Quote:
Originally Posted by apachelongbow looks like a repeat of the Force One fiasco. Now a days the only place to see a Force One is inside the showroom. With hardly a few hundred cars sold, it has become a niche product. And believe me, the Force One is not a bad product at all. Had it worn a Maruti, Hyundai, Mahindra or a Tata batch, it would have sold a few thousands each year at the least.
Force motor's problems are not with their cars, its with the nuts who are in management. I believe that incompetence starts from the very top. Some people are not meant to be in the auto business, and I feel the Force company owners are one of them.
Come on Force, who will buy your cars no matter how good they are, if you have zero after sales service, incompetent sales force, poor coverage of distributors and are unable to procure or honor simple warranty claims? |
Recently I got my Gurkha serviced for the first time in the Force Personal Vehicles Outlet at Ghaziabad (Prince Motors). Earlier I had experienced the outlets at Gurgaon, Manesar and Rama Road-Delhi.
Prince Motors had recently sent a guy (Manoj) to Pune to get trained on the Gurkha and were more than happy to see a real Gurkha in the flesh.
They didn't yet have any spares for the Gurkha, since they only service Force One vehicles. But, that was not a problem for me, since I carry a sackful of essential spares for my vehicle.
At the service center, there were eight, yes 8, Force One vehicles getting serviced or repaired. From the look of it, the guys doing the job were being quite professional about it. I noticed that there was 4-I validation happening for each critical job that was happening.
During my visit I chatted up with a few mechanics and here is what they told me:
1. Initial batch of Force One's had a few problems, mainly to do with the Rubber Hoses (a legacy Force Motors issue) and AC and Turbo.
2. The Turbo has been changed about 5-6 months back (re-specced), and since then no incidents. They are also changing the Turbo for older vehicles under warranty.
3. The AC had problems w.r.t the Condensor. The condensor has since, been redesigned, and they are also replacing these FOC for older customers.
4. 2 key hoses (one of them is the Turbo to Intercooler connection) have been redesigned, and their quality has been upgraded. This prevents frequent tears.
There were a couple of funny incidents as well, and
are representative of the changes that Force Motors must drive within their personnel and processes.
1. There was a Bumper that had been repaired and it was being given a fresh coat of White Paint. The guy doing this, was merrily going about his job, with no clue that the Force One standing next to him (for a simple service) was also receiving the Paint Dropets and soon the rear windscreen was coated in White droplets. Best time for the owner to make an entry and Man, was that a sight to see! The problem was quickly rectified though and the poor painter guy got two tight slaps from the Floor manager.
2. One vehicle had had some work done for rectifying the hand brake. So, it was being demonstrated to the owner on the entry ramp. First the mechanic who had worked on it, displayed it and it worked fine. Next, the owner wanted to try it himself and tried it, and the vehicle rolled back and lightly bumped into another Force One parked behind. No damage, but a lot more shouting and one more slap. Hilarious!
Back to my Gurkha. Of all the spares I was carrying, I did not have the appropriate hoses that were bust. They went out of their way and located two hoses of the appropriate profile and diameter and cut them to the right size and fit them to my vehicle.
They gave me an ETA for my vehicle, and beat that time by around 2 hours. Not too bad, I'd say.
Cost of service + consumables + hose replacement = 4000 odd bucks. Of course, I supplied the Oil and Diesel Filter and chose to get the Air Filter cleaned, since it was only mildly dirty.
While they have a lot to improve in After Sales Service, this is the Third outlet that I have now experienced, where I was treated well and an effort to help, was genuinely made. True they goof up, but it's not all as bad as it is made out to be.
That said, the real failing of Force Motors, is on the Marketing and Sales front. They have absolutely no idea on how to "Go To Market" with their products.
On a sidenote, Force One is getting launched in a cheaper and trimmed down version soon.