There was a spat between Bharat Thakrar who is the CEO of ScanGroup – a PR, advertising and communications agency – and the local franchise holders for Land Rover, RMA Kenya.
Apparent Bharat bought a 30 million shillings Range Rover in 2012 from the then franchise holders CMC Kenya. The vehicle has never ending mechanical problems that is stressing the owner. According to a colleague of Bharat, the 2012 Range Rover is ever in the garage.
So when Bharat had a problem during the long Shujaa Day weekend, he saw it best to engage the dealership through social media. It is not clear what Bharat expected but any query on social media is always having a standard reply which is, “please send us (DM us) your contacts so that we can get in touch with you.”
Bharat was either not happy with the response or simple sought to troll RMA getting angry that the dealer doesn’t know him while he bought a car costing Ksh 30 million. Kind of blind and stupid snob if you ask me. But it was great to see that RMA didn’t budge and told Bharat to relax, enjoy the Mashujaa Day weekend and have a cold tusker.
Bharat’s minions descended upon RMA with all manner of insults and cajoling hoping that the premium dealer would give a hoot to the protests of the footsubishi gang which they didn’t. RMA has neither apologise nor even deleted the offending tweet. Most of those who came out guns blazing against RMA Kenya are mostly ScanGroup employees or Kenyan Asian friends of Bharat who sought to help one of their own.
RELATED: Scanad’s Francis Karuga Social Media Madness On Barclays And Kenya Power Accounts
What I find funny is that the same Bharat Thakrar making a mountain out of some bonoko shit is also the same guy who handles Kenya Power, Barclays and a many other social media accounts for users. You know how unfriendly Kenya Power Twitter account has been for most users. Even Safaricom’s social media management is under Bharat as Squad Digital is also part of the ScanGroup empire.
Some time in 2012, maybe while Bharat was buying his Range, Barclays Bank Kenya Twitter account decided to shame one of their clients by posting all his accounts details on social media. It was not Barclays the bank handling the account but it was Ogilvy Kenya which was contracted to handle the account. When a client asked questions, Francis Karuga (he is @MediaMK on Twitter but likes to be called Frankie because he is queer) who was managing the account, decided to shame the client publicly. The same Francis Karuga (MediaMK) came out to support his demoralised CEO when RMA gave him a dose of his own medicine.
I am sure that RMA didn’t mean to hurt Bharat and his ScanGroup family but RMA needs not apologise because there is nothing wrong with the tweet and ScanGroup is hurting many Kenyans on social media everyday.
The conversation
I am getting fed up of my Range letting me down. The most expensive car is the worst serviced in Kenya. @LandRover @LandRoverZA pls help
— Bharat Thakrar (@bharatthakrar) October 19, 2014
Need some help from @LandRover @alykhansatchu @LandRoverZA to get my Range fixed. The car spends two days a month at RMA. — Bharat Thakrar (@bharatthakrar) October 19, 2014
@bharatthakrar please DM us your contacts so that our CEO and Head of Servicing can be in touch soonest. Many thanks.
— RMA Motors (Kenya) (@RMAKenya) October 20, 2014
“@RiazGilani: @coldtusker you should’ve bought a landcruiser. pic.twitter.com/HXOuRqPoG4”@RMAKenya
— Bharat Thakrar (@bharatthakrar) October 20, 2014
@bharatthakrar will be in touch to discuss one-to-one your outburst here & what can be done. For today; have a cold tusker & enjoy the day — RMA Motors (Kenya) (@RMAKenya) October 20, 2014
Others decided to be funny
I am never buying a car at RMA Kenya motors. Don’t get it twisted though its not a question of poor customer care! I just can’t afford them — 3MuskerBeers! (@kenyan_parody) October 20, 2014
Seeing how @RMAKenya has handled their RangeRover customer @bharatthakrar , I’m just going to keep my Probox mechanic Wachira off Twitter. — Saddique Shaban (@SaddiqueShaban) October 20, 2014
Employees, media guys looking for favours and friends sought to troll RMA Kenya
@RMAKenya Hang on – @bharatthakrar bought a car worth almost 30 million bob and the best he warrants is a patronising insult? @sunnysunwords — Wallace Kantai (@wgkantai) October 20, 2014
I also see @RMAKenya asked @bharatthakrar to DM them his contacts. You mean to say a guy buys a 30M vehicle and you don’t take his contacts? — David Wanjiru (@DavidWanjiru) October 20, 2014
So instead of @RMAKenya offering @bharatthakrar a solution for his Range Rover problems. They are asking him to enjoy a cold beer. Smh — Social Experiment (@MediaMK) October 20, 2014
Funnily enough, ScanGroup is also the agency which handles RMA Kenya’s PR, advertising and marketing in the country. So the outburst on the RMA Kenya Twitter account should be blamed on ScanGroup.
Bharat hated being asked his contacts while he, through the many accounts his agency handles, ask the same stupid questions everyday and he thought that people should not have an holiday because his overpriced junk is kaput. Please!!!
The response from RMA Kenya CEO Sanjiv Shah will show you what is wrong with Bharat Thakrar.
According to the response published on Daily Nation,
Mr Shah said that RMA was puzzled as to why Mr Thakrar chose to use social media to complain about the service rendered to him by the motor dealership yet he had an open line of communication with RMA.
“We are puzzled as to why Mr Thakrar decided to air his views on social media in the early hours of the morning on a public holiday (Monday 21st October (sic)).
“We have always understood that Mr Thakrar has had a fluent communication chain with RMA, witnessed by the fact that he even knows the names of various RMA team members and has their personal telephone contacts,
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