[Exhaust_Note]

I have been following this thread from page number 1, but was unable to post since I was still not IN. It is not a question of Team BHP or Truth any more. It is the question of Indians being taken for a ride and being treated as a dumping ground. What is interesting to note is other automobile brands are fighting to woo us and get larger market shares while Skoda is behaving as if they are selling water to the thirsty in the Death Vally.
What would I not give to know whats going on in their minds!

[nickatnite]

I've been following this thread for a while too, and what i can conclude is one dissatisfied customer is just one too many. Skoda may win the battle but they will lose the war. My conclusion is that they have too many Indians in middle management here as Skoda company's behaviour seems to be typical of Indian behaviour ie., when cornered, retaliate with as much force as can muster and never accept blame or responsibility even if it destroys everything.. It is middle management who interface with dealers and run day to day affairs and one , i hope, can see a picture emerging of our time honored national traits of corruption, nepotism, backbiting, graft and other nefarious purposes.Only this time we are seeing these manifested in an automobile company.

[YC.BALENO.CHD]

Originally Posted by nickatnite

My conclusion is that they have too many Indians in middle management here as Skoda company's behaviour seems to be typical of Indian behaviour . It is middle management who interface with dealers and run day to day affairs and one , i hope, can see a picture emerging of our time honored national traits of corruption, nepotism, backbiting, graft and other nefarious purposes.Only this time we are seeing these manifested in an automobile company.

Well, you may be right to a certain extent, but let us not forget that a similar middle management consisting of 'typical Indians' exists in working of other manufacturers as well. We have manufacturers right from Maruti to BMWs, including Toyota, Honda, TATA, Ford and others in between. And its not that all others are very good with their behaviour and a case or two does surface once in a while but I guess such an issue has never been reported on this or any other forum.
Customer dissatisfaction is one thing but malpractices such as cheating, forgery, harassment, threatening and stuff takes it to all together a different level. And its not just Mr.Harish's case that has been reported here. There are many fellow members who have been troubled. Also, such cases are not only found here but all over the Internet. A google search will yield enough results from India itself.

You may be very right with your views about typical indian behaviour but let us not forget that similar percentage or even higher percentage of Indian employees can be found in the 'middle management' of most other manufacturers present here.
Also, if your opinion about this Indian Middle Management being the root cause for deficiency in services is true, its high time Higher Management should see to it and rectify the flaws as soon as possible.
In fact IMHO, its the higher management consisting mostly of non-Indian personalities that is to be blamed. If they can't address to the grivences of their customers despite being aware of it and can't do anything but further add to the woes of their customers, then they are simply not capable of running the company.

Point is, Indian mentality and middle management is not to be blamed alone, rather its the whole company that should be held up responsible (including the dealers). Just blaming the indian behaviour is not in high spirit. What better proof of it can be given than the fact that its the Indian Middle Management only that is responsible for functioning of highly successful manufacturers like MSIL, Honda, Toyota, TATA, Ford, etc.


Regards.

[Theyota]

My conclusion is that they have too many Indians in middle management here as Skoda company's behaviour seems to be typical of Indian behaviour ie., when cornered, retaliate with as much force as can muster and never accept blame or responsibility even if it destroys everything.. It is middle management who interface with dealers and run day to day affairs and one , i hope, can see a picture emerging of our time honored national traits of corruption, nepotism, backbiting, graft and other nefarious purposes.Only this time we are seeing these manifested in an automobile company.

Please do not generalize all the Indian middle managers. There are hundreds of world class companies run by Indian middle managers all over the world. Country of origin has nothing to do in this. What we are seeing is a clear horrible corporate culture in Skoda. Scum always originates in the top most level.

[navin]

Originally Posted by harishv

GTO
I am going to impose myself on you for some assistance.
Firstly, I need a good mechanic who is familiar with Skoda parts. I hope you can introduce me to somebody.Thanks

Harish, I thought your car is still with Skoda (even while you pay the monthly installments). Are you planning to buy another a second one?

There are a few mechanics in Mumbai who are familiar with European cars. I found Swadi Auto (they are as pricey as Authorised Service Centers) to be one that is fairly competent. I am sure there are more. Normally Crazy who also lives in Mumbai and also drives a Skoda might be another person to contact.

Also if you have been following my thread on Skoda Service (Indian Car Dealerships forum), you will note that I have been lately giving my car to Autobahn. There seems to be atleast one person there (Liyakat Chajju who is ex Arya Honda) so seems to be customer centric. Still I can understand your aphrehensions of going to a Skoda dealer.

[harishv]

Originally Posted by navin

Harish, I thought your car is still with Skoda (even while you pay the monthly installments)..

My car is still with Skoda.

I plan to inspect few suspect cars for spurious parts. I needed a mechanic for that purpose.

[Ricky_63]

Day before my Octavia showed the Engine Check Light. Sure enough I had no choice but to have a scan run on my car. So I went to the Gurgaon dealer, Giriraj Motors, (with whom my earlier experiances have not been the best).

BUT this time I was astounded by the response, which I think I'd attribute to the service advisor Mr. Satinder, he had the scan run & error code removed & car handed back to me in like 35 odd minutes.

I still have not gotten over the shock - BUT it means that they are capable of doing it right if they want to OR is "Skoda Corporate" really taking things up with the dealer !!

An astonishingly pleasant experiance which I though I must put down here.

Total charges 332/-



Cheers

[nickatnite]

Originally Posted by YC.BALENO.CHD

Well, you may be right to a certain extent, but let us not forget that a similar middle management consisting of 'typical Indians' exists in working of other manufacturers as well. We have manufacturers right from Maruti to BMWs, including Toyota, Honda, TATA, Ford and others in between. And its not that all others are very good with their behaviour and a case or two does surface once in a while but I guess such an issue has never been reported on this or any other forum.
Customer dissatisfaction is one thing but malpractices such as cheating, forgery, harassment, threatening and stuff takes it to all together a different level. And its not just Mr.Harish's case that has been reported here. There are many fellow members who have been troubled. Also, such cases are not only found here but all over the Internet. A google search will yield enough results from India itself.

You may be very right with your views about typical indian behaviour but let us not forget that similar percentage or even higher percentage of Indian employees can be found in the 'middle management' of most other manufacturers present here.
Also, if your opinion about this Indian Middle Management being the root cause for deficiency in services is true, its high time Higher Management should see to it and rectify the flaws as soon as possible.
In fact IMHO, its the higher management consisting mostly of non-Indian personalities that is to be blamed. If they can't address to the grivences of their customers despite being aware of it and can't do anything but further add to the woes of their customers, then they are simply not capable of running the company.

Point is, Indian mentality and middle management is not to be blamed alone, rather its the whole company that should be held up responsible (including the dealers). Just blaming the indian behaviour is not in high spirit. What better proof of it can be given than the fact that its the Indian Middle Management only that is responsible for functioning of highly successful manufacturers like MSIL, Honda, Toyota, TATA, Ford, etc.


Regards.

I agree. I did omit to mention that blame should also go to Skoda's top management here for not exerting enough pressure and allowing middle management and dealers to have their way. I think that's why the other manufacturers are doing better and now i know why Hyundai Korean management behaves the way they do. Else, they would have also gone down the same road. Someone said "we Indians work well only under pressure".

[tanwaramit]

Originally Posted by nickatnite

Someone said "we Indians work well only under pressure".

Please donot generalize this too. Indians have also been some of the biggest entrepreneurs, Lakshmi Mittal, Narayan Murthy, Ambani (lets not get into the details of how).

So Indians are great thinkers, great leaders, good achievers and good followers (like anyone else).

If you note, Senior Management (including non-Indian) team from Skoda met the mods and listened to the issues and problems from as shared by mods, but what have they done ? Lauched new models, hoping to tide the sales crisis and nothing on solving the issues.

Lets stick to ignorance to customer feedback as done by Skoda as a company in India. They dont listen, dont care. Reminds me of something a fellow bhpian shared (of a skoda salesguy) here "Skoda aise hi bik jaata hai, why care for test drive? " OR Customer ?

[nickatnite]

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

Please donot generalize this too. Indians have also been some of the biggest entrepreneurs, Lakshmi Mittal, Narayan Murthy, Ambani (lets not get into the details of how).

We sure won't get into the details, shall we?. The murky Satyam affair gave us all pointers , so i will leave it be. I hope Skoda gets it's act together re: a.s.s and the dissatisfied customers get their cars fixed to their satisfaction.

[HotChillyPepper]

Originally Posted by nickatnite

I agree. I did omit to mention that blame should also go to Skoda's top management here for not exerting enough pressure and allowing middle management and dealers to have their way. I think that's why the other manufacturers are doing better and now i know why Hyundai Korean management behaves the way they do. Else, they would have also gone down the same road. Someone said "we Indians work well only under pressure".

I don't think its about less pressure which is making Skoda worst. They should look into themselves and change their work culture to have a better customer experience.

Good managers (let him be Indian / German) will not treat people who work under them as slaves and take away all the freedom to use your own brain. When you work with such COOL managers naturally a respect will be developed in your mind about him/her. When the entire team of people feels this way the "team work" will happen. Otherwise its all blame game and passing the bucks. Probably Skoda should look into these aspects as soon as possible.

[ecclipse78]

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

Day before my Octavia showed the Engine Check Light. Sure enough I had no choice but to have a scan run on my car. So I went to the Gurgaon dealer, Giriraj Motors, (with whom my earlier experiances have not been the best).

BUT this time I was astounded by the response, which I think I'd attribute to the service advisor Mr. Satinder, he had the scan run & error code removed & car handed back to me in like 35 odd minutes.

I still have not gotten over the shock - BUT it means that they are capable of doing it right if they want to OR is "Skoda Corporate" really taking things up with the dealer !!

An astonishingly pleasant experiance which I though I must put down here.

Total charges 332/-



Cheers

When there is a will, surely there's a way !!

Now, Skoda is there a will do to things right ??

[navin]

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

An astonishingly pleasant experiance which I though I must put down here.

Total charges 332/-
Cheers

Glad to see that Skoda is actually showing signs of listening.

[kunaldhami]

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

Day before my Octavia showed the Engine Check Light. Sure enough I had no choice but to have a scan run on my car. So I went to the Gurgaon dealer, Giriraj Motors, (with whom my earlier experiances have not been the best).

BUT this time I was astounded by the response, which I think I'd attribute to the service advisor Mr. Satinder, he had the scan run & error code removed & car handed back to me in like 35 odd minutes.

I still have not gotten over the shock - BUT it means that they are capable of doing it right if they want to OR is "Skoda Corporate" really taking things up with the dealer !!

An astonishingly pleasant experiance which I though I must put down here.

Total charges 332/-



Cheers

Skoda is doing something to improve after sales service.
I had a good experience at skoda dealership surat which I posted here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post1298028

[navin]

Kunal, that link is to the main forum page! But is nice to see some positive reports.