Carfirst Islamabad : The good, the bad and the ugly.
I decided to sell off my car and since so many Carfirst ads were in my face lately, I decided to pay them a visit.
I went Thursday evening and was dealt with by the Manager at their F7 markaz branch, Islamabad, Mr. Mansoor.
There were two customers there before me. One of them was getting his Silver City assessed and Carfirst's test driver took it out for a drive. The car was driven pretty rashly on the test drive and the customer got out complaining saying he himself had never gone over cat eyes on the road this fast.
I informed Mansoor I will not have my car driven the same way to which he said he would give me a complaint email and I can complain.
During the Q and A's, Mansoor snapped at me then apologized saying his sub ordinate, the test driver was giving him grief. Apology was accepted.
Meanwhile, my car was being examined by the team, the owner of the City told me the market was offering him 17 plus lakhs for his car, while Carfirst was offering him 15 lakhs. He was not going to sell to them.
Second customer again had this same opinion for his own car and opted to not go with Carfirst.
Once my car was done being examined, I was asked if my token tax was upto date, which I informed them it wasn't.
Then Mansoor informed me 'Your windscreen was replaced at some point, the codes don't match'. There was no truth to this ofcourse but he kept insisting. My car had not been repaired in any way.
I was told to come in next day and they would verify other things about the car from the excise department and let me know what they had to offer me.
The next day when I walked into the office, there was a pretty pissed off customer giving Mansoor a piece of his mind. He had brought a document from the excise department saying his car was all clear. A day earlier according to him, Mansoor had informed him his cars chassis number does not match with the one at the excise department, hence it was tampered with/stolen.
You can imagine the price depreciation when someone is told their cars windscreen was replaced or cars chassis doesn't match with the excise department.
'I don't know why or how yesterday it showed to not match at the excise department' was Mansoor's rebuttal to this customer.
I was given an offer for my car on the phone by Mansoor. 10 lakhs 75,000. However come token paying time, it was suddenly 10 lakhs 70,000. My calls are all recorded but I was not going to bicker over 5000 and signed the token form and took the 10k token money.
He then informed me the windscreen indeed was not replaced, 'I don't know why the codes didn't match yesterday, today they do, was a confusion on our part'.
So I asked how much my token tax would be given it hadn't been paid from 2016 and I was a non-filer.
He made a phone call and told me 4500/year for filers, 6000/year for non filer so, so 18,000 in all. Carfirst would take care of that and deduct it from the total amount.
My car had been examined thoroughly by Mansoor and his team. They had taken pictures, inside and out.
Monday morning I get a call from the Carfirst verification department telling me my toll tax was 25,500. When I informed them of what I had been told on Friday by Mansoor, they said they made a mistake, it is indeed 18,000.
When I informed Mansoor of this, he said it was indeed 25,500 but when asked how much that comes to yearly, he didn't have an answer and asked for a call back. I wrote the blunders off to 'miscommunication' as they like to call it because they had apologized so far, from Mansoor to the Verification department. Things happen, no big deal.
The verification department also now asked if if I had the new blue Faisal Mosque plates or the white Faisal Mosque ones. When I informed them they were the white plates, I was told 'We require the blue number plates and you'll have to pay for that change'.
Like this is where the experience went from 'Okay' to 'Bad'. The statements kept changing for one reason or another.
At no point when the car was examined was I told I needed the new blue number plates. Was not mentioned in writing nor verbally when I signed the document for the token money that my car did or did not have 'updated' blue number plates.
My number plates were in plain sight when the team examined my car and took pictures. Negligence. Mansoor claimed he had asked if my number plates were updated and I had said yes. Firstly, that never happened, otherwise it would be mentioned in the receipt which had other things mentioned. Secondly, like they take my word for anything when they examine the car and when the number plates are in plain sight, why would I claim otherwise?!
Monday evening I goto their inspection center to give possession of the car in Rawalpindi. The National Head of Internal Control and Governance, Asif Rahim Sheikh examines my car and tells me 'I think your driver removed your car floor mats, they aren't in the car.' I informed him I had removed my car mats as they were paid for by me and didn't come with the car, and are on the expensive side.
His cocky response was 'We can have that debate, whether you should or shouldn't have taken out those car mats or them 'allegedly' being expensive. As far as them being "allegedly" expensive, how would I know?!'. So now I'm a liar and a criminal and Carfirst has become Judge Asif Rahim Sheikh's very own court room over petty car mats.
I informed him that I had bought my car brand new and Suzuki had not furnished me any floor mats but a simple paper piece to put my feet on.
"But we don't buy new cars, at the time of inspection whatever is in your car belongs to us" mind you this is the first inspection he is referring to where I still have my car, and haven't handed it over to them. I had two cell phones in the car, a laptop, a suitcase, window shades. Things I wasn't given with the car. By his analogy those were to be given with the car as well I suppose.
Cocky, personal and sarcastic with a total stranger and that too a client.
The car was bought for 10,70000 by Carfirst and here is their National Head being condescending and insulting over something as petty as 500 rupees of floor mats which he probably uses. Mine were 3M Nomad Car Mats and cost 8000 plus.
I figured arguing with someone who has no interest in reasoning was futile so I asked for someone else senior in charge.
Now comes their Regional Head, Ehsan Siddiqui. Till now the rest of the blunders by Mansoor, and verification department were accepted and apologized for annoying as they were. Instead of admitting Asif Rahim Sheikh's stance was wrong, he starts off by first defending the other blunders. 'The rules and policies have changed lately about number plates so blue ones are required'. The rules didn't change between the time I agreed to the sale and handed over the car for possession. Because I signed late Friday, and no one is passing laws on Saturday and Sunday.
When I asked him why during the examination were the plates not checked which are in your face at the front? He again had some lame story about how the guy who checked must have forgotten. Then he goes 'You shouldn't have taken out those car mats, everything in your car at the time of inspection belongs to us.'
When I explained the same thing I had to Asif Rahim Sheikh, he goes 'Did you give it to us in writing you would take the floor mats out?'
I don't understand when the terms and conditions don't mention any such thing, when they had not given me in writing 'Everything in the car is OURS, at the time of inspection' why throw such a hissy fit, insult and humiliate a customer? Just how petty is your senior management?
He then asks me 'Why are you getting angry?' followed by instructions to some sub ordinate 'Check if he has brought the tool kit', like four times within 30 seconds. He needed to pick another fight. Unfortunately for him, I brought the tool kit because, that I got with the car from the showroom.
And Carfirst has a 'Hassle-Free' tagline?
The corporate culture in Pakistan is to protect one's own. I wanted these two individuals names and positions in the company and the sub ordinates were trying their level best to not give me that information intially. How does one complain without a name and a position for reference? I managed to get both the names and positions eventually.
But just to show you what I mean, below is a screenshot of me asking the same question on Facebook and Carfirst customer service telling me they aren't authorised to divulge such information.
Not only that, these two individuals are in charge in the North region so unless one has access to Raja Murad Khan or Bilal Bajwa, the co-founders, the complaint will never see the light of day.
Raja Murad Khan and Bilal Bajwa the co-founders need to be more accessible via email so they can be told of what goes on right under their noses. Unless losing business is what they envisioned at the whims of insecure employees who mistreat clients to feel validated.
They very conveniently post pictures of so called 'Happy customer's' yet have some serious issues with customer service etiquette. Their Tagline should be 'Carfirst, where insult to injury comes naturally.'
The one person at Carfirst who has been consistently polite and helpful from the first call to handling the fiasco caused by Asif Rahim Sheikh and Ehsan Siddiqui on the last day is Mr. Shoiab Muktar. Carfirst should promote him because the other two individuals will take the company down with their obnoxious behavior with client's. They think it's their Daddy's company having somehow reached senior managerial posts.
The lesson for others is this : Ensure all your calls are recorded when dealing with Carfirst and you are videotaping every interaction with them. They will lie to your face. And always highlight an issue so the next customer doesn't have to suffer.
And whatever your car, say it's a City, go on their website and put in 2019 model, minimum mileage (they only allow you put 5000km), you will see they depreciate your car anywhere from 90,000 to 190,000 assuming it has no prior accident, and is flawless. Will save you a trip.
And don't take your wife and kids by mistake during the intial car inspection. Asif Rahim Sheikh and Ehsan Siddiqui might tell you 'Everything in the car belongs to them at the time of inspection'.
