[marlinspike]

Listening is the most important part of any service. That leads to awareness. Good first step by Skoda to get their top management to do that part.
The next step is acknowledgeing that there is a broader issue.
Now hopefully they will formulate an action plan to fix Harish's and Evo's issue and not stop with that.
They really need to fix things by overhauling their service approach.

They can take a leaf out of Fiat's book. Just take a look at Fiat india's web page. They are coming through with a message that they know what is their big weaknesses are and that they are confronting it upfront and letting the buying public that they are doing just that. It gives that much more confidence that a major concern may not be A.S.S. for some one who would other hesitate looking at vehicles from that manufacturer.

Skoda can see if they can do a variant on that approach. But before that they need to do their homework and hopefully fiat did that too.

As for this thread, the fact that guys at Skoda felt the need to meet the mods, shows it has had the right effect.

There is still a lot that needs to be done to take it to its logical conclusion on the specific issues raised and see if there are takeaways from this thread on how we can identify the most painful issues in each manufacturers approach that we would like to add inputs and let the voice of the customers heard at the right place.

Issues like rattling in Maruti's, handling on Verna, ride quality in mahindra, and ask Tata to make car engines that belong in a car and not a truck and those panel gaps.
Some of these would need time to address over future model upgrades others tweeking configuration and changing parts suppliers and in some cases they might say its part of their approach-> focus is where they have strength and they can live with the issues thats fine, but still we could let them know excatly how we feel about their products and that would eventually lead to a better automotive industry and user experience.

[harry10]

@Marlin- Will agree with you on that.
However do elaborate this - 'and ask Tata to make car engines that belong in a car and not a truck',
IMO their tdi engine which they make themselves quiet suits the Vista and even the earlier one in Dicor never gave a feeling it belongs to a truck (I had never own an Indica but i have driven a lot all the versions till now to have good driving experience in them).

[ashish22]

personally i would love to see skoda back on track. Their cars are undoubtedly good and safe. Look at the new superb, it kills the competition. Its just that skoda has to get its most important criteria right which we all know is its biggest flaw right now.

Skoda give us the faith just like we indians did by welcoming you with open arms when you first set your foot in india. It is we the consumers who made you what you are today and i guess its time for you to do the same. It is time for you to restore the lost faith.

[navin]

Originally Posted by marlinspike

Listening is the most important part of any service.

ACTION is the most important part of any car service. Listening is only the first stage. After all "they" are mechanics not shrinks!

Originally Posted by ashish22

personally i would love to see skoda back on track.

Exactly. That is why we spent so much time with them. All of us have hectic day jobs. Yet we took time of these jobs to make time for Skoda. I even missed the first hour of my son's birthday party (an earned the wrath of my wife).

Skoda started well with the 1.9Tdi and the revolutionary pricing strategy. Then they took the eye off the ball. Let's see if they can regain their previous stature. Ex: FIAT had a reputation for poor service when it was with PAL and is still having a hard time shaking of that reputation.

[monstr2]

a friend here in noida was having serious problems with his car(the STEERING BECAME FREE WHILE THE CAR WAS MOVING,
and when the company did not compensate for repairs,
he put up a STICKER on the back of the car that said 'DO NOT BUY THIS CAR'
consequently the company was forced to reimburse him.
if these companies think that people who buy cars can be fooled then my
suggestion is that all members of team-BHP come together and contribute thirty rupees per month per member and fight it out so that these companies realise that we are not the same group of people whose votes are bought by politicians in exchange for a hundred rupee note and who then sell this country and their mothers to these companies.

[monstr2]

as far as im concerned skoda is a very mediocre car more so in its looks and holds zero appeal for me .my father before buying his car ,heard from somebody of skoda's new model which is the small sized one (cant remember the name) but i would have none of it and made him buy the swift.no one can beat the japanese when it comes to reliability and efficiency.now i wallop it everyday.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by monstr2

...,heard from somebody of skoda's new model which is the small sized one (cant remember the name) but i would have none of it ...

LOL, are you talking about that miserable failure that goes by the name of Fabia?!

[Fountainheader]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

LOL, are you talking about that miserable failure that goes by the name of Fabia?!

I guess he meant the Yeti

[AirbusA340]

well guyzz.

need to mention, a honda accord V6 3.0, my friend owns, ran into some suspension problems with one of the dealers here and he went through a lot of agony before he could even go any further.


I would sincerely not blame Honda itself for that! Its purely the dealer(s) and most of the time it is only them!! buT owing to the minimum complaints with respect to Honda they may not personally look into the dealer matter.

BUT in this case, there is hardly anybody who is not scared for a possible tsunami encounter with the Skoda *** wherein, eventually, you end up taking your car for regular service, at least during the warranty period! (ironically, the warranty period does not seem to be of any help at all !!)

aS per this thread, a collective thanks to everyone involved because I am sure this mutual-passionate-automotive support would help everyone alike.

anY Horror stories out of the hyD dealer, Mahavir Auto?! I'm trying my best to find out. Hopefully can gather some information which can open up more insights of how it is going down south with the dealers.

eVEN normal conversations at the movies, etc., of how good the New Superb is and blah, blah, blah! The very mention of this thread had my friends' eye-brows raised and the topic had totally deviated from the assets of the Superb to the "Ooooh $%^&! What are they doing about it?! Are they at least responding to it?"

Nevertheless, they had an additional sorry face for me for having to own one of their cars!

Hopefully, Skoda makes sense out of the whole Ordeal starting with Mr.Harish!

Cheers!!

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Post Edited. Smilie usage is restricted to two per post on Team-BHP. Please refrain from using excessive smilies.

We advise you to read the Announcements and Board Rules section before proceeding any further.

[kb100]

Originally Posted by AirbusA340

well guyzz........

AIrbusA340!

Welcome to the forum!

Very sorry but I had to read your post twice over to understand what you were trying to convery! Please take time to frame your sentences - and capitalise them properly! We also have a TWO SMILEY rule here!

That aside - Have fun! (Please go through the forum rules before you proceed though)

[AirbusA340]

Hi KB!

sorry about it. Did not see the capitalization rule in the Board Rules! Not even in the posts by others!!

And sorry about the smileys...Will keep caution while posting in the future.

cheers!

[sidwadia]

Good step by Skoda to meet up with the Mods - But that is really no assurance or confirmation of intention to improve things.

IMHO : Its purely lending a listening ear and / or damage control.

Proof of the pudding is when we get to hear from Harish, Evo, Diffsoft and several others of having being dealt satisfactorily by Skoda.

I would really like to see skoda at the helm of consumer confidence and sincerely hope that some VISIBILY DEMONSTRATIVE actions being taken to assuage the current negativity.

To my mind , this is far from over ! But nontheless , its an inspiring begining

[Thad E Ginathom]

Time will tell.

It is an inspiring beginning, and we do have to give some time. Attitudes may not be changeable without personnel changes, but, if they are sincere, some results should be visible fairly soon.

The biggest problem they face may not be in making the changes, it might be in maintaining them. It would be relatively easy (and a relatively cheap good PR exercise) to fix the problems of a handful of high-profile customers like Harish. What will really count is how they are treating people in one, two, five years...

[evo]

Update on my car with Skoda

The works manager calls me up and says that the yellow colour will remain on plastic parts and that the only way to get rid of it is to replace the plastic parts and that he wouldnt do it until I paid for it.

He again said that sanding the car properly would cause rust.

[marlinspike]

[quote=navin;1271529]ACTION is the most important part of any car service. Listening is only the first stage. After all "they" are mechanics not shrinks!

well I was coming from the view point that unless you are willing to listen like 'listen' not just hear, there can be no meaningful action especially in scenarios.

Even mechanics need to listen to ...what the engine/ car as a whole is singing as well as the customer's requirement before they can action on it, if all they can do is ignore then Action is not something that would follow.

Originally Posted by harry10

@Marlin- Will agree with you on that.
However do elaborate this - 'and ask Tata to make car engines that belong in a car and not a truck',
IMO their tdi engine which they make themselves quiet suits the Vista and even the earlier one in Dicor never gave a feeling it belongs to a truck (I had never own an Indica but i have driven a lot all the versions till now to have good driving experience in them).

A Tata vehicle stops next to me at the stop light and I hear trrr..trrr..sound - same as what i hear from a Tata 407 truck- see the bonnet/tailgate with a gap that can accommodate a couple of scale widths.
True Vista may be better on these aspects but they too few in number as of now when you look at their portfolio that you encounter on road to make an impact on the perception.