Team-BHP > The Indian Car Scene


Reply
  Search this Thread
17,598 views
Old 17th January 2008, 01:31   #46
BHPian
 
Insane Devil's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 987
Thanked: 173 Times

Hi all,

My Laura is of the first batch, and the problems i have faced till now are:

1. Horn go kaput! replaced twice till now under warranty

2. AC SUCKS! gave in for repair 4-5 times, then finally they said a new rectified compressor has come (previous compressors had faults) and now it is perfect

3. Chrome plating from 2 door handles (interior) started to peel off, replaced one, waiting for stock for another one

4. Sunroof : automatically opens and shuts, keeps doing nonstop for few minutes! waiting for new motor to arrive, and will get replaced.

5. Rear and Front PArking sensors are sh*t! They work perfect but are brittle like a twig! small bump into another car, and they go kaput! cost around rs.4k for each silly sensor!

6. AC Blower Control Knob: half way kaput - if i want to reduce one bit, it goes up 2-3 bits. and when i want to increase one bit, it goes down 2-3 bits! Waiting for it to spoil fully, will then change it!

SKODA IS OF NO HELP IN THESE, WORST CUSTOMER SUPPORT!

Wish someone teams up and files a heavy suit against them, and makes them pay compensation to all car owners!

Except for their outstanding engines, their cars are CRAP in quality.

Another great lawsuit against them would be their Advertisement about being Obsessed with Quality... i see that almost every other SKODA owner has some or the other glitch!




Regarding problems mentioned in this thread re. the Airbag Light: My cousins laura had this problem from day one, and after he got it rectified, after a few days, the airbag fault light would come up again! after about 3-4 rectifications he finally got it solved for good.

If u have problem with the AC, then DEMAND them to replace the compressor!

Last edited by Insane Devil : 17th January 2008 at 01:32.
Insane Devil is offline  
Old 17th January 2008, 11:15   #47
GTO
Team-BHP Support
 
GTO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Bombay
Posts: 70,340
Thanked: 298,742 Times

Sorry to hear about your experience, but you aren't alone. We have received about 50 ownership reviews of the Laura, and most of them have reported about 4 - 5 problems in anywhere between 20,000 - 25,000 kms of ownership.

These are the most common problems:

Quote:
Electrical issues, seat adjuster, horn, heating coil, air-con compressor, short battery life
Unsurprisingly, it has received only an "above average" rating for overall reliability. The Octavia has fared much better.....could be due to its simpler construction.
GTO is offline  
Old 17th January 2008, 11:32   #48
BHPian
 
Hemanth's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Mysore
Posts: 193
Thanked: 4 Times

Bad after sales service by Skoda. shame on their part. For the price tag they carry they should do some justice.
Hemanth is offline  
Old 17th January 2008, 12:52   #49
Newbie
 
devil_666's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: moga
Posts: 6
Thanked: 0 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by dockap View Post
by the way where is moga? never heard of that place before
In Punjab near Ludiana city
devil_666 is offline  
Old 27th January 2008, 23:16   #50
Senior - BHPian
 
Ravveendrra's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 1,391
Thanked: 446 Times

Hmm, more than the manufacturer, seems more a servicing fault at the dealer's end. I wanted the dealer to do some minor things to my Laura which he did, it has put on 11000 km on the clock and is running fine. The horn did give way after the first few thousand KM but the dealer replaced it - no questions asked. (I did feel guilty about it, we in India, do use the horn more in a week than they do in a lifetime in Europe).

Write to the Company in Aurangabad direct and if that fails, file a Consumer Complaint in the District Forum making the manufacturer and the dealer opposite parties.

Incidentally I found the dealer quite ignorant about the running in period for the car. Yes they do have a running in period refer to the owners manual as well as the Skoda and VW websites. The engines are run on the bench after assembly but the manufacturer has specified running in below a certain RPM. The dealers and their teams are quite ignorant about ESP, the electronic display, cruise control settings, on board security settings etc. So it is best to read up on the beast and not go what the *** at the showroom tells you. It is your car after all!
Ravveendrra is offline  
Old 8th February 2008, 05:38   #51
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: mumbai
Posts: 2,232
Thanked: 720 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravveendrra View Post
Hmm, more than the manufacturer, seems more a servicing fault at the dealer's end.
I disagree. If the product was good, then the issues would not have been faced in the first place. How many such issues occur in a Accord, Civic, Corolla or a Camry (I know the new Camry is steeply priced , but even the 20 lak odd old Camry didnt have any issues).

If the dealers are bad, then the manufacturer is again to blame as they selected the dealers and did not provide adequate training to the dealer staff to manage the so called complicated electronics and repairs. Almost every Laura owner has a complain. Do you think Skoda is really unaware of all the issues? No ways, but it simply wants to turn a deaf ear to them.

Just recollected that I had once seen this now funny looking newspaper Skoda ad. In order to emphasize and build on its motto "Obsessed with quality", they were mentioning that they do some several hundred (500 if I remember correctly) tests even for the screws used in their cars. I now think that they forgot to the do the testing of the parts which these screws fix or simply ran out of testing budget.
dipen is offline  
Old 8th February 2008, 14:09   #52
BHPian
 
gendarmee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: India
Posts: 741
Thanked: 28 Times

I can understand your situation.
I had a similar experience with my Bike though & a bit with FORD.
After the first servicing it felt like it was scrap. How ever, the service advisor blamed the condition on my driving and petrol i use, blamed the indicator buzzer for the battery not getting charged, got the whole petrol tank washed coz i used power petrol, and the the problem turned out to be with the air screw on the carb.The conclusion i came to was that the mechanics did a very crude job of servicing the bike.
Even at FORD, the dash and console near the indicator lever got deeply scratched when they opened it for fixing the CD player (They said if i got it fixed outside they would not give any warranty) I refused to accept the car on delivery, they said they will take care of it later and after signing all papers i couldnt do much. They dodge me to the service centre and service centre dodges me to the showroom...
The mechanics do a very crude job & and far far away from being refined.
Some brands have monopolies...cant really help it, try to get the car properly checked up at some other garage if you can.
gendarmee is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks