Sah & Sanghi (SAS) sells cars as well as bikes. The following is my opinion on SAS in the capacity as a bike dealer. I could not find a category for bike dealers. Maybe MouthShut can have one now.
Day 1: I approached SAS around 15th of March this year, with the intention of booking the Caliber 115. The bike was launched in the market only a couple of days earlier. The salesman, a twenty-something year old guy showed me the bike neatly displayed near one of the windows.
It was obvious that he did not know any technical details of the bike. When I asked him, how can this bike deliver so much mileage and power at the same time, he was quick to answer ’’Sir, it has a dual oil filter, that’s why.’’
I asked him for a brochure and he handed me one. There were six colors mentioned in the brochure. SAS had only three of them available. I was interested in one of the unavailable colors, and asked him when I could see it. He tried to convince me to book the bike first. Color will be available later (but how?)
I took the brochure and went home.
Day 3: It was Saturday, and I phoned SAS and asked them if the color was available. The reply was ’’Come tomorrow’’. I re-confirmed and he said ’’Yes, we are working half-day tomorrow’’
Day 4: It is Sunday. Excited about the color, I carry a friend-o-mine to SAS. But the solitary presence is that of a finance guy. When I enquire about the color, the reply was ’’No idea about that, Sir, but if you want to deposit the booking amount, I can collect your check’’
Day 10: The color is still unavailable. I decided to settle for a second option which was in stock. I wanted the bike on a particular day and could not delay because of the color. Armed with my cheque book and all documents, I step into SAS.
To my surprise, the price had gone up by few hundreds. Actually, they supposed to go up after the budget, but SAS decided to implement the hike right away. Upon further questioning, they flashed a fax from BAJAJ showing the new prices. The fax did not have any dates mentioned on it.
Nowadays, most dealers also offer cash discounts, or extra accessories, if the payment is made in full, but not SAS. The reason:’’we are a reputed dealer, Sir’’
Day 14: It was time to take delivery. The pride of finally riding the latest bike in town made me forget all the hassles I had to go through. But my ordeal was far from over. I was made to wait for half an hour simply because there was a VIP customer present earlier. The bike was not washed before delivery. Finally, when I was driving out through the gate, I was stopped at the gate by the security guard ’’Sir, you have to pay Rs.25 extra!!!’’
Registration book is generally couriered within 15 days. Not in SAS. Here, I had to haggle for 6 weeks and send someone to pick it up.
I think the motto for SAS should be ’’Hum nahi sudhrenge’’.