[Resolved]  Skoda Laura — Poor service and product quality

Address:

Maharashtra

I write to communicate to you on the tremendous amount of problems and issues that I have recently encountered from the abysmally low product and service standards of Skoda.

I am the owner of a White Laura Classic, registered in Mumbai, relatively new and less than 1 year old.

On 15th June 2012, I was driving my car from Mumbai to Lonavala and the following events and issues materialized subsequently:-

Product failure: Suddenly the car stopped in the middle of expressway, where I got stranded for several hours. The car is at Europa workshop in Pune at present. In future enquiries I was informed that the clutch plate of the car had become non functional. In my 15 years of driving experience where i have owned/driven cars of Honda, Maruti, Hyundai, Isuzu, etc this is the first time that a clutch plate of a car has failed in its first year, that too when the quantum of my driving is also not too high. It is difficult to believe that a car company that claims to have superior parts, engineering and build offers sub-standard products. On further enquiry, the workshop has additionally intimated me that Skoda will not cover this in its warranty (even if the product failure falls within one year of purchase), in effect stating that unlike other cars, Skoda's products are more susceptible to driving styles and even if Skoda has not communicated this deficiency or need for specific style of driving to customers while selling the product, it would not entertain this. I believe that this is grossly unfair.

On top of it the company is trying to profit from it and has quoted in excess of Rs 50,000/- to replace company's failed product instead of actually compensating me for the troubles caused. This is being done under the garb of 'Wear and Tear'. I can quote the numerous written representations made by the company while selling its car and as stated in its extended warranty program. Forget extended warranty, this is the first year and such a basic car part has failed and being charged to the customer. The losely worded warranty explains parts subjected to normal wear and tear and aging---- How can that cover a failure in first year for a car hardly driven----where does wear and tear and aging come into picture. Skoda workshop has refused to give anything in writing when asked for and Skoda doesnt respond at all. Extended warranties and sales pitches use expressions such as "10/10 Drive", "Obsessed with quality", "specially checked for safety and reliability", "trouble free and hassle free", "Assurance of Commitment", "Complete assurance that your car continues to perform at its best", "Passed through rigorous checking", "pleasurable driving for many more miles ahead" and i can go on.

Unavailability of parts: The Car is at the Europa workshop in Pune for last 2 weeks. Parts have only been received now. Non-availability of a standard part with Skoda for such a long period is clearly a case of poor after sales service and lack of care on Skoda's part. This has created a rather high level of inconvenience for me and my family.

Poor Service levels: Post 15th June, the entire process from Skoda and the workshop has been astonishingly tormenting. Some instances of this are as follows:-

1. The Skoda service line (on multiple enquiries) had informed me that i would be given a full picture on the status of the car on 16th June 2012, a Saturday and I will receive a call from the workshop. On receiving no such phone call, I called back at around noon with no real feedback. on calling back at 2:00 pm, I was informed that the car is under inspection and would be informed at around 3:30 pm. No one bothered to call. I continuously tried for next 3 hours but got no reply. The service desk of Skoda was also unable to get through to them. With the help of the service desk involving several to and fro calls, I managed to reach a personnel at night, who informed me that no inspection was done on the car and nothing will be done till Monday. I was promised of a feedback by Monday. There was no feedback given on Monday or Tuesday.

2. On wednesday-20th June 2012, I called the Europa workshop again. I was told to wait till evening for a feedback from a service engineer. Later in the evening I was informed over phone that the clutch plate had got spoilt. Further I was told that more feedback on logistics will be given by late evening and that Skoda will not bear the cost of Clutch plate. No feedback was received in evening.

3. Again, I called on Friday with limited feedback. Subsequently I called and reached out to the manager at Europa. He informed me that they were unable to give any feedback, because availability of parts from Skoda was not clear and that it would tentatively be available only on Tuesday, 26th June. He again gave me another person's number for further correspondence. There were various intermittent calls that I had to make in the previous few days.

4. On writing directly to Skoda after 10 days, only response i got was that the worskshop will get in touch with me and address my issues. The whole complaint is caused due to non-reponsiveness of the workshop or their hands being tied by Skoda itself!! Skoda is just passing the ball to its workshop and letting the customer suffer

5. The workshop, as expected, didnt bother to address or call for addressal of issues. On calling the workshop, I was again put in the loop of "will call back asap". No call was received. Only thing which is communicated is that please make payment, we are not concerned with Skoda and service.

I still dont have a clear picture on when, how and on what basis will the car be made available to me.

The above clearly points out on how Skoda has failed in terms of product expectation, basic service standards and basic feedback system. The whole experience has caused immense displeasure, hassles, wastage of precious time (with multiple indirect adverse consequences) and grave inconvenience to me and my family.