[advaitlele]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

I personally think Vineet's issue deserve a separate thread like Harish's. That's when people will pay attention.
...

Mods, could we take it as a new thread please? Especially since Vineet has initiated / initiating a consumer case.

Totally agree here.
What Dr. Kumar has gone through and will face in the course of legal battle has to have separate thread.

Edit : Let Skoda realize it cannot get away easily washing off their hands easily after selling "state of the art machinery" for close to 2 million Rupees.

[MCR]

I am happy that Harish got the settlement done. However its very late in the day.

But why would one want to burn their hands (in literal sense) buying a product which is made and sold by a company which doesn't care for its customer? There are so many better choices in the market today. Plain and Simple!

[Mohan Mathew A]

This is indeed a horrible incident. When one issue (harish) is closed there is an even bigger one and this time i would say far more serious

I always wanted to buy a Skoda but the just don't give you half an opportunity with these horror stories

[vineetkr]

Originally Posted by saket77

Off late I am hearing good things about Mr. S. Rao, under whose leadership Skoda India is now consorting. Please contact him directly. I guess a PM to our FM HarishV might help getting you the contact details.

Apparently that handle is not active. The last post made from that handle was in 2009, hence I do not think it will be on any use.

Regards,
Saket

Saket they only reacted to Harish as they saw the end of the tunnel approaching (Read as Verdict against them)... As for contacting Sudhir Rao, I have personally sent him 3 mails & am yet to receive even a single acknowledgement from him. Though to confirm others marked on the same mail forward it to their Customer Service team & they intern send pre drafted standard format reply "We are looking into it"

[saket77]

Originally Posted by vineetkr

Saket they only reacted to Harish as they saw the end of the tunnel approaching (Read as Verdict against them)... As for contacting Sudhir Rao, I have personally sent him 3 mails & am yet to receive even a single acknowledgement from him. Though to confirm others marked on the same mail forward it to their Customer Service team & they intern send pre drafted standard format reply "We are looking into it"

Vineet Sir, I can understand your plight. Sir, other than all the legal proceedings that you may have initiated against the company, I would suggest you to open a separate thread for this incident. Believe me, TBHP is among the rare forums which attracts the eyes of the big manufacturers themselves. Plus, your message may reach to the right ears through someone from this forum, you never know. Also, please also keep & provide some documentation in support. That will bring you lots of support from every corner of the forum.

Best of luck!
Saket

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by vineetkr

...they only reacted to Harish as they saw the end of the tunnel approaching (Read as Verdict against them)...

Ohh! I guess now I understand why Mr. Rao woke up suddenly, after taking charge of Skoda 2 years back! They probably wanted to avoid the headlines in the leading dailies that "Skoda loses case in consumer court". That would definitely defame them further and might fuel a lot more troubled consumers to file a case seeing the positive outcome. The print media would cover a lot more potential consumer base than team-bhp may and more people will get to know the details of the case as well.

Vineet, I would request you to start a new thread (or you could request mods to move your post into a new one) and add regular updates. At team-bhp, all we can do is to provide you moral support and legal advices (by the qualified ones). Since you are determined to fight it out, next time you can send the link of your thread (once you have it in place) to Mr. Rao as well and his reaction (or lack of it) will give us a clearer picture of the "Customer Experience" that Skoda is (claims to be) aiming at.

Edit:: Vineet, could you tell us whether there was ANY aftermarket fitment in your car; especially electrical stuffs?

[sunilsoft]

Originally Posted by i10

Even Audi? What's that case you just mentioned about the A6?

Yes even the Audi A6. You can look at the case at the following link:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...airs-free.html
Case in a Summary:
Quote from Harbir's post:
We have an A6 3.0T. Cost us about 50lacs. Its done 18,000 km and in that time, its had:

1. Airbag module failure
2. HVAC control module failure
3. Catastrophic coolant containment failure stranding the car in a rural area.
4. DSG transmission failure
5. CD player failure.

Each time something goes wrong, Audi turns out not to have the parts in stock and the car gets idled. The last time, when the transmission failed, it sat in the workshop for over 2 months waiting for a transmission to come from Brazil.

Now the CD player has failed. It is unable to eject the CD thats inside. the dealer wants 85,000 rupees to remove the CD AND it will void the warranty. I said if the CD player is unable to eject the CD, that means its a warranty job. No, just the CD is stuck and I have to pay 85,000 rupees and lose my warranty. Or I can continue to drive a 50 lac rupee car with 2 years to go on the warranty with a jammed CD player.

[dass]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Mods, could we take it as a new thread please? Especially since Vineet has initiated / initiating a consumer case.

+1, MODS : I agree that Vineet's case needs to be on a separate thread and with regular updates. This would help us get a clear view of what SKODA is really upto and not just a flash in the pan.

[flyingkolors]

Terrible to hear Mr.Vineet's loss. I just went through Mr.Harish's thread and was glad that a customer won, albeit after 6 long years of battle to get what he is granted from day1.

One case closed and we're already talking about another horrific incident. With only few people on tbhp reporting such, I am wondering how many other real world incidents that are not being reported are happening. And the consumer, the supposedly king, is always at loss.

Imagine the same situation happening in Europe or US. Anyone who slams a case gets instant justice with thorough compensation. And here in India, the companies do not even bother to respond to mails and even if they do, all we get is the standard response.

Unfortunately, this is not just the case in automobile industry but happens every other industry too in India. If one gets a defect free product, you're lucky. And if you don't, god help you with all those troubles.

Coming back to the topic, I definitely feel Mr.Vineet's case warrants a new thread and publicity in the media to get enough attention and any help that he'll need.

[vineetkr]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Ohh! I guess now I understand why Mr. Rao woke up suddenly, after taking charge of Skoda 2 years back! They probably wanted to avoid the headlines in the leading dailies that "Skoda loses case in consumer court". That would definitely defame them further and might fuel a lot more troubled consumers to file a case seeing the positive outcome. The print media would cover a lot more potential consumer base than team-bhp may and more people will get to know the details of the case as well.

Vineet, I would request you to start a new thread (or you could request mods to move your post into a new one) and add regular updates. At team-bhp, all we can do is to provide you moral support and legal advices (by the qualified ones). Since you are determined to fight it out, next time you can send the link of your thread (once you have it in place) to Mr. Rao as well and his reaction (or lack of it) will give us a clearer picture of the "Customer Experience" that Skoda is (claims to be) aiming at.

Edit:: Vineet, could you tell us whether there was ANY aftermarket fitment in your car; especially electrical stuffs?

Thanks for your advise. ++ Mod can i request your help in creating a new thread for my case & move these messages there? Also suggest ways i can send pics of the incident so that they can be loaded with the thread.

About the after fitment, the answer is no as this was the L&K model (their top of the line model) for laura range which comes completely loaded with all bells & whistles. One of the primary reason of buying this model was that it was projected as one of the safest, with highest priority to safety of passengers & owners; Ironical!!

[IshaanIan]

Shocked to read this I was really under the impression that Skoda had mended their ways after reading Mr. Harish's battle against them. However this seems a lot more serious. No reply from Mr. Sudhi Rao in over a year?? Can't even consider recommending a product from the company to anyone again.

Originally Posted by vineetkr

About the after fitment, the answer is no as this was the L&K model (their top of the line model) for laura range which comes completely loaded with all bells & whistles. One of the primary reason of buying this model was that it was projected as one of the safest, with highest priority to safety of passengers & owners; Ironical!!

I mean only good, but the Laura is a pretty old car and crash safety test parameters are made stricter every year. I can bet that the car wasn't the safest in the market at the time of purchase in 2013. In the purchase of a new car, please go through the car's crash safety rating on sites like the Australian or Euro NCAP, America's Insurance Institute of Highway Safety is even more stringent and detailed in their tests. The data from these organizations might not be relevant when it comes to most cars here under 15 lakhs or so, however once you hit the D segment, the products sold here are pretty similar to what is sold abroad so data from these organizations do paint a good picture of how safe the vehicles are. You will find that there is more to safety than the German-ness of a car.

[B747]

Really shocked with second incident. Being a Skoda owner I am even more worried. Not able to understand the attitude of Skoda India, how can they take customers so casually. Customer satisfaction and dealership management they should learn from Maruti/Hyundai, these two brands keep the dealers under their control. In case of Skoda nither the dealer nor Skoda is interested in customer satisfaction.

[Desmosedici]

Originally Posted by vineetkr

This incident has left a life changing (in negative sense) impact on me & my entire family. I am now rendered physically disabled for life (Physical Disability Certificate from Medical Board), thus impacting not only myself physically & mentally but also having a direct bearing on my professional career. Due to this incident I suffered a lot & was not able to dedicate to my highly demanding job which resulted in me taking time off (at my cost) besides the everlasting issues like Inability to do work independently (some example of basic activities like typing on laptop, inability to use my hand for any basic activities like carrying laptop, writing sentences etc.)

.

Really sorry and sad to read this. You have been just plain lucky to have your life saved but otherwise its definitely very traumatic to deal with such losses. I definitely feel this should be highlighted in a separate thread. Moreover you should contact Harishv and GTO and get their help to arrive at a proper and satisfying conclusion.

A settlement in Harish's case after several years just doesnt absolve Skoda of all their wrong doings. As a corporate they are supposed to behave in a responsible manner.

Our support is with you throughout. You should not leave this without a fight.

All the best.

Regards,
Raj

[Hayek]

Don't want to sound like a Skoda fanboy (anyone who has followed my travails knows that is not the case) or minimise the OPs distress but auto fires are unfortunately far too common. For example, please look at this link. http://www.nfpa.org/safety-informati...umers/vehicles

There have been an average of about 150,000 vehicle fires in a parc of 250 mm in the US - viz 6 out of every 10000 cars catch fire each year. And most of these are caused by electrical or mechanical defects. Unless liability is established, compensation is through insurance alone. And liability does not get established by saying "You made. a car and it caught fire"

So please fight on if your insurance survey report demonstrates a manufacturing or design defect. But don't expect a manufacturer to admit guilt here (without your getting close to winning in court).

[stanjohn123]

Originally Posted by vineetkr

This incident has left a life changing (in negative sense) impact on me & my entire family. I am now rendered physically disabled for life (Physical Disability Certificate from Medical Board), thus impacting not only myself physically & mentally but also having a direct bearing on my professional career. Due to this incident I suffered a lot & was not able to dedicate to my highly demanding job which resulted in me taking time off (at my cost) besides the everlasting issues like Inability to do work independently (some example of basic activities like typing on laptop, inability to use my hand for any basic activities like carrying laptop, writing sentences etc.)

Even after pursuing Skoda & their Sr Most person based in North (who kept taking me and my family for a ride for over 6 months), I am yet to receive any concrete replies from Skoda. Thus I have now initiated legal procedure against them & am awaiting response to my lawyers notice post which we will be filing criminal as well as civil cases not only against the dealer but also key personnel of Skoda as it is high time they realise they can’t play with people’s lives.

Really sad to read your ordeal and although how unfortunate it may seem I do not think it's practical to claim for any compensation from Skoda in this case. I feel Your insurance company ICICI must compensate you completely.