[ACM]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

ACM, the Thread starter, and others who have actually gone through this feel this way. Maybe you havent, but that does, in no way change their experiences and opinions. And by and large most of the posts here do support what has been said. Unless People start posting their better experiences here ( about how these processes actually did some good to a tata customer) , i see no reason why it should go.

PS: we did have a thread on whether honda cars are overpriced a while back

My protest was to the word "horrible" rather than the thread itself. To be "overpriced" is different from being "Horribly priced"

Evidently as mentioned by you most of the posters on the thread agree with the quality or rather lack of, but that is not the issue, the point is that a certain protocol must be maintained wrt to the words and language used.

[kvish]

We must compare tata with Maruti, not Honda. People can excuse honda for better service since they pay premium prices. But what about Maruti? There is always a 'zing' factor which one finds missing amongst all tata dealers and service centers. They have a very laid back attitude and I guess it comes all the way from the top.
Just to give you an example. Earlier there were 3 prominent dealers for Tata in Bangalore. It is reduced to 2. Manipal motors is no longer a dealer. (or on the verge of moving out). This news has been around for over 3-4 months. Am sure company would have known it another 6 months before. So, they havent yet found an alternative for almost a year!. This is not related to service advisors or mechanics. A clear example of lack of aggressiveness right from top.

All that we hear of is concorde opening another service center elsewhere. That doesnt solve the problem and creates more problems due to fewer players and assured service quantities. Maruti has dealers in plenty. I feel its this internal competition that keeps them going strong, something badly needed in Tata motors.

[greenhorn]

yup. there are just 3 ASC's and one dealer in my city, and 2 of 3 belong to the said dealer. I wonder why tata gives such monopolies.

even authorized workshops - you see maruti authorized workshops every few km in my city. It wouldnt hurt them to let there be a few extra

[greenhorn]

Sorry guys. I've just not been in a good mood these past few weeks - because I'm being given hell by my tasc.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...report-16.html
IF you check out what I'm going through, you can probably empathize

[mgh]

Labour unions are a major problem in India, because they indirectly encourage slackers. There is no way a supervisor (SA) can make any worker do his work faster than the speed at which the worker wants to work. Because of the way unions operate in actual practice, it is almost impossible to take action against a slacker. Only if the worker has caused substantial physical damage to equipment/building etc, managements have a chance of throwing him out. Even the SAs are likely to be unionized. Individual small workshops are free of labour unions, and are likely to be more efficient. In most other countries, this is not the case. Unions do not come in the way of a habitual slacker being dismissed from service.

Second problem is ISO 9000/ ISO 14000! ISO requires all maintenance procedures to be written down and followed meticulously, not only the routine, but also where troubleshooting is required. Whenever a problem comes up that is not covered by the ISO Manuals (prepared by the company), the *** has to refer to authorised person (Laid down in manual!) of the car manufacturer. They have to follow his instructions and make an official note of it. Once the procedure is found successful, it has to be added to the manuals, for the benefit of future customers. If your problem is not listed in the manuals, the problem will bounce back and forth between *** and authorised person of the manufacturer, till a solution is found. This is as per ISO requirements, and is part of laid down Quality Control procedures. This process occurs only when your car is at the workshop, because the authorised representative may want other things to be checked.

Almost all *** have a policy of taking only cars with prior service bookings. For breakdownsthey make an exception. For niggles, if you call them up, give a plausible reason for you to get it done immediately, though you don't have a booking (e.g. going outstation, don't want to have any problem), they will normally accommodate you. Don't overdo it, or all SAs will start acting too busy to accommodate you!

If you are polite, you are likely to get good service, whether it is on an international flight, a hotel, or at ***.

I have nothing to do with any car manufacturer, dealer or ***. I have worked in Industry and know how work gets delayed because of unionized workers. Prime examples are the Indian governments at the Centre and in the States.In industry, ISO is a powerful tool to improve processes and procedures. In ***, it can sometimes delay things, on the other hand, it improves and speeds up routine procedures.

One example, once while on an outstation trip, alternator of my earlier Indica DLX jammed. Fortunately, a town was nearby, my driver went and got mechanics, who towed it into their workshop. It took them about 3 hours to get the alternator out, another hour to change the bearing and fix it back.

As soon as I got back, I called up TASS and told them that I wanted the bearing to be changed again, as I could not be sure about the genuineness of the bearing purchased in a wayside place. The job took just about half an hour! How? I observed that TASS had some special tools and jigs, which speeded up the job.

[blueblooded]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

at my tata workshop, the staff and the receptionists, right upto the Customer Relations Manager is very courteous. Unfortunately, they seem to be playing a game of good cop - bad cop with the mechanics. They put on a happy face, act courteous, but when the time comes to pick up the car after service, then you find so many things missing, and they'll start running after the mechs , and the mechs generally ignore them, and then they plead helplessness, and seek your pity.

You take delivery of your car, because its 7 in the evening , and they're closing up, you've come all the way to get the car, and you dont want to go back empty handed.

And then the next day my dealer's customer care folks call up, and when I'm say that The last service was crap, they start grovelling. Its pathetic , really. " Sir if you had a problem why didnt you say so then????"
Yeah right.

Well, they whine so much , asking you to give them a good rating when the call for feedback from pune comes, and ask you to take back the car to fix the issues, and the whole cycle repeats.

While its good that clearly, somebody , somewhere gives a damn, It's still extremely frustrating.

You were bang on the mark friend, I and my best friend own two fiats between us , and each time any of goes for service of our cars ,nothing is rectified and a whole day is wasted ,i thought there was problem with my dealer at Brijlax motors but it seems bad *** run deep in their veins

[aroop]

From what I heard from a friend working with Tata motors, most of their profits now come from the JLR. This could be an indication of what gets importance!

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by aroop

From what I heard from a friend working with Tata motors, most of their profits now come from the JLR. This could be an indication of what gets importance!

I do not believe the facts are correct, as JLR was bleeding with Ford. It is only after change of ownership to Tata, they are in the red.

Tata Motors' profit are not solely dependent on JLR, & passenger cars as a matter of fact.

Regarding the issue that greenhorn has raised in his post that they deliver the car late in the evening & as they have not worked the best, & cite closing hours as an excuse, I would suggest to take the car a bit early in the morning (I understand there is rush at that time, but you can get late to office once in 3 months or so). In case they ask you to take delivery of the car late in the evening, you can avoid doing so & take the delivery at a convenient time in the next day.

In US many customers avoid taking cars manufactured around the weekend (say Fridays), because it is perceived as a rush hour job & they suggest buying cars manufactures in early part of the week. We can apply the similar principal to our cars' service.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by ACM

My protest was to the word "horrible" rather than the thread itself. To be "overpriced" is different from being "Horribly priced"

Evidently as mentioned by you most of the posters on the thread agree with the quality or rather lack of, but that is not the issue, the point is that a certain protocol must be maintained wrt to the words and language used.

ACM, do not be so naive! You can use any words against Tata cars here. It has turned into a slugfest against Tata cars. But try saying that against other "halo" brands and your thread/post will be deleted forthwith.

[greenhorn]

is it true that tata's customer feedback stops with the form customers give during delivery and the PSF call? most companies usually have questionnaires which capture long term issues over the period of 3~4 weeks, while tata relies on unstructured customer feedback for the same, which might be a cause for why TASC's tend to go for short term fixes rather than long term solutions, because tata does not consciouly track long term issues. Just the short term ones. I have seen a 34 point and 42 point maruti feedback form they occasionally give customers. I have never seen anything like that from the tata end.

Or maybe tata has been so used to running its customer service in the firefighting mode so long that they believe that they just dont have time to ensure sustainable quality ?