My Dream Safari 2021 & How Tata Betrayed me

 

Before i start .. i will like to admit that I was never a Tata fan and neither anyone in my friends//family.

 

But Tata Harrier first Look caught my attention and made me fall in love.( Love is Blind , it certainly is true as i never thought pros and cons)

I wanted a 6/7 seater

When 7 seater version of harrier  was launched in Auto Expo as Gravitas, i had decided that i am going to purchase it and convinced all in my family that let me  have Indian Brand car and no more French//American/German/Japanese Brands.

Point i had on my side was that this  was built on Omega Platform of Land Rover , which is best in SUV drive quality.

I convinced my family.. more importantly, they trusted me and were happy with whatever made me happy.

 I went to finalize my Safari at Dada Motors Ludhiana on March 16,2021.

Selected My White Safari in White color.. My kids were super excited .. I chose ZXA+ Orcus white and vehicle was available ( as i had been chasing with them for it for some time).I inspected vehicle with my family. All Paint, electrical working etc and vehicle was under 20 KM run on odometer. I took Picture of Serial number of vehicle as  they confirmed that this is booked for me and delivery will be next day morning , as it was already late evening and process was to take longer.

I was called at 10 in morning next day and was told that process will be completed in 3 hours.

Next day , i reached with my family at 10 in morning.. But they kept delaying things with sometimes wrong address on Insurance and getting it cancelled or on pretext of lunch or car getting ready.

All this stretched till  3:30 afternoon and finally Safari was shown up ready at door for delivery , i decided to do some accessories shopping like mats.. so as i sat in car and turned ignition ON.. Meter read 62KM.. I was shocked. i checked back with sales guy and he said, that i might be confused and this was same vehicle and Tata vehicles come after company drives with such on odometer.

I was not ready to buy argument and went straight to sticker on front mirror, which has Serial number. I got my phone out and compared with one that was to be delivered to me... This one was different .. When i showed him picture(i still have that serial number picture with me) , he said he needs to check with accounts.. Again they went back , as my little kids were now very uneasy , i went to accounts dept and they all told me sorry , that vehicle shown to me is already sold to someone else and it is mistake.. But i should take this delivery.

Somehow, in over excitement and also fear that family would again question my choice to go with Tata, i decided to take that vehicle. I was not handed over second key, as i was told it was with dealership.. In-fact till date i never was handed over second key .

Anyhow.. i took delivery, I just drove 600 meters past  showroom and on MID i got to see first error, which had something like "Take to garage or take to service center".. i immediately turned back but error was gone, by the time i reached dealership.

They instead of checking with scanner , told me , that it is nothing to worry and i should drive vehicle and call up in case of any issue.

Next days, Covid spread started fast.. so, did not travel much.I had short travels of 10-20kms each  for Grocery etc.

sometime in middle of April as i went for grocery shopping in my safari ...Car while driving , virtually turned into a truck with steering gone heavy and beep sound... entire steering shaking//vibrating..

Got my car on edge of road , turned off ignition .. turned in back on with same result.. I called local dealer number.. no one took call.. i turned car back to ON and it was back to normal...

But i reported it to service center  and they told me that if i face same problem again , i should get vehicle to service center.

Then we had lockdown.. ( Car driven in those 30 days .. total 240 km by me .. 62 km already before purchase)

Next sometime in April , on my next drive again to my family house.. it was late evening and i heard  a beep and message on MID which read some Failure and Engine Light ON and few more warning lights in RED.. and car came to sudden halt.

It was Late evening and service center did not take call ( also it was already lockdown announced, so they were not functioning) . I asked my wife to check Insurance papers, so we could get a Towing service//Road assistance.. but i had done a blunder that my documents were left back at home..

Called my brother to come up and take my wife back home and get papers.. In mean time was trying to turn vehicle back to ON and all of sudden life came back and it turned ON.. Thankfully we reached home.

By this time, My decision to go with TATA was already backfiring and within my heart , even i was regretting..  ( This is my 4th car .. first Indian brand and first to give me issues)

Next morning i managed to get hold of Service Center , but they informed me that they are only open 8 Morning to 12 afternoon as per govt orders . Also, that they are working in skeleton Crew , so i should take a booking of next Friday.

On coming Friday, rules had relaxed from 6 Morning to 12 afternoon., so i got my booking changed to 6 in morning.

 

On Friday i went to service center at sharp 6 in  Morning.

I was first one to reach service center. ( Dealers Car entry receipt  will confirm same time entry, 6 AM).. I normally never wake up so early , but had to..

They inspected vehicle and got scanner connected.. They did car flushing and did some sensor corrections.. and i was told that vehicle has some issues but nothing serious that i am free to drive it home but not on long drive and that i will get a call on Coming Monday ( as they said they needed to schedule  a call with Mumbai Team , who would work on car remotely, saturday sunday we had weekend curfew ) . Monday arrived.. No call.. Tuesday.. Wednesday.. no call.

 

I lodged complaint with Tata and sent them email. mentioning all details and that no one has called me , though i was promised ...same day evening, I  got a call and they asked me to come next day with vehicle and that was when things started..

One fault found they rectified .. 100 km driven , another issue of car not hitting even 100 km speed a.. next visits they said some wire was missing current.. So, they changed some connectors.. Another issue popped up that car going at 80 km .. suddenly dropped speed to 40 km ..

next visit scheduled  ..  they changed complete wire set , kept vehicle with them for 3 days and again test drive of 83 km done by service center.

Car handed back to me.. next few days , another issue in addition to this issue .. both  MID and info system rebooting while driving.. This time they re-flashed software.. But nothing improved and they told me that they are changing board of info system and MID cluster , with one from other vendor as this one has issues.. Visit of Vendor of Infosystem scheduled...

again changes done .. again test drives by them.

Even brake lights were made direct .. so they were always ON...

Every time car went to service center it stayed with them for a day and they used to do 100 KM test drive after changing one thing or another.

Even it reached a point , when they told me that they are 100 percent sure vehicle is fixed and told me it was minor earthing issue only.. we went for test drive and car stopped in middle of road .. it was towed back by them to service center and i had to take OLA back home.

Next day they got car delivered at my home .. But same evening had to call them up with all warning lights ON..

They came up next days. Picked up car from my place .. when 2 days passed and they kept telling me that it will be delivered but was not being delivered..  ultimately i gave up

 

I decided to go public and arranged press conference outside  dealership itself .( car was already again with dealership for 4 days) . I had informed police and had pre informed Tata Regional Sales a day before .. Tata sales In charge Deepak arrived on my call as i gave them this last option to solve issue..

I had personally talked to his head Mr Himanshu , that i give them last chance before going public and he told me that i should talk to Tata sales person before press conference and Deepak would reach in morning.

It was decided that vehicle would be replaced with new one .. i agreed.. Written agreement was reached in front of Tata regional sales head Mr Deepak.

Mr  Deepak  assured me that he will get new vehicle in 7-10 days...

All confirmed in writing.( but i was stupid , i did not take that date part in writing and they only mentioned car will be replaced with same model and color and order for same is placed)

They took assurance from me that all issue i faced will never be disclosed in public and press conference be called off.  I agreed .

Car till that point of time was under 1500 km driven .. out of which 60 percent drive was of service center for test drives, after each hit and trial).

That was last time i met and heard from Mr Deepak.. Ever since he never took my call..

Before i move to next steps.. IF we blame dealership for wrong car delivered.. we need to understand that TATA itself also had failed to get to core of issue.. when every time it was Mumbai team involved on video call.. They could never understand which part is actually faulty... Excuse.. they had was that  some parts have multiple vendors and if a vendor is found faulty , we recall those affected vehicles and make changes to that part from other batch number//vendor... But till end they could never find which part was faulty.. it was all Hit and trial and dismantled Car many times. So, if any safari that faces same issue , say 3 years down the line.. will they follow same hot and trial? will they keep changing every part and owner keep paying? Is this R&D they boost off?

 

Now coming back to story..

Then followed process of how to transfer loan as it was just three months old. They told me new car would need all documents again and fresh loan.. It was decided that dealership would play role in getting loan part sorted and any losses in process will be bearded by dealership //Tata.

They instead of getting my  loan closed straight with pre closing charges, took long road of getting  loan Cancelled. In mean time prepared all content for cancellation and directly dealt with Bank.I was asked to sit at home and they got all those documents ready and signed from me from my house itself.

Months passed , as i got uneasy , they all of sudden changed tune and told me that Bank is releasing me part payment and rest amount i paid to dealership is being paid to me and cheque should be collected.

I asked them , why do i collect cheque? when i need new car or if they are failing to give me car.. Tata should get me car from other dealership.

I got back in touch with Tata sales heads .. but by this time , all had went silent.

I smelled things are fishy...as they said they vehicle will take another 2 months and i will need to make them payment again and accept cheque..

Payment again meant , fresh booking .. New current Rates , as vehicle pricing has increased by as much as 50k .. plus My latest EMIs deducted and bank not ready to adjust them.. .. This means a loss of close to 2 lac for me. forget about indirect losses.

As i tried to dig deep.. i got to know that Tata had  internal meetings about it and north head who had  earlier agreed to get old car back and issue new one.. permission was denied to him , since at highest level in company it was decided that a recall of safari by company would be major issue for brand..

Even when i did not inform about this to anyone.. Service center staff of Dada Motors was already sharing it with others who had similar issues , that Safari might recall many cars of that batch.

So, for Tata this could have been a Pit for Safari.

Official recall was cancelled internally and all Senior sales heads have  been told to stay silent and get dealer on  front  foot.

It was decided that dealership be made to talk and sort it out without Tata intervening.

I last went to Dealership a week ago ....i was told to get cheque of amount i paid to them and sign papers.. .i refused and shouted back.. and when i raised my voice.. i was surrounded by 13 staff members .. One of them clearly told me to shut up and had stick in his hand. When i asked him .. who the hell is he .. Answer Was Retired Inspector.. Later got to know that , all staff members with this dealership are retired inspectors and dealer has this history of suppressing voice .. Dealership is only Tata dealership in Ludhiana.. He is a political person.. basically a goon.. Highest tax payer of Punjab.. He also has only agency of Kia and Mahindra..

Now Tata has indirectly chosen goon way.

Informed about about threatening  to Tata moment i got out of dealership with No action..

They are still all hiding.. money i paid to dealership is struck.. No clue of my replacement vehicle...

 

Finally decided to follow social media route , as now i have had enough and can not fight alone.. Tata betrayed me ..

I can No more keep defending my decision to go for Tata ( when actually i had realized my mistake within days of purchase).

I know any brand car can have issue, but no brand will act that way, way TATA did..  Tata running away simply for a vehicle recall will spoil for fear of  reputation.. Without caring what clients are going  through..

How can Tata sales head choose to stay silent .. if they had issue of this vehicle  recall  officially.. They should have talked to me , how to do it... Instead its been weeks and its one way traffic ..

I daily send #GetWellSoon message and email to Himanshu and other Sales staff , But they never reply.

They really need good wishes. I would want all people who sympathies with me to make hash Tag  #GetWellSoonTata and also wish #GetWellSoon to Mr Himahsu and Deepak.

 

Covid period for me was double stress.. Business stress.. family stress and SAFARI stress..

I have no idea what they did with my returned vehicle.. all i know is i am sitting with piece of  paper that says i will be issued new one.. My money i paid to dealership is with them.

Mental agony, harassment, money loss i faced ..never calculated..

Stress my family went through unimaginable. 

No more .. 'Made in India' Brand.. will be happy to be called anti nationalist and choose foreign brand , instead of going through all this mess. I am sorry to my family for my decision.