TL;DR version -- a new vehicle has been allotted, and the delivery is scheduled for this Sunday.
Was AWOL during a very busy week with work commitments, but thankfully there has been some progress for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazydevil Fed up and with patience running thin at the end of the day, I have shot off an email to all Tata customer care handles, and also to respected Mr. Shailesh Chandra and Mr. Anand Kulkarni. |
Friday 10 March
The very next day after I sent in the email, I received a short email from Tata customer care with a complaint case ID saying that my case has been forwarded to the regional office and I should be hearing from them soon.
I was visited in the afternoon by one of the senior managers from Tata Motors responsible for Ahmedabad, along with a delegation from the dealership.
With a bouquet of roses (
)and apologies for my troubles, I was offered an alternative vehicle that the dealership had, which had already been allotted to another customer but which they were willing to
"re-allot" to me. I politely but firmly insisted on a fresh allocation from the plant as I did not want to cause inconvenience to another customer (which should have been their lookout in the first place SMH).
They requested time till Monday evening so that they could co-ordinate with the plant and inform me when earliest would a vehicle with my trim and color be available. I agreed. There was no further discussion regarding anything else, and I made it abundantly clear in my conversation that I was not looking to exploit or ask for a discount / freebies, but I just wanted what I had rightfully paid for, and I was not willing to compromise on that.
Fifteen minutes after they left, the senior manager phoned me again and offered me a loaner car which I could use till they deliver my car. I accepted, and in the evening the dealership sent in their test drive vehicle of the Tigor EV facelift with 65% SoC.
Monday March 13
Evening 5:30pm I receive an email from the senior manager, mentioning that a new Tiago EV XZ+ Tech Lux in Tropical Mist color has been allotted to me and has been dispatched from the plant to my dealership.
Tuesday March 14
The dealership called me in the evening and informed me that the car had reached their stockyard and they would be doing their inspection, after which I would be free to visit them for a PDI. As Wednesday was very busy for me, I scheduled a PDI for Thursday morning 10am. I requested that the technical team remain present during the PDI so that if I had any queries they could be resolved at that time itself.
Thursday March 16
The car was clean and ready for PDI when I reached the dealership showroom. Checked the VIN and confirmed it to be of March 2023 manufacture. There were obviously a few minor fit and finish issues esp. with the plastic bits on the window, the roof liners etc. but they have been well documented on this forum already so I was not very surprised. Apart from these, the color finish and rubber linings were satisfactory. I took a short test drive to their workshop nearby where I requested them to connect their OBD scanner and show me the last ten DTCs. The service team obliged, and there were two errors on scanning, one with the climate control unit and one with the vehicle control unit / ECU. However I was told that these codes are routine and do not indicate any issue with the vehicle.
The vehicle passed the TeamBHP PDI checklist, and the test drive did not show any further issues so I was happy with the vehicle. I asked them to prepare the vehicle and I will be taking the delivery this Sunday.
Meanwhile, I shopped around for some insurance quotes and I opted for Kotak's insurance which was almost 10K cheaper than the dealership insurance, and it also gives 100% amount of battery value in case the HV battery needs to be replaced under insurance (for cases where the warranty does not cover it). The dealership counter-offered me an even cheaper insurance at 29K thru New India Assurance, but they were not willing to give the battery coverage percentage in writing
(don't worry sir, even if provider is New India, service is from us, you will get all money of battery, you don't need it mentioned in written anywhere )
Invoicing is done, invoice dated 16th March. Insurance policy is issued. I want to make sure that all the formalities are completed before delivery, so that there are no further hiccups. The Legrand charging box was also installed at my home today late evening.
I tried to log in to the Z-connect app using the VIN but it throws an error that the chassis number is unlinked.
I emailed the Tata Motors team and requested that they activate the Z-connect app for me. I got a bog-standard response from the dealership --
"sir, after you take the delivery, we will do the KYC and paperwork formality and send an OTP to your number, after verification the app will be activated after 48 hours". Tried very hard to explain -- since I have made the full payment, the invoice has already been generated, and the only thing left is actual delivery of the car, can you please complete that paperwork and KYC as well so that there are no pending things at the time of delivery? Somehow I fail to understand the logic why they cannot do it right now.
To my surprise, when I entered the VIN of the defective vehicle which was allotted to me before, the app instantly recognized that it was linked to my number and added it to the Z-connect app. It has got the color wrong, but rest of the details match. Dug in a little bit more, and found some surprising driving statistics from last month, including a top speed of 119 kmph, driven 99% at night with 7 counts of harsh braking. However the info is old, with the last update date of 6 March, and the app keeps popping up a connectivity issue error whenever I try to update.
Hope Tata takes notice of the multiple complaints of the buggy Z-connect app and resolves them soon, or else I don't think there would be any takers for its subscription.
Next update on Sunday!