This is a description of one of my worst experiences in recent times which started with getting a refill for the gas cylinder at my home.
To begin with the readers should be knowing about the previous part of the story. I had no other choice to opt for a private gas company as I was an outsider working here in Bangalore.
After my marriage, I was in the quest for a private Gas dealer who would give me an immediate gas connection.
So I went to these guys ’RK Cylinders’ in Koramangala. The formalities of subscribing to the new gas connection was fine and I got it all (Cylinder with a spare+Gas stove+Gas tube+lighter) delivered by them on the same day.This was way back in Feb2007.
Everything went on smoothly until I asked for refill for my exhausted cylinder. The first refill was for something around Rs. 450 (I don’t remember the exact figures). Eventhough it was a huge price what I had to pay, it was somehow acceptable as I could get the cylinder delivered immediately on the same day when I asked for it. But during the subsequent refills the price was raised gradually by them and here
are the figures - Rs. 470 (I accepted...), Rs.500(I accepted...),
Rs.550(I accepted...), Rs. 600(I accepted...), 650 (I accepted...),
750(Stop! I cannot accept it any more...).
This was yesterday(24Sep08), when the delivery boy from their HSR
layout branch gave me the bill (!?!!) with a simple figure of Rs.750
written on it without my consumer number, without my name, without my address, without
his signature and I could not bear this anymore. He argued with me when
I said that I would be paying only Rs.650 as I did last time because
Rs.750 was almost the double of what Govt. gas agencies are charging their customers presently(Sep2008) i.e., @ Rs.372. Then I said
that I wanted to talk to their manager and get a better explanation from him to be sure of what made them raise their prices so frequently. On the
other side due to inflation & the overall price rise of all other
commodities I do accept that everyone in this country is shelling out more
than what they had been paying an year ago. But it cannot be almost
75% increase than last year for an all important utility-the gas cylinder.
When we reached there at their HSR layout branch, I again got into an argument, but this time with
their manager. I did not oblige when he asked me to pay Rs.750 and I
was still holding to my previous stand that I would be ready to pay Rs.650 only as a Rs.100
hike within a couple of months is unacceptable. I asked him for
evidence on what was the notification that they got from Elf which had made them raise the price to this extent and so frequently. I stated that this was such an attrocity that they had been committing to their customers.
And now the manager started shouting trying to harrass me, also went to
extent of threatening me that he would lock me out in the room as long
as I don’t pay him Rs.750. I was unmoven.Later in an act to convince
me he was clever enough to cancel the previous bill of Rs.750 that the
boy had produced me and wrote me another bill for Rs.700 this
time.(693.87 as the price of the cylinder + 1 % of VAT applied). I
couldn’t stop LOL at this.
He took out a circular which had been
circulated from their main office in koramangala to their branch office
in HSR layout. As per this circular the price of a 12kg cylinder
has been raised to Rs.700 with effect from 04Sep2008. Wait ! I got a valid point
here as well. When it was indicated that the price is set at Rs.700,
why are they extracting Rs.50 more from their customers? The manager had a very irresponsible answer for this admitting that he does not know that their boys had been getting Rs.750 instead of Rs.700. But I could make out that he was lying. There should have been an unwritten verbal instruction from him/or his higher authorities to bill their customers with Rs.750 although their internal norms have been set the price at Rs.700.
But again looking at the circular I pointed out that it was just an internal circular between their branch offices and I only want to see what price Elf had recommended for all their dealers. He replied that he can show me that evidence when I come over to their Kormangala office for which I agreed.
I took him in my own vehicle to find out the truth. Even before I entered their Koramangala office(Near BDA complex), I could make out from their company name board that Elf Gas had their name changed as TOTALGAS. When I entered inside 3 or 4 of their men tried to convince me over the issue but I did not give up. I demanded about the evidence they have and they showed me the notification which I could not believe it came from an inernational oil major. It was xerox copy of a document, not on a company letter pad, had a black & white logo printed on the Topleft corner with company name showing as TOTALGAS. Even this circular talked about the same Rs.700 per 12Kg cylinder story.
Wait! Another descrepancy...In the same room I saw a newspaper cutting which stated that Elf Gas has changed their name as Total LPG. If this is a company name is it legally acceptable to abbreviate themselves as TOTALGAS when their official release stated that they would be calling themselves as Total LPG. Is TOTALGAS another company? Is this their product name ? What’s this mixup all about?
I still could not convince myself over the evidence they had shown with all the above descrepancies. I made it clear to them that I would be ready to pay Rs.700 if they do show me some original circular with proper information. I also requested them that they produce a proper evidence to each of their customers, everytime they raise the price in future and do not let the delivery boys to quote a sum on their own. For this even the manager seemed to have agreed over.
But there was another guy (His goonda, probably) who was annoyingly commenting that he would forcefully enter my house and take away the cylinder already supplied as I did not pay them the sum they asked for. I said with a cool head that he can do whatever he can and this threat won’t stop me from calling the police. But the manager seemed to have controlled him as they had the problems on their side which they cannot answer to the police when interrogated and the guy backed up. I left their office again reiterating my stand.
So my fellow Bangaloreans, why should we spend an extra sum from our pockets for somebody else’s negligence? With inflation raising day after day we can atleat prevent some of our hard-earned money getting into somebody else’s kitty like this. If this company extracts Rs.50/Cylinder and supplies cylinders to 10 customers per day, they see a profit of Rs.15000/month along with the profit marjin he already has over a cylinder. (The manager himself admitted that he has a profit of Rs.21 for a Rs.700 cylinder, and I guess it should be more than that.)
So think twice, Jaago Graahak, Jaago! MRP is only maximum retail price and not the Original retail price and it is still Negotiable.
There’s yet another experience that I would like to share but this would be in Part2. That is a more horrible experience than this one, which was actually a prelude to the incidents that I have naratted in Part1 of this story.
Regards
Radkrish, Bangalore