Bad ordeal at Tata's service centre; Why I repaired my Tiago outside

I bought this car knowing that the after-sales service is poor for TATA cars. But never knew they would hit the rock bottom levels.

BHPian noob_petrolmonk recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Sharing my recent experience with PPS Motors, TATA Service center, Chromepet - Chennai.

My AC stopped cooling the cabin and took it to a nearby Car AC mechanic. He diagnosed leakage in the AC evaporator coil and told me that replacement was the only option. He is a reliable guy but I decided to get it replaced in ASS since it involves disassembling the dashboard.

I went to PPS TATA Chromepet and informed the receptionist that I was there for a running repair. She brought me one of the service advisors (don't want to mention their names) and he enquired about the issue. After listening patiently, he came up with the following reasons in a bid to turn me away.

1. There are a lot of cars waiting to be repaired due to the floods (Flooding happened on the 1st week of December and it is more than 5 months since)
2. They are not accepting any vehicles without a prior appointment (not sure why)
3. He even had the audacity to ask me to wait until 28th May (and endure the peak summer in Chennai City)
4. If it is urgent, then he suggested another ASS near my place called Gokulam Motors (Wow!)

Next comes the most interesting part. I tried booking an appointment via the TMSC app. There was no option for running repairs (which was there earlier) and I am supposed to opt for full service (based on the odo).

I bought this car knowing that the after-sales service is poor for TATA cars. But never knew they would hit the rock bottom levels.

Update-

I was able to book service for running repairs in the TMSC app. Seems like the page was not loaded properly when I first tried.

Meanwhile, I missed another point from the SA. He warned me that running repairs could take up to 4 months (after May 28) in case the parts aren't available. Seriously? TAMO ASS is indicating that they are inept at sourcing spare parts for the car models that are still in production.

I was able to book service for running repairs in the TMSC app. Seems like the page was not loaded properly when I first tried.

Meanwhile, I missed another point from the SA. He warned me that running repairs could take up to 4 months (after May 28) in case the parts aren't available. Seriously? TAMO ASS is indicating that they are inept at sourcing spare parts for the car models that are still in production.

Why I took my car to outside AC repair workshop- 

Received a call from the ASS the next day (from a different person) and was informed that they are not accepting running repairs. They suggested me to cancel the booking and I politely told them that I'd complain to TATA motors. The person laughed and said the TATA motors would simply forward my complaint to them again and I would be running in circles.

I was shocked to the core. I knew complaining to TATA Motors is a futile exercise but the audacity of the ASS was shocking. I told them that I'd write this in online forums including Team-BHP. The voice tone of the person changed completely and she told me politely that she would get her customer relationship manager to talk to me and disconnected the call. I promptly received a call in a few minutes and the CRM was a known person (since I was getting serviced there since 2018 and used to interact with this CRM frequently).

CRM explained that they (PPS chromepet) are facing issues with ordering and receiving spares and the flood-damaged vehicles are awaiting parts for a long time. She then offered to reschedule the appointment to their Guindy ASS but said there would be a delay for a few days. I asked them to get an appointment and disconnected the call. At least this person told me the actual scenario and offered me an alternative solution.

Since I knew I couldn't wait any longer, I searched for other AC repair workshops nearby and found one called GTS Car AC Services, Chromepet. This place had decent reviews on Google and visited the place. It was a huge workshop (I think as big as PPS ASS) and had lots of vehicles. There was no one to talk to and I managed to identify the owner of the garage and spoke to him. He said he'd get it ready by the next day. I left the car and got the car as promised.

While returning back, I came across the parking yard of PPS Tata and they were true. I saw flood-damaged cars in the yard. Something seems to be terribly wrong with either TATA or this ASS.

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