Open Letter to the CEO of Indiabulls Real Estate
Date: 22 Mar 2014
To
The CEO,
Indiabulls Real Estate
Mumbai
Sub: Customer Experience – Indiabulls Greens, Panvel Dear Sir, May I take a luxury of taking 10 minutes of your precious time to narrate end-user experience in dealing with your esteemed Group? This letter contains 707 words.
Let me share some background. I am a resident of Panvel and was looking out for a suitable home in or around Panvel. I searched various sites and zeroed down on Indiabulls Greens. It was fitting in my budget, was offering a luxurious lifestyle and everything that my small family may need in the next decade. It took a lot of efforts for me to convince my family and near and dear ones that the dream house that we are looking out for is, in fact, lies in Indiabulls Greens and nowhere else.
After various negotiations with Indiabulls- Sales Staff, we arrived at a conclusion that a 2BHK Flat No. 17G1-2804 would be offered by Indiabulls for about Rs. 63.0 Lacs plus the cost of stamp duty & registration. I arranged for funds from family sources and had paid Rs. 12.63 Lacs towards advance booking amount. On 26 Jun 2013 while booking the flat, I had specifically mentioned the condition that the possession of Flat should necessarily be provided on or before 31 Mar 2014. The Sales Staff also orally promised me that the possession would be delivered.
In August 2013 when I received a soft copy of Agreement for Sale, I raised 3 fundamental queries.
1. The date of possession mentioned was 42 months from the date of Agreement which was clearly deviating from the original condition which I had stated for booking of Flat.
2. The nature, extent, description and percentage of undivided interest in the common areas and facilities was not mentioned 3. The carpet area and balcony area was not shown separately The Maharashtra Ownership of Flats Act requires the above facts to be specifically mentioned in the Agreement for Sale. The land developer/builder is made responsible for the same.
Even after multiple exchange of emails and 3 meetings at Elphinestone Road Office, not a single query was resolved. General Manager, Customer Care had even promised me by email that the possession would be delivered by Dec 2015. However when I insisted on writing possession date as 31 Dec 2015 in Agreement for Sale, even this request was declined. (What When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost. – German proverb an irony!). I was even ready to drop other queries and was even allowing Indiabulls an extended time of 21 months to deliver the possession of my dream home!
You may imagine how the dream of owning a luxurious house had actually turned into a nightmare. For the first time in my life, I was even hospitalized for 7 days for very high fever. Even after several tests, X-rays and CT Scan the reasons could not be detected.
Such pathetic attitude from a reputed group like Indiabulls forced me to apply for cancellation of booking. Even then Indiabulls was reluctant and had even declared that about Rs. 8.70 Lacs would be deducted and only the balance of Rs. 3.92 Lacs would be refunded. Another round of severe negotiations and threat of legal battle forced Indiabulls to grant me a refund of Rs. 11.59 Lacs. My hard-earned money of Rs. 1.04 lacs was siphoned off by Indiabulls even when Indiabulls was clearly at fault! Let me conclude this letter with a famous quote of Warren Buffet : “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” I have lost money and health which really mean something. But Indiabulls has lost reputation which is really everything.
If you think it fit and proper kindly grant me a refund of balance Rs. 1.04 Lacs. It is solely up to you to grant me an additional compensation for facing such miseries solely from Indiabulls.
I can surely promise you that I will never ever deal with Indiabulls Group in future.
Best Regards
Mohan Ketkar