "waste of oxygen on planet earth" like the people at Chennai regional office. This man proved me wrong. He called SAGAR immediately to analyse and understand the situation and the condition of my vehicle. An hour later I called him to check, he explained that the mistake was from the Popular Motor and services guys as they have not done the service properly. He wanted some more time to escalate the issue to Delhi office and take advice on how to proceed. I waited...

SreeKumar  @ Popular Motor and Services, Chennai : I never wanted the any service or repair done by Popular guys. The mechanic by name SreeKumar was behind me like a mad beggar, begging me not to take the car to any other service station for the free services or any repair works. He gave a personal guarantee for the service satisfaction. I trusted this man. But he had taken me for a ride once again.

Broken Headlamp assembly : When My car came back from the 2nd free service both my head lamp assembly were broken. My brother noticed it after reaching home. I immediately send it back to get it checked, the bastards said that we have banged it somewhere.
During my first service I lost my Sonly Xplod MP3 Player's remote when it came back, and for that I had gone back to ask. I got a stupid answer, where I felt like a fool. I had to wait for more than an hour meet the manager who never came. In this little over an hour wait, I eye witnessed three cars being banged by three different mechanics in the service station. Good they have this see through service station.

SAGAR Motors had my brake system replaced for free, just after Gaurav Sharman called me personally and informed me that this is accepted as "CARELESSNESS by the previous Service station and so Maruti is getting it replaced for free". I JUST SAVED 6K, which I would have ended up paying, for some bastard at Popular had decided to take revenge with me.

I was at the SAGAR's service station from about 10:30am to around 5pm. Hats off to SAGAR motors for the professionalism from each individual there. Being a Saturday the service station was jam packed. In that busy day too I was zapped to watch the customer being explained about the repair or service done and giving clarification and tips to the owners. How I wished I had done my service here. This practice is non-existent at Popular.

No explanation whatsoever is given to any of the customer about the service done at Popular, which I knew from the 36 customers over phone who got their free service done at Popular's Saligramam, Chennai facility.

It is seriously very bad on Maruti's part that they  still retain such dealers who steal people's  stereo remote, Not check the brake shoe's, Not align the wheels during the service. I was  wondering what the #@$% they do during the service other than banging the cars and stealing people's belongings.

I had the answer by email from a technician who work at popular. He says that Popular motors had bad track record which never reached any higher authorities. I was shocked these were few things he is not happy about at Popular :

1. The new cars coming for first service (500Kms), has to have an engine oil change as there may be some metal pieces which may damage the cylinders. They never Changed engine oil for free service, but claim it from Maruti.

2. Popular uses what he called "Purified re-used engine oils" for those coming for free service. This according to him is the used up engine oil getting purified by an external agent from nearby.

3. Rash driving inside the service station was a legacy passed on since ages.

4. Though not by rules or policy, someone must hit a car a day against their walls or other cars.

• August 28th 2005     : I ordered my car at Popular Vehicles & Services's True Value Showroom in Saligramam.
• September 8th 2005 : Car delivered to me after a long struggle between popular and ICICI Bank. (The so claimed rivals)
• October 4th (Not sure, but definitely on the day or later) : My Documents were hander over to my brother, which contained.
  • Life time Tax receipt
  • RC book with name transfer done on 25th September 2005
  • And a Document with Royal Sundaram and Maruti Logo on it, which I had taken for the third year comprehensive insurance policy documents.
• since October 30th 2005 : I realized that the insurance was not renewed. I was desperately trying to reach the manager and those three men who had made the sale. Those who picked up the office land line numbers gave vague answers and said they would check and call me back. There was no reply to my phone calls made to the Showroom manager or those salesmen's mobile numbers after that.
• 8th November 2005 : Out of suspicion I called the Insurance company, Royal Sundaram and gave the policy number to check on the status.
  • Surprisingly the policy was still under the name of the previous owner. And the lady form their call center confirmed it could be a forged document which was given to me.
  • I decided to talk to someone more responsible and got caught of Shalini. She confirmed after investigating that there was not request for transfer of the ownership and they have not received any documents form the dealer whatsoever. Also she confirmed the Document given to me by Popular may not be a fake and would like to have a copy of the same. (I never sent it to them)
• 8th November 2005 : Same day I raised a complaint with Maruti call center and Nitin Sinha of Maruti Regional office in Chennai. 1600 number call center confirmed the receipt of the complaint with a complaint number "188160", while Nitin Sinha has clearly ruled out any help from him in this matter. Though he said that he would ask the dealer to call me and look into the matter. Neither did he call or the dealer after that.
• 10th November 2005 : Decided to get the insurance renewed myself. Royal Sundaram has restricted me from renewing the insurance as it has expired on 29th OCT. Now I am all the more frustrated as I will have to go through that photography session with my car.
• 11th November 2005 : I came to know that Jagdish Kattar was in Chennai, and decided to get to meet him and pass the complaint. I was intercepted by Nitin Sinha requesting me to deal the case with Sheik Mohammed.
  • Sheik had real shake looking into the case as Sam from Popular now wanted to pass the buck to Maruti stating that Maruti had denied/delayed approval on my name transfer and hence the delay from Popular.
  • Meanwhile Shalini of Royal Sundaram had confirmed that they have received all related documents from Popular on 10th November 2005. (Please remember the insurance expired on 29th Oct 2005 and the name transfer request reached on 10th Nov 2005)

1. Why does Maruti Allow a TrueValue dealer to sell a car with an insurance due expiry in few days?
2. Why Maruti delayed my name transfer?
3. What kind of control does Maruti have over the dealer in the event of a sale?
4. Is there a call made from Maruti to the customer to verify the sale commitment given to customer before processing the sale? If not, Why?
5. Who would pay for those dents & Scratches which was on the car @ the time of sale, which the new insurance does not cover? (This was to be repaired by the dealer through the insurance claim, which was also committed at the time of Sale )
6. Does Maruti have a awareness campaign or a Quick reference checklist for those true value customers, who come to TrueValue showrooms seeking assistance buying their dream cars?

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My Experience with M/s. Popular vehicles &  Services

Bargained and brought it down to 2.45 Lacs.

I agreed on the price as the sales guys there, Senthil, Easwer & a Malayalee fellaw(Siji) assured me that this price is inclusive of the Third Year Comprehensive Insurance, which was expiring on 29th Oct 2005. I had pointed it out to them to further bargain in price.

An Advance of Rs.25,000/- was also paid.