Re: Black Ambiente Skoda Laura 1.8 TSI - Total satisfaction incorporated Quote:
Originally Posted by Maibaa Having gone through the buying experience of the Laura TSI just a few weeks back , I can confirm that the omissions were never highlighted.
Both the dealers in Bangalore have only the TSI classic on display with the stripped down features. All that the sales people tell you, is what the classic is missing when compared to the petrol Ambiente model. Specifically the classic does not have the center armrest, rear AC vents, no alloys, no rear parking sensors, and comes with a basic music player.
There is no mention of Fogs, cooled glovebox, rain sensing wipers and auto-dimming mirrors that you see on a diesel Ambiente on display. It is very natural for anyone to assume that you will get all these features in the petrol Ambiente as well.
I strongly believe this is a deliberate move by the dealerships to hide the missing features unless and until specifically asked by the customer. By the time you realize this, you would have paid an advance already and booked the car. Then it is a bitter pill to swallow which most of us do since we are more exited about the car. |
Skoda has created a lot of confusion w.r.t certain features which are missing in recent Ambiente TSI cars. I recently took delivery of a Silver Ambeinte TSi from Vinayak cars. The missing fog lamps has been a major subject of debate between me and the dealer. I booked the car on 29th April and was supposed to get delivery within a week. As per advice from T- BHP I decided to inspect the car at the stock yard before it went for registration. I was suprised to see that the front fog lamps were missing from this car. The reply I got was that Skoda has discontinued fog lamps in the Ambiente TSI since Jan 2011. I wasn't quite convinced of this thoery, since the classic was launched only recently and front fogs was one the features which it did not have compared to Ambiente. The dealer even gave me contact numbers of Skoda to satisfy myself. Did that. Still unconvinced, walked straight to TAFE access and talked to them about the fog lamps controversy. The explaination I got from them was quite shocking. They said that ever since Classic was launched Skoda has been shipping some Ambiente cars without fog lamps by mistake !! I asked them whether they could assure me of a car with fog lamps. The answer : "100% sir".
Came back to Vinayak and conveyed this to them. But the sales people were still holding on to the "fog lamps discontinued" theory and took me to their GM who they felt could do a better job of convincing me.
Had a long chat with the GM who gave me glimpse of the mail he received from Skoda informing all the dealers that Front fogs were "discontinued". He said TAFE cannot assure anyone of fog lamps, since they also are on the CC list of this mail, like all other dealers in India. In that brief moment I managed to read the gist of the mail, which went something like this "We have received feedback from the field that some Laura Ambiente TSI cars have been received with Fog lamps missing from them. We confirm that a batch of Laura Ambiente TSI cars have been shipped without the fog lamps and we are willing to compenstate the dealer upto Rs. 10,000/- (or 15,000... not sure) , the same may be passed on to the customer."
I had asked them for a refund since I wanted to go with TAFE who were already assuring me of a car with Fogs.
Vinayak then asked me wait for a couple of days till they get a "final" confirmation from Skoda on this whole issue. They came to me after a wait of four days. Their reply "Skoda has restarted Fog lamps in Ambiente, Sir"
The car arrived on 23 May. Sure enough it had the fog lamps. Took delivery on 27 May.
Rain sensing wipers and cooled glove box are other features which are missing though. Did not feel that these were critical enough to bother about. |