[theredliner]

Originally Posted by micraft

After raising a complaint with Tata regarding the road tax excess, this statement of the GM of KHT in an email response to me and Tata customer care, forced me to raise this issue on this forum. Here is what he has written in that email.

The tone in that email is totally unacceptable for a customer who has bought a 100 rupee USB cable, let alone someone who has bought a 2 million rupee car. Did people from Tata just stay silent watching a customer of their flagship product being insulted by an uncouth manager of a pathetic dealership for no fault of his?

Whenever we see Team-BHP reviews talk about the Tata experience being a hit or a miss, we see the usual set of fanboys jumping in to question it. The truth is the Tata experience (barring a few good ones here and there) is nowhere near what it should be. The last few times I have interacted with Tata sales teams or the dealerships, the experience has been below par. The same has been reported by many of my friends and colleagues too. The least Tata should do in your case is to have their regional sales manager apologize to you in person for the cheap behaviour exhibited by their representative and offer a compensation for the financial inconsistencies involved.

[Thilak29]

Originally Posted by micraft

KHT charging me for a paper folder didn't bother me enough to actually raise a concern with Tata,.

The title of this thread suggests otherwise unless it was intended as clickbait.
We somehow have the habit of expecting freebies when we foot the huge bill during any purchase, in your case lets not even talk about paper folder if this did not bother you, this is another consumable in the entire transaction.

Mods: If the author of the orignal post says his botheration is with excess charges and overall attitude of the dealer in question, the title of the thread must be appropriately updated.

[gkveda]

The attitude of the dealer is just horrible and unacceptable.

He says, nothing comes free. The Customer never asked for Idol, Perfume and all. Why did the dealer include them without the permission of the customer? and why refund later if the customer returns all these? And customer did not ask for paper folder. Why is he selling it to customer without being asked?

Who will pay for the efforts of the Customer given that he has spent so much time and energy on resolving this issue?
Nitpicking the transaction, Who will pay for the data charges of the car owner who has written emails to Tata dealer and Tata?

This is just unacceptable and Tata will lose all their credibility if they appoint 25 more such managers across country.
Tata should personally take this up and provide some basic attitude and customer orientation training to the Manager

By the way, was this the gift that dealer promised you at the end of the deal ? If yes, I will never go to Tata cars again in my life

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by tud

How is that within their right to sell something without the buyer even knowing he is buying it? The OP did not ask for the folder. If the dealership cant afford it within their business margin, let them not give it at all. It is like a sales man giving his business card and the final car purchase invoice having Rs 5/- towards printing and handing over the business card.

Agree, if the user was not aware and was charged later, is a communication error from the dealer. However it is always a good practice to ask from consumer side if any item to be received/consumed will be charged. Example when you check into room always ensure to check receptionist if the water bottles are chargeable or complimentary irrespective of receptionists says me or not. Nothing in this world comes free.

These kind of petty issues are common with majority of the dealers and its best to get over and enjoy the car.

[NiInJa]

I've put the thread URL on KHT motor's facebook page. If there is even a single buyer who decides against buying a Tata car from KHT, I will consider that as a huge victory for the OP. I mean, if I were shown such a bill charging 60 odd rupees for a paper folder for a 16 lakh rupee car, I would have laughed loudly on their face and given a hundred rupee note asking them to keep the change as they would need it.

[amit1agrawal]

Next time whenever I visit them, If I ever may, to inquire about Hexa/Harrier, I will ask them whether they are going to charge me for water, tea/coffee, fuel for test drive, etc, etc .

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Agree, if the user was not aware and was charged later, is a communication error from the dealer. However it is always a good practice to ask from consumer side if any item to be received/consumed will be charged. Example when you check into room always ensure to check receptionist if the water bottles are chargeable or complimentary irrespective of receptionists says me or not. Nothing in this world comes free.

These kind of petty issues are common with majority of the dealers and its best to get over and enjoy the car.

[nishsingh]

Originally Posted by micraft

The GM of the company also mentions in that email, that nothing comes for free

I think you got lucky as they just asked you to pay for the folder!

They seemed to have missed out on charging you for the coffee you had while awaiting the delivery of the Harrier, and failed to notice you using their pay-and-use washroom facility ?

[yoscenario2000]

Originally Posted by Akshay1234

I can understand your angst, but buddy its 0.1% odd the cost of your new car. Enjoy the Harrier rather than bothering about the paper folder they charged you for, and just find a better dealer to take care of you in the service department. Don't intend to sound insensitive, and sorry if I do.

Originally Posted by sushantr5

Congratulations for your purchase. Rs.70 is too much small amount to bother with and do not think into it much because it may amplify to bad ownership feeling.

Think this way, this is because of their ERP software these minor details are captured in their dealer expenses.

In a way it's advisable to forget and move on in such petty issues, but with due respect, I beg to differ on this one. IMO, its not about the cost of the folder but the attitude & values of the dealership on which it operates. This clearly shows that dealership is following cheap practice by charging a customer for such tiny stuff and then defending it as well.

And about ERP software, I would be glad if it will capture minor details such as calculating distilled water used to top up the battery from remaining in the bottle and same goes for grease used while servicing of the vehicle.

[micraft]

I think after I felt that KHT was dishonest and realized how they don't respond to customers after purchasing a car, I really felt obsessed to clarify all my issues. Now I personally feel that I should have just blindly accepted that there was a 1000 rupees difference in the road tax, kept a mental note to myself that KHT is a cheap car dealership and just let it go, and not have wasted so much time, writing emails and nitpicking on other issues of this dealership.

Originally Posted by gkveda

By the way, was this the gift that dealer promised you at the end of the deal ? If yes, I will never go to Tata cars again in my life

No, the sales manager called me 2 days after the car was delivered and informed that the MD of the company will be sending me a gift. After a month when I just enquired about it along with the details about the excess road tax which they had deducted, then the CRM said that she'll send the courier details, which she never did. After 2 weeks and more follow up regarding the courier details and the road tax excess, one of the KHT staff comes to my house to deliver a plaque from Tata motors welcoming me as the 963rd member of the Harrier family.
First they say that there is a gift from the MD of KHT, and then they say it was couriered, and then they personally deliver the plaque from Tata motors. I don't know what to infer from this confusion.

Regardless, I love my Harrier and hate this dealership, done 5500kms in less than 2 months, and I really enjoy this machine. So this incident is not actually stopping me from enjoying my new ride, but this incident has wasted a lot of my time. I will be putting a review on google as well before I check this off in my follow up list.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by micraft

Regardless, I love my Harrier and hate this dealership, done 5500kms in less than 2 months, and I really enjoy this machine. So this incident is not actually stopping me from enjoying my new ride, but this incident has wasted a lot of my time. I will be putting a review on google as well before I check this off in my follow up list.

On one hand, you say you have let bygones be bygones and on the other hand you regret spending so much time and as a result you plan on spending more time bashing the dealer on different forums/social media!!

I'd listen to what @Akshay mentioned below; and just move on. I'm sure the team at Tata have already seen this thread and if they care, they would have sent a message to the dealership. Move on, buddy. Let this go completely. Convert this thread (or a new one) to your ownership thread - spend some time on that if you can.

Originally Posted by Akshay1234

I can understand your angst, but buddy its 0.1% odd the cost of your new car. Enjoy the Harrier rather than bothering about the paper folder they charged you for, and just find a better dealer to take care of you in the service department. Don't intend to sound insensitive, and sorry if I do.

+1

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

.... We somehow have the habit of expecting freebies when we foot the huge bill during any purchase ..... this is another consumable in the entire transaction .....

Correct. Why let a small irritant spoil the satisfaction of owning something you desired?

The dealer may not be gracious enough to apologize for minor irritants - should we stoop to their level and reciprocate accordingly?

[yoscenario2000]

I totally agree and reciprocate the same thought of let go such issue, if this incident would have been a mistake and duly accepted & corrected by dealership even only by a small verbal apology.

What makes me worry as a customer is such small let go instances multiply the probabilities of turning these kind of malpractices into the norm.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by Akshay1234

I can understand your angst, but buddy its 0.1% odd the cost of your new car.

I think this is the sort of thing that different people deal with differently. It's really not about the money is it? It's about the principle of the action, no matter if it's five rupees or five lakh.

And my goodness, the people running these operations as well as the mid-level management must be mind-numbingly stupid to manage to botch the feel good factor of a 20 lakh rupee sale to save a tiny amount.

For the OP, thank you for highlighting KHT's cheapskate tactics. If I were a customer about to do business there and reading this, I'd run for the hills. Remember, if they can be that cheap about a folder, imagine how they'll act when your car has to be serviced or needs a warrantly claim.

[GrammarNazi]

The OP is absolutely right. This kind of stance by dealership is in bad taste. Trivialising this malpractice is unfair.

It's absurd to say that the job delegation process created a "mess". There are n number of far more complex businesses that are operated & there's no such glitch. They've dodged the OP & deliberately made him follow up multiple times even after escalating the same.

This account of their behaviour serves as observation about how customers are ill treated after their signing the PDI. No wonder Tata as a brand doesn't do very well even though they had fairly good products post 2014.

Ironically, consider that Tata is promising exemplary post sales experience in its internal training material as reported here.

Most importantly, Tata Motors doesn't seem to have the leverage to take disciplinary action against its dwindling dealer network. The parent company itself is starved & struggling with finances, no wonder they have failed to make the dealer respond even after this thread went live.

[TheLizardKing]

Originally Posted by Dippy

To this I laughed and asked him "We just paid you a lakh and you want 5 bucks for a carry bag?"

Let me offer another perspective. Is there any item in an electronics store priced in the range of 5 rupees? By that logic, the store should provide it free to every customer.

And the OP's and your situations are not even comparable. The 'pay for carry bag' rule was specifically introduced by the government to encourage the re-use of bags and cut down on plastic use. So even if you bought ten iPhones, the store would have still asked you to pay for the bag.