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Old 3rd January 2014, 14:45   #1
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Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

The New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Tata Motors Ltd to pay Rs 1.25 lac as compensation to one of its customers (Delhi resident Mr.Khalid Hashmi) whose car developed numerous defects within the first year of its purchase (bought in July-04). Notably the engine of the car, as well as several other parts had to be changed in the very first year of purchase in 2005.

In fact, the forum observed that-

Quote:
the complainant could not derive any pleasure or satisfaction after purchasing the new car "due to imperfections in the car" and "shortcoming of quality checks" by the company.
For more details please refer following link:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ta...e-car/1214641/

This article is on other news-papers/ sites as well.

It is high time TML to mend its ways, as the the sales numbers & shares prices, both, have nosedived or it will be a Dinosaur of Indian passenger car industry by the end of this decade, much like HM.

Last edited by CARDEEP : 3rd January 2014 at 14:48.
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Old 3rd January 2014, 20:05   #2
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Re: Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

No doubt its still risky buying a car in a country with no 'Lemon Car' Laws in place.

Can't decide whether its a good sign that the Indian legal system is working and whether that'll warn notorious automakers

or

that it isn't bad enough it took 8 punishing years of penance/torture for the victim here seeking justice and eventually getting a paltry sum of 25000 as legal expenses and 100000 as compensation.

All this when Tata Motors seems not to have really countered with any specific arguments based on any "technicality", they've just simply denied the charges, and it still took 8 years. This shows who really wins and who really suffers.

This also shows that, theoretically speaking, Tata Motors could've countered with stuff like "component failure depends on usage... etc etc", but they didn't.

While all this seems to be happening, just wondering whats the ideal route to a solution that could actually solve the problem rather than wait in courts from 9-5 for (atleast) 8 years. We all know a fellow member ACM got what he described as "somewhat like a refund" for his Aria after consistently facing issues. Recently even FIAT replaced the engine of the car for a members friend when he showed all the job cards mentioning he complained of a "Check Engine" warning and the A.S.S. ignored it.

Someone once told me to NEVER mention that you're right away going "Legal" in your complaints/protests to the parent company, since thats when they just (have to) pass on the file to the legal department.

Also, one of the most effective ways particularly when it was the TATAs' and the Mahindras', is that one could explain to the owners (attaching the job card details and whatever other records are collected) and appeal that he/she seriously believes it was the product/component that was defective and they should reconsider it as a moral effort and do it FoC.

The work/part of it would be done as a "goodwill gesture". Why? mostly because the business is named after their surnames and they wouldn't want to do injustice to someone appealing to them personally.

Doubtful? Mail/Tweet to Ratan Tata or Anand Mahindra telling them the problem, and they'll look into it even if they have to keep a special team to.

P.S. : Sorry for the longish post, I had a few minutes to kill and felt it'll be helpful to tell how much ever I knew. Rgds.

Last edited by GrammarNazi : 3rd January 2014 at 20:06.
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Old 3rd January 2014, 21:58   #3
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Re: Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

The judgement is a welcome step for a consumer but for a company it is too little. This is not going to act as a deterrent for Tata Motors. What is the guarantee that they will work on improving quality. Had they been so quality conscious they would have not seen their market share slide the way it is sliding.
The companies actually are more than willing to go legal, they are aware that most of the customers will try and avoid legal hassles and some of them will not be able to sustain their fight for more than few years and those of who can sustain will have to wait for 9-10 years. Though we have seen quick judgements as well but unfortunately majority of the judgements gets delayed as company lawyers seek adjournments one after the other to harass a consumer.

In the last two decades, India has seen a rapid growth in the automobile industry, but we still do not have a regulator which can be approached for quality related issues. The absence of a regulator has encouraged companies like Skoda, VW, Fiat, Tata to take the customer issues lightly.

The Indian government should constitute an expert committee which should be headed by a judicial officer and should have representatives from the various ministries like industry, transport, consumer affairs to address such disputes. This will not only result in quick resolution of such cases but also act as relief to the overburdened judiciary.
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Old 3rd January 2014, 22:28   #4
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Re: Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

Slightly OT but why does the law never catch up with Skoda? Apparently they are the ones who have the most amount of dissatisfied customers wrt to their products & services. Many threads on TBHP itself prove this.
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Old 4th January 2014, 09:16   #5
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Imho Mr. Hashmi should move to higher authorities asking for a revised ruling on the compensation amount. Ten long years of legal battle, for 1.25 lacs, which is nothing but chump change to Tata motors is not justified. The legal department at the company would have a good laugh over all this, and the lead lawyer would maybe get a bonus in similar order of the compensation.

Though it is quite understandable from the consumer's point of view that the pointless and out of proportion compensation would act as a deterrent to further legal actions.

At the end of the day, we the mango people suffer.

On a lighter note, should we involve Mr. Kejriwal for a serving of jhaadu to the guilty party?
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Old 4th January 2014, 09:29   #6
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Re: Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

What about Skoda quality and sharp practices by their dealers? Or because it is a foreign company, it is above law... I feel there are more cases regarding shoddy Skoda cars and their sales/after sales/service compared to any other brand. Like wise with all three big German brands.. No one seems to be taking them to court. Rather no punishment from the courts for these.
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Old 4th January 2014, 11:18   #7
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Re: Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

IMO it's only the Japs & Hyundai + the Americans (especially Ford), to some extent doing things correctly at the shop floor, which is the point where QA/QC flaws should be sorted, rather than the customer vehicle spending days at the service centre, & the customer fretting over lemon & fighting with the service advisers.

All others, Europeans & Indians are neither serious at the shop floor, nor are able to provide decent service experience (barring M&M). This has resulted in few customers suing these companies, bringing bad name to the company. I can personally recall, 3 cases against Tata & 1 against Skoda (alongwith numerous horror stories). There could be more cases, if we delve in detail.

Moreover, these companies are shrewd to drag the cases for ages in court of justice to wear down the customer, which is the worst they could do, but in India more than the people, it the Government, which follows the "chalta hai" attitude. All because of the influence of these big Corporates in the corridors of power & the headless .

However, Indian market is 4-wheeler market (but, not 2-wheeler market) is maturing fast & such manufacturers are now the sufferers/ laggards, & not the preperators of buyers misery. All those who have come up with substandard products/ services have lost sales in post months, whether it's been Honda (with unrefined Diesel), Toyota (with 3rd world products being sold at premium), VAG group (despite exciting new launches & cut throat tech) & Indians (with substandard quality).

Kudos to all independent websites like TBHP & few others where people have the right to express their opinion freely & stand for truth & justice, without hurting other forum members.
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Old 4th January 2014, 11:54   #8
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Re: Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

Quote:
Originally Posted by trinity0114 View Post
Slightly OT but why does the law never catch up with Skoda? Apparently they are the ones who have the most amount of dissatisfied customers wrt to their products & services. Many threads on TBHP itself prove this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by apachelongbow View Post
What about Skoda quality and sharp practices by their dealers? Or because it is a foreign company, it is above law... I feel there are more cases regarding shoddy Skoda cars and their sales/after sales/service compared to any other brand. Like wise with all three big German brands.. No one seems to be taking them to court. Rather no punishment from the courts for these.
Sorry for being slightly OT ! Find similar actions taken against SKODA for selling defective cars in India.
1.http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle4180986.ece
2.http://articles.economictimes.indiat...cturing-defect
3.http://www.driveinside.com/car-news/...ve-car/96lrmx/

It is high time to have an independent watch-dog to monitor and evaluate on the level of Quality Control among various manufacturers in India. If found any defect in a new batch of cars, an immediate offical recall should be imposed in order to protect consumer interest.

Last edited by M35 : 4th January 2014 at 12:05.
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Old 4th January 2014, 12:14   #9
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Re: Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

I don't really see this as a major win. The compensation does not seem adequate enough. Yet it is a start. There should have been exemplary punishment and compensation.

Would not recommend the Legal route except as the last resort.

There are some lucky guys like me who were suitably compensated but there are many other who have had worse experiences and have not really been compensated either.

That said after surveying multiple articles regarding lemon cases from various manufacturers, while TATA may be having a slightly higher rate, they also seem to be supporting the customers better overall in those cases. But there is no consistency of approach.

The threat of going online and using the Print media will help with most manufacturers, having a few friends on the inside will also help. The demands though need to be reasonable and logical and the issues too need to be genuine ones.

Frankly the best support from the manufacturers in lemon cases and for vehicles with major initial issues seems to be among the Indians followed by the Japs, Koreans and Americans and last and least by the European manufacturers who take so much pride in quality and reliability.

Would detest from making TATA out to be the worse culprit most manufacturers do tend to have dark shades. TATA atleast seems to be human in their response. But yes the whole process should be handled with dignity by both the vehicle owner and the manufacturer for any amicable solution. Finally for a resolution we are always dealing with other individuals and they are most of the time not the culprits who caused the problem in the first place.

There was a case of an Opel Astra refund by GM after 8 years (of usage for issues through the vehicle life) (court judgement) (about 10L refunded for a vehicle purchased in 2001 or so). That seemed to be a be a more significant judgement.

Zappex on TBHP seems to have suffered more with no compensation as yet that we know of. Of course there is the case of Harish for a Skoda to site an European example but BMW and Mercedes too have their horror stories that seem to be as bad if not worse.
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Old 6th January 2014, 12:28   #10
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Re: Tata Motors asked to compensate Rs.1.25 Lacs for selling defective car

Poor decision by our esteemed and highly useless judiciary (once again).
What stops TATA from committing same mistakes again and again?

The compensation should have been at least 100-1000 times the loss of money that customer faced. THAT would deter the seller from making the same mistake every time.

You know the funny thing is that I remember exactly similar thread some time back.
Let me search for it.
Here is the gist: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post3115198

Last edited by alpha1 : 6th January 2014 at 12:30.
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