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In a recent case pertaining to
non-payment and support, the proprietor of Rajkot-based Spire Systems
seems to be frustrated with its distributor Mron International, as it
closed down the local service support in Rajkot and also failed to
clear Spire's payments.
Spire has alleged that when
International had appointed them as an exclusive distributor for
their products in 2008, Mron failed to inform them that they would
have to provide local service warranty on the products. According to
Saurin Parekh, Proprietor, Spire Systems, “Mron had shut down their
local service center in Rajkot without informing us, and now we are
liable for the local service of the material sold by us, which sums
up to approximately Rs 35-40 lakh. Our due payment in the market and
with Mron is not even one percent of the total sales, whereas the
liability is much more than that.” Supporting Parekh on the service
issue, Hetal Mehta, Proprietor of Junagadh-based Computer Point said,
“Mron has shut down the service center, and therefore we have to
send our products to Ahmedabad for replacement, which is never done.
Reason being that they keep replacing their local guys, which does
not even solve the issue, as it is difficult to get in touch with
them.”
When The DQ Week contacted other
partners in Gujarat about the issue, Tushar Bhai from Compect System
of Porbandar said, “There has been no replacement nor warranty from
the Mron officials for the past two years now. We do not get the
replaced SMPs (Mron ATS powers supply), cabinets, mouse, etc on time.
We tried to follow up on them several times, but all our efforts went
in vain.”
Ashwin Bhai of Rajkot-based Star
Computers voiced his concern over the fact that no one is bothered
about the courier charges, and due to this concern against Mron, he
has stopped dealing with them. The status quo as of now is that
Kaushik Pandya, President,
has confirmed that the association
is under pressure regarding the Mron issue, and they will be holding
a meeting with them on an urgent basis.
On contacting Mron, about the issue,
Rajendra Kumar, Marcom Head, Mron International said, “We have been
offering proper service support to our partners in Rajkot. Now that
we are asking for our payments from him, he has an issue on it. We
have been following-up our payments since last six months, but there
has been no response from him. Now, even after six months of uproar
for settlement of account, we do not have any assurance of payments,
nor does Saurin pick up his phone.”
He also shared an e-mail with The DQ
Week, wherein they have specified that the last invoice raised
against Spire Systems was on July 18, 2009 (invoice no:
AMD/09-10/TI0001118). The e-mail said that the final unsettled amount
equals to Rs 1,02,801, which is pending till date. They also informed
that they have received an NOC e-mail from Saurin Parekh, confirming
non-pending of replacement material and closing down of the service
center in Rajkot.
Clarifying this issue, Raksha Parekh,
wife of Saurin Parekh alleged that Mron is falsely, accusing Spire of
the outstanding dues worth over a lakh. According to Raksha, “The
figure is absolutely fraud and they are simply manipulating the whole
issue. I have the final invoice no (MD/09-10/118) which states the
amount to be paid as on July 21, 2009 was Rs 2,61,471. We had to make
the payment in three parts, of which two parts have been already
cleared. The first part of the payment was made on Aug 18, 2009
amounting to Rs 87,246. We made the second part of the payment on Aug
21, 2009, amounting to Rs 87,247. The third part of the payment,
after deductions like the advertisement cost, material cost, etc
equals to around Rs 42,000, which I am ready to pay now to Mron, but
only if Mron states in an e-mail confirming that they will return the
blank cheques that we had given to them and provide support.”
When asked about the consent given by
Parekh on the imposed interest of Rs 9,300 for the outstanding dues
of Nov 2009, Raksha said, “Saurin has not given any consent for the
same and I will ask Mron to show me the proof for the same.”
On the other hand, Mron had shared an
e-mail with The DQ Week, which stated that the former does not have
any dues pending with them at the Rajkot service center. But again
clarifying the issue, Raksha said, “It was under false assurance
that I had written the mail to Mron.”
As both Spire and Mron continue to slug
it out, partners in
suffer because of non-availability of
service for products.