Team-BHP - Terminated! Fahrenheit Skoda dealership @ Delhi

:Frustrati Sad state of affairs at Skoda. It's just the excellent line-up of cars that just keeps this car company going in India. This was one of the better Skoda dealerships around, others are much worse.

And How did they treat an existing Skoda Laura customer, who just gave his car for service at your facility and is enquiring about the newly launched Octavia? They handed me a photocopy of brochure, hardly readable and salesman disappeared for good as soon as I asked for test-drive. Meanwhile service guys wanted to replace hell lot stuff in the car including timing belt kit and what not at 75k service which is not as per service schedule provided by Skoda just to make a quick buck.

This leaves the Delhi NCR Skoda owners at the mercy of Giriraj-Jai Auto group, which is much worse. There are one or two other dealers, one in Noida and other in Faridabad.

What is the use of a good car if the company -

1. Is not able to produce it in the right numbers when needed by the customers
2. Not build a good network of dealers across country to handle customer needs
3. Not have enough MASS to handle proper servicing of cars
4. Not have enough spares of critical parts and make customers wait till enternity
5. Not handle unscrupulous dealers when they cheat the customers blatantly.

I was and am totally disappointed with this company.

Thanks for sharing, Shady_Lawyer!

I'm very surprised with:

1. Skoda letting go of a dealer so easily. Their network is anyway small and it's difficult to get new dealers. But maybe, in Delhi (a large market), it won't be as tough to find a replacement.

2. The language used! It's RUDE. How can Skoda say that it isn't responsible for whatever the dealer does? End of the day, people buy into the manufacturer's brand or the car built by it, not the dealership. Till as long as Fahrenheit was a Skoda dealer, Skoda is indeed responsible. They could have instead said "going forward, you may deal with Fahrenheit at your own risk', but this is inappropriate.

Prima facie this appears to be bad drafting of public notice.

Its not that it would leave Skoda 'not responsible' for the cars sold through Fahrenheit. I am not related to Skoda but just feel that the notice has been poorly worded. As a big corporate, they should have vetted the notice before it being published.

The new dealership at Netaji Subhash Place might just be a prelude to this public notice. Since both fahrenheit and the new showroom are located in West Delhi.

Unfortunately I'm one of the customers whose Octavia car hasn't been delivered. I booked the car in Jan 26th 2016 and after innumerable excuses and meetings right from the sales guy, head of sales to the MD (Fahrenheit Group) I have landed in the present mess. As expected the MD and head of sales have stopped taking my calls.

It seems the car has been produced and lying with Autobahn Mumbai but the MD of Autobahn isn't willing to let the car leave his stockyard until the money is transferred into his account by the Fahrenheit MD (who by the way happens to be his son in law)

He is also trying to buy time by saying his Son in law will make arrangements by this wednesday (4th May)

What should I do,
1) My EMI's have already started for the loan amount (ICICI bank). And after some calls it seems I can't get the EMI's to stop without getting a bad credit score and legal notices.
2) Is there any Skoda office in delhi where I can meet any senior skoda official.
3) Should I file a FIR right away or wait till 4th May.

I'm all shocked and confused and any pointers in sorting out this mess is most welcome.

Am surprised that people find the wording Skoda has used while terminating the dealership unusual. Car dealers, everywhere in the world, are independent legal entities and not agents of car manufacturers. In fact, manufacturers book sales when they sell to a dealer, not when the dealer sells to an end customer. Yes, a sensible manufacturer will help customers burnt by a bad dealer - but a legal notice disclaiming liability is what any responsible manufacturer would do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by polestar2016 (Post 3963436)

What should I do,
1) My EMI's have already started for the loan amount (ICICI bank). And after some calls it seems I can't get the EMI's to stop without getting a bad credit score and legal notices.
2) Is there any Skoda office in delhi where I can meet any senior skoda official.
3) Should I file a FIR right away or wait till 4th May.

I'm all shocked and confused and any pointers in sorting out this mess is most welcome.

In the current situation,given your monetary loss, as well as chances of getting bd credit score, its best to file a case in the Consumer court. Put both Fahrenheit and Skoda as culpable in your complaint.

In any case, don't go with the car from this dealer as there is no guarantee what would have been done. Go ahead and book something else, preferable with quick delivery so as to minimise damage to your credit score.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 3962453)

2. The language used! It's RUDE. ...

It's legal and, no doubt, legally accurate. This is straight off the lawyer's desk.

Perhaps this is one case in which it might have made sense to get the marketing people to contribute, and certainly the senior management should have considered the impact on Skoda's image.

There could have been small print; it could have been the same; but no attempt by Skoda to "reach out" (as they say) to their customers certainly tastes bad.

Full marks in the law class, Skoda: zero marks in the sales and customer relationships class.

Since the above notice doesn't say whether Skoda had stopped doing any business with Fahrenheit preceding this notice, and they had appointed Fahrenheit as a dealer since 2009, doesn't this make Skoda liable to any claims arising out of the incompetence/deceit of Fahrenheit? I don't get what "Not an agent of Skoda" means. It was a Skoda representative and I'm sure there must be some sort of auditing by Skoda on its dealerships. Has anyone written to the Skoda India MD/gotten any response?

As an aside, the new showroom in Netaji Subhash Place is just that. The workshop is still only with Giriraj/Jai Auto.

I am curious to know, is Skoda actually legally free from any responsibility? What does an Authorized dealership mean in that case? Or an Authorized service center? It's disgraceful to see the company wash its hands off people who have trusted their products with hard earned money :Frustrati Does this just mean that they are no responsible henceforth, or are they claiming no liability for past issues?

Quote:

Originally Posted by polestar2016 (Post 3963436)

Have you booked the car and are waiting for the delivery, or have you just booked the car? Just booking the car won't trigger EMIs IMO. And if delivery was promised in Delhi, why is the car lying with Autobahn Mumbai?

Furthermore, Autobahn and Fahrenheit are two distinct entities. What makes autobahn withhold the cars meant for Fahrenheit? Payments must have been made by Farenheit to Skoda directly. SO, Skoda should send cars to Farenheit.

BTW, I have the ids for the person who looks after northern India. If you need, please PM me.

Sorry for the delay in updating my situation. I was really busy in sorting out the mess I had got myself into. Thankfully I managed to get out of it but the dealer seems intent on creating issues for my car registration.
He says since the car is financed hence registration has to be done through the dealer. Is this correct?
The other problem I have is that I only have soft copies of the necessary docs required for registration viz Form 21,22, Tax invoice etc. hence can't do it myself.

the original docs are enroute from Mumbai (couriered). Expected on Monday 16th.

Another odd thing he said was that car registration, road tax payment was all done in cash at Delhi RTO, Is this true?

Appreciate any quick replies.