Tata Motors & Prerna Motors New Car Buying Experience

Hi All,

I write to you to share my new car buying experience with TATA Motors and to ensure that no one else goes through the ordeal i went to in buying a new Indica Vista Quadrajet LS car. The experience has been horrifying, and it was sad to see the fraudulent and malpractices that Prerna Motors can resort to while selling a new car to the Customer.

In the past 10 days I have had 3 bad experiences with Prerna motors and currently i do not have any faith or trust left in them or TATA Motors with the kind of experience i have had.

First Experience : -

I took a test drive of Vista Quadrajet on 3^rd March 2012 and post that wanted to see the actual model of the car and then book the same. I was informed that Prerna Motors in their Lalbagh showroom has the same model for delivery and I can go and see the same. I called Prashant from Prerna motors and post confirmation I left my house to see the vehicle. Post reaching there and waiting for 15 minutes for Prashant to turn up once he took us to see the car he was surprised and was searching for the same in the showroom. This continued for 10 minutes. Post that he comes up and says that they do not have the car as it has been delivered 15 minutes back and he was not aware of the same. This really made me furious as you don’t ask a customer to drive down all the way from HSR Layout to Lalbagh in the middle of the afternoon and then say that the car is not there sorry. It is like raising orphan children where you don’t know who the parents are and from where they have come. After having a heated discussion I walked off as we wasted 3 hours of me and my family on a Saturday afternoon just because of callousness and laxity of the staff of Prerna Motors Lalbagh.

Post this I told the sales representative Mr Ravi from Prerna Motors, to call me only when he gets the car in the yard and I will book it post seeing the actual model which I plan to buy. As I was buying the LS version and it was not on display anywhere.

Second Experience : -

Ravi the sales representative came to my house on 9^th March and I traveled 65 km with him to Neelmangla to check out the model I wanted in the yard. On reaching the yard I met Mr Prabhakar the yard manager.

We went to inspect the car and I found that the rear bumper was scratched badly on the right had rear side and paint had come off. I highlighted and showed the same to Mr Ravi & Prabhakar who told me that sir do not worry I will personally do the PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection for your car and would replace the bumper ) he also told me he runs the entire place and he is the yard manager and he handles over 600 cars which are there. He inspired great confidence in me. I told him to change the bumper and put a new one and ensure that the car is in tip top shape as I will do through inspection of the vehicle post delivery. He said he would not give me any reason to complaint. I told him to ensure that everything was fine as i would do a thorough check of the car during delivery and would not accept if i find it not up to the mark.

Post that I gave cheques on 9^th March and booked the car. After that couple of times between 12^th & 13^th March I reconfirmed with Ravi if PDI has done and the bumper has been changed to which I was assured Prabhakar has done the job and they would not give me any reason for complaint.

Third Experience : -

On morning of 14^th March I set out with Ravi who was kind enough to take us to Lallbagh from Sarjapur road to take delivery of the car. After doing most of the paperwork when I went down to check the car out I got the shock of my life. I will document in bullets the condition of the new car that was being sold to me : -

· Bumper was repainted on the right side with a patch. The painter had done such an excellent job that there were paint marks even on the rear right wheel covers.

· The right side read door panel had a chip in the inside plastic and it was broken.

· Left side door panel had a dent with the paint chipped off.

· Right side driver door had marks and stains near the driver side from outside.

· Interiors door panels were dirty with black marks and were stained.

As soon as I raised the concerns there were people cleaning the car , trying to polish and getting rid of the marks. But nothing changed and when I asked the delivery person in charge he was clueless to what was happening.

This happened for some 40 to 50 minutes and post which I said I want to talk to the head of Prerna Motors in the showroom. Then Mr Sai Kumar came down and he started justifying that while getting the car from the yard stone can hit and dent can come. Along with other excuses which were false and baseless. I told him I don’t want this car and I returned the papers and documents.

He asked me to come up to his office as they would like to talk. I went up to his office and sat down there with my family what happened next was disgusting and shocking . He called the sales representative in and a blame game started in front of me. Mr. Sai Kumar instead of taking ownership and accountability of the issue started to pass around the buck to other people. My family felt as if we were watching a matinee show. The conversation went on and on and reached to a point where he was asking the sales rep to put the papers down and go. Even though it was not his fault as it’s not his job to check the car.

I told Mr Sai Kumar that Prabhakar is the one who should be fired as he knew it very clearly how specific I was with respect to the condition of the car.
But Mr Sai Kumar was not interested much in talking about the same and was trying to play this down by putting the blame on the sales rep. After I clearly told him that the sales rep Ravi was not at fault. He told me sir Prabhakar had a meeting so he was not able to inspect the car and he delegated the job to someone else.

I felt how convenient it is for him to say this, after knowing and clearly specifying what needs to be done. They repainted the bumper and tried to sell of the car to me. If I was not aware of where to look and see probably they would have sold off the lemon to me and later on I would have had a tough time.

After spending more than an hour and listening to this drama I told Mr Sai I want a letter in writing from Prerna Motors that all my payment is done and even if the price of the cars go up post budget I would get the vehicle at the same price as I am not at fault here and I would not pay a penny extra. He agreed and said I would get the letter from Sarjapur Prerna motors branch so I left with Ravi for the same.

Post this I met Mr R. Sridhar the Divisional Sales Manager of Prerna Motors and he requested to give them another chance and he would change and replace whatever that is faulty. Along with this he also offered me 20k worth of accessories. If I agree to take the same car , I told him its already been 6 hours that I have been at this. Adding another 6 hours for the Yard and another 3 for the first visit to Lallbagh. So after spending 15 man hours and time I am frustrated and want to go home as I was getting late for work and it was already 3 in the afternoon. He said he would drop me an email and I could reply back whatever I want on the same and they would take care.

I left for home went to office post which when i got the email from Prerna motors i was shocked the accessories offered were not even close to 14k. I wrote back the next day to them with what i wanted and as they wanted everything in email. I narrated my whole experience in the email trail below. The response i got was a No on the phone and to wait for a new car for 10 more days this is when i had paid cash down for a new vehicle.

Post this i called many people in Tata Motors and also dropped an email to Girish Prasad who is the head of the customer division but in the end i got only Mr Prasad calling me and running through the whole story again. Post which i was frustrated and upset as Tata Motors is not bothered about the quality of work they are doing,but are more interested in keeping such things under the rug. They are not ready to take ownership and accountability of the situation the response i got is i am sorry we have given feedback to dealer and new car will come on 26th March with the same accessories i was getting before but no answer to my below questions : -

1. What does the statement new car means to TATA ?
2. What is the quality control TATA has on the vehicles they sell ?
3. Swindling customers by selling them cars with repainted bumpers and broken parts is this the standard of your company
4. In spite of pointing the issues out still your dealers go ahead and try to take advantage of a customer.
5. What action is the company taking against Prabhakar who is the stock yard in charge ?
6 Is this a way of handling customers and this is Tata's reliable customer service ?
7. I paid my hard earned money to buy a TATA Car not to watch a matinee show which me and my family went through on 14th March at Prerna motors Lalbagh office with Sai Kumar. Is this the way Tata handles and manages goof ups and issues.

I write to you expecting some action on the same and to make others aware of these fraudulent practices. As no one should have a similar experience after paying hard earned money cash down for a vehicle. Please publish this and make others aware of the service and quality that Tata Motors claims and provides to a loyal customer who just sold his 9 1/2 years old Indica V2.

I am providing you the list of people i have spoken to with contact details .

1. Mr R. Sridhar Divisional Manager Sales -Sarjapur Prerna Motors - 09686699997

2. Mr Ravi Sales Rep Sarjapur Prerna Motors : -0984518921

3. Mr Sai Kumar - In charge of Delivery Lalbagh Prerna Motors - 09845488233

From Tata Motors

Other people involved are Mr Prasad (prasad.bhujbal@tatamotors.com) & (girish.deshpande@tatamotors.com)

Mr Girish Desphande supposedly the head of customer support division of Tata Motors in India.

If required i can provide you the vehicle chassis no, engine no and other details.

I am posting this here to ensure that others do not go through the same horrifying experience that i went through.