Elevator issues latest

If you thought our elevator issues were resolved, they are far from it. This is the latest but not the only issue. Elevator on 5th floor showing basement and dysfunctional. Recently a lady and her mother dropped from the elevator from 1st floor to basement. 

You think Pride group responded to this? Not at all. This is business as usual for them.

False ceiling collapse in Pride Platinum

So last week, the false ceiling in one of the apartment buildings collapsed to the floor. Thankfully no one was injured as it happened in the late hours. But, it is still highly recommended to use a DOT certified helmet when passing common areas in Pride group projects. 

In other news, the state of affairs with respect to project completion is status quo. No compound wall, stinking STP, etc. Mr. Jain is a master manipulator of customers. If you have money to burn, do invest in a Pride Group project. Dissatisfaction guaranteed. 

Pride Gutter-nium

My single largest request to any person investing in a Pride group project is to do the following:

1) Contact me via email.
2) Visit Pride Platinum and walk around.

You won't feel out of place in a direct comparison with Asia's largest slum. The basement reeks of gutter smell. A point that we have highlighted since mid 2012 when the plant went operational till date. It hasn't been fixed. It works a few days and doesn't the others. Mind you, when it works, Sewage water is treated and pumped back with almost equal stink as a public toilet. The colour of the water pumped into your bathrooms is Brown. Yeah, full of shit! 

We have tried our best to tell them to move the plant away from the basement but Mr. Arvind Jain and Pride group engineers are not bothered. My next few posts will highlight this aspect in detail. And that includes how they pollute ground water table with sewage water by dumping waste water in storm water drains and pumping it back into the apartments using a borewell.

What you see is what you don't get

You start your search for an apartment by scouting places, spending your valuable weekend time in hot scorching afternoons in dusty conditions. You are determined to make your first house a sweet success. The research that goes in is pretty spot on.

A customer's first line of approval is a sample flat. Perhaps that is where everyone falters. I was point blank told while looking at the sample flat in Pride Platinum that the actual house will be exactly like what I see minus the furnishings. But, every resident in Pride Platinum was in for a rude shock when quite a few of the specs did not match. Let's start with pre delivery inspection of my apartment, 8 sliding window glasses were cracked and broken but slyly fit. They thought I would not notice. I refused to take possession without that being fixed. 3-4 floor tiles were cracked in corners and broken in some cases. They offered to fix these defects but said that the replaced tiles won't match in color. How sweet. I'll put up pictures of chess board type floor tile replacements at a later time.

However, let's begin by some obvious deviations in the sample flat.

The entire sample flat had high quality 4 track channel sliding windows:

But the actual apartment has 3 track huge windows that rattle like crazy, are difficult to operate. Mis-aligned and heavy to use. Add to it, that the finishing and quality of the sliding windows would put any third grade sliding window manufacturer to shame. Do note, that the economics behind using 3 track v/s 4 track are huge. Obvious savings in metal frames and channels lead to a huge cost difference. But, Pride says they are committed to quality. This is an obvious example of how cheap their standards are. Trying to make a few thousand bucks per apartment by giving lesser track channels and thinking that the end users won't find out.

Let's get across to a most glaring misdemeanor. They showed this window in the guest bedroom of their sample flat:

What they have given is a cage like flush window that does not offer any ventilation. Add to it, that the grill has been fixed on the inside as against outside which is a norm. So, if you have naughty kids, do expect them to try and crawl up the window grills. A contraption that their engineers and designers had no clue about on how to fix. Quite a commitment to quality I'd say! 

Someone replied in bulk, paid stooge?

I was quite surprised to see a flood of copy pasted comments on my blog. Strangely enough, they sound clearly as a defense for the builder. Strange no? Someone who wants to clear the builder of his responsibilities and liabilities. But I am glad someone is trying. Keep going Mr. whatever-your-name-is. I am all up for it. 

Elevator issues - Part 4: More assurances no action

How to kill a month without action, engage a customer in a chain of emails. You'll also notice how we jump up from August directly to mid October with constant harassment to the users of something as primary as an elevator in a high rise building. Do note, that people staying upwards of 5th floor have paid an extra Rs. 50/- per sq. ft for every floor they rose. Would you pay as much for buying trouble? I think not. From end August till mid-October, Pride group people (barring Bhagwan Singh), vanished. They left their vendor and end users to sort it out. It was only until mid October when I got a call in the middle of a work day from Mr. Milind Bhoite that there was big meeting called with OTIS and Mr. Jain will preside over it. Thinking it was a waste of my valuable work time, I gave it a miss. 

I am not sure what transpired in the meeting but it took a good week till I think the 3rd of 4th week of October to have the issue resolved. I had to fly out for business reasons in the end of October and could not pursue or follow up on the matter. However, after constant relenting and getting overly aggressive as well as being point blank rude in many occasions, the elevator issues in C building seemed to have come to a logical end. Yes, it took a little about 10 months to fix what was assumed to be something integral to a high rise building. It is also important to note that each member had paid maintenance for their apartments, this maintenance includes a significant amount of money that goes in the electricity consumed by the elevators. Surprise surprise, Pride group made away with that money since these elevators continued to be down in the said duration. We are talking about almost a year of electricity savings. In my estimate, that turns out to be roughly touching Rs. 3,00,000/-. Considering that Pride group had to shell out Rs. 3,50,000/- to get the elevator fixed, I don't think the smart alec businessman took any losses to his account. 

Comments and feedback welcome till I blog out issues related to security, VAT payments, stinky premises due to a failed sewage treatment plant (2 years), garbage issues, dumping of sewage water in ground water table by Pride, deviations from the sample flat and what we got, leakage issues, more elevator problems in the other seven buildings, etc etc. Thanks for reading!  

_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  8/28/12
to D, bhagwan, cb, arvindjain, milind.pride, Manishkumar, girish, rajesh, AnilM, Duryodhan 

Dear Mr. Gandhi

Your reply on parts' status unavailability is unacceptable. Are you trying to say that due to unavailability of parts you have stopped delivering new elevators?   

I am wondering how you will deliver service in future if your response time to any breakdown is such.

_________________________________________________________________

On 27-Aug-2012, at 21:13, "Gandhi, D K" <gandhi.dk@otis.com> wrote:

Dear sir,

We have replaced defective display of F building on 23/8/2012
2 hall call were not working of E & D – Started on 23/8/2012
Only one fan is not working of E Building.  Will change before 30/8/2012.
Today I have discussed with Mr. Milind Bhoite  regarding Car Lights.  Tomorrow we will give one sample to him.

Thanks & Regards,
Dinesh Gandhi.
M-98500700209
_________________________________________________________________


bhagwan singh <bhagwan@pridegroup.net>  8/28/12
to milan.chaudhari, rajeshnarang, AnilM, gandhi.dk, me, cb, milind, arvindjain 

Dear Milind Chaudhari,

We are not getting confirm date of delivery of material and serviceability of C building elevator after making of payment for it. Mr. Dinesh Gandhi is not able to get material delivery date and not able to give any target date of it repair where as our clients are facing un bearable problem. You are requested to look in to the matter to get serviceable of the said elevators as soon as possible. You are also requested to look in to the pride house elevators those are giving jerks and not installed duplex system.

Your co-operation and necessary action in this regards is highly solicited.

Thanks & Regards,
Bhagwan Singh
Pride Purple Group
_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  8/31/12
to bhagwan, milan.chaudhari, AnilM, gandhi.dk, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain 

Spoke to Mr. Gandhi and no update is available with respect to delivery of parts! 

_________________________________________________________________

bhagwan singh <bhagwan@pridegroup.net>  8/31/12
to me, milan.chaudhari, AnilM, gandhi.dk, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain 

Dear Milind Choudhary,
I had written a mail to you on 28 Aug 2012 on a very urgent issue when We are not able to get require information and data from your Area Manager Services but you had also  not given any feedback on it which is very embracing on OTIS part. If a General Manager level official is  not able to  give target date of delivery of material and  repair of break down elevator after making of payment for it due to which numbers of occupants are facing severe problem then it means OTIS is not taking any care of its clients after sales service. You are requested to inform us target date of material delivery and repair of elevator . If, you are not able to repair the elevator then inform us you inability so, we can take further decision.

Please revert back soon as it is most urgent.

Thanks & Regards
Bhagwan Singh
_________________________________________________________________

Chaudhari, Milan <Milan.Chaudhari@otis.com>  8/31/12
to bhagwan, me, Anil, D, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain 

Dear Mr. Singh,
Dinesh Gandhi our area manager will reply you today with all the information, including material delivery and completion of balance work
Regret the delay and inconvenience caused Our team is working on these issues and be assured early resolution and  non-reoccurrence

Thanks for you cooperation

Thanking you and assuring you our best services at all times

Regards,
Milan P. Chaudhari.
(Western Region -Area Operations)
Tel. - 91-20-25399696
_________________________________________________________________

Gandhi, D K <gandhi.dk@otis.com>  8/31/12
to bhagwan, me, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan 

Dear sir,

Attached herewith Pride Platinum & Pride House pending points updates.
As confirm ,Pride Platinum – C building material will dispatch by factory by 10/9/2012.
Pride Platinum – car light sample is given to Mr. Milind Bhoite.

Thanking you & assuring you our best services at all times.
Thanks & regards,
Dinesh Gandhi.
M-9850070209
_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  9/12/12
to Shreyas, D, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan 

No news on the material. What is the next false date of promise Mr. Gandhi? 

I think at this rate, 2013 looks more like it.

Kiran Chitnis

_________________________________________________________________

Shreyas Shringarpure <sdsatufl@gmail.com>  9/12/12
to me, D, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan 

This is extremely troublesome. It seems civil language and behavior will not get any work done from OTIS on the lifts

Shreyas Shringarpure

_________________________________________________________________

Gandhi, D K <gandhi.dk@otis.com>  9/12/12
to Sandesh, Shreyas, me, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan 

Dear sir,


Attached todays mail communication.

Thanks & regards,

Dinesh Gandhi.

_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  9/14/12
to D, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

Please give me a date Mr. Gandhi? The last two dates that you promised have already went past without ANY action. Just to summarise:

1) C building elevator is still down. While you are making all attempts to fix it, there are elevators in other buildings that are giving away slowly.
2) The primary elevator in C building keeps breaking down again and again. Although this hasn't been reported to you but they fix on themselves.
3) The panel lights in the primary elevator of C building have gone kaput.
4) There is just one CFL on the roof of the elevator. You promised a 3 day response to replace them and it is still not done. 

Please let me know what will be done to fix this? 

Regards,
Kiran Chitnis
_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  9/16/12
to D, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

Dear Mr. Gandhi,

Elevator in C building down since 7 am. The watchman has tried to call Mr. Pethkar, Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Birajdas but no one has responded to his calls. I finally got Mr. Birajdas right now on the call and he is sending someone over.

Regards,
Kiran Chitnis
_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  9/16/12
to D, bhagwan, cb, arvindjain, milind.pride, Manishkumar, girish, rajesh, AnilM, Duryodhan 

Technician arrived on site. Time is 9:20 am. 

_________________________________________________________________

Gandhi, D K <gandhi.dk@otis.com>  9/16/12
to me, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

Dear sir,

As discussed , we send the Technician  & started  Lift at 9.20 am today. Call was received at 7.45 am.
I have confirmed with Mr. Dhanraj  ( 9762351873 ) ,he did not contact to me. But he tried to contact Mr. Petkar & Mr. Birajdar.
Mr. Petkar responded him .Also said that he will commutate to Mr. Birajar. & communicated also.

Thanks & regards,
Dinesh Gandhi.
M-9850070209 
_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  9/16/12
to D, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

That still beats your promised response time of 30 minutes as you've mentioned earlier in the mail thread. In view of this situation you should have sent someone on site by 8:30 am. Agree? 

Regards,
Kiran Chitnis
_________________________________________________________________

Gandhi, D K <gandhi.dk@otis.com>  9/16/12
to me, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

Dear sir,

As per attached my mail communication dated 19/8/2012 -

·         Otis will ensure /take care of these Elevators  ( C & H )for minimum down time. But  In case of breakdown of these elevators, After getting calls – Otis response will be 30 Min. 

Between 9 am to 5.30.  After 5.30  to 9 pm. this will 1 Hr.  In case of emergency ,you  will contact  Mr. Birajdar ( 9850070221 ) or me directly.

Thanks & Regards,
Dinesh Gandhi.
M-98500700209
_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  9/18/12
to D, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

Dear all @ OTIS,

C building elevator down since 8:45 am to 9:45 am. Fixed by OTIS technician and again went down at 10:15 am.

Fyi and writing to you for record purposes.

Regards,
Kiran Chitnis

_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  10/7/12
to D, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

Haven't reported many instances for over a month. Both lifts of C building down right now.

Kiran Chitnis

_________________________________________________________________

Gandhi, D K <gandhi.dk@otis.com>  10/8/12
to me, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

Dear sir,

AS confirm by our Service Engineer with Mr.Dhanraj , yesterday there was supply issue 2-3 times.
Mr. Dhanraj reset the Lifts & started.
Now Lifts are working ok.  But our Service Engineer will visit the site & will check once again..

Thanks & Regards,
Dinesh Gandhi.
M-9850070209
_________________________________________________________________

Kiran Chitnis <kiranchitnis@gmail.com>  10/8/12
to Kiran, D, Shreyas, bhagwan, Anil, cb, 'milindbhoite, rajeshnarang, arvindjain, Milan, Sandesh 

Just like Microsoft Windows 98? Is that a solution? :-)

Power will go and be restored subsequently. Should that warrant a reset? Let me also inform you that power outage is not the only reason why a reset is required in OTIS lifts. It happens abruptly.
_________________________________________________________________

Elevator issues Part 3: We don't give a damn follow up with "our" vendor

An issue occurred since inception. The elevators never worked. We are 8 months into the mayhem without any clear and concise directions on what the future would be. The cost of replacing elevators is pretty high and going by the attitude of Pride group engineers and management, I had no faith that this issue would resolve any time soon. Constant stinker emails, phone calls, et al go unanswered. Their lack luster attitude is clear they give a damn, they choose the vendor with a price match, quality seems secondary and when the end user is stuck with sub standard products, they have a way of shooing you away and asking you to directly contact their vendor.

The parts required for replacement hadn't arrived. In the meantime, to me it looked like OTIS did not make a single elevator since they did not have parts. Hard to believe right? That's what they said for a complete two months.

As a damage control measure going by the hue and cry we had raised, Pride Purple group's VP, Mr. Rajesh Narang, a flamboyant speaker and smart marketeer sat down and gave us a million assurances, 15 days down the line, we were at the same old place where we started. It seemed obvious that the meeting was a damage control measure for Pride group as their sales were still on and I had openly told them that we'll dissuade any person from purchasing a flat at Pride Platinum due to ongoing issues. Here are minutes of the meeting for your reference from a meeting that was held on 17Aug'12 (pardon the English, I did not make it):

Agenda of the meeting held on 05 August 2012 for a follow up meeting with Mr. Narang:

P.S: This was an internal meeting and an assurance was given by Mr. Narang on each point below stating that the issues will be resolved. We are in November 2013 and I'll list out all the issues that stand unresolved as on date as well an new items that have added to our woes. Think living in a desolate property without any compound wall 2 years after taking possession. 

________________________________________________________________________
Attended by: 

Mr Santosh Bohra 

Mr Ramesh Bhatt 

Mr Shreyas Shringarpure

Mr Dheeraj Munot

Mr. Vikash Jugran 

Mr Kiran Rai

Mr Mohan Khatavkar 

Mr Sandeep Lokhande 

The meeting was started at 10.15 and it was decided that the communication part will be taken care by Mr. Santosh Bohra and Mr Kiran Chitnis with Pride Group and Following agendas was discussed during the meeting

1 Society Maintenance: Committee will take this matter with Builder or his senior representatives and will ask them to follow the commitments done by the sales person of the pride group to all .

2 Property tax: This is now at very high priority and the Committee will take this matter with Mr. Narang and Pride group Team and will take the matter urgently with Pune Municipal Corporation for the following points a> Why are there such discrepancies in the amount payable by flat owners for similar flats ….? b> Property tax computation mechanism to be explained by the lawyer in the next meeting

3. Security: Committee will ask to install main gate soon and also the Automatic Gate Barrier on Main Gate . Two Wheeler and four wheeler’s sticker need to be provided by builder to all the Residents 

4. Parking Leakage: Some place Leakages are reduced but need to remove all leakage permanently and this will be taken with Pride Team in next meeting .

5. Garbage treatment: Still committee waiting Reply from Builder on this

6. Solar heater/ fuel cells installations : Also waiting Reply from Builder on this .

7. Gas connection : This is at very high priority and Pride Team must have to reply on the exact date for the same .

8. Amenities : Real Map still not updated on Website and also now we need to a confirm date of handover this to residents from Pride Group .

9. Water softening issues : Water Softening is being seems solved but need to get confirmation from Pride team and also the affected area need to get cleaned and request to pride technical team to help on this 

10. Glazing window : Still waiting for Reply from Pride TEAM on this 

11. Door magnets: Still need to get confirmation on this from Pride Team is installed and tested or yet to be test…………..?

12. Lift : Lifts of ‘C’ building don’t function for about 15 days a month and all the other building also have similar issues. UPS will be installed in the C building lift immediately. OTIS services are bad hence they will not be renewed. The other lift of “C” which is breakdown from long time need to rectify same with all new material need permanent solution on this . “D” building Lift is ok . “E” Building small Lift door open button inside car is not working . “F” Small lift is not working in night and also having some noise in the same . Display at many floors are not working . “H” building lift have Display . Apart from above problem some common problems are as follows 

- No Intercom is being installed in any lift. 

- No instruction manual and mirror in any lift 

- No safty certificate 

- Fan and lights are not proper so need to check on each lift properly 

13. Intercom : Tata indicom person’s phone number are as follows so who do not have connection please contact Mr Pramod 9225546463 and Mr Sitaram 9225546414. 

14. Cable : Videocon Dish already installed on the terrace and Builder paid Rs. 1500 for each Flat for getting this service and if resident want to use other service than better builder will provide the space to install the Dish but he suggested to have a common dish for each service prodder like Tata Sky , DISH TV. We will talk to them for quote us and after getting quote we will decide on this till that time for new residents who will come now requested to go for Videocon 


15. Tenant issues : Tenant policy to be drafted and passes in the first AGM, however the same is possible only after the society is formed. Currently an Ad-hoc committee is to be formed comprising the builder’s property manager and two members each from every building.

________________________________________________________________________

Since we are talking about elevator issues, flamboyant Narang (sounds similar to a Bollywood biggie), gave big talk about their ethics and commitment, etc. Yeah, the same type of crap that is dished out by B school graduates. Much to the satisfaction of others. Usually a broken bone needs plaster and not an ointment. We'll see in my next post.