Kawasaki dealer at Palm Beach accused of ‘cheating’ customers

A superbike dealer based out of Palm Beach is facing heat after failing to deliver bikes and refunding the booking amount to customers.

When Japanese superbike manufacturer Kawasaki wanted to set up its first dealership in Mumbai, it awarded it to SNK dealership. The showroom, which opened in 2015 at Palm Beach Road, Navi Mumbai, dealt in superbikes ranging between between Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 18 lakh.

However, according to one report, the dealer has failed to deliver at least 11 superbikes booked by customers. The owner would allegedly take the order and promise to deliver the bike within a month’s time, however, there are customers who haven’t got their bikes even after 3 months.

Any time anxious customers would call, the dealership’s owner Satyen Karandikar would make excuses and ask for more time. In some cases, he was able to delay some customers by over a month. Whereas those who pressurised him to refund the amount were given cheques that didn’t have a signature or bounced when presented at the bank.

Many buyers, who now feel cheated, blame the manufacturer of not alerting potential customers about the dealership’s lack of credibility. However, Kawasaki India maintains that after it learnt about the backlog of orders, it had asked the dealer to not accept any new orders from May and fulfill the pending ones.

A customer who paid over Rs 15 lakh for his Ninja 1000, however, has alleged that the dealer bypassed the manufacturer’s directive by backdating the registrations. He also claims that the Karandikar is using the registration money to clear his previous debts.

A statement by Kawasaki on their website reads, “IKM takes customer satisfaction very seriously and is doing everything in its power to solve this issue as soon as possible. We are now communicating with customers to understand their issues and in turn, instruct SNK Palm Beach to satisfy and resolve these issues at the earliest. Please accept our sincere apologies for these delays and thank you for being patient and supportive.”

Meanwhile, when contacted by a leading daily, Karandikar acknowledged the delays but cited ‘government formalities’ as the reason.