Pune:
Six months after he purchased a black Honda Unicorn motorcycle from its city dealer, BU Bhandari, Imtiaz Habib Shaikh is a harried man. He has made numerous rounds at the dealership near Poona Club, waiting for his complaint to be addressed: after the very first servicing, the paint on the fuel tank of his mobike came off.
Shaikh had purchased the vehicle for Rs 67,000 on March 8 from BU Bhandari, Bund Garden Road, Camp. "I had taken the bike for the first free service at the dealer's workshop. When I found that the tank's paint had come off, I complained to the dealer, upon which I was asked to visit the Camp branch of BU Bhandari and contact the service manager, which I did,'' he said.
However, after the service manager told Shaikh that the fuel tank could not be replaced under the warranty policy, he contacted Honda's regional office in Akurdi.
"I spoke to the area sales manager who asked me for the photographs of the tank which were taken by the dealer and forwarded them to him,'' Shaikh said. He was told by the dealer that the regional office had given approval for replacement of the tank. "However, that has yet not happened,'' he said.
Shaikh said some days ago, a manager from the dealer called him stating that the replacement tank had arrived. "I went to the BU Bhandari office along with a professional painter and we were shocked to find that the replaced fuel tank was of dubious quality and was originally painted in silver. I refused to accept that replacement and warned the manager that I would take up the issue legally with the company officials,'' he added.
When contacted by DNA, the service in-charge for Honda Motors (Pune region), Prasanna Walke said, "There was a problem related to the unavailability of that particular type of tank with the city dealers and hence, it took some time for them to procure the replacement from some other places. We have received feedback that Shaikh has rejected the replacement on grounds that it is not original. We will soon replace the fuel tank in accordance with his requirements,'' he said.
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