Black & Decker is a well respected brand for tools and several home appliances-not only in the US but also in India. One gives a lot of ears and eyes for this international brand and consequently pays even more for the quality image.
Gryphon is a Delhi based company importing and servicing multi-branded appliances- including B & D. Great for the consumer- but the pitfall is that it can also cause some confusion. The company and their dealers openly flaunt the link between the two, giving an impression that the wine coolers being imported be the former are being purchased from their 'sister concern' (the ambivalent term used perhaps only in India) Black and Decker, and they being its service agents would also service these wine chillers.
Legally speaking, Gryphon's literature is quiet about any B & D connection. Neither the B & D website nor its literature being distributed by Gryphon makes any mention about wine chillers as a B&D product being marketed by them. Telephonic communication with the service center kept the confusion bubbling with vague replies until a proper and specific answer was insisted upon. The service center and the company finally admitted that the wine chiller had no connection with Black and Decker and was being imported 'perhaps' from Taiwan.
Sniffing a bit deeper due to my IIT background, I checked with one person who had recently bought the machine and another potential customer who had almost placed the order after talking to the former. Both confirmed they were under the impression that it was being imported from Black & Decker and possibly from the US!
What's in a name
Most consumers including these two, don't realise that due to the relatively small number of machines being sold at present (unfortunate as it is important to store wine bottles at a fixed temperature of 13-16° C. Humidity is important too but not for screw-capped bottles or for wines stored only for a few months as they normally would be, in India) low priced machines like these are adequate and are mostly imported from Taiwan or China on a container load basis. A limited number of companies there manufacture several models which are imported globally and labelled in their private brands. The responsibility to provide after-sales service is that importers.
Brands like Voltas and Haier have been doing the rounds in India for over 2 years now. A 30-32 bottle chiller which would be adequate for the vast majority is available for Rs. 22,000 from Voltas and about Rs. 24,000 from Haier, a high selling brand in the US despite its Chinese origins.
Gryphon sells the comparable model for Rs. 25,000-26,000 by giving it the Black & Decker 'aura'. That would be ethical if B &D were the promoters of this brand, like Voltas. But with no involvement or association with this product, the intrinsic value could be between Rs. 16,000-20,000. By exploiting the US Company's brand image, they seem to be unfairly and unethically commanding an extra amount of up to Rs. 8,000 by misrepresenting to the consumer.
A similar comparison
A similar case of confusion and possible deception was reported earlier by delWine involving a wine label- 30 Latt made in Nashik which is located at a latitude of 19º 33'-20º 53'. The marketing company, Kyndal, sought to give the impression that the city was located at 30° latitude. Generally wine producing nations are located between 30-50° latitude. 'Traditionally, wine grapes have been growing in vineyards between 30-50° Latitude in both the Hemispheres,' said the back label incorrectly.
It is not known if the brand still exists but one has not heard of any high praises since its inception.
Gryphon should desist from telling people that the wine chiller is related to Black and Decker in the absence of any law directing the marketers to mention the country of origin. Black and Decker should also restrain them from indulging with this unethical practise by keeping their eyes closed to the unfair exploitation of their well-established international brand. Of course, if there are any direct links of the product with B&D, we would be glad to share with our readers.
Subhash Arora |