[jasher26]

As mentioned earlier it is also very clear that Skoda Czhech is only exporting cars to Skoda India.

Does this mean its a partnership like Mitsubishi - HM in India?

[harishv]

Originally Posted by harishv

aaggo

I am ready to put my neck on the line. Hang me if I am wrong.

Let us have a clinic, for all Skoda cars serviced by Nummer Eins ( lets start with them ), to verify parts for their originality. We can start with BHPian cars.

Let us have an expert on Skoda parts, somebody like ajmat ?, conduct this.

Let us have the media in on the party.

Trust me my friend, this will be the right one to hit the 'Breaking News'.

Let us advertise this gathering in leading newspapers and see how Skoda comes out of its shell, faster than a vRS, with the fire brigade clanging behind.

Skoda cannot take action against us for checking our own cars. can they?

But of course, you have to contend with the now famous tag line,

'these parts were not ascertained to have been put by our dealer'

blacmagic - Trust me. We can nail them with this.

Originally Posted by blacmagic

it looks like people in Skoda India are quaking in their boots.
they are actively trying to contain fallout from the Harish incident, the most recent example being this:
Skoda Auto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

no matter what, I will NOT let that Wikipedia entry be sanitized. so Skoda, instigate me if you will.

You are putting in a lot of time and energy, blac. Thank you.

[greenhorn]

harishv, can you give us a link of your story published in an online news site ?

[blacmagic]

Originally Posted by harishv

You are putting in a lot of time and energy, blac. Thank you.

no dude. you are the person who put time, energy and most importantly money into it. I wish I had a Skoda. would have given my efforts more credibility, but heck, Ill do whatever I can from my side.

and trust me, Im having LOTS of fun watching a pompous corporation squirm.

Greenhorn, need your suggestion about something. even if we did get a link to an article that carried Harish's story, how would we come back at Skoda if they started claiming this is an 'isolated incident', as they have been doing all along?
they might say this is 1 out of 1xxxxxxxx customers and hence, 0.00001 something percent. hardly something that justifies a Wikipedia article. after all, Harish was - if Im not wrong - the only person who stuck to his guns and continued prosecuting Skoda whilst most people would have dropped out and retracted their complaints.

they also have phoney JD Power surveys and all to back their vacuuous claims.

[ZENnist]

Though i don't own one of them, Skoda was one of the cars i liked very much....not any more. Its shocking to see the way they have handled this whole episode.

@Harish - I would like to re-iterate all of our support for you. All the best!
@GTO - I feel this thread has really brought in the feeling of community irrespective of individual likes and dislikes. i have read lots of different posts where people virtually fight over their view points (of course healthy fights). but here there is absolutely no difference of opinion on what stand we should take as "TEAM" BHP

[mail4loys]

Originally Posted by blacmagic

Greenhorn, need your suggestion about something. even if we did get a link to an article that carried Harish's story, how would we come back at Skoda if they started claiming this is an 'isolated incident', as they have been doing all along?
they might say this is 1 out of 1xxxxxxxx customers and hence, 0.00001 something percent. hardly something that justifies a Wikipedia article. after all, Harish was - if Im not wrong - the only person who stuck to his guns and continued prosecuting Skoda whilst most people would have dropped out and retracted their complaints.

they also have phoney JD Power surveys and all to back their vacuuous claims.

@blacmagic: You are giving too much off information for Skoda to act . PM Greenhorn. You are doing great job in putting in wiki and lets not give them any chance!

[blacmagic]

we can always link back to this thread and show people where they got the idea from.
the idiots shot themselves in the foot by trying to scrub that entire section out. now NOBODY will take them seriously anymore.

Im keeping this deliberately public so that many people can opine on it and there are a lot of suggestions. lets see how Skoda uses our own ammunition on us. it should be fun to watch.

also mail4loys, thank AjayR. he started the Wiki article.

also,have a peek at this article that talks about the JD Power survey Srinivas Sudhir was referring to:
Indian Cars: SKODA tops the JD power sales satisfaction!!
the interesting thing to note here is that the survey was aimed at people who had ther vehicles for between 2-6 months. if Skoda's first service is at 10000 km - please correct me if Im wrong - most people would not even have seen a service center. no wonder they are satisfied!
lets see how Skoda does if JD Power comes out with an after sales service ranking.

[greenhorn]

I believe whatever we have to do or say is open for all to see. We do believe in transparency you know , though some other parties might not subscribe

[evo]

Originally Posted by nithinnarayanan

Hey all,

Got an SMS from +912402475999

For a pleasant & cool drive this summer get your Skoda car checked at no cost from 30th March to 11th April. Call your Skoda dealership for an appointment. T&C.

Is this another attempt from Skoda to take parts from our cars ?

I got the same sms too! I replied back saying "you wish!"

Juvenile, I know, but couldnt resist it.

[ajayr]

Originally Posted by shuvc

Is this an attempt at an 'online' system? Or was this feature on their website, already in existence?

?koda Auto - Concern

Originally Posted by GTO

If that page didn't exist a week ago, well, you just brought a smile to my face. I hope this is indicative of some new customer service processes being rolled out. Of course, the real test is when they actually start solving problems submitted via that form (if at all). Lets wait and watch. We have enough Skoda owners amongst us to gauge the effectiveness - or lack of - for this complaint's page.

Again : WAKE UP, SKODA!

The page seems to be in existence atleast since 28 Mar, most likely even longer. Source MSN cache: Å*koda Auto - Concern

Skoda has spoken about a system being put in place on the 29th. So we can expect a brand new "system" soon.

[Perakath]

I don't think manipulating a Wikipedia article to serve its needs (for that's really what it comes down to, regardless of the root cause of this ongoing fight) is worthy of T-BHP. It's just going to make for yet another poorly-written Wikipedia page. Criticism sections are best avoided in Wikipedia pages, to begin with-- by their nature they cannot take a neutral Point of View --and does T-BHP's name have to be mentioned in the text of the article? We have a top-class forum here in which members can do all the Skoda-bashing they like. Why invade another class of website?

(Please don't jump on me with replies of how T-BHP is neutral, doesn't take any corporate sponsorship, etc etc. T-BHP itself may be as neutral as Switzerland, but this thread and the points of view expressed on it are about the most non-neutral thing I've seen in years. The reasons for that are of course a different matter.)

EDIT: In case it's not clear, why I'm opposed to having T-BHP's name mentioned in the Wikipedia article is simply because I frequently trawl Wikipedia and often come across pages with sections similar to the one my esteemed T-BHP colleagues have just set up on the Skoda Auto page. To readers without background, they appear disconcertingly jarring with the rest of the page. The reason for their inclusion is often unclear, because most readers will have arrived at the page wanting clear, unbiased information. More often than not, to the objective observer, such sections reflect poorly on whoever has created them. And I'd like to prevent T-BHP from suffering that ignominy.

[blacmagic]

Perakath, it would be called manipulation if it tried to pass off a lie as the truth.
do understand that people have better things to do with their time than to keep bashing Skoda. as I have said before and am repeating myself again, I love the cars, but hate the support they provide.

this is not about bashing or manipulation. it is about putting the fear of god in the minds of big corporations who think they can walk all over their customers and get away with it.

while I agree that it is not possible to keep every customer happy 100 percent of the time, the simplest and best thing to do when you have been caught making a mistake is to accept it gracefully, apologize and ensure it does not happen again. do we see that happening? NO.

we need to get this information about Skoda out. Skoda has been flexing its corporate muscle by preventing many publishers and a few websites from reporting its misdeeds. this thread was getting way too messy for somebody uninitiated to extract useful information from.

the section in Wikipedia is clean, concise and true. and also, Skoda cannot touch it without being slapped and told to sod off. what better?

[Perakath]

Well, to each their own. Just my thoughts on the matter-- you are of course free to maintain the Wikipedia section as you please.

Btw, 'manipulation' need not always have negative connotations, in my understanding. No offence there.

[MaxX]

Search for Skoda India on google.. and this blog comes up on the first page.. Skoda India makes a blunder

[Thad E Ginathom]

I don't use Wikipedia very much and certainly never want to have anything to do with its politics. I share some feeling of reservation with Perakath.

However, my reservation is insignificant compared to my feelings about Skoda editing out criticism, once it has been posted there.

One more Big Minus Point to Skoda's marketing/PR team. They seem determined to draw negative attention to themselves in every possible way. What will they put their collective foot in next, I wonder?