[Tejas@perioimpl]

I think skoda corporate (a.k.a meghana) has finally started applying her MBA knowledge. She has realized that her single post triggers another 50. And whatever she says, it will anger the members. She definitely can't say "sorry we were wrong, here's a new car and compensation".
So instead of putting up one post and fanning the fire, the next best option is to keep mum. People will rave and rant and then this thread will die a slow thread (which is already happening - initially there used to be 60 odd posts a day and now it down to 10).
Finally she grew a brain.

[asr245]

Originally Posted by burnt.

Aren't we going overboard a bit here?

I mean, I completely empathize with Harish's postition. But 'Skoda Corporate' had a point that we have only heard one side of the story in an ongoing court case. Unless and until we hear the opposing side's story we wont have the complete picture.

You are right there. Even though it's hard to imagine what could they have to say to bring them out in clear but still they need to be heard. But they dont want to as the matter is in court. Anyway, this is not what worked us up.

Originally Posted by burnt.

But regarding their threat to 'instigate' us, they have totally crossed the line there.

This is. To me (and to most of us) it seems they want me to shut up and threatened me (us) with legal action if I (we) didn't. Now that was a sure-shot way to get us all worked up and guess what we did. We started spreading the news about Skoda's poor A.S.S with pointers to the other thread. And people thanked us for it. Nobody wants to see their hard earned money go down the drain.

Originally Posted by burnt.

Skoda should know by now that we are a totally unbiased community and stands for the truth. Heck, how many threads do we have praising skoda cars like the VRS to death.

Yes and even I thought of picking one up in the 2nd hand market. But after this... NEVER!! Or atleast not until they improve their A.S.S. a LOT!

[burnt.]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Agreed. The silence of Skoda Corporate tells its own story. I am sure they have had enough time to collect information, and should have put up their version on the thread. If they have been unable to get the 'fact's till now, then that itself tells a lot about them.

But, is it legal/ethical for the involved parties to discuss an ongoing court case in public forum like this? I was under the impression that it is against the law to talk to the media by involved parties about an ongoing court case. Considering the immense popularity that T-BHP enjoys, posting here can be considered similar to talking to the media right? Maybe somebody who knows the law can throw some light on this..

[jasher26]

have not heard from harishv in a while on this thread. give us updates harish, if any . have you heard from Skoda?

[53BHP]

I guess these guys have to work on their monikers as well. Fabia is certainly Fobia (especially as GTO says its an absolute DUD), naming a car Laura in India? Seriously imagine how it sounds when it rolls off a Hindi tongue. Laura, Laura. And with their pathetic ***, thats all our guys are going to show them soon. And how modest is Superb? Superbly unreliable, if you ask me

[harishv]

Originally Posted by jasher26

have not heard from harishv in a while on this thread. give us updates harish, if any . have you heard from Skoda?

No way guys. Mums the word.

Was reading Joe-ker's post and wondered.

GTO/Mods - Can we have clinics held by experts where we can ascertain the originality of the spares in a car ? Critical spares actually? Just thinking aloud. Is it possible?

[jasher26]

why arent you following up with the newspapers again? arent they interested in a follow up? or its all covered by them

[normally_crazy]

Come on Skoda Corporate ! Where art thou ?

It's even more distressing to see a company absolutely not bothered about the way it's image is getting tarnished. We here cannot see any signs of damage control whatsoever from Skoda.

My confidence in Skoda (as a company) and it's products has been seriously dented and now I fear that no one will buy my vRS if it comes on sale. I will be left to fend for it ...

[diffsoft]

Originally Posted by harishv

GTO/Mods - Can we have clinics held by experts where we can ascertain the originality of the spares in a car ? Critical spares actually? Just thinking aloud. Is it possible?

How about Vericar? Harish, search for Vericar in this forum - they run a service that verifies a second hand car for a buyer, but you can talk to them and see if they can have a look and give a genuineness certificate.

Cheers,

[bimi]

Oops, so much of Skoda "fans" in this website, probably thats why there is a Skoda in the top left side of this site!?

[harishv]

Originally Posted by jasher26

why arent you following up with the newspapers again? arent they interested in a follow up? or its all covered by them

jasher. We need fresh material. We will start with them at the launch of the class action law suit.

diffsoft. have a couple of friends who wish to check their Skoda. They wanted to get it done. We will check out Vericar. Thanx

[marlinspike]

Originally Posted by harry10

@KB- everyone is free to vote and if someone has voted No we should not try to embarrass that person by highlighting it Imo.
If they give the reason for it we are all ears and if not then also its fine.

true. There is poll and it has options. Any option can be chosen, a suggestion can be made to read what the poll is about or may be they are expressing their opinion (may be they think the poll is biased or more of a leading question)

I too did look up who had voted no and what their level of involvement with T-bhp but left it at that. no need to dig it any further.
The one that needs to be dug out of thier slumber is the odd manufacturer who refuses to acknowledge there is an issue with their approach to this issue and other similar service support related ones. If we can make them see that and they turn around its good for the customer and for them. Or we will always have the Maruti, Hyundai and Tata to give us reliable if a little low end vehicles and they are improving on all fronts and would draw level with the quality/refinement levels in under a decade and if these people are still around then they would find it really tough.

The number of posts are not the only thing that is relevant. People read posts
long after they are written, it would impact sales a year and two later.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

People will rave and rant and then this thread will die a slow thread (which is already happening - initially there used to be 60 odd posts a day and now it down to 10).
Finally she grew a brain.

The thread may die a slow death but so will the sales numbers of Skoda. The word will spread easily. Already so many members cancelled bookings of skoda vehicles and many have advised their friends/relatives to cancel as well.

This trend will continue unless measures are put in place by Skoda.

GTO mentioned some excellent steps which Skoda can take along with some steps which I had mentioned to get back customer confidence. I'll highlight them once again below:

Originally Posted by vid6639

First settle the issues with current owners. Only if a current owner is happy will he recommend the product. This also means be more strict with dealers and penalise them if any complain is escalated from dealer level to the manufacturer. Penalise them heavily.

For new buyers you would need to introduce a few options which will bring confidence in buying the car. My suggestions would be a 4 year warranty atleast compared to the paltry 2 being offered now. Honda offers 4 years and Toyota offers 3 with 24/7 roadside assistance free.

At a premium introduce maintenance plans like BMW. You are afterall a premium brand here. Charge the customer a fixed amount like say Rs. 50,000 upfront for a 3 year/40,000kms plan, Rs. 80,000 upfront for a 5 year/60,000km plan. I can tell you customers will not mind paying for that peace of mind. BMW's maintenance plan is the most popular and almost all buyers opt for it even when it costs Rs.1.6L for a 5 year plan for the 3 series. I'm not saying give it for free, I'm being practical here.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post1236720 (Team-BHP stands for the TRUTH. But Skoda wants to “instigate” Team-BHP and its users!)

[Thad E Ginathom]

Of course this thread will slowly die away; there are only so many members, and so many times the same thing can be repeated.

That absolutely does not take anything away from its validity, and, more important, if Skoda know anything about the internet, they will know that it will remain findable just-about for ever.

Enough individual, company and fleet car buyers know about Team-BHP to make a difference. If we count up the cancelled and lost sales, across the spectrum from the previously-about-to-buy to the hopefully-one-day (like me and the Fabia), it has already made a difference.

I absolutely agree with asr245. There is only one thing that companies, especially large multinationals, listen to --- that is the tinkle of coins falling into their tills. They know, or should know, that good image and publicity is vital for this. Goodness knows, enough money worldwide gets wasted on persuading us that one soap powder is better than another!

Bad publicity is the only weapon that the consumer has to wield. It most certainly should be used.

I have been so taken with following these threads for the past few days that I have neglected the rest of the board. However, I have been following this thread, in which a member suggests that the drivers employed by a five-star hotel might have been responsible for the failure of his clutch. If anyone (Skoda included) thinks that Team-BHP members are willingly to blindly jump on a company-bashing bandwagon, I suggest that they look at that thread, and see the fairness with which a nember of members have viewed the possibilities. I'm sure that there are many such threads; I pick this one because it is current.

I do wonder if Skoda have realised that Team-BHP is not about mindless ranting. If they think it is, they should go and read some other threads.

It sounds awfuly pompous to say that they do not realise who they are dealing with --- but I don't think they do.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by vid6639

The thread may die a slow death

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Of course this thread will slowly die away; there are only so many members, and so many times the same thing can be repeated.

True, and Skoda still hasnt got around to 'instigating' all of us yet. Which is disappointing, but after reading some of the links put up by a member here about previous instances where Meghna Choksey has written stuff to the media, I really doubt if she truly represents Skoda - it does seem like she is trying to 'protect' her dealership and not speaking on behalf of Skoda on all those occassions.

I dont think we should take this lady seriously, but perhaps Skoda should take note of her interactions with the media and the community? Also send her (or whoever it was that sent the message) to some sort of language school.