[vabs78]

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.

This is outrageous. We are free people living in a free country.
What is Skoda thinking? They can threaten a whole community of 40k + members and get away with it?

Originally Posted by GTO

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?

No body can threaten our freedom of speech. Skoda may not realize but they will pay dearly for not respecting customers.

I feel so glad today that I didn't put my hard earned money on a Skoda.

[vipul_singh]

@SkodaCorporate: You have picked up a fight way too big for your company's size. This is not about issuing a warning to a website or or a media house. This is like embattling 10000 people at the same time. They are in every nook and cranny of the country, in every town, every street...So are you going to bring about a class action suit to shut me up? For I sure am going to tell eveyone I know about my opinion of Skoda. Let me just see how much muscle you have

Remember: You just cannot win this war even if you win a battle. You think you (or VAG) can survive without customers? For a start, you just lost one (me).

[dockap]

Posted earlier
[Lets assume (conservatively) that at the end of this ordeal Skoda looses orders for about 50 cars each valued at say an approximate value of 20L. That is Rs. 10,00,00,000 in sales not counting the bad publicity.]

i can count 6 or 7 people wanting to buy superbs changing their mind within 2 days of this post thats more than 2 crores not to mention the lauras and fabias should make minium 4 crores bussiness lost in 2 days. imagine how much they are going to loose in 1 month all for the sake of cheating a customer with 4 lakhs of counterfit spare parts

how did skoda survive so long with this type of business sense
either they are really smart or the people are really dumb [me,you and everyone else who brought a skoda]

cmon skoda be smart apologise to the customer and give him a new car and close this horror story whats 12 lakhs compared to the crores of rupees of bussiness you are loosing and going to loose

we own a skoda and i will be frank and say we have had no problems so far with their A.S.S in my city

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sidwadia

If this is not the case (i.e. top management is aware of ground reality) , I strongly urge Skoda to re-evaluate their strategy as this network of individuals are :
LITERATE, EXPERIENCED, WELL CONNECTED, FINANCIALLY SECURE & WILLING TO FIGHT FOR A JUST CAUSE. So I reckon you (Meghna) must immediately apologize for the veiled threating overtures in your statement.

Willing to fight, this esteemed community is. Team-BHP is nothing without its freedom of speech.

If you evaluate this with equinamity, you will realize that its not about Harish or T-BHP Vs Skoda , its about current & potential Skoda/VW consumers Vs "incapability of a company (which was reputed) to recognize the consumer issues & lack of (visible) committment to effect change management to improve the situation".

I'm afraid you might have hit the nail right on the head, Sidwadia. The real problems aren't Skodas mismanagement of dealerships, over-priced spares, cheating by Skoda service stations, their willingness to fight their own customers or stooping low enough to threaten a community of its freedom of speech.

The real problem IS Skoda India's culture as an organisation. The real problem is the management's failure in managing, cultivating and creating a customer-centric attitude. The real problem is one larger than these issues. Failing to take care of Skoda's customers or the all-too-obvious arrogance (shall we call it foolishness) is merely the outcome of the real problem.

Hopefully, Skoda's management does have the foresight to set things right. Else, the Indian market is going to post immense challenges for them in the near and long-term future. Their CEO, in a recent interview, accepted that there are problems with Skoda's aftersales and assured that amends are on the way. This is the time to put your money (and resources) where your mouth is, Mr. Karsten Bogun. Show the world that Skoda really meant what is spoke, and the statement wasn't just loosely released in the air as some periodic PR exercise. We hope to see some action on that front.

[greatDrive]

Wow, 23 pages & more than 15K hits, that too on a thread started on long weekend(for Bangalore). Imagine whats going to happen when Bhp-ians returns back to office and log in to their home page(T-BHP).

Is there a clause in Indian legal system for threatening a Group or Organization for using its Fundamental Right " Freedom of Speech"? Can we sue Skoda for that

[anilkalvani]

sorry but posting it here too

Another Skoda Rip-off. Came across this

Indian Consumer Complaints Forum | skoda

[veriCAR]

Manufacturers are only too used to having an insipid Indian auto media fraternity dance around to their tune, and hand out (meaningless) awards in the meanwhile.

Team-BHP operates on a 'slightly' different fundamental, and to be fair to Skoda's PR, they haven't really been able to figure that out. They've gone around using their general fake libido on this forum, and look what a massive faux pas it has resulted in.

Ms Meghna, you might be trying to track a lot of blogs and social media and fora, but you sure as hell don't know what to do with it.

I wish you (and your company) much luck for dealing with what is coming up.

[rosh_aveo1.4]

Guys...I just talked to my father now and convinced him not to buy the Skoda Laura that we had planned. And another friend who saw this post, decided not to wait for the new Superb and book the Accord instead. I mean, if this is their attitude towards us, why the hell should we even care. It's actually too sad really, the cars from Skoda are amazing and I was so delighted to get a Laura but all these stories literally scared the s*** out of me. I rather trust the guys at GM or Hyundai even better!!

[pranava999]

I stand by Team-BHP!

Sad that we don't have a legal set up that is as effective and fast as the western world where I am sure such customer grievances would have been rectified by auto companies in a jiffy just, on a mere whisper of a law suit or a class action suit! Even for a minor defect in production, recalls happen!

Skoda Corp,please don't assume that posts on T-BHP will dent your reputation or influence the proceedings. The posts appear here merely as tangible expressions of a dented reputation driven by dismal quality of on ground customer servicing!

A customer is a customer, period!It's the company's duty to ensure it meets the required standards of quality itself as well as its representatives (dealers) and does not let down the customer and dent the trust placed by him/her.

Oh just another point, If you think that trying to prevent the publishing of posts on TBHP will protect your reputation....your marketing experts or whoever suggested the idea, has truly got it wrong. All it has done now is dented the company's perception even more. It paints a picture of a company trying to revert to damage control!

Oh btw what could really be more denting is that the Skoda owners club is a small one (not in the same scale as the economy segment) and it does not take too long for owners to actually discuss bad service experiences amongst themselves and spread the word amongst near and dear ones, either in the presence or absence of web forums or other media.

[Skoda Corporate]

Hello all,
for us at Skoda Auto, customer service is of prime importance.
A system is being put in place to address customer service issues online.
Our customer service department will scrutinize each issue and work proactively to resolve them on merit.

That is our commitment to you.
Many thanks,
Skoda.

[007 Bond]

@SkodaCorporate

You should respond before the ship sink too deep, far away from recovery. In just 1 week you have seen the status atleast of a 35 booking cancelled which will reflect in your sales.

It may not right now concern you but a small hole can create a lot of blunder... your this attitude will create a lot of pre mature problems for your mother ship VW. The users over here are educated & even though we have a very short memory..some memories take deep roots even if you are indirectly associated.

By thearthing us you are just making this hole more bigger beacuse indirectly its just going against your reputation & loosing faith of your company & products.

If there is a product there are problems no product ever on earth is defect free, & we indians form of mankind must have accepted in the most positive manner ever. So the best part of you is to just accept the same help the needy out, & you can see the effects of it for you.

As you are also part of this world I think you can better understand that. The money you are putting to defend if you divert that to the suffered can just earn you a lot of allocades from him & in turn this forum & in turn a lot of people who are indirectly associated with this community.

May be this is off topic but just some good words:

There are three types of leaders;

1) Good things are happening & he says I Have Done It.
2) Goods things are happening & he says Team Has Done It.
3) Goods things are happening but nobody nows who has done It.

Just choose where you stand right now nothing of this happening but this can become your vision.

[somubj]

Watch out what you say Skoda corporate/Meghna. This forum is not a group of kids discussing cars, but of potential buyers and car lovers. You will find car owners from 800 to BMWs/Mercs/Lamborghinis on this forum. (Think about the losses in your car sale counts - you are spoiling your image in front of potential buyers)

Not to mention, if you google something about any car in Indian market, Team-bhp link comes on the first page! (People who read reviews, etc will not buy Skodas for sure)

See this thred itself, within 2 days, there are more than 280 responses and 12000+ views and trust me, all these 12000+ people who went through this thread will never recommend Skoda to anyone, forget about buying one.

To the PRs' at Skoda: learn some good PR skills. You are selling your products in the market and you need to me humble, empathetic and modest enough to make a good reputation.

To the marketing guys at Skoda: please go back to your B-schools and get a refresher on the basics.

Harish: best of luck on your case with Skoda!

To the person who voted for a "no" in the poll: (If you are not Meghna?) Please get over with the "chalta hai" attitude.

Thanks!

(Go green - say no to Skoda, this will prevent you from wasting cash, which will save some trees eventually :-))

[Brutus]

I think we are not only helping someone here, but we could set standards for people to follow. Nor is it just Scoda, but the other car companies too. I mean, there have been very few instances that i've heard of Scoda stories in Chandigarh. A couple of my friends do own the trashcan, but they never had much of a problem with the service-stations or the dealerships(except one had a small case with them once, but that was resolved by a politician relative of his), and i myself ,for no particular reason, never liked this vehicle that much. But i must say this vehicle has (or probably had before the market was flooded with new, bigger vehicles), a huge fan following in Punjab. I at home have a mercedes,a honda, a daewoo, a tata, a GM, half a nissan(lol)and 3 mahindras(actually only one, the other 2 are a willys, and a universal), and so far, the only problems i've had is with Daewoo Matiz and the GM Astra, and that too since parts are hard to come by. As far as the Bolero is concerned, i've always managed to get things done my way, by hook or by crook, but they are nice jolly fella's, the only trouble they've ever given me is looking for a rear transmission seal for the Isuzu gearbox of the Bolero(which they could not locate for the better half of the year). Chandigarh so far is a deciplined city, but i'am sure there might be some of these cases here too(even if they are not this bad). I've heard of the pathetic Fiat(pre-tata) attitude, where they did'nt even have engine management computers in their workshops (the ones for calibrating the fuel pumps, that probably all earlier palios had problems with), and i've heard of Scoda taking a unreasonably long time to repair minor jobs(by the way, the same dealership that took 9 and a half months for minor repairs of a scoda, is now handling BMW sales here), but besides this, theres nothing much.

If all we people here, especially those participating and reading this thread, can come up with anything that can help Harishji against the Scoda guys, we surely can help a lot of other people too. There has always been a strength in unity, and history has loads of examples about the power of unity, only that in India, it is a weapon that has been buried 6 feet under for a very very long time now (in the past 250 hundred yrs, this is one fact that has always been used against us, but thats another story). The corporates have been exploring the snail paced courts much for their own good, and the common man can do nothing but be a silent, crushed, humiliated and beaten spectator to all this, while these companies have always been laughing their way to the banks by selling sub-standard products. And why would'nt they, the Indian courts are far too slow, and the outcomes are way too late, and way too less, and if something is awarded to the plaintiff, the compaines usually have to shell out very little, which would be highly disproportionate to what the plaintiff had been through, and has such an impact that he would vow never to go through that experiance again.

Now imagine, if we by joining forces, in any way force the Scoda guys to do something about this case, then we can help create a parallel force to the law agencies, and something that is a force to reckon for these magnates. The courts they might not be afraid of, but the very thought that they now can lose business with 40,000 potential customers, and not to mention 3-4 times the number when you include their friends and relatives they've entirely put off this product, will send a chill down their spines. Customer service is something they should pride ourselves on. Marketing relies of a good reputation and your reputation is in the first instance, one of those factors that you have some control over. Poor service, in this case, no service, and "theft"(could we ask for more?), lost this business a sale(a lot more more than just a sale now,and theres a lot more to come), and the future sales as well. What about reputation? If anyone asks me about the products they wanted to buy from them, my first response will be, “don’t bother with them, they never respond to anything, they got no service, they treat you like a hog, and they steal from you, and all that ever occurs to them is that they've cheated another person to chuck somebody elses rejected trashcan off their backs”. If you gain a reputation for poor service then no amount of reputation management will ever reverse it.

[kb100]

Originally Posted by anilkalvani

sorry but posting it here too

Another Skoda Rip-off. Came across this

Indian Consumer Complaints Forum | skoda

HOLY COW!

There is over 10 pages of complaints there! (at a cursory glance only next to PAN card complaints!)

Somebody mail some coffee across to the Skoda HO.

[lancer_maniac]

I stand By Team-bhp No matter what ...Actually had made up my mind that skoda had to be my next car..Now not only me i will make sure not even a single person i know will enter a skoda showroom again..