[fx45]

I am using a Tata vehicle since last five years, most of the time service has been good and on time. The Worli workshop surely has space constraints as they keep on calling me to pick up the car asap, but when I reach, almost all the time either some work is pending, or not done due to parts not available.

Last occasion, the Nano stood there for 8 days, had given them a list of seven things to check/replace, only two were done, and I was called and said car is ready please collect it soon.

Disappointing experience this.

Apart from that, the 2009 Nano LX is still tight as a drum, clocked 40,000 km so far.

[aerosaurous]

I have two Tata cars, a Nano and a Storme.

Tata Motors are unable to provide a replacement seat belt for the Nano or the front right ORVM for the Storme. Its been more than a couple of weeks and no response yet.

In addition, the service experience at the Authorised Service Centre (TAFE Access) has been fairly poor. The checklist in the owners manual is not followed fully and quality of workmanship is suspect. Two separate Authorised Service Centres failed to properly align the projectors after the replacement of the bulb.

Even after knowing all of this I still used to go to TAFE since it is an authorised dealer and has a great location.

However, the last time I gave both cars on the same day and during the last service the tyres were inflated to over 65 PSI in the Nano and 75 PSI in the Storme.

Over-inflated tires are at a greater risk of damage (and consequent tire burst) when they hit potholes or debris at highway speeds. If the problem has/had affected cars of other customers, accidents caused by this may already have occurred.

The Nano tyres were damaged during sedate city driving within a day and that is how we realised something was wrong, upon realising the dangerous pressure in the Nano tyres, we also checked the Storme which also had the problem.

When I brought this to the attention of Tata Motors and the ASC, they convinced MRF to replace the damaged tyres. MRF does not seem to have been informed that the tyre was over inflated to 65 PSI by the Tata Motors ASC.

However, I had a specific request to them about trying to find out how this occurred so that any other customer who are affected may be informed.

It appears that Tata Motors and the ASC cannot determine who was responsible or which other customers may be affected. Given the extreme dangers of over inflation, this is a pretty poor testament to the control over processes by Tata Motors.

Now I like the cars and have two of them, I may still be forced to go to an ASC (not TAFE) but I would sleep and drive better if I were driving a car where the manufacturer and their authorised service centres seemed to have some degree of control and competence.

Surprisingly, I have no complaints with both cars themselves. They are reasonably well made (the Nano was actually a pleasant surprise!) and, apart from some really irritating niggles, are quite well designed (as long as you keep in mind they are not a Toyota/Honda). Any problems are only because of abuse. Some of the abuse is by me, but most, unfortunately, is by the Tata Motors service!

Given what I now know, I would suggest that anyone should buy Tata only if (i) you know and trust the ASC personally, (ii) you are willing to dump the warranty, service the car at a competent local/multi-brand outfit and (iii) live with non OEM parts.

Note from Support: Not more than two smilies/post allowed

[anjan_c2007]

About a month back, I had been to a local Tata car showroom (Nagpur) where a friend was supposed to get the delivery of his new Tiago. He had chosen the dark steel grey shade. The car had arrived but he was told that the car is in their godown. No arrangement was made for my friend to see the car prior to its delivery. Most other brands oblige by making arrangements for customers to visit godowns if they so desire. The car was booked more than four months back. He was given the top variant for a test drive as a courtesy, again just before the delivery, as it was presumed that he could have forgotten the earlier pre-booking test drive done, more than four months ago.

I accompanied him with the sales fellow. The fit and finish and interiors are quite a drastic change for the better, as compared to the Indica/ Indigo and its later Vista/ Manza range. The AC was quite effective. Touchscreen entertainment system control is a new initiative by Tata.

Back to the sales fellow, I requested him to try for a car with such a colour choice (dark steel grey) with Bridgestone tyres and with an Amaron battery. The sales fellow was blunt and said "one has to accept whatever comes from the T (ata) company". "And the battery is compulsorily of Tata make." "Nothing else other than Tata batteries can be thought of", he said. "And tyres, we get Apollo, MRF, CEAT etc. Whatever is fitted to the car will have to be accepted." He questioned me as to how I was prefering Bridgestone over the others ? I said I would prefer Michelin, but that would be a tall order. But its my choice for my friend and I do not want a debate with you as to why I should prefer one company over the other ? I was OK with the Tata batteries as that was a company policy. But the tyres ???

I can recall Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda and even Maruti sales persons behaving with lots of courtesy and trying their level best to fulfil customer requests, but these fellow at Tata was a notch above the rest. He hinted that the Tiago had bookings and a waiting list. I told him that I had seen Premier/ Fiat and Ambassador bookings, Bajaj/ Vespa and Lamby/ Lambretta bookings. Once the waiting lists dissppeared the dealers were humbled and many did not change their ways and perished. The stubborn guy did not yeild.

My friend took delivery of his car with a Tata battery and MRF tyres a few days later.

And we say Tata cars do not sell ? Apart from the gremlins in the car, we have such guys to steer the sales department ?

Lee Iacocca should be the role model of all these sales guys. The humble salesman from Ford rose to become the CEO of Ford and as CEO he later steered Chrysler to profitability.

[PraNeel]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Touchscreen entertainment system control is a new initiative by Tata.

Tiago doesn't come with a touch screen system. I hope you are referring to using music app on smartphone which connects to Tiago music system through bluetooth.

Back to the sales fellow, I requested him to try for a car with such a colour choice (dark steel grey) with Bridgestone tyres and with an Amaron battery. The sales fellow was blunt and said "one has to accept whatever comes from the T (ata) company".

I agree he could have handled his replies in a better way, however he is not wrong. Ensuring a certain brand of tyres and battery is not in hands of dealer. If Tata doesn't fits Bridgestone tyres and Amaron battery in Tiago, such request can't be fulfilled.

[DriveOnceMore]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

About a month back, I had been to a local Tata car showroom (Nagpur) where a friend was supposed to get the delivery of his new Tiago. He had chosen the dark steel grey shade. The car had arrived but he was told that the car is in their godown. No arrangement was made for my friend to see the car prior to its delivery.

Back to the sales fellow, I requested him to try for a car with such a colour choice (dark steel grey) with Bridgestone tyres and with an Amaron battery. The sales fellow was blunt and said "one has to accept whatever comes from the T (ata) company". "And the battery is compulsorily of Tata make." "Nothing else other than Tata batteries can be thought of", he said. "And tyres, we get Apollo, MRF, CEAT etc. Whatever is fitted to the car will have to be accepted." He questioned me as to how I was prefering Bridgestone over the others ? I said I would prefer Michelin, but that would be a tall order. But its my choice for my friend and I do not want a debate with you as to why I should prefer one company over the other ? I was OK with the Tata batteries as that was a company policy. But the tyres ???

I can recall Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda and even Maruti sales persons behaving with lots of courtesy and trying their level best to fulfil customer requests, but these fellow at Tata was a notch above the rest. He hinted that the Tiago had bookings and a waiting list.

And we say Tata cars do not sell ? Apart from the gremlins in the car, we have such guys to steer the sales department ?

Please don't mind, but I see something pre-conceived notions covering your thoughts about Tata Motors.

I'll share my experience with Maruti Suzuki when we took the delivery of Ciaz a month ago.
After making payments, I requested sales guy to allow me and do PDI before the car goes for registrations.
What he said is, 'Even we are not allowed to go to godowns and the car will only come to showroom only after it is sent for registration' I tried to change his mind with my several arguments but all failed.
I got to see my car only at the time of delivery and thankfully all was good.

Yes, I indeed agree with your that asking for Michelin rubber would be a tall order but I say same about Bridgestone too. My Maruti guy said we have six vendors and I can't assure you which tyre will be there on your car and we got MRFs only.

One would do anything to sell you a unit of the car which has lost it's steam and is struggling in the market, but with the car in demand certain things are not possible.
As a test, you can reach out to your nearest Maruti dealer and ask the same (about tyres / battery) for their Celerio diesel and I'm very sure you'll be surprised. Also, do the same for Vitara Brezza and again you'll be surprised and shocked too.

Please don't mind.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

I can recall Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda and even Maruti sales persons behaving with lots of courtesy and trying their level best to fulfil customer requests, but these fellow at Tata was a notch above the rest. He hinted that the Tiago had bookings and a waiting list.

My experience with Maruti dealer Suraksha at Bangalore
My colleague has booked a Vitara Brizza about two months back. Finally dealer said, car has come and my colleague was to make full payment for rest of formalities to take place. As per my advise he asked then VIN number. Which was given to him. But it has only 17 digits not 21 as per Team-Bhp know your VIN thread.
The sales guy said he will arrange a visit to for us to see car and sent a a Automatic wagon R . My colleague has booked car at Suraksha, Hebbal Showroom. we were told car is at Electronic city showroom. We reached the E-City showroom and were seated in customer lounge.We had requested for a glass of water. The receptionist showed us water dispenser with a steel tumbler. We requested for paper cup. They said no paper cups and one has to use steel tumbler only. Then we inquired about paper cups used for serving coffee. only then we got paper cups. All this took about 20 minutes. No sign of any sales guy. We once inquired with receptionist, then we were taken to first floor. There are total of 26 persons there ( including sales guys, managers etc etc) we were asked " do u need coffee". We said yes. Thats the end of it. for 30 minutes nobody bothered about us. No coffee was given. There was just another customer. Nobody attended to him also. Further all the display cars were locked. Customer has to see from outside only.After 30 minutes we were taken to stockyard, which was another 10 km away. While returning we were taken again to showroom, again offered coffee, but not served even after 20 minutes. I don't under stand why they are offering Coffee, when they have no intention of serving it. My colleague was told he has to compulsorily take accessories for 7800/- ( floor mats, idol, perfume, car polish etc were the accessories included in this price). This was my first major experience with a maruti dealer. We had to spend almost 1.5-2 hours idly at their showroom. If they are doing this to a customer, who came to pay 10 lakhs, one can imagine about rest.

[trek]

I feel there is a LOT that has to change at Tata Motors if they are to achieve the tag of reliability in the perception of Indian car buyer.

My family owns a Tata Indigo CS since the last 8 years and the ownership period has been dotted with frequent breakdowns and repair expenditure.

I had twitted to Tata Motors about a recent breakdown and it took them weeks to get some one to contact me. I eventually got a call from Mr. Saurabh Gupta for the matter and after explaining all the problems, he had to say that the breakdowns are 'acceptable' for a 8 year old car!

Basically he meant to say that I should not have high hopes for a 70k run Tata car and the frequent breakdowns are 'normal'. I argued about it and asked him to check my call logs at the Tata Breakdown call center to see the high frequency and then analyze. Well, after that I never got a call from him again! This shows their lack of concern for their old customers.

We earlier had a Fiat Premier Padmini which served us well for 18 years and must have visited the service center less than a third compared to the Indigo.

The new products, Hexa and Tiago are brilliant but my family wouldn't dare to touch Tata with a barge pole after the harrowing ownership experience over the last 8 years.

[Enobarbus]

I bought a Wagon R in 2007 at Naidu Motors Secunderabad. Since it was my first car, I didn't realize at the time, but the treatment at the dealership was very ordinary. After the first service, the engine started jerking and it was not developing power. It was diagnosed as water in the fuel, although I did not understand how it performed flawlessly when I drove to the workshop for servicing but developed problems immediately after I got out of the workshop after servicing. Neither Naidu Motors, nor the Maruti Specialist were able to rectify the problem. I had to visit the workshop multiple times and they changed many parts, but to no avail. It was a little better after the second visit of the Maruti Engineer, but I still had to visit the workshop for the same issue as the car was performing far below par.

I went to two other service centres of different dealership, but the car remained jerky and produced only about 60% power and guzzled fuel. Finally I visited Gem Motors and they were able to rectify the car to a great extent. But it still performed below par and produced only 80-85% power until I sold it in 2010. I always had issues while climbing a gradient. On the ISB road, there are a couple of steep gradients and you can see many auto rickshaws huffing and puffing up these gradients. Well, I Kept company with these auto rickshaws for two and a half years.

The guy who bought my car took it to a FNG and voila! the car is perfect. He is still using it happily.

Apart from failing to rectify the defect, the authorized Maruti workshops had damaged the front passenger seat cover once, and made a small dent on the bonnet on one other occasion. So much for Maruti's famed service.

Since 2011, I have been using Tata cars. Manza from Mallick cars, 2011 to 2015 and now Zest for the past two years. I faced absolutely no issues ever at Mallick cars and some very minor goof ups at Sanat Nagar Concorde on the Zest. Overall, I would rate my experience of Tata service at 9/10.

[Dr.Suraj]

Has anyone witnessed the new Tata Service Truck? That comes to your doorstep for service?
Myself and another fellow Tata vehicle owner had a wonderful experience.

For minor service and REPAIRS - this cute little Tata Ace truck potters over to your home (compound essentially).
The back is modified to carry a variety of tools and ... a SPRAY SOAP WASHING and cleaning utility too. The SA that came with the truck - Mr. Salim Sheikh - was extremely courteous and diligent. Did a fantastic job, without having to go to the actual service centre which is 9 kms away and wastes a day. If only the truck had a printer as well

[krishnakumar]

With many exciting new products in their lineup and most importantly carrying the SAFEST in segment certificate, many new car buyers (like myself) are considering Tata cars. To be honest, there are very few other cars which are VFM and safe.

However, the fact that Tata cars are riddled with a variety of niggles and QC problems is what holding me back from putting full faith in them. Knowing that visiting the service center to fix these niggles is unavoidable, it becomes imperative to ask how has been your experience with TASS so far?

It is not so much that niggles exist. Every car probably has a few of them. But the comfort in knowing that highlighting issues to the ASS will get them FIXED forever is what most owners seek.

The question is specifically to the more recent buyers of their fresh products like Tiago, Altroz, Nexon, Harrier and new Safari. But of course, would love to hear opinion from everyone else.

It goes without saying that building a strong relationship with the service advisor or the service manager is critical for a peaceful maintenance experience. However, this is a lot more difficult than given credit for. Especially for folks who aren't localites or have language barriers.

I'd sincerely request BHPians to keep an objective lens when providing your votes/feedback.

Also, would be great if you could mention the TASS dealer and location, it would be really helpful!

[condor]

I can speak for my 16 years of experience. Almost all issues were resolved in the same visit. There were a couple, but these were occasional.

One of the keys to this is the personal rapport with the folks at the TASS. Applies everywhere. I am still in touch with some of them.

A note to all who have recently purchased Tata cars, or are with their first Tata for not too long: It would take maybe 3, 4, or 5 visits to start building a relationship. Service Advisor is your first point of contact. If you can meet the mechanics for your car model, do that. Simple talk can go a long way.

Something applicable for others too: if there is an issue after the service, a friendly word with the Service Advisor will help in the long run. He doesn't want an escalation, and so when you work with him directly, he will keep that in mind and also take care going forward.

[GrammarNazi]

Over the past 10 years, my experience within the same Tata/FIAT authorised service center has been varied between good and bad. My one-time experience with another A.S.S. in-between was very poor, which made me go back to the same old TASS that I used to visit.

Oftentimes, there are very selfish people in the service center bent on making a quick buck by twisting words with the customer even for a very small commission they make on the bill, but its upto us to try & ensure we stay vigilant and position ourselves not to be guided into catastrophic mistakes.

Some companies make a good effort to reduce variation in customer experience, many don't and ONLY concentrate on using their management to leverage maximum profits from profit centers while ignoring basic decent efficiency in other operations. A lot does largely depend on the car-makers market position which I imagine is key to leverage the operations of the dealers service center. I think Tata Motors' market position being where it was over a long period, has definitely been a key aspect in the varied experiences by customers.

[gmhossain]

After owning a Maruti Zen Estilo for last ten years, this year in Feb we acquired a Nexon XM (P). We never owned any Tata earlier. So TASS is a completely new experience for us.

We bought our Nexon from Dulichand Motors Kolkata. However, we got last two services (first and second free service) done from Rudra Tata Motors Naihati, as this workshop is much closer to our home. The first service was so so (there wasn't much to do anyway!). However, during the second service I did report couple of issues to the SA. He listened to me diligently. I am happy that all of these issues were addressed and resolved during the second service.

Maybe, I should mention that our Maruti Estilo was serviced in 4 different workshops in last ten years. In the first 3 years, I tried 3 different workshops and I wasn't fully satisfied with either. However, for last 7 years I got all services done from a single MASS whom I found to be a good one.

I had similar plan for even for TASS. Had the second service of Nexon was not done to my satisfaction, I would have taken it to a different workshop during the next service. Luckily, my interaction with the Service Advisor at Rudra Tata was quite good. I plan to stick to this service center for Nexon's 3rd service at the least.

I should share this anecdote as well. After the first service, I received a call from Tata Motors for the service feedback. I had casually mentioned to them that the customer sitting area did not have AC. Given, it's a small workshop I did not have any expectation. However, during the second service, I found that a new AC has been put up in the lounge.