I will not buy anything from Croma, the TATA company, ever again.
The are totally incompetent and their after sales service is pathetic. I would go so far as to say that they have cheated me.
I have been a faithful customer of Croma for over two years since I moved to Mysore. During this time, I have bought several products from them, including a TV, fridge, microwave, a couple of phones, water purifier, Mixie, among other items. However, I don’t think I will ever go to them again for any product.
I bought a Panasonic refrigerator from them about 2 years ago with an addition 2 year warranty(Totally 3 years).
Refrigerator stopped cooling:
A month ago, the refrigerator stopped working.
First attempt at getting service
I used the Croma website, logged in and chose the product that I had bought(from their list which correctly showed all the several products I had bought from them since I moved to Mysore 2 years ago), and requested for repair service. There was no response at all.
Second attempt at getting service
After waiting a couple of days, I tried again. A day later, late in the evening, they sent a mail stating that they didn’t have any relevant details and hence could I furnish the details of the purchase including the order number, invoice date, contact details etc., so that they could arrange the necessary service. I did not see that mail for about 12 hours and by the time I noticed it another mail had come saying they had closed the service request as I had not responded.
Third attempt
I went back to the site again and raised a request again. This time, I waited for the email and immediately responded with all the relevant details and waited for a follow up. Nothing happened.
Giving up on Croma and requesting Panasonic directly
Then, since this was not working, I called the Panasonic help line and raised a service request with them. I don’t know but maybe Panasonic does not have a dedicated team here in Mysore because they just seem to have broadcast the request to several service providers. Many of them called, some saying they were calling from Voltas, some quoting some other brand, but with all my details as I had given Panasonic. Finally I chose one among them to come and fix the problem. They came, said there as a problem with the PCB and sensor, and after a few days of delay replaced the supposedly faulty PCB and sensors. They charged me Rs. 2900/- for this because they did not recognize the extended warranty I had paid for to Croma and left. The fridge continued to remain faulty and the cooling did not improve. Calling those technicians did not lead anywhere as they promised to come, but never turned up despite several calls to them.
Going back to Croma
By now, we had been without a working fridge for over 15 days. I went to the Croma store on Vishwamanava double road and spoke to the customer support person there. She said she would raise a service request and somebody would come withing 48-72 hours. Then, the 3 days later we got a call from a Panasonic technician. He said that he had been requested by Croma to fix our fridge. And then he said it would cost us Rs. 500 for the visit and addition cost for any parts to be replaced. When we said that we had paid for an extended warranty, he said that was not there in the Panasonic records and hence the service would be chargeable.
I called Croma customer support again and requested for clarification on our warranty. She then asked for the technician’s name and number. A couple of hours after that, she called and said, she would arrange another technician directly from Croma to do the work.
Two more days pass by
Finally, a technician arrived. He said Croma had sent him. On further probing, he accepted that he used to work for Croma, but is now a free lancer, but still attending Croma jobs. He tried fixing the fridge and then asked us to check for a couple days and let him know if the fridge was working. The fridge appeared to work for a day and then went back to its broken state. I called him and informed him that the fridge was still not cooling and he said he would have to come and take a video of the parts and then get a some replacements.
Since then we have been trying to get him back to visit us to no avail.
Two days ago(And who is Onsitego?)
I raised a request with the Croma website again. Till date I have not received any response from them. In the meantime, I have received several emails and phone calls from a site called Onsitego with messages like "Your request has been registered.", "A technician has been assigned", and "Your job has been closed", at random intervals and finally, mail after mail asking for feedback on the quality of service! I have responded to the survey question, saying service has not been delivered, but there has been no response from them either.
Today
This morning, I visited Croma again and gave them an earful. They said they will send somebody over by end of the day. I told them that we were waiting for Manju to come and take video and get us the replacement part, etc. but customer service did not seem to know who this Manju was and asked for his number. I gave Manju’s number to them and waited. Two hours later, they called and said Manju won’t be able to come and they will try and send some other technician in a day or two.
The Panasonic two door fridge cost us around Rs. 30, 000 with additional payment for a two year extended warranty. It’s been over a month since the fridge conked out and there is no solution in sight. Croma has clearly taken money for the extended warranty with the sole hope that nothing would go wrong with the fridge. Neither have they taken a back-to-back warranty with the OEM(Panasonic, in this case), nor have they made arrangements to take care of the servicing.
What is the point in saying that you are a TATA company, when your service delivery is practically non-existent?
If you want peace of mind, do not buy anything from Croma. Go to the OEMs shop directly and buy and insist on manufacturers guarantee/warranty. From my experience, I can tell you that Croma is incapable of providing(actually, does not care to provide) after sales service.
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