Tata - Why is the most loved comany soo Bad

Yes .. you read it right.. Below i'll be listing why is Tata such a plain old Bad Company,,

Well this is a blog i had written 2 months back and publishing just today because of the final nail in the coffin has been hammered..

Most would disagree with me..99% would.. but just hear me out..

Tata is every where.. right from Salt to Steel , From Telecom to Technology , From FMCG products to Automobiles( now Jag n Land Rover included) ..from Supermarket to Hotels..

Tata has 114 companies.. and is a $ 77 Billion Co. (Jan 2010)

I have tasted and tried most of its product if we speak in terms of categories.. so we all have had Tata salt n tea.. My Family has owned a Tata Car( one day Jag will also come..i wish)

I have personally experienced dealing with Tata Steel.. had a connection of Tata Indicom n now Using Tata Sky.. I've eaten n partied at many of the Taj's across India

Now lets see why i'm an unsatisfied Customer..

well to put it in one line .. Service of Tata is that of an Indian PSU...

if u want to experience it.. go to Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi.. It has that old rusty feeling to it..

even worse is Taj Ambassador.. but it happens to have one of my fav cafe "Yellow Bricks"

Ok.. here we go..

My first Brush with Tata was when we bought Tata Indigo.. It was a very competitively priced car.. but came with the worst engineering ever.. after almost 8 months of taking it back n forth from the service staition we sold it to a poor fellow..i Really pity that guy..

Then came Tata Steel.. when during my little stint at at my dad's business i got to oversee the procurement of raw material.. Let me put it straight Tata Steel is of the best quality..

then why do i grumble.. Well It's the market leader in India and it practically dictates Prices.. and the Small Manufacturers using steel as raw material get bullied big time.. Tata Steel has it's own Iron Ore reserves.. which is the basic raw material for manufacturing Steel..

so logically Tata Steel's products must be available cheaply.. but the fact is they are always priced higher than SAIL(a govt, owned co.) and Tata Steel does jack up the prices at it's own whims and fancy...which is really bad not only for the manufacturing industry but also to other industries which use steel products...n finally to us consumers..

Then came my experience with Tata Indicom.. a decent product .. which i primarily used for Internet connection ... but soon replaced it once broadband was available from it's competitors at half the price and double the speed..

Most recently I'm using Tata Sky .. again i must say it is the best product available in the market..i have to an extent tried all others..Airtel, Big tv , Dish..

The fact is that Tata Sky is actually most user friendly and the designing is very Tasteful..

But again..i guess mine n Tata's stars don't align..

The Tata Sky that i have back home(i hav one in Delhi too) is used usually when I'm there on Saturdays..

my parents still like that cable thingy..

anyway.. My mom got it recharged for the whole year ..when seeing that it was usually out of subscription whenver I'm back home.. i watch only two things on Saturdays.. Football n Joey..

Both come on channels which have to paid extra for.. the charges for the channels are around 65 Rs extra every month..

now the problem is .. the minimum denomination of recharge is only Rs 200 which lasts for a month.. that means i end up paying Rs.135 extra.. over n above the Rs. @250 that my mom had paid in taking the yearly subscription..

so my total one month expense is Rs. 450 .. surely not cheap by any standards..

n as i found out there's no way out.. i couldn't even find the no. to call the customer care..as the page which says the contact no. is a blank blue screen.. i got the no. over the net.. n tried to reason with the patient sleepy guy across the phone.. but sorry is all that i got...

The thing is I have come to believe that Tata is the least customer friendly co.

They are very slow in making progress.. Tata does have the best quality products ..

but because the name Tata is synonymous to being "Good" or "Best" or even "Humane" as far as India is concerned we tend to overlook what "Bad" stuff or rather "Stupidity" the company is doing..

We never associate "Innovation" with Tata..

we never associate "Being Young" or "Youthfulness" with the Brand "Tata"

I'm a great admirer of what good Tata as a industrial house has done for India both economically and socially..

That is why I'm concerned.. this is the reason i care to worry about what the future holds for Tata..

No doubt it will be a huge co. for generations to come.. but i suspect that the share of it's Consumer Products would we very less..

Tata Steel will continue... but will Tata Motor's or a Tata Indicomm survive.. that's in question..

n these are the verticals where they have invested heavily for the future..

Just because Tata has bought VSNL(a gov't co.) doesn't mean it can't revamp the customer service.. I'm using a Tata Broadband right now to write this blog.. yes it's expensive than what i could get..but I'm using it because there is no other option in my locality..

The Internet speed is amazing.. but service damn poor.. I had to spend three days to enable 3 computers use the connection simultaneoulsy...

I have to go out 4 miles n spend atleast 1.5 hrs(to n fro) to make the journey to pay the bill..

as they apparently don't collect cash from home n my room-mate on whose name the connection is cannot pay via cheque nor do we have a credit card..n Tata won't accept Debit Card..

Ya that's the reality of Indian consumers.. who still buy online tickets thorough travel agent's because we don't have credit cards..

So companies have to move on the same highway that we consumers do n make it better for us rather than building road-blocks..

Tell me will u rather buy a Tata connection for your mobile phone.. well to majority this option doesn't even cross their mind... how many use it's co-promoted Virgin.. n how many will use Docomo ..time will tell..

I have a thing for Hotels... I have stayed in a Taj .. in Delhi and Bombay...

I always dread to enter a Taj in Delhi.. the Bombay one is tooo good..an Icon in itself ...

Please Tata Wake up.. an Icon is what Brand Tata is today..for me ..for n no. of Indian consumers... but when i go to shop... I say "TATA" (pun intended) to you..

n I'm afraid many would start to do the same...