[baranib458]

We purchased a Skoda Kushaq 1.0 Ambition on October 2021. The car had almost all of the issues reported by other Kushaq owners including the EPC. Since the start of ownership, the car has been in different Skoda ASCs for 12 times and a total of 37 days. VIN: MEXKPHPA5MG016281

This post is regarding the latest saga which started in April 2023 with AC issues and how the ASCs and CRM teams in Maverick ŠKODA Madurai and Aura Motors Tirunelveli have multiplied the issue many folds.

The car started to blow only hot air in April 2023. I took the car to Skoda ASC in Madurai for a checkup. After checking, they concluded there was no refrigerant in the system. Upon further enquiry on why this happened on a fairly new vehicle, it was mentioned that this is the first case they’ve seen on a Kushaq. They refilled the refrigerant and checked for leakage over the lines in engine bay. They couldn’t find a leakage and delivered the vehicle under observation (Note: I’ve always received the car back under observation for whatever issue it is sent to service centre). During this instance, my car was eligible for the AC campaign, and it was performed aswell.

Fast forward to mid-June, AC did not work again. In Madurai ASC – Refrigerant empty again and I was requested to allow till evening to identify leakage spot. After 2 days and getting a tool from a Tirunelveli Skoda ASC, it was identified the Evaporator coil is faulty and ETA of part would be 7-8 days plus 2 days for replacements.

A loaner vehicle request was rejected. I wasn’t comfortable with leaving my vehicle for this long a period for obvious reasons these ASCs are known for.
I request them to refill refrigerant and deliver the vehicle. They tried to refill but the leakage was so bad, it wouldn’t hold any gas. Without much options, I asked them to deliver the car next day morning. I have an infant and it was impossible to not have a car.

Next day, I reached ASC and saw my car fully washed, polished, parked outside their dealership on under-construction road, with windows open, unlocked, collecting maximum dust. I highlighted this to the security, and they couldn’t care any less. Highlighted this to CRM and it took them 15 minutes to move the car inside. No display of accountability.

I requested for a loaner car as soon as available as moving around with an infant would be difficult in a car with no AC in scorching peak Tamilnadu heat.

I called up ASC for an update, after multiple follow-ups, got to know the order was placed only after 5 days since identifying the issue. Skoda’s logistical weakness came into light with restrictions on order placing that will happen only on Mondays. This was coming from a CRM and this was unbelievable at this time and age.

I was still driving my car without AC for almost 2 weeks and they’ve not arranged a loaner car. The delivery of part was also getting delayed continuously with no ETA in place.

I wrote to the CRM team and Customer Care on escalating continuous delays, false promises, and unavailability of Loaner car for almost 2 weeks. After all the escalations, I received a loaner car and they insisted on taking my car back for further evaluations. At this point, I wasn’t sure what they were trying to evaluate but I was not allowed to hold my car with me.
Thanks to Team-BHP, members and the experiences, I had strong feeling that these guys would mess up the interior and other parts. I took photographs of most areas before handing over my car to ASC.

The procedure of replacing the evaporator coil is so complicated, that whole dashboard had to be removed, including steering wheel, gear lever and AC vents in the back seat. I continuously called up the CRM and insisted on the precautions and workmanship that is required for this job. My daily calls were a reminder to the CRM on insisting a clean job after replacing and re-fitment.

The part was finally received after a month and my car was sitting the ASC with all dashboard parts removed. I trusted the CRM to handle the car delicately. Boy was I wrong. But more on that soon.

ASC took up 7 days to fix and refit all the parts and I requested them to drop my car in a near by city, Tirunelveli, and take back the loaner car.
I looked at the car and to my horror and as predicted, the whole interior had lots of damage with scratches, dents, dirt and dust. They did not even care to dust-off interiors. I’m adding some pictures comparing the before and after photos.

After all the calls and highlighting the need for good workmanship, this was the attitude the workshop and CRM had towards their customer’s property.


The MID had multiple scratches which were practically non-existent when I handed over the car. The picture taken by phone does not show the full picture but it was bad.


The AC vents were full of mud and the whole gloss plastic trim had deep scratches which could be made only with sharp metal tools.


The top portion of dashboard had multiple damages which when looked at from driving position will only make you cry after the care that we show to our cars.


The silver looking trim below infotainment and the one with SKODA inscription were heavily damaged. They had deep scratches all over and it is impossible to miss.


More damages to other parts of interiors.

Some to the Engine bay and more pictures.




The gear knob for AT box was also not working as expected. It did not have the tactile response and was difficult to judge the movement. Looks like there is a campaign in progress to change gear levers for AT vehicles and mine was changed under warranty.

How can ASC with multiple checkpoints inside and verification from CRM allow a delivery to customer. They had zero sense of accountability. They delivered the car hoping the customer would not notice and accept it as is. The damages were not even subtle and they are sore to your eyes at the very first sight. I was furious after all the calls that were made to CRM on highlighting the issues beforehand and they completely disregarded the inputs.

This was escalated again, and they requested me to take the vehicle to Tirunelveli, Aura Motors for further evaluation. Now a different CRM and CRM head looked at the vehicle and I highlighted the issues. They looked at the car and requested me a days’ time to evaluate next steps.

Next day, they wanted me to deliver my car to them for 2 days and handed over a loaner car by default. They tried cleaning every scratch hoping it would go away. After 2 days, I was told they have ordered all the parts that were damaged and would be replaced once received. I specifically took up individual parts on the status and CRM mentioned all parts are ordered and would be replaced.

I again highlighted my displeasure on how this was managed, and I was promised complete satisfaction and replacement of all damaged parts by CRM.

I get a call back after a week and I was asked to leave the car for 2 days on 5th August. The car was delivered at my home after 3 days and was told 2 more parts are in transit and would be changed during next visit. I was not available to look at it immediately as I was travelling.

In the mean time, I asked them not to close the job card as this is a repetitive case and would like to look at the vehicle before accepting it. CRM accepted it over call but still closed it immediately. The job card had only a mention of Gear lever replaced on warranty and not the other parts. I had suspicion on the missing parts but couldn't spend much time on it immediately.

I looked at the car after 3 days and again was hugely disappointed. They had replaced the parts from a demo vehicle and still had damaged items. The dashboard even had stains on it and AC vents were full of mud. I was furious at the state of the car and they did not even care to tell me that these parts were replaced from a different vehicle. Only upon confronting, the CRM mentioned it was replaced from Demo vehicle.

I was repeatedly updated that all parts are ordered and are in transit and no where during all the conversation it was highlighted that these will be fixed from a different vehicle and that too from a demo car. How do they expect me to have parts from demo vehicle that is used by many others and that too had visible stains on it? They’ve played with my car as much as possible and are trying to make a fool out of a customer.









When I asked about the replacement of MID, the CRM outright said it won’t me changed and gave unbelievable explanations. He said changing the MID would make the odometer to zero and would have all the settings to zero. It would be impossible to change the MID and I have to keep it as it is with scratches all over. Such BS.

The CRM actually withheld lots of information and was hoping to push it out to us thinking we would accept without noticing all the issues. This is a case of taking customer for granted.

This saga has been running around for almost 3 months now with lots of false promises, lack of accountability, lethargic customer management and much more.

I’ve been subjected to lots of emotional stress with continuous calls to CRM, subjecting my infant to unwanted external factors like high temperatures without AC, dirty interiors with stains from a Demo car, loaner cars which reek of sweat and much more.

I’ve been put in situations where I can’t use my own car after paying premium prices for a “premium experience from a premium brand”. This ownership is turning out to be regretful one.

I’m still getting all sorts of promises on replacement but not sure how would it turn out to be. This is what is expected if you are going to own a SKODA. This is the state of customer management. Do not get fooled by all the flashy interiors of showroom and well-dressed personnel.

[ATTACH=Kushaq 6476 - Damage Pics v1.pdf]2493390[/ATTACH]

I've attached a PDF with before and after pictures explaining the damages and also added all pictures to a link if anyone wants to look at clear pictures.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...WB?usp=sharing

Please share your thoughts on this.

[madhukarmohan]

Very sorry to hear about your experience. Try to escalate the issue to the highest levels at Skoda to get a permanent solution. Otherwise, the issue will revolve around multiple ASCs which will not end but cause more suffering to you and your family.

[saisree]

Another example of hopeless Dealer garages spoiling a brand. First of all, opening up the dashboard is itself a disaster and there is very less competency in the dealer network regardless of the brand. Seems like the Madural workshop used screw drivers and similar tools instead of the trim pliers that come in plastics and do less harm.

Check if you can take it some outside detailing shop like 3M and get the dashboard and trims cleaned and detailed. I will not ask anyone to touch these things again. They are prone to more damages and will be an eyesore.

[Bala02]

Sad to hear about your experience that too from a premium brand like Skoda. Apart from email escalations, escalations on twitter helps too. Find their twitter handle and escalate and paste this URL. I am sure this will catch the top managements attention.

[Col Mehta]

Boils my blood to see this . Sorry that you are going through such horrendous and painful experience. We all love our cars and just hate to see them being ill-treated.

This is one of THE reasons I never trust these service centres to work on the interiors as they have zero respect for anything and are full of apathy. Škoda/Hyundai/Honda whatever - they all are same. If I really had to get something like this done, I would ensure it happens under my supervision. I understand it might not have been possible in your case though.

You should escalate this to every top banana in Škoda and make sure they fix your car’s interiors back to how they were.

[vaibhavyagnik]

Changing the evaporator coil is a big job in almost all cars because the compressor sits in the engine bay from were the gas is compressed and sent to coil where it evaporates, cools the coil and returns back to engine bay. Meawhile a blower fan blows air through the coil which is cool and out through the AC vents. Obviously the coil has to sit behind the AC vents and hence it is embedded deep in the dash.

I also agree that ODO meter will get reset if the display is replaced.

What I do not agree is the quality of workmanship. I mean how hard would it be for technicians to use plastic trim removal tools rather than screw drivers? Why not wear gloves? Why not cover seats and other parts so that they do not get soiled? Why not cover parts that are removed from the car and keep them in bins so that they are not replaced? I believe that the root cause of all these problems is how the technicians have been trained. I think most of them would have started their career at a local garage where service standards are not high and now that culture is embibed in them. This culture might even get passed on if a new guy joins the garage.

While the best option is to push the service centre for outright replacement of damaged trim parts, if it does not work out, your only option will be to get a polish and remove the scratches on the display. If done carefully, it will become good as new. Unfortunately trim pieces will not be so lucky and you will have to live with them.

[Ays7]

This is absolutely scary. Reading this thread makes me one feel frustrated and annoyed and helpless. I had booked the 1.5 Kushaq, and then cancelled when Semi Conductor shortage forced them to give manually operating ORVM's. I was pretty sold on the Kushaq otherwise. Somehow reading this makes me feel like I dodged a bullet.

I hope the higher up's at Skoda read this thread and take corrective action to your satisfaction. Otherwise complaints such as this, for a niche brand like Skoda-VW will be a doom. They are already facing perception of quality issues and bad after sales service experience and this thread only reinforces that.

[buzzy_boy]

Very sorry to hear this. I've faced the same issues with Mahindra - they invariably mess up the interiors after even a routine service.

As far as Skoda is concerned, in general experience, large dealers in metros are better trained than small town dealers. Also, it'll help of you know someone in the dealership's management. Never trust these guys with complex jobs.

[07CR]

While nothing less is expected from Skoda service centers, I am still amazed with the number of issues you had with the car before handing it to the service centers. It's 2023 now, and still there are issues with a basic functionality like AC?

Come on Skoda, you were never this bad. I keep reading Skoda/VW SVCs have improved, imo with the 2.0 India strategy, they have infact deteriorated than their DSG days.

@OP I would suggest posting this all over social media (Twitter, Facebook,Insta, Youtube if possible). Tag the Skoda accounts and the dealerships. Hope atleast this rings a bell to the Heads at Skoda India.

[UD17]

Originally Posted by baranib458

I can’t use my own car after paying premium prices for a “premium experience from a premium brand”.

I like the sarcasm even when you are in difficult situation. But i agree that the price is indeed premium considering the other aspects of ownership.

Precisely for the peace of my mind i have kept one rule - Never ever look for owning a VW/Skoda + Never recommend to friends. There are numerous registered examples (in Team BHP and other social media platforms) which should beware people to not touch the Skoda/VW with a barge pole.

For your issues, I think these should be escalated to higher ups. Definitely a next level servicing experience. Certainly the people dealing in your case are unethical and just try to shrug off things assuming that you are ignorant.

[Max5414]

I feel for you man, had the almost similar incident with my Tata Altroz, Had a bad accident and gave my car for service. The damage was so severe that both the left side door were replaced and repainted. They kept my car for 2 months and only after severe pressure from my side they delivered my car and that too full dusty and lousy paint job and scratches all over. I didn't had the strength to go behind them and after 10 days my car was delivered, The service center closed down. Even after 2 months my car was full of niggles and now gave it to other service center. My car is still in service center and its just 2 years old. If they don't fix it properly will shift to third party ASC.

[sse]

The Skoda dealer in Madurai ( Near Airport ) customer service has always been sketchy. Infact, Last I went past their showroom - their stockyard, next to showroom - has no proper fencing. They have "Tin Roofing Sheets" acting as wall. This is right on a dusty highway. They park their Demo Cars inside their service station while stocking the unsold inventory in their stockyard guarded by tin sheets.

Not to pile on the dealer, but my friend's Rapid went for a Regular Service and had a pretty bad experience to dirtying the interiors and had a dent on rear which they never tried to acknowledge. Obviously, he did not have proof like you have.

He moved to Gurudev Motors in Tiruchy and atleast till now, he has not informed me of any bad experience.

For your issue, I feel the pain and agony. But, they would ensure they have no liability in this. I really hope this thread gains traction and reaches them do something about this.

[abaliga]

Almost all service centers end up doing this when the evaporator coil needs a service, I wonder if there is a better way to engineer the placement of the coil to avoid disassembling the entire dashboard

Not trying to justify what happened here and I am in complete agreement with OP, OEMs need to supply appropriate tools and list down steps to be followed to remove and refit the dashboard assembly without scratching the panels, service centers need to be very careful on the process followed and not rush the job, penalizing the dealership and making them bear the expense of replacing the damaged panels should help avoid these issues

I hope Skoda supports the customer here and replaces the scratched panels free of cost.

[headbanger]

Just went thru the thread around tribute to Skoda Octavia prior to this one. These two experiences are opposite ends of the same thread-- Skoda.

I feel for the OP. His angst is justified.

If ever there would be a case study on Skoda in India, I wonder what subject they will pick - great products OR Skoda's dealership culture.

All these threads that keep coming from time to time point out deep rotten malaise within Skoda's ecosystem in India.

[sbenstewart]

I had the same conundrum while getting my Skoda in 2020 and so retained the multi-vehicle setup at home. I do consider my ownership to be trouble-free. I do get the ASC to fix the rattles from time to time, but the washing and interiors are always done by myself.

Seeing your location to be Bangalore, and I suppose your ancestral place down South which is what I have too. I find the hassle of not being able to drive to and from both your places, especially when you have a new added precious member to the family to be unacceptable.

If it were me, I would get another vehicle, preferably one with a more reliable track record. While you can retain the Skoda CSUV or not, is your choice. But, definitely you need answers for all that happened.

Feel free to DM if any support is needed.