In the first week of February 2012, I decided to purchase the top variant of Toyota Altis Diesel; it’s called the Corolla Altis D-4D VL. I got in touch with Uttam Toyota, Noida, and they gave me test drive & explained to me the various features of the new model etc. I chose the ‘Pearl White Mica’ colour. Since I had already done my research on the available cars in this segment & made up my mind regarding the car selection, I assured the concerned sales person, Mr. Shailendra, that the order would be placed on his dealership, so he can proceed with the formalities and let me know the tentative delivery date. Shailendra came back to tell me that ‘Pearl White Mica’ was not in stock, but ‘Champagne Gold’ is, so if I chose the latter colour, delivery could be immediate. I agreed.
I required certain accessories with the car so the same was included in the quotation. Rest things like Warranty, Teflon coating, Underbody Anti-rust painting, was all verbally promised to me by Mr. Shailendra.
The next day, after the order was placed, I was promised that the delivery could happen between 20th & 25th of February, but he’s trying to do it on the 20th as that happens to be my birthday. Fine, I feel happy & I send a mail with all the points that were verbally committed by Shailendra & ask him to acknowledge the same, so that there are no surprises during delivery.
For the next 10 days I keep requesting him for the acknowledgement of the mail & he kept on promising me the same by evening, every day.
After 10 days of requesting, he stopped picking up my calls, they came diverted to his colleague. This is the 16th of Feb. I found out the contact details of his superior, Mr. Kapil & explained my predicament to him. He took time till evening & confirmed to me that I can get my car in ‘Champagne Gold’ colour between the 20th & 25th of March! This is where I lost patience & lodged a complaint with Toyota Kirloskar, evening of 16th Feb.
I receive a call from Toyota Kirloskar, Bangalore on the 17th morning. Ms. Arundhati empathized with me & noted down all details from me, the dealer name, the sales personnel names, the concerns, the promises made etc. then she promised to talk to the dealer & have their customer relation people talk to me.
After about an hour I receive a call from a lady, Ms. Nikita, in the customer relation department in Uttam Toyota, Noida, telling me that she’s looking into the matter personally & that by evening she’ll definitely update me on the exact delivery date.
After waiting till 7pm in the evening, I call her thrice, her phone is engaged, I wait for half an hour she doesn’t return the call, so I send her a sms requesting for an update. Not receiving a reply I call up her superior Mr. Jaldeep Yadav to enquire. I ring twice, he doesn’t pick up the call. After that, Ms. Nikita reverts back with an sms that she’ll update me tomorrow morning. Mr. Jaldeep doesn’t return the calls either.
Next day, 18th Feb, I get a call from her at 10:40 requesting for an hour to come back to me with a firm delivery date. At 11:02 I receive a call from Mr. Jaldeep saying he is returning yesterday evening’s call(that means he knew it was me calling), and that he is looking into the matter & talking to Toyota and that he’ll confirm the delivery date by evening.
I find that everyday a new person takes up the cudgels & buys time for another day. Till date none of the people in the dealership, with whom I have talked so far, have confirmed the 10 point list of deliverable in mail, nobody even talks about it even if I bring it up in a phone conversation.
Is this a problem with Uttam Toyota Noida only or with the brand?
Update as on 18th evening:
As of 18th evening, Uttam Toyota has finally confirmed that my car D-4D VL in Pearl White Mica, is going to be dispatched from Bangalore on Monday the20th & I can expect delivery 7~8 days from then.
Update as on 27th evening:
The car has finally arrived at the dealership. I went for pre-delivery inspection. Supposed to be delivered on 29th, complete with teflon, underbody anti-rust paint & accessories as ordered.
Update as on 7th March:
Uttam Toyota did achieve a good turnaround. I received delivery on the 29th. This time everything went smoothly and concerned people in the dealership were very friendly during the process. The car was delivered with proper fitment of all accessories ordered. If the initial hiccup had not happened the entire experience of booking to delivery could have been rated good for the dealership. Still, the handover experience was good.