Tata service centre's negligence and carefree attitude: Saga continues

When I went to pick up my Tata Safari facelift, I saw that it was not washed properly and there were scratches on the door and side panels.

BHPian flameofforest recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello Everyone,

Here I am back after 7 months of ownership and 2nd service done of my Safari Accomplished+ Gold color. Overall the vehicle runs fine – mechanically - like I have always mentioned.

This time the service didn’t go as planned and expected – all because of the Service Center's negligence and carefree attitude.

Firstly the whole vehicle drop and pick-up was messed up. I mentioned while booking the service that I needed the drop back home in the evening. Then on the day while dropping the car also mentioned the same and it was confirmed. But in the evening when the workshop was about to close at 7:30pm I got a call that you didn’t come to pick up the vehicle. I was flabbergasted and told that I can't come now. They said ok then come tomorrow and pick up the car. Reason – The driver list is being managed by front end team and SC team sits at the backend so there is no proper coordination.

And the worst part – when I went the next-day to pick up the car myself, I saw that it was dirty from outside at many places. The washing was not proper, there were grease marks on the bonnet AND there were scratches on the door and side panels. I just gave a piece of my mind to the service center staff for such carelessness - They take customers' time as a joke or what. Other customers were also there and must be thinking what a hot-headed guy I am. The SC person got the scratches buffed up with some 3M coating then and there itself. Inside also it was not cleaned properly. It's heart-breaking to see that the vehicle which you keep as your own baby, is handled so poorly by the very group who has sold it.

Coming to service then I had 4 basic problems which I made them note and showcased at the time of dropping –

1. TPMS issue – RESOLVED - the TPMS calibration between tires and instrumentation cluster was not mapped correctly. So out of 4 tires, 3 tires were showing wrong placement on the cluster. I came to know this when I went for an air check.

• Initially service center blatantly said that you would have got the 1st service done anywhere else and they would have rotated the tires. Upon showing the invoice they agreed that this issue could have been there from the beginning and went unnoticed - so this means also during PDI.
• Issue was resolved by rotating the tires to their correct positions – but when I started the car, one of the tires was showing 0 pressure. So no one cared to check the TPMS after the rotation. They fixed it again by filling and removing some air.

2. Wiper Blade issue – UNRESOLVED - LHS wiper blade was making dotted marks while wiping. I was told we have to replace the rubbers and this doesn’t come under warranty. I was again surprised as a 6-month-old vehicle, with a premium price tag, will have such poor wipers that need to be replaced so soon. And that too when the rainy season was just starting so the wiper was not used that much. Anyway, I said yes to this. Also, the rubber blades come in pairs, so even when my RHS was working fine - I had to shell out around 2K for a new set.

• BUT, when I picked up the car – the blade was still making a sound. Not dotted, but a tic-tic when it starts. They brought 2 new blades but both were making the same sound.
• I asked them to replace the wiper-head. On that, the supervisor and technician tried to bend the head with some force and suggested driving the vehicle as the sound was no longer there. It is still there so one more trip has to be made to SS to get this fixed.

3. Connected Tail-Light timing – UNRESOLVED – The tail-light while locking-unlocking doesn’t turn on/off in one go. Meaning the animation is not consistent – starting from both LH/RH and then ending in the middle. It starts from LH and then from RH and then ends in the middle. Or vice-versa. A video proof was taken and all agreed there is a problem.

• I asked to change the part. They asked to take the vehicle and they would check the stock and get the car picked up for replacement in a weeks time.
• The part replacement was done – but again no one cared to check the final results. When the driver came to deliver after the fix, I showed him the issue still occurring and he was red-faced. – And to top it – I had to pay for the pick-up and drop for the 2nd time. Ideally, this should have been looked into when the car was with them for 1.5 days earlier and was mentioned in the job card.
• To add – The vehicle was picked up at 10AM in the morning and was delivered post 8PM. It took them 10 hours just to replace the tail lamp as they prioritized other vehicles over this.

4. Radio reception – UNRESOLVED – As per the service center, Tata is planning for the antenna/receiver replacement as that seems to be faulty.

Software update – I was told at the time of drop that the software would not be updated (the last was the Jan 2024 version) as the latest one is causing battery drain issues. Still at the time of pick-up, I saw that s/w was updated to March 24 version. So not sure if this is the latest bad s/w or if was there any other version too after this.

New issue – A/C temperature not getting controlled properly all the time. Sometimes even at 27/28 C, it blows air feels like 18/19 C.

Lastly, after all this fiasco – The service center person very comfortably called the next day to take the feedback.

So the saga of driving + experiencing the vehicle as promised VS as delivered still continues.

Cheers all!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.