Stair lift by Easystep in UK against TATA by DIMO in Sri Lanka.

Stair lift by Easystep in UK against TATA by DIMO in Sri Lanka.

A text message from my daughter at work read "engineer will arrive between 11 and 12" and I being an engineer myself waited anxiously for his/their arrival. They were due to fix a stair lift my daughter ordered a few days back to make my wife comfortable.

Climbing up the stairs with her 70 year old osteoarthritic  knees is not easy and I totally refused to take the doctors advise to replace her knees with artificial sockets. I would have given my consent for a surgery, had I not surfed the internet and studied the procedure. I stuck to my gut feeling and used my executive powers at home to avoid a major surgery, ignoring the barrage of criticism on my surgical phobia from all the clinically educated well wishers.

"Engineer delayed by traffic. He will arrive before 1". Apparently he had called my daughter on her mobile and explained the delay. Have you ever heard of a Sri Lankan company or an individual who gives a time and informs to excuse himself for any delays? Not even the so called international companies who aim to "be a world class team that will go the extra mile" as per their website.

I haven't, even if they are delayed by hours. Every Sri Lankan wears a wrist watch and for that matter a flashy expensive one apart from the expensive smartphone with reminders, alarms, organisers, GPS facilities and what not albeit, they are never on time.

The worst hits your rage when the latecomer arrives with a giggle after wasting your precious time and puts the blame on either traffic or rain. The word sorry is deleted from their vocabulary.

When the English engineer arrived he politely excused himself for being late. He came in a van alone driven by himself and clad in work clothes fitting to the prevailing hot summer. He immediately got down to work and knew exactly what he was doing and completed the total process of fixing a stair lift within an hour single handed. Right tool for the right job and with postures completely comfortable for a perfect job. Job well done with a simple demonstration on how to operate it.

"If you face any problems just give us a call and read out the digital display and we should be able to fix it over the phone. If not we will come and attend to it in person"

What a service. When my brand new TATA telcoline caught fire on its own within two months of purchase threatening the lives of my family, DIMO took more than a week to visit the scene. Moreover they sued me for calling TATA substandard and inflammable and tortured me financially and mentally.

They lost their injunction and the subsequent appeal as well. Finally they agreed for an amicable settlement for which I agreed to avoid further financial losses which I incurred for over 7 years on legal assistance.

DIMO while bragging of being a company of international standards scooped down to such treacherous acts like suing a customer for exposing the standards of the product they sell. Even with the knowledge that they will not hesitate to silence a 71 year old customer like me, I have not given up my duty as a senior citizen to educate the public of their sub standard products.

Back home a lorry load of people would have come and taken a whole day to complete the same job and the crew would have included a driver who does only driving, a cleaner who only gives a hand in unloading apart from his allocated duty of helping the driver in reversing the vehicle by shouting at the top of his voice. A mechanic and his helper would do the fixing while the Engineer and the Marketing guy who had arrived in a flashy car looks on as if he is doing us a favour.

Tea, if not served could end up with sour faces and a handsome tip if not given would end up the lift being not serviced for days on top of the silent curses for being a stingy customer. Apart from the tools brought that does not fit the job, you will have to give them whatever tools you have at home like hammers and chisels that will raise a cloud of dust to be cleaned by you.

P.S: The losses incurred by me in the purchase of a TATA single cab from DIMO Sri Lanka is in millions and the dissatisfaction is not measurable whereas, the gains on the purchase of a stair lift in UK is sky high. While praising the British hospitality and service I am compelled to curse the owners of DIMO to hell for the pain inflicted on me after the purchase of a vehicle from them. May they burn in hell.