[Engine_Roars]

Posting this on behalf of my sister. The vehicle has been handed over today and the issue looks to be sorted. However, as explained below, it has been a nightmare to own this vehicle. My brother-in-law is in the army and posted at Ladakh and this is the only vehicle that my sister has to take care of her and my nephew's travel in Patiala where they both are put up.

"After struggling with our Tata Harrier in terms of performance and after sales service for the last many months, I am now forced to suggest to all my friends and family members never to go for a Tata Harrier or any other Tata vehicle.

We chose to buy a Tata Harrier (Dark Edition) in December 2020 because we thought Tata is an Indian brand and speaks of quality and trust. We have many products of Tata in our house as we were loyal customers of the company. But this decision of ours to buy a Tata Harrier has led me to question my faith in this brand. In fact, it was because I was adamant that we should go for an Indian brand (#vocalforlocal), whereas my husband and many other officers had suggested we go for another brand. I seriously regret my decision today.

The car had been giving issues on and off - some system error making the car halt suddenly, some issue related to the driver's side of the door and minor things.


Major issues:

It stopped suddenly on the highway when my husband was driving to from Jodhpur to Vadodara - again some system error.

The next major problem happened this year in April. The spring in the clutch broke when we came to Patiala. Took it to the workshop Tata Motors Patiala the same day. For that one single part, we had to keep calling and making visits to the workshop for four months. The part was finally replaced after I escalated the matter to some Zonal Head equivalent. Then it took only 2 days for the part to come. It got replaced 3 days back. That's from April to September 2023!

They took 2.5 days to change the clutch pedal assembly, while I was without a means of mobility for that period.

And now the third major issue. The automatic seat had been giving problems ( it would get stuck and not move forward or backwards) for almost 3 to 4 months. Sent the vehicle to the same workshop for this issue 3 times. They returned it saying it was working fine. Only manual checking was done. No calibration was done to check the circuits that control the movement of the seat. This time the seat was completely jammed while they were repairing the clutch assembly. Now, they say it will take another 10 days for the new part to come and be changed. The vehicle has been at the workshop since last Friday and I have been in one corner of the city (army cantonment) without any means of transport for myself and my child all these days.

The most disappointing part - one single part for the vehicle took 4 months to come, that too after we approached some senior chap. The person at the workshop initially hadn't even put in a requisition for the required part for like 2 months and kept dilly-dallying. Innumerable timelines were given to us again and again. No responsibility or answerability. Employees stopped taking our calls. They would go missing from their seats the moment they would see our man in the workshop. The seniors also were not replying when we approached them again. This was a total lack of concern or empathy for the customer and the difficulty we faced.

In fact, I am told that we were not the only ones to have been treated like this when it came to repair or replacement of any part of a Tata Harrier.

Such experiences with a brand like Tata are not expected. And this was our conscious decision to go with Tata after having seen their work ethics and brand ethics from close. But sadly, we have been hugely disappointed and harassed."

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

Such experiences with a Brand like TATA are not expected. And this was our conscious decision to go with TATAs after having seen their work ethics and brand ethics from close. But sadly we have been HUGELY DISAPPOINTED AND HARRASSED."

While an expectation of the bolded part was what drove my decision to avoid the Harrier, the bad taste for this owner seems to be rooted in having an inept and unprofessional Tata Dealer.

[ashvek3141]

This is exactly the problem! TATA cars having niggles / problems is one thing (which now looks to be in their DNA of car manufacturing), but such pathetic attitude of the service team is what gets to another level of frustration!!

[IshaanIan]

What alarms me the most here is the time taken to resolve issues (generally through replacement of parts) in a locally made car even when my Kizashi was new I had a few troubles one of them being one of the memory functions for the driver seat stopped working. It was imported from Japan and replaced within 1 month. At this rate there is no difference in buying an imported car or a locally made one.

[Cresterk]

Tata makes beautiful garage ornaments. The new Nexon EV is very tempting but stories like this remind me to keep away until they start making cars that can run atleast 5 years before giving you mental stress.

[Chetan_Rao]

One has to live with the product, not the PR.

A lot of buyers, of a lot of things across brands and product categories, would benefit from NOT getting the two mixed up when parting with hard-earned cash.

[shancz]

Sadly, not a rare title to read, even more so for their flagships.
Dealership experience and attention to detail are the two factors which have consistently been lagging at TML since I joined TBHP.

Also, don't take any ASC's word as final. Explore other ASCs/options to get your stuff done and applies to all manufacturers.

[jazzy]

Stories like this makes me promise myself to prolong any decision of buying any Tata car for another few years. Having issues in a few products is one thing but showing such apathy to customers is unpardonable.

[GrammarNazi]

This is pathetic. IMO Tata has lost control over it's dealers. They don't seem interested to work sincerely towards sales & service. Maybe their dealers have a cartel that forces Tata not to allow new dealerships to invest either.

Such poor management by domestic car makers is why new car companies like Kia can enter the market and achieve break-even within 15 months.

Originally Posted by mayankk

While an expectation of the bolded part was what drove my decision to avoid the Harrier, the bad taste for this owner seems to be rooted in having an inept and unprofessional Tata Dealer.

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

This is exactly the problem! TATA cars having niggles / problems is one thing (which now looks to be in their DNA of car manufacturing), but such pathetic attitude of the service team is what gets to another level of frustration!!

The dealer can choose to remain inept and unprofessional because the parent company doesn't care.

I'm sure you'll can guess that a complaint would be handled significantly better by Maruti or Toyota.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

One has to live with the product, not the PR.

A lot of buyers, of a lot of things across brands and product categories, would benefit from NOT getting the two mixed up when parting with hard-earned cash.

Wise words. Compelling messaging through indirect PR branding with claims of unparalleled commitment & obsessive "honesty", is what hugely influences people fall for the Tata brand. A little research before the purchase goes a long way.

[GhostGrid]

TML and horrible stories in our community go hand in hand; it just gives me anxiety to think about the actual numbers of people (non-Bhpian) who are suffering from their inept A.S.S.

Nexon's facelift has already debuted, and Harrier and Safari are on the way, but the most crucial element that TATA is lacking is the “intention” to make things right.

There are uncountable complaints from their customers on almost every social media platform, yet there is no sign of any change.

[Azalactone]

This is primarily the reason why i would not want to go near any Tata vehicles yet. Tata (as well as Mahindra) are yet to catch up with the Japanese in terms of quality and reliability. It might take at least a decade or more to actually see if the present day Tata vehicles hold up with time. Tata needs to improve their service quality/service centers/dealership experiences a lot. Not to forget the soft skills of their dealer/service staff. Just putting VOCAL FOR LOCAL sticker and expecting customers to buy your products in the guise of patriotism is sheer stupidty.

Off topic - I won't twist words but Tata showrooms and service centers feel depressing (no offence meant to any Tata vehicle owners). I pass one Tata showroom located in near Infiniti Mall, Andheri (West) everyday while driving to work and wonder how customers even feel like entering that showroom and buying a vehicle. Most of the Tata dealerships/Service centers have very poor ratings/reviews on Google.

Compared to this the Hyundai/Kia showrooms are so much nicer and feel positive and have the highest ratings on Google compared to any other vehicle brands (atleast in Mumbai).

[greyhound82]

Originally Posted by Azalactone

This is primarily the reason why I would not want to go near any Tata vehicles yet. Tata (as well as Mahindra) are yet to catch up with the Japanese in terms of quality and reliability. .

As a TATA owner what you told me is correct. During my purchase of Tata Harrier, the way the treatment was laid out for us in Kia showroom and TATA showroom was very different. The Kia showroom experience was stellar when compared to laid back experience from TATA. We went ahead to purchase TATA due to the long waiting time for Kia, the availability of service centres and the more rugged nature for our touring purpose.

The service centre experience was mixed. During service they will not give you updates unless you call them and last time my bonnet opening bush was broken. They will always push for value added services and try to fleece. Another time the service centre soiled the interior and boot with grease. The solution people are telling is to get friendly with a service centre person and for a South Indian in North with less Hindi language skills, it never worked.

Tata products are not at all refined and it lacks finesse(Be it the grinding noise from brake pads, the left pulling issues, tuning of the steering). The QA is pathetic and even the manufacturing process needs a lot of refinement. In my personal opinion(from working with Mahindra, TATA, FCA, VW and Honda and their multiple vendors from Cornaglia to Erlinklinger), I will say TATA manufacturing and quality control process has to improve a lot and Mahindra is far ahead compared to TATA. TATA runs more like a government company with no one to take responsibilities (be it TATA motors, TAL, TACO, TataElxsi )

Luckily I am facing no niggles after facing some initial hiccups and the car is performing amazingly well so far.


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