[dingolphie]

Maybe if you have a lawyer in the family, get them to send a notice first and then start negotiating. That will put you in a good position and will give them some seriousness.

[moralfibre]

Sagar, I am surprised you chose Millenium as your dealer. They were dealers for Mercedes and Maruti Suzuki in the past and have had their dealership taken away due to unfair practices. I am sure Pandit is not that great a choice but I would have chosen them against Millenium.

[Guderian]

Hi throlleking,
Firstly heartfelt sympathies for having gone through the terrible experience and embarassment of having to return without the vehicle you were dreaming about for so long. Can well imagine how you and your family are feeling about the whole episode.

Secondly - boy are you lucky !
Thankfully you were able to stop payment and stop the registration process. Just leave it at that. However put the entire episode on record by writing a mail to the dealership with a CC to the Tata Sales Staff of the region and state clearly the reasons for cancelling the booking. If you have any advance stuck with them demand the same back and threaten the dealership with consequent legal proceedings for recovery of the advance and suit for mental trauma and opportunity costs.

Glad that you didn't become a victim of yet another unscrupulous auto-dealer.

Going by the snaps and your description I am pretty certain that:

1. Either the vehicle given to you was a demo vehicle and during one of the test runs or runs on errands for sales staff it was involved in a nasty brush which damaged the 'C' pillar and/or the hatch door and hence all the ham handed cover up work.

2. Or it was another case where they handed over this (an unregistered) vehicle to a guy who could pull strings in the dealership or was/is a politico who took the vehicle out and within a few hours/days damaged it - brought it back to the dealership and took another one. The damaged one was touched up and pushed on to you.

Incidentally going by the VIN how old is this vehicle ? Month & year of manufacturing ? That also would give you a clue.

Whatever the case my suggestion would be to walk away from the dealer and pick up your dream vehicle from another dealer. And as suggested earlier by GTO and others - if you can, wait for the Merlin

Good Luck !

[nawalsingal]

Originally Posted by throttleking

How do I reach out to TATA, any specific mail id?

Hi throttleking, Good to see you refused delivery of "lemon" Safari, avoiding a lot of trouble in process. Now make sure to get VIN alloted prior to anything else, do a thorough PDI as per checklist of TBHP & if you are taking delivery of the vehicle with temp regn, take the delivery same day to prevent further manipulations by dealer. Also, switch dealer if possible, & let the other dealer "Know This" lest he be more careful while dealing with your issues.

We had first hand experience of dealing with TATA Motors infamous customer care attitude while getting issues addressed in our Grande,(First in Pune) only to successfully claim refund after a battle of around a year. Please PM me in case you need some help. You can contact TML at following mail ID's: info@tata.com, cac@tatamotors.com. In case of further escalation I have mail id's right up to Chairman's office. Fight for your right & don't get taken in for a ride by the dealer under any pretext.

All the best & Happy new year in advance.

[Enigmatic]

Hahaha , i still have 3 long and tedious years ahead of me . :(

However , im always here to help out other BHPians , specially in such matters where the dealer thinks that the customer is a fool and can be easily taken for a ride . It high time that these corporates realize that its a customer based market . We want that's why you sell and not the other way around !!



As my sister had finally decided to go for a Fabia , we were test driving the same . To my surprise , the dealer brought a Non test drive vehicle for the test drive . Moreover the speedometer was disconnected as well . On asking he said that its fitted at the dealer and the car is just coming from the stock yard . And above all , after the rather short test drive , he asked whether we were interested in buying this very car !! I gave him a good peace of my mind , and thanks to Team-BHP i knew how notorious these Skoda dealers are beforehand.

But this incident of throttleking seems to bring to notice that TATA dealers are going down the same lane.

[ebonho]

Note from Team-Bhp Support: Team-BHP maintains a strong stand against drinking and driving and any mention of alcohol. Hence posts containing ANY alcohol content (in text or pictures, directly or indirectly) are not allowed.

We advise you to read our board rules carefully before proceeding any further.

Very sorry to hear about this and very happy for you at the same time.

I would not let Millenium off the hook if I were you.

Escalation to the logical end can only be a good thing for both you and other potential unsuspecting customers of Millenium out here and elsewhere.

Let us discuss in depth later tonight.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by Enigmatic

However , im always here to help out other BHPians , specially in such matters where the dealer thinks that the customer is a fool and can be easily taken for a ride .
To my surprise , the dealer brought a Non test drive vehicle for the test drive . Moreover the speedometer was disconnected as well . On asking he said that its fitted at the dealer and the car is just coming from the stock yard .

Allowing test drives in non-test drive cars are a common practice even with some Maruti dealers. When one of my colleagues was given a test drive in a black new Dezire some days back I questioned the sales person who had no answer. The speed was off and wheel caps were not mounted to retain the freshness when the same car is delivered to an unsuspecting buyer later. Now my friend is so wary of this dealer though he had booked one with the same dealer. After my detailed info on the matter he has asked for a PDI of his car when it reaches the dealer's yard.

[throttleking]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Sagar, I am surprised you chose Millenium as your dealer. They were dealers for Mercedes and Maruti Suzuki in the past and have had their dealership taken away due to unfair practices. I am sure Pandit is not that great a choice but I would have chosen them against Millenium.

Kiran, Pandit guys hardly entertained me, not even a single follow-up call. Not that Millennium guys gave a Royal treatment, but I thought they are new and must striving to clean up their bad history, and essentially will give good service. But to my surprise, things were not even moving until i reached there yesterday and created a scene.

Originally Posted by Guderian

Hi throlleking,

Incidentally going by the VIN how old is this vehicle ? Month & year of manufacturing ? That also would give you a clue.

As per the VIN, it is Oct - 2011 make. They dont have any convincing answers. They are saying vehicle has come from Dhule, and something might have happened there. But heck, what about simple PDI? couldnt they even see that Speedo is not working? no answers to this.

Originally Posted by ebonho

Very sorry to hear about this and very happy for you at the same time.

I would not let Millenium off the hook if I were you.

Escalation to the logical end can only be a good thing for both you and other potential unsuspecting customers of Millenium out here and elsewhere.

Let us discuss in depth later tonight.

I have given them ultimatum to confirm the clean delivery by 12pm today. If dont get confident answers, i am taking the payment back.

EDIT : Just got a call from them, they are saying new vehicle can be delivered to me in 5 days.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by throttleking

I have given them ultimatum to confirm the clean delivery by 12pm today. If dont get confident answers, i am taking the payment back.

EDIT : Just got a call from them, they are saying new vehicle can be delivered to me in 5 days.

That's not good enough.

They have clearly tried to pull a fast one over a paying customer shelling out over 8 Lacs for what he rightfully would expect to be a spanking new factory fresh car.

How many times have they done this in the past? How many other times would they do this in the future if they are not hauled up this time around?

Make them pay for it. Its only when it pinches will we not see (hopefully) a repeat of the same.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

@sagar,
very sorry to hear about this incident.
Hope, you will get soon what you desired.

Btw, kuchh lafadaa ho gaya to call me, will be there with truckload of 12mati's dada.

[arindambasu13]

My advice would be- walk away from this dealer immediately, and dont even look back over your shoulder.

Even if by any chance or compulsion you decide to stay with the dealer, please make sure that whatever product you buy from them ultimately is scrutinised multiple times with a microscope. Rest assured that as a customer plonking down your hard earned money, you have every right to expect the fair product for your money.

[advaitlele]

Originally Posted by throttleking

Kiran, Pandit guys hardly entertained me, not even a single follow-up call. Not that Millennium guys gave a Royal treatment, but I thought they are new and must striving to clean up their bad history, and essentially will give good service. But to my surprise, things were not even moving until i reached there yesterday and created a scene.



As per the VIN, it is Oct - 2011 make. They dont have any convincing answers. They are saying vehicle has come from Dhule, and something might have happened there. But heck, what about simple PDI? couldnt they even see that Speedo is not working? no answers to this.



I have given them ultimatum to confirm the clean delivery by 12pm today. If dont get confident answers, i am taking the payment back.

EDIT : Just got a call from them, they are saying new vehicle can be delivered to me in 5 days.

I had the same experience from Pandit - not once but twice. One when I was looking to buy Indica in 2006; they agreed for the TD and never came with a vehicle, after follow up from me I was promised next weekend for the TD - that weekend never came. Second instance when I was in market to buy second car. I was keen on Nano. But thanks to Pandit again, and lack of second dealer in Pune that time; I bought Alto for my wife.

question here - Are not Safaris manufactured right here in Pune plant? Why did then this vehicle had to come from Dhule? There is something fishy and if there is no big money at stake - I would advise you to stay away from this dealer and cancel your booking entirely and look for some other better option. The fact that things didnt move even after your first show-off; you had to go there again for the repeat - indicates about their "customer care". Pls stay away.

If he is delivering new vehicle in 5 days - why not wait for Merlin?

[noopster]

TK- are you sure you want to go ahead with these guys knowing what they did to you? Luckily you have everything going for you: the car isn't registered and full payment hasn't been made yet. I would suggest you have a meeting with the dealership's higher ups, hear them out patiently but in the end ask for a refund and walk away. Wait for the Merlin launch and then go ahead and book if you are convinced of it.

[throttleking]

Guys here is the today's update. First thing first, million thanks to t-bhp and to each member who contributes in his own way to make this community so powerful.

And I am glad that there are representatives from these manufacturers, who constantly keep reading us and consider our feedback. Obviously TATAs are no exception, and that speaks thousand words about the company.

Specifically in this case, The Regional Sale Manager Mr. Sumit Dattavade got a call from TATA's head-office mentioning about this thread. He looks after three dealerships and Millennium is one of them. Today morning I got a call from Mr. Jitendra, General Manager Millennium mobility. So we went and met him. Both of them very politely apologized for the whole episode and explained how all this happened. It was a long conversation. They also showed an email communication about the planned dispatch of the vehicle from the factory, and assure me a clean delivery in two days for my inspection. Upon my agreement, they would go ahead, register the vehicle, fit all the accessories i asked for and final delivery will happen on Friday.

We shook hands and I came back. Obviously I did not ask for any compensation, all I need is real value for my hard earned money and better customer experience in future. And just walking away with payment was also not a comfortable option after this conversation. The way they have considered a feedback from this community, its a thank you gesture from my / our side to cooperate with them.

Waiting for Friday now.

PS : Merlin / Safari Storm is at least two months away, to be available on road.

[noopster]

Great! Looking forward to sitting in your black beauty at the next tapri meet

Good handling of the situation overall by Tata and their dealer. I guess everybody is allowed one mistake.

Happy milecrunching!