May 18, 2010 11:37 AM
21717 Views
(Updated May 25, 2010 12:38 PM)
In continuation with my review “AC buying guide”
I have requirement of 2 ACs for my 120sft and 156sft rooms. I planned for 5 star rated 1.2 T(Hitachi doesn’t have 1T models) and 1.5T costing about Rs.34k and Rs.39K resp. Though its out of my budget, I was attracted by their EMI option.
EMI Offer:
Hitachi website advertises “Triple Zero” offer meaning zero down payment, zero interest and zero processing fee. This is provided by Future group (Home Town, Big Bazaar, eZone). Baja finance provides zero interest finance, but you’ll need to pay 1/3rd of AC cost + installation charges + stabilizer cost as down payment, and the rest 2/3rd in 8 EMIs.
Where to buy :
When I went to Home Town, JD electronics, Reliance Digital, etc, though they provide EMI option, I could only get the old model “ACE Cutout” but not “Follow Me”. Though only the Follow Me feature is added in the new model, as the price difference is only Rs.500, I preferred Follow ME. I went to the Hitachi Hyd Sales Manager, after looking for their address in their website. He said that only Hitachi Exclusive dealers can provide Follow Me as its part of business understanding. And, these dealers don’t provide EMI option.
Service:
Hitachi has many complaints about their after-sale-service. I discussed about this with the area manager. “He says that Hitachi has 2 service divisions. If you buy Hitachi ACs in retail from Reliance Digital, Home Town, etc, then the installation and after sale service is provided by their service team only and not by Hitachi team . But if you buy from our “ Service Dealers ” (Hitachi Exclusive) like RS Enterprises, hyd(Authorized Hitachi Sales and Service), we’ll take care of the service. And, all the bad things you heard about service and delay is mostly from ACs bought in retail from Reliance Digital, HomeTown as they have heavy service calls and take care of all brands they sell. Service dealers are more loyal to Hitachi as they deal only Hitachi and have a lesser no. of service calls.”
My only concern about Hitachi was after-sale-service. Though I can get Rs.1000 discount in retail, I preferred Hitachi service only. As, I couldn’t get finance from Service dealers , I bought only 1 AC from Hitachi. Its 1.2T ACE Follow ME for my 120 sft room.
My Hitachi experience :
I bought 1.2T Hitachi Follow ME ( Model No. RAU014EQD )
Cost : I was charged Rs. 33, 500 (but after the AC was delivered, on the box it was -> MRP Rs.33, 000 all incl.). The price is inclusive of AC cost, 4KVA Real Guard Stabilizer and installation charges.
Installation : The product was delivered and installed next day. I would give 3/5 for installation skills of the technicians. They couldn’t cut a clean opening and left chipped off wall on the back side. I’ll need to get some minor cement work done to fix it.
Voltas Vs Hitachi:
I have 1.5T Voltas for 156sft room and I feel, Voltas has more powerful fan and cools faster than Hitachi. However, Hitachi has many useful features like, Timer On/Off, Customizable user modes, Vertical louvers control, dust filter cleaning indicator, follow me feature. I’ll have to see, which one fairs better in the long run. The Voltas outdoor unit makes comparatively more noise than the Hitachi ODU.
