While Kawasaki makes no mention of refund, owner of SNK Palm Beach says he will return money to those who paid for bikes in full but never got their delivery
After the SNK dealership at Palm Beach failed to deliver 11 high-end Kawasaki motorcycles to customers – who had already paid the full sum for the superbikes in advance – the Indian Kawasaki Motors (IKM) last morning printed a notice informing the public that SNK's dealership had been cancelled.
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SNK Palm Beach was the first Kawasaki dealership in the city. File pic
In its notice, IKM stated that SNK had committed 'material breaches of the terms and conditions of dealership,' and advised people not to deal with the SNK Palm Beach dealership for Kawasaki motorcycles. Although IKM expressed regret over customers' poor experience with SNK, the public notice made no mention of whether the bikes, that have been pending for more than three months now, would be delivered to customers.
mid-day had reported on August 15 ('Superbike dealer takes customers on bumpy ride') on how the dealership had taken the amount for the superbikes, which cost between R7 to R18 lakh, but failed to deliver them even after three months. When the customers demanded refunds, their cheques bounced.
Who will refund money?
"Till the time Satyen Karandikar (owner of SNK) was still linked to IKM, we were hopeful that if this guy does not have any money, then at least IKM would help us in getting the bikes or processing the refund," said Navin Bharti, one of the 11 customers still waiting for delivery of the bikes. He had filed an FIR against SNK on August 25.
mid-day's Aug 15 report
SNK responds
"I had submitted multiple proposals to IKM as to how we can tackle this situation, but they did not go through any of them," said Karandikar. "From today, I will start refunding money of the customers — not the whole amount in one go, but some part of it." He pointed out that the refund would be done by demand draft and not by cheque.
"I will discuss the matter with the 11 people concerned and ask them to decide how they want the refund: should the person who booked the bike first be given the whole amount [from the money Karandikar currently has], or should the amount be distributed among everybody? I will even refund the customers' bank instalments and interest that they have been paying. Now, whatever happens between the company and me will be a civil matter… I will go to court."
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