My L&K Combi Delivery problems! EDIT : Dealer taken to task for forging my signature

[diffsoft]

Fellow BHPians:

I am taking delivery of the L&G Combi (Flamingo Red) this Sunday in Bangalore. I wanted to personally thank Androdev, Lamborghini for helping my decision.

Ofcourse this forum has been a the biggest influencer in navigating through my car choice - so a big thanks is due there as well.

Will keep you posted on my experience....the pre-purchase experience has been good with both TAFE and Vinayak...I guess nothing like competition to make them more customer friendly.

TAFE was able to offer a better deal vs. Vinayak. However both of them do not have sales folks who are skilled in the complete offerings...and the Skoda India web-site is certainly not helpful. My prior dealer experience was with with Trident Hyundai and it was outstanding.

Cheers,
diffsoft

[iraghava]

Congratulations Diffsoft! Looking forward to a full review of the Combi soon!

[shuvd]

Congratulations Diffsoft on your L&K. So, what upgrade are you looking at? Get 16" ers for a start. And, with the HUGE boot at your disposal, trust the ICE Gurus to have a BLAST!

[diffsoft]

Originally Posted by shuvd

Congratulations Diffsoft on your L&K. So, what upgrade are you looking at? Get 16" ers for a start. And, with the HUGE boot at your disposal, trust the ICE Gurus to have a BLAST!

Sorry, L&K - that was blasphemy, will post my reports soon. Sorry if this seems like a stupid question, but what benefits of the 16"ers vs 15"?

[diffsoft]

Folks:

While I was all perked up and ready to take delivery......I did not. And that's because the vehicle did not meet the PDI specs of Team BHP!!!

Let me tell you the long and short of the story:

We agreed to pick up the vehicle on Sunday - an auspicious day. The dealer informed us that all the papers would be ready and so would the vehicle. We prepped ourselves up, got a small gift for the sales person, got some sweets and took some photos of our old car (M 800) and speeded to the dealer.

We also thankfully took a print out of the PDI document carefully prepared and commented on by fellow BHPians. We reached the dealer at about 11:00 am and got the vehicle ready to the delivery point.

Upon inspecting the body of the vehicle, we found our beloved Combi wanting in many areas:

1. The car was not cleaned properly outside and inside -
(a) there were a lot of white marks (probably dust from the asbestos roofing above
(b) paint chipped off in the left front door! I was shocked. There was about 1 sq mm area of paint that was chipped off and one could see the bare body there - there was also a minor dent in that area
(c) a different paint finish in a small part of the the left front door. While that was not visible in a dark room - (show room) it was clearly visible in the open area. I couldn't understand why that had happened
(d) The interiors were dirty - just removed the mat and saw a lot of dirt on the beige colored floor. For delivering such a "high priced" car one would have expected atleast a thorough cleaning inside and outside.
(e) Black Spots in the leather seats - One would have expected the leather seats to be clean, but there were unremovable black spots in the seat

2. The car body assembly was not upto the mark. This one really took the wind of my sails. Upon deeper observation, I discovered that the lower car body (i.e the body that has the floor) was improperly aligned to the rest of the car body. It was as if the lower body was turned by a few degrees. So the play between the door and the car body was visibly uneven in atleast the rear door. The dealer threw up his hands and said he will ask the manufacturer. He seemed relieved that this was not "his" problem.

I was told to take delivery of the car and then come subsequently to the workshop to get all the problems rectified. I said NO - I will not take delivery and sign on any papers unless the car is in a state that is ready to be delivered.

While I felt bad that I could not take delivery of the car, I felt good that I was prepared and noticed these problems before delivery.

A BIG THANKS TO TEAM-BHP. If I hadn't been prepared with the PDI list, I would have been "suckered" into taking the car!

Will keep you posted on how things went.

Comments on how to handle the situation welcome

Cheers

[tsk1979]

Looks like the car had an accident before delivery, and was fixed up in a hurry. Note down chasis no. and refuse to take this piece.
Did you take pictures.

[ajmat]

complain to Skoda on their websie home. They respond

[himanshugoswami]

make sure of the manufacturing date. given the fact that Combis are probably the slowest sellers in the market, it could be an old piece that the dealer is trying to palm off, that was used for TDs and also for sundry work by the showroom staff. I kid u not, this happens!! and we all know how lovingly these showroom wallahs drive the cars!

so check for the manufacturing date and alsothe date of manufacturing of the tyres and battery. all these should be within a few weeks of each other. anything more, and cancel your order and walk away- go buy an Innova!

[diffsoft]

Thanks tsk1979:

Will do....no could not take pics, but should have. I took the camera for a happier ending

[iraghava]

I am quite sure this is an old piece that has been used the Dealership or its owners & you're being sold an old car. This because of a few reasons that you mentioned:

1. The Door Dents & resprayed portions.
2. The stains on the leather.
3. Dirty footwells.

Like Tanveer said, get the Chassis & Engine number for this car & REFUSE to take this car. You deserve to get a "New" car for your money not a used one.

[androdev]

diffsoft mentioned that he has not signed any registration papers yet. (thanks to the pre-delivery inspection article on this forum!) So I guess he is a in very good position to get what he deserves.

How old can the manufacturing date (car, tires, battery) be to be acceptable? Considering it is the Combi I am assuming <3 months is desirable and >6 months is unacceptable. He did mention that the tires are 2006 make!

Am I correct in saying that the warranty on tires and batteries is given by their respective manufacturers and not the car manufacturer and taking old stock badly affects your warranty period?

Finally, I feel you should be happy that they haven't done a good job of refurbishing the car :-)

Can MODS please edit the title to reflect the delivery problem?

[maddy42]

Wow that was real bad. Good you actually did thorough inspection before delivery. Better luck next time dude...hope they give ya some gift too for the delay

[sammyboy]

wow i am sure that would have been some dissapointment bro but it was a very smart move to have the checklist handy and not take the delivery of the car. All of us have learnt the importance of this procedure.
Hope you get the delivery of your perfect car soon

[humyum]

Dont take delivery of the same car.Cancel the deal if you can and go to some other dealer.
Even maruti 800s are delivered in a better condition

[diffsoft]

Friends:

Spoke with the dealer in Bangalore yesterday. He said the vehicle is ready in the workshop and can be picked up

When I queried on the assembly defect, he hesitated and said, "Sir, it is fixed at the workshop".....and then "Sir, I tell you sir there will not be any problem, you can live with this minor defect Sir"!!!

I insisted that I get a new car...they said they will get back.

In the menwhile I wrote in the Skoda site after your suggestions and they responded by calling me up and saying the problem has been escalated.

Will keep you posted on this incident.....

Cheers,