[vijayrv]

1995-2000 Model Toyota Tacomas do not have adequate corrosion protection. Excessive corrosion of the frame has caused perforation of the metal. These frames may develop corrosion that goes beyond the normal surface rust that’s commonly found on metal after years of exposure – and in this case, these trucks are from eight to 13 years old.

"Because of our oft-stated commitment to standing behind our products, we’re extending the rust-perforation warranty covering these trucks for a period of 15 years from each vehicle’s original date of purchase, with no mileage limitation, for corrosion damage that results in perforation of the vehicle’s frame material. Owners of these Tacomas need not be the original owners. Even if you bought your Tacoma second- or third-hand, it’s covered by this extended warranty" - Mike Michels Corporate Communication.

Original article at : TOYOTA OPEN ROAD BLOG: Living Up to Our Committment

Wonder when the Indian companies would wake up and provide customer service like this?

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Imagine the situation in India. (No need to imagine, this happens).

Customer:- The underbody of my 3 year old car is rusting - I saw it when it was hoisted up for water service yesterday.

Dealer:- you are out of free service period, we are helpless. Try talking to the manufacturer.

Manufacturer:- (1st round at the area office) Did you drive it through the beach?

Manufacturer:- (2nd round at the zonal office) You left in flood waters last monsoon, did'nt you?

Manufacturer:- (3rd round at the HO) Huh?? 3 year old car? What else do you expect in a hot and humid climate like India?

The hon'ble law aka. Consumer Court:- "The petitioner is complaining of a 3 year old car having rust. We fail to see how he can complain, since he is out of his 2 year warranty period. Moreover, the petitioner cannot prove that car was not subjected to flood or was not driven through the beach in the salt water. We feel that this is normal wear and tear. If the petitioner was so concerned, he could have got underbody rust proof coating which the manufacturer has recommended, and was offered to him by the dealer at a nominal fee of five thousand rupees at the time of his purchase. While we have all sympathies for him, we cannot avoid directing the petitioner to pay the respondent's costs."

[ranc]

No wonder you sit on the back seat and let your imagination flow. Good one Backseat driver

[snaronikar]

Indian Dealerships are like this. They does not care about the customers and do not know what a real customer service means. Unfortunately, we have to live with it as we do not have any other choice.

[gd1418]

Things are changing for the better, albeit slowly but surely. Think of those days of good old Ambys, Fiats and Standards. What all you are getting today, less than half of that too wasn't available then.

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by gd1418

Things are changing for the better, albeit slowly but surely. Think of those days of good old Ambys, Fiats and Standards. What all you are getting today, less than half of that too wasn't available then.

its changing. But these are the same manufacturers available world wide and they have to give the same service what they are giving in other countries. Why we Indians should be deprived of the service they are providing elsewhere. By the time these guys upgrade to next level in servicing, the customer servicing world wide would have gone way further ahead. These dealerships have to keep up the pace with Global trend.

[ravibhat]

Very much True. I feel it would take another 10 years here in India to see customer friendly environment and by then infrastructure and people will step into next Generation brains.

I realized this is what car manufactures will do :

Next 5 years launching and stablizing different models will be in full swing.

There after 5 years expansion of their service network and more multi brands showrooms.

Then comes customer friendly service because till then all car manufactures would have made good profits, once thats achieved they will start helping customers.

This is how business goes here!

This thread reminds me when I baught Maruti Swift VXI from BIMAL auto agency Bangalore.

1. They took 1000/- more from me I know i would have calculated during the payment but since it was DD and check payment within a week my auditor braught this into my attention. To give back that 1000/- they made me send my person with proof of his identity and their CEO called me and handed over 1000/- to my person.

2. Within a week when I noticed strange things with Swift (bad pick up in certian roads, strange sound in bad roads, loose beeding etc..) they say with smile this is how Swift is, people buy it for looks not expecting high quality and Maruti will improve in quality department soon and for current cars they will give good service by fixing the problems we bring them into the attention. But problem come back within a week.

3. Oil leaks immediately after the service, when shown blame game starts on their coworkers instead of fixing the issue.

4. Within company itself they have different opinions.

5. To fix few issues they say its because of indian roads/environment and even for 1 year old car charge money which is very strange.

All these above listed issues applies to all car manufactures. I can see userfriendlyness is improving but not seriously. If they make it happen fast it will bring smile on customer's face.

Regards,

Ravi.

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Manufacturer:- (1st round at the area office) Did you drive it through the beach?

This is so silly. One doesn't need to drive on the beach, the so called "main roads" are good enough during the rains to destroy the cars.

This though is an issue of manufacturers attitude, and poor recognition of consumer rights. The courts are fat too tolerant of big business.

I think the larger problem is that the cost of opening a dealership/service centre is very high in India. Land prices are absurdly and shockingly high, particularly when you consider the kind of surrounding infrastructure and (ugly) ambience you get. Then you have to invest in generators etc because the electricity is not available with gurantees etc.

As such most service centers are cramped compared to volume of cars, and the dealership is solely devoted to maximising their profits and cannot compete on the premise of superior service even if they want to. There's only so much a businessman can invest into a startup, particularly when the returns are low, and the competetion + cost of doing business is so high.

The best way to change this is to have chains of independent service centers from someone like Reliance (just an example) in every city and town. The service manuals should be availabe publically on the manufacturers website, also the training to service particular brand of cars. The other side is judicial activism, because even if found guilty, the penalties are far too small presently compared to say, USA. The government too needs to be held accountable for its role in providing poor roads, drainage etc.

All of this will take a lot of time.

[sureshkishore]

I recently had a bad experiece with a maruti dealer service centre in trivandrum
i had put in my car(96 M800) for serivce. But, at the time of delivery, to my utter dismay the car was totally messed up.
-The A/C was not working (it was ok prior to service).
-There was brake fluid stains all over the bonnet. (upon request got the reply that it cant be removed) PS. The car is White colour.
-The front carpet was soaked with brake fluid

I spent a long two hours in the afternoon, without having my lunch to get each problem fixed.
In the end none of the problems taken care of properly i got the car back
-just on the drive back home, found to my shock .. the engine fan was also not working.
I was totally dissapointed withe the poor quality service i got, that too from a so called DEALER SERVICE CENTRE.

This prompted me to write to maruti customerservice.
The response I got was amazing. The service manager of the dealership was at my doorstep the very next day.And all the problems were taken care of promptly.

The whole fender was painted, the A/C was repaired , and even the front carpet was replaced..needless to say , free of cost..I was really impressed by the way in which MARUTI takes care of customer grievances. Regardless of how old the car is.
Maruti has truly won a customer for life, in me...

[vijayrv]

Apathy to customers is not just confined to car service. Any darn thing you take in India - Credit card, Telephone service , Broadband..The list goes on and on. Is there a single person here who has not had a customer service issue?

Agreed about the setup cost, infrastructure etc for the car showrooms. What about the other sectors?

More than anything, our market philosophy operates on one principle - Sell it and forget it. Customer retention is a science. People dont pay any heed to it. Is there a single company that has done a study on market segmentation? Anyone has data on what model car a 25 year old IT guy living in Chennai would buy vis-a-vis a 40 year old bank serviceman.

What pains me the most is the fact that people here take the consumers for granted. If you are buying a 5 lakh car, you are probably investing one year of your income. The government is not bothered. All they can think of is appeasing the farmers and the Ambanis.

US is where it is - not because of mindless pandering to the super rich or the downtrodden - it is because of the government (till the 70s) listening to the middle class. When was the voice of the middle class ever heard in our country?

Even after all this, the reason why we type these things and squabble and crib is because we still have faith in the system. We still believe that one day someone somewhere would change things for us. Sometime down the line we would have roads to drive ferraris in. Sometime we would have broadband rivalling those of atleast the Americans. Media has made us believe that in 2050 we would be 90% of the US economy. TV feeds us the images about what we can be and when we see what we are - we are extremely pissed off.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by vijayrv

If you are buying a 5 lakh car, you are probably investing one year of your income.

Buddy,

1. For a person earning 5 L per year, the amount is 2-3 years savings.
2. Don't you think that this applies to only a miniscule of the car owners? A majority of car owners would still be earning below 30K p.m = 3.6L pa. For them, this would still be 4 - 5 years' savings. That is probably why banks have 4-5 year tenures on car loans.

[Sagittarian]

Yeah, for most of us a 5 lakhs plus car means savings over a few years of our service. For a govt employee, it could be well worth a good part of his working life. It is more or less an investment that he may probably make once or twice in his service life.

[speedzak]

To answer the question of the thread title; Very soon! (Closes eyes, joins hands, stares at the sky and starts praying rapidly).