Kodiaq AC switch replacement: My nightmare with Skoda India after sales

The only complaint I have with the service center is that they have not provided me a loaner car in the interim

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Recently, I took delivery of a 2023 Skoda Kodiaq L&K 2.0 TSI AT (Graphite Grey) on 22nd Dec, 2023. Immediately the next day (23rd Dec), I took the vehicle for a 1600 KMs, 9 days long trip with my family from Chennai to Kanyakumari.

Since it has been over a month of ownership, one may be forgiven in assuming that this thread is an Ownership Review for my car or a Travelogue for my trip. Instead, I am writing to share my experience with Skoda India After Sales Support or its lack thereof.

While I have no complaints with the test drive, booking, registration and delivery experience the real horror started within 10 days of taking delivery and it is turning out to be a never-ending nightmare getting worse over the last 30 days.

Just to provide context, over the last 17 years, apart from the current vehicle, I have owned 2 other vehicles from VW/Skoda (2007 Octavia L&K and 2014 Jetta Highline AT). This is apart from multiple other cars from VW/Skoda in my extended family.

I have listed below the chronology of events to help everyone understand the lack of seriousness from Skoda India in resolving my issue and why I believe my loyalty to the brand apparently has no value. If this is how Skoda treats its customer who is loyal to the brand and has purchased its most premium product, I can only assume the situation of others.

20-Dec-2023: Test drove the vehicle and paid the booking amount of Rs.50,000/-. The sales person from Gurudev Motors, Teynampet was very prompt with all the activities, answering all my queries and I don’t have any reason to complain. Even the car loan process got completed in a day’s time. Did a quick PDI on the vehicle the next day at the yard on the 21st Dec, 2023. The VIN indicated that the vehicle was manufactured in Jun-2023. But I was not overly worried as it was an imported vehicle and there might be some delay in the shipment reaching India and getting allocated to the dealer. However, I need to point out that I got a good deal with year-end discounts.

22-Dec-2023: Registration completed and took delivery of the vehicle in the evening which was largely without any surprises. Had pleasant experience at the dealership, apart from the fact that they still haven’t corrected the spelling mistake in my name in their systems. Also, the CRM promised to call me the next day to get the registration completed on the MySkoda and MySkoda ConnectED apps.

23-Dec-2023: Started early morning for the 700 KMs long drive from Chennai to Kanyakumari. This is a regular route for us which we travel almost 3-4 times every year and all our earlier trips in this route have been in sedans (Skoda Octavia, VW Jetta) or couple of times in a hatchback (Honda Brio) and the whole family had a great time for the entire trip in the new “SUV” as it was due of my kids preference for a 3 row SUV that we bought the Kodiaq. Had a good few days travelling locally in Kanyakumari and we were all excited with the new car and in no time we clocked 980 KMs by the 30th Dec, 2023. The next day we were supposed to travel back to Chennai and we were looking forward to the drive. Meanwhile, when I followed up with the CRM on my registration on the MySkoda and MySkoda ConnectED apps, I was informed they were unable to complete it due to some system upgrade issues at Skoda India end and it would get resolved in 15 days. Since this was not a priority item for me, I was least bothered.

31-Dec-2023: Started my trip from Kanyakumari to Chennai at around 10 AM. Within few mins, realized that the cabin was not getting cooled despite having the AC switched on. While I was familiar with the VW/Skoda Climatronic controls, had a detailed discussion with the sales team for basic troubleshooting to see if I was missing anything and since they were unable to resolve the issue I was asked to bring the vehicle to the service center. That is when we came to the realization that , within 10 days of ownership and driving less than 1000 KMs, the AC had abruptly stopped working. I had to drive for 700 KMs without AC in the heat of the day to reach Chennai before I could take the car to the service center as it was a Sunday and none of the service centers along the route were open.

02-Jan-2024: Brought the car to the service center. It took the service center technicians 4 days to diagnose the issue (defective AC Control switch) and return the vehicle back to me on 05-Jan-2024 with the assurance that the defective part will be replaced on priority under warranty and the ETA for the part delivery will be informed once available.

10-Jan-2024: After multiple follow-ups to confirm parts order over the previous 4 days, I was informed by the Service Advisor that the ETA for the replacement part delivery is 17th Jan, 2024.

17-Jan-2024: On reaching out to the Service Advisor on the day the part was expected to arrive, I was informed that the part has not been delivered and there is no revised ETA. Had multiple calls with the CRM and Service Manager without any updates and despite asking for a loaner/courtesy car to use in the interim until the defective vehicle was fixed, I was not provided with one. Raised a complaint online with Skoda Customer Service regarding the issue with the car. In the meanwhile, the issue with the registration on the MySkoda and MySkoda ConnectED apps was still not resolved.

20-Jan-2024: After several follow-ups with CRM and Service Manager on 18th Jan, 2024, I was provided with a revised ETA of 23rd Jan, 2024 for part delivery. Despite the delay in part delivery, a loaner car was still not provided for the interim nor was any financial compensation offered despite my request.

23-Jan-2024: On follow-up with the CRM on the day of expected part delivery, I was informed that the part was not delivered as per ETA given and the revised ETA for the parts delivery is now 08th Feb, 2024, which is a further delay of 16 days as the part is being shipped from Germany. This update comes after I have been in possession of a defective vehicle 25 days and I am expected to wait for another 16 days without any compensation from Skoda and/or Gurudev Motors either for selling me a defective product or for the multiple delays in getting the issue fixed. This is the 3rd time a revised ETA has been given to me. While the CRM mentioned that they are trying to expedite the part delivery, I have no confidence on whether this commitment will be adhered to given the historical evidence. Also, had a heated discussion with the sales CRM regarding the registration on the MySkoda and MySkoda ConnectED apps and after more than a month they were able to get the registration done for MySkoda ConnectED app. However, the MySkoda app registration is still open.

25-Jan-2024: I was informed that the part has been invoiced in Germany on the 22nd Jan, 2024 and would either reach Pune on 4th Feb, 2024 or Bangalore on 8th Feb, 2024. Meanwhile, the Skoda India parts team was check with other dealers in India if anyone has it in stock to be delivered faster.

27-Jan-2024: Received confirmation that the part is not available with any of the dealers in India as it is supposedly a very rare part to fail and hence is not readily available in stock. Awaiting for the next update!

At this point, I don’t believe the delay in parts delivery is due to the Service center. While the service center might not have anticipated this delay when they initially committed the dates with me, at least I get a sense that they are trying to help. However, I am not getting that comfort feeling with Skoda India Customer Support – they just pass the buck back to the service center and let them face the heat from the customer. Since the part has already been invoiced on 22nd Jan, 2024 at Germany, why should it take more than 2 weeks to reach India. If Skoda really wanted to expedite, they would have shipped it through air and I believe that the delay is because Skoda is unwilling to pay additional for shipment through air and routing these parts for delivery through sea.

The only complaint I have with the service center is that they have not provided me a loaner car in the interim as all their 4 cars are not available citing reasons which include 2 cars totalled due to flood, 1 car met with accident and under repairs and 1 car is already with a customer. As a customer, why should I be worried about the reason for the service center not having a loaner car?

Overall, I don’t see any real interest on Skoda’s side to prioritize the repair of the defective vehicle and I have had to raise the issue multiple times. I see a real lack of customer empathy and I am worried about the below aspects in general with respect to my future ownership.

Product Quality: Given the lacklustre response from Skoda, I have to assume that I been sold a defective vehicle which could not perform as per design for even 10 days or 1000 KMs and replacement parts not readily available leading me to question the overall product quality, even for an imported vehicle despite it being their top of the line product.

Service Assurance: Despite purchasing the top variant of Skoda’s top model in India (presumably worldwide), it is taking Skoda more than 1 month to deliver a defective part order with ETA changing 3 times till now over the last 3 weeks. It is pathetic that Skoda is unable to accurately provide an ETA for the part delivery and is not showing any interest to expedite delivery of the parts, especially given the circumstance relating to a new vehicle which malfunctioned within 10 days and 1000 KMs. Also, given the historical evidence with respect to the changing ETAs, I have no confidence that the revised ETA will be adhered to as well. Should I factor 45 days lead time for any future repairs that requires parts replacements?

Customer Service: I have not received any support from Skoda Customer Service for the complaint that I have raised apart from informing me that the service center will get in touch with me. While I have written to Skoda customer support and included Piyush Arora, Petr Solc, Majed Ali, Petr Janeba and Klaus Zellmer (using email ids which I gathered from internet searches, not sure if they are correct), I am yet to receive any revert from either Skoda India customer support or anyone else in loop from Skoda. Only the service center folks are connected with me and at least respond back to me over phone despite having had multiple heated conversations with them from my end.

Furthermore, even after 1 month, the dealer has not even been able to help me to register in the MySkoda app citing issues with Skoda systems and software making me wonder if this is Skoda’s commitment to its customers in India that is takes more than a month to resolve system issues to even register the details in their systems. Even now, I get the below error when trying to connect.

I know, this is not the ideal start to any car ownership, and the events of the last 30 days have seriously dented my confidence to consider a Skoda/VW vehicle for myself or recommend to family/friends in future. Also, all this back and forth with Skoda India and Gurudev Motors have caused me significant anguish and mental hardship, apart from the financial loss of having to pay EMIs for a defective vehicle which I am unable to use as per design. I can only hope to put this behind me once I am able to get my issue resolved.

Thought of sharing this experience with the larger group for awareness. Also, if anyone has further suggestions on what can be done additionally, I am open to ideas.

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