[hareeshreddy]

Another feather to the TAFE access pathetic service...

I got my Octavia delivered from Mahavir Auto on 19th Feb and the car was delivered on time as communicated.

Following day I got basic accessories fixed sun film, rear speakers, extra horn for highway use and while coming back from here I realised there was some strange noise coming from the right side of the steering right after turning the ignition on and immediately I realized this could be because of the new horns wiring from the battery for which the cover underneath the steering was pulled out. It was late in the night so I thought I will go to the workshop the next day and get it fixed.

I went to the workshop explained the problem to the service manager he came along with me to check the noise but nothing was coming up he waited patiently for quite sometime but there was no noise at all. He told me it could be a minor problem we will fix it during the regular service or get the car to the workshop when it comes back again. To my surprise the moment he leaves, this stupid noise comes back again and to embarass me more we dont hear anything after I call him back again.

I had to travel to bangalore for some work on 22nd so I decided I will drive and all the way this problem persisted and I also realized the wipers were not working. So i called up TAFE access on 23rd afternoon spoke to Mr. Suresh(Service advisor) he asked me get the vehicle to the workshop on Saturday 24th at 9:00-9:30.

Things really get frustrating from here...

No sign boards placed anywhere for the TAFE workshop some how I manage to reach the workshop after asking 4-5 people on the road and same was the case with other customers trying to reach the workshop.

I goto the gate ask for Suresh the security guy tells me this guy is on leave, I went to the reception tell the lady I have an appointment booked at 9:30 and she quickly checks in the book and tells me there is no appointment with my vehicle number and gives me the advise that I should take the appointment from her not with any other guy(How the hell am I supposed to know this????). I politely ask her if anything can be done she tells me wait for 10 mins I will ask someone to attend.

At this point of time I get to know from her that Suresh had an accident in the workshop on friday. Nothing happens even after 30 mins I keep running around the service advisors telling them its a very minor problem and it could be coz of fuse not being replaced properly or wiring disturbed but I do not get any response and they also ask me to wait, wait and wait.

Balaji - Service advisor asks me at what did you speak to Suresh, I told him sometime in the afternoon.
Balaji: exactly at what time
me: after lunch, may be around 2:00 PM
Balaji: How can you speak to him at 2:00
me: ???????????
Balaji: he had accident at that time, you are lying
me: pissed offffffffffff completely, what nonsense are you talking this is the first time I am coming to your workshop how will I know who works here..
Balaji: You might have asked someone
me: I just stopped myself from hitting this guy just coz wipers were not working and on the way back to hyd. if it starts raining I will be stranded.

Now, I approach an old guy claiming he is one of the managers..this guy gave some baashan telling me your vehicle belongs to AP and Skoda India has some norms on the service front if it is bought in an other state and showroom which was bull**** and also warranty clauses.

I have explained him company wiring has been untouched and its just coz of some loose contact. Service head Gopinath was listening to all this and he gets him electrician along to check the problem thankfully the noise was coming and wipers not working. Mechanic and head talk something in Kannada and head tells me I will get the job card ready.

Gopinath keeps talking on the phone for almost an hour, running out of patience I go to the mechanic and ask him if he can do something. He only had one line "My manager has to tell me".

After 4 hrs of waiting i.e. at 1:30 PM, Naresh makes the job card and it takes another 45 mins hr for the mechanic to take the car inside the workshop. As I have expected it was just a loose connection and the mechanic fixes it in less then 5 mins.

Waiting continues yet again for another 20 mins just to get the gate pass...on the whole it took me 5-6 hrs just to get a problem which took less then 5 mins to fix...

I will be in bangalore for an other 2 weeks praying nothing else comes up...

[jango]

So sad to hear that ur friend had to go through all these trouble, after opting for a SKODA !! Imagine 6 months w/o his car...boy how fustrating that itself can get !!

[Vid6639]

hareesh pls. mail skoda directly and inform of them of this harrasement.

[navin]

I have have the time, energy or patience to deal with any Skoda service center (I have tried Autobahn & Autograph). I have told them that. THey dont care. Fortunately I know a local garage that maanges most minor work fast. Yes you have to pay for stuff that should be covered under warranty. But dealing with Skoda you are paying too - in time spent.

[sumitdongerkery]

Hey Satya!!!!

Sorry to hear about your friend... But these guys if they feel that we are at their mercy should be taken to task...

But I am pretty happy with the *** I am being offered by JMD Mumbai... But at times after reading such experiences it becomes real scary to leave our beauties at their mercy...

Cheers

[Equus]

I know one guy who just didnt buy a Skoda since the dealer is TAFE Access!
He is very happy with his Accord from Dakshin Honda!

[hareeshreddy]

vid6639: I thought of taking this to Skoda India initially but nothing has been done so far about the complaints given by other customers so I do not want to waste my time doing the same.

I am very happy about the response I got from Mahavir auto, hyd so far where I will be getting my vehicle serviced...let me see how it goes

[car_whizz]

I would strorngly advise to send a copy to Skoda by FAX/mail and also an email. At least, I would have done so.

Mladá Boleslav
ŠKODA AUTO a.s.
Václava Klementa 869
293 60 Mladá Boleslav
Czech Republic
Fax: +420 326 721 328

email: info@skoda-info.cz

[jalsa777]

thts a horrifying case.

I have had a mixed experience with skoda so far.

My family were planning to go on a road trip.
Mumbai - Uttaranchal.

We have an innova too but plaaned to take the octi.

Gave it for service and told the guys tht were were taking it on a long trip so check it properly.

I got it back the next day saying all was fine.

Started the trip....
near udaipur...a strange noise started whenever i engagd the clutch. Somehow managed to get to uadipur without anything failing.

Checked on the net whether there was a dealer in udaipur but the website had no dealer mentioned.

We planned to go to jaipur and go to the dealer there.

Luckily just on the outskirts of udaipur spotted bhagwanji cars.

(Skoda need to update their website about the dealers.....)

gave in the car.....clutch plate burned up and flywheel also damaged.

flywheel costs a whopping 42000rs.

anyways....got them replaced....

the service given to us was excellent...
actually....the only yime i have come out of a skoda auto dealership happily....

the trip was good there after....

came back and took the car to autobahn mumbai....
we showed them the damaged clutch..(a clutch just cant go bust overnight) and they said they had checked the car properly

on furthur insisting....he let me know that they might not have checked it thoroughly cause they have a lot of load.

WHAT kind of explanation is tht...

skoda dealers suck....i guess its a problem of too few dealers in the metros (where almost all their sales are)

....even now i m facing a problem with the oil light...1st time went to them...they just cleared the error codes...

it came on again the next day

2nd time...found a short circuit some where..and cleared error codes Rs.1k for this

oil warning next day again...will go to them again tomorrow....crazy

(service and spares are very very expensive)

the only things tht are good are the cars...they are a pleasure (the only reason to buy a skoda...but the negatives are out scoring the positives more and more with each passing day)

[shatrughna]

After reading the experiences here, I was confused between civic AT and Rider AT. Civic V AT is costlier to buy, petrol driven hence, high cost of running, may not be so sturdy as Skoda in terms of build quality etc. but I am not prepared to risk this kind of experience and without any doubt - I ll NOT buy SKODA. OMG its so scary to think of going through scuh experiences.

[vikram_d]

It takes nine months to deliver a baby not to repair a car. In nine months I can turn my swift into a freakin 747. This case has to go to the consumer court and we as a forum have to ensure that TAFE goes out of business.

[HappyWheels]

this is very bad for Skoda, as the car, by itself, is a marvel!

but the worst part of all this is that Skoda themselves are turning a deaf ear to the complaints! Do they think that we are not worth their time or what?

[dibbasu]

I own a Octi 2.0 in Kolkata & the experience is same here too.

[soms201174]

I read these posts and still decided to go for a Skoda Octavia Petrol 2002 model ODO reading 49456 kms at Rs.3.85 lakhs. I thought the post here was an one off case and still trusted to go for the Skoda, while I was looking for a Hydundai CRDI. The Skoda badge lured me. Also sometime back one elderly person (NRI) who is settled in germany and working for VW said Skoda cars are really good. I trusted this second hand car dealer on Residency road since I have got many cars from him earlier. I loved the skoda's build quality & refinement and bought it without doing much check of the vehicle (partly trust on my second hand car dealer). After the first day I noticed that there is a major drop in power when I slow down, white smoke coming out of the exhaust and a constant missing sound. Showed it to the dealer and he said he will give it to Tafe, Bangalore and will get the repair costs borne by the previous owner. He sent it to Tafe, Bangalore . Its been three weeks and I have now got my car back. I was supposed to get it in 3 days, four, five, a week, two weeks and now it is three. Everytime I call, the answers are road test, replacing spares to check if the problem is corrected, ordering the spares, rider spares were sent from Aurangabad so we have re-ordered, its coming from europe and the list goes on.
Every time I call them (both me and the second hand car dealer used to cal them), they will say in the next two to three days, but the word is never kept. They said take delivery on 28th Apr (monday) when i called on 26th (sat), on monday they said they will do a road test and wash and give it on tuesday. Tuesday they said they will do polishing and give it in the evening, in the evening they said, can take it on wednesday. On wednesday they said they will do a road test and give on thursday. On thursday they said to come and take the car. My dealer asked for the bill so that they can take the money before reaching there. Even by evening the bill didnt arrive. So he called one of the guys there and said he can come at 6.30PM and whether someone will be available. They said yes that person will be available till 7.30 to give delivery of the car and even the next day (May 1st) they are working. I knew its a lie and later at 8pm called the Skoda Aurangabad call center, even they said they are working (Only maharashtra is off they said - May 1st only for Maharashtrians I wondered), i was doubtful, I called Vinayaka Auto and they said they are closed (I believe Vinayaka is good) But you never know till you experience them. Atleast there was someone to pick the call at 8.30 in the night at Vinayaka, Anyway by then my dealer had reached bommanahlli Tafe service center at 6.30 from residency road and this guy who said that he will be available never picked his phone and no one was available at the service center. A blatant lie. So comes saturday and he asks the dealer to come in the morning. Even by 3 the car is not delivered . Finally at 6 my car is delivered,
One of the guys in this forum had mentioned about pushing the car while taking delivery from Skoda. It is 100% right. After all these days (three weeks) they said the battery is drained so I need to push the car everytime to start it, while my dealer took delivery of the vehicle. Wow! what a way to deliver a C+ segment car. The left rear view mirror is broken. And you guys know what?, I am still having the missing sound and power drop. I love this car but the service?, they are only good for water wash I feel. Plz, Plz, anyone dont be fooled by Skoda about the service. Tafe guys cant handle this car. I remember reading somewhere in this forum, buy a skoda and take your family around in a auto. That is 100% true. Fortunately I had my esteem.
My car dealer has agreed to take this car, show it to Tafe tomorrow ( i wonder if they really can do something which they couldn do for 3 weeks) and if they can rectify I can keep it or he can give me an other second hand one. Definitely not skoda for me again. My sincere advice to anyone buying a second hand skoda is this - Plz dont buy, since after so many years they will definitely have a problem now and then and these service guys I feel cant handle it and they dont know how this car has been manufactured. They can just replace parts and see if the problem is solved, trial and error method. Even then my car is not repaired now. They have replaced the sensor, timing belt, piston rings etc (atleast thats what they said when I called) by now and still its not working. I didnt bother to ask about the cost since my dealer is bearing it. If you have money go for Skoda since the car is really good, i love the build quality,its sturdy, but then sell it before the warranty is over. But the problem is the whole market would know the quality of their service and your value of the car would drop significantly in the second hand market.
Today I was riding this car to my dealer's place and i saw one old Merc & Lexus drive past me. Must be 70s. Both looked very nicely maintained. I was wondering why is my 7 year old skoda struggling to run. Why cant the AUTHRORIZED service centre Tafe repair it. Because I like this car and AUTHRORIZED service centre Tafe cant service it :(
Will someone be able to answer these three questions for me.
1) As a guess work, What could be the problem?
2) Is it possible to tamper the digital reading of the kms run. Since these Tafe guys are replacing Piston rings etc , I was wondering how can such a problem occur for a 49K done car. This car was always serviced by tafe since the time it was purchased by the previous owner.
3)Since this car is not under warranty If someone wants to repair it in other places later, other than Tafe in bangalore. Is there someone like that in Bangalore for Skoda. A good technically sound local garage for Skoda who can repair over a chat.

Finally not a Skoda for me again - A mental torture and nightmare i have gone through and worried of my hard earned money. Only because of incompetent service. I have no issues about the brand, I feel its a very good brand. But in Tafe you cant get it repaired. Only water wash can be done here. Its my personal experience in Bangalore. If someone wants to share with me anything confidential about this issue, you can write to me at soms201174 at hotmail.com or please reply to me in this forum so it can help all hasseled skoda owners in India.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by soms201174

I1) As a guess work, What could be the problem?
2) Is it possible to tamper the digital reading of the kms run. Since these Tafe guys are replacing Piston rings etc , I was wondering how can such a problem occur for a 49K done car. This car was always serviced by tafe since the time it was purchased by the previous owner.
3)Since this car is not under warranty If someone wants to repair it in other places later, other than Tafe in bangalore. Is there someone like that in Bangalore for Skoda. A good technically sound local garage for Skoda who can repair over a chat.
.

1: Sounds like a warped cylinder head. Car must have overheated at some point

2: It is possible- you can check as follows: go to TAFE and ask for full history. The skoda service system now logs the entire history end to end and is availalbe from any dealer. Else PM me - I can scan the engine and read ECU reading but I cannot guarantee whether they overwrote this.

3: I recommend Vinayak. They are reasonably good but you need to ensure they do good diagnosis. However, there workmanship is good, nothing loose everything put back tightly and reasonable (skoda parts costs are another factor!)