What’s Wrong with Tata Motors? An Open Letter To the MD

[Raja]

It will be interesting to see the status of tata motors by early to mid 2015 when the new strategies will be implemented fully . And again what they bring on table in auto expo 2014 can also give us a glimpse of we're the company is headed .
2013 to mid 2014 Tata motors will hit bottom it seems .

 

[Gurrala74]

According to some sources, TATA is gearing up with some models which really surprise every body during the upcoming Auto expo, I eagerly waiting to see their stall at Auto expo 2014

 

[VISTA7155]

hi,
I was having tata vista safire aura abs model purchased sep 2010.
i used the car for only 14k kms.There is no complaint about the car.But when u Start visiting the service center u will be pissed off about their attitude.
I have many instances where i will think twice to get the TATA Cars.
1. Inspite of having AMC service center refuses to replace the parts.
As we send the Email to top management every body will start to call and start working on it,But in another service center no questions will be asked replace will be done automatically.

2.As the Storme got launched we thought of going to exchange the vista to Storme and Nano for city drive.as we asked to valuate our car for exchange the real shock was waiting for us 2010 sep model with excellent condition they are asking for 1.40 lakhs. This is ridiculous within 2.6 years if car value going to lose its 75% resale value then there is no meaning in investing hard earned money in TATA cars.Same car i sold for 3.35 lakhs in open market.
TATA lost the 1 Potential customer.

If parent company doesn't support their own product then who will give the confidence to the customers?
if we go to any other brand atleast they will not bad mouth thier own product.
just ask 1 question in TATA motor service center about the vehicle they will tell avoid the tata cars there is no quality & resale value.

This is the reason why TATA Motors are rocking the Bottom list.

 

[visran]

Six months jail term for Tata Motors MD Karl Slym

The Chandigarh consumer redressal commission has ordered a 6-month jail term for Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym.

The commission has also slapped a penalty against him. The action by the consumer commission reportedly is on the back of Tata Motor’s failure to comply with a notice to replace faulty parts of a newly-sold Tata Nano.

Six months jail term for Tata Motors MD Karl Slym - CNBC-TV18

With sales of Nano hitting 3 digits in April to this shocker of a news, Tata motor's are seeing their lowest point since their existence.

 

[Vishwas]

Six months jail term for Tata Motors MD Karl Slym

With sales of Nano hitting 3 digits in April to this shocker of a news, Tata motor's are seeing their lowest point since their existence.

That's a bad news!! i mean this is a shocker to Indian automotive world! There's something seriously wrong with TML, i would have chose the service center guy for not co-operating and why the MD of the whole TML?

 

[Raja]

That's a bad news!! i mean this is a shocker to Indian automotive world! There's something seriously wrong with TML, i would have chose the service center guy for not co-operating and why the MD of the whole TML?

In a way its great let the automotive world know now that you can't take the coustomer for a joy ride .
But ofcourse he won't go to the jail .

 

[Vishwas]

In a way its great let the automotive world know now that you can't take the coustomer for a joy ride .

And that too an Indian customer

But ofcourse he won't go to the jail.

That's what i meant to say, it should be the service center guy to go to jail who's often got attitude issues.

Tata should learn from Maruti people to treat their customers well, the Manager at my service station is so awesome that he perfectly tells us what to get serviced and what not to, in fact he cleaned the fabric seats in my car for free where i complained about it despite me telling to clean the whole interiors which would otherwise cost me 800 bucks! I'm not lying here, but the service is expensive which proves worth a penny.

 

[Tornado]

Oh! Karl , finally wheather you go to the jail or not , it is lesson well tought , now it is up to you to learn it well.
If you happen to be inside the jail , please go through this thread.

BTW , if you do not go to the jail , please ask the TASS call center girls to find out wheather the concerned mechanic is preoccupied with some other car's major work at the time when she is asking to bring the car for repair work to the TASS.Many times the car is given for repair work in the morning and in the evening at 5 pm customer comes to

know that car is not yet touched by the mechanic and it will take 2 more days to begin the work as thedue to too much work load.

 

[sukanta]

In a way its great let the automotive world know now that you can't take the coustomer for a joy ride .
But ofcourse he won't go to the jail .

The decision of jail term is because he(or his legal team) has dishonored a court notice, nothing to do with the case history
BTW the MD of the service center is also given the same term.. I also feel this is great way of showing that Indian customer can't be taking granted anymore. But like western court it would have been more practical if they heavily punish monetarily instead of jail term.. (which will be challenged in higher court and will drag on year after uear)

 

[Tornado]

The balloon of the glamour which Mr. karl had received due to his tenure in the GM is burst now.It might be due to his association with lazy people in TATAS. I hope Cyrus and Ratan would take this seriously.Because root cause of this jail term is annoyance to the customer.And TATAS need to realize that custemers for storme, aria, and upcoming launches are going to come from their existing entry level cars.

I think this (jail sentence) is a major jolt for the purpose of this thread too.

IIRC ,on one of the Storme thread I had written that TATAS and TASS are separate people and TATAS give written intimation on the car booking receipt that they are not responsible of TASS/Dealer's promises.But the court of the law doesn't seem to be agreeing with them.

 

[jayadev]

I wish whole TML car division should be banned in India.
They make such low reputation niggling cars and play around with consumer sentiments.
I had to sell my Indica vista for same reason.
My grievances:-

1. Unrepairable Air condition since purchase
2.recurring clutch Issue.
3.manhandling in service centre i.e car returned with scratches and dents.
4.falling panels and components due to poor fitments.
I Had to sell it off within one year of useage needless to say damage on pocket was whopping 1.7 lakh and lot of emotional stress.

 

[Vishwas]

I wish whole TML car division should be banned in India.
They make such low reputation niggling cars and play around with consumer sentiments.
I had to sell my Indica vista for same reason.
My grievances:-

1. Unrepairable Air condition since purchase
2.recurring clutch Issue.
3.manhandling in service centre i.e car returned with scratches and dents.
4.falling panels and components due to poor fitments.
I Had to sell it off within one year of useage needless to say damage on pocket was whopping 1.7 lakh and lot of emotional stress.

They'd better stop their production, come to an agreement, plan things keeping the current set of problems in mind and frame strict policies to eradicate these problems.

Welcome back, been ages since i saw your presence in TAI

 

[visran]

Tata Motors to pay Rs. 2.5 lakh for selling defective car

Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co Ltd (TELCO) the erstwhile avatar of Tata Motors has been directed by the apex consumer commission to pay Rs. 2.5 lakh to a customer as compensation for selling him a defective car.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) passed the order while upholding the decision of the Delhi State Consumer Commission which had directed TELCO to pay the compensation.

The NCDRC in its order noted that the car was taken for repairs 36 times between May 1999 to November 2000 and almost "every part of the vehicle had some problem or the other", the most serious of which pertained to the engine.

The commission also observed that as the appellants -- TELCO and its service centre -- had replaced the engine after the warranty period was over, the same indicated that whatever defects it had were inherent in its manufacturing and could not be rectified through repairs.

"We note that admittedly during the period of warranty the vehicle had to be taken to the workshop on 36 occasions from May 1999 to November 2000... Almost every part of the vehicle had some problem or the other. The most serious complaint pertained to the engine.

"The very fact that appellants replaced the entire engine indicates that whatever defects it had were inherent in its manufacturing which could not be removed," the bench presided by Justice Ashok Bhan said.

The bench also observed that "inconvenience" was caused to the complainant, Delhi resident Subhash Ahuja and said that the compensation of Rs. 2,50,000 awarded by state commission was reasonable and justified in the present case.

In its appeal against the state commission's order, TELCO had said that it had replaced the engine, after the warranty period was over, as a gesture of goodwill.

This contention was rejected by the NCDRC which said, "No car manufacturer would change an engine if it could be rectified through repairs."

In his complaint before the state commission, Ahuja had alleged that the Tata Indica car he purchased in May 1999 for Rs. 4,00,000 was defective as within a couple of days of its purchase it started having problems.

He also alleged that within a year-and-a-half of buying the car, he had to take it for repairs 36 times, during which several parts, including the engine, were replaced.

Tata Motors to pay Rs 2.5 lakh for selling defective car - NDTVProfit.com

 

[msjawahar]

things like this will make the ppl to stay away despite being a gud product. they need to change from ground zero. only then ppl wil hav som faith.

 

[Raja]

What tata motors is facing in India was the same problem faced by many American car making companies like ford , jeep , gm and Chrysler . In mid 80- till mid 90s the quality of American cars detoriated very badly . Cars had poor fit and finish and were highly unreliable , uninspiring designs , sloppy service and high cost of maintaining the cars .
It took consistent effort from companies to wash the image of being unreliable .
Still the perception remains ask most of the Americans and they will say ford and jeeps are junks .
Tata motors is at a crossroads now , they have uninspiring product portfolio no new launches past 2-3 years apart from the storme ( which again though based on a new platform , much more refined but for general public carries the same desgin language hence no new car image ) .extremely bad image of being unreliable .
India is basically a country with a big young population which hardly find association concerning style with tata products .
Many companies come at this junction were they further detoriate into isolation and finally get washed out or they rise like a phoneix bird and beat all odds .

Tata has all the capacities and talent . now what is left to observe is will they become a history or create history in automotive world in India as the best comeback . Lets hope being a Indian company the later becomes true . And even though it happens its going to be a slow and painful process .

Disclaimer - above opinions are my personal opinions and in no way they are posted to hurt fans or owners of tata cars or to make staunch tata haters happy .