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Old 24th July 2006, 16:46   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by captainsokhi
And as Rtech said that the point of Airbags gives you the clue about the people participating in the dharna.
I would not blame the person totally for him being ignorant about the airbags operation. There are many people who would not know the operation of airbags. And I feel that when he must have gone to get the car, the sales person would have passed him wrong knowledge as is the case generally saying "Agar aapka accident hua, toh airbag khul jaaega and aapko bacha lega".

All in all, my general understanding of Skoda cars is that they are good to own when new and under warranty. Post warranty and after 50-60k they become a headache.
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Old 24th July 2006, 17:58   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by captainsokhi
As said by Mr. Varinder Dutta, that the company said that you should not drive in waterlogged area. That is the only problem i've had in my car. I don't know if happened due to driver's fault or something else. What happened was, the driver drove the car through a waterlogged area and came home without any problem. The next morning the car didn't start. So, we took it to the service center and they said that water have entered the clutch system and pressure plates and clutch plates needs to be replaced. That was a huge bill of about 35K.
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Dude what has the starting of the car to do with water entering the clutch?The engine will definately start even if water is present in teh clutch
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Old 24th July 2006, 18:58   #18
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@veyron: lucky me At that time i was feeling that i'm sitting in a boat kinda thing. U knw it was like sailing over the water.

Ya agree with ur point that this is coz of the way the customers would be treated.

@humyum: actually, i don't knw much abt it. whether it started or made some stupid sounds. Actually i wasn't there and car was driven by our driver and he towed it to the showroom......
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Old 24th July 2006, 19:18   #19
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Most of the time when an owner is not happy with the car, it is due to some major reasons.

1. He is overexpecting a 17lacs worth of car to perform. WHen it doesnt the owner starts finding problems with every nuke and point.

2. lack of information is also a big killer like the airbags case.

3. Once some people go for such a stunt, many others blindly join in.

I am not saying that skoda dealers are best or skoda cars are best built, my point is that creating such a rouse is not really the perfect thing.

A skoda spokesperson should attend to each person and deliver the the right information.
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Old 24th July 2006, 22:44   #20
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Before people were buying Skoda's in Ludhiana, these industrialists were the biggest buyers of mercs and high end D segment cars. None of them went on a dharna.
There is no smoke without fire. So there may be cases of make hay while sun shines, the fact is that the sun is shining due to skoda's follys
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Old 24th July 2006, 22:52   #21
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Surprised no one complained about insane service/replacement costs.
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Old 25th July 2006, 01:13   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tsk1979
Before people were buying Skoda's in Ludhiana, these industrialists were the biggest buyers of mercs and high end D segment cars. None of them went on a dharna.
There is no smoke without fire. So there may be cases of make hay while sun shines, the fact is that the sun is shining due to skoda's follys
How come only the skoda owners in Ludhiana have this problem?

and how come none have the same problem?
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Old 25th July 2006, 01:18   #23
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There is a search feature available in this forum. Use that and you will find that many tbhp members have been hit with service bill bombs. Its just that none of them went on a dharna.
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Old 25th July 2006, 02:10   #24
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Guys,

An interesting thought- I have mentioned often that Hyundai is highly under-rate don this board. I am still to hear a horror story about a Hyundai dealer or a Hyundai car on this board.

Granted they don't have the glamor value that other names (read: Honda, Skoda) bring-but I've been bought two Hyundais and won't mind buying more whenever I need to upgrade.
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Old 25th July 2006, 10:40   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tsk1979
There is a search feature available in this forum. Use that and you will find that many tbhp members have been hit with service bill bombs. Its just that none of them went on a dharna.

Ford mondeo owners never went on dharna. Did they? I have heard they are equally expensive to maintaine. Especially the old ones.

As I said, I am not backing the car or the dealers or the company. my point is its all either publicity stunt or a useless hungama.
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Old 25th July 2006, 10:45   #26
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Conside the sales figures of mondeos as compared to skoda. Skoda sold a lot of cars. Its not everyday you have really really rich industrialists sitting on a dharna.
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Old 25th July 2006, 11:11   #27
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Ermm on the Nitpicking Issue, when someone pays 17 Lakhs for a car,
They expect a certain standard, serious quality.
There sho0uld be no scope for your customers to be unhappy really
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Old 25th July 2006, 12:03   #28
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@Rtech,
I know how exactly a air bag works, and I am not doubting the technology or the manufacturer, however, I felt like spraying a waft of sarcasm at the crappy explaination given to the owner in this issue by the dealer. My bad, I should have mentioned dealers.

Is it not the responsiblity of dealer to give you a valid explaination when you have doubt? One can possiblly look back and try to remember, how many fake excuses you got when you went to a dealer with a doubt. I have got many, even for my bike, scooter, car, bicycle, etc... Having sold a product of a million and a half rupees, such crap should not be thrown.

What the poor guys who have gone on Dharna got. (even if they are doing it for publicity or what ever), A bad quality car, over that a bad service, abouve that a crappy excuse trying to prove the customer who paid money wrong.
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Old 25th July 2006, 12:21   #29
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Quote:
Granted they don't have the glamor value that other names (read: Honda, Skoda) bring-but I've been bought two Hyundais and won't mind buying more whenever I need to upgrade.
Haha. To tell you the truth, Skoda stands nowhere near Hyundai in international market. Skoda cars are still mocked at and Skoda is just a shruken Volswagon. Hehe. Wheras Hyundai is No. 6th in the world, goes to show Hyundai is a better manifacturer then Skoda. Also i dont get the point as to why people are siding in skoda. Just do up a google about Skoda and you will know that cars like Octavia 1.9Tdi and Octavia RS are sold only in underdeveloped/developing countries, elsewhere the Laura has replaced it and Indians will still buy outdated products. The current Indian Octavia is the only model in its segment which is discountinued elsewhere. Also i read somewhere that the RS/1.9TDi are not that great cars as people make them out to be and are just average cars at cheap prices but in India that proportion doesnot hold true. I dont get the point why sell outdated cars to us and newer ones at exorbitant prices. Why isint there Laura RS over here.

I just found out that the Indian RS is costlier and is stripped too, so sad (It lacks 30bhp, 17inch wheels, painted green callipers to name a few)

Also i understand no reason what so ever to have such heavy spares, 90% of Skoda buyers are not aware of it and only realise it at the time of service. While buying they only look at average.

Last edited by BUSA : 25th July 2006 at 12:23.
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Old 25th July 2006, 12:23   #30
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DRC, I agree that the dealer seems to be at fault here for not giving due attention to the customers complaints. This is sadly a fact for almost every Skoda dealer, as well as other dealers as well. As I mentioned in my post, our dealers really need to fall in line. It just seems to be getting worse for the customer instead of better.

However, the point I was making about the protesters were them blaming the so-called quality issue with the car.

One person complains that the airbag did not deploy, so he wants his money back (after the car is crashed). Another seems to have driven through high water and experienced problems. Sure, the reasons given by the dealership may be rubbish and the dealer needs to be taken to task for that, however these are surely no reasons to demand a replacement vehicle.

There are 2 issues here.
1. Lousy dealership, which nobody denies
2. Lousy quality, which is not correct.

Unfortunately it seems that Skoda bashing is the flavour of the season right now.

Last edited by Rtech : 25th July 2006 at 12:24.
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