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Old 16th October 2017, 00:40   #106
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One more horror story of a Skoda Rapid from a friend of mine.

"Here is what happened to my 1 year old Skoda Rapid Alloy wheel, that too while driving at the speed of 60-70 with no external impact (not even a pot hole) on a highway kind or road with 4 people in car 2 adults and 2 kids, the alloy wheel cracked from inside out, this cannot happen without an manufacturing defect, after all this when the car was given to service center Tafe Access (Bangalore) they verified the car for any external impact / accident, took photos of car, checked the wheel alignment and found everything normal and sent these info to Skoda, after all these to my surprise skoda rejected the warranty claim and said its because of external impact. From last 8 days trying to reach the backend through mails(SPL-192376) and customer care but no one responds, as if there is no backend exists. No response to mails(except one automated mail) and customer care says "we will arrange for a callback" but no one comes back. I think skoda does not have any customer care and they warranty given is completely fake, please beware while buying a skoda car."

Source - https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...d=230147504432



Vinayak Skoda sells fake Rapid Black edition. EDIT: Replaced with a new car-whatsapp-image-20171012-9.28.21-pm.jpeg

Last edited by ajmat : 16th October 2017 at 11:22.
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Old 16th October 2017, 11:08   #107
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

I am surprised to read this as what will dealer gain by doing this? Every part has a serial number and I think is associated with particular car model. E.g. smoke headlights assigned to particular model.

Skoda in my view should penalized the dealer heavily and offer customer suitable compensation and close the matter.
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Old 16th October 2017, 19:33   #108
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Hey BHPians .
I'm Suhas Manjunath who is the unfortunate owner of this Skoda Rapid and one of the many victims of Skoda's foul-play. Firstly, I would want to thank the entire family of team-BHP for aiding me with all required support for this issue.
Nextly, I'm sorry for not personally addressing the questions raised by you-all as it took awhile for me to successfully be a BHPian.
My dear BHPian Vinodh_Gowda was in contact with me and did post a couple of times on my behalf for a clearer understanding on the entire situation.

But I would like to personally give the entire community an update of the present condition of this issue.
Skoda's ASM Mr.Ketan did get in touch with me soon after the issue was highlighted by team-BHP and after he got a first hand information from me, Vinayak Skoda's COO Mr. Sanjeeva Rao is in continuous contact with me. Both of the representatives have assured me to settle the issue amicably and have promised to give a satisfactory solution for all the troubles caused by them.

On the legal forefront, the case is proceeding at the consumer court and has passed several stages and i'm still fighting them. From the recent developments, the situation from the court view is also in my favour, as not just one but several evidences are in my favour.

With respect to evidences and the entire fiasco, I shall keep you-all updated and make all the evidences submitted in the court transparent once the matter is settled legally. I shall further write about how the entire scam/fraud unfolded and how the dealer was trapped (with a timeline) from the day of booking the car to the present day once the entire issue is settled as this could hamper the process.

Thank you-all for the support during the entire fight against foul-play.
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Old 16th October 2017, 20:19   #109
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Quote:
Originally Posted by SuhasManjunath View Post
Hey BHPians .
I'm Suhas Manjunath who is the unfortunate owner of this Skoda Rapid......Thank you-all for the support during the entire fight against foul-play.
Welcome to Team-Bhp Suhas!! Thanks for sharing your ordeal here, I am sure this thread will help a lot of people. Hope the consumer court rules the case in your favour. Looking forward to hear more from you, do keep us updated.
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Old 16th October 2017, 20:29   #110
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Quote:
Originally Posted by SuhasManjunath View Post
Skoda's ASM Mr.Ketan did get in touch with me soon after the issue was highlighted by team-BHP and after he got a first hand information from me, Vinayak Skoda's COO Mr. Sanjeeva Rao is in continuous contact with me. Both of the representatives have assured me to settle the issue amicably and have promised to give a satisfactory solution for all the troubles caused by them.
Welcome to Team-Bhp Suhaas.

To those from Skoda dealership following these updates - you don't even arrive at a 'satisfactory solution' even if you decide to purchase the car back from Suhas and present him with a new Black Edition, because that is the car he should have received on Day 1, without going through all such ordeals and running from pillar to post to get what he rightfully paid for! Even a new Black edition does not compensate him for his sufferings in choosing Skoda (especially Vinayak Skoda).

So hopefully, you guys have something better in mind!
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Old 16th October 2017, 20:43   #111
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Quote:
Originally Posted by SuhasManjunath View Post
Skoda's ASM Mr.Ketan did get in touch with me soon after the issue was highlighted by team-BHP and after he got a first hand information from me, Vinayak Skoda's COO Mr. Sanjeeva Rao is in continuous contact with me.

From the recent developments, the situation from the court view is also in my favour, as not just one but several evidences are in my favour.
Glad to know that Suhas. You are entitled to the car of your Choice, that's what you had paid for. I am sure the Honorable Consumer Court would give you adequate compensation for your ordeal.
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Old 24th October 2017, 14:06   #112
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Guys the much awaited update is here !
For a few BHPians this might seem as they predicted it would be !
So the jist of what has happened during the past 12 days.

13th October 2017 : I did meet Mr. Ketan who is the ASM for Skoda India and Mr. Sanjeeva Rao who is the COO in Vinayak Skoda.
As you can read from my previous post , they seemed satisfying with the way the had taken up the issue and they had promised me to settle the matter amicably .
As per discussion that we had on 13th october in Vinayak Skoda, they had noted down my points but had not committed to any action. From among the discussed points the most highlighted ones could be
1) They initially offered me an exchange to the present rapid which I declined as I was not happy with Skoda itself and didn't want to deal with Vinayak Skoda further as I have completely lost trust with the brand and the dealer.
2) So I asked them for a complete refund including all expenses till date, From their reactions this looked positive so they did ask me to come up with a quote/amount that has to be refunded for which i asked them to give me a couple of days time so that i could check with the bank and all other expenses could be calculated.

18th October 2017 : After doing my calculations and checking from the bank for all the procedures for closure of loan , I visited Vinayak Skoda in the evening and met Mr. Sanjeeva Rao, COO of Vinayak Skoda and since Mr. Ketan, ASM for Skoda, was on leave so he wasn't available for the meeting but he had earlier conveyed to me and asked me to meet Mr. Sanjeeva Rao if anything was needed.
Mr. Sanjeeva Rao and I had a healthy discussion for about 90 minutes and I did present him the amount that they had to refund me. Unfortunately the owner of Vinayak Skoda Mr. Suresh Bafna had left for the day and he wasn't available to discuss . So Mr. Sanjeeva Rao asked me to come back on 23rd October and he would positively close the issue without further delay .

23rd October 2017 : I Re-visited Vinayak Skoda and met Mr. Sanjeeva Rao . What looked promising earlier had flipped now , During the discussion Mr. Sanjeeva Rao made it clear to me that exchange of car or the refund is highly impossible but instead he asked me to delight myself by opting for accessories and he would give me a mere amount for legal expenses that has been spent till now. . He said he would order his accessories in-charge to install all kinds of accessories that i wished for .
He further threatened me by saying that "it would foolish on my behalf to decline this offer and walk out and continue my fight against them , He also added that If at all i continued to fight them, Then Vinayak Skoda would file a defamation case against me ! He also said you are a single person but we are a established company and also we do have SKODA's backup so you can imagine the kind of power and contacts we have and it would not be difficult to make you cry and surrender to us and then you will have zero gains. So make your decision wisely".
I walked out of the showroom .

24th October 2017 : I spoke to Mr. Ketan over the phone who is the ASM for Skoda and conveyed the whole incident from yesterday's visit to Vinayak Skoda and how unprofessionally they want to close the case and also how they have threatened me if i don't accept their offer. I further questioned him by asking about what is the action/punishment taken by Skoda against the dealer , He gave a unsatisfactory answer saying that 'there is a very stern action that has been taken against them' So I further asked him 'May i know what is the action that has been taken?' for which he replies by saying 'It is actually in the process that's going on and once it's done i'll keep you updated'. He also Said Mr.Sanjeeva Rao is in a meeting today and will not be available till 4PM so he shall talk to them later on and get back to me about the settlement by late evening or by tomorrow morning. I have also made it clear to him that I will meet him in person and explain if anything is required .

So guys, this has been the way Skoda is handling the issue, It has continued to trouble it's customers in worse of the worst ways.


Okay , now I request my dear BHPians to suggest me on different ways that i could further escalate this matter and what's the best way to settle it .

As posted in my first post , I had said a detailed post from the day of booking till the present day, along with a timeline of incidents will be posted on this thread . I shall make sure this post will posted on this thread by tonight.
For those who eager to know about the evidences that I have , I shall post the same as soon as the matter is settled.
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Old 24th October 2017, 14:16   #113
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Quote:
Originally Posted by SuhasManjunath View Post
So guys, this has been the way Skoda is handling the issue, It has continued to trouble it's customers in worse of the worst ways.


Okay , now I request my dear BHPians to suggest me on different ways that i could further escalate this matter and what's the best way to settle it .
Sad to see that manufacturers and dealers have no clue on how to settle matters amicably with customers. My suggestion is to proceed with legal options using consumer forum and ask for damages that you deem fit. At the end of the day victory at court might not be monetarily a big one, but that will send a clear message to these unethical business men.

Do not settle unless the offer is reasonable to you.

As far as threat's go, do ensure all such conversation are now recorded. As consumers we are all with you on this.
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Old 24th October 2017, 14:27   #114
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Oh dear me!

Its time for the consumer court!

Mental duress, fraud, unroadworthy defective product - these are your three levers!
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Old 24th October 2017, 14:34   #115
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

There was another member - Mr Harish - who fought a long battle at the consumer court against Skoda and eventually won. If I recall right, he was from Bangalore as well. Request the mods to check if feasible to connect Manjunath with Harish ?
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Old 24th October 2017, 14:43   #116
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

This is new low for Skoda India.
Be brave and fight them out in the courts.
They cannot intimidate you with falsified reports.
No matter how big they may be, you have all the evidence on your side.

For the moderators, is there any way as an automotive community we could get an expedited relief to Suhas from Skoda India.

I had my eyes set of Skoda Octavia vRS as my next buy for my son's first birthday, now Skoda India is off my shopping list for my entire life.
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Old 24th October 2017, 14:51   #117
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Quote:
Originally Posted by SuhasManjunath View Post
So guys, this has been the way Skoda is handling the issue, It has continued to trouble it's customers in worse of the worst ways.
If I were you, i'd meet the Skoda rep Ketan and make it clear to him that you are willing to pursue this legally if your demands of refund aren't met.

Also, apprise him of the fact that cases are fought and won based on facts and evidences, and not based on contacts/financial power as your disillusioned dealer thinks. This should hopefully straighten them.

If all else fails, approach a good lawyer and see if a criminal case can also be filed while simultaneously filing a petition with the consumer forum, once a legal notice is served to the dealer and Skoda India, they may come to the table with more to offer.

Our Octavia is now 10 years old and luckily i've not faced any major troubles so far however it is the frequency of these type of incidents with Skoda that makes current and prospective owners want to stay away from the brand no matter how good their cars are.

Last edited by shashank.nk : 24th October 2017 at 14:55.
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Old 24th October 2017, 14:58   #118
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Any lawyers in the forum can throw light on this? Can we file a class action suit? Praying the courts to direct government to take action and if necessary shut down the operation of Skoda India, which has been into repeated fraudulent practices and cheating the customers.
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Old 24th October 2017, 15:07   #119
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

I am amazed at the audacity of this dealer to threaten you about contacts and backing, after cheating you!

Something is terribly wrong at Skoda. The frequency with which their dealers are changing parts is alarming. The last legal case of Harish against them was also about changing genuine parts with spurious ones. So I guess it's a matter of luck before your car's parts get swapped.

Do speak with BHPian Harish - who successfully fought a case against Skoda - and won. The concerned dealership was also closed in the process.

And also contact BHPian Silverwood - he has been fighting legal battles (including the most famous one against Govt. of Karnataka reg. annual road tax) all over our country for the benefit of motorists. I am sure he can help you with good legal advice/contacts as well as further course of action.

All the best in your fight against the most pathetic automobile company in our country today.
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Old 24th October 2017, 15:20   #120
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Re: Man buys Skoda Rapid Black edition; Vinayak Skoda sells him a fake ed converted from a regular R

Quote:
Originally Posted by narayan View Post
There was another member - Mr Harish - who fought a long battle at the consumer court against Skoda and eventually won. If I recall right, he was from Bangalore as well. Request the mods to check if feasible to connect Manjunath with Harish ?
Harish is personally known to me. He has described the pain that he went through the years due to this and to eventually win the case. It required persistence to carry on through the years of litigation with Skoda missing the hearings and trying delaying tactics.
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