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Originally Posted by Amartya I cannot fathom what the last sentence is meant to convey. |
That last sentence means I am a proud owner of a stunning car (minus interior, after sales service) who is suffering at the hands of some dealers appointed by Tata Motors. I think .anshuman's thread sums it up well. Its a kind of love-hate relationship.
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Originally Posted by Amartya The rest will happen with the feedback being taken, no offence, but calling it "drama" is just unfair. |
Well it might be an individual case but I still prefer to call it a drama as long as they don't improve their processes based on my feedback.
I make an appointment with the Tata Service Center @ 9 AM on a weekday (as they claim "weekends are overloaded and we can serve you better on weekdays"). I change my plan to commute to the office by asking a friend to pick me up at 9:30 AM from the service center. I reach there only to find that Fiat executive will turn up at 10. It could be his/her regular timing but then why make an appointment @9AM on the "weekday" in the first place. I complained about this and same thing happened twice after that. nothing has improved.
So my every feedback call is : (btw I have one tomorrow)
1. They make an appointment at 9, 9:30 and the service "advisor" turns up at 10.
2. Car is not (READ: never) washed properly.
3. If you ask them to fix 5 things they will fix 2 and call you at 6PM.. "Sir gaadi idhar chhodana padega" (I find it very suspicious and hence my car never stays overnight at the service center) Why would one want to keep a car overnight just to check the Blue&Me problem by connecting a laptop.
4. At 4PM you get a SMS from TML your car is ready for the delivery. I reach there by 4:30PM only to find the car is not washed. I get my car at 6:00PM. The actual washing part happens in the last 10 minutes. I feel like a fool standing there, when I could have better utilized my time at the office.
5. Whenever you want to discuss an issue, the "Fiat specialist" is not around (I have fixed so many issues on my own with the help of t-bhpians/other internet forums .. e.g. Blue & Me, Rear Parcel tray, phone conectivity issues)
Today I did my 2nd servicing and they have charged me Rs. 1750 for a fuel filter where as it should be 765. Thats an added point for tomorrow's "drama" call. The reason I have been given is 765 was an old price and 1750 is the new price.
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Originally Posted by Amartya I usually differ from people when they bring up this matter of plastic quality in the Punto. If you care to look at the prices abroad, you'd see that the Punto is very competitively priced in India. For that, they've had to cut costs , which they did in terms of plastic quality. I don't grudge them that at all. Yes, I'd like to see better plastics, but not at the cost of the engine/dynamics package. Look at the Polo, great interiors, 3-pot engines. |
Two months after the delivery, the bonnet opener lever started acting up. With security checks in place in most of the malls/workspace, it was embarrassing when the bonnet didn't open @ the security check. Remember I paid 7 lacs of my hard earned money for this car. It was my well informed decision to buy this car. So I knew what I was getting into. But then I also expected to enjoy the "now hugely improved" Tata service quality. Unfortunately that never seemed to happen.
One fine day the bonnet didn't open at the security check at my workplace. I was denied an entry and had to opt for roadside parking. Some unknown people/vehicles managed a couple of scratches on my car's door. I thanked god for looking after both the logos and next day morning visited the service center. "Sir you'll have to wait... you do not have an appointment". Fair enough. Spent next half an hour browsing through the marketing material of Manza, observing badly maintained Linea on display (indicator popping out, broken wipers, missing chrome strips, slightly torn back seat), a propsective customer checking out various controls of a Punto that was just "serviced". Just when I started imaginiing my car being used as a display piece, a Fiat specialist came up and asked me what the problem was. I explained. "yes sir, this is a common problem in Fiat cars". He called someone from the workshop asking him to carry a piece of a newspaper and some glue. I asked him what the hell was he doing. He calmly replied "sir this is how we fix it. Don't worry it works." The sheer thought of parking my car on the road and new scratches/losing my logos made me say yes to him. Around the same time the nanos were catching fire. So it was a security issue as well. What if something goes wrong and I am unable to open the bonnet. So I agreed. The guy folded the paper. Pour some glue in the bonnet lever and pushed the folded paper in it. thats it. it works. I leave the place. Next day I get a feedback call. Although I was not 100% happy with the "jugaad" solution provided, I still gave a average feedback because the solution had worked. But I did mention that such faults should not be there in any car. 2 days later I happen to take my brother in law (who was on a two week India trip) to a suburban mall and ... we were denied the entry. Just imagine it could have been my boss, even worse a client??
Next day I am back to the service center. Service advisor says "Sir you do not have an appointment". (this time I cared a damn as if they were very punctual when I made an appointment). I told him I would like to speak to the manager. The service advisor starts arguing with me. Manager chips in. The advisor tells him that he won't fix my problem, ask someone else to do it. Ultimately I get it fixed. (One needs gutts to tell one's boss that s/he won't fix the customer's problem in front of the customer)
I can understand cost cutting but it should not come at the cost of functional aspects of the car. How much more would they have to spend to provide decent plastic levers? I can live with the grainy dashboard plastic for cost cutting but not the levers. No one expects Polo kind of interior anyway.
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Originally Posted by anmol2k4 Can you back up this ridiculous claim ? Because I was under the impression that quality of plastics is correlated to the price of vehicle. If you think otherwise and have facts to back up your opinion then please do enlighten the noobs like us. |
please read the above. This is just one plastic part. Do PM me if you want to hear about the rear parcel tray/hatch lock stories.
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Originally Posted by anmol2k4 Lastly Fiat and Tata Motors are well managed and very profitable companies, we may consider their decisions as stupid but keep in mind that they are doing well enough to not only survive recession and bankruptcies but also buy out large companies like JLR and Chrysler.
Take a look at the following page and notice the number of non Fiat vehicles using JTD engine :-
JTD engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
I feel proud as an Indian when Tata motors goes for global acquisitions, fights recession etc. But I am a small time customer who is interested in the service they provide me for the money I have paid them. How does JLR, Chrysler acquisition help me if they are unable to provide me quality service for the car that they have already sold me? What difference does it make for me if they are profitable or not? I am not an investor of their company.
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Originally Posted by anmol2k4 Tata GM Suzuki Opel Ford Cadillac Saab and Vauxhall all rely on this engine, and Fiat is making money every time some of the most popular cars in India like Swift, DZire, Indica or Manza are sold.
So Fiat is already making money on lot of cars which are sold, if they will try to aggressively sell their vehicles that would most certainly affect the sales of other cars relying on JTD engine. And that might force Suzuki GM Tata Ford Saab to end their reliance on Fiat.
Exactly why would Fiat want to do such thing and lose the royalty they get from Tata GM Suzuki Opel Ford Cadillac Saab and Vauxhall for the measly increase in the sales of their own vehicles ? |
Well if royalty is what Fiat is interested in then Fiat should stop producing own vehicles right now and start advertising popular cars in India like Swift, DZire, Indica or Manza.
Anyway, I am good for next 15K KMs. I think I need a long drive in My Punto to overcome the torture I go through @ Tata Service Center. Till then "All is well...All is well"