[NiInJa]

Two years ago, I went to a Tata showroom in Bhiwani to check out the Tigor as my B-I-L was in the market to buy the car. As my B-I-L is a lawyer, he is very good with his words and was openly comparing the Tigor with Hyundai's and Maruti's products and making some valid points against the Tigor. The salesman, from a rural Indian background who could not even pronounce some english words properly, showed extreme levels of patience and not even once did he accept that the Tigor was a flawed product, let alone telling my B-I-L openly "go ahead and buy a Hyundai or Maruti." Note: We grilled the guy for a good one hour !

If a small town sales-person can be so professional, I think its fair to expect Zac Hollis to show little bit of understanding when it comes to people's opinions.

[shabih]

I am not a fan of Faisal Khan either, I find most of his work juvenile, so I choose to watch other reviewers. Does that take away his right to complain about a few missing features that have become a standard across the segment?

I drive a 2016 Polo and love it to bits, I still complain about missing features and am waiting to someday afford a better car from the same family. But if the 'better' car from the same family also miss out on those features, wouldn't I find the whole ordeal pointless? How is any customer wrong in voicing their opinions out? Large and successful companies facilitate forums which allow customers to speak directly about features they wished to see in future iterations, it's called breakfast for champions.

You're not a deodorant seller at Palika Bazar (in Delhi) or a vegetable seller that you can respond in this manner. And if you're someone this high up in the ladder, it is almost equivalent to sin, especially for a brand that's struggling to survive and is working on India 2.0 strategy. Zac's apology looks half-hearted and does little damage control.

[R_Gowardhan]

I think in the entire discussionon this topic, everyone seems to have had an oversight on one fact. Just went through the official On-raod price for the Skoda Rapid shared with me by a Skoda Dealer in Mumbai. ₹ 13.58 Lacs for Style and ₹ 13.92 Lacs for Monte Carlo (these are pre discount prices). Faisal Khan mentions "16 Lacs". Is there any city in the country where any model of Rapid sells for ~₹16 Lacs? If no, then I rest my case that Faisal Khan is full of bull byproduct. Doesn't absolve Zac of rushing into making an ill conceived response. I hold him responsible for wasting this opportunity for Skoda India. Hoping to see better from him in future.

[DrCar]

What is wrong in Faisal Khan not liking the car?
It is his personal opinion and he is entitled to opine about it. If we don't like it, then it is completely our choice to not watch his videos.

But it was absolutely unprofessional conduct from Zac Hollis to respond in a way as he has done.
Isn't he aware that Skoda isn't a saint either. We have many innumerable examples of all the suffering that buyers have to go through when dealing with their after sales service. Have he forgotten about that? What about dieselgate scandal? They got let off easily in India because of our poor law for the same.

We are cribbing about their poor after sales service since long but they have not done anything special to improve them inspite of them being present in our country for so many years? And they aren't selling the cars for cheap either as they are fighting it out in the premium segments. All they are doing now is tweeting more courtesy Zac.

Mr. Zac has to first clean his house well before throwing garbage at whoever complains about them. Improve your cars reliability and service standards first.
Mr. Zacs apology later doesn't have significance left because the real mentality have already been exposed.

Be humble like Tata or Mahindra which keeps on receiving flaks from all directions. Do Anand Mahindra or Ratan Tata keep ranting out against each and every complaints that their cars received? Even Ratan Tata acknowledged publicly that their Nano project failed. They aren't flustered as easily. Instead, they keep on learning from their past mistakes and keep improvising.

[alabjarus]

https://www.rushlane.com/rapid-user-...-12383247.html[/quote]

How incredibly insensitive of a statement for a CEO to make.

Quite clearly communicating that:

1. You dont deserve anything better
2. Despite the lowly stuff that we are serving up, you are lapping it up and we cant seem to make enough of it

Whatever little respect I had for them (largely for their designs) is lost...thanks to the CEO who shouldn't ideally be one and should be replaced immediately for ridiculing Indians.

[rbg]

Originally Posted by Thanos-VV

See the Comment from Zac on Twitter for a Vlogger!

It is evident and inevitable that every person(let alone a famous vlogger)will not be liked or appreciated by every other person. It's not meant to be like that anyway.

Opinions might be divided as to Mr FK's demeanor or his 'school dropout' English delivery at alarming pace and somewhat being carried away sometimes in his highway speedometer readings and his generous usage of superlatives. Yes he does sometimes gets on the nerves but that's him. The kid's got some grit to have reached this far of 1m subs.

Now my two cents is that even though Mr Zac might be right in his personal capacity or perhaps we can cut him some slack for this hasty(seemingly) response at 2AM , I only hope the infamous Skoda service staffs and managers etc do not take a printout of his reply and paste on the front door of the service centers or take solace and take customer for granted to another level.

My 2017 Diesel style Engine amber light has come on again in last 16 day's and I have booked another appointment for Thursday via skoda valet home service, hence my apprehensions.

Mods: My first post in this famed forum, please edit or delete altogether if deemed required.
This thread pulled at my sleeves because I am an owner of a rapid and wholeheartedly agree with the young kid. If Mr Zac was an IAS officer or an IPS I am sure he would have been transferred in a swift manner by GOI.
Thanks.

[puneeth2]

I don't think Zac's statement is offensive. If one wants those features, there are a lot of other cars. Not everyone wants their cars to have every feature available. Some are just happy with what the car has.

It is already a world where people are easily offended by anything that goes against their opinion or by something that they feel offensive. I feel this statement has nothing offensive about it.

[harishpr]

Both are right in their own views. Faisal has pointed the creature comforts offered by rivals at lower price point, while Skoda offers superior drive experience.
It's unreasonable for people to seek driving dynamics of VW/Skoda, with bells and whistles of Kia/Hyundai, at Lower price point. Why would any manufacturer burn their profits when the regulations don't mandate all such features.
In business, shareholders value comes first, and that's what drives all customer options.
Tata and Mahindra have started to offer value for money products, while Maruti is milking consumers with their brand name.

[BoJack]

It seems like Trump has got hold of Zac Hollis's twitter
That is not the way he should have replied to the tweet. I don't think it's ballsy or brave in any way, I just think that is a very dumb way of dealing with criticism.
PS. I am not a fan of Faisal Khan or his review style.

[Utham123]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

This niche lives in their own world ( much like apple fans and Trump fans) projected by the brand, which is why even though their cars come up lacking in most objective comparisons, it's irrelevant. Indeed there are several well documented skoda horror stories here, and still several prominent bhpians have bought them with the confidence that it wouldn't happen to them, only to post their own horror story threads when the truth emerges.

For such a brand to survive, it needs to create it's own "reality distortion field" to deny any such issues, gaslight its critics and project arrogance which its target audience interprets as signaling of its superiority, instead of engaging them in rational dialogue (ideal scenario) or stonewall them with boilerplate PR responses (the conventional twitter social media tactic).

I believe you are somebody who likes conspiracy theories.

I am one of those "niche" buyers of a Skoda car whom you likened to Apple fans and Trump fans. I bought the Rapid because it fufilled my requirements and it was within my budget. Not, because I look down on other brands or people who purchase them. When I searched for a car there was no car in this segment cheaper than Rapid (after discounts). The difference was 2 lakhs rupees between Rapid and its competitors Verna and City. I made an informed decision after reading several reviews on TeamBHP, that, I will buy a Rapid and service it at a dealership. For, anything else I will go to a FNG. I already know my risks. Hopefully, 2 lakh difference will pay for reliability issues later on.

We buy cars to make lives better for us and for our families. We DO NOT buy cars because we are a cult and look down on people who own other brands. So, what classification would you reserve for people who own both a Maruti and a Skoda?

"Reality distortion field" - Fancy words for projecting your thoughts onto others.

[aniketi]

Wow. Skoda management is really funny for sure. With so much limited sales also they can show such arrogance requires lots of guts. This clearly shows they don't care about Indian customers and shows their attitude.

Now it's in our hands to teach them a lesson. Unless people stop buying (whatever limited numbers they do ) their cars, they will not learn. We have enough good options in market, go for it.

[paperweight]

Skoda has traditionally produced high quality products and features like distracting large touch screens and push button starts maybe nice to have but certainly do not add core value. (Rear cameras should be standard equipment, like wheels.)
What is more of concern is the sophistication of the new turbo charged engines and the associated parts like intercooler systems. The longevity of these high performance parts needs to be examined. Put another way I would certainly like to have a Rapid at its present price and 4 year warranty, but it would be even better to be able to buy an extended warranty for certain high cost and high use parts. Remember the DSG?

[robbie_KL]

Come on guys.. FK is annoying more often than not and Zac is only human. Every time we hear FK use his "thats what she said" line in almost every video of his...my wife says out loud "damn ..this guy is so annoying!!"

Jokes apart, what FK said is valid and at the same time Zac should be given a pass on a knee jerk reaction that would be perfectly fine coming from him as an individual but unfortunately not as a CEO of the brand in question.

[AirbusCapt]

Is Zac the twitter operator for Skoda? Or was he replying to any personal slur by Faisal? I am confused as to why a ceo needs to reply to everyone? Does Skoda not have a media department?
This is what happens when there is no clear PR policy in a company.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by andafunda

Maybe for the owner of a local dealership yes, certainly not for the Director of an MNC in India.

Most senior executives at corporates undergo media training and maintaining one's composure is an important part of being the public face of a company.

Further, arrogance should be backed by performance. Otherwise it is just plain hubris.

Question is, would he have answered in the same way if it was Germany or some other European Country? Certainly not! Luckily for him, they have got a moderate target, moderate production capacity and not very big/ambitious plans for India but that doesn't mean that he can afford to be arrogant.