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:
- The car parked wrong and the Wrong Parking Ticket
- The TD and The Safari
- The Infuriated General Manager
The Car Parked Wrong and the Wrong Parking Ticket
So, I went to the dealership called
'Doon Tata', which is a small outlet located at 'Chakrata Road' in Dehradun. The purpose was rather simple, to check the Harrier Auto and of course Safari (Crysta is finally shortlisted though, thanks to these guys for helping me). 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.
Note: Nobody asked me for the car key throughout this process, and the dash cam video clearly shows that the guard told me to wrongfully park the car.
The video of the time I parked the car, one can listen to the conversation between me and the guard:
I just went inside and didn't even had a glass of water, hardly 2 minutes after I went inside, that I saw a police car and a shouting cop outside. I quickly ran outside, as I was 100% sure that it's my car that is being challaned or towed. I stopped the cop, but till then the ticked was already done. The guard and the valet driver of the dealership immediately started blaming me for not handing the car key over to them. While my point was that "
neither they asked me for the key, nor the driver or the guard came inside the dealership to ask me for the key when the cops came, they simply stood and watched the parking ticket being issued". I am so sure about the same, because when I visited the same dealer previously, I submitted the key after parking the car inside their parking. And, I was myself searching for a better parking space, h
ad they told me to look for a better space, I would have done it myself. So, the ticket was issued, attached is the ticket for your reference:
The TD and The Safari
Since we were in the market for a UV, and have been awaiting the Safari itself for one look (I have in the past also given a chance to Tata, every single time they launched something, in fact bought a few too), so, I would first of all like to appreciate the sales representatives
Mr. Sayam and Mr. Girish. Sayam had been dealing with me since day 1, and has been a very decent guy, responding very promptly to queries, and has been quite good in communicating all the updates too, the young lad definitely knows how to deliver a premium purchasing experience. Mr. Girish arranged the Harrier TD for me, very prompt and well spoken person, again.
Overall, the Harrier TD went well, the gearbox is conservative, and the rear of the empty car is a bit bouncy, but that's the normally behavior for any SUV, for Safari, I believe that this shall be better.
In the Safari, there are definitely a lot to love, the lighter shades may get soiled early, but they add a lot to the sense of roominess. The seats are not wide like say Innova Crysta, but they are hugging in nature, and may prove to be very comfortable on long drives I believe, especially to the people with small and medium frame. Additionally, it
being a Tata, I would assume that suspension and ride quality will be the best only.
I am someone who craves for nice buttons and a nice tactile feel, the steering shall feel good to hold, the roof liner shall look good, I mean, I normally lose my heart at pure mechanicals, or the pure feel of what's inside, and the former part is already sorted with the 2.0 engine I suppose, and the latter is taken care of, by the Safari very well. And yes I take my word back from other threads, if just 4x2 we consider, it is a good successor to the
S-A-F-A-R-I. Damn, this name itself has some feelings and nostalgia associated to it, I mean, who hasn't dream't of a Safari 20 years back!
Overall to
Safari, I would give
7/10
I have reduced 1 mark for small (==no) boot and the stick thin armrests in middle row, else
it's a very impressive vehicle to be inside, particularly if it costs up to 1.5 lac over the Harrier.
The Infuriated General Manager
Now enters the picture, the high headed and high horse riding Hon'ble General Manager, Sales - Doon Tata). After the TD was done, I was adamant that this
wrong parking ticket shall be the responsibility of the dealer. 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 went in, very politely greeted him (Although I am sure that this person will deny this now to prove his cooked stories right), and told him of the parking ticket. The conversation went this way:
He (Politely): I know I have parking constraints, and I have kept valet facility for the same reason.
Me (Politely): But your people never asked me for the key. Secondly, even if I was inside, this is a small dealership floor, they could have come in and taken the key from me. Your guard asked me to wrongfully park the car.
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
After talking to them both, the GM has directly put the blame on me for not giving the key. This got me infuriated, but I still held my horses and in a low tone, told him:
"This challan has to be taken care by you only, if you want to deny, I shall be writing to Tata motors".
Now came the shocking response, a man who is over 50 years in age, we expect him to have some wisdom, but he was fully out of his senses and started shouting at me. He gave the challan to his guys, and said "jao aur turant yeh bharo (Go and immediately pay this)"
After this, he turned to me and in the loud tone said "Aur aap yahaan se bahar nikaliye, yeh 100 rupye mere liye kuch nhi hain, main bade bade kharche karta hun, jao kar lo Tata me baat,
main khud dekh lunga Tata ko bhi (And you get out, this 100 rupees is nothing for me, you go and file a complaint with Tata,
I will manage Tata too)".
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".
Listening to this, I replied "This way who will purchase your cars, I won't at least".
To which he replied
"Even I don't need customers like you, just GET LOST".
Instead of further arguing with this man, I decided to leave the place. I handed over a 100 rupees note to the guard, and politely requested him to go and pay the fine, and get the receipt, but not by paying from his own pocket. After which, I left the place.
Another incident: While the GM was arguing with me, another sales rep came to get a TD form signed. But this (not so) Gentleman was so much lost in his anger and his pride, that in a very disrespectful manner, he said to his junior
"ja yahaan se, main nahi kar raha sign (Leave from here, I am not signing anything)". All this, when there was another customer waiting for a TD downstairs.
My Question: Why doesn't Tata motors act on such people who have absolutely no sense of customer dealing, but are simply occupying the chairs in dealerships?
In Maruti, Honda, Toyota, Ford, etc I have dealt with multiple dealership managers and owners too. Multiple times there were ups and downs, but the managers always used to be the humble men, who simply used to convince us and get the process move ahead.
Why it happens that we have both, the product and people based issues, mostly in the Tata itself?