[Shyam96]

Tata Tiago : Service Ordeal at Marina Motors, Pantheeramkavu (and West Hill), Kozhikode, Kerala

Never buy or service from Marina Motors in Kerala if you want peace of mind!

Greetings fellow BHPians,
This is my first post in Team-BHP and apologies if its too long or not upto standards. It's been only 10 months of ownership with 2 regular services but we have already gone through a lifetime of horrors. The service experience is too horrible and I feel I have to dissuade other potential buyers from Marina Motors dealership in Kerala. I only wish my first post was about something else but unfortunately it is not to be.

On the day we took delivery of the car in December 2021, I noticed that the left indicator would cut off automatically on big turns only. It had to be manually turned off after making most left turns. So when I went for the first service at Marina Motors in West Hill, Kozhikode, I mentioned this to the service advisor. He immediately said that i can use the lane changing indicator for small turns. I told him it was not cutting off for normal left turns in the road. He said he will look into it but it was left unresolved.

5 months later, went for the 2nd service (West Hill again, as it is closer to my home) and again i asked them to fix it. I found that the indicator abruptly cut for the right turn indicator whereas the left turn cut off only for big turns. So i mentioned it could be a calibration issue and asked them to check it and resolve it. The SA said he will fix it but they gave back the vehicle without resolving it again, although he initially tried to convince me to use lane changing indicator again.

During the first service I had taken a 3M polishing plan for 12 months where the car will be polished every 6 months. So a month or two later I went for the 2nd polishing job. Again, I raised the indicator issue and again the advisor said he will look into it this time and fix it. The work was done and given back the next day. But the indicator issue was not fixed unsurprisingly.

Moreover, the car had a white or silver coloured smudge below the headlight on the right side. I asked them to remove it since it happened after I gave the car for the service. They said it was already there and it didn't occur from the service centre. I didn't accept this and told them i will not leave until they remove it. This is when the advisors came up with the excuse that this smudge was already there and will be visible only after polishing. I immediately retorted that no one would get polishing if it exposed previously unseen marks on the car. To this they said they will check the CCTV and if the smudge or scratch did occur from the service centre, they will get it painted.



As for the indicator, the SAs refused to admit there was a problem. They tried to convince me that this was normal. An advisor even got in another Tiago given for service and kept steering that car to convince me all Tiagos are like this. Obviously i was not happy with this and asked them whether they are saying all Tiagos have a defect. I also lost my patience at this point and i said I'm not mad to claim something is faulty for no apparent reason. So finally they test drove the car and agreed there was an issue. I also had to take a video to prove there really was an issue even though one SA drove and confirmed there was an issue. And without checking any further, they ordered a replacement for the complete set that includes the knob on the steering wheel. At this point i told them it could be a calibration issue and might not need a replacement. But they didn't listen and ordered the replacement. Told me it would take a week and by that time they will check the CCTV as well.

One week later I called them for the updates and they said the replacement piece was yet to come and they checked the CCTV and no scratch or smudge happened from the service centre. So i asked them to share the CCTV footage so that i can check it as well. The advisor said he will call me back. He didn't so i phoned again the next day and asked them for the footage. He then said, the manager has agreed to paint. A few days later the indicator knob arrived and it was replaced. But the issue still persisted and again i got it on video for them to prove it hasn't been fixed yet.

They replaced the original indicator knob back. I told them to check for the calibration again. I lost my patience as i had gone in for this small issue many times and there have been no solutions yet. So finally they apologised and said Pantheeramkavu Marina service centre will fix this issue and i had to go there. Pantheeramkavu apparently had more technical experts or whatever. This was before Onam holidays. They were closed for Onam and i had to go after Onam to Pantheeramkavu. The car is owned by my mother and she uses it for daily commute. So every time I took the car to get it fixed, she couldn't use it for her daily commute, which was the actual reason for buying the car. Anyway after Onam holidays I took the car to Pantheeramkavu some 20kms away (West Hill was only 2kms away).

The issue was handled by the Customer Relations Manager (CRM) there since i had gone there on a complaint. I was originally promised by SA at West Hill that it would take only 2 days for both the indicator issue and painting. But they returned the car only after one week. What should have been the end of the story is only the beginning of my ordeal. Thankfully the indicator issue was fixed. They said they reset the system and that was all that was needed. The area where there was smudge had been painted. But there were many other similar white/silver smudges on other parts of the car. And this time, all over the body!











CRM and the many advisors there again refused to admit this was caused by them. It turned into an argument. They tried to remove the smudge by applying some cream and rubbing it but the smudges didn't go away. I wanted them to paint all those smudges away just like the original one incurred from Marina Motors, West Hill, Kozhikode. The next day, I emailed Tata Motors and told them the situation and attached about 20 photos around the car showing the various smudges. A couple of days later, Tata Motors replied and apologised for the ordeal. I had told on the email that this is our family's 4th Tata car and that we were loyal customers for the past 18 years, one of which we are still using. We previously owned the Indica 2004 and two Vista Quadrajets. They also attached the phone number of a Tata Regional Manager and GM of Marina Motors. I called the Tata Customer Care Manager (CCM), a very nice and understanding man, and he assured me that he would direct Marina Motors to paint the affected areas.

Took the car to West Hill Marina Motors as they promised they would get it painted from a third party body shop in West Hill itself. They polished but did not paint. Most of the smudges remained. I asked why they didn't paint as Tata instructed them and they replied they don't have painting facility, and for painting I had to take it to Pantheeramkavu. Obviously I was misinformed and fooled once again. Instead of keeping their word, they thought they could get away with polishing. All these were on working days and again the car was not being used for what it was bought for (daily commute of my mother).

So now I had to take the car to Pantheeramkavu since West Hill doesn't have painting. So on the morning of 17th October 2022, a Monday, I drove to Pantheeramkavu and expected a decent enough reception from their end. I went to meet the CRM with a smile and friendly face but he was aggressive from the minute I walked in. The biggest smudge on the car was on the front right door and CRM agreed to paint only there. I snapped back and asked him if he had read the email i sent to Tata. He said he had and that I had to match each photo with the smudge on the car on a one-to-one basis. I lost my temper and told him that i can't physically scan every inch of the car and that they had to do it themselves. CRM was aggressive and did not like this. He sent the car in for a wash and said we will talk afterwards. I called the Tata CCM again and he said he will talk to the GM of Marina Motors and that i don't have to match the smudges one-to-one with the photos.

The car was washed and brought for inspection and to everyone's surprise there was a new white/silver line on the left back door. This was confirmation that these lines appeared from Marina and even the CRM was a bit shocked. He called in a worker, applied some cream and rubbed it off. The line went away. I asked him what it was and the worker replied that it was putty. I asked how a car that was taken for washing had putty on it. They had no response. I said to the CRM that this is what is happening. This new line went away because it was immediately rubbed off but the others remained because they were not immediately rubbed off.

This should have been the end and ideally i could give the car then and go. But again the CRM refused to paint every white/silver smudge incurred from Marina Motors. Marina Motors refused to follow the instructions of Tata Motors! At this point, the Body Shop Manager (BSM) at Pantheeramkavu Marina Motors also joined to talk (read : argue) with me alongside the CRM. I told them that if they would not paint as Tata had instructed them, I would file a complaint with the Consumer Court and file a complaint against Marina to Tata Motors too. They didn't budge and the CRM replied that I was blaming them for my failures. He also shot many excuses I had heard from Marina Motors countless times like "smudges are appearing because of polishing" and "it must be from rustling leaves" etc. I don't know how many times I have typed "i lost my temper" on this forum but that's what happened again. I told CRM very aggressively that he needed to learn to talk decently with the customers and that this is not our first car and that we have rustled with leaves on other vehicles and these white/silver marks don't appear. I told the BSM that I won't talk to CRM again and that he had to confirm now whether they are willing to paint. He asked me to wait outside for 30 minutes and would get back after that. I wasn't happy with that response but I waited anyway.

So about 40 minutes later, I walked in the cabin and gave them an ultimatum, now or never. BSM said they would paint some areas and would remove the other stains by polishing. I told them that won't do it since West Hill Marina had already polished it. He said he had limitations and cannot paint all panels since the car had so many smudges on almost every panel. I told him to take it up with Tata. So finally he yielded and said they would paint all panels that were affected. I'm actually shortening all the horrific and unfriendly interactions I was having with them or this post would be thrice as long. That morning I walked in at around 9.30am and the time was now around 1pm so you can imagine all the time wasting, unfriendly interactions they had with me.

The BSM and I walked around the car spotting all the white/silver lines and put a sticky tape on those areas. Not all of the smudges were marked with sticky tape as the BSM had said that the entire panel would be painted so there was no need to mark all smudges on the same panel. Other workers there were not happy with marking the smudges and they tried to argue with me. I asked the BSM if I will have to explain all this again to his workers. BSM said it would take 5 days to polish and then paint. I again told him not to waste time polishing since West Hill Marina had already done it. He said okay but i should only expect the car on Saturday.

I couldn't get there on Saturday and so i went to pick up the car on the next Monday, on Diwali, with my father and my cousin around 3pm. They made us wait more than 30 minutes and made us walk around the service centre saying the car is here, then stopping and saying the car is there and so on. I hope you understood, sorry if I am expressing it poorly. So finally we inspected the car and thankfully most of the smudges had gone including the big one on the right front door. But still there remained some spots including on the front right door at other spots. I asked BSM why he didn't paint the entire panel as i was promised. There also remained some polishing cream on other parts of the car as the work had not been done properly. To this one SA said that we were being too picky as it was one or two spots and that the workers are also humans. My father shot back whether the workers were skilled workers or some Tom, Dick and Harry they hired. I accused the BSM of being unethical and unprofessional and called him a liar who fooled me again. They called the GM of Marina Motors and he was aggressive from the minute he walked in. He started harassing us and said i was not qualified to talk to him. Please remember that the Tata CCM had apparently called the GM directly regarding the issue. So now you get the gist of how Marina views inputs from Tata despite being their authorised dealer. GM challenged us to sue them in Consumer Court. Some more back and forth ensued and some of it was caught on video by my cousin. I called the Tata CCM and told him how the GM is behaving. Tata CCM apologised and said he will talk with the GM. GM calmed down after Tata CCM called him and his tone changed. Now he said he was there to "learn from you, sir". Earlier he said he would not paint the panels again but now was somewhat walking back that claim. We decided to take the car back and be satisfied with their terrible work but also sue them in Consumer Court.





I took the car and noticed the ODO reading. It showed 7199kms. When i had given the car in for the painting job last Monday (17th Oct), the ODO showed a reading of 7182kms. The car was driven for 17kms. I told my father this and he told me to take the photo of the register the security guards kept when giving the car for service. I asked the security for the register. He showed it without hesitating and i took the photo of the register showing the kms as 7182kms. We also got the security to write the current ODO reading of 7199kms on the Gate Pass. So now my father and my cousin went to ask BSM why the car was driven for 17kms while i was moving the car, as another SA had asked me to. The BSM immediately snatched the Job Slip and the Gate Pass from my father and cousin and crumbled both papers and tried to tear them away. An altercation occurred and my cousin started recording immediately. He showed the camera on the BSM's face and finally when the BSM realised he was in trouble, he handed both papers back. Both were crumbled and the Job Slip was slightly torn. During the altercation, both my father and my cousin were hit on the face, albeit unintentionally. We immediately took the photo of both Gate Pass and Job Slip and said we were going to the Police. We told the GM what happened and that he can expect to be called to the Police Station.





The Police Station in Pantheeramkavu was very close and it was around 6pm now. My cousin was on holiday and he had booked a return ticket to Bangalore at 10pm. But we went to Police Station anyway and explained the whole story to the ASI. He was immediately convinced and promised to make the BSM and GM apologise for their rude behaviour and restrain their assault. We didn't really want to file a criminal complaint as we had already decided to file a case with Consumer Court. The ASI called the GM and told them to report to the station the next morning.

My cousin left at 10pm that day and we went to the Station again on the next day. The GM, BSM and CRM had been summoned by the Police. On the previous day they had claimed the vehicle was driven around service station and that's how 17kms were added. Now they claimed the car had to be driven to their yard. They did not have the permission to do that but stuck with this excuse. Neither my father nor I and the ASI believed this since the yard was only 4 or 5kms away. Furthermore the GM claimed that i had forcefully taken the photo of their register by threatening the security guard and that they would file a complaint against me. So these three criminals who came to apologise had doubled down on their excuses and claims. They thought they could bully us to withdraw the complaint. But we were not deterred and my father said that since this is the attitude being displayed by the GM, we are going ahead with the criminal complaint of assault and not ready for compromise. The ASI agreed and asked us to write a formal complaint.

We met the SI and explained the full story again and handed over the complaint. The SI supported our decision and said he will talk with the GM and the other two criminals before finalising the complaint and try for a final compromise while encouraging us to file a complaint with Consumer Court. We agreed and my father felt that just an assault complaint against BSM would not suffice. The SI met them and called us again and told us that they are ready for compromise. SI called them in again and told them they can try and file a complaint against me for allegedly threatening the security guard but the SI will not accept the complaint and register an FIR. The SI told them to show the entire CCTV footage of the evening. Initially they had only shown a portion of the event which only showed us trying to take back the Job Slip and Gate Pass from BSM. My father and I cried foul at this and the SI demaded Marina show the entire footage. The SI gave them a dressing down in front of us and allowed me to correct their lies and excuses. For example, they still were not feeling guilty and the BSM said we could misuse the Job Slip and that's why he had to snatch it back from us. I told the SI that this kind of attitude is why we wanted to file a criminal complaint against the BSM and GM. The SI understood and shouted down their excuse. BSM finally apologised but I still was not convinced and i wanted to press charges against him. But my father convinced me that we should move against GM and MD of the Marina Motors and not just an employee.

The complaint of cheating for driving 17kms remained and that was filed by the SI into the register. But we decided that we will move ahead with it only if Marina Motors fails to satisfyingly explain how 17kms were driven. So that cheating case is on hold for now. However SI had also noted on the register that all these issues would be taken to the Consumer Court parallely whereas the assault case was noted as compromised as per my father's consent, although i am personally not happy with that decision. We had not yet moved against Marina in the Consumer Court nor have we filed a formal complaint against them with Tata but are going to do it very soon.

Thanks for reading and I hope I have dissuaded you away from Marina Motors if you are planning to buy a Tata car. And if you have already purchased from Marina, go to a different dealer for your Services. Also note down your ODO reading every time. It would be extremely helpful if BHPian lawyers could help us move against Marina Motors in the Consumer Court. Should I also send a follow-up email to Tata telling what has happened since? How should we file a complaint against Marina Motors to Tata?