[Resolved]  Skoda / Fabia Petrol Elegance — Faulty bearing, problematic brake system

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Bangalore, Karnataka

I purchased a Fabia Elegance Petrol in May 2009. Initially, the central locking wasn't functioning & it was rectified. I had to face goof-up in RC book(mentioning the date of registration as Mar 2009 instead of May 2009), goof-up in Insurance policy mentioning it as Elegance diesel instead of Petrol & wrong mention of Cubic capacity. Innumerable calls & finally I had to personally take up the matter with Insurance provider & get it rectified. Noise while braking/hissing sound/rear wheel getting jammed was noticed in Oct 2009 & the all four brakes were cleaned & given back. I did not have much problem after that. However, after I gave the car for 1st free servicing in May 2010(12 months or 10000km whichever is earlier), the car developed a series of problems- cranking/rattling sound when brake pedals were depressed, stiffening of brake pedals, brakes not engaging due to this while unparking, brake pedal depressing with unevenness, etc. What ensued was a tale o[censored]nending compalints, chain of emails, innum erable phone calls & lot of visits to the service centre. Careless attitude, highly unprofessional approach, concealing of information & misleading the customer by giving different versions each time on part of Tafe Access ltd, Hosur raod, Bangalore was not something I expected from a high repute SKODA company. The CRM went to the extent of telling he will send his technical person to guide me in how to use the brakes properly suggesting that the problem may be due to faulty driving. Finally, I was told that there MAY HAVE BEEN a problem with the bearing & they have replaced the same. They aren't even ready to admit it clearly. I am made to wonder why I had to shell out a bomb for a small car(7.6 lakhs) of low mileage, poor performance, poor pickup & pathetic customer service while I could have got much better cars for a lesser price. I had a Santro Xing earlier for 6 years & before that, a Maruti Omni for 7 years but I never faced any such problems either in the vehicle or in the service provided by the companies.
Hope people go through this compalint before investing in a SKODA car. I did not do it & am facing the consequences.
Mrs. Balaji