[torqueunlimited]

Originally Posted by vid6639

GTO, make that 18 please. I showed my dad this thread and he is grateful that he did not go ahead with the Superb. We were very close to putting down the money for the Superb.

Add me to the list of potential customers lost. I cancelled my booking of the Fabia after reading through everything. I stand firm with T-Bhp to fight against all this...

[ashthedivx]

Make it 20, i have already discussed the same issue with my bro-in-law and have initiated to cancel the newly booked Laura.

I stand-by Team-Bhp for Justice and a consumer's right !!

Edit: My bro-in-law asked me to have a word with Silverstone Dealership. He was like "Sir what happened ?? Why are you canceling the booking" I said "check your mailbox and let me know if you'll buy SKODA if you were at my place ??"

[hondadude]

This is abominable behavior by Skoda . Threatening to take action against a public forum for speaking the truth!!!

Skoda is underestimating the power of "word of mouth". This is going to get them exponentially bad publicity. All they had to do was to say sorry and make up for the boo boos they made.

[anilkalvani]

Am in the process of framing an email with links to this thread which everybody on team-bhp can Copy + Paste & send it to as many people on their contact list and advising them to forward it to as many people as possible. I will post it in a short while.

[darklord]

Mods: Correct me or ignore this post if I got my facts and/or my logic wrong.

A few guys in this forum has written to Skoda, giving them the link to the thread posted by Harish. I guess that owners of a company will be more concerned about the falling fortunes of the company than the executives who run it. So who owns Skoda? The Volkswagen Group. Who owns Volkswagen? I did some basic search and came up with this. Source: Wikipedia. Volkswagen Group - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The share ownership of Volkswagen AG is distributed as follows:
In percent of voting rights:

• 50.76% - Porsche Automobil Holding SE [17]
• 20.10% - State of Lower Saxony
• 3.58% - UBS AG, Zurich.

In percent of subscribed capital:

• 22.5% - Porsche Automobil Holding SE
• 14.8% - State of Lower Saxony
• 30.9% - Private shareholders / others
• 25.6% - Foreign institutional investors
• 6.2% - German institutional investors

I assume if we the take the battle to the generals, rather than wasting our time with soldiers, we might be able to get a better resolution. Here is the links to the website of the two major stake owners of VW.

Official Porsche Website

State of Lower Saxoy: Lower Saxony international

This is just my suggestion, of course, open to debate and/or retraction.

[travelwriter]

I don't still understand why Skoda is acting in such an immature and unprofessional manner. From what I gathered from the original thread on the nature of complaint, it was the dealer who was a fraud and a cheat.

That Skoda is not doing anything to make the dealer responsible (I mean, cancelling the dealership is not sufficient in this case) and making him pay for the damages and all the mental trauma Harish had to go through.

After reading the post about Meghna and the Autobahn connection, it looks to me like this dealer also had a similar connection (or still has).

Now the Team BHP voice is even louder. And stronger. Skoda should hang its head in shame! Do we have any members from Skoda parent company's country? This should be highlighted there as well

[anilkalvani]

Hi everybody,
This is just to make each and every person possible to be aware of what you might be in for if you consider buying a Skoda here in India.

I am a proud member of an unbiased community of Indian car enthusiasts called team bhp (Team-BHP - The Definitive Indian Car Community - Home). What you are going to read on the following threads are true disgruntled experiences of people who own Skoda cars.

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

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...its-users.html

My request to you and others is to forward this email to as many people as you know. We don’t want more people to suffer the same fate as the poor souls who spent between 8 to 25 lakhs of their hard earned money on this premium brand only to face serious issues later.

It is just our endeavor to alert & support this issue.

Remember, we are not against the company, but against their callous, high handed attitude of not accepting their faults & problems.

Thanks,

Anil Kalvani
BHPian
Team-BHP - The Definitive Indian Car Community - Home
handle/username: anilkalvani

Guys you can make necessary changes to the above and send it to as many people as you can. I've tried to keep it very plain and simple. Any suggestions are welcome.

[motorheadinc]

Email sent to my entire friend list. and to atleast one friend who was planning on a Laura.
Doing my bit for the cause.

Cheers and long live Team BHP

[aaggoswami]

@GTO : Perfect thread. It was required considering the growing number of complains against Skoda ( including TBHP moderator ).
I appreciate your calmness. Even reading this thread made me mad.

I have voted for YES. Without doubt TBHP does stand for what is the truth. We appreciate the positives of a car and negatives also.
Just an example. Swift is a car that is mostly associated with rattles. If that is the truth, anybody in this world will find it here.

The following words " 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. " are surprisingly from a reputed company.

I think Skoda India has attacked TBHP.

If we speak openly then this is a reputed company's response :

Originally Posted by Skoda Corporate

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.

So what does the reputed company think ( how ) TBHP should react to " They are personal atacks on our company, staff and me as an individual. "

1) I feel that Skoda India has threatened not only Harishv or moderator team or all TBHP members, but the Indian car buyuing public in general.

2) You have mentioned you were " adviced " to inform us. Its a humble request to ask those who " adviced " you to come forward on TBHP and typr in the truth ( if they have any ).

3) I accept that sometimes dealers are a nasty lot as most of them have " contacts " and influence, but when the end user/customer contacts the company, it becomes company's responsibility to solve the matter. If the matter goes to court, I think its only because of the company's failure to address the issue in proper manner. If the company fails to have a good management and control over dealers, inadvetently the end user will not be happy.

4) Aversion towards customer support only makes the matter worse for both the parties. This is clear from Harishv's case.

5) If your company comes forward and asks TBHP members if they are in support of harishv and if they are ready to get sued along with harishv, IMO, most of TBHP will be happy to get along.

@HarishV : We respect your courage. Skoda's response here on TBHP proves who is wrong.

@mods : I am sorry if my post seems offensive, but its just my opinion about what is ongoing. Rs. 12-13 lakh is not a small amout and Rs. 4 lakh is worth almost a new Wagon R on the road.

[anupmathur]

I suggest that every member of T-BHP must post (a pledge of support) on this thread!

Skoda owner or not, the Team stands together. How dare they threaten the Forum and Members!!

[maverick030581]

Originally Posted by GTO

FACT ONE :


My only questions to you, Dear BHPian, are these : Does Team-BHP stand for the truth and nothing else but the truth? Are we going to let giant corporations walk all over us? Does the Indian customer want to be so ill-treated? Do we want to be walked over by a profit-hungry Skoda that cares a damn about it's Indian customers? Are we willing to stand up for our rights? Do we want ANYONE to take away our right to freedom of speech?

Team-BHP is blessed with the best-wishes of 40,000 BHPians. the entire body of Indian car enthusiasts and lakhs of regular visitors. I know, that with YOUR SUPPORT, Team-BHP has what it takes to stand up for the TRUTH.

Let me also release a FIRM PUBLIC WARNING to Skoda Corporate : If you attempt to threaten ANY Team-BHPian, your account will receive a permanent BAN. And yes, if you want to sue me for speaking the truth, be my damn guest.

@GTO - Three cheers to you for taking a firm stand on this. IMO not just Skoda but every car manufacturer in India should realise they cannot take their customers for a ride, regardless of the price they pay for the vehicle. This website is there for people to share their experiences honestly so others can learn. It was only after becoming a member of tbhp that I learnt about Skoda's example and since then, my entire circle has boycotted this company with regards to purchase of used as well as new vehicles.

Once again, this is the right way to deal with such companies. Facts are facts and cannot be overriden by corporate hogwash. And NOBODY has any right to threaten this community for sharing the truth and enlightening other consumers. End of story. Bring it on !

Edit : anilkalvani, thanks for the draft. Email forwarded.

[Superleggera]

GTO - Hats off for putting such a brilliant post. As some other BHPian pointed out, we BHPians are together - always !

SKODA- If you are reading this,pls understand that you are digging your own grave by threatening BHPians.

[akhilesh51]

Skoda Auto is making the best example banging one's own head against the wall.

Firstly, they provide the most atrocious service in the country even though they project themselves as a 'Premium' Brand.

Their cars are cheap to buy but certainly not cheap to maintain something which Skoda hides from all customers during sales.

They usually hide behind the garb of VW group whenever subjected to issues but the fact remains... They least follow VW ethics.

Harassing of customers at service centers is not new in Skoda and Harish's case is not exclusive as per my own experiences that of all Skoda Owners I know.

Yet, They threaten a community and forum of legal action when they should clearly know that a non-commercial forum or community of people have full right to express their opinions within their community in whichever way they please as long as approved by the authoritarians in the community and bulk of community members.

I dont know why these corporates think they can scare people by threatening Legal action ignoring the fact that others do know the legal system just as well as them.

[entropy]

First of all @GTO, salute you sir for your firm stand on this.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

@mods : I am sorry if my post seems offensive, but its just my opinion about what is ongoing. Rs. 12-13 lakh is not a small amout and Rs. 4 lakh is worth almost a new Wagon R on the road.

Price is secondary here I think. It is the attitude of the dealer and the company that is agonising when the fraud and cheating is so obvious. I was planning to replace my 15 months old Civic with new Superb but after this incident ... NO WAY. Also never ever a Skoda in my life ever and among all friends/relatives I know.

[vkochar]

I am LOVING THIS !!!

Wow !! I do not login yesterday and I see this thread now. Went through this entire thing in the last one hour and boy oh boy .. what a thread !!

SKODA - You have lost and I repeat lost a potential LAURA buyer. And along with me also lost countless more potential buyers - just through me alone.

Now I love your cars and the way they are built and for their FE, but when I go ahead and spend a whopping million or two ( in Indian Rupees ) then I expect certain peace of mind. But looking at all these horror tales ( especially about poor harish ) I shudder to own a piece of your Czech whatever !!

And Please do not think the Internet is not powerful !! It is more powerful than anything.

I know people who are not net savvy at all, but nowadays for buying even a small thing like a Mobile phone costing 5000 Rs. - They google it.

Guess what - Try typing ' SKODA OWNERS REVIEW ' in google and see what the result is. Try the 4th link !!

The problem was such a simple one - All you needed to do was please Mr Harish by helping him out and not by dragging all this in court. You could have easily replaced the Car with a new one. Imagine the good publicity you would have received.

Also you could have come out here on this forum and typed out an apology in public - that should have solved the problem to a good extent.

BUT now it's gone too far I beleive.

I am rating this thread as a 5 star. Everyone do it !! It deserves this !!