BEWARE ! Most non-professional service back-up

Dear Probable Buyers!

I understand how excited you will be if you are looking to buy a new car. I bought a skoda Laura Ambient for myself ealry June 2008, from Gurudev Motors, Chennai. After spending 15 lakhs for a car, I definitely expect a very prompt, professional, reliable and concerned after sales service. But surprise surprise !!!

It started with the delivery of my RC book which took them 50 days to arrange. I called up the sales rep. Mr. Kumaran who sold me the car, and the showroom manager Mr. Vijay, more than 20 times over a period of 25 days or so. They never called back. Never. I had to call them again and again to check on it. And they refuse to come and deliver it to my office now that they have it. Simply refusing. So much of after sales service from the showroom.

It was just the begining of the humiliation part with after sales service. My car was hit and had to be sent to garage.

T R A U M A is the best possible word. Seeing my new car hit wasnt enough that I had to go through what happened next.

It wasnt any big accident and the work was suppose to take not more than one week. Since I was travelling, i took the delivery after 18-20 days. And was more than shocked when they delivered the car.

Mind you, my car was one month old and hasnt even done 1000kms. The whole interior of the vehicle was stained like it was a 5 year old badly maintained car. There were scratch marks and small dents in at least 5 places. Paint job was horrible and I dont think they even tried to polish it. Totally I had written down 15 complains after seeing the car. The car was sent back and was suppose to be delivered in a day.

Of course it wasnt delivered on time and there was no call from the workshop apologising or informing the same. In fact i had to call them often to check what was happening. The car came back next evening and to my surprise, I returned the car back because it still had 15 complains!

The car right now is in the garage and they say they need 2 more days. I have written to skoda customer care, called them, and also sent emails to the dealer. Almost a day gone, and I still havent heard from any of them. The only person who called is the service manager of the workshop, who I have been in touch with for last 25 days. And he doesnt seem to be much worried about the problem anyways. Looks like as they say in Bollywood, the only resort I am left with is praying, that I get my car back in a good condition. Cant add 'on time' now even in my prayers, can I ?

Out of the 2 months i have owned the car, one month it has spent in garage for a small job. I had to rent out a cab for a few days spent thousands on them.

I would have thought that a brand like Skoda would dare having a professional network with people able to do their job properly, to avoid me having to send my car as many times as I did. As you may know the reputation of a brand also relies on the service it provides, and I have rarely witnessed such a poor and appalling performance. I can’t believe that Skoda staff finds it acceptable to send back a car that was in state as revolting as the one I got back

To wrap it up, i will tell you that its a nice car. I bought it because i liked the styling and the driving pleasure it offered. But please please dont ever think of buying it if you are the one who looks for professional after sales service. Skoda think its professional to rely on one dealer in a city like chennai. Skodas professionalism is only towards its rotten dealers and NOT the buyers. Even if i would never want to go back to gurudev motors, i will still have to go there for my next service. Its humiliating and I am worried what will they do to my car. I have also experienced the toyota and honda  after sales service (also ford / hyundai / maruti / chevorlet). Not that they are perfect, but its never been anythign so bad.

If you want to know anythign else in more detail about the same, feel free to email me.

Rohan