[firstguri]

Originally Posted by kiku007

So am signing off with the facts and you please live in FIAT's dreamland where all is fine!

First of all nobody said that all's fine with Fiat. I think you've got a little personal with FinneyP. Just chill man. I recollect Bite_The_Bullet's signature- lets take it outside and settle it like men, over a beer.

Secondly to make myself clear- I'm not Fiat's lawyer, just putting my case forward.

[FastLove]

Originally Posted by parimal_g

But TATA dealers are doing really great job,4 months before i changed headlights of my Palio,but the headlight starting fogging so yesterday took the appointment of Fortune motors powai,The service adviser immediately agreed to replace and promised me he will give me a call once he receives the material from Fiat.

The same sentence above can be re-phrased as :

" TATA dealers have messed up again ,4 months before i changed headlights of my Palio,but the headlight starting fogging so yesterday took the appointment of Fortune motors powai.
The service adviser promised me he will give me a call once he receives the material from Fiat.


Its all how you look at it ..

[geeash]

An issue again see what i told you is becoming true

i was given a part number 59089736 for foglamp of linea.

now i get to know from wildon that the partnumber of linea fog lamp and bezel are

51756924 - FOG LAMP
14151095 - BULB FOG

The part number which the CRM himself has given me is that of Grande punto!!

Now do you get to know what state i am in???

[gomzi]

Originally Posted by parimal_g

But TATA dealers are doing really great job,4 months before i changed headlights of my Palio,but the headlight starting fogging so yesterday took the appointment of Fortune motors powai,The service adviser immediately agreed to replace and promised me he will give me a call once he receives the material from Fiat.

Fortune Motors Powai is a different case altogether.
All my interactions with them for my dad's Indigo have been super and we bought it from there despite living in Thane. When we went to TD the Punto and Linea, the salesguy (Paresh, I think) was very informed. I have also got good reviews of the place from my neighbour who has a 2002 Palio and has required a few spares due to various dings/bust-ups

Other than this, I have had no contact with any Tata/Fiat dealer.

[sanjayc]

@geeash, Just goes to emphasie the point I made earlier - pg 9 - Concorde might be deliberately taking you for a ride - time to change your service center.

[anachronix]

Geash, my friends who own Linea get their cars regularly serviced by TAFE access and they have no issues!

Why dont you try other service centers rather than dealing with morons!? I have heard good feedback about VST Motors as well!

[geeash]

I have already planned with karthik and i am going to VST on saturday.

Definitely not after their latests goof up of punto parts number with linea parts number

[geeash]

This is the mail from CEO which i have got. posting that for you guys

Dear Dr Ashwinkumar

I sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you. Spares some time do run out of stock if the dealer used it earlier.

We will ensure that parts required for your car reach you fast.

As far as such incidents are concerned that do not make the whole picture.
I have taken personal care in setting up spares support organization but dealers sometime do not order enough or in time ( they so a trnd analysis like all industries)

As far as availability in open market is concerned, most of the spares available for other brands are not necessarily OEM approved spares but are manufactured by second tier manufacturers and are of inferior quality. We do not wish to encourage this and would like to ensue that only certified spares are used.

Regards
Rajeev Kapoor
President and CEO

I have replied to him about the latest partnumber goof up aswell!!.

He now says it is a trend not to stock parts for analysis. what the crap!!!

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by geeash

This is the mail from CEO which i have got. posting that for you guys





I have replied to him about the latest partnumber goof up aswell!!.

He now says it is a trend not to stock parts for analysis. what the crap!!!

No, what that means is that dealers (like every other business) do a 'trend analysis' and order only fast moving parts in abundance. Slow moving inventory is ordered in small quantities or infrequently.

There is nothing in that letter from the CEO about stocking parts for analysis.

Cheers,

[amoghchaphalkar]

Originally Posted by geeash

He now says it is a trend not to stock parts for analysis. what the crap!!!

I think what he meant was dealers do a "trend analysis" and stock parts accordingly. In simple terms - it means dealers stock those parts that move off the shelf quickly. Nobody wants to hold an inventory.

I don't find anything wrong in his reply. If dealer's are not stocking / ordering parts in time, how on earth do you expect ANYBODY to do anything about it ?

The problem also lies in logistics : What's probably happening is that you are awaiting the fog lamp cover but until Fiat does not have a full truck load of parts to ship, it's will not be economically feasable for them to send a half empty truck to bangalore.

But overall I see that your service station is the biggest problem here. Not anything else.

[geeash]

But do all the dealers do this?.

I agree that the dealer will stock the parts which are in demand more. but i have also seen the dealers stocking atleast a couple of numbers of non moving parts too, just in case they need it for some urgency and then indent it again on usage.

should that not be the yardstick.

Hundai and ikon have the factories in chennai. but do the dealers in assam or in jammu and kashmir indent the non moving parts each time from chennai only after they recieve a car after accident after analysing the car?

should they not keep atleast a single number of that part in garage and then indent it again on usage?

I know that the concorde dealership is the one who is goofing things up now. or else how will they give me the part number of punto fog lights to me instead of linea?

Should fiat not put their hands down and say " ok , our cars are not the favourites now . we are trying to find a foot hold in indian market. so atleast till the sales pick up and stays consistent please stock all parts so that lets not make the customer dissappointed and go. Is this not the same problem in parts shipment that made palio / petra / sienna fail?. so lets not do it again"

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

I think what he meant was dealers do a "trend analysis" and stock parts accordingly. In simple terms - it means dealers stock those parts that move off the shelf quickly. Nobody wants to hold an inventory.

I don't find anything wrong in his reply. If dealer's are not stocking / ordering parts in time, how on earth do you expect ANYBODY to do anything about it ?

But overall I see that your service station is the biggest problem here. Not anything else.

Eventhough i agree with the FIAT India CEO's objective response,
i do not agree that only service center is at fault.

it is a chicken first or egg first question

1. Always a Principal OEM has a dealer/service franchiese agreement with the dealers/service partners. This agreement does include the detailed way of working, max margins allowed for the dealers, lead times for spares, methodology of ordering, buffer stocking of parts, incentives for providing certain level of support/service to the customer etc.

2. Generally the Principal OEM is required to provide the free demo units or free spares to their dealers/service station as a marketing/service support. Generally the entire business of the product launch includes these aspects and these are amortized in the product pricing. Often marketeers cut corners and aggressively price the product as most believe that Price is the single biggest value proposition.

3. This will often force the (not so powerful) dealers not to have the demo cars, TD vehicles and spares as required. So in the interest of doing business they will buy the most important things like Demo/TD cars, show room, providing as many TDs etc This will result in blocking of their working capital and not having enough money to invest in after service process.

At the end of the day, if there is enough money to be made in the business dealers/service stations are not dumb not to invest. I have worked 8 years for the company where the Service Function was a profit generator for the company and not a cost center.

when the entire chain is working on back to back basis and firefighting mode (and not proactive) then there would be delays, issues with shipments/logistics, communication gaps, mis-understandings etc etc.

At the end of the day, dealers come and go, service station franchiese is changed frequently, no loyalty is built in the chain and it is just buck passing from one actor to another in the chain.

Why Toyota or Honda chain is working better is because these aspects are well taken care of. Why Tata set up is working is, there is enough support to the dealers/service stations from tata motors.

Currently FIAT is in the push mode, they need to push the dealers/service stations to invest and improve the business, where-as the Toyota/Honda are expereining PULL form their chains. This is the major difference.

[Ravveendrra]

The crap part of the letter from the CEO is:

"As far as availability in open market is concerned, most of the spares available for other brands are not necessarily OEM approved spares but are manufactured by second tier manufacturers and are of inferior quality. We do not wish to encourage this and would like to ensue that only certified spares are used."

This is the crux of the problem and the bane of car owners. Ever since the advent of Maruti, the car companies have maintained a stranglehold on supply of spares - obviously with an eye on the profits.

This might to some extent ensure quality of spares but, this is more than offset by the absolutely dismal quality of ALL A.S.C.s. The skills of the technicians is suspect at best and, the workmanship is absolutely lousy.

The company that moves away from this model and ensures free availabilty of spares in the open market is bound to be a winner.

Cheers,

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by firstguri

First of all nobody said that all's fine with Fiat. I think you've got a little personal with FinneyP. Just chill man. I recollect Bite_The_Bullet's signature- lets take it outside and settle it like men, over a beer.

Secondly to make myself clear- I'm not Fiat's lawyer, just putting my case forward.

Nothin personal dude

Things are getting ridiculous when protectionism is in vogue! So better let be things the way they are and look at it.

[amoghchaphalkar]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Eventhough i agree with the FIAT India CEO's objective response,
i do not agree that only service center is at fault.

it is a chicken first or egg first question

The only reason why I said so (and many have said this before) is because geesah has consistently had problems with this particular service station.

On a side note : I checked with 2 fiat service stations in Pune : both have linea fog lamps and its accessories in stock.

You can draw your own conclusions from this. Had geesah been in Pune : this thread would have never started