[shrinath_m2]

Skoda acts: says Vinayak Skoda is unauthorised now?
Check today's Deccan Herald page 3 right top.

SA says some scam investigation has lead to this.


Good that Skoda acted. Some trust restored.
Wondering the side effects of this in Bengalooru now.

[theredliner]

The ad seems to be restricted to Bengaluru edition.

This is the image:


Direct link

[GTO]

Remember this rogue dealer - related thread (Vinayak Skoda sells fake Rapid Black edition. EDIT: Replaced with a new car)? In what can only be termed as great news, it has been shut down. Good move by Skoda .

The official notice has been published in Deccan Herald's Bangalore edition yesterday. Big thanks to SuhasManjunath for the heads-up!

[shankar.balan]

This is sad to read in a sense. I may be in the minority but through the 8 years that I owned my Yeti, right from the moment of purchase until the moment of its sale, I dealt with Vinayak Skoda only.
I had chosen them in preference to TAFE because when I was buying the car in end Nov 2011 - TAFE made some commitments to me but when it came to the crunch they went back on their words in reference to the committed discounts and goodies they had originally offered.

And my choice was rewarded through the years I must say, because their service people and teams consistently looked after me and my vehicle in an honest and professional manner.

Maybe I was just lucky. Maybe also, I was just lucky that I sold my Yeti when I did in end Nov 2019...

No one is completely 100% black and bad. Everyone has some redeeming feature or other.

[Vid6639]

Vinayak used to be the better dealer both in terms of sales and service back in the day. TAFE access was the the one with a really bad reputation.

Last 6-7 years the tables had turned and TAFE improved but Vinayak kept going downhill. Suhaas Manjunath case was the biggest goof up by a dealer.

I was talking to both dealers and immediately realised TAFE was much better and hence booked my Kodiaq from them.

Vinayak delayed getting the car for test drive and the one they got was in really bad condition and not clean. They didn’t even have an octavia to drive.

[hrman]

This is not good. Any car manufacturer shouldn't have a monopoly of dealerships in a large city. What happens is one TAFE service center messes up? Will you go to another TAFE?

That said, my experience has been more on the positive front with Vinayaka. During my test drive, their test Rapid had gone for another potential buyer's testing. They waited for five minutes and brought out the showroom display Rapid vehicle for my test drive. I was impressed by their gesture and loved the drive and paid the booking amount there. I've never felt the need to go to TAFE due to service issues at Vinayaka.

Its a different story that I am giving my car to Carsmith after I completed five years of ownership and the dieselgate story and Skoda forcing the ECU update down owner's throats.

I think in line with their strategy, they will now start promoting Skoda as a primary brand and push Volkswagen dealers as primarily Skoda dealers.

[anoop cheeran]

This is indeed a shocker! I had bought my Rapid from Tafe, but over last 6 years, did all my service at Vinayaka. They even had moved into a really swanky new service center in Whitefield. Over the years their service quality had improved, though two months back, i had shared in the Onyx thread how the Vinayaka ORR showroom experience dissuaded me from booking the Onyx. Hope a suitable replacement comes in Bangalore, soon!

[Vipinprasad]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

But just to be fair and balanced, I wanted to say this about them basis my own experiences.
No one is completely 100% black and bad. Everyone has some redeeming feature or other.

Agree with your views. Having owned 2 Skodas over 7 years(2012-2019),my personal experience has been good with Vinayak Skoda. They permitted me to be on the shop floor(upon my insistence) when my cars were being serviced. The service personnel were good too.

Take Access,being held by a large corporation with other major interests (Amalagamations Group), the mentality of the staff was laid back.Pilferage of consumables and part swapping between cars were high too. One time,when I went there for a parking bulb change, one of the helpers offered to sell me the engine oil at 20% of the actual cost.

Also,having only one dealer/service centre does not bode well for any brand.Consumers interest suffers.In terms of dealers and service centres, Maruti scores exceptionally well and explains why they command the highest market share.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by anoop cheeran

. Hope a suitable replacement comes in Bangalore, soon!

This will take a while considering the potential low rate of return on a Skoda dealership currently.

This will change if Skoda roll out a decent product range going forward and or if they allow VW dealers to take on the franchise and allow some merging of back-end operations.

[Rajeev1]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

This is sad to read in a sense. I may be in the minority but through the 8 years that I owned my Yeti, right from the moment of purchase until the moment of its sale............Everyone has some redeeming feature or other.

I may also be a member of the 'minority' on this forum who loves Skoda and its cars. I have owned a Skoda since the last 10 years...first a Fabia and now a Rapid, and have always been getting it serviced at Vinayak Skoda. The service advisors I have had were trustworthy and never had a bad experience with them. Vinayaks' new service centre at Mahadevpura was swanky and a great step forward. It is rather sad for me that Skoda is parting ways with this agency.

TAFE now becomes the sole Skoda dealer in Bangalore and will be hard pressed to handle all the customers and unless Skoda quickly appoints another dealership this may result in drop in sales (which had picked up quite a bit over the past 5 years in Bangalore).

[BeigeDemon]

One thing to be stated: Skoda has really taken care of new customers impacted by the change. I had booked a TDi L&K with Vinayak in October. They did not order the car and instead tried to push me to pick up an inventory vehicle. Skoda has now stepped in and transferred my booking to Tafe. Pradeep, the local ASM, has been very proactive and helpful, calling and informing me about the change, honoring the significant discounts Vinayak gave and reserving a vehicle pending my in-person inspection without even invoicing it despite year-end deadline. For all the negative press they've fielded in the past, my experience has been quite impressive up to now. Kudos to them.

[itwasntme]

Mixed feelings. I've always used their Okalipuram workshop with good results. Surprised why the advertisement fails to mention their Palace Orchards showroom or the Okalipuram workshop.

There was a rumour that either TAFE or a new principal would open a north BLR workshop. Dearly hope either happens quickly as the Hosur Road workshop is like a moonshot away for me.

[Lambydude]

It seems Tafe is taking control. They recently opened a new showroom in JP nagar. This is different from the old showroom near Damro which they had shut down an year back.

[nma83]

I am in the same boat as @itwasntme. Have been a mostly happy customer of Vinayak Sadashivnagar, first for my Rapid and recently the Octavia. The Okalipuram service center was decent and never gave me issues during the Rapid ownership, even when there were non-trivial issues like cylinder head leakage and some sensor problems. Hope that service center remains open, or even better, they open something in north Bengaluru!

[deehunk]

I had a terrible buying experience in 2014, had tried to sell me a rear side repainted car and were caught. The service quality was however good and I used to opt for pick up and drop service.