Thank you! I am glad someone finally said this. I am positive I’ll get a lot of flak for amplifying the thought and will probably antagonise many veterans here on the Forum for saying it, but I truly believe the targeting was diversified a bit too early.
I completely understand that Ather had many compulsions to grow on short notice - much needed economies of scale to break even, investor pressure, financially justifying upgrading to the massive Hosur facility and looming risk of competition rapidly establishing their footprint across the country - to list just a few.
But what this almost-overnight decision to go mainstream did was to cast an unnecessarily wide “marketing net” on people who were not really ready to join the EV bandwagon. In the initial days, the nature of conversation and feedback on the Forum made it clear that the owners were predominantly early adopters. And the early adopters always tend to be more understanding, accommodating, willing to wait for long durations for improvements, and know that the product reaching them is bound to have many issues and it will take time to iron out the creases. But by marketing the product to the general audience, Ather effectively projected itself as a well-polished replacement for petrol 2W that is ideal for anyone contemplating about buying their next bike or scooter; and thus brought onboard many buyers without the early adopter mindset who expected the scooter to work seamlessly right from Day 1.
Of course, I understand that no product can just stick to early adopters and will need to reach out to the majority sooner or later, but in the case of Ather, it was still perfecting the moving pieces and I feel was not ready to meet the expectations of those who believed they deserve a flawless product from a startup manufacturing something so offbeat and innovative just for having paid more than they would have paid otherwise, while not realising that EVs cost more because of hardware compulsions and not because it is some sort of a ‘premium’ for delivering perfection (REALLY don’t mean to offend anyone here!).
We are thus now stuck in a truly paradoxical situation where everything that the Ather Team does is either too aspirational, too early, or too little, too late. Of course, having seen Ather grow over the years, I am sure it will come out of this phase stronger, but until then, the team will need to brace itself for a rough few months meeting unrealistic demands and targets.
It is very annoying when they do not provide timely information on the order. If the sending is delayed, then in an amicable way you need to immediately inform the client, and not wait until he cuts off all the phones.
Operational inefficiencies that leave no money on the table for hiring competent people. One would expect a company to have figured this stuff out by now, but that clearly isn’t the case. If a fraction of the effort being spent in marketing was spent in technical and operational fixes and improvements, the product would sell itself.
The demands are unrealistic because they themselves promised the moon and are failing to deliver. Now it looks like a death spiral.
I finally got my delivery today although it has just temporary registration I’m still happy.Mr.faiz delivered as he said (he actually gave me an option to take the scooty now or after registration,so i took it, I’d rather see it parked in my parking). I just hope my registration gets done soon.
To be honest, it did hit us like a truck when lockdown lifted, we were prepared to an extent to deal with a higher than usual pace of deliveries (It’s not new to us The first mass delivery event-69 new flights took off today), but yeah the FAME announcement around the same time meant going back to square one for most people.
Anyway, now that the bottlenecks are getting resolved, I asked the team for a sneak peek of scooters lined up for delivery. And boy did they deliver…
Thank you for this @abhishek.balaji! The video truly is a treat for the eyes (and ears? ).
In future (and I know I am starting to sound like a broken record here talking of psychology of waiting again), let’s please have these sneak peeks coming in a few days before people begin to lose their patience
P.S.: For purely academic purposes, where are these scooters parked exactly and how effective is the security system there?
Hi Ather,
I am a freelancing accountant and daily i have to commute 40 to 50 kms to reach various clients. I had owned a mahindra mojo. Raising petrol prices was burning hole in mypocket so wanted to shift to electric. I had to sell my bike and make the full payment. I dont have the option of working from home. everyday i am struggling to commute in the buses with irregular timings.
One week back someone from ather came and took signature meant for RTO. Since then no updates. when i called to customer care today. they are telling there will be delivery delay due to implementation of fame2 subsidy rules.
Someone from Ather kindly help me.
Or please refund my money, i will buy some other electric scooter as pureev or ampere.
two days back, one of my friends bought ampere zeal ex from JP Nagar outlet, by paying 68K and got delivery in half an hour.
registration, fame 2 subsidy etc etc was taken care by the showroom guys.
Ather call center people telling delays due Fame 2 regulations is all bogus.
i think they got over ambitious and opened too many showrooms without streamlining or planning their production.
I think they have outsourced their sales ops. because they are doing tremondous job by convincing the prospective people like me.
My excitement of moving from petrol to electric turned into a nightmare due to Ather.
CRAZY!
How about another one where the team shows scooters for new cities and of those who get early deliveries?
Willing to attend Zoom meetings and WhatsApp calls for a change.
Beautifully put. They need to get their act together and open new locations/ showrooms, take bookings only when they can handle the demand and supply. What they have done is essentially shot themselves in the foot with their extensive and over zealous marketing effort without considering the repercussions.
The first step for them needs to be proper communication between their own internal teams and then critically, proper, timely communication and managing of expectations of the customer.
Its really sad that customers have to get so agitated and keep hurling their frustrations on Ather (abuses even, im sure in some cases) publicly on a forum such as this in order to get proper updates from them.
I hope they learn from this and keep improving their service and offering in the days to come.
P.S. On a separate note - I received a call late last evening from Ather saying my bike will be ready for delivery today at Noon. So fingers crossed all goes well.
Also, Thanks all for contributing to my post and hopefully all our scooters are delivered sooner rather than later so we can all put this unpleasantness behind us and get on with our respective lives and enjoy our new rides.
Look guys, I know it seems really tough to not recieve the vehicle on time. Hell, I was waiting for two months for it to come. It’s not a easy time for ather at this time, for anyone for that matter. I think the team is beautiful have us up-to-date on information. So everyone just need to patient and wait to hear out on the updates given by Abhishek and the team. Rather than ranting and throwing out frustration on a forum created for the first time by an automobile should be shown with appreciation. Quit behaving like children not recieving your vehicle, this time is not good for anyone including ones who vent out over here. Keep the positive vibe in here. The only thing I could say is that the team to the delivery on-site more gracefully than treating it as a swiggy order for the customers. Other than that, you guys are doing a great job!
People have paid six digit amounts to the company to be told to expect the scooter at a certain date, only for that date to be missed and no further communication issued from the company. Unless you’ve floated part or all of that money, where do you get off telling people to “be positive”?
Just adding another point to your accurate questions @blackworks
Who’s going to drive people around the city? Especially people who’ve sold their old vehicles and are impacted by the deliveries.
Again, if you chose to do it, it’s your prerogative. There are people who waited for a year also but none of them have said something along the lines you have because there are other genuine people who are impacted because of late deliveries. The main problem is promises. People making promises they can’t keep that’s what screws it up for most people. You have to understand that before you tell people to be ‘positive’
No one is saying its an easy time out there. When it’s not an easy time for a huge company. Why on earth do you expect its an easy time for the customer? This isn’t some govt. Dept. This is a private company that we hold to some standards.
@Cloudgraphy and @harshithbhat have explained very beautifully as to what they think is going wrong and it makes sense. Read that too please.
I agree with some of your comments and it seems some folks did jump the gun without really understanding how the lockdown in TN has had a wide ranging impact on delivering vehicles across the country- even cities that were not impacted or came out of lockdowns early.
However what I don’t agree about is the communication part. As a community manager, Abhishek has been posting updates here butnot every customer is on the forum. The Sales team should have been communicating updates at frequent intervals via calls or emails - this - from all the comments posted here seems to have been missed. Customers who have paid up fully deserve to know the status of their order without having to do multiple follow ups.
Look the comment I made isn’t implied for a derogrative manner. I’ve observed on the lines of people who have commented here seem very distressed either by the impactful decisions on selling their existing mode of transportation or not. With all that’s happening it seems a little harsh to vent out on forum. It’s is unfortunate that not all members who have recieved word on the delivery of the two wheeler didn’t meet two ends. Hope everyone gets their needs met
I have always considered the forum an interactive place with NO RESTRICTION on expressing opinions.
Whether its harsh, or something positive, as long its not trolling any member or abusive, every feedback is critical for a company to grow! And so has Ather from what it was a few years ago.
It isn’t . The forum is meant to be a vent when things aren’t going well. The folks who are left dangling after being relieved of their money have as much of a right to rail about it as you do to spread happiness. Calling the former act childish because it doesn’t line up with your PoV is not done.
Here is a quick update about my 450x. Will be getting it delivered today at 5PM. Team Ather finally kept their promise. In fact they are delivering the scooter one day before the promised date. Thank you
).
How about another one where the team shows scooters for new cities and of those who get early deliveries? 
Willing to attend Zoom meetings and WhatsApp calls for a change.
for the customers. Other than that, you guys are doing a great job!