[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

This is too long a wait. Who did you send the legal notice to? Giriraj Skoda or Skoda Auto?

What were the terms of the notice?

How was it delivered? Do you have an acknowledgement?

Was it drafted by a good attorney? In fact, if you don't mind, you could post a scanned copy of it so that it could be further analysed.

To Skoda India , Skoda local office (Gurgaon) , Giriraj.

Sent via Registered Ad. Yes I have acknowledgement.

I have asked for a full refund or a new car with compensation.

Ya the attorny is a good one

[adnan_1212]

Its really very sad to know about the skoda attitude towards such a minor issue. As said by couple of bhpians that dragging the matter to the court would only add up to your voes as it is not only time consuming but you would have to pay fees to the advocate. One of my friends had a major issue with Chevy magnum, regarding its wiring, A/c coil etc, which started within 15 days from the date of purchase. When the problems could not be resolved through repeated visits to the service center, he atlast had to leave the car in the service center and approached the consumer court and filed a case against deficiency of services and claimed damages to a tune of 12 lakhs or alternatively a replacement. Unfortunately, after a period of 12 months when they received the judgment, they were shocked that the court has partly allowed the case granting compensation of Rs 25000/- only. Ironically he himself is a lawyer. He took the car back and has filed an appeal. Hearing not yet over. I am not discouraging you, but what i would suggest you being a lawyer is to simply enjoy the car, forget what has happened as it is a minor issue and can be resolved by a good painter for a cost of Rs 3-4 thousand. Cheers.

To a great extent i do not agree with Manooj. A seller is not bound to disclose each and every fact which would discourage the buyer from buying the product. it is the purchaser who has to be witty and do the ground work before purchasing the product. 'Bass work' should have inspected the car thoroughly, before taking the delivery. This is only a case of deficiency in services. His case is strong only to the extent that in the entire correspondence between him and the skoda, no where they have taken the plea of owner's mistake or accident done by him. Best of luck to him.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 30 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

[GT500]

Originally Posted by adnan_1212

but what i would suggest you being a lawyer is to simply enjoy the car, forget what has happened as it is a minor issue and can be resolved by a good painter for a cost of Rs 3-4 thousand. Cheers.

I would say this is a wise option to one who does not want to enter into a legal tussle especially taking into the fact about the current conditions of consumer courts in India.(Read Pathetic)

BUT "if" this is an accidental car there might be some more damage that the owner has not discovered yet, so he may be in for a nasty surprise after some time.

AND what would you expect a consumer to behave like after spending a good fortune, a decent product at least, and a company from which it is bought to give you support in case something goes wrong.

I thought skoda had pulled up their socks after their image took a beating in the recent past.
Clearly this is not the case.

What I failed to understand is, why consumers still keep on buying products from such a company.

OR more importantly ,do the consumers who are aware of the skoda A** give more weightage to the performance of the machine vis-a-vis peace of mind/hefty maintainence cost?

Cheers

GT

[torquecurve]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

To Skoda India , Skoda local office (Gurgaon) , Giriraj.

Sent via Registered Ad. Yes I have acknowledgement.

I have asked for a full refund or a new car with compensation.

Ya the attorny is a good one

LBM they say 'acche se accha chor koi nishaan chod jata hai' loosely translating to finest thief also leaves a trace. You mentioned that the glass on one window was changed. It could mean that the accident broke the glass. Possibly a T-bone. The story goes that, My car had a minor acccident due to a friend reversing it into a firehose box. The only damage was my rear windscreen which broke. As you know, autoglass gets smashed into a million small pieces. some pieces made it into the boot trim. When the glass was replaced, I didnt observee it. However when the boot lid was lifted it mad a sound like a kids toy rattle. Some pieces of glass made it through the trim and were stuck in some parts of the rear gate. Driving made them loose and so the rattle. We had to take the trim out again to resolve this. Also some pieces were embededded into the carpet which we foind later.

Long story short, check for this. You might not 'hear' these as you open the door by swinging it away from the body horizontally rather than swinging it up. If you know a good accessory dealer who can manage to remove the door trim without damage, you could find these pieces. LEAVE them there, put back the trim and then ask the Skoda Engineer to remove it in your presence.

Also, if you remove the inside cover above the tyre you might be able to see signs of weldspots/ overspray which is done after a damage to the metal.

Hope this helps.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Gt500

What I failed to understand is, why consumers still keep on buying products from such a company.

OR more importantly ,do the consumers who are aware of the skoda A** give more weightage to the performance of the machine vis-a-vis peace of mind/hefty maintainence cost?
Cheers
GT

Edit : Sorry, if this post is OT. Felt I had to reply.

Lot of reasons - look around within the forum, I see people suggesting Skoda cars as a viable option in the "What car" threads, even a few of them would have condemned Skoda & its dealers in threads like these, but yet would suggest Skoda as an option to other buyers.

Plausible Reasons:

1. Good cars. I don't believe anyone would doubt the performance of the Octavia or the Superb or even the Fabia, when compared to the competition.
2. Hope. Hoping that what happened to LBM, Harishv and others won't happen to them. That their cars would be in the other 9 out of the 10.
3. Discounts & Freebies. However well-informed do we become, we are a community that give importance to VFM. The 'kitna deti hai' attitude.
4. Ignorance is bliss. E.g. My colleague, a passive TBHP member, booked the Fabia petrol a few months back. The very next day I showed him Harishv's thread & other threads; he shruggs, says "Yea dude, I had gone through those threads earlier. But yaar, jab TD kar raha tha, tab yaad nahi raha. Abhi dekte hai kya hota hai". Luckily (for him), his Fabia hasn't given him any trouble for the past 5-6 months.

As a self-imposed rule, I always mention the issues of Skoda whenever I give suggestions to buyers interested in Skoda cars.

[prithwi-81]

I had an accident on my TSI, front left fender replaced by Skoda (Giriraj). Easiest way to see if the fender is replaced is check the inside of the fender from under the hood. Will give u a clear indication of what is going on. If your ok, we can meet up in GGN and I'll show u what I mean.

I've had more than 6 cars from Giriraj and this is surprising of them. Usually their sales staff is pretty good, but the service staff suxxx.. but the new service guys are much better (Sandeep in particular).

Let me know if I can be of any help.

[iSpoke]

Holy$hit.. [mods please allow - can't find better words]
Feel very sorry for your case LBM.
Not sure how strong your case is to be fought on a legal ground as debated by many, but I strongly support to go for it if you have the time and energy for it. Its bitter truth that we all Indians know that our Legal System takes its own time and may run till eternity, but ignoring such incidents just promotes these people and gives them more courage and experience to commit it again and again. Thing is someone, someone has to raise the voice (read put the peace of mind at stake).

When I was searching for Skoda reviews on Team-BHP and came across the thread by harishv, got shock and almost decided not to go for my favorite hatch - Fabia. Since after that there have been many happy Skoda vehicle owners in t-bhp community and these machines are good at performance, I (literally) dared to buy me a Fabia 1.6. I would be an example of what ninjatalli describes, people hoping that it will not happen to them.

Wish you will get the replacement of the car or at least good compensation that you deserve.

[n_aditya]

Well this just sucks. Sad to read about what you're going through LBM. Good that you have sent them a legal notice. I hope they replace the car or refund your money with interest.

I was thinking of buying a Fabia but no sir. With so many love stories (sic!) on the skoda brand i'm staying far away from it.

[skjlives]

May be I missed this, but LBM, did you check the mileage on the car when you first drove out? I think missing out on PDI is harakiri when you're buying a Skoda, but you couldn't have missed if the MID showed unusually high usage before delivery to you.
Btw, I own a TSI Ambiente, bought very recently. I did a 60 minute PDI before registration and another 30 minutes before delivery following the advice of experienced folks on this forum. I am elated with the ownership experience so far, but, truth be told, I won't be surprised if the first experience with *** puts an end to the honeymoon period, and I am totally prepared for it. Good things in life come for a cost, and sometimes that cost is peace of mind!

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Edit : Sorry, if this post is OT. Felt I had to reply.

Lot of reasons - look around within the forum, I see people suggesting Skoda cars as a viable option in the "What car" threads, even a few of them would have condemned Skoda & its dealers in threads like these, but yet would suggest Skoda as an option to other buyers.

Plausible Reasons:

1. Good cars. I don't believe anyone would doubt the performance of the Octavia or the Superb or even the Fabia, when compared to the competition.
2. Hope. Hoping that what happened to LBM, Harishv and others won't happen to them. That their cars would be in the other 9 out of the 10.
3. Discounts & Freebies. However well-informed do we become, we are a community that give importance to VFM. The 'kitna deti hai' attitude.
4. Ignorance is bliss. E.g. My colleague, a passive TBHP member, booked the Fabia petrol a few months back. The very next day I showed him Harishv's thread & other threads; he shruggs, says "Yea dude, I had gone through those threads earlier. But yaar, jab TD kar raha tha, tab yaad nahi raha. Abhi dekte hai kya hota hai". Luckily (for him), his Fabia hasn't given him any trouble for the past 5-6 months.

I guess I belong to the category of people you have described above.

It is really the hope that these kind of things would not happen to us that makes us buy the cars we love.

I must say though that the horror stories about Skoda and their dealers that I had read about on the forum made be tread very cautiously from the beginning. I bought a Laura TSI from Vinayak Skoda in May this year and was very particular about doing a PDI of the piece that was allotted to me BEFORE I PARTED WITH MY MONEY. When I did inspect the car at the yard I found it to be very shabby and untidy and upon decoding the VIN (thanks to T-BHP again) found it to be a Dec 2010 production model. Plus it did not come have fog lamps (that's another story!) . I rejected it outright and insisted on a brand new latest production car. I was able to get my way easily since I had not yet made the payment.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

I guess I belong to the category of people you have described above.

It is really the hope that these kind of things would not happen to us that makes us buy the cars we love.

I must say though that the horror stories about Skoda and their dealers that I had read about on the forum made be tread very cautiously from the beginning. I bought a Laura TSI from Vinayak Skoda in May this year and was very particular about doing a PDI of the piece that was allotted to me BEFORE I PARTED WITH MY MONEY. When I did inspect the car at the yard I found it to be very shabby and untidy and upon decoding the VIN (thanks to T-BHP again) found it to be a Dec 2010 production model. Plus it did not come have fog lamps (that's another story!) . I rejected it outright and insisted on a brand new latest production car. I was able to get my way easily since I had not yet made the payment.

Really appreciate that you came out in the open & agreed on the same.

But the unsaid risk that every Skoda car buyer (including my colleague & you) is ignoring is that what happened to LBM & Harishv (& you) during the purchase process could easily re-appear during the servicing sessions. And by then, you are deep into the rabbit hole, even legally I am quite doubtful how much remuneration you could get from Skoda or the dealer.

In fact forget Skoda, nowdays I keep wondering something similar of a scandal might come up with VW with regards to the large number of unsold petrol Ventos. I keep voicing this thought again and again - what are they doing with those cars - the longer they remain unsold, the bigger problem they are going to turn out later!

Still, if you are going ahead with your decided purchase, my good wishes & hope the car serves you well without any issues!

[low_bass_makker]

Guys I have went the legal way after much thinking. I have bought 35 lakhs worth Skoda cars. It is not a huge amount for few but I am not going to leave Skoda till they provide me a brand new car along with the compensation. They have cheated with me that is the big thing in my mind. A car is just a small thing but the way they did the buiness is very wrong. I would say they have just sold a wrong car to a VERY wrong person. For which they have to repay.

I am not going to be bit soft or lenient in this case. So please do not advice me not to go the legal way. I know how legal system works in India. But I will not leave a stone unturned in exposing this scam they are running. Capital and time is not a issue for me I have a good staff of people with me to help !!!!

AND I HAVE GOT T-BHP WITH ME !!!!!

[aks_karthik]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

Guys I have went the legal way after much thinking. I have bought 35 lakhs worth Skoda cars. It is not a huge amount for few but I am not going to leave Skoda till they provide me a brand new car along with the compensation. They have cheated with me that is the big thing in my mind. A car is just a small thing but the way they did the buiness is very wrong. I would say they have just sold a wrong car to a VERY wrong person. For which they have to repay.

I am not going to be bit soft or lenient in this case. So please do not advice me not to go the legal way. I know how legal system works in India. But I will not leave a stone unturned in exposing this scam they are running. Capital and time is not a issue for me I have a good staff of people with me to help !!!!

AND I HAVE GOT T-BHP WITH ME !!!!!

This is indeed a Bloody attitude to hitting back the Skoda people.
How many times we just hear and pay sympathy to the affected one.
Some one needs to offend those morons and teach them a strong lessons about Indian Car Lovers.
Please don't give up as you have people to help you out.
Advance Congratulations to WIN this battle

[navin]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

Till now they are mum since the 16th when I have written my last mail in which I have mentioned about sending a the legal notice. And I have sent the legal notice on the 21st.

1. Get a competent attorney.

2. There are laws that give specific periods for the company to reslove the grieviance. In this case for example you paid money up front and in good faith to Giriraj Skoda for a new car and have ample proof (other than an out and out confession) that the car given to you was not new but infact used, damaged and repaired.

3. By supplying you a car that was repaired for the price of a new car Giriraj has infact commited a fraud. The sections of the law dealing with fraud are quite stringent so ask your attorney/solicitor to charge them under the strictest penal sections possible.

4. Skoda India will claim that they have no control over their dealer's actions. Technically they might be right. However since the dealer represents Skoda India by selling and servicing their cars, it is also the manufacturer's (Skoda India's) responsibility to ensure that their dealers are responsible.

Funny thing, despite the number of compalints against Skoda (huge if you compare the complaint/car sold ratio) Skoda is still able to sell cars in India. Wonder how many cars Skoda would sell if they actually had developed a reputation for good service and ethical dealers!

[low_bass_makker]

@Navin Ji and others I am more pissed of from the dealer than the SKODA. I know Skoda makes great cars but again they are not trouble free. There cars are great value for money that's why they sell in numbers. I find more of a issue with the dealer networks than the company. Till the time I get good serivce from the dealer then it is okay !!! Other wise I can go this way also !!!



This car is of my very close friend of mine. They is also my very close friend who has a Laura Tdi whose A/C is not working. One more whose Superb A/T gear shifting has some issues. Me along with them can go outside showrooms of Skoda and will call media people to investigate on this matter. Then SKODA will wake up. Like I said they have sold a wrong car to a very wrong person !!!!