Mr.N G Patro
DGM – DRS India (Agarwal Packers & Movers)
CC : Mr.Lalit Mishra – Claims (Mumbai)
Mr.Sekharsunder – Claims (Secundarabad)
Subject – Complaint related to GC no.4323838 dt.30/03/2014 & GC no.4323820 dt.31/03/2014
(Shifting of Household goods & Car from Chennai to Pune)
Dear Sirs,
This is out of intolerable annoyance & irritation I am writing to you. I would like to brief you the series of events & psychological torturing I went through after coming in contact with DRS India’s Agarwal Packers & Movers. Hope such instances should not happen to anyone.
First of all I would like to give you my brief background. I am a corporate professional working with M/s.Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd., Chennai as a Divisional Manager.
We had planned to shift our Family to our hometown Pune. Since I was to stay back in Chennai, we were looking for a very reliable packers & movers.
Looking into your goodwill, we purposefully opted DRS group to shift our households. Here I would like to mention that we were having another 2 quotes which were very much lower than of Agarwal.
Your Field Officer Mr.Shailesh (Phone no. 9345013611 / 9367675888) approached us & gave a quote of Rs.28,944.00 on 02/03/2014. The same is also attached for your ready reference. (Sl.No.4136998) It is clearly mentioned in the quote that TV/Fridge/Washing machine etc. will be packed in wooden crates. For this reason a separate line item for Rs.2400.00 was added in Quote. To mention, not a single item was packed in wooden crate. The same paper packaging which was done in Chennai was received in Pune. Why should we not ask you to refund for Rs. 2400.00 which you have fraudulently quoted for?
After discussing with Mr.Shailesh for exorbitant quote, we requested if the quote value can be reduced if we ignore the wooden crate packaging. There upon we were told that as per the company policy, any such good which are being shifted to more than 500 kms. has to be packed only in wooden crate & our system does not allow to bye-pass it.
As this was not a corporate shifting, we were seriously thinking for some other options. This was the time when your Chennai Office Manager Mr.Ashish Mishra (9380 280071) intervened & did the final negotiation for Rs.23000.00 (excluding car). There was no mention of any compromise on packaging. In fact we informed that we don’t mind if we receive the material 2-3 days late if it helps you to reduce quote value.
The payment terms were finalized as below; 75% Payment by cheque during the day of shifting & balance 25% after the shifting is done in our Pune house. (We actually paid @ 80 % i.e Rs.18000.00 in Chennai on shifting day & we were forced to pay the balance Rs.5000.00 prior to unloading of materials in our house using unfair means).
The real story started on the shifting day. Only 3 persons were deputed for packing of materials. No responsible supervisor was deputed. The packaging was not really in a professional way. Especially the Fridge, washing machine, Marble Temple etc.
Following are the packaging flaws observed;
– No sufficient corrugated boxes for packing. Many items including crockery did not have boxes. Many of the materials (e.g. Mixer-Grinder, water filter, Bathroom articles, new clothing bags, Plastic items etc.) were just wrapped as is with the transparent paper directly. For crockery, they made a roll from balance corrugated sheets & put a tape at each end. This finally ended in breakage of 4 crockery items on receipt. Many items (baby bicycle, dish, study chair etc.) were not even wrapped with any kind of paper & were simply dumped in vehicle. Bicycle bell was also broken.
– All dining chairs were just picked & dumped (No wrapping also).Similar fashion the Study table revolving chair (Blue cushion & black base) was dumped and that to without wring the GC number on it & without mentioning in list. (The same was marked in your quotation also as Chair-1 no.) We specifically asked your person to wrap it but we were told that the chairs are dispatched in similar fashion. Till date we have not received this chair & we are strongly suspecting that this was done intentionally. We even requested your Chennai office that we would like to talk to the 3 persons who came for packing to us, they are not responding.
– Improper packaging of fridge resulted into heavy damage on right side till the extent of Paint removal (This is a recently purchased new fridge). 4-5 dents are also seen in this area. The washing machine packaging was completely opened & your own persons repacked it while removing from vehicle to shift in house. The white marble temple base is completely broken in pieces & damage (breakage) is also seen at 2 other places. All these things were immediately brought to notice of your packing persons on which they told that this special vehicle for your goods will directly get unloaded in your Pune house only which was again false. We also informed your Chennai office (Ms. Anita – 044-6001 4001) who told us that all the goods will be taken to our godown & will be re-packed in wooden crates.
The household articles were dispatched from Chennai on 30/03/2014. Till 05/03/2014, no one from your Pune office contacted us. Finally I made a call on 06/07/2014 asking about the status of receipt. It was Informed to me that your materials has already reached Pune godown & will be delivered on Monday 07/04/2014.
On Monday your person just called & told that your materials will be unloaded & you need to pay the balance payment of Rs.5000.00. After the vehicle reached our house, your representative started asking payment & was reluctant to unload the goods.
Just imagine the situation, I am in Chennai & my wife alone is in Pune & your representatives are behaving in such fashion. After contacting me, I told that as per agreement payment will be made immediately after unloading which he did not agree. Not only that the person started using false language & warned me that I will be taking the vehicle back to godown & you will have to pay more Rs.4000.00 for this reason. I instructed him to do so. He just drove out of the society & parked vehicle on Road. Afterwards some senior person from Pune office (Phone no.9325015173) gave assurance of taking care of all damages, short supplies & literally requested to make payment. After we made payment, till date no one turned back. Neither had we received a phone call also. All the issues (accept fridge damage, which we noticed after your persons left) were mentioned in your acknowledgement copy.
On 31/03/2014, we have dispatched our car (Maruti-800) through you. When your person came for taking the vehicle, he checked the fuel & told us that the existing fuel level is only up to 12 liters & as per our rules, we need to have minimum 15 liters fuel in vehicle. Agreeing to your policy, I paid him again Rs.300 for topping up additional 4 liters of Fuel. During the dispatch of vehicle the odometer reading was 80689.2 kms. After the vehicle was delivered to us in Pune, the odometer reading showed as 80733.6 kms. (That means the vehicle was driven for @ 44.4 kms. for loading & from unloading point).
Now in spite of all these, the person who comes for car delivery says that there was no fuel in car & I had put Rs.300.00 fuel & you pl. repay the same. What’s all this? Are we really seen as fools or what? To cover 45 kms. Maruti non a/c car requires more than 15 litres fuel? Every moment people start asking money. Even I paid Rs.300.00 as tip to your Chennai persons just out of sympathy to their work.
Was it really our fault that we selected DRS? What is the status of our complaint? No response, no call OR is it that your entire chain is aware of such things & they are acting blind folded. Everyone I contact immediately gives some other number. Chennai fellow tells to contact Pune, Pune tells to contact HO. What’s all this. The moment you receive money there is no value for the customer? This is what are your company policy, mission & vision? I don’t know how many people must be facing such issues & out of that how many are really reporting? But what’s use of reporting also, your systems are so strong that you ignore them conveniently.
In totality we had a very bad experience with Agarwal packers. This will definitely be shared with all our corporate colleagues & external stake holders.
This is not a first communication on the subject. This has been mailed on 09/04/2014 but till date no response.
I came to know that you are an Ex-Army person & for that reason I have high regards for you. Probably you can rope in some discipline in your organization. This is not to criticize someone on personal level but the fact remains that today I am at loss. You are representing the position & it is your morale duty to pacify / satisfy the customer. Customer delight probably is not our word. At least give fair justice to the person from whom we get our daily bread/butter & we run our families.
I hereby request you to appoint a single contact person for resolution of our issues & settle them at earliest.
Till now I am escalating the issues through proper channels only. In case this doesn’t work, I will be compelled to follow other course.
Regards,
Prashant Shivarkar
96000 65685