[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by jithudigitised

I don't think this only happens with skoda.It might be happening with many car manufacturers.But most of them won't come forward or posts in social media thinking its specific to their car and an one time instance.
Most of these issues escalate due to the laid back support from the dealers

It's quite an interesting phenomenon that someone can study about. For your point, I can argue the other way too. A lot of informed Skoda buyers already have a lower level of expectation in terms of such issues that they bear with it for the other positives. And those who are not aware of the issues and buy it looking at only the good side "may" end up like this frustrated customer. My friend and I are looking for an upgrade (d segment and that's the reason I subscribed to this thread) to our current rides and he almost finalized Octavia. Now, I have told him to keep is 100k+ kilometres old one and not sell it off if he is going to buy this Skoda. As for me, let me just say that I don't have the luxury of owning a second car for myself . I agree to your last statement and that's a serious issue and probably something that happens more often here than with other brands and that leads to some doubt about the manufacturer's credibility as well.

[Arjun Reddy]

The number of informed buyers of a Skoda or that matter any car are very few. It's only on forums like ours that we make informed decisions on car purchase. Most of the people I meet , buy cars for the touch screen systems. Recently I was at a car showroom and was looking around. Casually observing what the others wanted. The first question almost everyone asked was if there was a touch screen audio system in the car. Shockked. The second most important feature was DRL. None of the potential customers bothered checking out the other aspects of the car. It was more like they came around to buy an audio system with some fancy steak of led on the outside.

Back to Skoda, I guess is that ASS is really Kick-ASS. The delays in procuring parts , inability solve a problem , repetition of the same issues and the most frustrating is that you never have an ASS close by. Now how many of the customers would buy a 25 lakh car willingly, knowing that the gearbox will fail ? Also the general perception of customers is that more he/she pays for the initial product - the better the quality and service levels need to be.

Yes cars a mechanical and are bound to fail. If the service standards are decent enough to rectify these promptly, we will probably have less work for the donkeys.

Nevertheless we enthusiasts are a different ball game all together and the Skoda's will continue to sell for their Kick Ass feel.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Nevertheless we enthusiasts are a different ball game all together and the Skoda's will continue to sell for their Kick Ass feel.

See, its this aspect of Skoda/VW I never was able to understand until now, maybe it may take an ownership experience to get it, but having driven the Yeti, the Rapid and Polo, Jetta, I never could understand why the VWAG cars are praised so much for the feel or driving pleasure.. the Polo and Yeti as far as my driving experience went (100+ kms in both) had very numb, light steering, precise maybe but numb all the same. The only Skoda which I did like was the Fabia (with a hybrid steering) and that had better feel, but for the low powered petrol engine I'd have bought one long back.

Jetta has a good suspension and noise isolation but the steering is far from the best. Now with a BMW the difference was huge and immediately perceivable, the steering was tight, massive feedback and the car felt truly German (E90 3 Series). I feel VW Group cars bank too much on publicizing "heavy build" and quality, their only claim to fame as far as driving goes is the turbo motors and "DSG", a BMW simply obliterates them in every which way possible without boasting about anything, if you see their ads its just music and showing the car in motion. I agree there is a roughly 40% price gap between the 2 brands but well worth the extra cost.

I hope VW can get their act together and focus on the steering for once, grip and handling they may be great, I'm not saying otherwise but feedback is awful. Also hope they can be reliable at the same time, they may fall below Fiat in sales at this rate.

[H_Dogg72]

That 40℅ stretch is the kicker. Then the more expensive after sales.
I would buy the 3 series or the 250d had I got >40L but if the budget is 25L nothing, and I mean nothing beats or comes close to the Octavia 1.8

[krishnakarthik1]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

I beg to differ. I feel Skoda dealers and company are as thick as thieves, as long as there gullible Indians who drool on Teutonic build and cornering abilities they are going to be happy catering to them. I bet no one in his/her senses will have a Skoda as their only ride!!

Perfectly put together. We had a vento in our family and now a verna and the service is zillion miles apart.

And to all esteemed people buying for cornering abilities, where in our country do you really need those abilities and why would you want to go so fast into a corner.

And this solid build, tank build etc. are getting super hyped up. Toyota cars always score big on safety even including the etios and they have that tinny feel and are so light but that does not mean they are unsafe, it just means the engineers found out innovative means to use less metal and make cars more efficient.

Majority buy Skoda for the looks, the badge and for the entry they can make before their relatives. Very few cars can beat the look of a black octavia. Its the entry level 'I have made it big' car. But the correct way to buy a skoda is to first visit maruti showroom, buy an alto and then take a skoda.

[sawnilrules]

Originally Posted by krishnakarthik1

Why does this only happen to Skoda? Is it a case of all non customer friendly executives and lazy technicians ending up in same company or is it just that the customers who buy these cars are so scared inside thinking something bad is going to happen soon that they self jinx themselves because every ownership review we read will always contain the most used word of Skoda and VW owners on Team-BHP 'fingers crossed'.

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

I beg to differ. I feel Skoda dealers and company are as thick as thieves, as long as there gullible Indians who drool on Teutonic build and cornering abilities they are going to be happy catering to them. I bet no one in his/her senses will have a Skoda as their only ride!!

When was the last time you really owned a Skoda. I am not saying Skoda has a clean history. But I am glad to report that Skoda is really making efforts to change the way they work.

Let me share my experience that I had with Skoda dealership in Mumbai. Well, I had gone to the Skoda dealer in Thane (JMD Skoda) for TD. It was a typical Sunday and usually on Sunday's mostly dealerships have less staff as opposed to a regular day.

My Sales Executive was on leave on that particular Sunday, however she had pre-informed me well in advance, however had ensured that her colleague Mahesh meets me and explains the car to me well.

So the TD car is getting readied while I am in the showroom discussing the features of Octavia. While discussing the car, I casually tell him that I am planning to book the Tsi. As we are discussing, the driver walks up to us and says sir the TD Car is ready for you. Great I say and I along with the sales guy walk towards the showroom exit.

As me and my wife get out of the showroom, I see Mahesh, instructing the car inside the showroom to be moved out. Mind out, a car parked inside the showroom was got out of the showroom. I was thinking, probably being a Sunday, they must be taking the car for washing or so.

Once the car was taken out, Mahesh walks up to me and says, sir drive this car, the TD car is a TDi and as you are buying a Tsi, I would want you to drive the Tsi rather than driving a TDi as both the cars are as different as Chalk & Cheese. Though the Tsi here is an Ambition Plus Variant, may not have all the features of Style Plus, but then at-least you will get the feel of the car.

I was astonished, I was simply Wowed. Trust, me in our family, we have everything from a Grand i10, to a Honda City, to a Toyota Innova, to a Mercedes Benz C 220d to a BMW 530d, pretty much one car from each segment, but none of them came even close to doing what Mahesh from Skoda JMD did for customer service.

Moment my wife sat in the car, she told me, book it, if the customer service is so good, other things don't matter.

Similar wow experience I had when I had taken the car recently to the service centre to upgrade to LED lights on the license plate.

A very interesting thing happened there, the service executive by mistake forgot to do the coding post fitting the LED lights, Even I didn't check and left the service station. Upon reaching home, an error code popped up on MID only to realise that the coding was not done. I immediately called up the Service Manager, he apologised for the goof up and requested if I could come back to the service station. Since I stay hardly 4 kms away from the service station, I didn't mind.

Since I had taken the car in the morning and in the first stint I was almost there in the workshop till 1 in the noon and I again went back and reached by 2. The Service Manager had proactively organised for packaged lunch for me. So thoughtful, who does that in today's day and age. At the max people ask, hope you had lunch and then check should they order something. Here the person had gone one step ahead and already ordered food.

Yesterday, I got a call from Skoda Aurangabad Customer Service team, apologising for the goof up their technical team at the dealership did while upgrading to LED license plate light. I asked, how did they come to know, the answer the lady gave me was, since the part was ordered and fitted from the system, we looked at your car's In-Time and the Out-Time and figured out that it took 3 hours to fit one part, which shouldn't have happened, so we asked the dealer service team regarding this delay, and that's how we were updated with the chain of events.

We sincierely apologise once again. & we hope the team took good care of you.

Just added my two cents, I am aware, changing perceptions is not an easy task. But then, let't be fair to give opportunities.

Well haven't we lived all this years with Tata Motors and M&M making nonsense cars, at-least Skoda makes cars which are Simply Clever.

PS- I was optimistic and we did own a indica DLS in 2007, could bear that car only for 8 months, and in that 8 months of ownership, I had lost the count how many days the car used to be with us and how many days at the workshop.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by krishnakarthik1

Perfectly put together. We had a vento in our family and now a verna and the service is zillion miles apart.

And to all esteemed people buying for cornering abilities, where in our country do you really need those abilities and why would you want to go so fast into a corner.

And this solid build, tank build etc. are getting super hyped up. Toyota cars always score big on safety even including the etios and they have that tinny feel and are so light but that does not mean they are unsafe, it just means the engineers found out innovative means to use less metal and make cars more efficient.

Majority buy Skoda for the looks, the badge and for the entry they can make before their relatives. Very few cars can beat the look of a black octavia. Its the entry level 'I have made it big' car. But the correct way to buy a skoda is to first visit maruti showroom, buy an alto and then take a skoda.

You are seriously mistaken my friend. People don't buy a Skoda just for its cornering abitlities or to impress society. I would request to get your hands on an Octavia TSI or a (TDI for that matter) and drive it around town and on open roads. Some are so blown away by the it drives, by the sheer quality of interiors, exterior paint quality and overall fit and finish they find it to be an amazing value proposition when you compare it to big German brands and go ahead and buy one despite knowing very well that Skoda's reputation for after sales is not that great. So they are actually giving up the "show off" factor by going for a Skoda instead of a more prestigious marque.

For the record I have owned a Skoda and had one of the amazing ownership experiences in the history of our family's car ownership that includes Maruti, Hyundai, Toyota etc.. in terms of both product quality and after sales service.

[RohanDheman]

I really want to know how many of the people bashing Skoda here actually own a Skoda vehicle?

I have owned two Skoda vehicles since 2010 and I have nothing but praise for the brand and I have actually seen a sea change in attitude over the last few years. And I will add the third- Kodiaq when they launch it in India. The dealers are now are very helpful, pro-active and regularly follow up after a service. I owned a Hyundai i10 (and Accent) before I got the Laura and City and I have vowed never to go back to that brand- their service centers are crooks of the first order- willing to cheat anyone and everyone who walks in.

Yes, there have been gearbox issues with the 7speed DSG but hasn't Skoda changed it for most people as a goodwill gesture?

We have all seen the news of the Octavia being pulled by a donkey- big deal- this is the age of social media- most people will do whatever it takes to get a piece of the limelight. Hell, it happened with a Land Cruiser in India! Not one post, not a single one, highlights the issue with the car being towed. Being Ludhiana, I would not be surprised that the owner had carried on some modification and is now blaming the company.

The cars are brilliant to drive- ask anyone who has owned and driven them; not that expensive to maintain and they will make you smile!

My only request- (Yes I am brand loyalist because of how good they are to me) please don't bash the brand simply because someone's someone had had a bad experience. No brand is perfect- at least this one is clever!

Rohan

[sawnilrules]

Originally Posted by krishnakarthik1

Perfectly put together. We had a vento in our family and now a verna and the service is zillion miles apart.

And to all esteemed people buying for cornering abilities, where in our country do you really need those abilities and why would you want to go so fast into a corner.

And this solid build, tank build etc. are getting super hyped up. Toyota cars always score big on safety even including the etios and they have that tinny feel and are so light but that does not mean they are unsafe, it just means the engineers found out innovative means to use less metal and make cars more efficient.

Well said mate, don't even try to take a corner driving a Hyundai, there are chances that the corner may have you instead of you having the corner.

But try that with, forget Octavia or Vento/Rapid, try that with even a Polo, at all times, you will have the corner and not corner having you invariably at any speeds you chose to enter a corner.

Talking about Built Quality/Tank Quality, a very close friend of mine was into a incident with an idiotic driver on the road who suddenly chose to change the lane and to avoid an head on collision, the only choice my friend had was to let the car go down the road into a ditch, the car toppled before it came to a stand-still, well, in the Korean or a Japanese car, pulling the occupants out would have been a bit difficult, but his Q3 passenger shell was intact, and all four occupants walked out scratch-less.

So much for that built quality/tank like quality mate. Think over it.

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by GTO

Well, here's a disgruntled Octavia owner

Thanks to vsb rt for sharing!

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

I really want to know how many of the people bashing Skoda here actually own a Skoda vehicle?
==========
My only request- (Yes I am brand loyalist because of how good they are to me) please don't bash the brand simply because someone's someone had had a bad experience. No brand is perfect- at least this one is clever!

Rohan

+1 to that.

If you zoom into the video you can clearly see that the owner has actually put larger rims on the car, that could definitely point to the suspension problems he was facing.

Let's be honest, what are the odds that he could have factored in the extra stress on that suspension when he upsized the tires like we do on the forum.

He also wasn't able to pinpoint the exact problem and was only using general terminology such as suspension, music system etc. I have seen XUV 500 owners facing more problems.

I also think it is fair on Skoda's part to not grant warranty for the suspension. After all, it is his mistake that he has put different rims on the car and he should have known the consequences to it along with the company policy.

Just my two cents on the situation. I think Skoda could have taken this up a bit more seriously with the owner too.

[bigron]

Not surprised to see that the discussion on the Octavia thread still invariably revolve around the persistent problems and the sub par A.S.S etc.

Back in 2005 we picked up a Superb 2.5 TDI AT. It was the new kid on the block, their flagship product. Czech engineering, a stonking V6 , tremendous levels of grip, amazing handling for such a large car , mind numbing space,heated seats and what not. In fact a total of 11 Superbs were bought by friends and family within a span of 6 to 8 months after we bought ours since the product looked so good.

However, were so appalled by the inconsistency of the product in terms of functioning and everyday niggles that we sold it at mere 9000 kms on the odo at a massive loss. Some days the sun roof would not work, other days the electric driver seat would stop functioning. One fine morning the left side xenon clonked off. Also the parts were very expensive and took a very long time to reach the dealer. Further, I think almost all the Superbs that were bought were sold within a year or 2.Most of them pretty annoyed by their vehicle. Almost all picked up the Camry or the Sonata. I bought the latter and havent looked back.

Nevertheless, we vowed never to enter a skoda showroom again but its good to know people are still buying their products and have that love/hate relationship going on.

[vvb8530]

When you buy a Skoda you take a leap of faith. Most buyers and I am including the non petrolheads as well, are already aware of the problems at Skoda but still when it comes to VFM their products are unmatched. However if you get a lemon then that VFM does go down the drain.

Being someone who has owned a few Skoda's and other Germans/ Europeans I can say this for sure that the Tank like Build Quality is not just hype it does make a huge difference and for someone who enjoys driving then the DSG box mated to the 1.8tsi engine is addictive. For people who say where do you have the roads to corner a car in our country I can only say that you must own a really boring car to drive . Also from my experience, maintaining a Skoda is not as expensive as it used to be and as it is generally perceived to be. I spend the same amount annually maintaining both an Innova and an Octavia so for people bashing Skoda's for being expensive to maintain, things have changed. I also have no complains yet with my experience at their service centers and I would like to believe that things are changing.

Now without trying to sound anymore like a Skoda owner trying to defend his purchase I would like to include that I am nervous. I am nervous that any day the transmission might fail, I am nervous that the car might just leave me stranded in the middle of no where some day, I am nervous that any day I might have to fight a battle with the dealer and Skoda India for some issue. Do i plan to keep the car for long? No, I will most likely sell it before the warranty expires as I do not want to risk it. Then why did I buy one if I am so nervous? My only answer is, It gives me the bang for my buck like no other, well till and if it lasts. In the same price range I had nothing better to buy that gave me all the features to use as well as the driving pleasure.

And the above holds true for most of their cars, in the next segment as well. We owned a very troublesome 3.6L V6 Superb that gave us sleepless nights but at the same time brought us a lot of pleasure when it was good to be driven or to be chauffeured in and for the money we paid for it. It was used to its full potential for about 70k kms and then replaced with the new current generation Superb 1.8 L&K. Why? Well we could not find a worthy enough replacement that gave the same VFM as the new Superb did even though we had faced every issue possible in using and maintaining the previous gen one.

Their cars can give you both pleasure and inconvenience in equal measures, its about how much of the adventure can one take and how bad can your luck get. Take an informed decision and buy the car, if you get screwed you have no one else to blame but yourself and your destiny. And just by the way if your luck is really bad you can be handed a lemon even from a Maruti or a Toyota which we have all seen here on this forum itself so no point bashing Skoda, their products are good just that our country needs stricter consumer protection laws to keep their attitudes and egos in check.

[Karthik Chandra]

Originally Posted by sawnilrules

Just added my two cents, I am aware, changing perceptions is not an easy task. But then, let't be fair to give opportunities.

I would not give an opportunity for a company that

1. appointed a dealer who took money for the car but didn't deliver
2. has a dealer who charged for 2 intercoolers for a Rapid
3. has dealer that changed spare parts worth Rs. 4 lacs

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-now-what.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ed-dealer.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...e-settled.html

Just type "Skoda dealers" on teamBHP search tab, you'll get to know
Skoda has recruited a bad set of dealers and thats hurting the brand's image

You can't imagine this happening with brands like Maruti or Hyundai since they exercise strict control over the dealership

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

I really want to know how many of the people bashing Skoda here actually own a Skoda vehicle?

That's the reason, right? no? They don't own Skoda because of the brand image of being a notorious company with arrogant dealers.

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

My only request- (Yes I am brand loyalist because of how good they are to me) please don't bash the brand simply because someone's someone had had a bad experience. No brand is perfect- at least this one is clever!

Rohan

Not just a few, and it isn't about A.S.S, its how about dishonesty - parts swapping, over charging, getting full amount for the car and not delivering one.

One might argue that every manufacturer has a rogue dealership. Brands like Mauti, Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda have multiple dealerships in a city, hence if one is a rogue customer can move on to the other but with Skoda the option is limited to a max of 2 dealerships. For instance Chennai has only one and if that turns out to be a rogue dealer, then a Skoda onwer is left at Skoda's mercy.

Originally Posted by sawnilrules

Well said mate, don't even try to take a corner driving a Hyundai, there are chances that the corner may have you instead of you having the corner.

When there is an issue with the car, there is a 100% chance that Skoda will have you cornered

[RohanDheman]

Originally Posted by Karthik Chandra

That's the reason, right? no? They don't own Skoda because of the brand image of being a notorious company with arrogant dealers.

Arrogant dealers? When was the last time you went to a Maruti or Hyundai showroom brother? Lets not bring up issues from 2005-2009 here. Over the last 2/3 years Skoda has made a genuine effort to improve in all aspects.

For my new car hunt in September/October 2016- Hyundai was the most arrogant followed by Toyota and Honda. And I owned an Accent for 11 years so I know a thing or two about Hyundai service- don't get me started on that.

And again- name one car company in India that has God send dealers and I will publically apologize to you for my statement(s). All dealers are crooks (irrespective of brands)- your own attitude goes a long way in ensuring that you get good service. Such is the condition in India that Ford has launched a massive campaign to just change its public perception with respect to service costs.

Things are changing- admit it and lets all move on from that and focus on the Octavia.

And as for people not owning a Skoda (for whatever reason it may be), I hope their purchases put a smile as big as ours has on our face.

Safe Driving!
Rohan

[vvb8530]

Originally Posted by Karthik Chandra

One might argue that every manufacturer has a rogue dealership. Brands like Mauti, Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda have multiple dealerships in a city, hence if one is a rogue customer can move on to the other but with Skoda the option is limited to a max of 2 dealerships. For instance Chennai has only one and if that turns out to be a rogue dealer, then a Skoda onwer is left at Skoda's mercy.



When there is an issue with the car, there is a 100% chance that Skoda will have you cornered

Buddy your comparison is wrong. All the brands that you are mentioning are mass brands with no car priced above 20L, how can you expect a company that sells majorly premium cars with way lesser units maybe a few hundred sold every month all over the country compared to say a Maruti that sells almost a Lac cars every month have multiple dealers in each city.

Would you expect Lamborghini to open up 5 dealerships in each city as well so that there is no monopoly with one dealer.