Unprofessional Approach from Dealer and Mahindra

Booked Scorpio in 23rd Sep 2010 from Zulaikha Motors, A delivery timeline of 5 weeks was promised then. On all Test Drives prior to booking I found the gear shift quite uncomfortable and upon enquiry with the Sales person from the Dealer, he discouraged me from buying the Automatic model citing "very poor mileage". I thought I will get over the uncomfortable feeling from the gear shift over time, however while browsing thru some of the reviews I read a news article where one of the GM from Mahindra in a press release has confirmed it to be among the best in Automatic shifts in India and the mileage impact to be just around 1 km/l. I wanted to confirm this from authentic sources, but couldn’t find much on the net, hence decided to contact Mahindra directly over their support line listed on the website. To my surprise the call center seemed to be poorly managed as only in my 3rd attempt I could get someone to speak to me in the line and almost instantly the person said that he cannot help me with the question but registered an issue in the tracker with a promise that someone will get in touch with me shortly. I did get email / cell phone confirmation of my issue however there was no response for more than 3 working days. During this time I had also already emailed the dealer to note my change of booking to the Automatic Model and there was no response or confirmation from them either. I was quite disappointed considering the fact that at least when anything is in Sales any company/ dealer is most responsive. Concerned, I wrote to the head of customer service at Mahindra, after which things started falling in place and I got prompt response for booking confirmation as well as Mahindra Sales rep spoke to me about the technical questions. My request for this change was given in 2nd week of Oct 2010 and I requested the dealer for delivery by first week of Nov 2010 as I had planned some work related travel. Dealer / as well as Mahindra confirmed to me that it will be be possible to deliver only by 3rd week of Nov 2010, which I refused as I was not available to take the delivery. Instead I requested for delivery of a 2011 model in Jan 2011 and I did get a confirmation on that. In Dec 2010, first week, already not having the confidence on dealer due to the earlier delay in response, I again checked if the delivery will be on track and finalize the financials to ensure no further delays due to finance related transactions. Again, after few follow-ups I got a response after 4 days that the vehicle will be delivered only on mid Feb 2011 and the prices will be at the prevailing rates at the time of delivery. This took me by surprise / shock, why should a company with confirmed demand and 10 years of experience in manufacturing the same product line have a proper streamlined supply chain and proper stock to not have such unreasonable wait time from booking to delivery. I was already concerned with slow response time and wanted to cancel the order, however I wanted to hear from Mahindra for one last time if they can do something about delivering it earlier and finalizing the prices. I did get some calls that the work is in progress and some highlights that 2011 manufacturing plan is not yet planned and an assurance that the price can be finalized at the prevailing rates a more formal confirmation / response from Mahindra came only on 20th Dec 2010, only after I called their representative that the delivery of the vehicle will be made before end of Jan 2011 and the payment/invoicing can be done now at prevailing rates. Following which, I contacted the dealer person in charge to provide the performa to allow me continue with the finance. Again, as usual it took 3 days for a response and to my surprise I was told that it will only be in Jan the performa will be generated at prevailing rates. Doesn’t the consumer has right to know the price of what he is buying at the time of booking? And this was clearly a flip-flop, and hence I again requested Mahindra to clarify to the dealer and close the prices at the Dec 2010 rates as was agreed over the phone call. However, after a day I again get a call that prices in Jan 2011 will increase by 10% and exact details will be available only in Jan 2011 and that’s when the prices can be firmed up… and it took Mahindra almost 20 days to inform me. Had they told me about this price change earlier, I may have considered getting a 2010 Dec model itself. More so the integrity is questionable with the flip-flop on what they had said and responding mostly over the call and not as an email response as well as the delay tactics indicate a nexus between company rep and dealer. I have sent an email to cancel my order and refund the booking amount in full, hopefully at least the this happens in prompt manner. It is already 24rth Dec 2010 and my New Car is still doesn’t seem like a reality, this entire transaction has left a bad taste in my mouth about Mahindra and has caused grief/pain and delayed my plans for the new car by almost 3 months now. I consider this completely unprofessional way of managing customers and hope they could be made accountable. If such is the pathetic state of affairs during Sales, I can only imagine how bad there service would have been and hence glad in a way for eye opener before the purchase.