Funny

I was searching for something when I reached this promotion from Eldeco in the guise of a news item. According to the article, Mr Pankaj Bajaj from Eldeco says:

"We screen buyers before selling them homes here so that our customers will have quality people living in their neighbourhood."

How about doing some introspection and assessing the quality you are offering to your customers Mr Bajaj? Last heard, our resident's welfare association had requested some time to meet you personally. One week has passsed, you have not even acknowledged receipt of our request, let alone telling us when we can meet you.

Eldeco marketing

I have had one of the most eye opening experiences of my life interacting with Eldeco marketing. Eldeco has a number of projects in the NCR - Delhi region and I expected Eldeco staff to be customer friendly. Eldeco is a listed company, and one kind of assumes that the marketing department will be smart and savvy. However, they are savvy and smart, but only for their own good, is what I realized once I had paid the booking amount and legally agreed to buy the flat ( or else forefeit the booking amount).

We did not want wooden flooring in any of the bedrooms, as we were not sure how it would work out in Indian conditions. Before booking, we were told by their sales person, that these are small and minor things, to be taken care of once we make up our mind about the flat. "You are paying for the flat, so what issue can the company have in extending the marble flooring of the drawing area to your bedrooms, especially when cost of both wooden and marble turns out same to the company. We are here to serve you mam". Of course, how simple it seemed. Alas, the story changed completely as soon as the booking got done.

"We surely cant change our flats for each single customer. Else the project will never get delivered. Customizations are not possible. You are however free to change the flooring of the flat once you get the possession." Of course at our own cost. Eldeco will not even give us rooms without any flooring and just reduce our time, effort and money of first removing their stuff and then replacing it with ours. Needless to say, the wooden flooring is rustling under my feet, maintenance is a big pain in the dusty areas of Noida and all complaints about the peel offs lead to no result.

Possession was to be given to us in April, but we got it only in August last week, and that too after a lot of hassles. Eventually, we had to agree to broken marble pieces in the drawing room, undulated walls and all kinds of poor construction issues, as we needed the possession of the flat to start our own woodwork. When we asked Eldeco authorities to change the marble pieces that were broken, they told us that this could happen anytime, what would we do if the pieces broke after we took possession. They were not ready to change the marble, and if we insisted, they would replace it, but they would not make sure to match the replaced piece with the surrounding pattern. We gave up.

Similarly for the front door. The margin of the front door was badly cracked. It took us almost 5 meetings with Eldeco staff to get them to agree to change it.

Registration was another harrowing experience. We paid up the registration amount in first week of May. It took Eldeco about 5-6 months to get ready for the registration. We really hated the fact that they sat on our money all the while, refusing to listen to any pleas for getting the registration done. With a floating rate home saver loan account, it would have really benefitted us to get our registration amount and pay it only when they really wanted to do the paper work. Another case of complete customer apathy.

For the registration, we agreed to a date and time. Unfortunately, my daughter got down with measles. She was about 7 months at that time, and it was risky to take her to the crowded registrar office of NOIDA. I requested the Eldeco authorities to give us another date. It was something we really wanted to avoid, as registration was something which we wanted to get done as fast as possible. However, given Nandini's condition, there was no choice. But, their point of contact was not ready to budge. He told us that the date of the registration had been printed in advance on the stamp papers, and the stamp papers can not be changed. Or, if we agreed to pay the stamp duty again - some 5.5 lakhs, maybe it can be done. If the date is printed once, it cant be changed. I knew this was just his way of resisting our change request, so I requested again. Surely, if the date is printed and the person meets with an accident, will s/he need to get the papers printed again? The Noida authorities, for all their bureaucracy, can not be that foolish. After umpteen calls, Eldeco relented. Surely, when we went for the registration, we found that no date is even printed.

Thanks Mr Pankaj Bajaj, honorary managing director of Eldeco, for choosing such brilliant customer service representatives. Surely it is flowing from the top, isnt it?

International Women's Day

I have never seen such media coverage of the International Women's Day. I think until the last few years, I did not even know that such a day existed, and got celebrated! Pardon my ignorance, but I still feel the culture of celebrating different kind of days - Valentine's, Father's, Mother's, AIDS, Women has a lot to do with the media. The special edition of Economic Times for the day was edited by 3 illustrious and noteworthy women. There were point of views from various women from a cross section of society. It was a very good read, and I for one thanked god for having such a day full of lot of interesting reading material.

Having said that, the day prompted me to think and ponder. Why just one day out of 365 - does that mean men rule the other 364 days? Well, I wont say I am necessarily hurt, but sorry man(and men), the question did pop up in my liberal mind. Again, as the day unfolded and I struggled to work from home, balance the needs of my child with the demands and aspirations of my career, a million questions kept knocking at my door. Is life really easier or tougher for the women today? With more and more choices and demands on the women, is emancipation truly what we asked for? Do we still have a decent corporate culture which allows women to work as well as balance their roles as mothers and caregivers? Do corporates really care? Should corporates really care?

What do I want - a spic and span house which feels like no one lives here, ultra clean kitchen which looks like nobody has ever cooked, an obedient child who lets me work when I want to, and showers me with love and affection and some naughtiness when I am free, a husband who prefers to help out in housework instead of watching television, a job where I get a good pay, with very challenging work, but with flexi timings and the ability to look after my kid while working from home?

Could life really get simpler..or am I too demanding ?