[onesomeone]

Originally Posted by iSpoke

You are right, may be it does not exists since their January 2011 sales figures proved it - 51%

They could have sold many more cars, had they worked on customer service and service quality. I was about to buy Octavia but did not after reading/hearing the Skoda's attitude towards customers. I realize that they give 2 hoots to their customers. I opted for Corolla on the merits of after sales support.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Fabiaous

What justification is required , there are 10000's plus of happy Octavia /Fabia Owners.
I am giving a less estimate ,
Harish's case is a one off ,

When it comes to major public-relationship disasters --- it only takes one.

[Fabiaous]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

When it comes to major public-relationship disasters --- it only takes one.

All current brands fit the bill with above formula.

[nanduchitnis]

I hope Team BHP members who had major issues with Skoda including court cases have been compensated post this meeting of top Skoda Officials withTeam BHP Mods.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Harish is still waiting.

I don't know if Skoda understand the word "compensate"?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Fabiaous

What justification is required , there are 10000's plus of happy Octavia /Fabia Owners.
I am giving a less estimate ,
Harish's case is a one off ,

It won't matter to me how many cars my car's manufacturer have sold, or how many happy customers they have, if my car is sitting in a garage for 2 years because they are bothered more about haggling in court than fixing my vehicle.

Would you let things go as a 'one-off', if put in Harish's position?

[saurabhkanchan]

Been following this thread for quite some time.

The very fact that Skoda has approached Team-BHP to stay out of the issue proves that all companies look upto this Forum as one of the stronger mediums and follow it . These corporate companies can prevent newspapers, auto magazines, news channels from covering this story by generating enormous ad revenue but, as is evident, nothing can stop Team-BHP from standing up for the truth.

IMHO, just because one customer faces a problem today and the majority does not, does not mean that the majority will never face problems. Everybody who owns cars and loves them machines will face this problem with on company or the other. In this case its Skoda, X will have it with Hyundai, Y with Chevrolet...so on and so forth. What we should realize is that sooner than later we will have to step into each other's shoes. This will be the fate of India customers till we have a regulatory body to monitor the same.

Team-BHP moderators, how about pushing for an agency, such as the NHTSA, in India. And who else can do it better than BHPians

[rsramkee]

Originally Posted by Fabiaous

What justification is required , there are 10000's plus of happy Octavia /Fabia Owners.
I am giving a less estimate ,
Harish's case is a one off ,

No one will ever know how many Skoda owners are happy or unhappy. One Harish has been tenacious in chasing Skoda and that tells a story every potential car buyer will be very interested in listening to. I am one of the few (?) who did not consider buying a Skoda car because I dont have the tenacity this man has. Maybe it makes no difference to Skoda but it makes a difference to me.

[saurabhkanchan]

Originally Posted by Fabiaous

What justification is required , there are 10000's plus of happy Octavia /Fabia Owners.
I am giving a less estimate ,
Harish's case is a one off ,

Maybe today you are one of the satisfied customers of Skoda and dont have an issue with the service, you are one of the lucky many. But the moment an issue crops up (i pray it doesn't), satisfied customers will be running around dealerships, breaking their heads, cursing their luck for having bought that vehicle. Only when one gets to deal with those service advisors who use the word REPLACE as if it is the most complicated word in automotive lingo, will you realize the importance of "quality" service

[Thad E Ginathom]

Skoda has got many happy owners, world wide. Part of the tragedy is that they do make some very good cars.

Originally Posted by saurabhkanchan

The very fact that Skoda has approached Team-BHP to stay out of the issue proves that all companies look upto this Forum as one of the stronger mediums and follow it .

Inititally, they tried to bully ("instigate," as they put it, before TBHP gave them some English lessons) T-BHP into staying out of it. Realising they had a PR foot-in-mouth, they made some noises that looked hopeful at the time, but marketing departments are the biggest "empty vessels" in the modern world, and it looks like it was just noise

Now we see VW-anna*, in its attempt to break into the Indian mass market, treating its customers for the Polo and Vento (really very desirable cars) like dirt.

I see an increasing number of Audis on the streets of Chennai: I imagine their buyers get decent treatment in the showroom. I hope so. Otherwise, VAG is really loosing its shine here.



*senior in the VAG group, although in terms of age, I suppose that Skoda is probably the oldest company out of VW-Skoda-Audi

[ByDesign]

We are in the process of getting a new car, and my father really liked the Yeti. Good thing I'm a fairly active member on good ol' t-bhp. I found this HUMONGOUS thread and god save my soul if I ever set foot inside a Skoda dealership again. Go to hell Skoda. You know well enough you can't sell abroad so you came to our third world to make money. Well you ain't getting my 16 lacs.

Good day sirs.

[Thad E Ginathom]

It's tough, isn't it? Because, to be honest, if I had that money, then I might find a yeti pretty hard to resist

[invidious]

Why doesn't the ministry in charge for the automotive industry just establish a lemon law? It surely can't be that hard to get it passed in Parliament.

[alpha1]

^Because who funds the party for the next election?

The car buying public???
Or the Automakers?

The answer is obvious, and so is the reason for everyone's action.

Lemon laws?
You bet, the automaker would never let such a law be passed.
BTW, if there is a class action suit, or a PIL - such a law may see the dawn.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Law is one thing: implementation is another.

I'm sure that the law covers this case, and many others, quite adequately --- but Harish is not getting law, he is getting idiots who are playing the system, and a system that seems to be going along with those idiots.

So, even if there was a specific 'lemon' law, decreeing the replacement of a repeated-trouble vehicle, and if harish had taken action under that law, it is still probable that he would have been subject to the same number of hearings, the same games, the same delays ... the same non-justice