[Endofdayz]

Hi,
My intention to post this message is to bring to notice all t-bhp bike lovers an fair attention to situation i faced.

To give brief discription about the problem..
From 2nd service i have been facing the meter blank out on my APACHE RTR Fi byke. Last saturday i took the bike for 4th service. Till now the problem exist. Apart from this i had given complaints of following things.

1. Sound from doom assembly when i hit 40kms per hour.
2. Back disc is not at all applying brakes. I have to use front brakes for the problem to be solved.
3. Meter getting blanked out when bike is travelling. fuel indicator never showing correct reading. even if i fill pertol for 100 rs it willl show full tank.
4. gears getting sturck. i need to slow down the bike and change the gears.

got a message from showroom to collect my bike at 4.00 PM. Promptly arrived at showroom and cleared the bill. Took the bike to check the problem. Meanwhile mechanic came and explained what exactly was done. When i narrated my problem to him and asked what he has done he was clueless. that proves he has just washed the bike. i even doubt if they changed the engine oil. Neways i took the bike and went and to my horror nothin has been done. doom noise is very irritating. took a u turn and asked him to check. He instead of taking it to service station came with a screw driver and loose the screw and tight the screw. thats it. Now when i started the bike again the sound is still there but the mechanic says the sound is gone.

I left the place disappointed. Now i noticed after reaching my home that the paint is peeling off from the front mud guard. To my horror there are so many scratches which i never noticed. i clean my bike every alternate day. so today i took the bike back to service station. Same person was contacted. he started saying on my face that they have taken care all the problem.

I said then how come the problem is still there. for that he started saying if you dont know how to use the bike thats not our problem. From past 12 yrs im using the bike. May be the technology be new but it doesnt mean i dont know how to use the bike atleast. at this point of time i said please call your manager. i will explain the problem to him . im not interested to talk to him. For this he raised his voice and told me to get out of the service center and show my bike elsewhere. THis point of time i was loosing my temper and tols him to mind his word. He not the one who has to say where i need to go and where im not. After hearing this he is like till im working in TVS its my company and this is the service what he can offer me. i said dont speak non sense and call your manager. He at this point of time completely lost his temper and came ot hit me. At this point of time all the mechanics surrounded me. this guy spoke something in tamil and every one where loooking at me so furiously. this time another elderly person interevened and took that person inside and he came and asked me narrate the problem. I told them none of the problem will be told to them. Ask them to replace the mud guard in warranty. They acknowledged and the service guy went and told mechanic and he stopped working on the bike. To replace the mud gaurd they took sweet 3 hrs. and everytime he passes me for 3 hrs i was given a bad stare. no one acknowledged any problem. then finally after 3 hrs i got my bike back.

What should we do when you face such a behavior.after buying product is it customers duty to take this idiots comments and hitting. Does customer deserve beatting for buying TVS products. im puzzled. Neither the bike is of top notch,. Niether service is proper. and 77k whatever i paid is in vain.

[svsantosh]

Meghdoot is supposedly the best A$$ for TVS in blore. Where is this Ashwa based at?

[santhoshs]

Try to reach the problem to the company. put a CC to consumer forum and to the dealer. Also try to put the dealer name in a newspaper, explain in detail the problem. They will come running to your door step. Try this. writing has great power.

Originally Posted by Endofdayz

Hi,
My intention to post this message is to bring to notice all t-bhp bike lovers an fair attention to situation i faced.

[rk_sans]

Which Ashwa are you mentioning ? Is it the one near Devagowda Petrol bunk ? If it is, they are no.1 cheaters in the A.S.S.
My friend had left is bike for service and he had a free second coat of teflon from the company which had to be done and it was mentioned before it was left for service.
In the evening when we collected, the bill had items like wax polishing, etc..
I was amused of Wax polishing on Telfon . Initial when it was bought to their notice, they argued about it. Then I went to the manager and gave my piece of mind. Then it was deducted from the bill.
And nothing new about the quality of the service, i believe they had just washed the bike.
From than onwards i have been advising all my friends not to go there. The staff is also not well mannered.

[Endofdayz]

Hi All,
After i posted the issue in x-bhp forum and team-bhp, i got a contact to send a email to ilango of TVS motor company. Do u believe got a call in flat 10 mins apologizing and informed me that tvs motors engineers from karnataka division will call me and check the bike personally. all the words were so promising. i felt the comfort with TVS. Felt they are not here only to sell bikes but also to take care of the customer.

Then after 15 mins, got a call from General manager south india R&D division. I was amused to take a call from high authority in TVS. he apologized and conveyed me the message that my bike will not be attended by tvs motors karnataka regional office but from R&D division of TVS motor company Hosur manufacturing plant. What more can a customer ask for. He took the time for me discuss this problem with R&D division and time was set to 12.00 PM to discuss. I got a call around 12.15 PM. Mr. Venkateshan on the line. He was very polite took down all the notes. Menawhile he informed there is separate action taken on the service engg who try to man handle me.

When i informed him it will be difficult for to do office commutation if they take the bike for 2 or 3 days for which he promptly said they will give me a spare bike from R&D division and i can use the bike till my bike arrives. what a gesture. Around 2.30 PM he called me again and informed me they couldnot arrange APACHE RTR FI spare bike, but am i OK with RTR180 white colour bike. I said anything is fine as long as there are no problem. They said the bike will arrive at my office premises at around 4.00 PM. by the time it was 4.00 PM there was slight drizzle i thought there might be a delay. But those engg called me sharp at 4.15 PM that they are waiting outside my office. Noted down all the problems, Gave a letter with visiting card stating they have taken my bike. On the spot confirmed and acknowledged 4 problems i listed. Another 2 problems they said will test it in there track and update the status.

Checked the spare bike. ITs a new one with 1000kms on odo. Tank full fuel.

Now they have taken my bike to R&D division and problem is being attended.

What more can any consumer ask for. service center guys dont know what they are doing on other hand TVS is striving hard to build a nice product.

Hats off tvs. I will update as and when i get any update from TVS motor company.

[rk_sans]

Good to hear that. Keep us updated about the proceedings.

[tj123]

Good to hear that TVS is taking note of customer’s issue.

But I always feel that customer is at a loss as he puts his money & trust in a product and the product fails to live upto customers expectation.

Long back my sister had a TVS Scooty one of the initial models, that Scooty was riddled with problems every month it had to be taken to the service station. I was really pissed off and used to curse TVS for there sub-standard product. It was a design issue as I can see lot of new parts on subsequent models.

As a customer I felt cheated as I payed money to TVS for improving there product, it was like a prototype being handed to me for testing.

I wish TVS had tested there design thoroughly. Have a tight Quality control & assurance activates on manufacturing and vendor control.

That I feel is a major difference between a Japanese & an Indian product.

[StarVegabond]

Trust Value Service or TV Sundaram Motors is a great company.
I had an opportunity to visit the factory couple of time a few years back as part of my job as a potential supplier.

This example shows they truly practice the core i.e. Trust, Value Service to the consumer / customer.

[Hurrycane12]

Thats a wonderful gesture by the TVS guys. It takes customer satisfaction to a different level when the top management personally gets involved and ensure that they keep their word.

Hope you get all your problems rectified and the bike delivered back at the earliest.

[Endofdayz]

Originally Posted by Hurrycane12

Thats a wonderful gesture by the TVS guys. It takes customer satisfaction to a different level when the top management personally gets involved and ensure that they keep their word.

Hope you get all your problems rectified and the bike delivered back at the earliest.

true Hurricane. But i would say their premimum bike RTR Fi and RTR180 has got great potential. There are minor issues which i will list in future posts once i get my bike. But for now after hearing horror stories from car dealership and there A.S.S. and company as whole i very much appreciate TVS gesture in my case. Here the product will work as consumer or buyer expectation but service center guys rude, unprofessional way and no knowledge about the product make it worse. Still we are not getting any good service from A.S.S. Now my main question is TVS R&D dept will sort out all the problems and will hand over the bike. for instance the problems have been solved and i'm the happy customer. Now what. Again i cant contact R&D dept to service my bike while regular service correct. I still need to contact A.S.S. for regular servicing. Again they spoil the bike again i contact R&D? Practically this doesnt make any sense. So i would have liked if these engg from R&D train then service center fellows. Dont know what is the next alternative. Anyway i'm yet to get my bike. Once i receive it i will give you further details.

But Still one question stuck in my mind. "Have i got the correct product for 77K spent". Bike is only 7 months old. I have intentions to keep it 5 yrs or more if there are no troubles. but will it long last. May be only time will tell.

[tj123]

Originally Posted by Endofdayz

But Still one question stuck in my mind. "Have i got the correct product for 77K spent". Bike is only 7 months old. I have intentions to keep it 5 yrs or more if there are no troubles. but will it long last. May be only time will tell.

Its good that TVS has reciprocated well in your case , but imagine how many people might have faced similar problem , all cannot approach R&D facility for help.

If you read through my earlier post, I was in a similar situation probably around 15 yrs back when I bought a TVS Scooty for my sister. I felt cheated that I got a half baked product teaming with trouble all the time. I still remember the umpteen number of times I visited the service center. I empathies with your current situation.

I think that the race to release new product/ variants in quick succession due to obvious competitive pressure leads to cutting corners in testing and reliability aspects which requires time.

Remember a well designed product will always have a long product lifecycle and the product might under go minor cosmetic modification along with time example Honda Unicorn , Hero Honda Splendor, Alto , 800 etc

I fell overall Indian manufactures are yet to achieve the quality & reliability standards of Japs & Koreans.

[Endofdayz]

Originally Posted by tj123

Its good that TVS has reciprocated well in your case , but imagine how many people might have faced similar problem , all cannot approach R&D facility for help.

If you read through my earlier post, I was in a similar situation probably around 15 yrs back when I bought a TVS Scooty for my sister. I felt cheated that I got a half baked product teaming with trouble all the time. I still remember the umpteen number of times I visited the service center. I empathies with your current situation.

I think that the race to release new product/ variants in quick succession due to obvious competitive pressure leads to cutting corners in testing and reliability aspects which requires time.

Remember a well designed product will always have a long product lifecycle and the product might under go minor cosmetic modification along with time example Honda Unicorn , Hero Honda Splendor, Alto , 800 etc

I fell overall Indian manufactures are yet to achieve the quality & reliability standards of Japs & Koreans.

Very True. I had contacts to write to TVS. think about so many common man left in the middle without any support. I still feel reliability is an issue with TVS products. Or releasing upgraded product in the market and A.S.S. not trained to service the products makes it even worse.
I stick to my point made in previous post. TVS products has got great potential but is in wrong hands for service. Anyways i still feel the product which i had paid is not worth it.

[Endofdayz]

Hi All,
I'm Here with the update on my bike. As promised TVS called on friday and informed me to hand over my bike at office. as it was christms weekend off they came to my residence and gave my bike. I will briefly mention the problem and the action taken by TVS.

1) Back disc not working.
[TVS- Calipers were worn out. When asked how come the bike calipers worn out they said it gets worn out in 10k kms. but mine is a exceptional case. They changed the calipers] - Problem solved.

2) Mis-firing and Bike switching off frequently in signals and speed breakers.
[TVS- The wire connecting to spark plug was faulty. it was a local part and not geniune part. TVS asked whether this bike was given to some local mechanics. I denied and confirmed it was always taken to TVS Authorised service center. TVS confirmed the part was replaced by local part. original part is back in bike. No mis firing no swtiching off.]

3) Meter not working and incorrect meter reading.
[TVS- due to some electrical failure the meter was going blank with incorrect reading and showing incorrect reading including speed. changed the digital meter console.]

4) mileage was very less (30 to 35kms)
[TVS- confirmed the problem and related it to cable part mentioned above. and said to have correct the problem. Need to check. Apart from this they also mentioned there was large amount of carbon accumlated in silencer. They confirmed due to poor fuel quality and since bike was running rich the unburnt fuel had been collected. they claim to have removed the carbon and advised to change my petrol station to fill petrol. Acknowledged from my side. im changing my Petrol bunk from indian oil. Will try BP or HP or Shell.]

5). Huge amount of vibration. Not normal for Fi
[ TVS- confirmed the problem. And they gave lot of reason which i honestly do not remember. but one point they mentioned was since i had removed the mirrors from the bike, These mirrors apart from rear view also acts as dampers for the handle to reduce or stop vibrations it seems. Couldnt digest this part of explanation. I did test with mirrors for one day and compared by removing the mirror and using it for one day. Infact with mirrors the vibrations from handle reduced 80%. so decided to keep mirrors

6) Bike inclined towords right side
[TVS- the split handle bars were mis aligned. i mean in left side it was little outside compared to right one. adjusted.

7) too hard to engage the gears while downshifting.
[TVS- tey too found the gears are too hard to shift. But i use to face this problem regularly but they have faced this problem intermittently while testing the bike on tracks. they have changed clutch plates as precaution. now gears are smooth as new.

8) not an issue but still Apache RTR Fi logo on handle.
[TVS - showroom guys had changed my Fi logo. it was RTR160 right from the beginning. Now TVS has replced it with RTR 160 FI logo black in colour.



At the end all the problems were solved and conclusion report i had received was there were some local parts in my bike and some mechanical problems.

At the end i received the bike the way it should be. I'm happy with all the explanation and end of the day i'm happy to ride my RTR Fi. I felt this bike was brand new and was registered only on friday

I would like to thank each and every one here for huge support without which my would have been lying in one corner whitout of much help from service guys. thanks once again.

Need to call TVS vice president to update how the vehicle is performing.

Cheers. Happy n safe riding.

Cheers

[Dud_Dodo]

Originally Posted by Endofdayz

At the end all the problems were solved and conclusion report i had received was there were some local parts in my bike and some mechanical problems.

Good to know your bike is back in shape. I must say, TVS has done a commendable job in ensuring they leave behind a satisfied customer.

However, local parts in your bike, as mentioned by the engineers, if true, would it mean that the bike could have been damaged in transit/some other way & fixed by Ashwa TVS before they pushed it off the shelf?

Hope I'm wrong, but it's just a thought.

[Endofdayz]

Originally Posted by Dud_Dodo

Good to know your bike is back in shape. I must say, TVS has done a commendable job in ensuring they leave behind a satisfied customer.

However, local parts in your bike, as mentioned by the engineers, if true, would it mean that the bike could have been damaged in transit/some other way & fixed by Ashwa TVS before they pushed it off the shelf?

Hope I'm wrong, but it's just a thought.

Nope my bike was bought from trinity circle megdooth TVS. I have no clue how the parts were local. bike was not damaged from transit as i was available there when bike was getting unloaded. the covers were also not removed. hence this option is ruled out.

I suspect my bike parts might have been changed when it had gone for regular service at ashwa motors though i dont have any proof.