New Skoda Superb 2009 Breakdown. EDIT : Car being replaced by Skoda

[Ravveendrra]

Hi Diffsoft, I know about your case and totally agree with you on your case.

Your case was a case of intentional passing off, forgery etc. where the the dealer knew what he was doing. There was a clear intention to cheat you.

The case of the two superbs does not seem to be intentional but seems to be a defect from the factory or of the dealer messing the car up (unintentionally I hope) when getting it ready for delivery. A lot of the features have to be activated by the dealer just before delivery, a mess up at this stage could also result in failure. We can only discuss the cases we come to know about, likewise the manufacturer can rectify or replace defective cars only when it is brought to their notice unless it is an inherent design fault necessitating a recall of every car.

The Fabia was and is a dud with nothing going for it except perhaps decent handling & ride.

You are absolutely right when you say that better customer care is in the interests of both the consumer and the manufacturer. Like GTO pointed out, Skoda seems to be making efforts in that area - first they provided a taxi for use by the 'victim', then they replaced the car. Perhaps small steps but steps in the right direction. Maybe we can hope that Skoda will now definitively move away from the abyss exemplified by cases such as yours.

Cheers,

[ACM]

Originally Posted by diffsoft

Ravveendrra:

If for every error, mistake, misdemeanour, crime the victim opts for settlement because it involves running around and the cost is not worth it, what's to stop the perpetrator from continuing to find new victims?

One of the possible reasons complaints against Skoda continue to grow is that possibly out of the many wrongful acts committed by them / dealer only one or two speak-up and they too opt for settlement.

Cheers,

Diffsoft, I actually agree with Ravveendrra's approach, the car buyer in most case does not have the time to fight a legal case, the car buyer in this case lost out on about Rs. 2L, but it still was a step in the right direction by SKODA - as mentioned by GTO and jig.

This was close to the best that the customer could expect and it is very much possible that in many cases most companies would not do even this much.

I would appreciate the gesture and take it as a positive. Do agree with you that this is not the ideal case, but it is the practical way out.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by ACM

it is very much possible that in many cases most companies would not do even this much.

Most would definitely not. As one of Skoda India's strongest critics, I have to state that the issue has been resolved very satisfactorily. Skoda did take a positive step and offered a solution that, to be honest, none of us really expected to come by so soon.

At the end of the day, the car had a gearbox + aircon issue. These could have been solved under warranty and the car returned to the customer. Even consumer courts would have agreed that no replacement is required, as long as the car functioned properly post-repairs. Lets not also forget that Skoda did offer this gentleman a taxi for the time that his car was under repair.

Whether this was due to recent pressures on Skoda's reputation or not, I don't know. What I do is that if this marks a change in the company's policies, its only to the end customers benefit. Too early in the day to pass judgment, and their history is too dark for this one incident to overwrite, but again, its a step in the right direction.

Tread cautiously and take the best care of your customers, Skoda. We, for one, will be watching damn close.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by GTO

Too early in the day to pass judgment, and their history is too dark for this one incident to overwrite, but again, its a step in the right direction.

There has been more than one incident,GTO. This is the second superb to be replaced and we have had a few Fabia's here replaced too. I was trying to put a number to the replacements done so far previously in this thread but I couldn't get a head count.
Anyone have a number to put on this?
IMO, the biggest pending case is harishv's here.

[Spitfire]

Rohit? What made Skoda change your car? What reasons did they give for replacing your car?

[jaaz]

Sid mentioned in this forum, that Skoda is replacing its PD's with CRDI. Then how about the DSG. Will the DSG work well with CRDI Engines?

[jigbarai]

^^
In theory, it absolutely should.
Why would it not ? It is a transmission system which can be made to work with any kind of engine.
Even right now it works with all the current gen engines Skoda has - FSI, TSI and the Diesel.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Sahil

we have had a few Fabia's here replaced too.

The Fabia is an entirely different case. The 1.4 petrol engine is a defect, it simply cannot run on Indian petrol / in Indian conditions! The car is an outright lemon. I have my doubts over what kind of shoddy testing Skoda did on the Fabia 1.4, before deciding to sell the car in India. In my opinion, ALL Fabia 1.4 petrols need to be replaced. However, Skoda has not issued a mass recall on the car at all.

[anuprav]

Fabia 1.4 has been removed from the catalogue. Even sun roof is not being offered in Fabia which they were offering earlier. May be due to this reason they have discountinued the model?

[rajathv8]

a sigh of relief! true you have to lose two lacks but more true-you have a life to live! fighting all the time without a car for which you paid 20L is not practical. i'v warned all my friends about this issue .please note- warned and not forced (to not hurt the sentiments of any skoda who thinks otherwise (if any)) wish you luck with your new car. cheers