[tsk1979]

When will Tata learn?
This is a big question with no answer in site. Be it shoddy service quality, or shoddy product quality, you can find many examples everywhere.
Now a lot of blame is taken by service centers for shoddy service, however, let me bring to notice about shoddy product quality of storm.
A friend bought a new Safari Storme.
He wanted to take this 4x4 to ladakh, so a day before he had booked for first service (5000kms) he came to me to take tips on emergency repairs, location of fuses, what are common troubleshooting guidelines etc., He also wanted a short demo of the 4x4 system, and wanted me to check that everything works as intended.

The brand new vehicle, with around 4500kms on the odo(2 month old vehicle) had already developed a major problem.
The passenger front door would not open from inside(there is no child lock here)
Even from outside, you need to give multiple tugs to the handle. If it does not work, you have to unlock and lock doors multiple times, and then tug again.
After a few tugs and lock unlock cycles, the door would open.
This safari developed this problem a week back (around 4000kms).

Apart from that, the passenger side power window was not going up and down easily and had a rattle too.

Thankfully, these were fixed at first service, and he was on his way.
From J&K he called me to ask about weird suspension noises, and loud ones at that. Poor fellow was quite worried if he would be stranded there, and rightfully so.
Thankfully, from the description, its just some mis-aligned bushes, so the vehicle is okay as such.
But this brings forward the question. What kind of quality gremlins lurk on Tata assembly lines. Door fitting, bushes etc., are decades old technology. Even cars costing less than 3 lakhs get such simple stuff right. Yet in a VX 4x4 which costs 15 lakhs in Delhi, you have such problems, or "minor niggles" as some like to call them.

Very soon, we will start calling car catching fire also a minor niggle, after all the fire was due to only one minor part failing, right?

Rather than launch silly variants every 2 days, Tata should launch one variant. This should have a simple name

"Everything works".

When such a variant is produced, Tata won't need to spend money on 5 star hotels to launch hundreds of variants. This one "Everything works" variant will be good enough.

[storme'd]

Devdath first car or not, an experience is an experience and deserves to be shared on the forum. And to be honest I don't know which workshops you go to, I have never faced such issues with HMP (Hyundai) or Pearl Honda. If I am paying for my car washing I have all rights to expect it to be spotless when it comes to me.

Also about the issue of all Storme's not having issues; please don't use generic statements when you don't have complete information of the same. Some friends who are storme owners but not part of team bhp have been using the storme for around 4 months now and have problems ranging from starting motor failure to frequent fuse problems and in couple of cases side cladding coming off. I myself have been a storme user for 4 months and have had issues escalated to Karl Slym as well. These may seem small to you but for people who have spent over a million rupees, these problems are big.

I know Tata is going through a major refresh but customers expectations will be there for everything they pay for.

[CARDEEP]

I agree with both n.devdath & tsk1979. Basically the problem with TML is of bad quality control that allows problematic vehicle sold to customers, & lack of any sort control over dealerships & services offered by them.

However, the other guy, who was miffed with me, for issues faced by his friend were not clear from his post & whatever was apparent were minor issues, which could have been sorted, had the owner been more careful at the billing counter.

At the same time, TML or any dealer of the company (who are the face of the company) cannot wash off hands from a problematic product, & make customers suffer for their incompetence (this is for the attitude at TNL which won't change easily).

This is the reason why TML is losing the race of the numbers on a MoM basis, despite equally average products from competitors.

[dinesha]

All I have to say is that if the issues about the service quality and professionalism that I have raised vide my friend's experience is considered "normal" or "not clear" or "minor" ... then I guess we deserve it..

[djpeesh]

I agree with Dinesha. Shoddy servicing CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be defended as being a function of a paucity of time. Most customers don't have the luxury of taking off mid-week to get their cars serviced. The customer has to pay full price on Saturdays, as he does on other days, so why is a shoddy job ok on a saturday?

Sorry to rant, but the reason why Tata Motors is losing out on customers is precisely this. And the more defenders they get, the more resistant to change the dealerships become. I've dealt with Maruti and frequently drop my Swift off for a service on a Saturday. You should look at the car when it comes back. It has none of the Saturday niggles that my Safari used to have. Mahindra, unfortunately, is almost as bad. It's more of the chalta hai attitude that will be the death of Indian brands.

[SumitB]

When it comes to Tata, if you have a problem, try raising a stink to the top most level officer you can. Currently, their MD, Mr. Karl Slym is on twitter and his handle is @KarlSlym. Tweet your issues to him and see the whole TML getting in top gear to address your issues.

Regarding the quality control with Tata Motors, there is no such term in their work ethics. They simply choose to have their customers as guinea pigs. You have an issue, they will rectify it. It may take a few attempts. If you raise a stinker, they will do it for free every time it reoccurs. If you let it be, they will be more than happy to bill you every time.

[kaviprem]

Lets get back to discussion on "STORME" in this thread instead of getting into the USUAL bashing way around TML and its service which everybody knows

Prem.

[4x4addict]

It is an open secret that you never buy any Tata vehicle until after 2 years of launch. This has been the case with every Safari model, so these issues with Storme are kind of expected. Tata will iron them out in a year or so.

[GrammarNazi]

Whether people agree or not, @dinesha drew a picture of someone ranting about a sticker, a coating (that HE thinks isn't upto the mark, he's not even put a picture) and the car wash being shoddy (again there's no picture provided). I have no clue how people here are reaching to conclusions without much material. Would users not be held for defamation if not for T-BHP's disclaimer? I think I'm going to head to the rules and T&C sections again.

[NST440]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Whether people agree or not, @dinesha drew a picture of someone ranting about a sticker, a coating (that HE thinks isn't upto the mark, he's not even put a picture) and the car wash being shoddy (again there's no picture provided). I have no clue how people here are reaching to conclusions without much material. Would users not be held for defamation if not for T-BHP's disclaimer? I think I'm going to head to the rules and T&C sections again.

i completely agree, sometimes i too feel that TML are bashed more than they deserve, they may not have the competencies of a Toyota but by far my experience has been good. tThey listen, they perform , they get feedbacks and they are trying to improve.

The difference is in our thought process, if TML recalls a car for some replacement we term it as poor engineering but if some Japanese or german manufacturer does it we call it a customer satisfaction & QC approach.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by NST440

if TML recalls a car for some replacement we term it as poor engineering but if some Japanese or german manufacturer does it we call it a customer satisfaction & QC approach.

Very true.

Forget the Japs, even the umpteen faults, including some pretty serious ones in the XUV, and its recalls have been taken as "steps of improvement" by the market while the Storme, in spite of not having any issues on the whole as a product, across pieces, draws a huge amount of flak from all quarters.

[ambujlal]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Very true.

Forget the Japs, even the umpteen faults, including some pretty serious ones in the XUV, and its recalls have been taken as "steps of improvement" by the market while the Storme, in spite of not having any issues on the whole as a product, across pieces, draws a huge amount of flak from all quarters.

I believe strongly that mods should think of a separate section for bashing/praising/ranting about service quality for each brand, so that threads are not hijacked over such small issues like "washing not up to the mark." As a Bhpian I really don't care about the car wash at service center once or twice in a year.

[CARDEEP]

Precisely, that is what I am emphasizing TML is as bad any other manufacturer, but, worst when it comes to facing criticism... only if the A.S.S. were bit better.

Almost an hour ago GTO has posted on the thread "How flatbed tow trucks would run out of business without German cars!", & there is only one comment on the same. Plese refer link below:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post3159515

There are 2 issues in the above case:
1. Company ready to help customer who got a faulty product;
2. A.S.S. rectifying problems faced by the customer (suspension, Car Remote Keys, low speeds braking issues).

In both cases, it is the competence of the A.S.S. which had made the difference.

But, still we need to stop exaggerating in case of Tata's, though I admit there are more problems with Tata than niggles , & their QC department is almost as overpaid as Indian Government Babus, which needs to be fixed beforehand.

[neel385]

For all those who are aggrieved by the poor ASS of TATA, I have only one point. You need to cough up a bit more money, say 1-1.5 L and move to Mahindra, or about 8-10L and move to others like Ford, Toyota etc. Come on people! Yes we are Indian and we believe in getting the maximum bang for the buck. But lets not take that idiom further than it is intended to be taken. For once we need to remember the famous MTV line "Itne paise me itnaich milenga!".

That being said, I totally agree that TATA has a lot of room for improvement as far as product reliability and ASS is concerned, but at the same time, I think that we are perhaps being blind (intentionally? desi bad/phoren good?) to the advancements that TATA has made on both counts.

[rkg]

Please go through the post 1204 in this thread and imagine if it is a TATA, what would have been the reaction in this forum, media (print and electronic). Even in that thread nobody bothered about this post except one reply in 1206 post. rest all just ignored it.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...utions-81.html

TATA are very poor in media management compared to their competitors.

TATA have to improve not only their Q&C and TASS , but also media management

May be we in the forum have better tolerance levels with regard to other manufacturers as against TATA.

Iam not connected with TATA in any way.