[Ascari]

I have a different take on Skoda maintenance and after sales. I own several luxury cars. Of all the cars I have the Skoda has been the most reliable. I had an issue with AC compressor. My car was out of warranty but the dealer Tafe Access, Bangalore was most helpful. The dealer personally intervened spoke to Hq and replaced the compressor as a gesture of goodwill and you know what I was sent daily email updates about the status of the cars, scheduled delivery time and contact person details. I was amazed! Not even my Mercedes dealer does that. May be I am one of the few satisfied Skoda Customers in the country.

In comparison BMW which claims to be a premium manufacturer gave me the creeps with the way they treat customers. My 3 Series had gone to Navnit Motors for a rear brake pad wear sensor failure. The CSR first told me it was a faulty sensor. I asked them to go ahead and replace it.After a day he comes back and tells me that has not solved the problem and the idrive continues to show the wear warning. I asked him what you think we should do. He asked me to replace the pads. My car had done 6500 kms! I was aghast. Finally they ended charging me for both the pads and the sensor. I asked him, if you are changing the pads does that not mean the sensors were right? He had no answer such was his technical knowledge. The car then came home with a faulty horn. I personally took it to Navnit to set it right. I was made to wait for nearly an hour for a mechanic to have a look. The mech arrived opened the bonnet and after five minutes concluded the horn had to be replaced. I knew it was a case of loose contact. I refused their suggestion. Took it to Ali garage and they fixed it in a jiffy. This is the same experience i have with my other premium cars the Audi and the Mercedes.

[narayan]

Media will not jump in so easily to report this for obvious reasons. But the owner seems to be a senior executive and hence I see Skoda acting quickly to cut the damage. If the customer had been from the "mango people " category the fight would have been tougher

[dkaile]

Wowie, another BIG Skoda horror story in the making!!

Some facts don't digest though. All Skoda Superb's are covered by a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty irrespective of the fact whether you have taken extended warranty or not. Mechanotronic failures are most common and they are mostly covered under warranty in those 2 years, even after under goodwill. Repair cost of 9.5L on 38,300 kms without any accident does NOT sound right unless his engine fell off. Wrong Fuel too cannot cause such major charges. Maybe submergence in water! We need to get more facts from the gentleman to reach some proper conclusion before one sided crucifiction of a company. Whether he was the initiator of something that made the car go terribly wrong that it cannot be even covered under warranty!!

PS- I have forwarded the link to Rahul Kulkarni at Skoda.

[itsashishsharma]

I am wondering how brave the Indian buyer can be. Seeing such poor feedback for Skoda on a regular basis and then buying their products demands a heart more spacious than a Superb.
:P

[asr245]

Yet another Skoda horror story and yet many of us rush to buy their cars just because they provide more equipment for a lesser/similar price range as Japs/Koreans. Or maybe just because of the FTD factor.

For such people to change, we have to spread the word and try and persuade people from buying any VAG group product. I remember reading Harish's horror story here from over 2 years ago, and have persuaded people to stay away from the VAG group. My dad's looking for a car right now but I don't even let him look at a VAG product (I am asking him to go for a Maruti product for reliability and choice of service centers - at his age I do not want him to be running after these guys).

[puchoo]

I sympathize with the problem that the gentleman is facing , but i think its best to wait for some more facts to emerge as well , true given the general trend seen with Skoda after sales service i am sure they will be to blame , but to dismiss the cars outright because of this might be a bit too extreme.

I for one have had trouble free after sales support / service dealings with Skoda , no hassles , arguments , reasonable costs and i believe a few other members will also testify to having similar experiences

Originally Posted by asr245

Yet another Skoda horror story and yet many of us rush to buy their cars just because they provide more equipment for a lesser/similar price range as Japs/Koreans. Or maybe just because of the FTD factor.

For such people to change, we have to spread the word and try and persuade people from buying any VAG group product. I remember reading Harish's horror story here from over 2 years ago, and have persuaded people to stay away from the VAG group. My dad's looking for a car right now but I don't even let him look at a VAG product (I am asking him to go for a Maruti product for reliability and choice of service centers - at his age I do not want him to be running after these guys).

[samyboy]

Originally Posted by itsashishsharma

I am wondering how brave the Indian buyer can be. Seeing such poor feedback for Skoda on a regular basis and then buying their products demands a heart more spacious than a Superb.
:P

Satish, it's not matter of being brave ( I recently purchased Skoda Yeti). They do make excellent vehicles. Prior to buying Yeti I used to say - I wish Yeti was manufactured by Honda.. and I would buy it with a premium. For people like me it's a compelling package (features/build quality/price) unmatched by any other car maker.

Each of us need to mitigate our risks, So I did keep some money aside, went for lower trim of vehicle than originally planned to cover for any problems that may rise after 4 yrs of warranty plan.

Hats off to the owner. This requires guts. I wish I was in his city. I would have gone there to support him.

[itsashishsharma]

Originally Posted by samyboy

Satish, it's not matter of being brave ( I recently purchased Skoda Yeti). They do make excellent vehicles. .

Yes, their products are great. You chose Yeti over a Fortuner or a CRV etc because you found it better then those. But my point was that for a long time now, we are regularly hearing such horror stories about Skoda A.S.S. Jokes aside, who intends to invest a fortune, should be served better. They have good products and they do well with pricing too, see Fabia and Superb, they are priced very aggressively. Only if they had a decent, not excellent, just decent A.S.S., you would have seen a difference in the numbers they manage to clock per month.
And itsAshishSharma means it is Ashish Sharma.

[Akshay1234]

I'd really love to hear what the 9l repair bill was for. This seems to be the 3.6 fsi Superb, and contrary to what a few are saying, a have a few friends with the 3.6 and it runs just fine on normal fuel.

Before some facts are out lets not jump to conclusions and start saying "oooh Skoda horror stories" blah blah. Ask most of the present owners on the forum and 95% of them will be happy.

[Raghu Srinivasa]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I'd really love to hear what the 9l repair bill was for. This seems to be the 3.6 fsi Superb, and contrary to what a few are saying, a have a few friends with the 3.6 and it runs just fine on normal fuel.

Before some facts are out lets not jump to conclusions and start saying "oooh Skoda horror stories" blah blah. Ask most of the present owners on the forum and 95% of them will be happy.

Akshay,
The real measure of a company is how it deals with 5% who do end up with bad products. Going by the consistency in "buyer pain" over the last few years, have to agree that Skoda treats their customers very badly.

Raghu Srinivasa

[puchoo]

My point exactly , i will happily give the benefit of the doubt to the customer but at this point we are shredding Skoda without knowing all the facts and quite frankly if i think hard i could probably come up with a bad experience , if not more ,with every manufacturer or their after sales support that i have dealt with personally atleast.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I'd really love to hear what the 9l repair bill was for. This seems to be the 3.6 fsi Superb, and contrary to what a few are saying, a have a few friends with the 3.6 and it runs just fine on normal fuel.

Before some facts are out lets not jump to conclusions and start saying "oooh Skoda horror stories" blah blah. Ask most of the present owners on the forum and 95% of them will be happy.

[DieselDon]

Originally Posted by vsoneja

Does anyone know the real story behind this ?

Originally Posted by vsoneja

I just spoke to the gentleman on the other side of the phone the car belongs to one Mr Kunwer Sachdev , MD of Su kam power limited.

@vsoneja : Thanks for getting the name.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Any details about this case?

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

I wonder if he has put up anything online too, did a search; couldn't find anything.

@ninjatalli : I got lucky. Probably since I did my search after I got the name.

Originally Posted by coolboy007

10 lakhs on repairs without a single accident is scary, wish he registers here and shares all the other info.

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I would like to know more in terms of, where exactly did he spend such a high amount on his car.

Originally Posted by selfdrive

I dont understand one thing. If there is no accident and there are repairs, should the costs not be covered under warranty?

Originally Posted by ACM

Skoda probably claimed that the customer did not use the car properly (wrong fuel) or this must be just beyond 2 years, else all should be covered in warranty.

Originally Posted by dkaile

Maybe submergence in water!

@dkaile : Maybe the most probable reason.

Originally Posted by puchoo

best to wait for some more facts to emerge as well

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I'd really love to hear what the 9l repair bill was for.

It looks to be water logging related. Found a hit on consumercourt.in referring a Skoda Superb & one Mr Kunwer Sachdev.

Refer Link - http://www.consumercourt.in/product-...-disaster.html

one day in August the Skoda vehicle stopped in the middle of the road while crossing a small water logging on the busiest roads of Gurgaon, the road near the Golf Course.

We have got the suggestion from the service center now, that the engine of the Skoda vehicle has extensive damages and the same has to be replaced. The approximate expenditure would be approximately 11.5 Lacs. They say that the damage is due to water logging and hence cannot be covered under warranty.

PS: I am neither a Skoda supporter nor a Skoda basher. Incidentally am still evaluating a Skoda/VW for my next car.

[puchoo]

Thanks for this!!

Unfortunately i am still a bit unsure , the description of the situation is not elaborate enough to really gauge for example how deep the water was or how this was dealt with by the driver - from a slightly distant perspective i cannot imagine an engine being so heavily damaged simply by crossing some road / patch clogged with water?

Originally Posted by DieselDon

It looks to be water logging related. Found a hit on consumercourt.in referring a Skoda Superb & one Mr Kunwer Sachdev.

Refer Link - http://www.consumercourt.in/product-...-disaster.html
[b][i][u]P

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by DieselDon

It looks to be water logging related. Found a hit on consumercourt.in referring a Skoda Superb & one Mr Kunwer Sachdev.

Refer Link - http://www.consumercourt.in/product-...-disaster.html

Guys I am just posting what is in the above link

We bought the new Skoda superb 3.6 FSI from GiriRaj Motors, Gurgaon, the best vehicle, according to Skoda that they have ever made, in May this year. We were so excited to finally get our hand on the Skoda Superb, after waiting for so long. We had a lot of expectations as it had cost us heavily; we were all charged up and were in high spirits for this tryst with this dream machine. Initially for about three months it ran smooth, although with some minor hiccups, but one day in August the Skoda vehicle stopped in the middle of the road while crossing a small water logging on the busiest roads of Gurgaon, the road near the Golf Course. The car just stopped on the road where huge traffic was passing alongside. As the car was just three month old we did not wish to meddle with it and hence immediately informed the Skoda Authorized Service Station which brought a recovery vehicle and the vehicle was transported to the Skoda service center. We have got the suggestion from the service center now, that the engine of the Skoda vehicle has extensive damages and the same has to be replaced. The approximate expenditure would be approximately 11.5 Lacs. They say that the damage is due to water logging and hence cannot be covered under warranty. Imagine 11.5 Lacs in repair of a vehicle brought for 28Lacs within 3 Months, isn’t it ridiculous?
We approached the authorities at Skoda, its regional Head after sales, to tell him the story and solicit some support, but in vein, as he refused saying that the same cannot be covered under warranty as the vehicle was plying in the water logged on the road. We have written back to him saying that this Skoda vehicle was purchased just 3 months back, was being driven by a driver who is driving the automatic vehicles since more than 5 Years, and the vehicle was not the only one going through the water on the road, there were several other vehicles waiting behind to cross and crossing along side. This only indicates that this vehicle “Superb” has some manufacturing defect otherwise why have the other vehicles not reported the same problem? But we are sure he will not revert. I must mention here that we have tried reaching the officials of Skoda but they have not paid heeds to our efforts. They have been indifferent to us, their latest customers, who have joined them just 3 months back.
I would say that the vehicle Superb is not meant for Indian roads. Looking into Indian conditions in rainy season, and sometimes otherwise as well, you cannot avoid crossing over a bit of water logging, that’s normal in India. If the vehicle cannot withstand these conditions then why was it introduced on Indian roads?
While the vehicle with its engine dismantled is lying at the Service Center, we would solicit your suggestions as to what should be done in this situation as also alarm the prospective buyers of Superb against such disaster and also the un-empathetic attitude of the Skoda authorities towards their customers.

While I feel the pain, it is just his bad luck. The Superb 3.6 has much lower ground clearance than the normal car, some 135mm odd, not only due to the 4x4 system but the car itself is lowered. Now obviously this means the tail pipes are also lower. You can imagine how low they would be.

Driving any automatic through waterlogging is silly since you cannot keep the rpms high, like you can in a manual by slipping the clutch. Water must have entered through the exhaust pipe and stalled the vehicle. Possibly the driver tried to restart the vehicle.

Either way, its a case of water going into the engine. Not really Skodas fault is it? I mean the lower ground clearance and everything is given in the spec sheet.

[puchoo]

I would think not given what is written , driving through water with a clearance as low as that is at the drivers discretion which in this case went wrong, cant really assign blame to the manufacturer for that.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Not really Skodas fault is it? I mean the lower ground clearance and everything is given in the spec sheet.