[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by wilful

I don't know if I would agree entirely to the southern pattern theory.
A quick search and I found a couple of threads from Delhi -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...-3-months.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...se-closed.html

I saw a couple from Mumbai (Pune also) as well but am discounting it since I take it as west.
Maybe if one delves deeper some more woes from the northern part of the country could be found.

Another reason, Team BHP has members pre dominantly from the south.

I was suggesting the Octavia to a relative of mine interested in buying an automatic Sedan. After hearing such horror stories, will make sure they don't touch Skoda with a barge pole.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

I am sorry to have to word this in this way but I think it is the customer is at fault here when he buys a Skoda.

+1, that too an aware customer.

I would sincerely like to empathize with OP but it wouldn't really matter.

When one goes ahead and buys a Skoda completely aware of their history then its a gamble. And we win some and lose a lot when we continue gambling in the long run.

I'm sure there are umpteen satisfied customers of Skoda but being part of this forum and then taking this leap of faith, the OP had it coming, sorry but I can't sugarcoat this opinion.

There's one diesel Laura that my brother-in-law owned and after about 6 months of to-and-fro from the workshop the best decision he made on my advice was to sell it off, he now owns a Cruze.

I advised the same to another diesel Rapid owner (my colleague) who had a brake & engine issue on the 6th day of his purchase, he now owns an i20. I merely asked him to search for ownership threads on team-bhp and voila!

In today's world where time is money (and money remains money of course) what could possibly be more frustrating than owning a huge, costly & depreciating piece of machinery which takes you for a ride this frequently (pun intended).

As advised by several others and assuming time is money for you too, pursue this case with higher-ups in Skoda for a reasonable span of time and in case they don't agree, negotiate the best possible deal with the dealer (I'm sure most would agree that they have the upper hand 99% of the times), get the car out of the service center, drive it while you can, manage the future repairs (which may or may not occur) or simply sell it off.

Alternatively, if you can manage with the other cars in your family then follow the right protocol and may be you can get a hefty compensation a few months/years down the line for all the harassment & pain.

I think there should be some kind of awareness campaign where in all Skoda owners should be given tips on how to become a t-bhp member, you never know when they might have to put up a devastating ownership experience thread!

[DieselFan]

The issue is not just with Skoda but most European brands. Be it VW, Fiat, BMW, Merc etc. all are yet to completely understand Indian conditions and Indian customers well. Skoda is the worst of the lot. This is the reason why I am not taking a plunge into any European car even though there are lot of good options. I would also not suggest any European car to my friends.

[aniketi]

I have one different point to make here. Lots of people are blaming Skoda dealers, rightly so. But what if Skoda is not providing proper support to their dealers? What will dealer do if the car is faulty and its a manufacturing fault only like gear box failure? Here in such case dealer is beaten from both customer and the Skoda as a company. It may happen that dealer is agreeing to customer & knows that car has genuine problem, but if company itself is not supporting him then he is a poor soul for sure. He can't keep giving support to customers from his own pocket as Skoda will bill him for costly spares for sure. I am sure dealer will not keep fighting with customers if they get replacements for free of cost from the company. After all he will loose his future business. Just a thought from my side

[SkyWalker]

Wow, just when i though Skoda was getting a little better. There's another thread with problems on two Octavia 1.8 TSIs as well.

I wonder why people still buy a Skoda. Whats the point in having all this fabled german build and driving pleasure when you always have the permanent fear of whats going to break or when a dealer will rip you off.

So long, Skoda.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by aniketi

After all he will loose his future business. Just a thought from my side

The dealer is going to lose business irrespective of who withdraws support - him or the company. The only options he's left with in case company doesn't support is (1) shut shop or (2) provide after sales out of his own pocket.

However, selling off a dealership or closing the business isn't easy even when you know that the product you are selling isn't all hale n hearty. So they do what most of us would do, continue selling till the time unsuspecting (or not) customers continue buying.

We all know demand-supply concept so there isn't much any of us can do, no matter how much we bash up DSG on these forums Skodas will continue to sell till the time they are making money. Unless of course, consumer exercise their rights through our judicial system which helps them in getting what is rightfully theirs - the product & after sales as promised!

In India at least, a few years down the line, the real symbol of power & status on road wouldn't be owning the Mercs or Bimmers of the world, it would be owning and driving a Skoda!

[Arch-Angel]

I can't believe that even after so many incidents, Skoda is behaving like a stubborn old mule on this one. Corporate culture or the lack of it is being displayed again. As many would say, the cars are good but the after sales is miserable in many parts of India. I am happy that I went through the threads on our forum before i thought of booking a fabia for my mom and granny and i saved myself and indirectly them too.

About time that manufacturers who show zilch respect and responsibility toward their customers are shown the door or thrown out dishonorably like the rest of the crooks who play with the customer's money.

@Sahil: Please do try and negotiate with the service centre (JMD) as you mentioned and try and get the cars atleast back in road worthy conditions. That is the least they should do imo.

[Sahil]

Thanks for all the support guys! Please spread the word, people ought to know about Skoda's malpractices. Don't make the mistake I did of ignoring such threads thinking it a one off case and it probably won't happen to me or that skoda now has improved! I regret giving Skoda the benefit of the doubt back then.

As things stand now, Skoda has proved they have no ethics and sticking by their 50% cover offer inspite of several reviews internally on my case. The part is unavailable and will take a few weeks to come.

I am getting the car collected and rather have it parked at my house until the part arrives. I will also try and get a second opinion in the meantime. Since it is a safety/brake part that is at fault here I do not want to take any chances or a cheap fix. I have always maintained this car via Skoda's official workshop even after warranty is over. However Skoda is least appreciate of a loyal customer and their senior customer service managers think they are too big to talk to small clients like me directly. I asked the customer service lady handling my case at Skoda one question "If your family's life had been put on stake due to an electronic part failure and the car company tells you its your headache cause car is out of warranty, what would you do?" She had no reply, I went ahead to tell her that you are simply implying that Skoda cars should be sold the day their warranty is over. Rotten attitude by a rotten company.

Originally Posted by aniketi

Lots of people are blaming Skoda dealers, rightly so. But what if Skoda is not providing proper support to their dealers? What will dealer do if the car is faulty and its a manufacturing fault only like gear box failure? Here in such case dealer is beaten from both customer and the Skoda as a company.

Good thought. But i think, its not applicable to Skoda.
My reasons being.
- Single dealer "Mahavir Auto" Throughout AP. This means, all the skoda dealerships in AP are owned by Mahavir. So, In such scenario's dealers will obviously have a better control over company. By birth these guys are a Syndicate.
- Second reason being. No company doesn't do business by not supporting its dealers. Its lot difficult.
- Third reason being. Dealers are the culprits in 70+ % of cases. Saying based on the number of threads being published in our forum. Skoda tried to fix some issues by addressing issues posted on FB pages, etc, etc.

[mayankk]

Unbelievable.
Twice in this week I have been tempted by RS's.
And the 2nd one was mouth- droolingly tempting, single owner, full service record, under 50k mileage. But these threads are like a watchdog over me, with a hammer, going DONK, "No, sonny boy!"

Just a few days back, a yeti arrived at my FNG's garage, after he was quoted 1.5L for a clutch job.... And this guy is doing the same for 30k.
So, apparently, you dont even have to get these parts from an ex-comm bloc. The parts are available here itself.
Wonder if the extra is included under some sort of BDSM header in the bill.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Sahil

....

As things stand now, Skoda has proved they have no ethics and sticking by their 50% cover offer inspite of several reviews internally on my case. The part is unavailable and will take a few weeks to come.

I was checking online about ABS problem on Skoda cars. It looks like the ABS controllers in VAG cars (VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat) have a frequent failure rate. The following two threads in Briskoda are the proof.

ESP Light on - ABS Sensor module common fault
ABS Control Unit Failure - Octavia II

In most of the cases, the failure happens in 3 years and the cars just out of warranty. Many users have got 50% off from Skoda and a few lucky ones have got 100%. Looks like this is another common problem after the DSG issues in VAG cars, but has not got enough publicity as the DSG problem.

Originally Posted by Sahil

I went ahead to tell her that you are simply implying that Skoda cars should be sold the day their warranty is over.

+1 to that. I think the only way to own a Skoda car would be to go for an extended warranty which will cover your car for 4 years and sell it off when the warranty is over.

I do have a confession to make. I have booked an Octavia 1.8TSi a few weeks back. After seeing all these Skoda horror stories, my mind says "cancel the order and run as fast as you can", but my heart would still not give up, as I don't see another enthusiast car with similar features at this price. So, I am making a list of best practices in preparation for the ownership and the list keeps growing

1. Be prepared for frequent niggling issues with the car and waiting times of 2 weeks in the workshop. In preparation for this, I have decided not to sell my existing car keeping it as a backup.
2. Do not buy the car without an extended warranty. I have already made it clear to Skoda that I will not go ahead with the purchase of the car if they do not provide extended warranty
3. Sell the car immediately after 4 years. Otherwise, create a contingency fund of at least 2 lakhs, and find a reliable third party garage.

Am I suicidal!!

[deehunk]

During my recent purchase of Rapid from Vinayak Skoda the dealer was reluctant to give extended warranty, but I was very clear in my words to the GM and my Sales guy that I just need it. Even at the time of delivery the extended warranty part of the Owner's manual was not signed or had any stamp, same again the Sales guy was saying 'Sir don't worry you have already paid for it' and you will get a booklet in 7 days. I told him the invoice is missing extended warranty so better you sign and put a seal on that particular page, he finally did it. I have always believed in keeping electronics stuff minimum in a car so that there are no surprises after 5 years.

[dkaile]

I am so sorry to hear your Skoda woes Sahil. These DSG's have proved really unreliable in Skoda cars in general. Also pre-2011 Superbs had lot more issues also like their AC compressors and ABS units which they 'claim' have been sorted out subsequently. But the company attitude is just pathetic in your case. When the company 'knows' that these issues needed sorting out subsequently, they should have replaced/repaired your car under goodwill warranty. As a fellow Superb owner, I have no choice but to keep my fingers crossed as to when these woes will strike me.

I would request you to contact their MD and ask for goodwill replacement of your parts and also send him links of this thread. Wishing you all the best in your fight...

[narayanang76]

Feel Sorry when hearing these unfortunate stories. And surprising there are 3 different threads in Team-BHP itself running currently about issues with Skoda cars.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-troubles.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...pair-bill.html

and this thread from Sohil and these are latest threads.

I think people should know about these clearly and awareness made so that folks can stay away from such companies.

Recently my cousin brother who has his Skoda Rapid less than 1 year old, completed 14 K Km on odo, he was complaining of vibration while braking and it was an already reported issue with Rapids where the brake pads and rotors being replaced in warranty in some cases.

When he was dropping the car for the 15K service, and reported this brake vibration issue they first mentioned to him that it is due to his driving style and he immediately stopped them and said that he has been driving for more than a lakh of KM and driving is not new to him, and also his previous maruti cars didn't have such issues. Then he pointed out these already reported issues on Rapid's brake and then service center guys toned down accepting the issue.

However, unfortunately in my cousin's case even though Skoda dealership accepted that there is an issue they did only patch-up work by doing some lathe work on the brake components and claim that the issue with components are not major enough to provide replacement under warranty. There goes another warranty claim rejection through some means.

He has written e-mails to Skoda management but they responded that they will do one more inspection and asking him to get in touch with dealer again.

Unfortunate Skoda and its dealerships they are taking people for granted and I have taken the pledge that never buy a Skoda or VW car ever in my life, never!

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by graaja

So, I am making a list of best practices in preparation for the ownership and the list keeps growing

The following thread will help you with a list of best practices with your new 1.8TSI. The most important point is no: 5. I see many accessorising their cars. Avoid even the most basic ones such as seat covers, headlight bulbs of a higher rating, sun control etc (not to talk of upgrading of ICE and power upgrades) Also follow points 2 and 3 scrupulously.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...opean-car.html

Additionally for the new 1.8 TSI, fill in fuel only at good nationalised pumps such as BP, Indianoil or HP. Avoid all other pumps. Also remember to put your car in (P) at traffic lights or long halts such as traffic pile ups. Do you keep it in D for long idling sessions.

Best of luck!