[ankitsharma]

I was planning to go for Rapid Rider or Vw Polo Tsi. Hell no after this. I am very much emotional about my vehicles and when these kind of issues happen I just get out of control.
But one thing that I might say is never ever , ever leave your vehicle at the service centre without your supervision. There are exceptions like body shop , paint job or some bigger issue. For normal service never ever do that.

I used to maintain that with my Swift dzire here at Ghaziabad. Take a day off and stand inside the service centre near my car. Even when I moved to Bengaluru I used to visit my hometown around the service time to get it serviced.
Last time I was not in India and dad had to get it serviced himself. He left the car at the service centre and boom.
From Shell Helix Ultra to IOCL engine oil.
Egr is not cleaned. I can feel it now after driving the car. They removed a part of left side cowl and never replaced it back. Somehow the rear left side door sill is scratched and then primer applied on it.
Who says Maruti Service is good.

Next car will be a ford. Ford here I come.

This is my friend , the old usual from Skoda

[landcruiser123]

Skoda should just pack their bags and leave. They do make good cars, but the ASS is horrendous. Try finding a good independent mechanic to deal with the situation.

--

I think this (rotten) attitude comes from the top. Think of it - VW/Skoda has dishonest management for years and cheated in the emissions.

Maruti's RC Bhargava doesn't care about safety and wants to make cars as cheap as possible.

[sreeJiva]

Just looking at the traction this thread got, I'm so happy that car manufacturers do dread a BHPian's post. Unlike whining and complaining without proof in other platforms, BHPians take the time to give the timeline, be specific, furnish proofs and still manage to find the humour in their predicament. So proud to be part of this community, and hope your friend never has to go over a similar ordeal again.

And for the prospective Rapid owners, I wonder who all will now take the plunge, with such a wide open fresh wound exposed in after-sales service at such a critical time. For the sake of Rapid, I'd pray Hearts spent some more time in gym to win over Minds!!!

[AZT]

Originally Posted by GranvilleDsouza

Let’s start with positive developments on my car.
Skoda has, a matter of goodwill, agreed to foot the cost of the multi-clutch and mechatronics (if found faulty) - they will only charge me for labour as a matter of company policy (~INR 6,000-7,000). Over the weekend, a few senior representatives of Skoda (I will update the names once the car is back with me - objectively, I have detailed my ordeal so I must also acknowledge and detail the manner in which the higher-ups at Skoda have reacted to help me out).

Fantastic news. Good to hear the company is being quick to respond. There was a similar thread a while back about someone having to go through hoops to buy a Tata Tiago and the company reached out to him too, once he posted here. There was another one about a Hexa I think.

It's time showrooms and service centers got their act together. Tata and Skoda actually have good cars, such stories just put people off.

[Carpainter]

Originally Posted by GranvilleDsouza

My assessment is that Skoda took cognizance of this thread sometime late Saturday.

It's nice to see OEMs taking Tbhp more seriously than ever as this is probably the most trusted and visited automobile website in India.

Coming back to the topic, there should not be any harm sending your car to authorised service centres to get even small things done for complete peace of mind or any other reason but to take a customer for a ride like this only ruins the company's reputation and nullify all the good that Skoda is trying to do and the dealer(s) only should be responsible for that. Don't know what the company's stand will be going forward if most of their dealers start to act like this. Anyway few points going forward:-

When your friend will take delivery of his car, he should make sure that the battery that was replaced is not too old and should receive a warranty card for the same.

Labour cost should not go beyond 5-10% of actual cost. So do ask him to check the bill before paying 6-7k labour eyes closed. Even 10% is a stretching I guess.

He should inspect the car thoroughly for any visible damage to the car as you never know if these service people used his car while it was lying with them for more than 2 weeks now. If he could remember the mileage at the time of sending the car, even better.

I wish him good luck going forward and enjoy his car like before.

[7000plusrpm]

With all the positives created by the launch of the Rapid Rider, this comes as a rude reminder that customers are going to put their hard-earned money on an unethical brand. They will fleece you for money in the name of service and what not!

I have been looking for a car, my first in India, and VW Polo GT was on the top of my list. Imagine someone spending so much for a 10 years old car hoping for peace of mind. However, I think I would, like many others, have to reconsider my decision in light of such horror of a service. This is not an exception, rather a practice. Many such stories are not reported!

And I guess, just the new cars on new platforms are going to part of VAG 2.0 and 3.0 plans, hassle-free ownership is not.

[AMG Power]

Zac Hollis seems to be in reactive mode all the time. Instead of spending time on social media he should first clean up his dealerships starting by terminating the present one no questions asked.

There's no point going online and responding to micro issues such as an individual's headlight replacement when the macro problem of dealers fleecing a lot of customers exist.

Despite innumerable complaints against erstwhile Skoda dealer Marikar Motors, Skoda has given a new dealership to the same owners operating under a different name. Marikar have done irreparable damage to Skoda's brand equity and yet the same crooks who managed Marikar run the show here. Would a brand that worries about its customers EVER do this?

By the looks of it, the Dealer development team have hidden agendas and customer satisfaction isn't on them.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by GranvilleDsouza

Let’s start with positive developments on my car.
Skoda has, a matter of goodwill, agreed to foot the cost of the multi-clutch and mechatronics (if found faulty) - they will only charge me for labour as a matter of company policy (~INR 6,000-7,000).

Fantastic news @GranvilleDsouza on the positive news. And even bigger kudos on your friend's feedback taking in the positive and negative/constructive feedback received on this thread. Most important - I'm happy (and I can probably say for a lot of bhpians) this thread worked out as a means of getting the right resolution with Skoda.

The points (family concerns, work constraints, etc.) listed out by him in your post clears up a lot of the aspects with regards to feedback/questions raised by me and several others. While this experience eventually turns out towards an acceptable end, I do hope he's able to gather information (ask folks on the forum if not found by searching) for the next set of years of ownership, which is a blessing, especially for VAG vehicles.

Just one point to add (if already not addressed) - please ask him to get bills/writing for every part that was replaced/repaired or diagnosed as working fine (e.g. the supposedly faulty mechatronics), and if possible on the health/condition of that part. Should help in the years ahead even if he's going to deal with a FNG only going forward.

Please do keep everyone posted on how this eventually ends.

[Turbohead]

I must say the response is faster than usual from the top brass of Skoda. The unusually good response for the Rapid is the only reason they had to respond like this.

Experienced something at a far smaller scale at Hyundai recently with our Grand i10. They rolled back the items billed after complaining that such items had no issue. Dealerships are trying to survive by hook and crook post the lockdown.

As an owner of a 6 year old Vento with 1 lakh under the belt, I can confidently say that a knowledgeable FNG with respect to VAG cars is the ultimate peace of mind. In fact I'm emboldened to keep the car for longer because of the trust my FNG has built with me.

Hope you get the car soon without any new issues!

[roamer012]

Originally Posted by GranvilleDsouza

Let’s start with positive developments on my car.
Skoda has, a matter of goodwill, agreed to foot the cost of the multi-clutch and mechatronics (if found faulty) - they will only charge me for labour as a matter of company policy (~INR 6,000-7,000).

Sometime in the evening, Nishant reached out to me (on-call) and mentioned that, as a matter of goodwill, Skoda will mostly likely cover the cost of the multi-clutch and mechatronics (if found faulty) - a formal approval from corporate (Skoda) in this regard was awaited. While this was a relief, I requested an email recording this understanding. To which, I was told that the service center was facing network connectivity issues and he would not be able to do so on 11 July 2020 (i.e. Saturday).

This thread was posted by Granville around the same time as my conversation with Nishant - I believe Nishant did not have the benefit of reviewing this thread at that time. My assessment is that Skoda took cognizance of this thread sometime late Saturday (please see below).

At 12:24 pm, I got another call from Nishant (along with his manager), and with this call, I got a promise to receive an email confirmation (from Nishant’s manager) to replace the multi-clutch and mechatronics (if found faulty) at Skoda’s cost - this email hit my inbox on at 4:14 pm.
In addition, I have a ballpark quotation of ~INR 6,000-7,000 for labour charges towards a replacement of multi-clutch and mechatronics (if found faulty).

On this call, it was confirmed that, as a matter of goodwill, Skoda would foot the cost of the multi-clutch and mechatronics (if found faulty) - except labour costs.

Why do i get a feeling that no matter what, the said multi-clutch and mechatronics unit will be replaced in order to uphold the fact that the diagnosis was correct all along. In legal parlance i think it is called "Sticking to the narrative". This gives Skoda the benefit of doubt with marginal hit to dealer's margin since in all probability, there is nothing wrong with the multi clutch and mechatronics unit and will be recycled whenever next customer comes knocking.
I like to believe there is good in all but somehow Skoda does not gives that vibe other than the good of making brilliant driver's machine. Then again all of it is speculation and Skoda may actually be "Good".

[libranof1987]

Thanks for sharing the update, Granville and friend.

We've churned through enough of the should-have and should-have-nots that led to this situation.

Looking at Skoda's reply: I'm confused; if Skoda is offering a replacement under goodwill (if necessary), does this mean the parts are potentially actually damaged? Agree that the manner in which the dealer handled this: everything is ok -> one part is faulty -> another part is faulty, is suspect and very sloppy but would Skoda agree to a goodwill replacement (that too, of a significant amount) unless the dealer could reasonably convince them that they were indeed faulty.

If that were so, the dealer isn't really at any fault, besides needing some training on the Art of Communication.

Or, do we also suspect parts have been swapped?

[Engine_Roars]

It makes me wonder, how many users of these cars must they be looting on a daily basis. Not everyone has access to forums like these, some simply do not have time to go into such details and for some, cars are machines which are best left with so called experts. One such owner happens to post it on forums like this and management gets on it by throwing some goodwill discount and they are good to loot another lot till some one again posts it on team-bhp.

It is a sad situation, people of this country deserve better services and penalties should be high enough to deter them from repeating such malpractices.

Skoda, no matter what you do in this particular case, for me, you as a company is full of fraud dealers & there is no two way about it. I am never buying your vehicle.

@OP - You should not have to be explaining why you chose to not visit the service center, it is your vehicle and you have all the right to deal with it the way you want as far as it is legal. You put your trust in them and they took advantage of it, this can't be your fault. This is simple victim blaming and nothing else, don't take it to heart. Most of us know, it is not your fault. Not everyone has the liberty to invest their time in taking care of machines and that is perfectly all right.

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Looking at Skoda's reply: I'm confused

No confusion here. They have to protect themselves and the dealer. Imagine how stupid Skoda and the dealer will look if Skoda says "The dealer lied and tried to cheat. The car is perfectly fine, just pay for for battery and and pick it up".

[i74js]

How much tempting deals Skoda / VAG offers, every such reported incident make me believe that I should not buy their cars.

On the flip side, your friend should have simply called Exide Helpline or even a local battery shop to come and attend to the car with a spare battery, I would call it a laziness (no offence) as he allowed the Skoda guys to tow the car away.

These guys definitely eye on customers who are ready to fall pray in their clutches for such unwarranted expenditures.

This is nothing but loss of trust for a brand, which is taking beating for whatever their dealers are doing.

[sgiitk]

Old habits never die. I was thinking about a Skoda. This settles it.

So Skoda will never change.