[Sridhar K]

I bought my Manza from TAFE REACH recently and went through an ordeal that started post my booking and lasting for nearly two months after delivery, Not sure whether this warrants a new thread and will leave it to the admin to merge it with existing thread if needed.


After having decided to take a look at the Manza, decided to test drive and approached the following dealership

1) Concorde Guindy: Around Aug 2010, walked into Concord Guindy (Chennai) one afternoon and asked for a test drive. One sales person turned up after 0.5 hr and repeated follow ups. In the mean time was checking out the Punto and Linea as well. There were so many employees there but no one seemed to care or ask whether I was interested in a FIATs. The sales person gave me a price list and started explaining the features (did a half job) and started looking at the colors. Gothic Olive impressed my wife but the sales rep couldn’t show me a real car. Asked for a TD but the demo car had gone out. They took my contact details and they promised to send home one the coming days. I am still waiting for the test drive J.

In the meantime, saw the Nano TD vehicle. Wanted to test drive it as I looking at it as a second car. The sales rep was amazing. He explained the good things about the car, the pricing option, financing and he quickly arranged a TD and I really loved the car. At that time, Nano was still not off the shelf but they had lot of cancelled bookings that were offered for delivery within two weeks. The Sales rep kept on following me up politely until the end of last year in spite of me telling him that I have dropped the idea. Wished such an experience with the Manza rep.

The next week, the Concorde guys put a stall in DLF and I told the rep about the pending test drive. He arranged for one the next day. I was expecting a diesel but he got me a Petrol. Test drove it and liked it but I was not buying a petrol anyway. He promised to get me a diesel and I am still waiting J . Ruled out Concorde for my buying

2) TAFE Reach Pallikaranai: Gave a call to them and they arranged a Manza test drive the same day. It was not a demo vehicle but the team leader himself had come down. He couldn’t explain anything great about the car that I did not know from my reading of TBHP, and he was insisting that I take aura model whilst I was interested in Aura+ only. My dad and myself loved the car and the ride quality. Only issue was that the steering wheel was vibrating & rattling a great deal when driven over really bad roads. The team lead said that the car was a new piece pending PDI. I checked with my friends and they did not have this problem.

The decision was made to buy the Manza but wanted to wait for a CS version/next upgrade and planned to wait until April 2011. Then came the December offers and was confused on whether to wait for buy in December but the TBHP thread on the subject helped me. Looked at the potential increase in price of the new model, better resale value of my Getz if I sold in Dec instead of 2011, 15K savings from December booking (5-10K additional on exchange + 10K additional December discounts +5K cash discount from the dealer), registration in Jan 2011, my plan to hold on to the car for at least 4 years, discontinuation of the Gothic Olive from 2011 etc. made me to take the book in December.

3) VST Motors: Walked into VST motors at Mount Road and they were not providing any better discounts except for 3M sunfilms over Garware offered by TAFE REACH Pallikaranai. Secondly I gave VST 3 full days to value my Getz and they just did not turn up despite repeated follow ups.

Decided to go with TAFE REACH Pallikaranai, a decision that I came to regret later. The reason I went with them was
a) I had better experience with them than Concorde
b) I wanted to be fair to them as they have been very nice to me since my test drive in Aug and repeatedly following up with me,
c) VST not proving to be much great either.

But missed the crucial part, i.e. read TBHP on the dealership reviews.

The booking process was very smooth. I had booked the car on Dec 15th. They came to my office to collect the cheque, fill the application forms, a driver came home to collect my Getz, getting my signoff etc. They told me that the car would be available for PDI by around the last week of December. Though I had paid for the insurance, I had been trying for a better quote outside and finally got HDFC Ergo offered me 18.5K. I told the dealer that would be doing my own insurance and they should refund the money. They agreed.

Delivery Experience:

Was eagerly waiting for the car and there was no update from the dealer. I repeatedly followed up, the answer was that car is in transit. It was really frustrating and to top it, I had to leave for London by 12th Jan. Called them on 5th Jan and told them to cancel the booking if they cannot deliver the car by the same week. They called me back the same evening and told that the car has come to their yard and will be available for PDI at their Mount road office on 6th afternoon and they said that they can register the car only on 10th Jan because I haven’t signed on the registration forms. Ideally wanted to get my car registered on 7th Jan but couldn’t help much.

PDI

Armed with the PDI checklist from TBHP, did a PDI on 6th. Things were good to go and to my surprise they told me that they have arranged for the registration on 7th itself and car delivered by 8th Jan. Then, the dealer told me that they can match the 18.5k offer on my insurance with HDFC Ergo themselves. The insurance dept. person was literally begging that I go through the dealer for the insurance so that they can get their commission. They also pointed out that they had done me a favor by arranging for registration on 7th even though I had signed the RTO forms. It was already late evening on 6th and I told them to go ahead as I don’t have to worry about a major refund from the dealer.

BTW, The team leader from the mount road branch who helped with the PDI told me that the car had arrived in their yard on 24th Dec itself. When I asked him why it took them so long for the PDI to be arranged, he realized that he had let the truth and cooked a story that they had to get the BS4 certificate from the TN Govt. before they can register the car and that is why it took so long. Took that with a bucket load of salt and let it pass because I was in a hurry.

My dad knew someone associated with the Tambaram RTO, whom I had informed so that I can get the registration number the same day evening. On 7th evening, the dealer called me and informed that they took the car to the RTO but did not get registered because the RTO couldn’t inspect the car the same day. They mentioned that they could still deliver the unregistered car on 8th as promised provided I bring the car to the RTO on 10th. I politely refused and told them to deliver the car after registration on 10th Jan. Later my dad’s friend confirmed me that there was no Manza from TAFE REACH that came to Tambaram RTO on 7th and the dealer was lying. They had not taken the car to the RTO on 7th for various reasons. Again let the issue pass. Then they dropped another bombshell that they can’t provide the alloys and seat cover on delivery and I had to bring the car back to their Greame Road workshop on some later date.

I told them to cancel the order for the accessories and refund the money instead. They told me that it would take a week after delivery for the refund (totaling 22k for alloys, 6.5k for seat covers, and 1.5k savings on the insurance amount). I said it is fine but it has been a month since I took delivery, I was chasing them for refund, RC book and original insurance policy L which is another story.

Delivery
At 3:00Pm on 10th, got a call that the car is ready for delivery at 4:00 PM. Did the delivery inspection. They had provided nice carpet mats, mud flaps, clean interiors, 87 Kms on the ODO. During PDI it was 59 KMs (28 odd Kms from Mount Road – Tambaram- Pallikaranai) is fine. Boot mat was not provided as I was told that they had promised rubber mats earlier but have provided me OE carpet mats and hence I shouldn’t worry about rubber mats.

Then on careful inspection, noticed that the car had dry wipe marks all over the place and a minor scratch on the boot. None of them were there when I did the PDI. Took the issue with them and noted them down in the delivery receipt and they asked me to bring the car to their mount road showroom the next day for fixing it as they don’t do any delivery at Pallikaranai. Also discovered that the odometer was disconnected, again something not found during the PDI.

Since, I had to go to Mount Road anyway, took the car there. The delivery manager boasted that this is the reason why he does not recommend delivery of the cars at Pallikaranai as they can’t guarantee quality. He said that the scratch and the marks will be taken care of.

They got the Wurths folks at the delivery center to remove the scratch dry wipe marks. They removed the scratch and did a half baked job with the removal of dry wipe marks. I complained to the delivery manager. I told him that I will take up the issue with Tata Motors and he was fine with it. He said that at the worst TML would ask them to repaint the car fully and it would only reduce the resale value of my car. He also looked at my wipe marks said that these are common in most new cars and went to show me a new Punto that was about to be delivered. That car was in pathetic state with so many such marks and rusted chrome door handles. He mentioned that Fiat delivers thing that way and the dealership are blamed.

Finally got the marks removed at 3M dealers (Balaji) where I did my sunfilm installation and under chasis painting.

Refunds: I got the refund a month and half later after repeated follow-ups and threats about legal notice. Then finally got the refund and it was only for Rs. 23K as they did not do the math properly. Sent them a detailed spreadsheet explaining why I should get Rs 30,096. Finally they gave another check for Rs 7K (don’t know where the other Rs. 96 went). In fact did not write my review until I got the money back from TAFE REACH.

RC Book: The RC book had come to their office and nobody told me about it inspite of following up with the sales rep. Finally got hold of the dept. dealing with RC books and they promised to deliver it their Pallikaranai office the next day. Waited for a week and nothing happened. Ended up going to their mount road office and collected it.

Insurance: While dealing with the RC dept, told the person incharge that I had not got the Insurance policy yet. She promised to take care and within the next couple of days HDFC sent me the policy. To my horror, the chasis number was incorrect which I immediately notified the dealership. The chasis number was correct on the cover note but incorrect in the policy. They promised to fix it immediately. After following up for a week, caught hold of their insurance officer at HDFC to whom I had sent a copy of the correct chasis number (cover note ) and he mentioned that it has been corrected and that I should receive my policy in a couple of days time via post.

Bottom line is that TAFE REACH is best avoided. Sincerely hope that Sr. Mgmt at TAFE REACH who prides themselves of being a age old organization with values and Tata Motors gets to read these feedbacks and act on them but a bit sceptical.

[rajinibm]

Somethings at particular dealerships never change and going through your ordeal affirms the same!

Every car buyer wants his new car buying/delivery to be special but certain dealerships make these special occasions unforgettable in a negative manner.

Would suggest you look to doing your cars service etc from Concorde than TAFE Reach.

BTW why was the ODO disconnected when you took delivery of the vehicle?

[Daewood]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience at TAFE.

I was offered a 2010 punto Emotion at the price of Active by TAFE Mount road. Though the offer was tempting i somehow declined because of the umpteen number of bad feedback posts about TAFE Reach in T-Bhp.

[Sridhar K]

Our neighbours got their new Manza from TAFE Reach. I got to know after they got the car registered (before delivery) and I told that they could have checked with me. My neighbour knows the PRO at TAFE and he got a good deal.

As certain things never change, they put a big scratch on the LHS front door on their new car which they have promised to fix.

[ImranShahnawaz]

Hi Sridhar,

What is the on road price of Manza in Chennai. I'm planning to sell my Wagon R and go for Manza aura+

I stay in Madipakkam.

Regards,
Imran

[Sridhar K]

Hi Imran

Not sure about the rates as it has been 6 months since I bought mine. Cost me 7.7L OTR with the December discounts.

Aura + is no longer available and replaced by Elan which comes with refreshed interiors and alloys. My friend got it for 8.3L OTR for diesel but infer that there are some good discounts doing the rounds. You may also get some old stock aura+ at good discounts but make sure that you do the PDI. Suggest VST or Concorde for buying.