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How Skoda failed us big time & caused mental trauma to me & my family

16th May 2023, 10:07 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I had to beg them to give me a loaner car. They provided a Honda City which was in a pathetic condition & had expired insurance.

Thanks to Lohith Kumar for sending this letter to Skoda in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Hello Team Skoda,

I am writing this email with extreme disappointment on buying a Skoda car. I wish no other customer goes through the pain and grief that I have felt over the past few weeks.

My father bought a Skoda Kushaq Ambition Automatic on 1 January 2022 from a Skoda dealership in Chennai. Since the delivery of the car, we faced all sorts of issues that a new car should never have faced.

Eg:

Car rattling noise
Driver side power window not working at all
Screeching noise when the brakes are released
High vibration when the engine is idling

We have gone to the service center multiple times, yet some of these problems persist. What's more pathetic was yet to come. On 26 March 2023, we were travelling to a nearby temple to celebrate my sister-in-law's baby shower function. But we saw something very strange. We observed that all the warning lights had come on and they simply wouldn't go off. ABS, EPC, airbag, traction control, you name it - almost every possible sensor warnings had turned on.

We gave our car to the service center, Perungudi, Chennai the very next day (27 March 2023). It took them almost 4 days to confirm that the ABS module was not working and they had to order it from Germany. With the emerging technology and improvements in the automobile industry, I wonder what made them take 4 days to figure out there was an issue with the ABS module.

The team from the service centre informed me that the ABS module would arrive at the Pune factory from Germany on 18 April. It would reach Chennai on 21 April 2023. They told me that I could expect my car to be up and running by 28 April 2023. I did not go to my office for those 4 days. I requested a loaner car for me to travel to my office and nearby places as I live in a very remote area where finding a cab is extremely difficult (almost impossible). Even for basic needs such as groceries and other stuff, I have to travel 3 - 4 km to reach a shop and the Skoda Kushaq was my only vehicle.

Finally, the customer relationship manager from the service center promised me that I will receive a loaner car on 30 March 2023. They promised me that I would get a Skoda Kushaq Manual. Two days went by and there was no response from the manager and his team. Finally, when they answered my call, they told me that it would take another 2 days for me to receive it as they had already given it to another customer. I literally had to beg them on that day to give me a car. Finally, on 1 April 2023 at 10.30 pm, they handed me a Honda City which was in a pathetic condition. Just have a look at these images!

You have an extremely arrogant attitude to give us such a lame car. What made you think you can give a car, which is supposed to go to the scrapyard, to your customer owns a Skoda car? I was expecting at least a Skoda Rapid or Skoda Kushaq to be provided. That action of yours was unacceptable. The left headlight was not working, the left tail-light was not working, the car smelt like crap inside, the brakes were not working beyond a speed of 40 km/h and on top of that, you gave a car with Karnataka registration to a customer who lives in Tamil Nadu! You failed big time as a brand here and it shows how less you value your customer! What made you think you can give me a 12-year-old Honda City? Are you trying to secretly promote the brand Honda?

Just when I thought Skoda couldn't stoop any lower, here is the worst thing that it has probably done to any customer in any part of the world, leave alone in India. This is the worst any car manufacturer could do and you have done unimaginable damage to our family! You have given us a car with expired insurance. The insurance has expired on 28 February 2023. You have not given a damn about your customer's safety. Your 5-star ratings can go to hell. I constantly reminded you to renew the insurance and send us a copy, but you did not care. Here are the details of the expired insurance of the car.

On 16 April 2023, we had an emergency. We had to take my sister-in-law who is 8 months pregnant to Apollo Greams Road, Chennai in order to take scans. We had no other option but to take this crap Honda City as not one single cab accepted our request. Near Egmore, the traffic police had caught us as the number plate was from a different state and upon checking, it was revealed that the insurance had already expired. The traffic police booked a spot fine against my brother's driving license. We were left stranded on the road for almost one hour thanks to Skoda's carelessness and arrogant attitude. My brother, who has been driving for more than 10 years, had received a black mark in his license for the first time ever. But the traffic police over there were kind enough to give us a receipt and did not accept any fine from us. They asked us to send the receipt to the Skoda service centre and asked them to pay the fine, which is still pending from their side.

After all the trouble Skoda has given us, here came a new one. The manager promised us that the ABS module would arrive at the Pune factory from Germany on April 18 and from there it would arrive at the service centre on 21 April 2023. But the manager called me on 17 April 2023 and informed me that my Skoda Kushaq's ABS module had arrived from Germany and it would be quickly fitted and the car would be delivered on 18 April 2023. I highly doubt that the shipping from Germany would arrive a week before its expected delivery date. All these gimmicks by Skoda were futile.

We, as a family, have gone through a lot of pain in the last 3 weeks because of Skoda. We believed in the brand, but it failed us big time. It has caused mental trauma to me and my family. My work has been greatly affected. I was not able to travel anywhere out of the remote place where I live. Therefore, I demand that Skoda must take responsibility and pay us an inconvenience fee of Rs. one lakh, which includes the cab fares and the auto fares as well and immediately pay off the traffic department's fine. We are fed up with owning a Skoda car and we are not interested to take back the car from the service center. We demand you to take back the car from the service center and give us back the money we have spent so far. We expect a reply within 48 hours of receiving this email, failing which, you will receive a legal notice from my advocate and we will see you in the consumer court.