[adc]

Originally Posted by sbhaduri

Best way IMHO is to write a detailed strong mail to TML top bosses.take an appointment with East RM and East Service head and meet them at TML office in Apeejay House Park street, Kolkata.I had to do the same to make things moving in my favour fast.I am sure they would definitely take up adc's case and bail him out.

SB

Originally Posted by kingshukt

Also as SBhaduri said, write to TM-email IDs that he has / or has provided to you. His emails to TM has provided direct & quick responses from TM top bosses themselves. Please attach scanned copies of your invoices for the past services in your email(s).

I also suggest that you make a trip to TM Kolkata office - the address is available on TM's customer-care web-site, and speak to the RM (regional manager) himself.

TM is a monolith and are trying to shake down their "commercial vehicle manufacture only" tag. But being a monolith the movement is too slow for us. They require adrenaldine shots from us, once in a while to galvanise them in to action

After that a call from Just services, Kolkata, whereby they have clearly seen extensive damage to the engine due to catastrophic and sudden oil pump failure, and after the service person talked more about hinting about the cost that I had to bear, it was time to get the actual people from Tata Motors involved.

As seen, I waited for 3 days, to had this resolved and get a clearer picture, and now since only a direction from the above would set things straight, if they want to, I started writing the letter. The language of the letter written was deliberately not strong as it would have then more of a rant, but direct and firm,and it had been addressed to Head of customer service, Mr Vikram Sinha, with copies to all required people including all customer service people from the Eastern REgion and the Regional Manager, East.

The email was sent late night, and by morning 6:15 am I have a email from Mr Viktram Sinha

Dear Mr Chowdhury,
We sincerely regret the unfortunate experience.Our team will investigate and revert. Please bear with us till then.


At around 11 am today, I get a call from Kolkata Office, again expressing regret for this and they will look into this matter and reaffirms to get it resolved soon and that they are sincerely looking into this matter.

Originally Posted by shishir_bn

Really feel pity for you and that too when you said this """I feel like a moron to buy a Tata Safari now and have it serviced by their authorized center"""". Hope everything goes on well(fingers crossed for your beast)

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Not the kind of issue that anyone would want!

Talk about TATA and their top-of-the-shelf offering, is this what they have for their customers!

Originally Posted by maglev

Hi ADC,

Your Safari was equipped with very few OE issues & niggles, Something that the TATA Quality Check department failed to do, but the TASS made sure that these issues crop up.

Your travelogue's, Ownership experience, etc help me keep My Safari Dream Alive.

I sincerely hope the she come's back with the same engine smoothness & responses that you are used to.

Originally Posted by bj96

Adc, Don't loose faith Senor

This was indeed a almost very minimal niggle/issue Safari, the engine and all was so beautifully going on. I have nothing against the product as VTT itself but against the services provided and that is also Tata Motors responsibility. I cannot differentiate between a product and a serivce as both come together to give adequate customer onwership satisfaction .

That faith is the only thing that I am holding on to right now and - that something will go through okay now [have not even cancelled my Arunachal trip in Dec end with this very VTT with the faith that is still left] as the TM people themselves have been involved and the way they got back to me fast by the email sent last late night. But I need concerte action now by the end of this week, they had had enough time to find out a cause and had already seen the damage done.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

However, one thing i am fairly sure of is that the vehicle is going to be out of action for possibly more than the 10-12 days that they initially mentioned. One you get stuck in these things, they take you through the whole rigmarole at their own sweet pace, leaving you stranded.

Originally Posted by bj96

Have patience. Most TASS, I am told, provides a backup vehicle if your car is garaged for more than a few days. Ask them to give you a backup, if you don't have one and, if possible, take few days off and spend time at garage with these folks. Don't give these morons opportunity to prove themselves- preempt that possibility by supervising yourself.

For my city travel I still have my Bullet and everytime I had given to a service station out here, I have told them to not to rush through and I dont mind they keep for a couple of days more than required since my primary interest is to see that the work is done throughly and not rushed through.

Getting it back soon enough is also not my demand, let them take 20 days. But I want my engine back as it was, and that can only happen by a complete engine change. I have reason to believe now, by talkng to the Just services, that a simple ancilllary change and a diesel wash of the engine block would leave the engine still crippled for long-term use and I am not taking the VTT back without a engine block change.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I do not think its sabotage. Maybe just negligence of ignoring metal shavings.
Some defect inside the engine could have caused issues, which may have led to oil pump failure. Since its a Tata product, its no big surprise. Critical components like turbo chargers, radiators, timing gear etc., failing is not uncommon in Tata cars.
Now coming to the issue of warranty, service centers make a lot of money from part and labor profits. Moreover, most of them do not care much about the customer. However a rap from the top can make things better.
I suggest you do not wait for the attack, but go on offensive. I am sure you have email ids of customer care dept head(pune etc.,). Just write them a mail. I had to mail them to get the injectors, which supposedly were waiting in europe.
Also note that each region has been allotted an engineer. Not your regular service guy, but an employee of customer care, and he reports to customer care technical team etc.,
Try to get him to check up your car if the service center does hanky panky.
Lastly, tell customer care specifically that the workshop told you that your vehicle history has negligence on maintenance, even though you have all the invoices. Tell them you think that the intentions of the workshop are not noble.

By now I am sure that something happened out there at KB Motors, from gross negligence to sabotage to change of parts with another VTT [like they used to do previously change parts from one Sumo to another], to result in this stalling condition. These KB fellows had a perfect VTT like, a person whose VTT is going out of primary warranty in a just a few days from the last service done through them, and the seizing of the machine in just around 60 km out from their service station - if something is left in the oil it would be like this only - the vehicle will seize around this kms around.

Note also, even Just services had this thing on their report to me for the first 2 days and then went on a defensive as this pits them with another authorised service centre and if they say so, they know that Tata Motors will take the whole engine bill out from these KB fellows.

Anyway, TM technical person is also involved now and lets await their final diagnosis and verdict.



Right now the whole of customer department of Tata Motors involved as per my understanding of the reply from Mr Vivek Sinha.

Originally Posted by bj96

If adrenaline shot fails even via-agra wouldn't do and you would be left with limp mode, court battle etc

Well, my style is different. I follow bottoms-up rather than top-down approach in such cases. I would first draft a mail to customercare @ tatamotors. Usually they reply within a day with contacts (mobile and email-id) of local customer support engineer. Speak to that poor engineer and let him explain what he can do for you. If you are unsatisfied escalate higher-up. It will preserve your relations with customer engineer- who is probably your gateway to most things you need for your car- and help you build a rapport with him/her. Going directly to top, may be faster, but leaves many underneath boiling and scratch them wrong way. It will also shut your options to escalate.

-BJ

I follow even a more bottoms up aprroach, I just had this TASC and TASS resolve among themselves, but when things started coming back to me, I had the whole Tata Motors involved due to the gravity of the matter. Here we are talking about the engine itself, the heart of the VTT, and it warrants now that everyone in Tata Motors, those who need to be, be involved. This is not a simple niggle or issue.

As I reiterate again, this was a fantastic VTT, with gem of an engine, before it was crippled and stalled. I need the engine back pristine as it was, not a rebored or some parts changed of the engine as it would not be same again ever.


Also "rapport" and things like now per my experience is only secondary to the professional route - ie the vehicle must be back in a condition that it has to be. Depending upon the gravity of your situation, one needs to involve the level that you would like. For power windows failure, I would not even had written to all these people and would have been sure to get it changed/rectified in any other serivce station - would have taken that trouble rather than involve the whole customer department of Tata Motors. As said, my issue now is the whole engine itself, the heart of the machine, and my buying was with the intention for a long time and not just for 4 years of warranty and extended warranty.


Very many thanks again to sbhaduri through the email list and also to bagchi for letting me know that he would put a word regarding me to Tata Motors senior person that he knows.

[Rahulk76]

Originally Posted by adc

The email was sent late night, and by morning 6:15 am I have a email from Mr Viktram Sinha

Dear Mr Chowdhury,
We sincerely regret the unfortunate experience.Our team will investigate and revert. Please bear with us till then.


At around 11 am today, I get a call from Kolkata Office, again expressing regret for this and they will look into this matter and reaffirms to get it resolved soon and that they are sincerely looking into this matter.

Glad to know that the ball is set rollingAll the best

[suman]

Anirban, really sorry to hear this, what can I say! Don't lose heart, things will be resolved though it may take a while. As far as EW is concerned, whatever is specifically mentioned in that booklet has to be replaced by them FOC (and this includes the labour charges that are directly associated with the components) - so don't take anything which they try to shove on to you lying down. Yes, they may try to throw the "wear & tear" angle at you if they are unscrupulous (which it sounds like they are) but one of the positives is that this happened within 50-60 kms of your last workshop visit for the Oil change. So, if anything was suspect or close to failure, they should have diagnosed & prevented it from happening.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by suman

.... So, if anything was suspect or close to failure, they should have diagnosed & prevented it from happening.

Indeed!
The customer is not supposed to be a techie or an engineer.
If anything like this happens to ANY car within 30k kms or so and with an impeccable service history the car should be repaired FOC by the maker!
I feel confident that TML will not let adc down.

[evo]

adc, your Safari is the reason why the Safari ads are made, and you must have done Tata Motors nearly as much good as their ads with the absolutely brilliant pictures from your trips. I sincerely hope that the folks out there understand that and pull out all stops to make sure that neither your AR trip needs to be canceled (micro), nor are you left with an engine that is anything less than pristine(macro) .

[sdp1975]

adc, will pointing out this thread to the TM folks make any difference ?

[adc]

Breaking news - whole engine block being replaced FOC!!

On receiving my mail and with the subsequent mail from Mr Vikram Sinha [have to appreciate this much that he replied back within 2 hours of the mail [mail was sent at 4:30 am and he got back to me by 6:30 am] though he was on leave - he forwarded the mail to all those required, both at Mumbai and Kolkata, and the whole TM unit out here in Kolkata was notified.

As said, after a call at 11 am with the assurance that everything is being looked into, I get a call just 20 mts back saying that they have seen the engine and that they are replacing the whole engine block - yes I ask him again specifically about engine block - and he confirms about engine block.

When I asked about the reason of such damage, he just said it was because of oil pump failure and though I started to ask about some more specifics, I had this feeling like they know how it went wrong so catastrophically and how this beautiful engine died down just 50-60 km after coming out from a service station but naturally they dont want to discuss too much of this affair. I did not prod also since whats done and gone is exactly that, and I want to bring a quick closure to this gross incident.

But I am sure TM would have something to say to KB Motors, Kolkata, but then that is their internal matter.

Anyway I feel vindicated by this news, complete engine block change does help me start bringing to a closure of these last hellish 3 days. The VTT engine was in perfect condition before and I hope now it is back to its glory self after it comes out from this TASC, work being done under the complete supervision of TM.

I have also asked TM Kolkata to check out all the workmanship issues that had been done through KB Motors, particularly of the bush system of both the rear tyres.

So, at least today we smile again, as said the process of closure has started, and though not cynical and I do hope I dont get any nasty surprises from the TM team in Kolkata, i.e, what was conveyed to me by telephone is adhered to absolutely.

A final closure of this issue will be done in another 12 days or so [as per TM Kolkata] as that would be days required to get a new engine and have all things done.

TM Kolkata also offered me a loaner car for this 11-12 days, which I said is not required as such urgently, and if needed will let them know.


Again thanks a lot for all the support I got here, the sharing of the experience did help me take out some the pressure. Will keep you all updated how things go from, it can only go better!! Absolute special mention goes to sbhaduri, SStraveller, and bagchi for their critical support and knowledge.

[Ravveendrra]

That is great news. Your TMT will be ready for your winter vacation!

Cheers,

[HappyWheels]

Wonderful news, ADC!

Way to go TATA! I was hoping that TATA live up to their expectation from a whole lot of us over here and they did!

ADC - pray that you get your vehicle in the pristine condition it was before and it serves you for a lot many years than 4!

And I do hope the rogue TASS gets their stick!

[unni.ak]

Alls well that ends well. I hope there are no more nasty surprises in store for you and that TM closes this issue with you becoming a believer again.

[sdp1975]

Great news ! Do keep us posted with your wonderful travelogues.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by adc

Breaking news - whole engine block being replaced FOC!!

[just two allowed]. Congratulations!

[bj96]

Originally Posted by adc

Breaking news - whole engine block being replaced FOC!!

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Way to go TATA! I was hoping that TATA live up to their expectation from a whole lot of us over here and they did!

Amazing news. Hats off to TATA especially since, this is being done after primary warranty was over... they could have washed off hands citing n reasons.

@ADC
Hope your TMT is back on the road soon with renewed vigor and all the best for your NE trip

cheers,
-BJ

[v&v]

Heartning news adc. At least TM responded positively.

[sbhaduri]

@adc : Congratulations!!! I am very happy to note that TML has helped you.May i suggest you to put in a mail to them and reiterate the points discussed and agreed upon phone.Who called you tuhin or lakhpa?

Try and make sure the TML engineer is present at the workshop during the engine assembly time.

I have taken delivery of my car yesterday evening and have driven 100kms in the last 12 hours.

Shantanu