[punekar1507]

This is my first post on team-bhp. Although I should have posted something positive to start with but sharing my experience that I went with TML (thought a lot before posting as this is about the car I loved – Tata Harrier). It might help others who are looking for such feedbacks before making decisions about Tata Harrier or other Tata cars.

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Issue Faced with Clutch
I have owned a Tata Harrier MT for the last 18 months with 15+K kms in odo. Except for a few minor issues & usual fit & finish shortcomings the car had been driving fine so far.
In Nov ’22, I faced the infamous clutch issue where clutch suddenly became free in the middle of the highway (at night) while I was travelling back home with my wife & kids. For some reason, even steering became locked & I had to immediately put brakes & stop the car in middle of road. Anything could have happened if any other vehicle had hit the car from behind as it was night time & middle of highway road. Fortunately, we weren’t hit & after a pause of 20-30 sec or so I was able to pull the clutch pad up with toes.
I brought the car to the side of the road & further waited for a while, and then after went to a nearby restaurant & had dinner to make the pause even longer. During that pause, I went through a few videos of people who faced such issues & found out that it is not 1-off issue with me and that many people faced such issues with harrier, and they were able to drive after some break.
After about an hour break in total I started back for Pune, but the car faced similar issue at least 3 times more. I drove very slowly with pauses & finally reached home.
After that, I didn’t use the vehicle much till I could take it to the Service Center.

Start of Bad Service Experience
The very next weekend I took the vehicle to the Service center (Rudra Motors) at Hadapsar, Pune and explained about the incident & issue with the clutch. The SC Manager simply pushed back & said that it is due to my driving style, and that I must have driven in half clutch. They didn’t accept that it could be due to quality issues & a mechanical failure. The SC Manager just got the clutch oil changed at my expense & didn’t take any effort to look more into the issue. He was quite casual & mentioned that they keep getting such issues & the oil change (bleeding) should fix it. As a height of their casual attitude, the concerned people at Rudra SC even suggested to record the video if issue reoccurs in future, in a way indicating that I was lying about the incident. Upset by their attitude, I told them I would surely take the video if I remain second time lucky.

As I had been through the incident & I consider myself lucky to be still out there and I lost confidence in driving the car with family anymore and thus I was not in the mood to take any chances. I told them that they should investigate more & if needed open the clutch plate & check. The Rudra SC Manager cautioned rudely that if I am willing to pay the price of clutch replacement he will get it opened. How could they decide on future course without finding the fault. It also showed a total lack of empathy & understanding, lack of concern for customer’s safety on Service center’s part & they have been infamous for that, and I was witnessing it first hand. They didn’t even explain how steering got locked & if there was any other problem as well in the vehicle. They just told me that it might be due to an air bubble & it wouldn’t happen again. By that time I lost hope of getting any kind of help or fix there at SC.

I raised it with the Customer Care Head of Maharashtra, Mr. Sandeepan on getting his contact from a friend. He appeared understanding over the call & mentioned that he would help & got me connected to the Service Head of Rudra Motors, Wagholi – Mr. Vinayak.
Mr. Vinayak got the vehicle picked the next day to look into the issue, and kept the vehicle for around 4 hrs. Only conclusion they could draw was that Clutch is hard & there seems to be some problem. At least they acknowledged that there is some issue with the clutch (which their Hadapsar SC counterparts didn’t agree at all).

After talking to Cust. Care Head, Mr. Sandeepan & Mr. Vinayak, I was told that it is best to get a Clutch plate opened & analyzed to get the doubts cleared to which I agreed. I reached Rudra Motor’s Wagholi SC the next day at around 10.15 am as per discussion with Mr. Vinayak. They kept me waiting for around 5 hours & mechanics started working on my car only at 3.00 pm (as they had only 1 part that supports the engine while the gear box is taken out). After some more time they finally opened the plate, and as I had been anticipating based on my discussions with SC & TML they mentioned that it is a burning issue which I was not sure as the wheel & plate were looking normally used. The TML person at SC (Mr. Naidu) said that it looks okay & I can drive this easily for 35-40 Kms more. BUT (as I see it now he put that intentionally) that there will always be a risk that the clutch can become free again anytime.

I argued that if the clutch plate is not in that bad shape then why are they not considering it as a Mechanical failure, else the part would be in a worse situation & we would have got some indications when vehicle was serviced earlier. Also, how can a clutch create issues within 15k Kms. They again took the discussion related to driving style & that car should be in 1st gear at lower speeds, etc. which I had been already following. Finally, TML person Mr. Naidu asked to get it replaced & told Mechanic to go ahead with replacement while he’ll try to negotiate for best offer from his boss. They didn’t consider it as mechanical failure & still charged me 50% for replacement saying it doesn’t come under warranty, and also charged for Labour around 5K.

One thing is very clear that TML representatives for Customer care are hand in glove with dealers, as both seemed to be working in total alignment behind the doors.

I feel cheated at the end of the day by SC & TML as they connived to get the clutch plate replaced so that customers can be charged. This was the 1st time I really needed Tata Service to help me but they have shown what we had been hearing about them being the worst & their poor after sales experience.

TML SC at it's Best
To make my experience even worse - on raising the issue over mail with TML, I got a call the same evening from Mr. Vinayak who talked to me LOUD & RUDELY, and asked me that why didn't I tell if I needed the replacement in 'FOKAT' (he used it a few times in conversation). He mentioned that if I had told that I would be escalating the issue he would have done something by talking to TML. I kept calm, and asked to him not to talk to me in that tone, & explained the reason why I had to escalate the issue.
What inference should I take from his call - doesn't this indicate wrong doing that happened & therefore this threatening gesture was taken by their GM Service. It gives a very clear idea of overall handling of the issue.

I raised it with their Maharastra Service head but he didn’t mention anything on Vinayak’s behavior, but sent a templatized response.

I had been a very avid supporter of TML from the time I purchased the car & even promoted Harrier in my circle & some of my friends brought Harrier after that.
I am utterly regretful of the decision to spend 20L on a car that broke down within 1.5 years (at 15K Kms). I never had such experience with my earlier Hyundai cars.

Plan Ahead
My plan is to sell Harrier now to avoid any such future nightmares & risk my family, but to go for a trusted Toyota or Hyundai car, where there are lesser chances of such issues arising & better after sales.

Thought to share my experience with all so that it help others who can learn from my experience.
If someone still want to go ahead with Harrier / Safari there is very high likelihood of one or the other similar bad experience that might make you repent on your decision to buy Tata car despite so many real experiences of customers being shared. If still someone is adamant, like I was, to go ahead then I suggest that they can look at automatic option - but be ready for such after sales shockers there as well.

Happy Driving .. !!

PS: Apologies for long post (didn't want to avoid mentioning imp. facts).

[sanjubaba]

That is horrible, I was looking to buy Nexon but has been going through multiple threads and poor service related stories and I am now not getting confidence with TML.

Also you mentioned "For some reason, even steering became locked", was that also checked? Cause on Nexon thread also one has mentioned power loss in steering.

[Nissan1180]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I share your fate with a different TML product and have spent a lot of time and money chasing them. Unfortunately it is a waste of resources as this company exists only because the competition doesn’t have the VFM products that the market demands.

The problem is that their value for money premise is based on fundamental quality compromises. This is not okay on even the cheapest car, and not pardonable on a 25+ lakh INR car.

Sell the Harrier and spread the word about the company so that none of your acquaintances will suffer.

[shancz]

Welcome to TBHP.
Infuriating to hear about your ordeal.

Unfortunately, experiences like yours are getting so frequent that anything with a bad experience and Tata Motors doesn't generate much interest(me included). It is for a reason that our reviews have a hit/miss service disclaimer for any Tata Motors products.

I can't but agree with your decision and wish you luck for your next purchase.

Hope your next thread will be a happy one

[vickzkool]

Sorry to hear about your experience and particularly frightening when you have your family with you , mechanical failures happen to the best of products and that cannot be predicted, however the service experience you mentioned is incredibly poor and definitely worth escalating further to the national head if possible , whatever maybe the reason I would never accept rude behaviour and that in itself is worth taking them head on

[rajeevsulu]

My sympathies are with you on this harrowing experience . This is the exact reason why I dropped my plans of buying the Harrier. Barring the test drive experience, everything is bad about Tata. Service centre experience is the worst. I opted to go for Mahindra xuv 700 and am happy as of now. Sell the car and be happy.

[epiccross]

This is exactly why I'm really scared of buying anything Tata. The reliability issues coupled with pathetic after sales makes it a nightmare. Can't really imagine how it must have felt facing this potentially dangerous issue when you're with your family, being yelled at bullied and questioned the Tata SCs.

And to think this is their flagship 20L car, not even the budget ones.

[sudeepg]

There is one BIG reason why Maruti & Toyota cars sell and collect more and more brand value - Customer Satisfaction. If I raise the slightest of an issue, they are all over asking for time to investigate and fix the problem, and just that, to many customers like me, is a huge draw to their products, even if it may be sub par in quality at times. Just think of how many headaches one is willing to take after spending a lot of money and the answer is clear.

My S-Cross 1.3 had a famous failure in a coolant part and the way Bimal/Maruti dealt with it was nothing short of outstanding! I paid for towing the car and the moment they knew it, they offered to pay for it. All parts were replaced under warranty for free, no questions asked. I also reported a rear suspension failure at 40K KMS. After one test drive, they were not convinced and they did another test with another technician and the replacement was approved.

Such handling of a complaint really speaks to how much they value their customers. In 7-8 years of my ownership my experience always has been a 10/10.

I also owned a Honda city and sold it when the service experience started dwindling.

TML horror stories are creeping up day by day on our forum and I feel very sorry for you. I can hear about problems from my friends circle too. I'd happily sell the car and cut my losses and more importantly, the risks. I cannot ever trust or live with such a car ever.

[Mustang_Boss]

Its so painful to read such horror stories, especially when family members are in the car.

The way TML is advertising and selling their half baked defective products, i wouldn't be surprised if we start to see 2/3 new threads every day.

Maybe, we should have a "Service Horror Stories" section, somewhere deep down the forum, dedicated to such threads.

[punekar1507]

Thanks @sanjubaba for sharing the concern.

Regarding your query on steering issue - Tata SC suggested that it might have happened due to an air bubble, but they couldn't pin point the issue. Also, after 1st instance the steering didn't get lock even when clutch became free on later instances that night so I didn't chase a lot on it further going by how they were handling the core issue.

[Chopper]

I have an Aria 2012 model and had lot of troubles getting it properly serviced. I have tried all different Service centres in Bangalore including FNG but one or another way they fail me.

Always keep fingers crossed while give it for service

As a car Aria served me well but if you look at Customer experience including
service I regret my decision on purchasing one.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by punekar1507

My plan is to sell Harrier now to avoid any such future nightmares & risk my family, but to go for a trusted Toyota or Hyundai car, where there are lesser chances of such issues arising & better after sales.

Sad to know about your harrowing experience. I would suggest to not resort to any knee jerk reaction, this could have happened with any car. One bad experience at TAS should not make you have other thoughts.

Have you got the car checked at another TASS. Pls DM me, I will share you the contact of a senior Tata management person whom you can share your ordeal.

[cryptarchy]

This is the reason I don’t suggest Tata cars to my friends. I would suggest to cut your losses and sell the car.

[Raghu M]

Man, getting stranded in the middle of the night with a vehicle that refuses to infuse confidence is nothing short of a nightmare. TATA needs to hire top people from other brands to get more experience into their way of dealing such issues. I guess that is the real cause of the problem.

On the contrary, my experience with M&M has been nothing short of outstanding. They always pay attention to what I say and are aware of the fact that the feedback should be good. They ensure to keep things clean and chick by delivery time. I gave my 3OO for 20K service this week and they mentioned that it will take 2 days for delivery. I requested them that I need my car urgently as I had to make some hospital visits, they were accommodative and immediately agreed to my request. I think with the advent of online feedback and other sources to directly reach out to customers, some brands are getting better at service. But TAMO looks to be miles behind even in this game.

[buzzy_boy]

Rather than sticking "vocal for local" sticker in their cars, Tata motors can attempt to make their QC, and customer support processes better. Then, their customers will be "vocal for local" without needing to be reminded.