Mar 28, 2009 09:48 AM
45139 Views
Mr. Harishv or Team-BHP (Online Car Community Originally posted this)"I am fighting with Skoda for the last one year now. You may be aware their dealer in mumbai, Nummer Eins had replaced spurious parts in my car to the tune of around 4 lakhs.
They had even stolen the 3rd injector and the steering rack and substituted them with fakes. They did not spare the battery either.I took the matter up with skoda. You might find it hard to believe but customer care head Karthik Ramesh is hand in glove with the dealers.
God knows what kind of kick back arrangement he has with them but I can assure you he is the recipient of this fraud committed by Skoda dealers.Skoda replaced all the faulty parts in my car with originals. They then tried to pull a fast one on me.
They wanted me to give them an undertaking as a precondition for delivering my car with rectified original parts. The undertaking mentioned that these spurious parts were not put by their dealer.I refused to do so and Skoda asked me to pay for the repairs and take delivery of the car.
Also, the night after the parts were replaced, Skoda official Yogesh Vaidya, tried to smuggle out the spurious parts removed from my car out of jmd showroom after it was shut and I had gone back home. Some one known to me at jmd called me up and informed me. I rushed to jmd to see the parts just about being loaded in a car. Guess whose car? Nummer Eins car.
Can u imagine? The fake parts were being taken back to Nummer Eins under instructions of Karthik Ramesh. Car enthusiasts at team bhp - draw your own conclusion. Also, Nummer Eins, meanwhile tried to hush me down with attractive offers of cash, new car and threats. I chose to fight.I approached the district consumer forum which gave an interim ruling ordering Skoda to release my car repaired to its international standards immediately.
Skoda appealed to the state forum which stayed the release of my car. Due to a huge backlog of cases the case is proceeding slowly.However the press reports finally worked and on 5th september 2008 skoda terminated the dealership of Nummer Eins in their ad in the Times Of India giving them an apt teachers day lesson.
Skoda continues to fight with me with their clout and resources because they have to protect their image and my matter has kind of become a prestige issue for them. I have all the documents and photographs to prove my entire case. A piece of advice for those people who have been cheated by Skoda. Don’t go to court. They wouldn’t mind paying the compensation even if they lost.
It is small change for them. I have observed what hurts them most is the press publicity. Hit them where it hurts. Go to the press and present your case with proper documentation and records. The entire media is aware of the renowned skoda attitude ’ obsessed with arrogance’. They will take it up.Also, I wish to file a class action suit against Skoda in India.
For that I need similarly affected people. At least ten of them. We can teach Skoda a lesson. - the common car owner in india is not to be taken for a ride. I am waiting for people to come forward and fight with me. So far I have been fighting single handedly. I would like to appeal to all team bhp members similarly affected to come forward."Public Draw Your Own Conclusion!
The Car has still not be returned by Skoda India even after 1 year long wait! I will appeal all the future buyers to not go in for any car made by Skoda Auto India and also not recommend , but they should look for other alternatives like Honda Civic , Toyota Corolla because the have thousand times better service support than the pathetic skoda auto
