‘Big lesson’ with small change for repair centre

CHENNAI: Wanting to teach a lesson on the value of time and customer service to the staff of a car service centre who made him do 100-km trips at least three times from his house in Tiruvallur to Poonamalee promising delivery of his vehicle and defaulting on it, a village panchayat president paid the final payment of Rs 35,000 in coins and Rs 10-20 currency notes and insisted that he would take delivery of the vehicle only after they take the money.

“It took them four hours to count them all. I did not take their offer to release my vehicle with no payment when people started recording videos. I was miffed by their unprofessional attitude and wanted to teach them a lesson. They should know the value of a customer’s time. I had already wasted more time by travelling from my house to the service centre three times, so I was ready to wait for four more hours,” customer D Arul Murugan (48), told DT Next.

Arul Murugan, a businessman, is the president of Thozhuthavur village panchayat in Tiruvallur district. On December 13, his SUV had suffered damage when he reversed it. He took his vehicle for repair to a Toyota dealership in Velappanchavadi, 50 km from Thozhuthavur.

While the cost of the repair works was covered under insurance and took only three days, the staff there had asked him to consider giving a ceramic coating to the vehicle to give it a new look. “Since the damage was covered by insurance, I was okay with spending on the ceramic coating and agreed to their deal. I was told that I would get the car in four days,” Arul Murugan said.

But, he was made to come to the showroom twice before Christmas and returned without his vehicle as the works were unfinished. “I was told on December 26 that the vehicle was ready and when I reached there, the story repeated. I was assured that the delivery would be done the next day, but I did not want to let it slide,” Arul Murugan said.

For the bill amount, which was over Rs 35,000, Arul Murugan went to the temple and mosque in his neighbourhood to collect coins and Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes and some from the bank and put them all in a cloth bag and took them to the showroom on December 27.

“I do not want to take them to the court for this. The service is usually good. This time also the repair works were done quickly. I was told that the polishing works are outsourced and delayed from their side. But, it is also the service centre’s responsibility and customers should not be agonised for that,” Arul Murguan said.

Arul Murugan’s insistence on the staff to count the money and their heeding to it went viral on social media.