[Carcrazy60]

This is my mail to the Skoda customer care.Dear sir,

I would like to put on record my disgust at the way Singh Motors are dealing in Patna. I had finalised my purchase of Yeti Ambition 4*4 and had asked them to prepare the quotation with the discount of Rs 75000/00 they had offered me reflected in it. They came up with a story that they would refund the discount later and would prepare the quotation at full price. I refused. Then they said that the discount had been reduced to Rs 40000/00. I have declined to purchase from such an unscrupulous Dealer who could have refused to honour the discount and in any case changed the price after the deal was settled.

I wish you luck in selling Skoda cars with people like these.

Ajay Sinha

Sent from my iPad

[tomthump]

I booked my Yeti with St. Antony's Cochin, in March, and when they informed that they would be unable to deliver in March, I went to Marikar who promised to try their best, because they had them enroute. Things did not work out on time, and I got delivery in April, meaning I had to pay lots more as Road tax.
But both dealers offered me 75K discount. But a prior call to the Tirunelveli dealership on phone got me a 150 K offer too.
St. Antony's has yet to refund my 50k booking amount, even after 5 months which does not say much for their integrity. And one reason I bought from Marikar was that though Marikar had nothing bad to say about THEIR competition, St Antony's went overboard trying to convince me that the Marikars had lost their dealership and that I'd lose my booking amount if I went to them.
I did not like this kind of bad mouthing because as a servicing dealer myself I face this from my own competitors. And I know that I am honest.
So I lost trust with the dealer who was desperately trying to make the other one look bad.
Maybe I'll get a bad experience in the after sale service. But that remains to be seen as I've got another 2500 Kms to go before I hit my 15000 Kms mark.
Regarding the discount refunds, I'd say you have to go by your guts. Either you trust them or you don't. If you are willing to shell out 20,00 K on your vehicle why hesitate for a 75 K?

[Carcrazy60]

Well I had bank finance lined up. I have no wish to over invoice and have my balance sheet reflect a lesser value. They knew I was taking a bank loan. What made me suspicious was the fact that they reduced the discount amount as soon as I said I will I need the accurate figure. My bank would probably have a thing or two say about it
and no reputation is built in a day.
In any case either a deal is a deal or it is not. I am a businessman myself and I have always found clear billing to create more trust. They had their charge for registration cleverly hidden in the registration cost and were claiming 5000 more as handling cost. They tried to deduct the discount after the total cost including registration and insurance. It took a good fifteen minutes to convince them that the discount needs to be deducted from the ex showroom price and then all the additional charges would correspondingly be lesser. This how I discovered how the registration cost is calculated. I was quite content to take their word on it at face value. They said they deduct 13.5% from the ex showroom price and then add 7% which is the registration cost here or so they say. I even told them look you want to charge for registration work it's quite all right but say that you are doing so.


It was the sales manager who was doing all the dirty work, the salesman was extremely apologetic. He even offered to talk to their MD but also kept saying he could not really do much.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by Carcrazy60

Boy am I feeing mad!

Originally Posted by Carcrazy60

This is my mail to the Skoda customer care.Dear sir,

I wish you luck in selling Skoda cars with people like these.

I think you should feel blessed if Skoda gets back to you with a reply. A satisfactory one? Fat chance.

Other Cars in the market? Frankly there is none which rivals the Yeti. Can think of the X1 & Eco-Sport to some extent, but one shoots the budget by 50% and the other is yet to hit the market.

[Carcrazy60]

Hi Sheel I am indeed blessed! This is mail I received.

Dear Mr. Sinha,

Greetings from Skoda Auto!!! Acknowledgement

We are in receipt of your below mail and had noted the contents. In order to address the concern effectively, request you to kindly share with us your contact details. Please be rest assured that the concern will be addressed at your entire satisfaction as per Skoda Auto norms.

Hope your understanding on the same and assuring our best services at all times.

Regards,
Dileep P.
Customer Support | 1800-209-4646
Škoda Auto India Private Ltd.

Let's see what comes of it. You are right ,the yeti is great . I checked out the new cruze but the seats are too hard and it does not even have EBD. The new elantra has all the gizmos but the engine power seems to be on the lower side. Will check it out as well.

[Carcrazy60]

Victory at last. My mail to Skoda bugged them no end. It appears Skoda had forwarded it to them . I could not get the discount on the ambition model . The Managing Director was more flexible on the Elegance model. After some ifs and buts and how can we bear any discount I walked away with the elegance version and a sweetener of a discount of 1.25l. I told the MD I am a member of TEAM-BHP and a lot of people have got such discounts.

The sales manager was very defensive, said you wrote such angry mails, I was only doing my job. I think the MD probably thought he was getting a lot of bad publicity and so was a little more flexible .Overall he was a much more reasonable bloke and very courteous . He accepted that anybody would have the right to be bugged in such cases. But I had to shift to the elegance model. Nothing doing on the ambition one. I guess they have more of a margin on the elegance version.

A big thank you to Team-Bhp members for some sage advice. I particularly remembered the one ( I do not remember who wrote it) which said do not get so blown away by the staff that you forget the car and again remember to bargain hard. I almost did not go back to them. And of courses thanks to shankar and Pramod for their reviews. I have already told them I want Bluetooth and cruise control.

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by Carcrazy60

Victory at last. My mail to Skoda bugged them no end. It appears Skoda had forwarded it to them . I could not get the discount on the ambition model . The Managing Director was more flexible on the Elegance model. After some ifs and buts and how can we bear any discount I walked away with the elegance version and a sweetener of a discount of 1.25l. I told the MD I am a member of TEAM-BHP and a lot of people have got such discounts.

The sales manager was very defensive, said you wrote such angry mails, I was only doing my job. I think the MD probably thought he was getting a lot of bad publicity and so was a little more flexible .Overall he was a much more reasonable bloke and very courteous . He accepted that anybody would have the right to be bugged in such cases. But I had to shift to the elegance model. Nothing doing on the ambition one. I guess they have more of a margin on the elegance version.

A big thank you to Team-Bhp members for some sage advice. I particularly remembered the one ( I do not remember who wrote it) which said do not get so blown away by the staff that you forget the car and again remember to bargain hard. I almost did not go back to them. And of courses thanks to shankar and Pramod for their reviews. I have already told them I want Bluetooth and cruise control.

Quite a drama there. Glad to hear at least Skoda is taking to task on their dealership at short notice! How much discount are you getting finally? And which variant?

[GunMo]

Originally Posted by Carcrazy60

Victory at last.
...
I have already told them I want Bluetooth and cruise control.

Wow, good to hear that Skoda is coming around on customer care! Please keep us posted on your final deal and your experience in getting those add-ons into it. When is the delivery?

[Carcrazy60]

I have taken the Elegance version. Delivery will be late ,in mid october. It's fine with me. Let's see the final discount I get. Pramod has inspired me to try and get cruise control and of course Bluetooth.

I will try and get hold of the manual and bone up on the details.

Has anyone bought the Thule luggage pack? How much does it cost?

[Sheel]

@ Ajay - What color are you getting?

Yesterday, we got the refund back from Singh Automobiles. It was through cheque, but there was no fund in there A/C. Once some fund crept in, I asked the Branch Manager to transfer the amount immediately fearing that someone somewhere might be sitting like me waiting for fund in the respective A/C. LOL

Keep us updated, wish to see how these guys function as we might be visiting Patna & some odd jobs may visit its ASC.

[Carcrazy60]

@sheel I have taken the aqua mist . My fathers choice. With all the problems I was having I told my family lets wait for the Rexton, it's being launched on the 24 th of this month. Told them its larger, more powerful etc but we as a family seem to have fallen in love with the Yeti. So the Yeti it is.

I will visit their workshop shortly. Will keep you updated. Perhaps we could meet someday.

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by Carcrazy60

I will visit their workshop shortly.

Kindly check VIN and condition of car and its underbody/tyres etc. very properly to ensure that it is brand new. Also do thorough PDI as per Tbhp checklist before giving it the OK. Tell them very clearly not to send its papers for registration etc. unless you have checked and cleared the car. A factory fresh car will give you least issues while a car kept in the yard for long can create some.

[Carcrazy60]

I have told them to let me know the day the car comes. Apparently Yeti' s are assembled in Aurangabad. They said they need a little time in order to get a truckload of yetis or at least a reasonable number.

I have told them I want to be there when the pdi is done.

Are the space saver size tyres in use by many different makes? I was thinking maybe I could change it to full size. I do not like the idea of speed restrictions. I have been tailgated by unsavoury looking men in a bolero while I was in my zen once for a very long distance on a lonely stretch and the idea of having to stick to 80 is not a happy one. Please help.

Thanks in advance.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Carcrazy60

I have taken the Elegance version. Delivery will be late ,in mid october. It's fine with me. Let's see the final discount I get. Pramod has inspired me to try and get cruise control and of course Bluetooth.

I will try and get hold of the manual and bone up on the details.

Has anyone bought the Thule luggage pack? How much does it cost?

The Thule luggage rack with box for the Yeti costs close to 45 to 50 odd grand if not more. That is the range they are operating in. They are or were available at the 4x4 shop in Bangalore near Museum Road.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by Carcrazy60

I have told them to let me know the day the car comes. Apparently Yeti' s are assembled in Aurangabad. They said they need a little time in order to get a truckload of yetis or at least a reasonable number.

I have told them I want to be there when the pdi is done.

Are the space saver size tyres in use by many different makes? I was thinking maybe I could change it to full size. I do not like the idea of speed restrictions. I have been tailgated by unsavoury looking men in a bolero while I was in my zen once for a very long distance on a lonely stretch and the idea of having to stick to 80 is not a happy one. Please help.

Thanks in advance.

The space saver in the Yeti is a Continental tyre of 195/60 R16 size. I traded mine in for 4k and swapped it with one of the original Goodyears when I changed my Oem tyres to Yokohama c-drives. Makes sense to do this so that the speed restriction can be overcome.