[ACM]

A) All friends who know I am a DBhpian on TeamBhp respect me, listen to and follow all things automotive that I advise them about.

B) Dealer reps stop trying to educate me about their cars once they see my car. Logos et all.

C) Service centre Managers ensure that, I am serviced very well, Period.

[TSI47]

Well I have a real life example of the power and reach of team Bhp. In 2017 my brother in law was fed up of this Baleno's stiff and bouncy suspensions, this issue was also pointed out here in the forum by numerous members. I read that maruti was doing a silent under warranty part change only to those who complained.
I advised my brother in law to take the car to Maruti service centre and after numerous road tests the SA said the suspensions are OK as per him "aisa hi rehta hai sir!"

When I heard that they are refusing to change the parts I immediately went to the service centre and just said that "See I know Maruti is changing suspensions under warranty silently and if you know about team bhp there are numerous people who got it changed have posted on it. "

And instantly the SA said "Ok sir if you are feeling uncomfortable due to stiff suspensions we are ordering parts right away" after full suspension change and 7 days the car become much more drivable and comfortable.

[ghodlur]

My first brush with dealers knowing Team BHP was way back in 2009 when I had bought the Ford Fiesta. The dealer requested me to share the PDI which I had carried around when doing the PDI myself, they said they will be better prepared for the BHPians.

[sukhoi]

As the saying goes, If you cannot convince them, confuse them. And that is what certain dealerships might be trying to do by saying that TBHP is this and that, not to trusted etc. As everyone said, TBHP reviews are honest, real world reviews and feedback from the people who are actually living with the vehicle on a day to day basis. They call it as it is.

If anyone around me is buying a car, I always ask them to check out reviews on TBHP for that model. Many a times I have sent them official review and ownership review thread links, saying that this is mandatory reading before you put your money down.

While I have personally never mentioned that I am a member of TBHP and hence cannot comment on the change in attitude due to that, I have immensely benefited from the knowledge from this forum, right from the time I made my purchase till date.
Am not surprised by other fellow members' experiences though wherein once the staff knows that the person is from TBHP, they stop those confusing sale tactics and get down to the heart of the matter.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

my take on those is that the owners involved were very well articulated, and extremely persistent. They probably would have got their cases solved without it being mentioned on TeamBHP.

Read some of those stories, look carefully on how those cases are written, how they mobilise other stakeholders, how persistent they are, how they bring in outside expertise. How they position their case.

There are those that are just very well at dealing with these sort of setbacks and the people that cause it. Their posts on TeamBHP is just one of the very many irons they keep in the fire so to speak. It is the tenacity, skill and competence of the owners that solves these issues, sometimes with abut of help of their case being published on TeamBHP. Minor role for the latter at best, I would think.

I could be wrong.

Agree with you on this one. And at the same time, this is another benefit of this forum to members like me who are not that well versed with automobile knowledge. Reading up on such well presented cases helps make my own case in a better way should the need arise. That said, today social media is a very active voice and TBHP is also a prominent figure in the automotive space so we certainly have a voice and I feel that the voice is growing louder, slowly but steadily.

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

The only issue I have with brand recognition here is the absolute lack of control in who buys and uses team-bhp merchandise. I have seen plenty of cabs and cabbies have the got bhp sticker on their bumpers and driving like absolute morons, rather being true to their cabbie selves. For a lay person, this may reflect poorly on the forum, assuming it to be full of idiotic showoff drivers.

This is something that I have also observed. Vehicles being driven rashly but carrying a TBHP sticker. They probably got it from a relative who is a member of the forum or the owner is a responsible guy but at that point of time, vehicle was being driven by some not-so-responsible. But yes, as you rightly said, it could reflect poorly on the forum.

Cheers,
S

[shancz]

A relatively new member and no experience first hand, didn't mention anywhere either.

Coming from a pure product development approach, the feedback loop is critical for any product life cycle. And the best feedbacks as well as the weirdest issues will be reported by users in real world.

A forum like TBHP is gold for a manufacturer IMHO because the issues raised here will be well vetted by knowledgeable members. So any issue lingering on for more than 3 pages is not just valid but will also have enough info to point in the right direction in locating the cause. This will save a lot of time by removing at least two cycles of validating an issue and then collecting relevant info.

Manufacturers might have their priorities/hands full dealing with everything around them but if they want exceptional feedback, they shouldn't miss this.

[allinbalance]

Originally Posted by shancz

A forum like TBHP is gold for a manufacturer IMHO because the issues raised here will be well vetted by knowledgeable members. So any issue lingering on for more than 3 pages is not just valid but will also have enough info to point in the right direction in locating the cause. This will save a lot of time by removing at least two cycles of validating an issue and then collecting relevant info.

Manufacturers might have their priorities/hands full dealing with everything around them but if they want exceptional feedback, they shouldn't miss this.

I completely agree. My experience relating to this is two kinds - a) on coming to know I am a T-BHP member, the sales/service people immediately become cautious and don't try to oversell or sweet talk; b) pretend they never heard of our forum but still become cautious and don't sweet talk - because they realize the person in front knows what he is doing and has community members to fall back on.

[New2Carz]

My friend who introduced me to T-BHP did not get the membership while I got it on first attempt. He got weaned off the site slowly, but I am still hooked to it. I make sure I mention T-BHP in the conversation with sales and service people and I get their attention immediately 👏

[Thilak29]

Based on my interaction with dealers or service professionals in the last 8 years (across 4 different cities/ two states), they do not give a hoot that someone is a member of TBHP.
For a brief period, one of my cars even had stickers to display forum loyalty (?).

However, what helps is the technical knowledge or understanding of the business/government process involved during the transaction. If one could display that you are not one among the many customers then the way you get treated gets slightly different (saves lot of crap).

We represent a thin population of the car purchasing community and not popular in places outside major cities in the country (remember reading that member population is heavily skewed and most are in Bangalore).

[ibisbrew]

Like any other large group of rather like minded people (automotive enthusiasts in this case), there is bound to be a hint of herd mentality.

As somebody has already pointed out, certain notions or rather prejudices that already exist about the AMT's from Maruti, older 4 speed TC's from Hyundai. While it may be true that they are not great gearboxes but if I don't have a firsthand experience and I just hop onto the bandwagon and start bashing them. it is just adding to the negative perception about Team-BHP or the car community in general.

I see many examples of this herd mentality on this forum, but the amount of actual opinions and technical contributions far outweighs this problem.

As far as OEM's are concerned, I feel we don't matter as much to them on any usual day, because we are an obvious minority. However, when the members of this forum raise issues they are almost always taken seriously because then dealers or other senior management knows or comes to know of that these people are serious and not any other complicit average joe they can get around.

All that said, I never advertise upfront that I am a member, neither does my car have stickers, I always go in as a humble customer and only flash this card when I am clearly being taken for a ride. My reasons for this:

1.) I get to experience actual customer service, and whether I am being fooled in some manner, based on which I can recommend them to other people or not. Not everybody is a car person, so you need actual useful feedback to give to others.

2.) I think walking straight in and flashing your membership (i.e. technical or market knowledge) at somebody only contributes to this forum being labelled as full of snobs People's ego's don't go well with this mostly. I feel being nice goes a long way, and if it doesn't well then you know what to do (and point no. 1 still stands)

On the occasions that I have advertised being a member:

1.) The person was an enthusiast or just well read. Usually these people are either aware of Team-BHP or you get to tell them and add a potential reader/member to this forum

2.) To emphasize that I really appreciate high quality work and that I am not an ill-informed person.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by PYSO

I have wondered about this often

Does wearing a TBHP tee shirt or having TBHP stickers on your car, while visiting showrooms / service centers, lead to better service? Anyone has any such experiences to share?

I have noticed that if there is a petrol head (or at times, keen salespersons) in the showroom, service centre, car wash, accessories dealers etc, then they are also members or ghost followers (if unfortunately they are unable to clear the TBHJEE). Then they don't try and treat you like a random customer, in some cases promise discounts if we put favourable reviews (has happened to me) assuming that we are happy with their services.

Then you have the clueless about the forum folks, and well to them it could be just another facebook group or something.

Some of my best conversations I have had are with people who are on / follow the forum. My tyre alignment guy, my accessories guy and the car wash I frequent all are keen followers of TBHP and theny also know they can drum up solid referral business (I have referred these companies often here) or lose business if a nasty review is put up so imo they do go the extra mile to keep my happy.

[JoshMachine]

Don't know about OEMs much, but dealers & their frontline service advisor staff - yes, these guys do check out TBHP quite regularly. And as many have said, it's like a love or hate perception they carry.

From my personal experience with the Pune VW authorised dealership, I have come across atleast couple of Smart Alecs there, who keep a tab on what's going on in the forum.

And I also try to reciprocate by guiding them to some of the ownership reviews that we have on the forum (including yours truly ).
Plus any technical stuff like the "VW DSG Demystified" thread for example, wherein they get a first hand sense of numerous customers' plights and delights, in equal proportion.

And such news also goes right upto the dealership honchos, who feign ignorance when confronted in public but am sure, they are equally curious about it when they are on their own.

[sknair]

Very relevant topic. My personal experience with buying couple of cars.

While I was in the process of purchasing the face-lifted Mitsubishi Outlander, the sales people and the delivery people were over anxious to ensure that I had a good experience, all because I highlighted some of the issues in delivery after I read the relevant team-bhp posts and they were aware of it.

When I purchased the Ford Endeavor 3.2L initial batch in 2016 there were couple of issues like Auto leveling head lamp defect and wheel nut issues. Initially the dealership in Bangalore refused to accept this as a manufacturing defect, then I showed them all the discussions were were having in the group about these defects at that time, post which they very quickly got in touch with Ford and got the headlamps replaced under warranty and of course new wheel nuts as well.

Also they would listen to you when we say there are folks who already got software updates, otherwise standard answer is "sir, no updates available as of now".


It is always better to have a group voice against establishments who think the customers are going to be naive and they assume they can take us for a ride.

Thank you team-bhp and our fellow citizens to keep this a great forum with customer centricity at the core.

btw. I Always enjoy all the travel blogs as well, better than most dedicated travel sites!

[ShivWason17]

I recently had a positive experience involving Team BHP.

Took my Octavia for periodic service to Brite Skoda, Noida as after the shady Channel Motors have shut the shop, there is no dealer in Dehradun. By chance I was wearing a personalised Tbhp Tshirt that day which also mentioned my Tbhp Handle name.

The SA was very polite to begin with but being a typical SA he was trying to sell some or the other useless stuff. I was called to the shop floor for a meeting with the mechanic assigned for my car (which was good on their part), the mechanic noticed the Tshirt and asked if I was a member in the forum. When I said yes, he was ecstatic and started explaining me everything about the jobs to be done with full joy.

When the SA again started to upsell, he simply said “Faltu cheezein mat chipkao inko, saab pakad lenge”

In the end, got some benefits at the time of billing and a complimentary car care kit.

They even offered to order Breakfast/ lunch for me from a place of my liking as I was travelling straight from Dehradun and had to return in the evening, an offer which I politely refused as I had other plans.

All in all, it was a very nice experience with them and Team Bhp membership had some role to play in it.

[TJ02]

I personally feel reading teambhp and highlighting similar complaints to the SA helps.

I personally got my ciaz steering assembly changed by showing similar issues in the forum. Also for my baleno brake pads were changed twice since I showed the SA silent recall messages on the forum.

Being a informed customer and part of teambhp really helps. Some of the service centers and service advisors are aware of the forum and know if the job is not done it will get highlighted on the forum as well as to some senior management in the company.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

If this, or any other forum would have any impact on how most Dealerships operate and deal with customers, we would see a very different kind of sentiment I would imagine.

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Posting views on this forum and to be taken seriously for those posts by all and sundry is too much of tall expectation.

Agree with these two views.

A company or dealer that was already good at customer service and cared about client feedback is more likely to take complaints or reviews on an online forum seriously. But such entities are already likely to be doing a good job. A crooked dealer or an apathetic brand in India is less likely to change habits because of the readership numbers of an English-language online forum in India. That will change in time surely, but right now a review or a news article in a mainstream newspaper/TV channel is more likely to be taken seriously because it will reach an exponentially larger audience.

What this awesome forum is right now is certainly an invaluable resource for individual customers and potential customers to learn, make informed decisions and to help other members out.

But I don't think online forums play that much of a part yet with manufacturers or dealers in our country. Mainstream media, newspapers, definitely. While the membership/user stats for Tbhp are certainly very impressive for an online forum, they are still minor when compared to the overall customer base for these companies.