Profx Chennai- Pathetic service

[narenkum]

Last week I visited Profx Chennai for the Third time to finalize AVR and Speakers price. I had called up initially and was told by default they provide 10% discount from the MRP as the quoted price and while finalizing will offer more discount.

I wanted to go for a Denon X2000 with Polk Speakers combination, when I visited the showroom they said they have a better deal for Heco Victa as they have newly launched these speakers.

They initially said the combo offer 1,09,000 was limited only to Denon X1000 AVR and it is literally free. After lot of negotiation they agreed to offer me Denon X2000 but the price was quoted at 1,30,000 as you can see from the below breakup it is almost 10% more than actual price after discount.

Denon X1000 Denon X2000
victa 702 47000 47000
202 16000 16000
c102 11000 11000
Subwoofer 35000 35000
Spk Total 109000 109000
Denon 41500 50300
Total price 150500 159300
Discount 41500 41500
Final Price 109000 117800

Then I said OK, instead of this let me go for the Denon with Polk combination and was given the below pricing with flat 10% discount. I said this was the quote given over the phone and was promised a better deal while finalizing the purchase. I also reminded them that I attended the Hifi meet held in Savera this year and was promised by their sales person a good deal when I make the final purchase decision.

They were very adamant and with the attitude said this is the final price you make your decision. Then I showed them even Zansaar their online store tieup offer a better discount as shown below:

mrp 7% dit Additional 2K Profx rate
TSX440T 39000 36270 34270 35100
TSX150 12000 11160 9160 10800
TSX110 14000 13020 11020 12600
550 34000 31620 29620 30600
Spkr Total 99000 92070 84070 89100
AVR 2000 55900 51987 49987 50310
Total 154900 144057 134057 139410


They said will check with their HO and will get back to me the next day, 2 days later and after lot of followup calls finally they confirmed nothing can be done and the price given earlier were the best they could offer.

In the meantime checked with few other dealers like Volumate who offered the same package for 1,33,000 and another dealer for 1,36,000. Volumate basically are sub dealers of Profx and if they could offer 15% flat discount I am not sure why Profx cannot do it.

I am planning to send the mail conversations to their sales/support team to see if they could do something, as I doubt the person to whom I sent did not forward at all and just responded back to me with a No.

In both the cases Hecto Victa and Polk the difference is hardly 5K to 10K, more than the money I am more irritated by the way they treat the prospects:sad:, if they treat prospects this way not sure about the way they treat customers.

 

[elangoas]

if someone is ready to give you a good deal & treat you like king, why stick to ProFX..

BTW there is a forum member from Bangalore, who had bought KEF spekaers and accidentally damaged it... But ProFX was kind enough to replace them free of cost...

An other incident happened to me as well...i stay 45kms away from chennai (Tiruvallur)... I called them up once day & wanted to demo Plok RTI A5 BS speaker...

Before i went for demo that day, i called them up previous day & enquired if RTiA5 is aval for demo.. They confimed it is aval & when i reached there looking for Demo, they said it is not here...

Very Blunt answer..... No courtesy to inform the customer that it is not aval fro demo... Not even an apology.... They just reamined calm & said you can take a look @ focal BS which cost 60K....

I went looking for 20K speaker & they trying to sell me 60K speaker hyeah:

 

[john_k_antony]

if someone is ready to give you a good deal & treat you like king, why stick to ProFX..

BTW there is a forum member from Bangalore, who had bought KEF spekaers and accidentally damaged it... But ProFX was kind enough to replace them free of cost...

An other incident happened to me as well...i stay 45kms away from chennai (Tiruvallur)... I called them up once day & wanted to demo Plok RTI A5 BS speaker...

Before i went for demo that day, i called them up previous day & enquired if RTiA5 is aval for demo.. They confimed it is aval & when i reached there looking for Demo, they said it is not here...

Very Blunt answer..... No courtesy to inform the customer that it is not aval fro demo... Not even an apology.... They just reamined calm & said you can take a look @ focal BS which cost 60K....

I went looking for 20K speaker & they trying to sell me 60K speaker hyeah:

Elangoas is mentioning about me . I totally agree with your observation about ProFx Sales division. Its VERY bad indeed. I was happy only with their After Sales Service division. I agree that the Sales guys show lots of attitude if you are just auditioning. I think they will listen to you only if you show them real CASH / Signed cheque . Even I had similar experience once when I asked them to swap speakers during and audition and they were not willing to do that and said, "those speakers are not good with the current amp" . I said, its okay, I just wanted to hear the difference. They just didn't do that. I got mad and walked away. I actually wanted to compare the performance of KEF Q600c vs Polk CSi A6. Then I got changes to listen to KEF Q 300 at different places and fell in love with them. One place I listened to them was at the Chennai Audio Meet @ Savera . Once I decided that I want these speakers, I just went to their showroom and placed the order ONLY because they are the authorized dealers for KEF. After I swiped my card, the whole attitude changed. They said, why don't you check out their other offerings. I said "Thank you very much" and walked away. They did deliver my speakers on time.

I also didn't get any good discount. The max they offered was 10%, that too after some bargain (well, I am an extremely bad bargainer). But I was lucky that I ordered my speakers a week before the big price hike :clapping:

I feel that the Sales department is pathetic even for a returning customer like me. I can imagine how they behave with a new customer!

If you are getting a better deal else where and you trust the dealer, close your eyes and JUST GO WITH THEM. Only thing you have to look out for is the authenticity of the bill and warranty. Because I know some dealers in Bangalore offer greater discounts and also give a Bill & Warranty, but they are smuggled goods and the Warranty is fake!

BTW, I am very much impressed with the attitude services offered by Cinebels Bangalore. I don't know if they are in Chennai. But in Bangalore, their customer interactions are very nice. Unfortunately, they didn't carry anything that I like to buy now.

Thanks,
John.

 

[narenkum]

Thanks John and Elangoas,

Yes, for now either I have to go with Profx paying higher amount as they have the Tieup with Bajaj Finance and I can repay this 1,30,0000 in 12 EMI's with just a one time processing fee of around 1000. Other Dealers unfortunately do not have this option.Will shortly take a call on this.

Also which combo is better:

Denon X2000 with Polk TSX- Tried and Tested one.

Denon X2000 with Heco Victa- Sounded good to me and the specs are slightly better compared to Polk but would like to have FM's expert opinion on this to make a final call.

 

[captrajesh]

I'm not sure if ProFX was the sole distributor for the products mentioned but AFAIK, the company or for that matter, the sole distributor cannot sell lower than the rate fixed because that would tantamount to undercutting the dealer whereas, the dealer has the freedom to forego some of his profit and offer discount to the customer. This may not be applicable in this specific case so don't throw flames at me if so.

 

[elangoas]

BTW, I am very much impressed with the attitude services offered by Cinebels Bangalore. I don't know if they are in Chennai. But in Bangalore, their customer interactions are very nice. Unfortunately, they didn't carry anything that I like to buy now.

Thanks,
John.

Very true John, even though you make a purchase for 1 Lakh rupees, we never get due credit...

We have Cinebels in Chennai, but not sure if they are the same as bangalore....

The best experience that i have had is with Decibel......

 

[narenkum]

I'm not sure if ProFX was the sole distributor for the products mentioned but AFAIK, the company or for that matter, the sole distributor cannot sell lower than the rate fixed because that would tantamount to undercutting the dealer whereas, the dealer has the freedom to forego some of his profit and offer discount to the customer. This may not be applicable in this specific case so don't throw flames at me if so.

Thanks Captain,

Yes, Volumate did mention something about this during the conversation and even they were not happy with Profx giving discounts to the customers directly and are planning to move out of the Polk brand.

But my whole point was Profx is neither friendly\approachable to the customers and are not Trustworthy to their sub dealers.

I can at least understand their 10% fixed discount factor for Polk products , but not their logic of selling Denon X2000 combo with Victa at a very high price literally without any discount. I somehow felt a "Saravana Stores" attitude with their sales person not caring a bit for the customers.

Also can someone comment on which one will be the best combination, Denon with polk or Heco as this will be for 100% movies in a dedicated room of dimensions 16 feet(L) and 13 feet(W).

 

[elangoas]

Thanks Captain,

Yes, Volumate did mention something about this during the conversation and even they were not happy with Profx giving discounts to the customers directly and are planning to move out of the Polk brand.

But my whole point was Profx is neither friendly\approachable to the customers and are not Trustworthy to their sub dealers.

I can at least understand their 10% fixed discount factor for Polk products , but not their logic of selling Denon X2000 combo with Victa at a very high price literally without any discount. I somehow felt a "Saravana Stores" attitude with their sales person not caring a bit for the customers.

Also can someone comment on which one will be the best combination, Denon with polk or Heco as this will be for 100% movies in a dedicated room of dimensions 16 feet(L) and 13 feet(W).

Polk & Denon are good combo as many of our FM have that combo here.... One such forum member is premblr.. You can either wait for his opinion or write a PM to him for more inputs....

 

[alphacentury100]

Cinebels in available in chennai and they are pathetic (sell their goods for very high price). I once checked the marantz sr7005 receiver's price with them and was shocked. They quoted 100K+ when others were quoting less than 80k.
Profx is good, but their employees are very amateurs. One of them even argued with me once saying that AAC is the best lossless audio format, and when I mentioned them that FLAC is superior to AAC, they only laughed at me. If they realize that you have knowledge about speakers and audio, and if they believe that you are capable of purchasing their stuffs, then they will respond better. During one of my audition with the Profx, I asked them to swap between the KEF R700, R500 and reference203/2 many a times and they just did what I asked them to do, without any hesitation.
Decibels is very good because the whole show is run bu Mr.Raghu, the owner himself, but their prices are bit high compared to the AudioPeople or ProFx (US to India price).
TheAudioPeople is also very good, and they have the maximum collections at their display and they have many demo rooms too, and they do value their customerss, however I have no idea about their after sales support. GrandCinema is also good when it comes to customer care but they don't have a dedicated stereo audition room.
And for the Bajaj finance, You have to pay the first 4 emi's while at the time of purchase.

 

[captrajesh]

But my whole point was Profx is neither friendly\approachable to the customers

I somehow felt a "Saravana Stores" attitude with their sales person not caring a bit for the customers.

Sure you have a point. I've brought to the notice of Mr. Manmohan Ganesh, their Boss who sits at Bangalore about members's feedback on this thread. Hope things would change for better.

 

[narenkum]

Sure you have a point. I've brought to the notice of Mr. Manmohan Ganesh, their Boss who sits at Bangalore about members's feedback on this thread. Hope things would change for better.

Thanks Captain,

Will be contacting them back in the month end and will update this thread if there is any change in their attitude.

 

[captrajesh]

He has seen the mail and thanked me for bringing it to his notice. Hope things will turn better for we consumers.

 

[elangoas]

Thanks Captain,

Will be contacting them back in the month end and will update this thread if there is any change in their attitude.

Once the owner sees the mail, he might cascade to last level employees & they would be aware on how to treat the customers in the next 2 (or) 3 months.... After that hyeah:...

Anyways letz hope for the best....

Anyways thanks to captrajesh for taking this feedback to the concerned person :thumbsup:

 

[captrajesh]

Once the owner sees the mail, he might cascade to last level employees & they would be aware on how to treat the customers in the next 2 (or) 3 months.... After that hyeah:...

Mr. Manmohan Ganesh is not the owner but the Regional Sales Head of South.

Just sharing the mail and castigating the staff might result in what you've said, i.e. thy would go back to normal ways but if I were him, I'll put processes in place that would involve checks and balances so that there is no scope of these getting repeated again.

 

[Selvin]

if someone is ready to give you a good deal & treat you like king, why stick to ProFX..

BTW there is a forum member from Bangalore, who had bought KEF spekaers and accidentally damaged it... But ProFX was kind enough to replace them free of cost...

It is true.. about ProFX aftersales Service. Very Good after sales service support. But similar experience I have also during pre sales just befor buying my Kef iQ5 speaker. This attitude is nowadays only. I had a demo for an AVR in 2002 and that time I was impresed very much with them.

 

[narenkum]

Mr. Manmohan Ganesh is not the owner but the Regional Sales Head of South.

Just sharing the mail and castigating the staff might result in what you've said, i.e. thy would go back to normal ways but if I were him, I'll put processes in place that would involve checks and balances so that there is no scope of these getting repeated again.

Very True Captain,

I feel there is no process in place, for leads tracking apart from the register where we enter our contact details.

They ideally should classify the leads\prospects and for all the hot leads who are ready to purchase should at least followup to complete the deal. For a comparison last week Volume Mate have called me 3 to 4 times to check the status:thumbsup:, while I have called up Profx 4 to 5 times to get the update from their H.O :annoyed:.

In case Profx did not have this 0% Bajaj finance option for their attitude, I would not have bothered to go back to them at all.

In fact I am now even considering to go for a PL which will cost an additional 10k interest and close the deal with Volume Mate or any other small vendor.(They are currently quoting 1.34L for the DenonX2000 with Polk Speakers while Profx quote at 1.39L). So the net loss would be around 4-5K only and I feel these small players needs to be encouraged.

 

[narenkum]

Thanks Captain for bringing this issue to the notice of the Mr. Manmohan Ganesh there seems to be some improvement.

Day before yesterday I spoke to the same sales person and his tone was very polite, and he informed that he had even read this forum post. He stressed the point that he only acted according to the H.O instructions and did not make any decisions on his own.

But most importantly he said whatever has been committed earlier is the final one and no going back on the price front. As a last hope to get some reasoning and the breakup details of the deal I forwarded the mail to their Sales and Support team of Profx.

Yesterday got a call back(In fact this is the first call from them) from one Mr Joe Kumar from Bangalore, he was a very nice and polite gentleman. We had a long discussion on this deal and he explained few things on the import duties, the way the Bajaj finance deals are worked etc.. and said will check with his team and will get back to me by today with a best and no regret price quote.

Eagerly waiting for the quote and hoping this one would be a Win-Win situation for both of us.

 

[narenkum]

Got the final quote today and though not much of a difference, I did not have any other options so accepted it.

Used my wife's Bajaj Finance EMI card and took the delivery of Denon X2000 today:clapping:.I Will need to provide the other document's tomorrow and once that is approved should get the Heco Victa speakers and installation will be done by Saturday.

I will post the details of the installation experience once it is done.

I hereby thank our Captain and Joy from Profx for their great help in closing this deal.

 

[captrajesh]

Hey Naren I'm happy that it worked out for you. Enjoy your new toys.

 

[narenkum]

Hey Naren I'm happy that it worked out for you. Enjoy your new toys.

Thanks Captain.