[drmohitg]

Actually the real victory of the consumer is the low numbers of vehicles being sold by skoda with each passing month. It might not admit it. Earlier it could live under the cover that it competes only in the higher segments with the laura and superb and those segments are not high volume segments. But even Fabia has been a DUD more or less. And the only reason is After sales because the car is good VFM otherwise.

[civic-sense]

Every time I see a Laura on the road, I come back and start searching for used Lauras. Then I come and read this thread and vows never to buy a skoda ever. EVER!

[hajaar]

I thought the Ford service was bad but Skoda is abysmal. I didnt end up in this situation because my wife (fiance at that point in time) was a close friend of one of Ford's quality managers. One of the reasons I didnt go in for a Laura when I bought a new car.

[diffsoft]

Hi Harish:

Another case reported today of Skoda being asked to pay the customer all repair bills charged, as well as cover her litigation expenses.

More importantly it seems Skoda has complied with the request. The agonised owner is a lawyer. It may be a good idea to contact her as well.

All the best again Harish!

Vehicle owner doesn't 'spare' automaker - The Times of India

Cheers,

[Thad E Ginathom]

Rs.10,000 for mental agony.

Seems to me that Rs10,000 is about enough to pay for some minor inconvenience! In another case, it was given for late delivery of a washing machine. Still, at least it is a judgement against Skoda and for the consumer.

[leadf00t]

Any update on your case Harish?
Edit: Apologies. I didnt read through the full thread it was 20th July and not 20th June.

10K is nothign for the agony to go through a unreliabel car.
It is indeed watering down of the whole consumer protection laws.

[W.A.G.7]

All the best Harish, we are all with you. It is a shame on the judiciary that for getting justice, you have to wait for so long. But don't lose hope. In the end, justice will prevail.

[aashishbc]

hello

this is regarding my personal experience with skoda after having purchased my skoda fabia registered HR26BF 5622. i have been running the car for quite sometime now and have been very happy with the car. its an amazing product.

but there are a few other things that i would like to bring to your notice which came in my consideration recently since i had an accident on my way to mumbai. there are namely a few issues with your sales and aftersales service which have really upset me.

the so called customer care has not done anything. they reply back in a very brief answer of two lines saying they will look into the matter.
this is not the kind of response one would expect from a brand like skoda. i don't think you are living upto the the brand name and they should be sad about it


sales issue

i purchased my car from fahrenheit automobiles delhi. this happened for a reason. my car was financed and was already booked at the other dealership in delhi named arshia motors. it so happened that another friend of mine happened to buy his fabia at the same time, due to which the sales lady came to know of my purchase as well. after calling me and coming to know of my confirmed booking, i was offered the following benefits so that i would cancel my booking at arshia motors and get my car booked at fahrenheit.

1 body coloured painted side mirrors and door handles
2 insurance policy to be a 0 depriciation policy wherein it was mutually agreed that i shall be paying the amount for a normal insurance and the remaining to be born by the dealership.
3 car to be delivered on an on road price of 6,00,485 for which i was told not to speak to anyone since it could jeopardise the dealership.
4 skoda shield 4 years warranty in the same cost.

in the beginning, as a customer, seeing the benefits, i got lured and cancelled my booking at arshia saying that i would be out of country on work purpose and that i should be refunded the money which i got later on. now that my car has met with an accident, i had to claim my insurance, and i came to know that i was tricked into the whole deal and was given just the normal stuff for which i paid. the biggest setback here is, the insurance policy is a normal one, so now when i ask for a claim i still have to pay for half the stuff from my own pocket. not that i cant pay for it, but the point is that the way i was lured and asked to go about things is unacceptable. being the brand that skoda is, a customer like me actually expects quality standards and promises made to be kept the way they were before the car was sold. if i wouldnt have met with an accident, i would have never come to know of it since it was a mistake on my part not to check the things completely. the point that i raise here is the way i was tricked just to sell a car. there would be so many other customers going through similar experiences. what does this all ultimately lead to, discontentment.

if you would look up your records, you would find that i have mailed to you earlier also.that was because of irratic behaviour of the sales team at that point of time. but with this complete experience, im sure im not gonna ask anyone to go purchase a skoda vehicle. what do i do with just a good car if the other things have to go like this. and mind it my opinion would definitely count to people since i am a car designer myself and have been in the field for quite a while.


aftersales issue

now coming to another big problem in your so called network of service and support. i met with an accident on my way to mumbai 180 kms short. this happened 5 kms into my journey after VAPI. since i belong to the ncr and had been driving to mumbai on a leisure trip, i was new to the place and didnt know anyone there. once this happened i called the 24x7 helpline which responded by saying that they will get back to me. they got back in the form of offering me with a number on calling which i was given another number and then another number until finally i got to someone who said that i would have transport the car by myself since they could do a thing only after a car reached them.

now you consider my situation that i have look for a transport to send my vehicle and also take care of the accident matter. luckily i was not hurt and could do the running around to take care of things. but this is not the kind of support service one would expect from your so called COMPETENT team. instead i think you should call it your crap team. infact all your teams dealing with the customer should be called crap. an accident is a state of emergency where in you team should be prompt to atleast comfort the customer and assure that help reaches to him in least time possible but the kind of response i got suggests something else. it suggests that now that the customer is in his mess, let him take care of it and we shall do our regular job once we get the car.

having had this super experience overall i think skoda is not worthanyones hard earned money just because they make a good car. what happened with me could have happened with anyone and situation could have been more bad. all this has confirmed i wont buy a skoda car in the future. neither would i recommend it to anyone.

[999]

hi aashishbc,
Thank god that you are safe. Regarding the sales issue, the key thing is , if you feel you got a very good deal, either you should be an expert at that or you have been taken for a ride (Second being common). Given the numerous instances in this forum itself, you should have been more careful with them. Vapi is a bit remote place to get quick help. Next time do try to keep in touch with some TBHP-ians in the destination, they can atleast give you directions as where to get help from atleast.

[rajcs]

Originally Posted by aashishbc

[b]hello

i was offered the following benefits so that i would cancel my booking at arshia motors and get my car booked at fahrenheit.

1 body coloured painted side mirrors and door handles
2 insurance policy to be a 0 depriciation policy wherein it was mutually agreed that i shall be paying the amount for a normal insurance and the remaining to be born by the dealership.
3 car to be delivered on an on road price of 6,00,485 for which i was told not to speak to anyone since it could jeopardise the dealership.
4 skoda shield 4 years warranty in the same cost.

now that my car has met with an accident, i had to claim my insurance, and i came to know that i was tricked into the whole deal and was given just the normal stuff for which i paid. the biggest setback here is, the insurance policy is a normal one, so now when i ask for a claim i still have to pay for half the stuff from my own pocket.

aftersales issue

once this happened i called the 24x7 helpline which responded by saying that they will get back to me. they got back in the form of offering me with a number on calling which i was given another number and then another number until finally i got to someone who said that i would have transport the car by myself since they could do a thing only after a car reached them.

These are serious allegations on the Skoda dealership. First poaching customers from another dealer, and then not delivering promises. I also have a Fabia bought in Feb 11 from Jai Auto Delhi. I have visited Fahrenheit Auto at Motinagar Delhi twice - once for a warranty replacement and later for an accident repair. My experience with both Jai Auto while buying and Fahrenheit Auto for the repairs and warranty claim have been fantastic. May be I was lucky. Although I don't have a zero dep policy I was only charged about Rs 10000 in a total bill of 40000 for my accident repairs.

Did you approach Fahrenheit Auto regarding the zero dep insurance policy and also regarding repairs? What was their response? Which is the insurance agency and what was their response when called from the accident site. I have Bajaj Allianz and they were very prompt in response.
Is the car being repaired at Vapi or Delhi?

Please update the status so that rest of us who own skoda can benefit by knowing which agencies to avoid.

[aashishbc]

@rajcs : you have been lucky or i have been unlucky. may be this is just a one off case in their credit but i have been so frustrated with this complete that i had to write about this. if things had not been so bad i probably would not have put it up in public like this.

the car right now is in fahrenheit motors workshop in delhi. the workshop to me has been fine. not an issue there but the sales there is ridiculous.
i wrote to skoda about that even i bought the car. so its not the first time that i face discontentment on their part.

i wonder why skoda is so lenient about so grievious things happening around, its spoiling the whyole brand and their reputation which anyways has nothing to boast of looking at the past records. if they cant manage things, they should wrap up things and go back. just making a good car would not solve their purpose.

[drmohitg]

Did you try and talk to the Fahrenheit people regarding your insurance? Its cheating but then its your fault to have not checked everything in the first place. So much for trusting Skoda.

The Fahrenheit dealership at moti nagar is anyways always deserted. No wonder they dont get much customers. Did they atleast give you the Skoda shield?

[Cesc]

Originally Posted by rajcs

May be I was lucky. Although I don't have a zero dep policy I was only charged about Rs 10000 in a total bill of 40000 for my accident repairs.

And how much did you expect to pay for a car that is only 4 months old? IMO even 25% insurance claim cost from own pocket is a bit too much for a next to new car.

[rajcs]

Originally Posted by Cesc

And how much did you expect to pay for a car that is only 4 months old? IMO even 25% insurance claim cost from own pocket is a bit too much for a next to new car.

This was an accident repair. The insurance policy had clearly laid down the depreciation values. Rubber, plastic, metal and glass are covered only 50% in my policy even in first year since this wasn't a zero dep. Both headlights, bonnet, side panels and a number of rubber parts were replaced. So I think I got a fair deal since I did not opt for zero dep policy - which was a mistake.

[vina]

I came across this thread today wandering on team bhp.

In a way he is fighting a battle for every one of us - any one of us can be cheated by a dealer from any company any time, and we shall end in the same situation.

Moderators, I believe this is one thread that can be permanently parked on the front page of team bhp.