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Old 28th March 2009, 01:39   #61
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I never saw such a dismal marketing failure. Why, oh why (as they might be asking eachother just now) could they not just shut up if they had nothing positive to say?

Their post almost reads like a spoof written for somethingawful.com.
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Old 28th March 2009, 01:44   #62
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@Skoda: The action threatened by you has just made it worse for yourself and now you'll look more guilty. I loved Skoda and we even own a Combi LnK, which is a wonderful vehicle, but has very bad service. Recently, the headlamp was broken in an accident and guess what?
- The part is not easily available
- Dealers have quoted between 30,000-45,000 to get it fixed.

I personally think that instead of wasting time threatening T-BHP, it would be easier to spend the time working on finding a resolution to the case, and working on your after sales support. Take a clue from Toyota and other such dealers who are very pro-active and a pleasure to deal with, unlike Skoda. It really isn't that hard and with the Superb, you have been given a second chance, not only by consumers but even by members of T-BHP.
Posting such posts and threats will only worsen your brand image. Instead, please take my advice and work on your after sales service to improve it and make us want to buy another Skoda.
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Old 28th March 2009, 01:46   #63
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom View Post
I never saw such a dismal marketing failure. Why, oh why (as they might be asking eachother just now) could they not just shut up if they had nothing positive to say?

Their post almost reads like a spoof written for somethingawful.com.
It almost looks like somebody at that marketing firm really did this on purpose. Hard to believe any sane person would make such a silly statement. At least a sane person with honorable intentions.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaggu View Post
Glad that all this is being noticed by the concerned parties, but what i would suggest is some solution to the problem of the customer, rather than aimlessly shooting the messenger?
They are not Obsessed with shooting yet, only Obsessed with instigating. Thank god for that.
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Old 28th March 2009, 01:51   #64
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Every company is going to have its share of good and bad experiences with products and dealers, the problem with Skoda's is its letting itself be defined by its worst cases. When you make a mistake the quickest and most painless way to resolve it is come clean and make amends, this makes sense most times even if its not the company's mistake.

The fact that Skoda is now appealing can only mean either they are stubborn and senior management have made this an ego issue or they are under the misguided illusion that owning up will damage their reputation more than denial. That's classic management immaturity. Any contemporary crisis PR professional would advice immediate and honest reponse not obfuscation, not insincere communication, threats or other outmoded and discredited methods of response.

PR and marketing folks should learn from history about the value of absolute honesty in a controversy, you try to cover your back or control the narrative and things can deteriorate so rapidly you will have lost control of the situation and damaged your brand and business.

Most of the issues members post here could have been resolved by a mid level functionary in Skoda in 5 minutes, either they are not empowered or they are too arrogant. Hopefully this will be a lesson to learn.

Last edited by raul : 28th March 2009 at 01:54.
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Old 28th March 2009, 01:59   #65
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neoranjit View Post
Just one request GTO : Lets get rid of the red 'car' on top of this page with a better one.
Instructions have already been sent out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathoma View Post
Their post almost reads like a spoof written for somethingawful.com.
Plus, you'd imagine that a supposedly *premium manufacturer* would - at the very least - have their public statements proof read? Or use MS Word's spell checker (it's FREE & built-in for heavens sake!)

Your post in the other Skoda thread was simply hilarious. Would you mind me inserting it here?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom View Post
Skoda...

So you didn't like
Quote:
will ensure that this awful mess is resolved to our customer's satisfaction by the end of next week.
then? I suppose that means you won't pay my consultancy bill? I thought it was a pretty good suggestion myself. I have another one for you. It's an old saying:
Quote:
When in hole; Stop digging
Obviously not the way you guys think, as you have chosen (and obviously with some management discussion and consultation) to drive yourselves deeper and deeper into the unmentionable smelly stuff. Bad news, from the marketing point of view: you might find that some of it takes years to wash off.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skoda Corporate View Post
Hi there,
I hear that there are disgruntled customers and we are doing our best to provide a consistently good service level.
A little contradiction there?

Quote:
As I have mentioned before, please get in touch with our customer services representatives who will be able to help you on any other matters not relating to the current court case.
You'd rather not have this sort of thing talked about in public, eh? Perhaps you should hold an enquiry into whose fault it is that they are being. Perhaps you should also remind each other that, in this internet age, you are never going to stop them being talked about in public.

Message sent out:
Quote:
I have been advised to forward to you the following notice pertaining to this thread of the forum.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...rned-year.html

I have been advised to inform you that the hosting or publishing of such information (which , does not represent all of the facts) would instigate both Team-BHP as well as the various users in the ongoing court case.
Message received:

Skoda is scared. You are really not very good at handling this public relations stuff, are you

Quote:
It saddens us here at Skoda that things have escalated to this point and we have tried to engage but the truth is that some of the comments are now extremely offensive and defamatory. They are personal atacks on our company, staff and me as an individual.
Boo hoo. What do you expect?

Quote:
We have tried very hard to engage but users are simply not being reasonable or letting us partake in the forum and allowing us to be heard.
No, you have not. You have come by with some spin. You did not engage in any meaningful way. Spin; then threats.

Quote:
Skoda India is a highly reputable company and does not entertain any kind of foul practices by their dealers. In fact, Skoda India is an active member of the society for indian automobile manufacturers who are against any conterfeiting in the market.
It is a shame that you are doing your best to damage your own reputation by public statements such as this.

Quote:
It is very simple- all of the facts are not represented here and we have been informed that from a legal standpoint, we cannot disclose them as doing so may affect the outcome of the case.
But you didn't say that when you thought you could get past us with a piece of spin talk, did you? Everything was all very dandy then.
Quote:
It is somewhat confusing to us that Mr. Harsih Kanchan feels he can!
But you didn't say that when you thought you could get past us with a piece of spin talk, did you? Everything was all very dandy then.

Quote:
Please contact customer services with any concerns or issues and we will inform you all of te outcome of the case.
You have the public eye, and that won't do.

Even if all the facts were actually found to be in your favour, you have now well screwed your presentation of yourselves with this response.

Marketing Fail!

First thing you might like to do is to remind your colleagues that this is not a forum merely of teenage car enthusiasts, but of real car buyers. What a dismal mess you guys made of it.

(Sam, I didn't see Skoda's later post before answering the previous one. )

(Oh dear, looks like I really have to say goodbye to that Fabia temptation. And VAG group had been one of my favourite companies for so many years. Meghna; they say a fisherman is as good as his last catch; a company is as good as its marketing department's last big, big failure. )

<crossposted>
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO
You so obviously know nothing about PR & Marketing.
Goodness: how come it took me so many more words to say just that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lamborghini View Post
It really isn't that hard and with the Superb
Based on past & recent developments, I have dissuaded 17 potential customers from the new Superb. And counting.
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Old 28th March 2009, 01:59   #66
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What I don't understand is - How hard is it to say that you are sorry for the actions of your dealer? Do it, fix the car and everything ends up in a positive light.

Do what you have done and no matter how you play it, you end up being the loser. These threads are indexed by google and will live forever in the internet cache. Try this

skoda india consumer court - Google Search

Big surprise on which link comes up top!
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Old 28th March 2009, 02:00   #67
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GTO please do the needful of removing Octavia pic from team-bhp web page.
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Old 28th March 2009, 02:14   #68
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A little search leads us to the actual details of this Skoda shill - looks like they are really very scared of team-bhp for the head of corporate communications to frame such an ill worded message.

Meghna Choksey : Head of Corporate Communications
meghna.choksey@skoda-auto.co.in
Phone: 09373844430

There you go - details of the "non functioning" Skoda PR.

Last edited by reignofchaos : 28th March 2009 at 02:15.
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Old 28th March 2009, 02:42   #69
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harbir
The situation in India is different. Anybody can register a case without much cost to them and put the accused in endless difficulties with the justice system. Evidence is easily fabricated or supressed. Witnesses easily bribed or coerced. There is no real jury to assess the evidence independently. And that bane of the court system, the stay order that is the biggest impediment to justice in India. Not to mention, the intellectual capacity of Indian judges to interpret the spirit of the law cannot be taken for granted. They treat us citizens like we are uneducated cattle. After all, our laws are made by politicians with no background in law, in legal history, our judges are not intellectual heavyweights, and rarely is a court case in India ever decided upon the ideals and principles of free society that underpin good laws.

This is a situation in which malicious people, from private citizens to corporations, misuse the law and the judiciary to cause extensive problems for innocent people who happen to be obstacles.
I agree with you on the state of the Indian Judicial system Harbir but you know something about it? The above mentioned things work both ways, so if Skoda tries to pull a fast one on us tomorrow, let me tell you there are enough ways to get around that without too much of an hassle. Of course, no wants to get into the crap because of the state of the system but when one is forced to (like I've discovered over the past few years) there are enough ways to do exactly what you've described above to ensure no untoward action gets taken against one.

So if today Skoda thinks that by threatening us or by filing a lawsuit or two they're going to put a lid on our free speech, let me tell them now, they're all pipe dreams. If they have a legal team in place, most of us are not sitting idle either and if push does indeed come to shove, they'll get a response that they would never imagine a bunch of car enthusiasts could come up with.

Quote:
Originally Posted by diffsoft
I have represented my facts and "feelings" here and right now my feeling is , and here's what I feel about Skoda
Is that defamatory? Please let me know so I am better informed.

Cheers,
Funny how they never replied to your original post eh DS!

Quote:
Originally Posted by tadukuttan
I would like to try some examples of English usage, guys please correct me I am wrong.

Of course, these are only examples of English, and not the reality, as you all already know.

Skoda India instigates it's employees to steal parts from customer cars. Correct right?

Another example here would be, Skoda India is guilty of instigating employees to threaten Indian public, and use illegal means to cheat Skoda Customers by using duplicate spare parts in it's showrooms. Correct?

Skoda India falsely implicates it's customers in court cases if they complain that Skoda India is instigating it's employees to steal spares from customer cars, and replace them with Skoda duplicate spares? Correct?

Apologies for going off topic, just could not control my sudden urge to clear these english questions. I would be deeply obliged if anybody can let me know if these usages are correct.
Too good Tadu, too good!

Quote:
Originally Posted by reignofchaos View Post
A little search leads us to the actual details of this Skoda shill - looks like they are really very scared of team-bhp for the head of corporate communications to frame such an ill worded message.

Meghna Choksey : Head of Corporate Communications
meghna.choksey@skoda-auto.co.in
Phone: 09373844430

There you go - details of the "non functioning" Skoda PR.
LOL! Good work ROC!

Last edited by iraghava : 28th March 2009 at 02:43.
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Old 28th March 2009, 02:43   #70
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am lovin' it :)

Am absolutely loving the posts on this thread

If it were not TBHP by now an encyclopaedia of chosen abuses would have been created on the internet. Skoda and whoever cares for that brand to exist in India, thank your stars that you chose TBHP. The stringent moderation of TBHP has saved you so much anguish. Don't ride your luck too far, a neutral advice.

I would love a legal tangle between TBHP & Skoda. Only to see TBHP quash Skoda and wipe it out of business India. Folks, if needed I can drive the cause in the Nordics. Hell lets have TBHP T-shirts engaged in legal battle with the glass-cabin-locked-arrogant executives of Skoda. If Skoda finds it too difficult to do business in India post this watershed, they can steal this T-Shirt idea and make some moolah before ceasing to exist in India I would not claim the idea is originally mine. I have borrowed it from The Pirate Bay (TPB), currently entangled in a legal battle with overwhelming support pouring out for them. The ones who dragged them in to the court themselves now appear exposed and busted in public of their exploitive, anti-consumer business practising cartel. Utterly humiliated and disgraced in public.
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Old 28th March 2009, 02:45   #71
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harbir View Post
Skoda should not try to use indian laws to try and supress the power of the internet...Going around making threats in such a clumsy fashion out of a misguided idea that Skoda can stop internet discussion is going to backfire on you
Quote:
Originally Posted by mohit View Post
Big surprise on which link comes up top!
Disclaimer: As i type this my car (vRS) is being serviced by Autobahn. We will know by April 2nd (I return to India at 4am April 2nd) what the results of that service are.

That said...

Meghna,

As has been explained before the internet is a viral 'organization'. Some (like the present President of the US) have used it effectively to propogate a positive message. The impression Skoda has created so far has not been very positive.

Let me share my history with Skoda

I bought a Octavia vRS in Sept 2004. All wwent well till I was caught in the 26/7 deluge. I remember 26/7 to be a Tuesday. When I got home I found that the EPC light was on. I let the car dry out all of Wednesday and did not drive it becuase the manual said that if the EPC light is on, the car needs to be taken to a servce center.

On Thursday I called Autobahn. The person who answered told me that since they were deluged by cars could I be kind enough to bring the car on Monday or Tuesday the following week. Perfectly understandale. On Monday morning I sent the car to Autobahn's service center. I did not recieve any call so after lunch I called Autobahn and finally was put in touch with someone who claimed to be looking after my car. His diagnosis was that the Automatic Transmission (or some part of it - I forget exactly what he said) needs to be replaced. That was news to me - all this while I thought my car was a Manual. Needless to say I asked for my car to be sent back.

I took the car to a friend who had a VAG who cleared the EPC error and told me that it was the airbag sensor that was dead and needed to be replaced. I called Autobahn with this diagnosis and they sent someone with an airbag sensor to my office (mahybe becuase their garage was still full of cars being repaired from 26/7) and the same was replaced in my office. Why did Autobahn not use a VAG to diagnose my car? I dont know.

Thereafter I dropped the idea of getting my car serviced at any Skoda dealer. It was scary. Skoda did not even know that my car was a manual car. How did I expect them to service it correctly.

Then sometime in 2007 a friend of mine told me (Kavir Shahani) that I should not be so afraid and if push came to shove he could help. So despite all my apprehensions I sent my car to Autobahn for service. The car was returned without the floor mats. I called Autobahn who told me to return the car so they could put the floor mats. I sent the car a second time. They did put the floor mats but the wheel nut covers on one wheel were now missing. So I called Skoda again. Again Skoda said they can put the wheel nut covers and that I should send the car to them a 3rd time. The 3rd time different wheel nut covers were used (different from the other 3 wheels) and the Skoda emblems from the rear 2 wheels went missing. I gave up. I had better things to do with my time that chase Skoda. I talked with my wallet.

1. I took my car to a local garage for the regualr oil/filter changes and tyre rotation and body work (dent and scratches).
2. never recomended a Skoda again to any of my family or friends
3. Drove my care very carefully and bought a spare car (another make) for long journeys where reliability of the car was important so I am not stranded.

My experiences are not as bad as some mentioned here. For that I am glad.

Just from the sheer number of complaints I would have expected Skoda and it's dealers to have taken corrective action to resolve customer complaints in a fair and timely manner. I believe it is still not to late.

If I were Skoda I would be using ALL my energies to correct this image. That is what sells cars.

So why have I sent my car to Autobahn again now? Well after many assurances from one Mr. Sudhir Srinivas at Skoda and one Mr. Liyakat Chajju at Autobahn I decided to give Skoda one more chance. Oh damn! maybe I am her eternal optimist!
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Old 28th March 2009, 02:53   #72
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Quote:
Originally Posted by navin View Post
2. never recomended a Skoda again to any of my family or friends
3. Drove my care very carefully and bought a spare car (another make) for long journeys where reliability of the car was important so I am not stranded.
Navin, you are a wise man with foresight. Or did you just manage to keep your eyes and ears receptive, something some plush executives fail at blatantly miserably??

Ah! I almost forgot - much of it also came from your experience
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Old 28th March 2009, 03:06   #73
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Dang, I really liked the specs on a laura and had set my eyes on it... i think skoda can strike out one more sale.

And one jetta too, vw = skoda was news to me [ ok, so i'm not not an auto fanatic ]

I think all consumer product manufacturers better wake up and offer international standard products and after sales services, coz the Indian consumer sure is demanding it.
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Old 28th March 2009, 03:19   #74
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Skoda is....The Laughing Stock of TBHP

The response from the Skoda Marketing Manager has proven that the whole management of Skoda India is a bunch of Intellectually handicapped Incompetent cowboys who don't have a clue about how to MANAGE an organisation.

You need to come up with something concrete Skoda, otherwise you will be just ripped to shreads first on Team BHP and then on your company document that shows the figure that is closest to your hearts: Number of Sales.

Here's a lesson - The Customer pays for your car and you need to build a relationship WITH THE CUSTOMER and not only his POCKET.

This thread has had in excess of 15,000 hits and TEAM BHP has over 40,000 members. Even if 20,000 of us talk to 5 people each, that makes it 100,000 people who won't even think of buying a Skoda. And these 100,000 will further talk to ?? people.

I hope you "MANAGERS" at Skoda can atleast decipher what I mean from the figures above. If not
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Old 28th March 2009, 03:27   #75
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Quote:
Originally Posted by reignofchaos View Post
A little search leads us to the actual details of this Skoda shill - looks like they are really very scared of team-bhp for the head of corporate communications to frame such an ill worded message.

Meghna Choksey : Head of Corporate Communications
meghna.choksey@skoda-auto.co.in
Phone: 09373844430

There you go - details of the "non functioning" Skoda PR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by navin View Post
Disclaimer: As i type this my car (vRS) is being serviced by Autobahn.
I don't know what Autobahn is since i don't live in India but from your post it seems it is a Skoda dealer.

So I googled "autobahn" and "Skoda". First link that comes up, is Autobahn. I look around the site till I click on "contacts" and got to this page: Autobahn

I took a screen capture of what I found, highlighted by me using a yellow box in the attached image.

Navin, it seems to me that this "director" at Autobahn is the same person who is head of PR at Skoda Auto India. I googled "autobahn" and "choksey" and I see that Harshil Choksey is the CEO of Autobahn. Presumably, Meghna Choksey is part of his family.

So it seems that Skoda's PR people and legal department are controlled by people who run Skoda dealerships, and dealers are able to immunize themselves from complaints to corporate because their own people are inside Skoda dealing with customers. this means dealers are free to treat their customers as they like. What is so corrupt! Poor bosses at Skoda don't even realize that these people have subverted Skoda's service quality and reputation for the benefit of the dealers, and let the prestige of the Skoda brand go to hell.
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Team-BHP stands for the TRUTH. But Skoda wants to “instigate” Team-BHP and its users!-autobahn1.jpg  


Last edited by Harbir : 28th March 2009 at 03:42.
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