ExpertDabbler

Some of you might know that I have a special affinity towards any financial products which entails low borrowing costs. That is how chit funds concept attracted me. The chit fund model is explained in detail.

Since low borrowing costs cannot come at the risk of high risk to the principle, I had no choice but to go with an established name like Shriram Chits.

My wife tested the waters by joining for a relatively small chit - Rs.1,00,000 running for 40 months where the monthly due is around Rs. 2500. Things were fine so long as we were paying the monthly dues. At one point, we thought we can take part in auction and bid, and if the bids are low for the month, maybe we can draw the funds for our use. Honestly there was no emergency/ critical need for the cash.

We took part in couple of auctions and we lost out due to more desperate customers, which is understandable. I was very clear that I will not take this money unless the terms were favorable to me. It is tough not to get swayed by the bidding frenzy in auctions. Nevertheless we were taking part in auction on monthly basis.

Eventually, we got through one auction. And that’s were I came to know the fine print in this deal. Apparently, after paying 20 months, to take my bid amount, the company needs some sort of security. For starters, they want two sureties - I was asked to give all my personal details like address proof, ID proof, pay slip, etc. This in addition to my wife’s personal details, ditto as above. In addition to the two, they wanted some government employee to provide surety. Now, this is where I got annoyed. I did not know any government employee close enough to provide their address proof, I’d proof along with their pay slip and also provide an undertaking(surety) for this amount. Eventually I decided not to stake my claim for the bid and asked the folks to give it to the next bidder. Of course none of this was known when I joined the chit. This factor definitely irritated me. Besides my irritation, In one way I was happy that this company was having adequate safeguards before giving out the chit amount.

We continued paying the due amounts until one fine day we participated in the auction and won the bid. This time the difference was I had one acquaintance who was government employed and who was willing to go the distance with me. Really nice of him.

So this time again I submitted all the documents, and staked my claim. There began the arduous journey. It took me two months and 20 visits to the Shriram branch office in , after submitting all the papers. Still there was no signs of it. One fine day I lost my patience and created a scene in the branch. The service levels were pathetic, the staff words especially the manager’s cannot be taken for granted. They lie with abandon and without remorse. The top management may be good.
Eventually I got my bid amount. Now, I do not see how the customer profile will improve if these guys provide service like this. Fortunately for me, there was no emergency, otherwise the customers are purely at god’s mercy. These guys are worse than government offices when it comes to doing work.

I still believe in the concept of chits, but not in the Shriram variety.

I have been seriously contemplating buying a small car for my wife for sometime now because her work place is about 20kms from home and her office timings are from 8.30 till 2.30, hours unknown to the software folks in India.

For starters, she is still learning how to drive a car, so obviously I was looking for an entry level car which does not cost a bomb. The first car which came to my mind was Nano. Okay, here was a small functional car which was cheap, and did it’s job well, or so I thought.

Whenever I mentioned this to my friends, the response has always been unanimous - NoNo.
No one ever has recommended Nano to me till date.

The reasons given are aplenty - cheap build quality, poor after sales service from TATA dealerships, Nano catches fire, Nano sounds like a share auto, etc.

And not surprisingly the sales of Nano, which costs about half of the Maruti Alto lags behind the sales of the latter by a whopping 70-80%.

I personally think that a good percentage of the issues are more related to the perception than to the reality. But if perception leads buyers to run away from this product, then perception indeed has the same effect as reality.

What has really surprised me is the way TATA Motors has been responding. Rather than addressing the issues - changes to the product features and design so that the car does not catch fire, bring in more variants - electric, etc, better pricing strategy, improvements in the interiors, improvements in the after sales service experience, etc, TATA motors seem to be still hell bent on the ‘cheapest’ tag. Cars in India have an aspirational value. People want the products to be cheap but no one ever wants a car which is so cheap that there is no respect for it.

For all we know, the Nano diesel may be a clincher. However, I think the car in its current avatar is average, but the way these people have managed the product really is pathetic. They have lost million customers like me.

I might opt for the Hyundai Eon - it looks decent, the reviews are good, does not cost a bomb, and hopefully Hyundai gives a better after sales experience than the TATA service centers.

Good bye, designer!
Seeing your company website today morning with your BW photo was a shattering experience. Thought to tell you since you cared so much for customer experience.

Thank you for everything.

By
One of the 30 million delighted iPad customers.