[Acid Burn]

The shortage of semiconductor reason is being given by all manufacturers.
Below is my experience that I had shared in another thread of Mahindra cars.
I had booked an XUV 300 W8 petrol variant in December 2020 and was assured delivery of the vehicle by 26th January. I was asked to give my old vehicle before 25th December 2020 in order to avoid depreciation.
Later the delivery of the vehicle was changed to Feb 15 and then again to last week of Feb or first week of March.
Each time the dealership gave me non availability of semiconductor as the reason for delay.
I have called the customer service multiple times and each time I have been told the issue is escalated and they will revert back as soon as possible. I have written a mail to them and received a similar response however till date I have not received a call from their customer service nor received an email from them apart from the auto generated one.
After the help I received from Team Bhp I mailed Mr. Sayed - customer experience about my ordeal and received the reply promising to look into in on priority basis. However that was almost a week back and there has been no update. Now I am being told that the vehicle will be delivered by month end. However looking at the previous broken commitments I have a hard time believing them.

[MadTitan47]

Originally Posted by rageshgr

I don’t see anything “nightmarish”. Inconvenienced. Yes. If he HAD to have the car by Feb, then it would have been safer to book atleast 2 months in advance instead of touch and go.

Even a rudimentary chronological sense would make it clear that already two months have elapsed since Jan First week. And with all the respect that is due, I am not interested in your opinions about how I should feel.

Originally Posted by akshaydandekar

Well, I have purchased my TATA Nexon ZXA+ DT (Diesel) from Wasan Motors, Chembur in 2019 and the entire process was smooth and without any hiccups.

This includes everything; from the initial queries, estimates and final quote to the TD, from the exchange of my Polo GT TSI to the PDI and offcourse to the final delivery. Their staff in my opinion is competent.

I think I do know the Mr. S you have referred to and if my assumption is correct, he was my SA as well during the purchase process. He was always transparent, upfront and I personally never had any issues.

Contrary to what a lot of people believe, even their service centre experience for me has been flawless, and this I can say with confidence after completing my first 4 service cycles.

Honestly, I have recommended people to Wasan Motors and I haven't received a single negative feedback as of yet. Also I disagree that people are avoiding TATA dealerships or their cars anymore, given the recent sales figures of their PVs.

If you have experienced issues, have you escalated them? Tata's customer service centre and team are highly responsive as I have had first hand experience in this. It would be unfair and incorrect to blame without going through and exhausting each and every resolution channel available to a prospective customer.

Wasan, Chembur was the only showroom I went to and didn't bother going to any other primarily on account of the fantastic experience I have had there.

My two bits.

It is a Ms S. I have also bought my car from Wasan in Jan 2019 with decent experience. Also referred another friend in October 2020 with nothing much to complain about (delayed delivery but handled by them professionally). So score for me is 2/3.

Regarding the service experience at Wasan, Deonar. It was one of the worst service experience which I had, primarily due to the service advisor assigned to me. I literally had to fight with him if I did not want to go with some extra items suggested by him over and above the manufacturer recommended service schedule. I accepted it, thinking this is how Tata service centers are.

However during lockdown Wasan service center got closed, and I had to get my car serviced once from MyDSM, Kurla and once from Riddhi Autocraft, Koparkhairane. My experiences were very good at both these workshops. Smooth and hassle free with very genuine advise from the service advisors. Specially Riddhi Autocraft ..

[pinin]

Originally Posted by GTO

Tata somehow has the worst pre-sales experiences. .[/url].

Your quote got my attention.

I am into pre-sales. I do it for Tata too. Albeit not Tata Motors .

Got me thinking, globally Tata are leaders in IT services. Why cannot they leverage this services experience for betterment of their automotive customers?

Food for thought?

Pinin

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by MadTitan47

After so many years, the memories of going to Government offices for certificates got revived. The treatment is so pathetic by the dealership. Their words carry zero weightage!!!

I worked at a Tata company for a few years, and I can confirm that they have all the characteristics of a government bureaucracy.

Unless I have money to throw, I would stick to Maruti. Mentioning that you will contact Maruti about something you are unhappy about at a dealership or one of their service centers gets you results. For small fry like me, this is paramount. I speak from personal experience.

[IP_Man]

Originally Posted by MadTitan47

After so many years, the memories of going to Government offices for certificates got revived. The treatment is so pathetic by the dealership. Their words carry zero weightage!!!

I too feel tittle is misleading.

When you realised they are not sticking to their own words, why not to apply for refund of booking amount and go to another dealer?

I agree that Tata and it's dealer are like Red Tapism in government. Dealer is not able to able to allocate car to you because of logistic problem of Tata. So not only dealer, Tata is also responsible for that.

On lighter note it is said that 'Tata don't sell car, it is the customer who do all the research, followup to purchase the car', that means marketing efforts are so poor of Tata. Concord, marketing subdivision of Tata had to close due to its own inefficiency is just one example of that. My friends had to go from one Concord dealer to other in the same city only because first dealer was pathetic.

[akshaydandekar]

My experience at the Wasan Service Centre, Deonar for my services has been hassle free and smooth. Never faced a single issue in terms of delay and service quality. Even when I had major fogging issue in my headlights and taillights, the advisor filed a dealer incident report and coordinated with Tata motors to ensure all 4 were replaced (within warranty).

My advisor actually took time to run me through what has been done at each service personally.

As plenty of THPians have pointed out, the way you cultivate a relationship with the SAs makes a world of difference. I know of plenty who just head into a discussion with SA's in a combative mode and they have made up their minds from the outset that the SAs are only there to cross sell and make money. That in my opinion is not a way to approach any situation.

Post the closure of the Deonar centre, I now get my 'Lola' serviced at Keshva Motors, Mulund. They tried to cross sell plenty of stuff but when I clearly showed them that I'm not a newbie to the world of cars, they took a step back and since then my relationship with my SA has been cordial and to the point.

Originally Posted by MadTitan47

Even a rudimentary chronological sense would make it clear that already two months have elapsed since Jan First week. And with all the respect that is due, I am not interested in your opinions about how I should feel.

[kamilharis]

Sad to hear about the ordeal, hope things are sorted out at the earliest either by a refund or allotment of the car.

TATA definitely hears customer complaints these days.

Also, the thread title needs to be toned down a bit if the Mods don't mind.

[Hayek]

Frankly I don’t see anything nightmarish about this booking experience. Yes, you can argue that the dealer should have been more realistic about delivery times - but it is quite possible that the dealer or Tata themselves may have been hopeful that they would get the chips needed to produce the product. It is also possible that the production folks at Tata Motors chose to prioritise production of more profitable products like the Nexon or Altroz over the Tiago - that is not unethical, it is the basics of running a business. And if I have two customers waiting for a product, one of whom is happier to pay more, I would sell to that one. This is not something new or unique to Tata - back in 2005, wait times for the Swift were long and ever increasing. We realised that the only way to get it in the time we wanted was to pay a premium in black. We therefore chose to buy the costlier Getz instead.

The fact is that if you have a hard deadline to buy a product, buy something that is in stock. Else be prepared to wait (perhaps for 6-8 months as some folks are prepared to wait for a Creta).

Don’t see anything wrong that the dealer or Tata Motors has done here. We have this mistaken impression that the any demand from a customer needs to be met - in fact choosing whom to do business with is a key part of running a business.

[rageshgr]

Originally Posted by MadTitan47

Even a rudimentary chronological sense would make it clear that already two months have elapsed since Jan First week. And with all the respect that is due, I am not interested in your opinions about how I should feel.

.

“Even a rudimentary sense” of vocabulary would make it clear that there is nothing Nightmarish about this. Many members feel the same too. Also, in a public forum you are bound to get opinions And “with all the respect that is due”, this phrase doesn’t masquerade your irreverence.

[KaurDiCar]

Think of it like this, you order a pizza from Domino's one night, thinking you will get your pizza in their "30 minute" delivery timeline, now due to some reason, rain, traffic, delivery boy delays, breakdown etc, your pizza is delivered after 90 minutes, a whole three times more than what was advertised.
Now even if you have decided you want to blame someone for the "ordeal", would you blame the Domino's Corporation or the specific restaurant(franchisee) from which you placed your order ?

I hope this helps,

Kaur.

[arighna.dutta]

Originally Posted by SchrödingersCar

For most of us following the automotive markets, it is common knowledge that there is actually a semiconductor shortage impacting auto companies worldwide.

Which brands are you comparing against? What are the parameters? Is this backed up by any citations or is it just your conjecture?

Q1: Compared brands mentioned in the post.

Q2, Q3: Not clear about the next two questions.

Since, I was not really trying to share any facts and my post was clearly suggestive, no idea what parameters are you expecting and which citations do you want me to back my experiences with . So, you are free to take a call on the conjecture part.


And for the folks who are referring to the shortage of semiconductor chips, I feel the OP is referring to the bad experience they have received. Even if there are genuine reasons like the delayed production line, it all depends on how the company and their dealerships are tackling the situation and communicating it to the customers.

Here, it is very clearly evident that the customer is not receiving any transparent communication from the dealer and overall behavior from the dealer end is very inconsistent.

[shibujp]

This is a common experience in India and is nothing new. A surprising number of replies have defended Tata and the dealer. Looks like they are peeved that the customer had the audacity to blame Tata. And there-in lies the crux of the problem why customer service is so pathetic and inconsistent irrespective of brand in India. Something like customer reports will never survive in India because of this attitude.

The issues at hand here:
1. A car has been promised at a certain time and the has not been kept. Telling the customer about the delay when the customer asks is reactive not proactive. As the dealer has full view of the supply chain the customer can be called up proactively and informed of the delay. If no firm timeline can be given so be it, inform the customer about it and take what comes including a cancellation. The importance here at this point is not the sale but to retain the customer's respect to the brand. It will pay off in the long term.

2. Revision of prices. Unless you pay the actual booking amount which is close to the actual price what you actually give is a token amount and the fine print on the receipt usually indicates that the price at the time of invoicing will prevail.

Frankly if companies like Maruti can provide a more consistent experience I don't see what is stopping the others. These kind of issues are so common in the industry that over the past years we all have heard of it. It is a simple matter of creating SOPs for each situation and training your personnel on it.

Originally Posted by Hayek

Frankly I don’t see anything nightmarish about this booking experience..

From your post I assume Tata is the customer! What is not nightmarish to you may be nightmarish to another person. It's pretty straightforward.

Drive on,
Shibu

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by Hayek

We have this mistaken impression that the any demand from a customer needs to be met - in fact choosing whom to do business with is a key part of running a business.

Absolutely, but shouldn't communication be a part of this "decision" to not do business with an individual? If Tata or the dealer don't want OP's business why not simply communicate that? They will have one person less to deal with.

[Dr Carlton Pere]

Originally Posted by MadTitan47

Finally understood why people want to avoid Tata dealerships like plague.

Sad thing is, strong and promising make in India products like Tiago has to suffer because of this buffoonery.

I had the very same experience with MG Motors flagship store at prabhadevi. Following which I visited the Tata Motors across the street and was treated extremely well, and in three weeks my first Tata car ever a Harrier was in my hands.
The most smoothest, pleasant experience at the Puneet Motors dealership.
I am most pleased.

[thiagar]

It is really sad how bad dealership/presale experience continues to ruin Tata. Wondering why Tata does not step in. It appears that Tata has absolutely no control or say on the dealers. What a shame!