A brand is not made in a day. It indeed takes tireless effort. Amul was no doubt brought into existence by Kurien but many able soldiers after him have burnt midnight oil to uphold its preeminent position.
R S Sodhi, Managing Director of GCMMF (owner of AMUL) is one among them. A consumer tucked away in a remote district of Assam wrote a letter to Indian Cooperative complaining over-charging by certain Amul vendor.
We forwarded the letter to Mr Sodhi who took it up quite seriously and thereafter began a series of mails zeroing in on the problem.
We produce below the mail consumer Saptarshi Deb wrote to Indian Cooperative which in turn was forwarded to MD who in turn forwarded it to his staff to get at the bottom of the truth.—-Editor
From: “Saptarshi Deb”
To:
Sir /Madam,
I found it my duty to let you know that there is an agency of Amul here (some Rupak’s Agency) in Subhash Nagar, Silchar -4, Dist. Cachar, Assam who is actually making the profit out of illegitimate ways. Sir before I say anything against, I must gratify you that like the millions of Indians I too trust the brand ‘AMUL’.
Sir, yesterday I bought some commodity from the above mentioned shop and made the payment. To my surprise, I found that the Lady sitting at the counter charged additional Rs 40/- . As it was night hours, I thought in the next day (that is today ) I will enquire and may be a small summation mistake was made on her part and I was sure when I would make her realize then everything will be resolved.
But more surprises was waiting for me Sir, she said that the item ‘AMUL ICE-CREAM FAMILY PACK’ that I bought was worth Rs 200/- whereas the M.R.P was printed as Rs 160.00. She was desperate in her attitude and was professing that she used to carry all the way from Guwahati and so additional Carrying charge was levied.
Sir , it was a shock for me. She said all other commodity i.e. Paneer, Lasssi, Chocklate etc are exempt from this carrying charge, only the Ice-Cream in her opinion are the rarest product which she needs to personally carry from Gauhati.
Sir I am a good clientele of yours and a concerned citizen too. I feel cheated & I failed to realize the mistake of that arrogant Lady.
I leave before your concern to look into the matter and investigate independently and if you find any wrong then please do the needful.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Saptarshi Deb
Silchar, Dist. – Cachar Assam
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Ajay Jha
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 08:35:02 +0530
To: rupindersodhi .
Subject: Fwd: Letter of regret
Dear Sodhi Saheb,
A consumer from Guwahati has sent a detailed story of highhandedness by a Amul vendor to Indian Cooperative. I am forwarding the same for your response.
Rgds
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: sodhi@amul.coop [mailto:sodhi@amul.coop]
To: B R MALLICK ZIC; APURBA MISRA DIC (RETAIL & ICE CREAM)
For n a pl
(R S Sodhi)
Managing Director
GCMMF Ltd., Anand
———- Forwarded message ———-
From:
“brmallick”
To:
Subject: FW: Fwd: Letter of regret-Excess rate of Amul Ice cream at Silchar
Dear Avinash,
Pl. find forwarded mail from MD which is self explanatory.
Pl. contact the consumer and address his grievance
I also would like to know how Amul IC is available at Silchar and from where they are getting IC.
Pl. revert asap, as I have to revert to MD who in turn may like to reply to Mr. Jha of Indian cooperative.
Thanks
BR Mallick
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: avinashkumar@amul.coop [mailto:avinashkumar@amul.coop]
To: brmallick
Dear Sir,
We visited Subash Nagar, Silchar today. As contact details of customer was not provided to us we were unable to contact. Regarding agency of AMUL named some Rupak’s Agency cited by the customer there is no such shop. We think the name of Shop may be RAUNAK’s AMUL PARLOUR. Since Ice cream and Paneer are not available at SIlchar, this shop brings stocks from Eskay Refrigeration,Paan Bazar Guwahati and A.K Enterprise,Police Bazzar,Shillong. He uses his own AC vehicle (Maruti Alto) for bringing these stocks. As cited by the owner of the shop he incurs an average cost of Rs. 5000/trip.
Regards
Avinash Kumar
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: “brmallick” Date: 16 October 2013 4:10:12 PM IST
To R S Sodhi, MD GCMMF
Subject: FW: FW: Fwd: Letter of regret-Excess rate of Amul Ice cream at Silchar
Dear Sir,
This refers to your forwarded mail of today morning regarding higher rates charged for ice cream by a silchar based retailer.
As informed to you we have not launched Amul IC in Silchar.
I had deputed Sh. Avinash Kumar, DIC Silchar to find out and provide details on the issue.
As informed by him., the retailer gets stocks from Guwahati (distance 300 km) and Shillong (distance 200 km) through his own arrangement and charges Rs. 20-30 extra per litre for expenses incurred by him.
We have no plans to launch ice cream in Silchar as of now and would explore how to stop this practice so that such customer impressions and grievances do not occur.
regards
BR Mallick