Skoda Superb 2009 Complete Breakdown. Help.

Hi Folks
I am Rohit from Delhi . I had bought a black color, Skoda Superb from Arshia Motors, Faridabad, Haryana on 16th march 2009. 
I have a feeling this whole lot was defective and they should recall these cars.
Skoda has given me a defective car.
Right since the day I have bought this car it has been giving me problems. The aircon has not been working right since day one.
The car went to the workshop 4 times before they changed some parts. But the AC is still not working properly.
The quality of the car sold in India is sub standard. The service levels are really poor. Within 6 months of my purchase of the Superb 2009 model, I have visited the service centre almost every month for one problem or the other.
On 11th September 2009, while going to the airport the gear box damaged and the car went out of control. I escaped a major accident as the car become non functional. I also missed the flight. I paid Rs.3000/- and had to get the car towed. No one from the Skoda helpline was available. 
Later got to know that it was a mechatronic unit failure.

Got my car back on 1st October after 2 weeks of repair.
From 2nd October to 5th October I drove the car for 250 kms and realised that there is a problem in the gearbox, which was agreed to by their engineer. Sent the car back to their dealer workshop at Sai Automobiles on 5th October
Infact on 5th October they had refused to take my car and said that there is no problem. Only after I took the video and spoke with Mr. Agarwal that I will go to media. They accepeted my car and later agreed that there was a problem in the gear shift paddle.
They again opened up the job card and kept the car for review. I had even mailed Skoda a video clip of the problem.
On 12th October they came and dumped the car at my office.Also there was a sound coming from the cabin.

They have now refused to accept my vehicle at both their dealers for rectification on 13th at Sai Automobiles. The same thing happened earlier on 5th October , but that time after threatening they took the car for service. 
Fresh drama ensued today (15th October), when after repeated persuasion a couple of Skoda officials visited my residence. 
They took my car for an hour, come back and say they will send me a detail email by today evening . They did not give any comment on the issue till now.
I lost my cool and I refused to take the keys back.
I have written to everybody possible in India and the Czech Republic. Nobody responds. The company officials are just too arrogant and unresponsive. 
I feel I have lost my entire 20 lakhs. Skoda is taking the Indian customer for a ride. I think I made a wrong decision by buying the Skoda Superb. The car has not even run for 7500kms. It has not even done its first service.
What should I do? Any suggestions?

The liar Karthik Ramesh has the audacity to send me the below mail.


Dear Mr.Rohit Agarwal,

Apropos to your concern with us, kindly be apprised that we take utmost care to ensure complete road worthiness of all our products and all our products are ARAI certified. The vehicle reported for the concern of a/c poor cooling/ ineffective twice i.e. first on 18th May 2009 and then on 16th June 2009, at both the occasions it was the refrigerant gas which was recycled and no major repair was carried out. It was ensured that the vehicle was performing with the specifications before delivery.

There after the vehicle reported on 12th Sept 2009 for the concern of gear shifting and problem was diagnosed with the faulty transmission control unit (mechatronics). The part being intelligent item, i.e. specific to a particular VIN, same needs to be procured from our parent company. To ensure complete mobility for your good selves and avoid any kind of inconvenience in want of vehicle we have arranged for a hired taxi from 18th September 2009 till the time your subject car was at the dealership.

Please appreciate the fact that to have your complete satisfaction on the product Mr.Santosh Kulkarni- Manager After Sales himself took a joint road trial along with your good selves and only then the car was delivered. We regret to bring to your kind notice that as per our warranty terms and conditions replacement of the vehicle will not be possible. However, we would like to assure your good selves that in case of any kind of future concern in your subject vehicle we will attend the same promptly in line with our warranty policy.

You are requested not to have any kind of apprehensions about the product and we look forward to your trust and understanding on the same.

Thanks & Regards,
Karthik


This is a total lie. I did not take any joint road trial with anybody. They had dumped the vehicle on my doorstep. In fact after their delivery I found out that the headlamps were not working. Also there was a sound coming from the cabin.

A correspondence from them –

From: "Agrawal, Shrivatsa " <Shrivatsa.Agrawal@skoda-auto.co.in>
Date: 16 September 2009 1:03:45 PM GMT+05:30
To: "Rohit Agarwal" <rohit@indianoverseasco.com>
Cc: "Sudhir, Srinivas" <Srinivas.Sudhir@skoda-auto.co.in>, "Syed, Yaser" <Yaser.Syed@Skoda-auto.co.in>
Subject: RE: Bad decision of buying a superb

Dear Sir,

At the very outset we would like to thank you for patronizing our product and apologise for the inconvenience caused to your good selves due to concern in your vehicle.

Please be apprised that the control unit of gear box i.e. mechatronic unit needs to be replaced as the same has developed fault. Please note that the mechatronic unit is an intelligent part specific to particular car and needs to be procured from our parent company in Czech Republic. The same has been ordered and will take about two weeks in procurement.

You are requested to kindly bear with us till such time.

Look forward to your understanding and co-operation and assure you of our best services at all times.

Thanks and regards
S.K. Agrawal | After Sales
ŠKODA AUTO India Pvt. Ltd.
5th Floor, Tower ‘A’, Signature Towers, South City-1, NH-8, Gurgaon-122001. India
shrivatsa.agrawal@skoda-auto.co.in | ?koda Auto - Homepage | ?koda Auto - Homepage

Friends,

Below is the recent conversation i had with Skoda. They have opened up the entire car and are unable to fix everything back. The car still had problem . 

I am without a car from 11th sep till date and have been paying my EMI for that month on month , they are trying to give me lolipos and wanting to brush the matter under the carpet. 

God bless them and give them conscience, as a Human being atleast.


Begin forwarded message:

From: Rohit Agarwal <rohit@indianoverseasco.com>
Date: 16 October 2009 5:19:37 PM GMT+05:30
To: "Agrawal, Shrivatsa" <Shrivatsa.Agrawal@skoda-auto.co.in>
Cc: "Ramesh, Karthik" <Karthik.Ramesh@skoda-auto.co.in>, "Guda, Trivikram" <Trivikram.Guda@skoda-auto.co.in>
Subject: Re: Please Help! Skoda Superb 09 Model is a Defective / Dangerous Car . Please Change/refund for the Car.

Dear Sir,

Thanks for showing your false concern . What will I do of exteded warrenty on a defective car ?????


Would have appreciated your help rather than covering up your issues.

Please suggest. 

Rohit Agarwal.

On 16-Oct-2009, at 5:04 PM, "Agrawal, Shrivatsa" <Shrivatsa.Agrawal@skoda-auto.co.in> wrote:

Dear Mr.Rohit Agarwal,

This is with reference to our telecon regarding your concern with us, kindly be informed that being a valuable customer to us as a gesture of goodwill and to regain your confidence on the product (Superb bearing Registration no. DL 13C 1491) we would like to extend the warranty on the Mechatronic (transmission control unit) by additional one year i.e. another one year over and above the normal warranty of two years.

Look forward to your trust and understanding on the same and assure you of our best services at all times.

Thanks and regards
S.K. Agrawal | After Sales
ŠKODA AUTO India Pvt. Ltd.
5th Floor, Tower ‘A’, Signature Towers, South City-1, NH-8, Gurgaon-122001. India
shrivatsa.agrawal@skoda-auto.co.in | ?koda Auto - Homepage | ?koda Auto - Homepage
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The link below is of the video I had taken . This was taken after the megatronic repair they had confirmed the car is fit for running. On 5th when i gone back to the service centre they refused to take the car saying that everything is ok .

Only after emailing this video to the top management they had agreed to tak my car for repair. Interestingly the problem still exist till date. The problem was with a jerk the gear shifts atomically between reverse neutral and drive . making it more dangerous car than earlier.

Moreover , Officially they said they had just upgraded some software version. But Internally i found out that they had changed some gear lever or some part .

If you carefully see the video , with common sense we can make out that its a mechanical problem not a Software issue.

The link to the video is 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M924YjGOigU

Thanks Rohit for sharing this info with the community. At least I'm not buying a Skoda in India. Forget quality, they seem to have the most serious after sales issues.

Rohit,

This is absolutly outregious. Very sad to know. It seems Skoda has not learnt their lesson yet. The most scariest pat was when yuo missed on a majore accident.. Now that is unforgivable. I would say This car should be replaced & NOT REPAIRED.

If I was You , i would have gone to consumer court & sue Skoda not only for the car but also to threat to my life..I think you have long way to go & please keep us update.

All the best.

Rohit

Did you write to Skoda global about this? They tend to be more serious about these things than the Indian management. Use the contact mail id from this page:

http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/about/contacts/pages/contacts.aspx

Hope they respond from this id. Please let them know your (expensive and disturbing) story. Also, if you have written word from Indian subsidiary, you can write to ARAI - Skoda can't hide their quality issues stating the vehicle is ARAI certified. ARAI is a respectable body - even certifications work on a measure of trust that Skoda may have violated.

It's time to use all your rights as a consumer and to tell Skoda they can't dump faulty car kits in India and fleece customers like you.

Lesson Learned:  Completely NO.. NO.. to Skoda

Really bad to hear this.  Skoda was already BIG NO to me