Water pressure at home has been pretty low and instead of spending nights waking up 10 times to check the pressure for filling drinking water (my eight year old aquaguard was fitted to our corporation tap) I decided to call upon the local Eureka Forbes office for a solution. So, on 24th June I called Eureka Forbes and the Aquaguard team leader Mr. Dinesh Baikar comes and gives me 30 minutes of sales talk on how Aquaguard e boiling plus booster model will solve the problem as it has a motor to pull running water in low pressure and even where there is no running water, a *separate* system can pull water from the bucket. Satisfied with his sales talk, I buy the aquaguard e boiling + booster system.
The aquaguard system arrives on 25th June with a promise that it will be installed the same evening, I gave them complete payment (which included installation) – installation takes place on 26th June and we notice that the manual as well as warranty card is missing from the package. I brought this to the notice of the technician who installed the aquaguard and he says it will be delivered on Monday 27 th June for sure.
On Monday morning we notice that the system is leaking. The candle filter as well as the main filter was leaking heavily. I also noticed that the water was turbid, not crystal clear. Lodged the complaint with Mr. Dinesh Baikar who promises to visit us by afternoon. By evening when he does not turn up, I called again only to hear some flimsy reason. He missed the appointment and did not even care to have the courtesy to inform me. He promises to come the next day (Tuesday, 28th June) at 9 AM sharp. I request him to be on time as I had another appointment at 10 AM. The man does not come until 9.45 and then leaves in 5 minutes saying that he will come back with the technician in the afternoon and solve the problem. At 2 M the technician comes alone and tightens the ceramic filter -says the water will continue to leak as this system is not supposed to be installed on tap. I call up Mr Baikar again, he says he will be there at 3.30 and solve the problem. The man skips the appointment again. At 4, I left for some work with instructions with my office to call on my cell phone if Mr. Baikar comes. Mr. Baikar arrived at 4.30, I got call from my office and I reach my home-office within 10 minutes only to find Mr. Baikar gone leaving a message that he will be back in an hour. Two hours pass by, he does not turn up, when I call on his cell, he very rudely tells me that I should have called him up on his mobile after reaching home as if by giving service he is doing me a favor. It was raining very hard at that time, so he has a reason not to attend the complaint -he does not come.
This morning, 29th June, I again see the aquaguard leaking the water was continuously flowing from an unplugged aquaguard -obviously impure/unfiltered water as there was no electricity going into the system, so I took a movie of aquaguard unplugged, leaking from all over and kept it as a proof.
At 9.30, the man (Mr. Dinesh Baikar) comes and says the installation is fine and that it will leak as this is a pump model. He promises again that the manual and warranty card will be delivered to me by afternoon and that he will visit me again in the afternoon around 1 PM with technician and solve the problem afternoon comes and goes -no sign of any soul from Eureka Forbes.
I call up Mr. Baikar at 2.30 PM -he has switched off his mobile. At 3. PM I call up the Branch Manager Mr. Prashant Parikh, am told that he is busy in taking interviews and that he will call back in 10-15 minutes.
4 PM – nobody from Eureka Forbes comes nor any calls, I am at my wits end!!
In the mean while, I figure from the Eureka Forbes website that this model that I have been sold is supposed to be used “Where there is no running water”.
I realised, I was taken for a ride, was sold a product that does not fit into my need at all!!!
I called up Mr. Baikar again and told him that he misguided me, had he told me the entire functioning and truth about the product, may be I would have still bought it, but it would have saved a lot of frustration and efforts to correct what is not wrong. I also told him that the turbidity of water needs to be cleared and he admits to misguiding me and agrees on putting a new *finer* (his term) candle for removing the turbidity he says he/his technician will be with me in less than 30 minutes.
One and half hour passes by -no trace!!!
At 5 PM In frustration I called up the Corporate Operations office of Eureka Forbes and speak to one Ms. Vandana Chauhan, Manager (operations) who listens to my problem and assures me that the problem will be taken care of.
At 5.30 I follow up with Mr. Baikar about the Manual and Warranty card, the branch manager Mr. Prashant Parikh comes on line and says he will be visiting me in an hour or so and that Ms. Vandana Chauhan spoke to him.
At 6.06 I am waiting for the Branch Manager with following problems
1) No warranty card/Manual
2) Aquaguard still leaks
3)Water is still turbid.
UPDATE: The Branch Manager came at 6.15, along with one of the senior technicians, was patient enough to hear me out, explained to me in details the working and limitations of the product (shut the valve – water wont leak since there is no pressure protection if the water input pressure increases, the water leaks), accepted that the fitting was not proper, got the candle changed to a finer pored (Water is not turbid anymore) and assured me that if the green light is on, the water will be 100% pure. Gave me the manual and warranty card.
With all my grievances attended to, I am much at peace and looking back I realised the problem was not the product but the service. There seem to be no direct communication between the field people and middle management -either because the field people can hide the facts from the manager siting in the office, or because it is dependent on paperwork.
What made me feel reassured was Ms. Vandana Chauhan calling me up from Mumbai, minutes after Mr. Prashant Parikh left. She spoke to me and made sure that my problems were attended to and grievances listened to.
Eureka Forbes is a service oriented company after all, and I am glad for that!
