[rovingeye]

Tata Motors Delhi showroom (Malwa) manhandling customer.

https://youtu.be/M9WQijS7Uvk

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by rovingeye

Tata Motors Delhi showroom (Malwa) manhandling customer.

Such is not unique. Most establishments do not allow audio recordings as well, let alone video recording since they feel it could negatively impact them. In fact, many site this on the grounds of security and privacy. It's probably time that there is a law that allows the rights of the citizen to have a record in video or otherwise, considering most establishments have CCTVs for their own security and records. There may be valid reasons for preventing recordings such as hospitals, movie theaters, places where there is intellectual property etc., and am sure one would understand and comply if explained why one can't record a video.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Originally Posted by rovingeye

Tata Motors Delhi showroom (Malwa) manhandling customer.

Wow! What are these guys smoking?! Though we do not have any proof of the scams that the showroom "allegedly" did to the customer, they could've either avoided coming on screen or talked politely to the customer. Now this shifts the discussion to the behaviour of the staff rather than the actual issue.

Originally Posted by swissknife

Such is not unique. Most establishments do not allow audio recordings as well, let alone video recording since they feel it could negatively impact them.

That's not fully correct. YouTube is full of videos of wannabe reviewers, shooting first-look and walk-around videos of new cars inside the showroom and in the stockyard. Since it helps in publicity, they allow it whole heartedly. But since this video explicitly comes out as negative publicity, they've manhandled the customer

[Aditya]

Tata Motors Delhi showroom (Malwa) manhandle customer - Posts moved to a new thread.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Guess this video is also related to the incident. Some details shared by his brother -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWBeYwy6Ugw

Also do realize that these videos only present one side of the argument.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Also do realize that these videos only present one side of the argument.

True! As I mentioned above, there's no actual proof against the showroom wrt to the allegations. But the behaviour and arrogance of the staff is at a different level altogether! Has the success of the recent Tata motors products got into the dealers' heads? Or do they think that the Harrier is sufficiently hyped that it would bring in customers despite shoddy sales experience?

Quoting some disappointing dealership experiences from the Harrier thread -

Originally Posted by S.MJet

When asked about break-up of TCS, their reply is GST on TCS is applied and when asked why 50% GST? A very arrogant reply comes "our seniors have decided, we don’t know". Take it or leave it attitude, very disappointing (have raised the concern on Tata Motors twitter handle).

Originally Posted by hridayjyoti

I agree with you regarding the behaviour of Tata motors dealers, they are the most arrogant seller I have faced, I won't be suprised if Harrier suffers because of it. Due to their arrogance I started thinking about about alternative options. The dealer is like "we are making a favour by delivering the vehicle after 4 weeks of launch" when the booking was done 3 months back!

Originally Posted by nighthawk

Ditto, my experience as well. I booked my car in early November and since then the dealership has been of little help in every sense. Not enough knowledge, test drive arrangements, and delivery status to name a few.

Reminds me of the Jeep customer manhandling incident -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-customer.html (Landmark Jeep staff beat up a customer)

[Dry Ice]

Wow! Whatever be the case, that's not how you talk to a PAYING customer. He has given you 5+ lakhs' worth of business. And as far as I can see, he did not abuse or anything, just wanted to ask a question on camera.

These same dealerships put out red carpets to youtubers when they cover the cars, give them publicity. So why have they suddenly become averse to camera?

Look at Maruti's numbers and imagine the volumes they handle. They handle ALL types of customers and I am sure there must be frustrating times for them. Have we ever seen a MUL dealership doing such things to a customer? Just goes to show the control TML has over its dealers.

[roy_libran]

On one hand:
- If the allegations around colour allocation and accessories is true then it is very clear that the dealership is unethical and corrupt, which must be investigated and the dealership holder brought to book both by Tata and the applicable laws.


On the other:
- The business is being conducted in their private premises and if their rules are NOT to allow recordings, then the customer was wrong to actually start a Live video on YouTube without prior permission. This led to, what can be construed to be, a grave aggravation, thus leading to the aggression. So, the customer's actions became the causal factor in this incident.


On the Whole -
I think this incident, although at the onset a publicity disaster for Tata, may ultimately present itself as a huge opportunity for Tata to improve it's public image. If they are able to get to the heart of the matter honestly and transparently, and offer suitable redressal and/or punishment, including getting the affected customer to accept the solution, they can turn this thing around.

[cp171185]

While we are not sure about the facts, and do not know the other side of the story, but the behavior by that dealer guy is shocking to say the least! Instead of thrashing the guy, the dealer guy should have defend themselves (if any) when he got to know that the video is live! Instead of that, he kept on thrashing!

If you got a problem/restriction on recording, you can tell that to the customer live on the video itself. It would have help them to show their professionalism to clean themselves on camera. There are plenty of cases where dealers are fooling customers by one trick or the other, it is not really uncommon. But this type of behavior, change the topic from 'alleged cheating" to 'confirmed thrashing".

[sandx]

Whatever be the case, I was shocked to see the behaviour of the showroom folks. The fellow seems to be a senior guy as well. As part of my new car search steps I have added myself to various owner groups through social media and friends. For tata its always about 5 negatives for every 2 positives and situations like this only makes me want to avoid mustering up enough courage or the confidence to go for a tata product.

As someone said earlier in this forum, we should go ahead with a tata only if one has owned a tata product earlier or have a good rapport with a dealer or a neighborhood FNG. Maybe we need some local clout as well in addition to all of that after this. Imagine the same thing happening in a Maruti or a Hyundai showroom.

[Malyaj]

I am not a fan of video blackmails. Grievances need to be addressed through proper channel, even if they may seem daunting at first. Maybe the buyer has attempted to escalate the matter and met with no result. Maybe he just thought this is a short and sure way to get attention of the management.

If you notice, until 1:25 in the video he is left alone (surely the staff can see all this while what he is doing). It's only when he tries to record his interaction with the staff is when things get out of hand. This trigger happy behavior can be annoying. Putting someone's face on social media is not a fundamental right that has been given to us. One must respect someone's wish not to be recorded or photographed.

The staff's reaction on the other hand is heavy handed. They can always refuse politely and yet stand their ground. After all, if they refuse to interact with him unless he turns off the recording, he doesn't have much to do. Being impulsive in such situations clearly indicates a missing element in their sales training. Unless the staff member in this case is personally stonewalling the buyer's efforts, why should he be so agitated? The dealership he works for is ultimately responsible for the buyer's poor experience.

I am reminded of an experience with Maruti about a year back. It was a rare frustrating experience with them and I was left in one of those "I will complain to the Prime Minister !!" moods. However, I listed down all case facts calmly and sent a mail to the relationship manager of the dealership, with a copy, out of frustration, to Mr. Kenichi Ayukawa, MD & CEO of MSIL

No exaggeration, in about a minute I got a call from the Vice President of the dealership (a very large one in Bangalore) profusely apologizing over and over again and assuring me that everything will be set right. A few hours later, 2 vehicles and 5 people including the service center head were at my residence, again apologizing for the episode and then got on with the job of repairing my vehicle.

All this while I could make out that they were completely psyched out that the matter had been escalated to the CEO. Now disgruntled customers writing mails to CEOs or tagging them on social media is nothing new. But here it was clear that escalations are taken seriously and the MD indeed reads his mails. In many other organizations employees would feel that their chief will not, does not and cannot care about every email from every customer.

As an organization what culture does Tata Motors propagate I do not know. Does it pamper dealers (who in their other avatar may be influential political moneybags)? I don't know. The Japanese on the other hand are hard task masters and have very low tolerance for indiscipline. It is not for no reason that even in JV companies they prefer to have their man at the top

Edit:
PS: I am not claiming that the CEO would have read my mail. Probably not. But what is important is that the dealership guys believed he might, and what if he does? That's the important thing.

[JS Kwt]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Have we ever seen a MUL dealership doing such things to a customer? Just goes to show the control TML has over its dealers.

Originally Posted by roy_libran

On one hand:

On the Whole -
I think this incident, although at the onset a publicity disaster for Tata, may ultimately present itself as a huge opportunity for Tata to improve it's public image.

+1
Recently i too witnessed an unpleasant and unprovoked show of intimidation by the Service GM at Bhopal - Varenyam Tata workshop.

Why do such incidents of arrogance and intimidation by Senior Executives keep happening at Tata Dealerships and workshops all over India?

Why is this arrogant culture rampant with Seniors at Tata Dealerships?

Yes, its debatable that such incidents can be found with other brands too, but it is more common with Tata. And those incidents showing up here on forums are usually just a fraction of the actual happenings that are faced by your customers.

A mesaage for Tata :
Mr Ratan Tata, you and your esteemed company is trying so hard to WIN hearts and customers in the PV segment.
Isn't it high time your Management Supervision introspected why these incidents are so common at your dealerships?

It is the attitude of the Senior Executives at any organisation which develop the attitude of its junior employees.

If the Senior Executives were mindful that they would be reprimanded severely or expelled for such actions, would they dare to do it again and again?

And how come this culture is noticed particularly at your dealerships across different States? One-off incidents could be understandably attributed to fallible individuals, but if it happens across the country, then it is a major failure of your Corporate approach.

How customer-centric is your Tata Culture?
Don't you think there is something missing in the Tolerant levels of your Corporate Culture which is streaming down the lower levels ?

We look up to you Sir, to set it right.

[johny_desparado]

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[manjith_pm]

I saw this incident on Twitter and quite a few big guns have been tagged but sad to see that none from Tata Motors has even bothered to reply. This is a sure shot case on multiple grounds, I hope this is a lesson for them. I think Tata Motors is happy selling taxi’s and others shouldn’t venture into their showrooms. Sad state of affairs. Wonder how they manufacture and sell their other products and worst of all we consume a lot of processed food from such a company that doesn’t seem to have any values percolating down although they make tall claims. Brand is not about top line or bottom line. Brand is how the customer feels. I vow to avoid Tata products. Right from the Salt to the Grand Taj hotels.

[Dr.Suraj]

Wow. This is serious trouble! Not at all good at such a time. Time and again, just as TML finally makes good products, bad PR hits them in the solar plexus. Classic case being the Nano fires. No one ever forgot that.

Although in this case, there definitely is a side of the story we are not been shown. The way the guy jumped out to stop the shooting, means there WAS some interaction with the customer BEFORE the video they probably had had some discussion, after which the guy left, started the video, spoke the whole story and went back in.
That guy (red sweater) then just lost his coo, which he shouldn't have!
Even if they (dealer) were right or wrong, this behaviour is what will backfire on them and be remembered. Some customers can be really really really difficult, but such lapses of judgement is where the tables turn and people will only remember that.

Let's see what Tata PR does. I have had a similar harrowing experience with unscrupulous Tata dealers like Vama and Wasan in the past, but no concrete action was taken except a half hearted apology.

Originally Posted by manjith_pm

I saw this incident on Twitter and quite a few big guns have been tagged but sad to see that none from Tata Motors has even bothered to reply. This is a sure shot case on multiple grounds, I hope this is a lesson for them. I think Tata Motors is happy selling taxi’s and others shouldn’t venture into their showrooms. Sad state of affairs. Wonder how they manufacture and sell their other products and worst of all we consume a lot of processed food from such a company that doesn’t seem to have any values percolating down although they make tall claims. Brand is not about top line or bottom line. Brand is how the customer feels. I vow to avoid Tata products. Right from the Salt to the Grand Taj hotels.

Wow. Way to go man! The Taj Hotels that paid for the education of every child and full current salary of the employee for the rest of his life - of all employees that died in 26/11 should also be boycotted because some guy in some dealership in India of Tata Motors did something nasty.
Amazing. That a company that does close to 60% CSR since almost a century should be completely boycotted because of something that has happened and just because they didn't respond on Twitter (they may have already responded in person, or still taking time to investigate things). Awesome.
At this rate we should have completely stopped buying Skoda and a few other dealerships of car companies where similar videos of dealer ship employer branding customers have been put up in the past.