[bravo82in]

Before I begin let me first summarize my ownership experience till date

Duration of ownership: 1 yr

Odometer: 28500 kms

Free services: 3 (1k, 5k and 15k kms)

Days Spent by the vehicle in various workshops: 60 and counting

Visits to workshop for running repairs: 10 and counting

Stranded by roadside: 3 times

A.31st Dec2011- Engine failed (Towed to workshop)

B 26th Aug 2012- ABS Malfunctioned (Towed to workshop)

C 8th Nov 2012- No apparent cause (Car goes in ‘limp-home’ mode)

Parts failed/Issues so far:
Engine (replaced)
Turbo charger (didn’t mal function was replaced along with the engine transplant)
Air Intake assembly (Replaced)
Door Latch (Replaced twice)
Steering Volume control switch (Repaired)
Rear door jammed (Lock broken: replaced)
USB/Aux Lock (Replaced thrice)
Speedometer Display Error (Stalk replaced thrice, Error still persists)
Rt. Rear view mirror (Part availability awaited)
Left rear door open indicator (Repaired)
Bluetooth voice not clear (Solution awaited)
Speakers go on and off at will (Get to occur at workshop)
Auto wipers operate at will (Solution awaited)
Rattle from dash board (rectified twice and has still recurred)
Rattle from Rear (Rectified and has recurred)
Gear shift knob paint quality (No solution available)
Front Tires (Misalignment causes tires to wear out at 10k kms, Replaced as good will gesture by Tata Motors)


Now I will start the story from beginning

Why A new Car?
We were looking for a highway cruiser that could comfortably seat 5 adults, Diesel powered, easy to maintain, Budget set at 20 lacs

The Contenders:
Ford Endeavour: Was the first car in our wish list . Looked impressive, is spacious, and drives well. However not comfortable, ford maintenance could be pain in long run.

Fortuner: Middle row seats lacked the space, interiors couldn’t justify the price

Innova: Suited us in every possible, Taxis image plus absence of black color pulled us away from this car, though i regret it now.

Tata safari: Poor built quality plus endless issue was a big no no

Scorpio: Middle row seats were too upright and lacked the space we were looking for.

Aria: Exteriors didn’t impress us however everything else did. Was spacious, interior built quality was best in the segment, only car where middle and last row could be flat folded, extremely comfortable, best safety kit on offer. I was in two minds, Am I going to buy a Tata No way!!!! My heart was the new ruler of my mind(stupid me) T-BHP review were good, everything from fit to finish was good about the car. I knew I have to handle tata service, but never thought the product itself will have so many issues.

The journey begins…:

1. The test ride:
Episode 1: Jaika motors, Nagpur: Wanted a demo of cruise control, non functional. How ever everything else was impressive.
Episode 2: AK Gandhi , Nagpur: Failed to demonstrate as the cruise control not working
Episode 3: Dhingra motors, Gurgaon: Cruise again not working in demo vehicle
Episode 4: Tayal motors, Faridabad: Cruise control vehicle not available for Demo
Four dealers and non is able to give a demo of cruise control? God was giving me enough signals but i was unable to read!

2. Finding the colour: Night shade black
I wanted to see the actual color before booking. Was not available with any dealer in Gurgaon and Faridabad. Waited for close to one month but in no avail. Sale guy of Dhingra motors finally had a word with corporate office of tata motors. A demo of the color was finally arranged (Rama motors, Delhi) after a month

3. The Booking:
The car was finally booked with Dhingra motor, Gurgaon
The promise: Vehicle will be delivered in next 10-15 days pukka sir.
The fact: even after 1 month there were no signs and symptoms of the vehicle being delivered, and 'Kanagat/ shrads' was approaching, the 15 day period we avoid buying or selling vehicles. Frustrated i wrote to tata customer care, who did take some action and vehicle was finally delivered a day before 'Kanagats.'
Does it really take over a month to deliver a vehicle which hardly sells 200-300 vehicles a month?
Even if it takes 1 month why can the customers be properly informed?
Is it so difficult to develop a system where customers can track the status of their vehicle online?

4. The Delivery process.
No one except the sales guy, a security guard and a mechanic were there to hand over the keys. It was a special day for me, i was buying my first vehicle but for everyone else at Dhingra motors it was any other day and they made me feel the same.
Does it really take so much of an effort for the sales manager or at least some senior person to come down and hand over the keys? 5 mins is all it takes to make a person feel special?
They did click a picture for memory but it was never delivered to me.
I have taken delivery of 3 small cars in last 4 years and this was my worst experience ever.

5.Day 1 itself the security system is not working and it unlocks on its own. The steering wheel is mal aligned. Was a PDI done? Nawal motor, Mathura where i got my first 2 services done is unable to fix it.

6.[/b] The pouch/bag in which the manual was handed over was the cheapest quality i have ever seen. It lasted just 3 days.

7. I was provided with complimentary mats and mud guards, Thank you so much. But what about the quality of the mats? The front mats developed holes in just 1 month of use. It was such an embarrassment a car worth 18 lacs with torn mats. I bought a new set for my self.

8.The rear registration plate comes off on day 2 of delivery.
Reason: It was fixed with under sized screws and pieces of ribbon inserted to compensate for the gap left

9. The accessories: Went to Dhingra motors accessories shop for rear spoiler. Why the company shop? Because i was a fool who believed that tata motors accessories are better than after market fitments. The lady there pushed me for the side steps. I said no, because i suspected it will affect the ground clearance. No sir!!! all suv's need side foot step.We fit it in all Safaris and every second Aria and believe me it never affects the ground clearance, because it is "made and designed" by TATA. Convinced i went ahead and made a advance payment and fixed an appointment for next day 2 to 4 pm for rear spoiler and side step.

Day 2: Dhingra motors. 2 pm. The rear spoiler is not available. Probably paint section failed to deliver on time. Mr Gupta is given charge to fix the side step and he has no clue how to do it.Its 6 pm and still the experiment is going on. Proper screws not available, proper size drill not available etc etc. Frustrated i left the car at the showroom,only to come back the next day.

Day 3. The side step is fixed properly but it chews atleast 2-3 inch of ground clearance, The color of rear spoiler is not matched properly, not a major difference though, Brought it to the notice at accessories shop but the lady there turns deaf and was trying to give me a message "we at Dhingra motors are trained only to sell but not to listen and care for customers"

The side step now scraps every other bumper which even my micra with GC of just 153 mm is able to clear. and each time i curse my fate why did i buy a TATA?
When I clearly said Ground clearance should not be compromised then why did they dare to do such a thing?
Isnt it the show rooms responsibility to delivery the vehicle at my place because they failed to deliver services at right time?

After series of emails, Dhingra motors take the Side steps back and refunded my money minus the service tax. Another email chain and full refund is made

9. The service experience: was not so bad . Got first 2 services done at Nawal motors, Mathura Service was prompt and on time. However they were not able to fix the problem of security system and mal aligned steering wheel. Third service done at Auo links Rama road, I am overall happy with their service

10. The Registration certificate(RC) It was handed over after 2 months of expiry of temp registration. and for these 2 months the car was parked in my garage. Does it really take that long?

11. The car had 3 niggles from day one to be repaired
1. Mal aligned steering
2. security system not working
3. Noise from dash board or probably engine.

Called up Dhingra motors workshop at 11 am,
Can i bring the car for running repairs?
No sir, come before 10 am and pre book ur service
Ok book a running repair for next day, but i cant come before 11 am.
Booking was confirmed

Next day i was at Dhingra motors workshop at 11.15 am, with these 3 issues. The receptionist called up the guy who was allotted my car but he is not picking up the phone. 30 mins later he is still not responding. 1 hour later still no response. I was standing like a fool at the reception waiting to be treated. Finally i met the service manager who requests some one else to take up the job. The rt side latch is replaced and wheel alignment done. it took close to 6 hrs to get it done though it was hardly a job of 2 hrs. But who cares for customers time? I paid for the wheel alignment thought the issue was there from day one. But what about the noise from dashboard/ engine (probably) Sir, please come some other day it cant be done today!!!
Why not i am an unemployed youth who has nothing else to do but keep visiting your workshop!!!
No one even cared to take a test ride to check what the noise is all about.
I never had time again to get the noise thing checked.

12. At 7000 km there were some warning light throwing up. I took the car to dhingra motors. The engine oil topped up, no one cared to find the cause for disappearing engine oil

13. At 9000 kms engine fails. My family is stranded on a highway on a chilling winter night. 3 hrs and 50 calls to tata on road support before they could come for rescue. The car was stranded just 15 mins drive from city limits. Car is finally towed to Siyaram motors Agra for repairs

14. 25 days and the car is delivered back with a new engine and turbo. Why 25 day? 2 days to diagnose, max 5-6 days for transportation of parts 2 days for reinstalling and testing total 10 days. What about the remaining 15 days.

15. The car delivered finally on day 25 with messed up interiors, ill fitted panels, broken wind screen, oil dribbling from rear, covers missing, scars over plastic parts. This is what i can see externally. Dont know what mess they might have created inside the not obviously visible parts. And all this happened despite everyone at Tata motors from top to bottom is following my case.
What a dare Tata motors!!!!

16. Volume control button fails in less than 5 months of use

17. Autolinks, Rama road is assigned the job to clear up the mess created by siyaram motors. On 9th feb 2012 my aria is picked up for the following repair work
a) Interior dry cleaning
b) replace A pillar and air bag cover
c) replace/ repair boot/ tool box cover
d) replace tow assembly cover
e) Clean the boot of dribbling oil
f) Repair volume control switch

The car returned to back in the evening with the following status
a) The interior dry cleaning quality is the worst i have ever seen
b) A pillar and air bag cover not available
c) boot cover not available
d) tow cover replaced
e) boot cleaned
f) vol control repaired


17. It took close to a month to arrange the parts and replace them

18. One issue or the other keeps coming every 15-20 days Though things are repaired without much harassment.

19. Had a word with Tata customer relation manager to end this ordeal of frequent issues. The car is picked up for bumper to bumper inspection by Tata motors engineers. 2 days of inspection and car is delivered back with a promise that now no new issues will come up atleast till next service.

20. 9 new issue come up within 10 days of inspection. Car is stranded by roadside on day 10. If Tatas Engineers cant ensure smooth running of car for next 10 days how can they expect the customer to believe that their products will last another 4-5 years

[TheARUN]

Extremely sad story, don't know what is happening to the TATAs

I have been a TATA user all along, had a SIERRRA for 5 years and now have a SAFARI for 4 years, one thing, I have not been very observant of issues, yes I can relate to the treatment that the service centers meted out to you, but maybe my personal nature, did not get angry/offended. I would have been livid if anything like what happened to you happened to me

The worst thing is getting stranded on 31st night, that is not acceptable after buying an ARIA, their flag ship model

Hope someone from TATA reads this post of yours and rescues the Company from sliding down further

[bravo82in]

Tata people visited my Aria yesterday but are unable to diagnose what went wrong with the car. Car is running fine now. Spoke to Tata motors Utility Vehicle sales manager North Region and this is what he has to say about yesterdays failure "We will wait till the issue comes up again ( means you are stranded by roadside again) send our technical team there and find out what is wrong" Total unacceptable. How can a person of such a stature make a statement like that.

[tj123]

Ridiculous.....Looks like you got some prototype, very bad for Tata's image ,it seems they are conducting field trials at customer cost. Failure of critical parts like Engine , turbo..these are the last things you want to fail in a new car.

Aria was launched as premium product at a premium cost, seeing these quality issues I wonder what QC they are doing ,no wonder Aria is selling in low number. Tata needs to support there customer well else in this competitive world they will be doomed soon.

[mayankjha1806]

This is sad, and this is what keeps people questioning Tata and the QC done by their team on the products sold. I am not so sure, but looking at the number of problems and the frequency with which they occur i would suggest ask for a replacement. This Aria surely looks like a lemon.

[KMT]

I was seriously considering the new Xenon crewcab as an estate workhorse. Now I think I will stay with Mahindra.

One wonders what Mr Ratan Tata did at the helm. He has overseen the launch of a series of lemons and failures.

Sell it cut your losses and stick with Japanese stuff, less glamourous but more practical.

[teamveevee]

Sorry to hear about these incidents. Looks like you are so frustrated, decided to start a new thread. Most of the details you mentioned here are already covered in detail in indian21r s thread. Only good thing is of the TBHPians who own Aria only Indian21r and you reported series of issues, others reported one off incidents.
One discrepancy noticed in chronology of events is, earlier you mentioned in one post

I own a Aria pride 6.5 k kms, thank god no issues yet.

But in this thread you said you had issues from day 1 with security system, Mal aligned steering etc. May be you forgot about these incidents?
Hope you will not have any issues in the future.

[arup.misra]

It is such a shame that a premium Tata customer has to go through such an ordeal. I've owned an Indica in the past and it had its share of niggles but never left me stranded. Can't understand if their flagship Indica being 1/3rd the cost of Aria is fairly reliable why can't their premium product be better?

I beleive there is another member on the forum who has had issues with his Aria as well. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ownership.html

Do check it out. It can provide you some helpful contact numbers.

[apachelongbow]

Lemon alert!!! I wonder why once in a while Tata produces a major lemon and then sells it to an unsuspecting customer. I mean engine failing at 7k kms is plain shocking!!!

All other problems like scratches, broken interiors etc etc seem to be the handiwork of Dhingra motors engineers, when they decided to replace the engine. This is adding fuel to the fire.

You must insist on either getting a full refund or a replacement vehicle, do not try and get this lemon repaired under any circumstances

[lurker]

Why did the registration get delayed for 2 months ? It seems that this car was a running test-vehicle/prototype of some sort which was subsequently duly passed down to the customer with a new engine, drivetrain, etc. 2 days of "Bumber to Bumber inspection" solved nothing and problems crop up within 10 days. HA HA kya tamasha bana rakha hain. Still I think Tata's can't be faulted for sincerity in trying to solve the problem, but maybe it's their competence at fault or as I strongly suspect there is something more rotten at work here like fobbing off a development prototype/TD/waterlogged vehicle to an unsuspecting customer.

[mac187]

It is really sad that a flagship model is treated like a Indicab. Tata's seriously need to pull up their socks here.

The only sliver lining is that they have acknowledged the problems, which after reading other stories itself is a big hurdle. There have been very few threads where the engine was replaced! But in no way you have to suffer more with this car. Its clear that this car is a lemon, I would suggest you to ask Tata to replace it with a new one. Then they can do all the R&D they want when it breakdowns while they are using it.

[latentpotential]

Originally Posted by bravo82in

...

Thanks Bravo, while I do sympathize with you, the Aria was the Car my father wanted me to buy. I expected there would be niggling issues, hence I worked hard to convince him otherwise, and we got another Car. I am sharing the link of your thread with him so that he can understand to what extent the QA processes/ after sales support for new gen vehicles from Tata has gone down.

[roy_libran]

Storme and Aria (after the recent price cut for the lowest end version) just went OUT OF THE WINDOW as a replacement candidate for my Logan for next year, after reading this thread. I was also looking for a spacious 6/7 seater fit for touring with family.
We all have read enough in the past over Tata's wretched product and service quality, but I thought that maybe the product part had become better over the years.
I'm not sure, it might have become a bit better for some of you, but thanks, I am in no mood to be a guinea pig.
What the hell, even my Gurkha hasn't had even a small percentage of these problems, even though I was expecting the worst, when I bought it, because of the legendarily infamous Force quality!

So, for me, I am now left with considering either the Nissan Evalia or the Force One as my next upgrade. I think I can live with another Force vehicle than live with a Tata! I think that IS saying SOMETHING!

And last but not the least, I empathize with the pain you must be going through after spending close to Couple of Million on something that isn't probably worth 1/5th that price, not to mention the agony, frustration and embarrassment. I see you are based out of Gurgaon, so why don't you come over to one of our GURGAON MEETS sometime?

[MAS]

Oh my God!!!

I am completely saddened by the ordeal one had to go through after investing in a vehicle that costs almost 2 Million bucks!!!

This is the second thread on Team-BHP about the atrocities faced by Aria owners. The first one is here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ownership.html

TATA, this is unpardonable . How can we trust your products, if your QC is so bad? Don't you have any control over your suppliers, your dealers? How can you even think of building up a strong brand image?

@bravo82in - I would suggest you to sell the car immediately and go for a more trusted brand, especially when you are going in for a luxury segment.

[mayankk]

That, sir, qualifies as a lemon.
Did you not have the option of putting your foot down post the engine replacement?
I mean, that is the WORST thing that can go wrong barring an accident.

Off note though, is there a faction within tata? lets mess up fiat(done), then our own selves. Next is what, JLR?