[humyum]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Finally the approval have arrived, but only for Compressor, drier bottle will not be covered, i will have to pay some 6-7k for drier bottle and 12-15k for other consumables like AC gas and Oil. The works manager says the Drier Bottle is considered a consumable itme, Is it really a consumable part?

The service advisors were clueless, i had to personally visit the service center and waste more than an hour before they could give me the status, the service advisor asked me to come again tomorrow to get full details :( .

The service advisor said they have filed this under goodwill warranty(I don't know why?), not extended warranty, works manager says it isn't so and wanted to change the topic instantly. I have paid for extended warranty, i do not understand why they are acting weird.

Anshuman, charging you for AC gas refilling defies logic as 'its their part' which failed which was 'under warranty', so everything related to replacing the part and getting your car back in original shape should be borne by the company and not you. At least that is how it works with Maruti. I am surprised they are asking you to pay. Please take this up with them.

[vb-saan]

I guess this is the first glitch in the otherwise trouble free ownership. Wonder why they need to make the ownership experience so difficult. You don’t have an option of going to an alternate facility?

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Finally the approval have arrived, but only for Compressor, drier bottle will not be covered, i will have to pay some 6-7k for drier bottle and 12-15k for other consumables like AC gas and Oil. The works manager says the Drier Bottle is considered a consumable itme, Is it really a consumable part?

The service advisors were clueless, i had to personally visit the service center and waste more than an hour before they could give me the status, the service advisor asked me to come again tomorrow to get full details :( .

The service advisor said they have filed this under goodwill warranty(I don't know why?), not extended warranty, works manager says it isn't so and wanted to change the topic instantly. I have paid for extended warranty, i do not understand why they are acting weird.

The Skoda shield is not a warranty program from the manufacturer Skoda. It is an insurance policy taken by Skoda with Bajaj Allianz.
Hence Skoda needs approval from the insurance company and obviously the insurance company will like to reduce the amount of payment that they are going to make for such extended warranty claims.

This is pretty much industry practice. Goes to show the level of trust the manufacturers have on their own product.

[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

The Skoda shield is not a warranty program from the manufacturer Skoda. It is an insurance policy taken by Skoda with Bajaj Allianz.
Hence Skoda needs approval from the insurance company and obviously the insurance company will like to reduce the amount of payment that they are going to make for such extended warranty claims.

This is pretty much industry practice. Goes to show the level of trust the manufacturers have on their own product.

I think Skoda Shield insurance is per year basis covering any body and paint damages. 2 yrs 50000 kms extended warranty is obviously from Skoda. I dont think its possible to replace faulty parts by insurance, insurance would cover such parts only if they have gone faulty or damaged due to an accident, etc. this is my opinion. Correct me if wrong.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

i will have to pay some 6-7k for drier bottle and 12-15k for other consumables like AC gas and Oil.

12-15K for AC gas and compressor oil?
Why? Skoda uses some special refrigerant that is out of this world? And how much oil does the compressor need? The new compressor does not have any oil when it's installed?

And why does the drier bottle need replacement? Have they shown you the existing one and told you what's wrong with it? Do you have pictures?

What the hell is going on here?

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead

I think Skoda Shield insurance is per year basis covering any body and paint damages. 2 yrs 50000 kms extended warranty is obviously from Skoda. I dont think its possible to replace faulty parts by insurance, insurance would cover such parts only if they have gone faulty or damaged due to an accident, etc. this is my opinion. Correct me if wrong.

The primary insurance is definitely given by the manufacturer. I am only referring to the extended warranty program that will be in effect after the initial two years.

In Anshuman's case, why would Skoda need an approval from Bajaj Allianz if the warranty was indeed provided by Skoda.

The reason most of the manufacturer conceal this fact about insurance is create a sort of goodwill in the market. Can anyone trust a company which has to rely on an insurance policy to cover the defects in their product?

More details about Skoda Shield is available in this thread.

Skoda Shield

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

The Skoda shield is not a warranty program from the manufacturer Skoda. It is an insurance policy taken by Skoda with Bajaj Allianz.
Hence Skoda needs approval from the insurance company and obviously the insurance company will like to reduce the amount of payment that they are going to make for such extended warranty claims.

This is pretty much industry practice. Goes to show the level of trust the manufacturers have on their own product.

The warranty given by SKoda is a contract between the customer and Skoda. If Skoda is getting this insured with an insurer, it is their business and the customer is not involved. Whether the insurance company compensates SKoda or not should not come in between the effective performance of the warranty contract between the customer and Skoda.

I don't think they will need to take the approval of an insurance company, even if they have tied up with one for the extended warranty programme. Re-isurance is common practice in the Insurance business. THe primary insurer does not need the approval for each and every claim from the reinsurer. Proper documentation and evidence production should be enough.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

T

I don't think they will need to take the approval of an insurance company, even if they have tied up with one for the extended warranty programme. Re-isurance is common practice in the Insurance business. THe primary insurer does not need the approval for each and every claim from the reinsurer. Proper documentation and evidence production should be enough.

My bad, I thought the approval comes from the insurance company.
Thanks for the clarification.

[911varun]

Hi Anshuman,

The warranty replacement should cover the drier as it was not customer's mistake. The faulty compressor is the most common problem with Laura. The problem with gurgaon dealer is that they are not bothered, please contact Skoda office in gurgaon at 0124-3351119. And also at 0240-6631111. Please don't ask me how do I know, my first car was a Fabia ;-), do let me know if you need anything else.....

[VW2010]

@Varun

That is some good information on the contacts.

The warranty should cover everything that went kaput. I would agree if the warranty is void for a brake pad or a clutch plate or even the wiper blade. Drier they can argue as a consumable but i do believe that this should be covered under warranty.

My mechanic says, dont give up, argue. Keep pushing Skoda to own this warranty replacement. What they can recover out of their own insurer is not your problem.

[anandpadhye]

But what's wrong with thr drier bottle?
How can it fail?

I can understand the compressor as it's moving part...

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Finally the approval have arrived, but only for Compressor, drier bottle will not be covered, i will have to pay some 6-7k for drier bottle and 12-15k for other consumables like AC gas and Oil. The works manager says the Drier Bottle is considered a consumable itme, Is it really a consumable part?

In fact when I had gotten my Yeti's compressor changed under warranty, they had also changed the Receiver Drier Bottle too, and did not charge me for it! The only items they had charged me for was the Compressor oil - The AC gas is actually recovered and recycled. AC Gas is not expensive too and R134a typically comes for Rs 1200 /kg and the full gas charge of the Laura AC should not be more than 0.8 Kg-1 kg.

The receiver Drier Bottle (which serves to remove water vapour, if any, in the AC gas) works in a closed circuit of the Air conditioning and is not a consumable. It needs to be changed only when the AC Gas circuit is opened up. In your case, if the failure is due to Compressor failure, they should include this in the warranty replacement.

Do escalate your case to Mr Sudhir Rao and Skoda should not act like this as it will further damage their image. I have a feeling that in your case Giriraj Motors might also not be giving the correct picture. Many dealers often get free replacement spares from the company and still bill the customers for the spares to make extra money wherever they get the opportunity.

Regards,
Behemoth

[.anshuman]

I have been a little busy with some stuff. Today i called customer care and narrated the issue, the executive noted down the details and promised to get back before eve. Also dropped a mail to customer care. Now waiting for Skoda India to respond.

Even Manson got the compressor in his Laura changed under warranty and he did not have to pay anything for this.

[.anshuman]

Just got a call back from customer care, they got the works manager on conference call, the works manager claimed they never asked for 20k it was just 7k they wanted. They called me just to tell me it is Mr. Imran who is going to take care of your car, that's all.

Even before the call it was Mr.Imran who was taking care of my car and his team. He says the 7k amount is tentative, it can change as the work starts.

Hope i get better reply to my Email.

[Zappo]

There is something seriously wrong. People are just trying to extract whatever they can. I think you should not give up on this one. Logically speaking any collateral damage has to be owned up by the party that caused the initial problem. In this case if the manufacturer's part failure causes other things also to need a change then they have to own that replacement along with the faulty part.

In my opinion the drier bottle as well as the gas should be filled up FOC, since the failed compressor and it's subsequent replacement under warranty also needs the replacement of these other parts. Recently my XUV had a PS failure which needed the entire steering assembly to be replaced under warranty. The dealership wanted me to pay some Rs.250 bucks for the PS oil cost ( its peanuts really...) since this was consummable as per them. I asked the SA should they really be charging me for this since the oil needs a replacement in the first place because their component failed and caused the oil in the system to be dumped. He immediately agreed and changed the cost to FOC.

I think you have a similar case Anshuman. Don't give up.