I would like to add a bit of information about one of the parties involved:
Skoda GmBH has nothing to do with with Skoda India apart from their contractual agreements. They have no direct say of what Skoda India does with its business.
I have this in a mail directly from Skoda, as a reply to the one I sent them about their poor customer service in India. Perhaps you would like to contact the same helpline and see if it helps address your issue.
Mail chain starts here:
from
*********@gmail.com to
info@skoda-info.cz
date
Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 3:44 PMsubject
Skoda Auto in Indiamailed-by
gmail.com
hide details 7/17/10
Dear Skoda,
Congratulations on your achievements and successes so far in the growing Indian car market. It is no small feat for an European company against well established Asian competitors. Your cars provide genuine quality of drive and comfort at reasonable purchase costs to Indian consumers. However there are some issues. Until a month ago I was a potential Skoda customer. But I have concluded that buying a Skoda at the moment is not in my best interests for the following reasons:
- India has a large population, majority of which is poor and uneducated about corporate ethics. As much as they are hard working they are also quite gullible. While Skoda Auto may have entered the Indian market with the best of intentions, the same, I regret to inform you, cannot be said with your business partners in India. Greed and malice is common place in a large population. Unfortunately your hard work and integrity is being tainted by certain dealerships and their alleged practices. You are losing hundreds of potential customers due to such bad publicity which is a very thin line between failure and success in the Indian market. Hence my immediate concern is with your dealerships, their integrity and most importantly your resolve and conviction to appraise them. I suggest you move quickly and transparently by conducting a comprehensive audit and inquiry into all your existing dealerships. In addition conduct a survey among all your existing and previous customers and Skoda vehicle owners. Integrity has no replacement in India.
- I live in Chennai where many brands have set up factories to produce or assemble their vehicles. I fail to understand why Skoda alone has created an image of high maintenance costs due to expensive spare parts and service costs. I can guess that it could be due to many factors like insincere dealerships, import costs, availability, incompatibility to Indian conditions and perhaps misplaced pricing strategy. I suggest you work to reduce the cost of spare parts by increasing localization, better pricing strategy and increasing the transparency on the costs.
I hope you find this email in good spirit and move to address the concerns I have raised for the benefit of your company and its stockholders. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
*************
Chennai
India
-Prompt reply from Skoda AD GmBH-
from
sks.service@skoda-auto.cz
to
****************
date Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 1:51 PM
subject Skoda Auto in India
hide details 7/19/10
Dear Mr. *******,
Through our INFO-LINE we have received your below said e-mail.
We regret to learn that your matter did not come up to a satisfactory solution so far. We understand your disappointment and
dissatisfaction concerned.
We would like to inform you that there is our representative in your country - company Skoda Auto India Private Limited (SAIPL)
which is also fully independent Skoda cars manufacturer in India and is fully responsible for handling with customer claims and
requests of Indian customers. Therefore we would like to provide you with their contact details as follows:
SKODA AUTO India Pvt. Ltd.
Plot No. A-1/1, Shendra, Five Star Industrial Area, M.I.D.C., Tq. & Dist. Aurangabad, 431 201
Website:
?koda India ?koda Auto -
phone +91 240 6631 111 /222/333
customercare@skoda-auto.co.in
Nevertheless, as we are always interested in satisfaction of each Skoda brand customer, in order to improve the current
situation we have immediately forwarded your e-mail to SAIPL Customer Care colleagues and asked them to take an immediate action
to settle this issue.
We hope the situation will improve soon and you will become a happy customer of Skoda brand.
Thank you for your kind patience you have shown so far.
Regards,
Ing. Alexander Pelikán | PST - Péče o zákazníka, Customer Care
ŠKODA AUTO a.s. | V. Klementa 869 | 293 60 Mladá Boleslav | Czech Republic
sks.service@skoda-auto.cz |
Úvodní stránka - ?KODA Auto ?eská republika |
Homepage ?koda Auto -
Škoda - Simply clever.
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
Prosím, zvažte dopad na životní prostředí před tiskem tohoto mailu.
-My last reply to Skoda, after booking my Cruze-
from [Offline] ************
to
sks.service@skoda-auto.cz
date Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 1:22 AM
subject Re: Skoda Auto in India
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 7/21/10
Dear Ing. Alexander Pelikán,
I have known Skoda to be a reputed manufacturer even before you setup shop in India when I learned how in WW2 the Germans, proud as they are about their engineering prowess, were extremely impressed with the Skoda made LT vz 38 tank and used it in place of their own machines as the Panzer 38[t]. And later on the same chassis was used to build an excellent tank destroyer, the Hetzer.
Please continue with your product line similar to the Octavia Rider 1.9 TDi model. It is an excellent made-for-India commuter. The only draw back as I stated in the previous mail is the bad publicity from dealership scandals, spare parts and service cost. Now in India the general word of mouth regarding Skoda is "High maintenance cost!". An example of where this will lead to is Fiat with their first attempt in India. I am sure you/your Indian representative company are aware and efforts are being made to fix this issue. I wish you all the best in that. I will follow up with SAIPL with my feedback if needed. Thank you for your prompt response.
Regards,
**********
Chennai
India
-End of mail chain-