[Dr.Vikas]

Originally Posted by TROOPER

Really hope things iron out post this debacle and I get to post a sweet ownership review on the forum. Looking forward to your review of the Octy too.

Yeah, things will change back to normal no doubt, it's just a matter of some time.
And I am sure your review would set an example of the well spread positive attitude among the BHPians towards their vehicles despite of the brand, segment, price etc.

Regarding my choice, I would admit anytime that Hexa still is my favourite car and my purchase of the Octy is just an 'accidental' one. I had almost finalized an XTA demo vehicle with 25k on ODO. It was Jan 17 make and I had TDd it with my friends on 14th Jan. My friends were so impressed that both of them were ready to finance me on the spot if I wished.

The Sales Assistant was also cooperative still we couldn't make it mainly on terms of warranty issues. They were ready to extend only a yrs, while I was asking for the 3 yrs regular warranty. All this negotiation ended on 18th and then I saw the Octy in Classifieds on 20th.
You know rest of the story.
I am not sure about my ownership review, as there is hardly I can add to the number of reviews of Octavia already available here on TeamBHP.

Keep on updating the progress of your Hexa.

[AirbusCapt]

Before we all make this a full scale bashing or Tata support thread, let me clarify a few aspects related to how the warranty claims and replacement in Tata motors work.
The SA raises a complaint on the centralized cibil system which includes a problem description, a summary, pictures and video of the problem along with digonastic data. This request needs to be approved by someone from Pune, which could go three ways a) full warranty replacement b) part warranty and part customer payment c) customer pays and failure not in warranty. Once the SA hears back from Pune, he will inform the customer and based on customer concurrence, the work will begin. This is a slow process and takes about two weeks before the actual repairs begin.
How do I know of this? In my Hexa (now sold), my turbo started making a whistling sound due a micro hole near the fastening. The turbo was replaced FOC, however this entire process was followed. Until the turbo replacement I was given a choice, either to keep the car in the workshop or drive it home and keep it parked ( if it failed when I had it, the warranty was null and void).
So ideas like pick out the part from a different car, patch it up etc will not work in an authorized workshop. Once the car is invoiced as under repair in the workshop , the due process will be followed.

[TROOPER]

Originally Posted by Dieselritzer

Hi, any revert from their Instagram/Twitter handle?

Here's their response.

No one has contacted us. And no 'team' has been in touch with us. We've had to run around in circles behind the CSMs to get any worthwhile update. I hope the 'team' they're referring to is not the one mentioned in the image I posted on page 1 post 2 of this thread. Cause they're in Mumbai.

The CSM Karnataka said there are internal issues which he can't disclose. Then he said talk to my superior, but was not ready to forward us to the concerned person. Then he said I'll give you date of delivery in writing, and he backtracked on that too.

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

The SA raises a complaint on the centralized .........This is a slow process and takes about two weeks before the actual repairs begin.

It's good to know this. Goes to show how much of a pathetic process it is and one has only the sky to look at if they're stranded in an out of town location.

Now I hope the spares arrive today. I'm in no rush after all this chaos. As I said in my previous post, I have asked TASS Manglore to do a thorough check up, and take their time with it.

[Mu009]

Originally Posted by TROOPER

Have the decency to learn the entire issue before making wide statements and asking me to keep calm. You may not be defending Tata but also realise the fact we aren't fools or idiots either and haven't blindly purchased a 20 lakh rupee car. We are fully aware of warranty claim procedures.

Hi sir.

Let me start off by saying that I feel your pain, and not just understand, but completely agree with your viewpoint. I've been here before myself, few close people have been here - I recognise this bonafide consumer frustration and utter dealer+OEM incompetence very well.

But the reason I've quoted this part of your post replying to someone else (this is my first and likely last, hesitant post here) is to remind you that:
1. Yes, you've come to the right place.
2. You've made others aware (and hopefully gained some resolution speed in the process).
3. You're rightly getting a place to vent and commiserate.
4. Most importantly, there is an ignore list option on TeamBHP you really ought to use.

Forum rules stop me from using the choice adjectives I might've wanted to, but let me put it this way - some of the posters talking of warranty procedure/it being not a long duration/you being too demanding/dealer&OEM doing their best, are exactly the kind of people because of whom the pathetic, shambolic and entirely unacceptable service standards continue to (and will continue to) persist in our country.

The reason I highlight the above (which I'm sure you already know), is that it saddens me to see you waste more time and incur yet more stress (in what is surely an extremely irritating time for you) due to the regressive attitudes of a few. Public forum/contrary views will exist and all that blah aside, just use the ignore button. I'm not advocating online echo-chambers that advertising driven (social) media is slowly pigeon-holing the thin-skinned online world into, but some nonsense should simply be ignored.

It's healthy to discuss and shed light on normal warranty procedures, logistical challenges etc, but if at any point these failings are accepted/used as excuses for OEM/dealer or calling your expectation of barely passable service unreasonable, we come back to why there's no service standard in this nation. I know what I'm talking about here - I unfortunately have a wealth of experience with dealers, warranty procedure, VOR and even airlifting of parts if at least the top brass in a company understands the meaning of customer service.

______________________________

Coming back to your actual issue:

I've seen this before with Tata - the escalation matrix is, at best - slow (and usually ineffectual, chaotic and frustrating). By this time, parts should've been airlifted, fit yesterday and you been given free service coupons. It is absolutely unacceptable on so many counts:
1. Downtime.
2. Downtime so early in ownership.
3. Loss of factory fit through no fault of your own.
4. So much stress and escalation for such a poor, unprofessional and lax response from even the OEM.
5. Horrendous spare availability management.
6. Passing the buck to the dealer (dealer passing the buck is expected so not mentioned - dealer's have rarely done anything to earn any regard so my expectations are low).
7. Referring case to the wrong dealer - means their escalation teams do not even bother to read escalations properly (have seen this before with them)
8. Dealer continuing to lie (i.e. behave like a common dealer) even after a high-level escalation.

Dealer still having the audacity to lie to a customer who has escalated so much speaks volumes of how (not) tight Tata keep their dealers.

I don't see an issue with buying cars lying at the factory stockyard for some time, and with the Hexa's volumes, the manufacturing date on your purchase seems reasonable. And it certainly shouldn't have culminated in the issues it has. Speaks of either exceptionally poor yard conditions or Tata living up the old fear of poor QC and processes which it had apparently rectified in the past 5 years.

Overall though, incidents from across people I know as Tata owners with the right idea of what decent/acceptable (good is a pipe dream) service should be, are now adding up to the point that I'm at the brink of losing all faith in Tata, and scratching them off the small list in the acceptable column of manufacturers in India.
______________________________

Edit: Lastly, allow me to add that I find your measured approach to posting and still giving credit where credit is due (RSA for example) in the face of a markedly irritating experience commendable.

Cheers sir!

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

Before we all make this a full scale bashing or Tata support thread, let me clarify a few aspects related to how the warranty claims and replacement in Tata motors work.

Sir I appreciate you sharing the procedure in detail, but it's more or less common to all manufactures, and well known to most consumers. Also, with respect, in this case - it is entirely irrelevant.

One can either throw policy in a customer's face or be customer centric in such a case. There's no middle path. This isn't a time to talk about policy - it's the time to go above and beyond.

Tata deserves all the bashing it gets here and more. And this comes from someone who may be reasonably accused of generally over-praising Tata even recently.

This is no way to treat any customer, let alone a premium customer (yes, while I don't agree with different treatment for different levels of buying expenditure, but unfortunately, more often than not, I've seen that line go a long way).

How do I know of this? In my Hexa (now sold), my turbo started making a whistling sound due a micro hole near the fastening. The turbo was replaced FOC, however this entire process was followed. Until the turbo replacement I was given a choice, either to keep the car in the workshop or drive it home and keep it parked ( if it failed when I had it, the warranty was null and void).

That last bit, while it can be policy technically, if ever put into practice for a known, diagnosed issue, is just BS. It can only be done by a company who doesn't understand the meaning, let alone spirit, of customer service.

[TROOPER]

Edit: Lastly, allow me to add that I find your measured approach to posting and still giving credit where credit is due (RSA for example) in the face of a markedly irritating experience commendable.Cheers sir!

Am a Tata fanboy, but no hypocrite. People who make the effort should always get the credit where its due.

When I went to TASS Mangalore on 18th Jan to get the wipers checked (I was at fault. I thought the wipers function in the way they functioned in our previous car. Apparently they function only when the rain sensors get activated), I also inquired about the ICE's latest update. The GM service back in Mumbai had point blank told no update has come since Jan 2019, whereas I found through the THOR group that a new version exists with a March 2019 release date. I was shocked to find that it didn't exist in our June 2019 car.

Nevertheless, I informed the SA at TASS Mangalore about the same and he was clueless. So was the technician. I said no issues, we'll get it sorted at 1st service and moved on to check out the Altroz. By the time I was back at my car, this technician was waiting next to our car, and I saw a pendrive stuck in the usb port. This chap went out of his way to get the ICE updated. We were thoroughly impressed and gave him a token of appreciation.


Yeah, so before blindly accusing me of being a Tata basher, with zero patience, use the PM feature and get appraised with the entire issue.

[KMT]

This is just another example of a good product being undermined by the Tata unholy trinity-Tata ASS, bureaucratic /complacent HO(cust service in this case) and poor Quality Control.

I am sure all manufacturers have such issues but the way they respond and react is more agile and customer centric, in the end they take away some learnings too.
How hard is it for one of our countries biggest and brightest companies to get on to this way of working.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

The SA raises a complaint on the centralized cibil system which includes a problem description, a summary, pictures and video of the problem along with digonastic data. This request needs to be approved by someone from Pune, which could go three ways a) full warranty replacement b) part warranty and part customer payment c) customer pays and failure not in warranty. Once the SA hears back from Pune, he will inform the customer and based on customer concurrence, the work will begin. This is a slow process and takes about two weeks before the actual repairs begin.

In short -

The company doesn't trust the SA to take the right decision. The customer has to endure the delay due to the bureaucratic layers within the company. End result - The customer suffers, the SA suffers, the dealership suffers and finally - the company suffers.

TATA Motors, or any other company for that matter, would do well to have a blanket exception approval (to empower the dealership / SA) set for some cases - for example - in this case of a brand new vehicle.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by KMT

How hard is it for one of our countries biggest and brightest companies to get on to this way of working.

Brightness helps in innovation but doesn't necessarily lead to sustainable product quality, sustainable service quality or sustainable customer management. Both are often mutually exclusive as intelligence (brightness) often regards the rest of the factors as routine and repetitive tasks and something to be done by the less endowed intellectually - this is where the troubles start.

This applies to all walks of life and is the reason why being intelligent in itself most often doesn't lead to success.

[TROOPER]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

In short - The company doesn't trust the SA to take the right decision. The customer has to endure the delay due to the bureaucratic layers within the company. End result - The customer suffers, the SA suffers, the dealership suffers and finally - the company suffers. TATA Motors, or any other company for that matter, would do well to have a blanket exception approval (to empower the dealership / SA) set for some cases - for example - in this case of a brand new vehicle.

We handed our car over on the 21st. This is what our SA told us on the 22nd - "Our GM is personally handling this claim, and has recommended the company to not service the starter motor but replace both the starter motor and flywheel, which has suffered minor damage, since it is a brand new car."

Post this, 22nd eve onwards, whatever the delay, is the responsibility of the company IMO.

Why?

Because the GM of Automatrix just called up and said they went and picked up the spares from the courier's office. Otherwise there would have been another 4-5 hr delay.

22nd Jan warranty request placed by GM. 30th Jan, spare picked up by TASS, not even delivered to TASS.

Hope they are able to do a neat job and iron out the issues.

[ZenMaster]

Wishing the OP the best of Luck and we all pray that your Hexa will not have to visit the (any) dealer in the future for anything other than regular servicing.

From what I've read on the forum all these years, Tata was never the benchmark for Customer Service. They show their typical "Govt.Office" attitude towards customers when they need it most. Discussions on the forums have also shown that this is the biggest gripe people have with Tata (even though they know their cars have generally become miles better recently)
If this is the general (slow) procedure from Tata, then it's time they changed their system(procedure)!

They need to prioritize their responsibilities and remember that customer is king(no matter how patient or impatient they are) especially when you just took 20 lakh rupees from them for your product.

When the customer is not at fault and the car has to be kept at the dealer, he/she should be given a Loaner car and the company should bear the cost, if any, to the dealer(if it's not the one from which the car was bought)

My friends Brezza met with a big accident with a medium size truck with a drunk driver and had a ton of work (under insurance coverage) . For two full months he was given a loaner car (A Ciaz!) When some idiot came and crushed the bumper on that one at a traffic light, guess what, he was given another loaner car!!!)
This might have been the dealer, yes. But goes to show that it's the attitude and general culture that has to be changed .
His family has never bought anything other than a Maruti even though they're bonafide TinCans. (TM)

I would kindly request everyone to stop personal Back-n- forths to maintain the decorum of our forum.

Everyone has different opinions and they are all respected. Whether you choose to accept it or not is a personal decision and should not be brought into the forum unless it's a falsehood.

While reading this, even I have realised that a lot if members (including me) don't fully understand what rights we have as customers and what services and conveniences we can/can't expect from companies and dealers (especially under warranty).

A lot of us have never bought a brand new car!

In my family even though we've owned cars for the past 20 years, we bought our first "New Car" just last year and have thus never dealt with Dealers or OEMs regarding warranty issues and such.
It would be great if someone could point me to such a thread or if it doesn't exist I kindly request the mods and GTO to create one for members. It would also serve as a forum for comparing the customer service of different companies.

[KMT]

This applies to all walks of life and is the reason why being intelligent in itself most often doesn't lead to success.[/quote]

Then might be time for Tata to 'dumb down' a bit

[sandeepmohan]

For the ordeal you have been through, a vehicle replacement is what you should be asking for, from TATA. Repair is unacceptable for so many faults taking place so early into owning a car. I hate to say this but I would sell the car and move on. There is always going to be this feeling, each time you approach the car, drive the car, on what will happen next. Is this going to be a good day, or not. I don't believe it is worth going through this.

The Hexa was one those those TATA cars that impressed me no ends. The quality of materials was unseen on any TATA vehicle. The mechanical's are supposed to be sound as it is a proven drive train.

TATA have had a good run off late, with their excellent Tiago and Nexon. There is potential for more customers but what stops or makes one hesitate is After Sales. It is a hit or big miss.

[silverado]

Trooper, buddy you have tons of patience and its good to see you maintaining your calm in this situation.

Spares never arrive as per time mentioned by team, so its not a surprise at all. They should have told you upfront about timeline in which case you could have driven the car down to Mumbai /Pune without your family ( Since I assume car is still drivable ) which could have made things easier for you and the spare part replacement would have been quicker, I assume.

This entire episode tells us how poor is the communication between various entities and it has left end user out in cold.

This is not TATA specific is what I can tell you.
Just came back from a 2000 km drive in Hexa and can tell you the car is a GEM.Best of luck buddy.

[Guna]

This is shocking! Sometime back I came across a Youtube video of a frustrated customer of Zoomcar due to the stranded Hexa in the middle of the journey. I thought that it could be 'one of a case' or it could be because of the way the car was abused. But now it looks like Tata cars still continue to have niggles.

[NST440]

Originally Posted by TROOPER

Technical issues and niggles are common. Today the car completes 10 days out of 21 in the ownership period at TASS. Question is how much proactive a company is in satisfying a customer. Sadly this concept is not understood by some people in Tata.

First of all, Congratulations on your new acquisition man, Hexa is a wonderful product, have driven one for almost 300 Kms and it is a pity that the officials of Tata Motors ( at multiple levels ) have such lackadaisical approach towards one of their esteemed customer who has spent a fortune to buy their product.

I have purchased TATA cars for more than once in my life, all being Safari's and still have one as my recreational vehicle. Absolutely love the car and totally detest the way I am or was rather dealt with at the service centre. I specifically did not buy the extended warranty knowing that if I do so, it would be mandatory to get the car serviced from these jokers to honour warrant claims and that is the last thing I wanted to be done on my priced possession.

The beauty of most if not all the TASS is that in case you visit them for rectification of a particular issue, chances of its rectification is 50%, however they would put an entirely new issue in the vehicle, possibility of which is highly likely as per my experience.

I had to raise my voice , and I mean really loud in all literal terms at the service centre once to let them know that they are messing with a wrong guy. Sadly, such things take a toll on one's joy and experience of owning what is actually a really good product.

I feel their is a tight nexus of such bafoons in the TASS hierarchy, a kind of understanding wherein then higher ups and the people at operational level assist each other for all sorts of mistakes they do whether intentionally or unintentionally.

I really am saddened to read the ordeal you are going through and I really wish that the issue is resolved once and for all so that you enjoy this wonderful car worry free.

As far as TATA goes, they are still the same, especially in their service and customer handling skills, forget being proactive , if at least they can be a little active, their reputation and sales can improve.

However, this "If" have been there since times immemorial.