Skoda India - How to lose customers the Skoda way!

Read his harrowing tale of a Skoda customer, Harish Kanchan,
on BHP forum.

According to his post, Harish is fighting with Skoda for the last one year now. I quote Harish -

You may be aware their dealer in mumbai, Nummer Eins had replaced spurious parts in my car to the tune of around 4 lakhs. They had even stolen the 3rd injector and the steering rack and substituted them with fakes. They did not spare the battery either. I took the matter up with skoda.

Skoda replaced all the faulty parts in my car with originals. They then tried to pull a fast one on me. They wanted me to give them an undertaking as a precondition for delivering my car with rectified original parts. The undertaking mentioned that these spurious parts were not put by their dealer.

I refused to do so and Skoda asked me to pay for the repairs and take delivery of the car.

Also, the night after the parts were replaced, Skoda official Yogesh Vaidya, tried to smuggle out the spurious parts removed from my car out of jmd showroom after it was shut and i had gone back home. Some one known to me at jmd called me up and informed me. I rushed to jmd to see the parts just about being loaded in a car. Guess whose car? Nummer Eins car. Can u imagine? The fake parts were being taken back to Nummer Eins under instructions of Karthik Ramesh. Car enthusiasts at team bhp - draw your own conclusion.

Also, Nummer Eins, meanwhile tried to hush me down with attractive offers of cash, new car and threats. I chose to fight.

Apparently, this is not new as can be seen by an old Mid Day Report.


I am gob smacked that big car companies such as Skoda (Remember they are Owned by VW) can let such a thing happen. They have a duty towards their customers and are responsible for the customer care. That’s what we think when we buy a VW vehicle!

I cannot comprehend that any car company would keep a customer’s car with them for 1 YEAR after they themselves have messed it up.

The fun starts when1 year down the line the frustrated customer, Harish Khanchan in this case, publishes on a car forum his story. Now since the harrowing tale is exposed on the internet and is getting exposure in front of millions of netizens (remember they are the potential customers and Skoda India is launching a new small car in India), the damage control by the company starts in earnest.

Now this has some lessons on “How to alienate your customers and screw your potential sales” – the Skoda representative goes to the forum and issues the forum owners a legal threat for discussing Skoda India’s customer care! WOW!

A sensible customer care manager would have said at this point, let us undo the wrong done here and compensate our customers. For a huge company like Skoda & VW, who trade in billions of dollars a year, replacing a single car is peanuts. This would not only earn them credibility and brownie points but also reassure potential customers.

On the other hand, Skoda Auto India operations head and board member (sales & marketing) Thomas Kuehl, is planning to launch a small car in India.

After reading BHP forum on the internet, does he really think that Indian Customers are going to buy Skoda’s Small car???

Really!!!!!!!!!!

ENT Masterclass.com - ENT journal from Doncaster Royal Infirmary

Mr. S Quraishi, Ear Nose and Throat Consultant in Doncaster Royal Infirmary has launched the highly-commended Journal of ENT Masterclass, at a ceremony attended by top medical experts from around the country.

Having worked under him as a trainee, I am not surprised that he is finally getting recognition for his hard work. Mr. Quraishi, is a pro-active, dedicated consultant who cares for the trainees as well as his patients with boundless energy, enthusiasm and patience. I remember he used to come to Doncaster from Nottingham (a good 45 minutes drive one way) at the crack of dawn for a teaching class for his trainees in ENT. To say that I am proud of the fact that I trained under him would be an understatement.

As both Editor of the Journal and Director of ENT Masterclass training, Mr Quraishi proudly conducted the launch proceedings in the Post-graduate centre at Doncaster Royal Infirmary alongside other members of his editorial team and the Trust’s Chief Executive, Nigel Clifton.


Mr Quraishi’s brain child the ENT Masterclass was started in 2005, is a training concept, aimed at delivering free high-quality training in Otolaryngology or ENT. It has gone from strength to strength and is now in its fifth year. It has established itself as an internationally acclaimed training event, with courses specialising in a range of topics from rhinology to radiology, attracting attendees from other parts of Europe and as far afield as Asia.

With places snapped up months in advance, ENT Masterclass is one of the most sought-after courses by trainees in the UK and the organisers continue to use the post-graduate facilities at Doncaster Royal Infirmary as a training base.

According to Mr Quraishi:

With the launch of the Journal, Doncaster’s ENT Unit has established a very high academic profile nationally and internationally. The support of Doncaster & Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, sponsorship, and the volunteers that help with the logistics, has enabled us to keep the courses and journals completely free of cost to the trainees.

He added:

I and my team look forward to continued support from the Trust in order to continue the success of the Masterclasses and enable us to produce the second edition of the Journal next year.

Nigel Clifton congratulated the Masterclass team on their achievement, assuring the audience of continued support for the various courses organised at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

Kudos to Mr. S Quarashi for all his hard work and making Doncaster Royal Infirmary as a hub of academic excellence!

Cake of Resignation

Neil Berrett came up with an "Original idea" for resigning from the job by writing his resignation letter on a cake.

This is what he has written on the cake and this was what he posted on his Flikr post

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Today I gave a two week's notice of my intent to resign. The letter was written in frosting on a full sheet size cake. The cake was delicious and it was well received.


"Dear Mr. Bowers,

During the past three years, my tenure at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has been nothing short of pure excitement, joy and whim.

However, I have decided to spend more time with my family and attend to health issues that have recently arisen. I am proud to have been part of such an outstanding team and I wish this organization only the finest in future endeavors.

Please accept this cake as notification that I am leaving my position with NWT on March 27.

Sincerely,

W. Neil berrett"

3/16/2009 12:41 - I did submit a paper resignation letter. It's hard to file away a cake.
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Another smart Guy has taken this oppurtunity to apply for his job -

Dear Mr. Bowers,

I understand a position has recently become available and I would like you to consider me for the job. I am not entirely sure what it entails, but I am very smart, a quick learner and flexible. I am also able to recognize an opportunity as it presents itself and take advantage of it, even if it arrives disquised as a photo of a sheet cake.

My full resume is available to you; as baked goods, on standard resume paper or as a pdf file. As I am here at your pleasure, your preference is mine as well.

I look forward to your reply.

Regards,
Rufus from http://www.dogwalkblog.com/

Being Fat is Hazardous to Health

A study published in The Lancet, reports being severely obese is as hazardous to health as a lifetime of smoking, shortening life by a decade, a group of Oxford University experts has warned.

Even moderate obesity cuts life expectancy by about three years, says the Clinical Trial Service Unit.

The researchers complied the data from almost a million people from around the world. Increasilgly, adults in both devepoed and developing countries are now considered obese, with a body mass index (BMI) above 30.

BMI is useful for assessing the extent to which fatty tissue causes ill health.It is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of their height in metres.

A person 1.70m (5 ft 7") tall would be considered moderately obese if they weighed 90kg (14 stone) rather than the ideal 70kg (11 stone).

Each incremental rise in BMI above the healthy zone of 20-25 increased premature death risk, the Clinical Trial Service Unit concluded.

Severe obesity - a BMI of 40 to 50, which applies to about 2% of the UK population - reduced life expectancy by about 10 years.

Moderate obesity - a BMI of 30-39, which applies to one in four UK adults - reduced life expectancy by three years.

Much of the obesity-related risk is down to heart disease and stroke, and to a lesser extent cancer.

The researchers estimate, as many as one in four deaths from heart attack or stroke and one in 16 cancer deaths are due to being overweight or obese.

So the options are either we cycle, climb stairs or wait for a Heart attack or stroke.

As an Indian, I am more likely to get a heart attack and therefore the luxury of doing nothing will cost me dearly.

Comeon bike, lets go for a ride and get some of this fat off the waist.

Twitter Doctors

I have been mulling about writing a post about Doctors on Twitter for some time now, but due to time constraints, I have not been able to.

Today, while reading the Scanman's Blog, I came across the Doctors on Twitter post by Dawson. You beat me to it, Dawson!

Edit : Just found an old post by Kidney Notes who had compiled a list way back in Oct. 2007 on Doctors and Medical Students on Twitter. If you are on twitter, you can join the list by commenting or emailing the above 2 bloggers.


I have linked to the post above and if you are also connected to the medical community and are using Twitter, you can email Dawson via his Medical Student Blog.

If you would like to Join me on Twitter, here is my Profile - Abhishek Arora.

My avatar on twitter is a pic in theater scrubs.

Related post: How Doctors Choose Specialties

Warning: Humorous!

24 Indian's Enter The World's Richest Club

Two dozen Indians made it to the Forbes list of 'World's Richest' with four of them among the top 10, as Warren Buffett dethroned Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who held the top slot for 13 straight years.

Steel czar Lakshmi Mittal, heading the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, is in the fourth place with a personal fortune of $45 billion. A long-time resident of London, he is also Europe's richest resident, notes the US business magazine.

Next comes Mukesh Ambani, 'Asia's richest resident, who heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company by market cap' with $43 billion.

The year's biggest gainer, Anil Ambani, is in the sixth place with a fortune of $42 billion. He is up $23.8 billion in the past year, and is closing the gap with his estranged brother Mukesh.

K.P. Singh, now the world's richest real estate baron after listing his real estate development company DLF in 2007, takes the eighth place in the list with $30 billion.

Declaring Buffett as the richest man on the planet, Forbes said: 'Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, America's most beloved investor has seen his fortune swell to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago.'

That massive pile of scratch puts him ahead of Gates, who is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third in the world after Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu with an estimated net worth of $60 billion.

The other 20 Indians in the billionaires list are :-

1. Shashi and Ravi Ruia (43)

2. Azim Premji (60)

3. Sunil Mittal and family (64)

4. Kumar Birla (76)

5. Ramesh Chandra (86)

6. Gautam Adani (91)

7. Savitri Jindal and family (110)

8. Anil Agarwal (164)

9. Adi Godrej and family (178)

10. G.M. Rao (198)

11. Indu Jain (236)

12. Dilip Shanghvi (260)

13. Jaiprakash Gaur (277)

14. Shiv Nadar (277)

15.Uday Kotak (288)

16. Cyrus Poonawalla (307)

17. Anand Jain (327)

18. Chandru Raheja (368)

19. Tulsi Tanti (368)

20.Rakesh Wadhawan and family (428).


Notable Billionaires


The Forbes list also mentions two Indians, Gautam Adani ($9.3 billion) and Sameer Gehlaut ($1.2 billion), as 'notable billionaires'.

'Adani is a college dropout who spurned his father's textile trading business to seek his own fortune... Today he is Asia's richest newcomer thanks to two big public holdings, Adani Enterprises, and Mundra Port, one of India's first private-sector ports,' it says.

'India's youngest self-made billionaire, Gehlaut' is an engineer from the elite Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He started online brokerage Indiabulls with two college friends in 1999. He still heads the company and is its largest shareholder.

A few young tycoons were able to make money this past year in the face of financial turmoil, Forbes said. Among them Indian pharmaceutical kings Malvinder and Shivinder Singh added $100 million to their combined net worth.