Team-BHP > Team-BHP Reviews > Indian Car Dealerships


Reply
  Search this Thread
57,740 views
Old 12th September 2006, 17:35   #1
BHPian
 
satyamenon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 110
Thanked: 5 Times
TAFE Access (SKODA dealership) sucks

Hi All,

Am posting this on behalf of a close friend (who isn't a member here, although I'll ask him to join up).

He has a Skoda Octavia petrol model and has gone through a lot of **** because of the dealer. Here are the details. I've basically copied the email that he sent me and the company (Skoda Auto).

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sir/Madam,



Subject: Loss of trust in Skoda Automotive



The purpose of this email is to inform you of my plight and my complete loss of faith in Skoda Automotive as a brand.



My car, a Skoda Octavia, the details of which have been given below, was involved in an accident on 3rd dec’05 at Srikalahasthi expressway, near Tirupati TamilNadu India. Post-accident, the car was driven by an authorized representative from TAFE Access to Skoda showroom and authorized service center at M/S TAFE Access, Bangalore. This is when my troubles started.



Details of my car:



Model and Make: Octavia Ambiente 2.0 Petrol

Color: Silver

Date of purchase: 14:06:2004

Registration Number:

Date of Accident: 04:12:2005





TAFE Access checked the car and informed me that the following repairs/replacements would need to be completed in order for the car to be road-worthy and useable.



1. Replacement of Airbags
2. Replacement of the Radiator
3. Replacement of the front bumper
4. Replacement of the headlamp



Estimate for the following is a Whopping 5lacs????



At the time, the service representative at TAFE Access informed us that the car would be repaired and available in about a month. However, as events unfolded, we realized that was not the case.



About 2 months after the accident, we went to inspect the vehicle and Mr. Vijay Ragahvan, the Service Manager at TAFE Access, informed us that there was an unusual sound emanating from the engine bay, which was attributed to the engine itself. He went on to state that he has received the clearance from the insurance company and it would take approximately a week to fix and have the car ready for use and that someone from TAFE Access would call us once it was ready.



Since that meeting, there has been no communication from anyone at TAFE Access to us.

Since then we have been running pillar to post and not one positive response from was there we were only given numbers of people who are hardly interested in doing their job. We have contacted are Mr. Rajshekar (9341603999), Mr. Arvind (9945137151), Mr. Mani (9945629854) and everyone only shifts their responsibilities on others and asks us to follow up with all the individuals rather than coordinating themselves. Few days back we called up Arvind and he promised to get back to us about our vehicle but as expected from Tafe Access and their consistent irresponsibility’s he never bothered calling back and in fact on 22/05/06 when we are trying his number he is not even lifting his cell.



Four months passed, during which we were forced to use our other vehicles in order to satisfy our daily requirements. A few days ago, we received a call from TAFE Access stating that our vehicle's repairs were completed and we were requested to collect the car from their service center. About a day or two later, Mr. Pruthwish from TATA AIG called stating that for the past month or so, he was trying to locate our car (unsuccessfully, I might add) as TAFE Access had mentioned that there was some under-chassis damage and also some damage to the engine itself which according to Mr. Vijay Raghavan was sorted out four months ago as stated earlier. The insurance company is shocked that it has been over six months since the accident had occurred and the processing of the claim is not yet completed.



Subsequently, I visited TAFE Access on 20/05/2006 to see my car and ascertain the status of the repairs. I was informed that the service center had been moved to another location (away from the dealer's showroom). Mr. Naganathan (a senior executive at the TAFE Access showroom) mentioned that he had not received any reports from the body shop for the last two months and asked us to visit the service center ourselves to ascertain the status of repairs on our vehicle.



I went to the said service center to see my car and met Mr. Vijay Raghavan there. He informed me that all that was left to be done on the car was replacement of the front bumper. However, I noticed that the interiors of the car were in a mess and immediately asked him to show me the engine bay so that I could confirm that no other work was pending. Not only was he unable to locate the key of the car, he expressed shock that the car was under his care for over six months now. He was also surprised that there was an issue with the insurance claim pertaining to the repairs.



At this point, I am extremely dissatisfied that was he unable to give me an actual date upon which the car would be delivered, but also concerned that there is an issue with the insurance claim, which is still un-resolved. It's been six months since the car has been with the service center, and the repairs are yet to be completed. The utter disinterest shown by TAFE Access is not only disconcerting but also discouraging. We intended to exchange our car for a new Skoda Laura once the repairs were completed. However, our negative experience with TAFE Access has led us to believe that Skoda Automotive cannot offer us an ownership experience that we deserve.



Mr. Vijay Raghavan promised to call me on Tuesday, 23rd May 2006, with an exact date as to when the cars repairs would be completed. While casually smoking a cigarette on my face, he also mentioned that he would deal with Mr. Pruthwish (TATA AIG) in his own way and sort out the issue with the insurance claim. The sheer disrespect shown by him projects a rather disturbing image for Skoda Automotive as a whole.



When I took up the matter with Mr. Majid Ali who is supposedly the chief of Customer Care and acquaint him with the fact that I am moving to the consumer court I receive a letter on 05/06/06 that our vehicle is ready kindly pay Rs3, 73,152 by DD and release the vehicle.

The items in the bill were shocking but we still accepted and at that time the General Manager Sri Bala agreed that they been totally incompetent in delivering the service to us and handed over a discount.



The final payment was as follows

01/07/06 Citibank Chq no. Amt. Rs.253580/-

01/07/06 Citibank Chq no. Amt. Rs.101000/-

These instruments got cleared from our bank but since it had not reached their bank Mr. Naganathan says sorry it has to come to our account only then shall we release the vehicle. Then once then amount has gone to their account they said we need a day to clean the car and hand it over.



But everyday there was a reason for not sending the car. This sort of ill-treatment only forces me to speak the higher ups with regard to this matter on 19/06/06 for which I am given Mr. Roobesh’s number. I explain to him and also say that Skoda Auto India was informed of this via e-mail but there was no response and only a legal action would be taken on it. Mr. Roobesh with immediate effect agrees to give us a standby company car and also give us our money back till we get our vehicle back and asks me to get in touch with Mr. Narsihman.



The next day I call up Mr. Narsihman and he says that instead of handing over the entire amount he would agree to pay 6% pa interest on our money and also give us a standby car. So finally on 20/06/06 I thought that I am at least being treated as a customer.



Then according to Mr. Sri Bala and Mr. Naganathan the vehicle is ready on 28/07/06.about which we were only informed on 09/08/06 but I was out of station and Mr. Naganathan says the vehicle was not given to us for taking it out of station. I don’t understand how such people work in the organization.



I come back on 21/08/06 and they hand over our car at 19:35 P.M. out of trust my father asks them to park the car in the garage and hands them their vehicle. The next morning I open the garage to check this time the vehicle it hounded worse than a diesel.

There were following additional problems

1) AC not working

2) Creaking noise from all doors

3) Front bumper not painted properly which was billed as a new one during the accident repair bill.

4) Towing hook not repaired despite pointing it out to them several times

5) Vehicle started jerking in 3rd gear

6) Jack and tool kit missing

7) The entire body was full of scratches

8) The vehicle handed over to us was still having all the accident dirt and grass in it.



This made me loose my cool as they only handed over our vehicle to get back theirs and to avoid paying the interest than to actually touch the car to rectify it.



On 23/08/06 my father, elder brother and I go to their showroom fired up and put forth only two solutions

1) Take back the vehicle and refund our entire amount including the service bill

2) Or, to give us a higher end Laura L&K and collect the difference of amount then and there to solve the problem



Mr. Sri Bala only nods his head and says he can’t help me on this issue all he can do is prepare the vehicle and needed some more time. We are at his office from 11:30am and till 13:00 he doesn’t even have the courtesy to ask for water I send my office boy with money to get some water from outside. Mr. Narsihman enters at around14:15 and first thing he tries to do is to avoid responsibilities and says that this is my statement “YOUR VEHICLE IS ONLY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY” and said I better not discuss on that issue. For the compensation asked no help can be provided at the most a meager amount of Rs10, 000/- shall be given.



Mr. Sri Bala says do what you want and it is not rightful on our part to approach the cops. But after 9 months of patience we have all lost our temper and filed a Police Complaint against Mr. Sri Bala Tafe Access on the very same day.



I would only request you to still consider our offer and settle the matter amicably as I still love SKODA as a brand and considering your image and standards worldwide I would look up to you with a positive response.







Respectfully yours,



Vijendra R. Bathija


------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know September 11 has some bad memories associated with it, but here's another one.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident on 11/09/06 regarding vehicle no.



As I had sent a mail regarding the problems still pertaining in my vehicle on 11/09/06 by 10:08 a.m. there was a call given to us by around 13:00 that a company technician by the name of Mr. Ganesh shall come over to have a look at the vehicle and see if the problems exist.



Mr. Ganesh came over by 14:40 to inspect our vehicle to our office and then took us in the company car to our residence where the car was parked and inspected the vehicle. The following problems listed were true and agreed by Mr. Ganesh.



1) Bumper painting not done properly at all.

2) Bumper not fixed properly.

3) Certain parts of the bumper were old although billed for. (I had the bill Xerox to verify this).

4) Rear left door bush missing.

5) Gearbox inspections cover missing.

6) Body paint visible on plastics.



The points that we still found were wrong after this were

1) Steering being heavy than other Skoda’s.

2) Dashboard not aligned properly.

3) Engine sound had risen again.

4) The Vehicle had starting problems.



We asked Mr. Ganesh to acknowledge this that these problems do exist. He said that there were instructions from the G.M. that he shouldn’t acknowledge anything in writing. Then when I spoke to the Tafe Access Bangalore G.M. Sri Bala he said do what you want but we shall not give it to you in writing and said that he shall take his own measures to rectify us as we have unrightfully detained his person and vehicle (according to him).



We took Ganesh to our office stating that in front of him we shall fax the problems in his office and they can acknowledge this and settle the matter. The Mr. Ganesh also continuously tried calling the G.M. after we sent the fax in front of him but he did not respond to the call. Then I called up Mr. Roobesh he also did not respond to my calls.



By 18:45 Sri Bala has come to Vijaynagar police station and lodged a false complaint that we threat fully and forcefully detained their person and car and also threatened him in person regarding this matter. Which when asked by Mr. B.R.Venugopal (Inspector), Mr. Ganesh stated that no such thing happened.



When the inspector asked Sri Bala to give it in writing about the faults he said that we are not to be trusted and we have ourselves done this crook job. When we buy a vehicle worth 12 lakhs (this is not the only vehicle also that we have) this is not what we want or ask for.



Mr. B.R.Venugopal clearly said to us and to Sri Bala that there was no intention to detain the car or the person and suggested us to go to the Consumer court to settle the inability of service provided by Tafe Access and Skoda Auto.



Despite my repeated mails I’m surprised that neither has Tafe nor has Skoda Auto taken any action with this regard.



I also express my deep regret that I by misfortune ended up buying a Skoda on a dreaded day that I were to be dragged to the police station for no fault of mine and being called a crook.



All this is for your information as these will go to the court of law and the only compromise now would be to get the entire refund of my car and also the service bill with interest of the amount taken including the previous claims asked for.





Yours painfully



Vijendra Raj Bathija

Last edited by satyamenon : 12th September 2006 at 17:39.
satyamenon is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 12th September 2006, 17:55   #2
BHPian
 
sumitkalindi's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Kolkata
Posts: 376
Thanked: 17 Times

So how many of the forum still want After sales from the authorised service station??? Really bad for skoda. Man I love my manglu mechanic. atleast chai to puchta hai.
sumitkalindi is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 12th September 2006, 18:07   #3
kdb
BHPian
 
kdb's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 36
Thanked: Once

Satya.. I really feel bad for your friend .. i hope het gets justice ..
kdb is offline  
Old 12th September 2006, 18:15   #4
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 2,256
Thanked: 37 Times

Very unfortunate one, I feel like post this page to Skoda and I am not going to buy any skoda vehicles for sure...

I heard skoda service is bad in few places and they charge too much, may be they hardly get any vehicle for repairs or servicing or they don't have professional mechanics, which worries me buy vehicles from other brands than MUL, HMIL,TATA. One or other day I suspect other car manufacturers have problems in running profitable business.
ravibhat is offline  
Old 12th September 2006, 18:20   #5
Senior - BHPian
 
blueraven316's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,110
Thanked: 19 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by sumitkalindi
So how many of the forum still want After sales from the authorised service station??? Really bad for skoda. Man I love my manglu mechanic. atleast chai to puchta hai.
LOL You dont really need Manglu mechanic, there are people In bangalore itself who are far better than Showrooms, and have some brains,
All this Tafe Access, Metro Ford etc are all Junk !!
blueraven316 is offline  
Old 13th September 2006, 14:53   #6
BHPian
 
shivasuma's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 872
Thanked: 468 Times

Satya,
Sorry to hear about this. Hope your friend gets his due.
Isn't Tafe Access next to Metro Ford? Hmmm, 2 crooks next to each other. Those so called senior Execs, GMs etc, at those dealerships are so incompetent. They don't even know how to deal with customers.
Any reply from Skoda? I hope they don't turn out to be like Ford India.

Suhas
shivasuma is offline  
Old 13th September 2006, 15:55   #7
Senior - BHPian
 
narayan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Singapore
Posts: 3,114
Thanked: 2,372 Times

i guess this is what happens when you give a premium car dealership to a tractor company !
narayan is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 13th September 2006, 16:51   #8
BHPian
 
Su-47's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 691
Thanked: 323 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by narayan
i guess this is what happens when you give a premium car dealership to a tractor company !
Absolutely! Skoda seems to have hand-picked people like that in every city.
Su-47 is online now  
Old 13th September 2006, 17:16   #9
Team-BHP Support
 
navin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 25,156
Thanked: 9,238 Times

Having bought a Skoda I worry if I ever need their service.

Q: Why is it Skoda, Ford, GM etc.. that seem to have poorservice while other like Tata, Maruti, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota etc. offer better service. Obviously it is not the ONLY the dealers they appoint but the policies they use to back these dealers with.

A copy of this letter should be sent (via registered AD) to Aurngabad if not to Gemany.
navin is offline  
Old 13th September 2006, 17:30   #10
Senior - BHPian
 
abhibh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Back in the HOOD near you!
Posts: 2,768
Thanked: 39 Times

Dude that should have hurt you a lot earlier. But i admire the paitence you and your family have in them.. 9 MONTHS for repairs and hand over....

Juts file a case in consumer court. Thats the best to do and consumer courts AFAIK are fast in doing judgements.
abhibh is offline  
Old 13th September 2006, 19:02   #11
BHPian
 
satyamenon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 110
Thanked: 5 Times

I think vj (the owner) has signed up on the forum. Let me see if I can get an update from him. Last I spoke to him, he mentioned something about the MRTP court in Delhi....
satyamenon is offline  
Old 13th September 2006, 19:09   #12
BHPian
 
ritik123's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 123
Thanked: 4 Times

Yet another Skoda horror story.

If charging pornographic prices is not enough, whether for the car itself or for repairs, this is how they are treating customers.

Even a 800 or santro owner gets better respect from their dealerships.
ritik123 is offline  
Old 14th September 2006, 02:03   #13
BHPian
 
subbarp's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 319
Thanked: 198 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by ritik123
Yet another Skoda horror story.

Even a 800 or santro owner gets better respect from their dealerships.
Get great attention & service from Hyundai even today(7 years down the line). Not sure the same would be true from Toyota (based on my perceptions till now).
Moderators ! Did we have an after sales service survey done at any point in time in the past. If not, might be useful to measure various parameters like
waiting time, time to deliver etc. on a sclae of 1 to 10.
subbarp is offline  
Old 14th September 2006, 14:29   #14
vRS
BHPian
 
vRS's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 33
Thanked: 0 Times

You should definately put pressure on Skoda Auto for such bad service.Sokda Auto dealers are KNOWN for such horrible service. I too have had problems with them in Mumbai. Some of them do not even have scanners available at their service centres. During a friendly conversation a Skoda Auto employee mentioned that they too are very frustrated with such bad dealers. Surprisingly the management is not taking visible steps to correct this situation.
vRS is offline  
Old 16th September 2006, 17:20   #15
BHPian
 
parimal_vb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Pune
Posts: 32
Thanked: 0 Times

Its all messed up and to top it, the ****ty treatment from authorities. Very annoying and frustrating.
parimal_vb is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks