[sagpatel]

i think all three are at fault, the buyer (for accepting to release payment without even seen the car or doing a PDI), the bank (for releasing the payment even after knowing there has been past incidents with the same dealer), and of course the fraud dealer "senator motors".

OT:I purchased my yeti through senator in 2012. back then all went well since it was a fairly new dealership. however i have had some really horrible experience with their service centre, instrument cluster in my yeti is not lighting up properly and have asked the service centre to change it under warranty. it has been couple of months and still the part has not arrived. I called up the service centre manager and was told that because senator motors has not released funds to Skoda India, skoda india is not sending the parts. i have been asked to go to any other service centre to get the work done.

Time for skoda india to wake up and monitor such fraud dealerships and take necessary actions.

[methecupid]

Thanks for the overwhelming response to this issue. I am sure this will prove to be a deterrent to a lot of us and the general buyers to be aware of the malpractices that go on with Senator Skoda and its other allied distribution channels.

I have not updated or commented till now, since I was waiting for some more concrete steps towards resolution. As GTO has posted earlier, Skoda has indeed offered to take a look into the matter. This, however, has only resulted in a call from the Corporate Communication Desk yesterday to my friend's relative. Beat what? It was to ask if the post was genuine. I am at loss here to understand why would anyone in their right mind post something on a public and reputed forum, with the names and details without having a genuine concern. No Skoda, I don't do drugs! Anyway, the culmination of the call was pacifying and expected, "We have forwarded it to the concerned department". I hope the 'concerned' department shows some concern after all.

Many over here have opined on the largely ineffective practices of payment for the cars nowadays. It is not unfathomable that any other car dealer, leave alone Skoda, could have the right to be-fraud the buyer. In our zealous and oft-naivety of owning our dream cars, we give into a lot of indiscretions thrown by the dealers. Whilst reading some articles day before yesterday, I went on to read about the Frank Abagnales and the Victor Lustigs. The modus operandi and the only armor for the biggest confidence artistes (popularly known as 'con'-artists) is the gullibility of the targets. Herein, the confidence of the 'aam-janta' on established companies, the enthusiasm of owning a brand new car and the gullibility of being treated at the show-rooms lend us to turn a blind eye on a lot of discrepancies at the dealers'. Like I have stated before, this post/ thread is not only to discuss the case and the results, but also to make aware of dealers in the network that can take you for a similar ride! Be rest assured, I am going to go all out in my network.

As far as owners of the dealership is concerned, as per the following post on this very thread, the web is adequately expressed;

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2971527. Senator Skoda, AVK Ford, Skoda Autobahn, AVK Force and Asthvinayak Chevrolet - all are part of the extended family. If it is wrong, please let me know, I would like to correct myself at the earliest; lest we start questioning legit dealers.

[TaurusAl]

Last month - October 15, I happen to visit this showroom to check on the Rapid. Just wanted to check what it offers compared to competition but had no plans of buying. I have heard enough horror stories about his company in the past.

I did feel something amiss, my observations were -

1) Damp smell all around from the air cons. (Lack of maintenance)
2) Rapid parked in a way the rear door did not open due to a column when there was acres of space in the showroom. (This shows their I don't care attitude.)
3) The sales manager was the most disinterested one I have ever met in my life. (Maybe he was on the notice period)
4) Skoda Octavia had dirt stains from customers shoes on the rear seat AC vents. (No proper cleaning of display cars)
5) Denied the test drive saying vehicle is not available. No Follow-up.

It will take only a fool to book a car from such a setting. I walked out promised myself never ever step in a Skoda showroom in India again.

And Hell Yeah my post is genuine. I still have the price list and the brochure that they have given me. So every word that I have mentioned is true and I will stand by it.

[ShaileshHinge]

I think it depends from dealer to dealer.

I did visit Senator when i was buying my Rapid in 2012. Bad experience.
But i did buy it from JMD in Sanpada Navi Mumbai. amazing experience.

They answered all my queries pretty well.
Sent test vehicle home home multiple times for test drive.
offered good discounts
Changed the car allocated to me a i wanted a newer one. ( April manufactured vs august).
i challenged the depot charges and they did waive it off then
i got stuck in office due to work on car delivery day. The dealer kept the showroom open 1 hr extra with his advisors waiting for me as it was some auspicious day.
The purchase went through pretty smooth.

I have also had mixed experience with JMD Skoda ASS. At times they have surprised me positively and at times disappointed.

Having owned a Maruti, TATA earlier i honestly dont find my difference in the attitude on ASS. i feel its very similar.

I must say the number of visits to the service stations are much much lesser as the car is super solid.

is car ko kuch hota hi nahi.

i have done 70K kms in 3 years 2 months and I have visited the service station < 10 times. as compared to Maruti and TATA it would have been about 25+ visits by now easily fixing minor niggles.

Even ownership cost is very similar. I had to do some hub greasing every 30 k for TATA and similar other things which is not there in my Rapid. very solid car. Its a pity SKODA cant fix these issues and its not rocket science given other manufacurer's have figured this out.

So i would say depends from dealer to dealer. And Yes by all means SKODA should step in to handle this situation with Senator. they let it slip and should own it up.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Anand3553

Extremely scary. In usual scenarios, no credible bank will lend loan if there is a slightest hint of hassle in repayments. So I do believe someone at the Bank is playing foul along with the dealer because they have had complaints about the dealer before.
Thanks
Anand

This is probably true. Most dealerships have a person for the loan stuff representing a bank or banks. And the bank will probably go with what this representative says. So if this loan rep is a bad guy in cahoots with a bad dealer, I assume he can easily get the bank to disburse. Since they normally collect all the needed documents and signatures from the buyer, I assume the disbursement can happen without re-confirming with the buyer.

There is a thread here where the bank disbursed the loan without the buyer knowing and then the dealer kept delaying delivery. end result-Bank started the EMI, the customer has no car and no idea of when it will be delivered. This case it was a Hyundai.

Thread Link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post3568279

[GTO]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Before taking a dealership, don't they have to deposit Rs. X crores with the manufacturer? Like a security deposit?

Superb point! Yes, deposit or bank guarantee.

Originally Posted by risham

When I bought my VW Vento I had the bank issue a demand draft for the loan amount in favour of the dealership and handed it over once billing formalities and PDI were completed on the day of taking delivery.

This may be a better alternative instead of the bank transferring the money by RTGS/NEFT to the dealer as the customer retains control of the funds.

Wise words of advice . Just do it on a working day as the dealer would prefer to verify the authenticity of the demand draft (too many fakes floating in the market).

Originally Posted by Anand3553

Extremely scary. In usual scenarios, no credible bank will lend loan if there is a slightest hint of hassle in repayments. So I do believe someone at the Bank is playing foul along with the dealer because they have had complaints about the dealer before.

Completely agreed. Banks know which are the good dealers & which are bad. As an example, HDFC Bank refused to deal with Ichibaan Nissan at the time of my Sunny's purchase.

Originally Posted by subhro1988

The owner for Senator and AVK is the same person (Mr. Puneet Lalit Kumar)
Reference: https://www.quickcompany.in/director...et-lalit-kumar. Autobahn is owned by another person called Mr. Harshil Choksey. AVK however continues to operate as a Ford dealer.

I believe the same group owns Chevrolet as well. And it's rumoured that he has closed all three down (not 100% sure though).

[comfortablynumb]

Sad episode, considering how special a new car purchase is for the average Indian.

Wouldn't it be great if some ratings agency started a dealership ranking system, something on the lines of a CIBIL score?

Wishful thinking....

Cheers,
Vikram

[vvb8530]

Originally Posted by subhro1988

The owner for Senator and AVK is the same person (Mr. Puneet Lalit Kumar)
Reference: https://www.quickcompany.in/director...et-lalit-kumar. Autobahn is owned by another person called Mr. Harshil Choksey.

Skoda has removed Senator's name from their website. JMD and Autobahn are the only ones that remain in Mumbai. AVK however continues to operate as a Ford dealer.

All in the same family Autobahn Skoda, Senator Skoda, AVK Ford, Ashtivinayak, etc. The names of the people you have posted are related to each other as in-laws and the Choksey you mention is the same owner of the infamous Choksey Motors of Khar who used to illegally import high end SUV's like the Prados, LC's and Pajero's from the middle east for bollywood stars back in the 90's and had quite a few custom duty evasion cases pending against him with most of these cars impounded as well.

In fact what was most surprising was that Skoda appointed Senator as another dealer in the same city who belonged to the same family as Autobahn while JMD had to move out of the city and only operate out of Thane and Navi Mumbai making one family have complete control of all Skoda sales in the city.

I recently bought my Octavia from JMD which I had to since Senator at Chandivali which was close to my house had shut by then although initially I was in talks with them and they were really strong in their follow up and kept asking me to book the car at least. Thank god it took time for me to confirm my booking and by then they shut, they were probably forcing me to book so that they could fleece me as well before they shut.

Anyways I was told then by reliable sources that Skoda has asked Senator to shut shop due to their malpractices which was mainly asking customers to pay the full amount of the car at booking itself by promising quick deliveries and then not delivering the said vehicle for the next 2 to 3 months making the customer run around and thereby using the customers money in the market for that duration without any interest. I did think about it and realize that someone that I know had bought an EcoSport from AVK (owned by the same family) and AVK made him pay the full amount at booking by promising delivery within 2 weeks and this was when EcoSport had just been launched and was overbooked. For the next 2 months he was not delivered the car he had bought. It made sense to me then and now with this story coming up of the Rapid it would make complete sense to all as to how these dealers operate, in the case of the owners of Senator and AVK it seems to be a regular practice of using the customers money interest free.

Never should one fall for the ploy of quick delivery with full payment by any dealer and stick to the practice of booking amount and balance at delivery itself. Money in our bank will earn us interest for that duration why give it to the dealer and loose that interest as well as let him enjoy an interest free loan from you which he will use for as long as he likes. At the launch of a new much awaited car that would receive an overwhelming response at launch would set these dealers tongues wagging as for them it would be another opportunity to fleece customers by promising quick deliveries.

Regards,
VVB

[Higgs_Boson_i]

Very Sad episode.

I must say I am not shocked that a Skoda dealership has cheated because of all the horror stories already known. But this takes things to a whole new level of cheating.
Skoda must make good the money and also formally apologize.

But the catch 22 question with Skoda and VW vehicles really is that the cars are very desirable on the one hand and on the other hand is the dealer, company cheater network , so what should potential buyers do?

[Madan Gopal]

Hope this mess is resolved ASAP.
It's hard to believe that such incidents are allowed to occur repeatedly with the same dealer unless the individuals in the bank, manufacturer, etc are all hand in glove.

Many unsuspecting buyers are affected as the companies involved get away by pointing to some clause in their contract or disclaimers relieving them of their responsibilities.
Without reading the fine print or understanding it, many get into such transactions in good faith.

Personally, I had a similar experience back in 2008-09 with Manipal Motors (Tata dealer) in Bengaluru. I had booked an Indica Vista but the delivery was delayed more than 2 weeks. When I got concerned and made inquiry got to know that Manipal Motors was in financially bad shape hence Tata Motors had stopped supply them with new cars.

After following up for 2 weeks, got a cheque for the booking advance paid by me which promptly bounced.
Another few weeks of pestering them got a me DD finally.

Consumer court could also be approached in such cases. In many places these courts act quickly.

[agnimidhun]

Hello,

I am shocked to my utter disbelief that such a thing actually happened ! I bought my Fabia from the same showroom 3.5 years ago. I still remember the place and the salesman assuring the the showroom would "always" be there to address my queries.

Although the delivery of my vehicle was done in the worst way possible (they didn't even clean the car externally - when I cleaned the windshield, I could see thick layer of dust coming down with the wiper), the service center was okiesh. They did try to extract money (may be I paid unknowingly too), but the job was good.

From the moment I bought my car, I have been thinking - Skoda makes such beautiful cars and they have such a pathetic state in India. Its like people are crazy to do business with you and you don't even care about them. If Skoda really wants, they can be the leader in their segments. How I wish I could just head the company and steer it our of this and make it a leader

[CarJunki]

Is it really that hard for Skoda to get normal people for dealership.

Every thread on skoda starts with pointing some fraud or the other and then later on the supreme attitude of company also joins the game.

I think it is high time that we start discouraging people strongly from buying skoda.

A good Skoda dealer sound like oxymoron.

[Wanderers]

Originally Posted by CarJunki

Is it really that hard for Skoda to get normal people for dealership.

Hi,

Not that all dealers are non professional and careless. Most of the time it's the company which puts the dealers in awkward situation with the customer. For example, delay in supply of parts for service or dispatching wrong color or variants for booked customer.

I have seen dealers changing from Skoda to Honda or others to avoid being on wrong side with customer. Many cases they continue with Skoda and at the same time open competitor dealership.
Skoda dealer in Baroda latched on to Honda, when old Honda dealer closed its shop.

[MadAbtCars]

I have almost decided to book a Rapid Diesel Automatic and every other day I read some or the other horror story about VAG / Skoda here on team-bhp.

My experience recently with Skoda Dealers : JMD Thane was the best, they were upfront , clear and precise in their communications brought the TD vehicle to my home, explained all features and current offers on Rapid. The SA also expressed concerns over the ASS and asked me to take care and keep track of the issues and niggles in car if any and monitor the service.

Gave a call to Autobhan Prabhadevi, they took down all my details and I told them to arrange a call soon as possible since I want to book the car ASAP. It's been >week no call from them yet. Was around Andheri the same day and decided to give a visit to Autobhan Andheri. The SA was polite and courteous, They even got my old car evaluated (Horrible quote they gave though). Upon discussing prices, they were adamant saying the extended warranty must be purchased at the time of car delivery. I told them, other manufacturer's allow extended warranty to be purchased any time before the standard warranty expires and I have done the same in past, Pat comes the reply "Not possible with Skoda Sir". The same issue when I had asked the JMD dealer, they also initially insisted to purchase the extended warranty at the time of purchase and upon pressing hard, they said it can be bought any time within one year of new car purchase. Still acceptable I feel.

I left Autobhan Andheri asking them to give me a call back confirming about color options that would be available for black package, delivery period and final pricing. Never received any call yet !!

Originally Posted by GTO

I believe the same group owns Chevrolet as well. And it's rumoured that he has closed all three down (not 100% sure though).

Ashtavinayak Chevrolet used to be right next to Autobhan Andheri and saw the showroom closed down for sure when I visited Autobhan last week.

Quoting a friend who works in the automotive industry : "There are rumors in the market that Autobhan Skoda is also closing down" and my above interactions with both the Autobhan dealers seemed in sync.

I am wondering whether I should go ahead with the decision of buying a skoda or not !!

[i74js]

Any updates from Skoda or the dealership ! Its amazing to see there is no end of tunnel for customers.

I remember Mr. Mahindra once said in his speech that the customer experience starts from the time of entering into the showroom; here it seems that the customer experience has ended at the showroom.

Since the money has been transferred into the beneficiary account by the bank, can one not reach out to RBI banking ombudsman? at the end of the day it is case of cheating and promised goods are not provided after completing the transaction? I think something will move - I am aware of my experience with Amex, when goods were not received while payment was made through card and based on my complaint (an international travel agency for Christmas / new year holidays), the money was reversed and Amex advised the merchant to prove that delivery has been made which didn't happen and I was saved from financial loss. The most important thing was that money was reversed right when I was on the call with Amex and it was reasonable amount (close to one and half lacs).