[GTO]

When dealers don't make enough money from new car sales, there are always existing customers to loot! Prajnya shares this rip-off story with us! Worse still, Prajnya reached out to Skoda for help during the feedback call, but they didn't do anything about this.

Hi GTO,

Our 2015 Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDI DSG went in for its annual service on 11th September 2020 at around 29972 km. The service was delayed by a couple of months from our end due to the lockdown, and the car had run less than 5K km since the previous service.

Just before taking the car for a service, the low coolant level warning message popped up on the MID along with the engine malfunction light. The coolant level was lower than normal. Since the car was running properly, we drove it straight to PPS Skoda keeping a constant eye on the temperature needle, which seemed to be normal the whole time.

Regular service was done and the following points were mentioned regarding the issues faced:

1. Engine malfunction light- Cut wire due to rat bite. Was informed that the cut has been rectified.

2. Low Coolant Level- Coolant topped up and no leakage found in the cooling system when a pressure test was done.

On 1st Oct 2020 at 30265 kms (which is just 293 kms after the service), the low coolant level warning popped up again. Dad checked the coolant reservoir and found it to be below the normal mark. I told him not to use this car and he took my Polo GT TSI to the office.


The car was not used until 3rd October 2020 when we had to fill about 1.5 lts of coolant to bring it upto the normal mark.


On 8th October 2020, the entire coolant had leaked onto the floor of our office basement.


Why wasn't the issue diagnosed properly when the car went in for its service???

We immediately got the car on a flatbed and sent it to PPS Skoda at Srirampuram. They diagnosed the same as a water pump failure, coolant over the timing belt so both need to be replaced. I asked them to replace the same, and also flush the coolant + add new coolant just because the other work was being done.

I was charged Rs. 9085 for some liquid used to flush out the coolant. Was surprised looking at this since these two liquids are priced at Rs. 695 & Rs. 1056 , however the coolant is priced at only Rs. 250 (amount mentioned is per liter, GST additional). When I asked them about the material used to flush the coolant, I was told that it needed to be done since I have used non-genuine coolant - they had no proper reply on what is the exact liquid used for flushing.

When I got a call from the feedback team, I raised a query regarding the flushing liquid. The service manager immediately called me and offered a discount of around Rs. 5000/- on my next visit and asked me not to escalate the same to Skoda during their feedback call.

When the same query was raised during the feedback call from Skoda, they again routed it to the Service Manager and I didnt get any response from Skoda.

Note- We have had a very good experience with this car & Vinayak Skoda service until this episode. We knew about Skoda's horror stories even before buying this car, but luckily we haven't faced any till this episode and are hopeful that it will stay the same in the future.

Thanks,

Prajnya

[CEF_Beasts]

Skoda cars on their own merit are amazing but it’s the service quality that is severely lacking. When you are giving service to someone business ethics should be the top most priority of the brand. I would recommend sending a mail to Mr. Zac Hollis who is very active on social media.

When I opened Facebook just right now the first post that came up was this;

Need to bring it to everyone notice that though service experience is better from previous experiences the cost of parts is just making it so hard to maintain this vehicle...Till a point this class customer can manage but this is just too much...!!!

A L&K sticker costed me 2750 to replace it..!!

Alignment is for 884

But the main concern is OEM parts ..company needs to do something about it as just a small sticker is costing for Rs.2750.!!

There are many more that I see very often. Good thing is Zac Hollis has mentioned under Skoda India 2.0 localisation of spare parts and increasing service quality is their top most priority.

Sharing a list of good FNGs for servicing Skoda and VWs which I found on the Skoda owners group on Facebook.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...duWEg/htmlview

[i74js]

SKODA always amazes me no limit.

A simple coolant flushing made the owner pay additional INR 10K? My EcoSport goes in for two annual services within the same amount. Is there no way to control such behaviour of dealers? How come when the same Dealer owns another sales outlet of Hyundai or Maruti does not behave in similar fashion? I would very much believe that SKODA has absolutely no control over its dealership and somehow I will have to assume that SKODA is hand in glove with them.

And how in this world the part quality is so poor that things start falling apart at 30k km? Is there any explanation given by Mr. Zac Hollis? These cars are not made to cost, I have never seen this happening in other cars at this frequency. This is even poor performance compared to erstwhile TATA (TELCO) when they use to source parts from multiple vendors. Even they have identified the root cause and fixed the part quality issue to a great extent, why not VAG?

[sangam_mm93]

Not again!

Not when we haven't forgotten Suhas's black-package horror story yet.

As much I was happy about Zac solving all niggles of Skodas in India, this is the dent they should have avoided on growing back the already damaged reputation.

Hegde, the current service manager at PPS Skoda had a very good rapport with Bhpians and other VW owners when he was with VW Mysore road.

I hope Zac and Hegde solve this ordeal before the wound grows deeper.

Beautiful products under wrong hands.

[Researcher]

On a lighter note, every time I go near a VAG car or discuss about it with someone, I find a new horror story the very next day on the forum. This has happened for the last 3-4 instances that I can recall in the lockdown. Is this just a sign for me from above or am I a bad omen to VAG cars?

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

I would recommend sending a mail to Mr. Zac Hollis who is very active on social media.

Sometimes I really feel bad for Mr. Zac Hollis. He is very active on social media and answers a lot very patiently it seems. But a single man at the top of the ladder should not have to worry about these everyday issues. And if only Mr. Zac Hollis is directly being reached out for all such issues rather than employees at a lower level, either Skoda train their staff well for these escalations not to happen or shut the department altogether.

[Malluspec]

They have billed 4 and 5 litres of the flushing liquid?
That is totally wrong, this flushing liquid is a concentrate to be mixed with the water and poured into the coolant system. Do send an email (if possible to zac hollis also) asking if 4 +5 litres of coolant flush liquid is really necessary for a coolant system flushing?

[frewper]

Originally Posted by Researcher

Sometimes I really feel bad for Mr. Zac Hollis. He is very active on social media and answers a lot very patiently it seems. But a single man at the top of the ladder should not have to worry about these everyday issues. And if only Mr. Zac Hollis is directly being reached out for all such issues rather than employees at a lower level, either Skoda train their staff well for these escalations not to happen or shut the department altogether.

Aint so difficult right? What is stopping Mr. Hollis from creating an ethics team that looks into matters like these. Should have been done waaaay back. Some how even after all these years with horror stories about Skoda, the company still exists and cars are still selling.

There is absolutey something missing at Skoda. Some form of responsibilty or rather someones neck, who will be absolutely responsible when something this sort happens. I think thats what is wrong with Skoda today. A minor problem with an outright fix is made complicated and there is no one to answer why that happened. Its directly the CEO we are hoping will have an answer. A coolant problem leakage for 40K. I can bet the water pump was not bad in the first place, must have been something minor and they just changed the water pump, Skoda doing best what they could. Overcharging.

[WhiteSierra]

Skoda dealers never learn from their mistakes. This is atrocious. How could they not detect coolant leak when they gave the car for service? Or did the service center people mess up the car when given for servicing? Water pump leakage just after service is something sketchy, I read similar post here, when a person gave his i10 grand for service and just after the service the v-belt / fan belt failed. But this water pump leakage and subsequent timing kit replacement seems very sketchy to me. But seriously 10 K for radiator flush? Even the most popular Liqui Moly radiator flush is under 500 rupees. Our Crysta annual service (10K interval service) costs less than 10 K rupees. What on earth are these Skoda dealers smoking when they are billing customers? This post is a classic example of this thread title :https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-pandemic.html (Are Service Centres fleecing, to make up for losses incurred during the pandemic?)

Originally Posted by Researcher

Sometimes I really feel bad for Mr. Zac Hollis. He is very active on social media and answers a lot very patiently it seems. But a single man at the top of the ladder should not have to worry about these everyday issues. And if only Mr. Zac Hollis is directly being reached out for all such issues rather than employees at a lower level, either Skoda train their staff well for these escalations not to happen or shut the department altogether.

Not just answering, he is diligently following up with almost all major customer issues and is making sure that all of them are sorted out as per customers' satisfaction. He is a great man. I seriously think Zac Hollis should be paid triple of what he is getting paid by Skoda, he is the only saving grace of Skoda in India, people are still buying these new Rapids only because they have trust on Zac, and since he is around he might save them from any problems caused by Skoda dealers in course of their ownership, I've read many posts on similar lines in our forum. Mr. Zac Hollis, please help this person and please warn dealers of such unfair trade practices.

[drmohitg]

I wonder why another equally big issue is why did the workshop certify the car as working fine in the first place? The issue was there at that time also. They didn't rectify it and later as a result of this, more damage was caused which they happily charge for.

If coolant levels went down, aren't they supposed to figure out WHY? They didn't find a leak so they should have looked for alternative explanations. Or did the coolant just evaporate the first time around?

[airbus]

10K for coolant flush and refill that is more than annual service bill of many cars. Looks like some dealers are in a race to earn bad reputation for their brands or maybe Corona virus pandemic had hit them so badly and now they are fleecing customers in every possible way. I am wondering what was the specialty of that flushing liquid they used, which is so costly. Why did not they simply use coolant to flush?

[abhishek_hch]

I was looking forward to the Skoda Vision. With Vinayak closing down and a big dealer group like PPS taking over, I was thinking that now that a good dealer is on board, the horror stories will be a thing of the past. But no! This seems never ending.

[saisree]

So SKODA ASC's are back to their normalcy. Fleecing Customers. 10K for a flush and the reason, " Not an approved Coolant". Is Servo's coolant not an equivalent to OEM coolant? SM's offer of 5K discount in the next service clearly shows a conspiracy and he clearly knows they have milked the customer.

Poor guy Zac, how many complaints and resolutions he can handle. I see it as a single point of failure. SKODA should build a new vertical to handle all these types of issues.

[ike]

Originally Posted by WhiteSierra

he is the only saving grace of Skoda in India, people are still buying these new Rapids only because they have trust on Zac, and since he is around he might save them from any problems caused by Skoda dealers in course of their ownership, I've read many posts on similar lines in our forum.

You cant buy cars worth millions trusting a top level executive will save you from unscrupulous dealers, I wouldn't place all my hedges on just one man. What happens after Zac Hollis moves on from Skoda India?

[Holyghost]

Almost all car dealers fleece customers, but the level to which Skoda dealers goes is mind blowing. Even within VAG group, we see more horror stories from Skoda than VW even though the cars and the sales are similar for both brands.

Why is it so difficult to reign in Skoda dealers? I believe PPS is a new dealer in Bangalore. We can understand old dealers having more control and could arm twist their way. But when a new dealer is also doing the same, There is something really wrong within Skoda.

[Utham123]

I got my car delivered from PPS Skoda last week. I am not one bit surprised by what I read here. I found them anything but professional since the time I made a booking.

They were full of false promises from the beginning. I just hope my A.S.S. experience will not end up being a horrory story like this.

Another point of note about PPS Skoda. I think most of Vinayak's staff has been retained by PPS. So, they do carry the baggage of old habits. Unless, they have a good management who lay emphasis on business ethics and customer satisfaction it will be more of the same again.