Techie gets Hyundai to drop handling charges
Two-year battle with showroom ends in major victory
A Hyderabad-based techie who felt he was being “ripped off” by automobile major Hyundai, took them on and won after a resolute two-year-long battle. The victory has led to the cancellation of “handling charges” at all Hyundai showrooms across the country.
Ratan Grandhi, an employee of Infosys, had purchased an Xcent from a Hyundai showroom in the city on December 27, 2014. But even after he had paid the amount as per the invoice, the showroom refused to give him the car’s release order, insisting he pay `6,950 towards “handling charges”. When he asked the showroom authorities for details of these charges, he was told that the post-sale charges and payment “was mandatory” before issuing a release order for any vehicle. When he asked why the showroom was charging that amount towards handling charges, the staff said the bill included fuel charges, labour charges etc.
Mr Grandhi went on to purchase the vehicle after making the payment but vowed to get the amount back. The techie then sent a series of emails to Hyundai but kept receiving unsatisfactory replies. “When I continued sending these emails seeking justice, they got defensive and replied claiming they were not insisting that showroom authorities charge any additional amount for handling,” he said.
Annoyed with all this prevarication, Grandhi lodged a complaint with the Joint Transport Commissioner (JTC) about the charges.
Central Zone Road Transport Officer (RTO) G.P.N. Prasad took up the matter and sought the facts. “When we discovered that handling charges are actually illegal, we warned all the showrooms. We have suspended licenses of two showrooms for similar practices”.
Grandhi’s battle scored a clear victory when Hyundai issued circulars to all their showrooms nationwide, cancelling the handling charges. “Mr. Grandhi’s fight has also led to a massive change in the behaviour of showroom staff,” Mr Prasad added.
And Mr Grandhi also got the `6,950 back (charged additionally against the invoice) from the Hyundai showroom, last month – exactly two years after he started the fight.
“The showroom returned the `6,850 and `3,000 towards registration charges collected along with the invoice. It was almost a two-yearlong fight and I’m happy I won it finally,” Mr Grandhi said.