I bought an electrically operated recliner from a leading furniture maker of India in 2003. This is a US$1.323 billion (2015) revenue company with 12000+ employees.
The recliner is in great shape and is my favourite perch. I spend a lot of time on it. At the time of purchase it cost me Rs.28,419.00.
Some time ago, the upholstery of the chair started giving way and while it does not prevent me from using the chair, it is annoying for it looks ugly.
I approached GI with a formal complaint on their website and received this message in response,
“Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXX,
Thank you for connecting with XX.
We are in receipt of your email and our Pune branch team will get in touch with you for further clarifications shortly.
Thanks & Regards,
Customer Care Team
XX
Your query given below.
Name : Ramana Rajgopaul
Mobile :XXXXXXXXXXXX
Email : XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
State : Maharashtra
City : Pune
Pincode :XXXXXXXX
Query : Reupholstering Recliner Single Seater.
Product Enquiry :Home furniture
Organisation :
This communication (including any accompanying documents / attachments), is intended only for the use of the addressee(s) and contains information that is PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any dissemination and/or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited and you are requested to delete this e-mail immediately. Communicating through e-mail is not secure and capable of interception & delays. Any one communicating with GI by e-mail, accepts the risks involved and their consequences. The Company is neither liable for the proper and complete transmission of the information contained in this communication, nor for any delay in its receipt. While this e-mail has been checked for all known viruses, the addressee should also scan for viruses too. Thank you for your co-operation.”
Not receiving any further information, after a few days, I rang up their customer service helpline and they promptly located my complaint and confirmed that someone will contact me shortly. After a while, I received a text message on my phone giving me the telephone number and name of a representative who will visit me within 24 hours.
When nothing happened after 24 hours, I rang up the representative on his phone and his immediate response was “Shit”, I will come tomorrow morning.
He came the next afternoon which was a Saturday, and took some photographs on his mobile phone and transmitted them to some one after speaking to the responder. He left saying that I will get a quotation on Monday as it was the week end after collecting Rs.350.00 as charges for the home visit.
Nothing happened on Monday and on Tuesday, I called the local number that the representative had given in the receipt for the charge for the home visit. I was told to wait for a few more days as the model of chair in question was an obsolete one!
I finally got a quotation from them on the 20th as follows:
Spares Seat Assembly 22570.00
Spares Back Assembly 10259.00
Total 32829.00
Below this was given various other charges for labour, tax, transportation etc totalling in all to Rs.40,151.00
On receipt of this mail, I wrote to them the following letter on 21st January, 2018.
“I refer to your confirmation email dated 5th January 2017. I finally received an estimate from XYZ Services Pune for re-upholstering my recliner chair.
You can see from the quote that I reproduce below how absurd the quotation is.
Have they understood the problem at all? Has there been some breakdown in communication somewhere or is this your way of informing me that you cannot re-upholster the chair?”
As I write this on the 30th January, 2018, I am yet to get a response from them.