[Neil Roy]

@ SCORPION: You're kidding, rite?
Many of us have been treated shabbily by dealerships and cars is in our blood, hence the empathy aka "the rant" as you so poetically termed it. From a legal stand point, the OP is wrong and hence the challan. The whole issue is the dealer attitude which is the bone of contention here.
A differential thought process here. The GM might have been a diabetic who might not have taken his meds or some other medical condition. Still, the bottom line is that in sales, CUSTOMER IS KING. Whoever does not have this aptitude better get a career elsewhere and companies also should recruit people with proper sales attitude or ultimately it is they who will suffer.

[Shanksta]

Originally Posted by VKumar

Hello Gentlemen

I have, myself, been the victim to a loud and proud (no so)Gentleman at a Tata dealership. For the convenience of readers, I am dividing this post into three parts:

Hi VKumar,

I know this has been stated a few times already. But still, you as the driver of the car (yours or anyone else’s) have the responsibility of ensuring that the vehicle is parked in an appropriate and legal way.

You had the choice to decide if you wanted to act as the watchman suggested or if you wanted to choose a better “spot” to park or to school him on why you cannot and should not double park.

I am sorry but I do not see the point of this thread. The GM’s response to you was not the right way to handle things I agree but just think about it was all this worth escalating for the ₹100 bucks ?

It is easy to blame the watchman or valet but yours was the ultimate decision to park there. Your fault !

If I was in the same situation, I would have quietly paid the fine of ₹100 and left. Hope this message is taken on a positive note.

P.S. At the end of the day all of us are humans and have pent up stress, targets to achieve and 100 other things in our head, the GM’s emotion was displayed on you. Albeit poorly. Don’t think about it too much.

[streetfighter]

I had a similar experience, albeit at a jewellery showroom (Reliance Jewels) at Pune which ended in a good note. The showroom was on the side of a road with no parking space. There was enough space between the footpath and the shop, and the footpath wasn't high enough (maybe to allow cars to climb up easily). The watchman asked me to come up the footpath and park there, I was hesitant but eventually gave in as there was enough space for pedestrians even after parking. On entering the showroom, a salesman greeted me and the first thing I asked him was "is the parking safe?"... to which he replied thats normal. So I went about the business of shopping and while I was winding up, I saw a couple of cops on bike waiting for me. The salesman was smart enough and assured they'd handle it and asked his Manager to deal with the situation. After the manager spoke to the cops, the cops insisted on a challan. The manager said they'll pay but requested my driving license as that needed to be entered in the challan. All this happened and I didn't even interact with the cops directly.
So end of the day, it is not amount or circumstances, but how people behave and diffuse a situation. In the end no one had an issue, the cops got their fine, the showroom got the business, and I was a happy customer !

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by VKumar

It was a long meeting of over an hour, where the GM clearly accepted that he has made the mistake. In fact, he even accepted that whatever I have told is absolutely true, and he has actually used the wrong set of words; and won't be repeating the same. The owner of the dealership was quite a humble man (and co-incidentally, connected my outer circles itself, discovered after the conversation), and was apologetic for whatever has happened. Overall, we had a coffee together and he told me that he will be assuring a smooth process ahead, over which I clarified that it's not going to happen for sure, no more Tata product. Got a bouquet from them (==damage control measures), and left the place.

Glad to see cooler heads prevailed and this ended on a positive note. Since the dealership had apologised and extended the olive branch, maybe you too can give Tata a second chance somewhere down the road.

There is a lesson to be learnt for all of us here. Im sure some percentage of people reading this thread will remember your experience and will be sure not to double park or listen to a watchman, the next time they go to a car dealership or a restaurant.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

You're kidding, rite?
Many of us have been treated shabbily by dealerships and cars is in our blood, hence the empathy aka "the rant" as you so poetically termed it. From a legal stand point, the OP is wrong and hence the challan. The whole issue is the dealer attitude which is the bone of contention here.
A differential thought process here. The GM might have been a diabetic who might not have taken his meds or some other medical condition. Still, the bottom line is that in sales, CUSTOMER IS KING. Whoever does not have this aptitude better get a career elsewhere and companies also should recruit people with proper sales attitude or ultimately it is they who will suffer.

The sheer entitlement of the OP is being justified as well?

NO, customer is NOT king, not if he is an entitled, demanding (overly) one. If there was an issue with the TD process, or a SA or whatever was rude, or his car was damaged INSIDE the premises parking lot...all this yes, the GM or even the CEO of TaMo is accountable.

Cops in India always challan for parking only if there is a no parking board in the vicinity. So if OP parked near a no parking board, in a no parking area and then blames the whole world but himself, sorry but the dealership is better off not selling him a car.

OP - this situation is common across India, and if you pay in a no parking zone, the risk is ENTIRELY on you. Sure some places, esp bars and restaurants pay off cops so you can park there, but even then the risk is on you.

On every valet ticket that you accept, you accept all risks involved in parking a car.

Why don't you try and take this to court - the courts will laugh the case out.

And escalating to the GM? For what? Further escalating to TaMo? For what?

Next time park in a safe space or accept responsbility for your actions.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Why don't you try and take this to court - the courts will laugh the case out.

And escalating to the GM? For what? Further escalating to TaMo? For what?

Next time park in a safe space or accept responsbility for your actions.

Sir the point here was that an escalation (justified or not) was mishandled by the GM, instead of handling the customer with care, the fellow told him to get lost.

Now they have apologized sensing the gravity of the situation - Customer is King!

[VaidhiR]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

You're kidding, rite?
Many of us have been treated shabbily by dealerships and cars is in our blood, hence the empathy aka "the rant" as you so poetically termed it. From a legal stand point, the OP is wrong and hence the challan. The whole issue is the dealer attitude which is the bone of contention here.
A differential thought process here. The GM might have been a diabetic who might not have taken his meds or some other medical condition. Still, the bottom line is that in sales, CUSTOMER IS KING. Whoever does not have this aptitude better get a career elsewhere and companies also should recruit people with proper sales attitude or ultimately it is they who will suffer.

Let's not speculate on what the health condition might or may not be. Their health is clearly their own and theirs alone.

Also, whatever be the reason, that's no excuse to treat a customer especially if those were the used words. This person is in the service industry, and dealing with customers is their job. End of

I don't agree with the OP escalating this issue for something that's clearly his own fault. But speculating on someone's health over something like this? Nah. Let's keep it civil. We are all better than that.

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by VKumar

Hello Gentlemen

So, since I was aware of the fact that this dealership has an underground parking, and there was a truck parked on its entrance (can be seen in the video, it left just 1 minute after I parked), so I was looking at the parking options. I weighed all options, and parked my car, just behind the Harried TD vehicle of the dealer, assuring that, although tight - but still the space is left for the truck to come out.

As soon as I turned the engine off, the guard of the dealership came running, and told me to park parallel to their parked Nexon TD vehicle, on the road. I even said "bhaiya gaadi sadak pe lag jayegi (The car will be on the road)", to which the guard said "Yahaan khadi rehti hai, aap lagao (Cars are always parked here, you also park)". He can be heard telling this to me in the video. So, I parked the car, and went inside, after making my entry into the register.

I stayed back, tried to calm him down and said "Aap baat ko samajh hi nahi rahe hain (You are not trying to understand my point)". To which he replied "I am too busy, I don;t have time to listen to you, I have my video calls too, you just leave".

Originally Posted by Shanksta

Hi VKumar,
I am sorry but I do not see the point of this thread. The GM’s response to you was not the right way to handle things I agree but just think about it was all this worth escalating for the ₹100 bucks ?

Originally Posted by Stribog

The sheer entitlement of the OP is being justified as well?

Next time park in a safe space or accept responsbility for your actions.

It seems quite a few of our fellow members are struggling to understand the purpose of such a thread. I can't believe we have grown men thinking that someone opened a thread (while having the financial capacity to get himself a TATA Safari) to rant about being made to pay Rs. 100/- traffic fine. Then we have guys asking if people who don't buy 'not so premium' cars shouldn't talk to the GM? Seriously, when did the OP say something of that sort in his post.

Is it seriously that difficult to comprehend that this is about how a potential customer was treated by the GM of a dealership? Are Indians that used to being treated rudely by their fellows even while they are the ones making the purchase that something like this completely flies over their heads (and they choose to focus on the Rs. 100/- instead)?

Would seriously advise the OP to ask the mods help to update the first post so that you can put the message across clearly.

Agreed that at the end of the day the parking mistake was the fault of the driver (the OP) and I am happy to see that he paid up for the ticket too (otherwise it would have fallen on the security guards lap eventually).

Originally Posted by Stribog

Cops in India always challan for parking only if there is a no parking board in the vicinity. So if OP parked near a no parking board, in a no parking area and then blames the whole world but himself, sorry but the dealership is better off not selling him a car.

If you want you can try this cute argument in Bengaluru (still a part of India last i checked). Here you park only where the parking boards are present. It doesn't matter if you are parked on the side of the road in the front of a supermarket without obstructing any vehicular traffic...you will get a challan.

Yep, I am sure the dealership is the one better of for not selling a car. After all, it's not like they make a living selling and servicing said cars right?

[Shanksta]

Originally Posted by JithinR

It seems quite a few of our fellow members are struggling to understand the purpose of such a thread. I can't believe we have grown men thinking that someone opened a thread (while having the financial capacity to get himself a TATA Safari) to rant about being made to pay Rs. 100/- traffic fine. Then we have guys asking if people who don't buy 'not so premium' cars shouldn't talk to the GM? Seriously, when did the OP say something of that sort in his post.

It is amazing to see that you still do not get the point of the argument.

The GM asked the OP to get lost. Is that acceptable? Definitely not !

Why did the GM behave in said way ? Because the OP was “Adamant” that this wrong parking ticket was the responsibility of the dealer (as stated in the opening post)

Why did the OP double park the car on the main road ? Because watchman said so.

Does OP have the right to make a decision? Yes, he does. Yet he chose to park the car the way he did.

Where did the OP go wrong ? First - double parking and not owning his mistake (irrespective of being asked to park there).
Second - not waiting to check if anyone wants the car key to repark.
Third - Being “Adamant” for dealership to own up and telling the sales rep he will complain to Tata if GM does not meet him.

Where did the dealership go wrong ? When the GM chose to raise his voice and not give the benefit of doubt to the customer.

Root cause for both sides : Human Behaviour !

Not supporting the GM’s actions. But you cannot take them for granted JUST because they are in the service industry.

P.S. You don’t have to be a “Grown man” to understand.

[haria]

Originally Posted by VKumar

So, the ticket was issued, attached is the ticket for your reference:

Damn, you are lucky, it is not a higher amount. In Blr, few days back one of my friends was slapped with a fine of Rs.1000 for parking in a no parking zone. Fortunately for him, his car was not yet towed away. If it had been towed away, it would have costed him another 1.5 to 2K.

Are the fines only Rs100 there ? I thought the revised charges came into existence sometime last year. Fines can change from place to place ? I mean, can each state levy its own fine amount?

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by VKumar

Hello Gentlemen

The GM called the guard and the valet driver, and asked them hy they let it happen. And..

Expectation 1: Guard and Driver will lie that they asked for the key, and I denied
Reality: As per expectation

Expectation 2: The GM will also deny any responsibility by believing his men
Reality: As per expectation

Originally Posted by Shanksta

Why did the GM behave in said way ? Because the OP was “Adamant” that this wrong parking ticket was the responsibility of the dealer (as stated in the opening post)

You kind of glossed over the part where they defacto made him the guy who lied which led to him threatening to complain to TATA motors. After all, what would you do in this situation?

I have already said it twice on this thread that the OP is responsible for the parking mistake.

Agreed that people in service industry can't be taken for granted and that root cause for this is Human behavior or ego whatever you want to call it.

[shancz]

Originally Posted by VKumar

I believe that it's the sole issue in fact, everything was done, I have any way paid myself only. But using a poor language for the customer, when half of your staff is also present, is something that can cause unfathomable damage at times, and that's important for the marketers to understand.

I just wanted this saga to end asap, I didn't go there for their apologies, it was probably just a bad day for both of us, and hence decided to shrug it off after a good long meeting. But yes, earned 2 friends in the entire episode for sure.

Exactly, how this was in any way acceptable is beyond me.
At least you earned 2 friends is a good takeaway.

We can safely assume that the dealership and the person will never do it again and TML will be even more receptive and responsive to such feedbacks helping customers in general.

Your unfortunate incident prevented many similar ones from happening. A lot of current and potential TML customers thank you in advance, knowingly or not

Also appreciate the efforts from TML, looks like they're moving in the right direction, I wish them good luck

Originally Posted by JitinR

Is it seriously that difficult to comprehend that this is about how a potential customer was treated by the GM of a dealership?

Second that, this is quite weird and I am scratching my head trying to understand that is there something I was missing ?

[Shanksta]

Originally Posted by JithinR

You kind of glossed over the part where they defacto made him the guy who lied which led to him threatening to complain to TATA motors. After all, what would you do in this situation?

Although TD went well, but I was not happy with having this traffic challan, so I asked these guys to call their GM or make me meet him. The sales rep (Girish) went upstairs and returned back to inform me that "Sir nahi mil sakte (Sir can't meet)", I mean seriously, the dealership GM is too busy to meet a customer looking for his most premium offering! I got a bit angry and told him that I will be complaining to Tata over this, and let me be honest, I told this in an angry tone too, he went back and asked me to come upstairs to meet him.

I guess you missed the sequence of events. In the interest of closing out our back and forth posts here goes,

Highlighted in the above quoted part of the opening post. It was made clear that he conveyed his decision to escalate to Tata and “Angrily” as well.

I have also clearly mentioned that the Doon Tata dealership GM went wrong in his actions when he did not give the “benefit of doubt” to the potential customer. Hope this clarifies.

Mods: I waited 30 minutes since my last post on this thread before posting the reply. Sorry if this is considered as a back to back post.

[HammerHead]

I don't think its about the money paid as 'challan' over improper parking. Its more about the lack of customer handling skills displayed by the GM, supposedly "The Boss' at the dealership.

Being a sucker when it comes to after sales service, I would atleast share my experience with someone who values it, in this case its TATA Motors.

By the way personally I don't park my car unless I'm 100% sure and accountable for the consequences if any. I have stopped visiting certain stores/restaurant's where parking is a challenge.

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by Shanksta

I guess you missed the sequence of events. In the interest of closing out our back and forth posts here goes,

My bad. I read that part but forgot about it. I don't see anything wrong in complaining to TATA though (I am not going to assume that the complaint is for the challan but it could also be for the lack of proper parking facilities at their dealership). I can also see that the OP did try to reason with the GM and ask him to look at things from his view point but I guess that didn't work out.