[jjp@chn]

Recently, I took delivery of a 2023 Skoda Kodiaq L&K 2.0 TSI AT (Graphite Grey) from Gurudev Motors, Teynampet, Chennai on 22nd Dec, 2023. Immediately the next day (23rd Dec), I took the vehicle for a 1600 KMs, 9 days long trip with my family from Chennai to Kanyakumari.

Since it has been over a month of ownership, one may be forgiven in assuming that this thread is an Ownership Review for my car or a Travelogue for my trip. Instead, I am writing to share my experience with Skoda India After Sales Support or its lack thereof.

While I have no complaints with the test drive, booking, registration and delivery experience the real horror started within 10 days of taking delivery and it is turning out to be a never-ending nightmare getting worse over the last 30 days.

Just to provide context, over the last 17 years, apart from the current vehicle, I have owned 2 other vehicles from VW/Skoda (2007 Octavia L&K and 2014 Jetta Highline AT). This is apart from multiple other cars from VW/Skoda in my extended family.

I have listed below the chronology of events to help everyone understand the lack of seriousness from Skoda India in resolving my issue and why I believe my loyalty to the brand apparently has no value. If this is how Skoda treats its customer who is loyal to the brand and has purchased its most premium product, I can only assume the situation of others.

20-Dec-2023: Test drove the vehicle and paid the booking amount of Rs.50,000/-. The sales person from Gurudev Motors, Teynampet was very prompt with all the activities, answering all my queries and I don’t have any reason to complain. Even the car loan process got completed in a day’s time. Did a quick PDI on the vehicle the next day at the yard on the 21st Dec, 2023. The VIN indicated that the vehicle was manufactured in Jun-2023. But I was not overly worried as it was an imported vehicle and there might be some delay in the shipment reaching India and getting allocated to the dealer. However, I need to point out that I got a good deal with year-end discounts.

22-Dec-2023: Registration completed and took delivery of the vehicle in the evening which was largely without any surprises. Had pleasant experience at the dealership, apart from the fact that they still haven’t corrected the spelling mistake in my name in their systems. Also, the CRM promised to call me the next day to get the registration completed on the MySkoda and MySkoda ConnectED apps.

23-Dec-2023: Started early morning for the 700 KMs long drive from Chennai to Kanyakumari. This is a regular route for us which we travel almost 3-4 times every year and all our earlier trips in this route have been in sedans (Skoda Octavia, VW Jetta) or couple of times in a hatchback (Honda Brio) and the whole family had a great time for the entire trip in the new “SUV” as it was due of my kids preference for a 3 row SUV that we bought the Kodiaq. Had a good few days travelling locally in Kanyakumari and we were all excited with the new car and in no time we clocked 980 KMs by the 30th Dec, 2023. The next day we were supposed to travel back to Chennai and we were looking forward to the drive. Meanwhile, when I followed up with the CRM on my registration on the MySkoda and MySkoda ConnectED apps, I was informed they were unable to complete it due to some system upgrade issues at Skoda India end and it would get resolved in 15 days. Since this was not a priority item for me, I was least bothered.

31-Dec-2023: Started my trip from Kanyakumari to Chennai at around 10 AM. Within few mins, realized that the cabin was not getting cooled despite having the AC switched on. While I was familiar with the VW/Skoda Climatronic controls, had a detailed discussion with the sales team for basic troubleshooting to see if I was missing anything and since they were unable to resolve the issue I was asked to bring the vehicle to the service center. That is when we came to the realization that , within 10 days of ownership and driving less than 1000 KMs, the AC had abruptly stopped working. I had to drive for 700 KMs without AC in the heat of the day to reach Chennai before I could take the car to the service center as it was a Sunday and none of the service centers along the route were open.

02-Jan-2024: Brought the car to the service center (Gurudev Motors, Ambattur, Chennai). It took the service center technicians 4 days to diagnose the issue (defective AC Control switch) and return the vehicle back to me on 05-Jan-2024 with the assurance that the defective part will be replaced on priority under warranty and the ETA for the part delivery will be informed once available.

10-Jan-2024: After multiple follow-ups to confirm parts order over the previous 4 days, I was informed by the Service Advisor that the ETA for the replacement part delivery is 17th Jan, 2024.

17-Jan-2024: On reaching out to the Service Advisor on the day the part was expected to arrive, I was informed that the part has not been delivered and there is no revised ETA. Had multiple calls with the CRM and Service Manager without any updates and despite asking for a loaner/courtesy car to use in the interim until the defective vehicle was fixed, I was not provided with one. Raised a complaint online with Skoda Customer Service regarding the issue with the car. In the meanwhile, the issue with the registration on the MySkoda and MySkoda ConnectED apps was still not resolved.

20-Jan-2024: After several follow-ups with CRM and Service Manager on 18th Jan, 2024, I was provided with a revised ETA of 23rd Jan, 2024 for part delivery. Despite the delay in part delivery, a loaner car was still not provided for the interim nor was any financial compensation offered despite my request.

23-Jan-2024: On follow-up with the CRM on the day of expected part delivery, I was informed that the part was not delivered as per ETA given and the revised ETA for the parts delivery is now 08th Feb, 2024, which is a further delay of 16 days as the part is being shipped from Germany. This update comes after I have been in possession of a defective vehicle 25 days and I am expected to wait for another 16 days without any compensation from Skoda and/or Gurudev Motors either for selling me a defective product or for the multiple delays in getting the issue fixed. This is the 3rd time a revised ETA has been given to me. While the CRM mentioned that they are trying to expedite the part delivery, I have no confidence on whether this commitment will be adhered to given the historical evidence. Also, had a heated discussion with the sales CRM regarding the registration on the MySkoda and MySkoda ConnectED apps and after more than a month they were able to get the registration done for MySkoda ConnectED app. However, the MySkoda app registration is still open.

25-Jan-2024: I was informed that the part has been invoiced in Germany on the 22nd Jan, 2024 and would either reach Pune on 4th Feb, 2024 or Bangalore on 8th Feb, 2024. Meanwhile, the Skoda India parts team was check with other dealers in India if anyone has it in stock to be delivered faster.

27-Jan-2024: Received confirmation that the part is not available with any of the dealers in India as it is supposedly a very rare part to fail and hence is not readily available in stock. Awaiting for the next update!

At this point, I don’t believe the delay in parts delivery is due to the Service center. While the service center might not have anticipated this delay when they initially committed the dates with me, at least I get a sense that they are trying to help. However, I am not getting that comfort feeling with Skoda India Customer Support – they just pass the buck back to the service center and let them face the heat from the customer. Since the part has already been invoiced on 22nd Jan, 2024 at Germany, why should it take more than 2 weeks to reach India. If Skoda really wanted to expedite, they would have shipped it through air and I believe that the delay is because Skoda is unwilling to pay additional for shipment through air and routing these parts for delivery through sea.

The only complaint I have with the service center is that they have not provided me a loaner car in the interim as all their 4 cars are not available citing reasons which include 2 cars totalled due to flood, 1 car met with accident and under repairs and 1 car is already with a customer. As a customer, why should I be worried about the reason for the service center not having a loaner car?

Overall, I don’t see any real interest on Skoda’s side to prioritize the repair of the defective vehicle and I have had to raise the issue multiple times. I see a real lack of customer empathy and I am worried about the below aspects in general with respect to my future ownership.

1. Product Quality: Given the lacklustre response from Skoda, I have to assume that I been sold a defective vehicle which could not perform as per design for even 10 days or 1000 KMs and replacement parts not readily available leading me to question the overall product quality, even for an imported vehicle despite it being their top of the line product.
   
   
2. Service Assurance: Despite purchasing the top variant of Skoda’s top model in India (presumably worldwide), it is taking Skoda more than 1 month to deliver a defective part order with ETA changing 3 times till now over the last 3 weeks. It is pathetic that Skoda is unable to accurately provide an ETA for the part delivery and is not showing any interest to expedite delivery of the parts, especially given the circumstance relating to a new vehicle which malfunctioned within 10 days and 1000 KMs. Also, given the historical evidence with respect to the changing ETAs, I have no confidence that the revised ETA will be adhered to as well. Should I factor 45 days lead time for any future repairs that requires parts replacements?
   
   
3. Customer Service: I have not received any support from Skoda Customer Service for the complaint that I have raised apart from informing me that the service center will get in touch with me. While I have written to Skoda customer support and included Piyush Arora, Petr Solc, Majed Ali, Petr Janeba and Klaus Zellmer (using email ids which I gathered from internet searches, not sure if they are correct), I am yet to receive any revert from either Skoda India customer support or anyone else in loop from Skoda. Only the service center folks are connected with me and at least respond back to me over phone despite having had multiple heated conversations with them from my end.
   
   
4. Furthermore, even after 1 month, the dealer has not even been able to help me to register in the MySkoda app citing issues with Skoda systems and software making me wonder if this is Skoda’s commitment to its customers in India that is takes more than a month to resolve system issues to even register the details in their systems. Even now, I get the below error when trying to connect.
   
   
   

I know, this is not the ideal start to any car ownership, and the events of the last 30 days have seriously dented my confidence to consider a Skoda/VW vehicle for myself or recommend to family/friends in future. Also, all this back and forth with Skoda India and Gurudev Motors have caused me significant anguish and mental hardship, apart from the financial loss of having to pay EMIs for a defective vehicle which I am unable to use as per design. I can only hope to put this behind me once I am able to get my issue resolved.

Thought of sharing this experience with the larger group for awareness. Also, if anyone has further suggestions on what can be done additionally, I am open to ideas.

[jjp@chn]

Update:

30-01-2024: There seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Today morning, received a call from the Service center that the part has been received at Pune and will be dispatched by air tomorrow to Chennai. Hopefully, I should be able to get the issue fixed later this week. Will keep this thread updated with the progress.

[Bhokal]

It is unbelievable that they do not store parts (however rare) and have to order every time from Germany. If that happens that it is absurd. Are they running Skoda India from a tin shed, that they do not have storage space?

Expectedly, the part magically appeared after this is posted at TBHP. Which suggests that they can arrange the part quickly, what they gain by treating their customers like this is beyond my understanding?

Hope that your issue will be fixed asap.

[SilverSmoke]

My 2022 Kodiaq L&K 2.0 TSI underwent major work up last year. Spent good 90 days in workshop of Brite Skoda, Noida.

From that I have learnt for minor/single part replacement, it takes 30 days to get your car back & for major/multiple it's 90 days. You can't have a Skoda CKD unit as your only vehicle. Aftersales is pretty good at local level & I am pretty satisfied with Brite Skoda, only downside is - Skoda has almost 'zero' Indian inventory for CKD units.

All the parts are sourced from Europe on-demand, except those very frequently requested - brake pads / fluids / glasses / wheels.

Otherwise vehicle is an amazing machine.

[jjp@chn]

Originally Posted by Bhokal

It is unbelievable that they do not store parts (however rare) and have to order every time from Germany. If that happens that it is absurd. Are they running Skoda India from a tin shed, that they do not have storage space?

I was also surprised when I heard that the part had to be imported from Germny. Irrespective of whether it is a CKD unit or not, as a customer I expect them to have the parts available locally for a car that is sold in the country. In my case, the reason they mentioned was that it was extremely rare for this AC control switch to fail. I had never faced the issue of delayed parts delivery in the past 17 years of my VW/Skoda car ownership.

Originally Posted by Bhokal

Expectedly, the part magically appeared after this is posted at TBHP. Which suggests that they can arrange the part quickly, what they gain by treating their customers like this is beyond my understanding?

I think it might have been a coincidence, as the service center had informed me few days back that the part was invoiced on 22nd Jan and was already on its way, but I was still doubtful as they had changed the ETA couple of times earlier. Nevertheless, if this nudge had helped in any way to expedite the process, I am not complaining.

Originally Posted by SilverSmoke

From that I have learnt for minor/single part replacement, it takes 30 days to get your car back & for major/multiple it's 90 days. You can't have a Skoda CKD unit as your only vehicle. Aftersales is pretty good at local level & I am pretty satisfied with Brite Skoda, only downside is - Skoda has almost 'zero' Indian inventory for CKD units.

Even I have the same feeling that the service center has limited influence in this and Skoda India should really step up to iron out these issues instead of coming late to the party. If they are unable to even know how quickly a part can be delivered, what is the point of running this operation for 20+ years in the country? They are blaming the delay and the multiple revisions to the ETA on the vendor who supplies the part. Hard to believe that each part is individually ordered from the vendor given that the AC control switch might not be a unique part for just this model of Kodiaq and might be shared between other models in the Skoda and VW family.

As a customer, may be we are expected to just make up our mind and accept the delay as a trade off for the happiness that these cars bring to us.

[FAIAAA]

Thanks for sharing. This, among the numerous other examples of inconsistent /bad product quality, ASS and poor customer response on the forum, makes me personally stay away from, and not recommend, VAG cars. No matter how good the product is claimed to be. For what's the good in a product if it fails new, frequently and with no permanent solution.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by jjp@chn

I have to assume that I been sold a defective vehicle which could not perform as per design for even 10 days or 1000 KMs and replacement parts not readily available leading me to question the overall product quality, even for an imported vehicle despite it being their top of the line product.

I think you're going a bit too far with the term "being sold a defective vehicle". There is no evidence of that. I am sure you did your due diligence around the PDI. An AC control switch malfunctioned. That does not make the entire vehicle defective.

The bigger issue here has been Skoda and the Dealers response. That needs to improve. I would persevere on the matter and escalate where possible.

[m8002?]

I totally empathize with the OP. The AC not working in Chennai means the car is practically unusable. This kind of response from Skoda is just not acceptable for a 45+ lakhs new vehicle. I dont know why we should accept their argument that the part has to be shipped from Germany. They are just bluffing.

New cars are currently assembled in India using the same part. Why can they send one from that inventory? They must be having a good "safety stock" quantity for all the parts. What happens when they find a defective part during assembly in India? Do they hold up the entire assembly line for 2 months to get the part from Germany in the next shipment?

[abaliga]

VAG group's complacency on part availability for CKD units is not new and may not change anytime in the near future, I got the 2023 Octavia despite this fact and have prepared myself for down times as the product itself is fantastic, anyone buying their CKD cars should be prepared for long down times for parts when things go wrong, its unbelievable in a globalized world that it takes more than 30 days for a part to arrive from Germany, but I dont think VAG is bothered about the few hundred customers who buy their CKD units paying through their nose, all that talk by Zac Hollis on improvement of ASS is just a dream for VAG CKD owners now

[sachin_cs]

This is just not acceptable, if you can’t source a part in time, at least don’t keep your customer in dark. Kodiaq being CKD unit, the excuse is they don’t have stock, well, they have sold Rapid in highest numbers, still the dealer doesn’t stock basics like air filter, it took them 15 days to source air filter for my car during a paid service. That too when I saw the mechanic fitting the old air filter, had I not seen him, I would have been running on old air filter. God bless Skoda! They surely don’t know a thing about customer handling.

[hrk997]

I bought a kushaq and within the 1st month, the ac cooling abruptly went off several times. I didn't bother taking it to service center since my schedule is rather busy. For the 1st service, I tried to book an appointment in Chennai in the same one mentioned above, but they told that they do not have slots for the next three months. This is due to the service center being flooded with flooded vehicles. My boss Innova hycross has been stuck for a month in the centre. Perhaps it's the influx of flooded vehicles that's causing delays in chennai's service centers.

[athray9]

I am really sorry to hear what you have been through. Being a Kodiaq owner and to have also been purchased the car from Gurudev Motors, I don't see this as a surprise. Skoda makes amazing cars but are backed by a poor management team. Gurudev Motors are also not very responsible and their timelines can be really un-realistic. I would like to share the experiences we went through with the entire ownership of our car since the booking.

Jan 2022 - Booked the car with Gurudev motors and we were told it would get delivered in about 3 months.

April 2022 - Did not get the allocation yet.

August 2022 - Got an allocation and got it delivered in the same month.







September 2022 - Passenger Airbag was always turned off, then we came to know that it comes turned off from factory and that the technicians need to turn it on during PDI and they failed to do so, now this could've been fatal had my dad not discovered it.

23rd November 2022 - The car had been amazing during the first 3 months of ownership with about 3000 kms on the odo with a trip -> Chennai-Trichy-Namakkal-Karur-Chennai. Just when we reached home, the check engine light turns on.

24th November 2022 - The car goes to Gurudev Service center in Guindy Industrial Estate.

27th November 2022 - Technicians had run the diagnosis and sent it to Skoda India. Skoda India came back with a response that the fuel pump sensor had failed which was the reason for the check engine light. But it was a sensor failure, so Skoda India had advised the technicians to re-calibrate the sensor and that would fix the problem. The technician told me that the problem would be fixed tomorrow and that I can pick the car tomorrow morning.

28th November 2022 - I reached the showroom at about 9:30AM, the technician says they test drove the car and the check engine light came up again. Now this happened at about 11AM. So this infuriated us since they made us come all the way to pick the car up and then inform us this issue. Then they told us they can give us a loaner car which is a 1.0 Kushaq M/T. But in-order to get the aproval for the loaner, I had to wait for another 4 hours. After all the wait, I finally got a Kushaq as the loaner. We were informed that the sensor would arrive in another two weeks.





14th December 2022 - Sensor was supposed to arrive today. Gurudev Skoda got a shipment and the sensor was not present in the shipment. Now this was really shocking. Not sure if it was really missing or if it was some made up story.

24th December 2022 - It's been one month without a car that was just 3 months old with 3000kms and no signs of the sensor being delivered. My dad escalated the issue and the response from Skoda India was this " Sir we have provided you a with a Skoda Kushaq loaner". Really disappointed with their reply and they sensed it, so they offered us extended warranty at free of cost for what we were going through. But what is the point of having extended warranty is the car is not going to be with us, since we can't even see the sensor arriving even after a month?

27th December 2022 - Got a call from Gurudev Skoda that the sensors have been delivered and then they will only come and deliver the car to our house.

28th December 2022- We got the car delivered in our house with a bill of about Rs.500 for fuel. We had given the car with about 1/4th of fuel but they had to do many test runs with the car which emptied the fuel and the person delivering the car had fueled the car and gave us the receipt. After making us go through everything for a month, they give us a recipe of Rs.500? But at least we were happy that the problem was resolved.





So we learnt a lot from this :

• Skoda cars (not the PQ or MQB AO-IN platform ones, but more of MQB and MQB EVO) are amazing and are very comparable to the big 3 luxury germans.
• If your Skoda car runs without any problems, it would be such an amazing buy without any issues and you can literally shame the big 3 luxury germans interns of equipment, performance and comfort for a lot less money, I used to find it really comparable to my X3 in many ways.
• The problem is with Skoda India management and with some Skoda dealers (not all of them).

The car is now 2.5 years old with about 15000 kms and touch wood we have not faced any issues and has been a wonderful ownership experience. I really hope your issues are fixed and you also enjoy the cars like us. Kindly demand Skoda India for extended warranty since they put you through this ordeal on a brand new car.

[DGSCS]

I own a 2015 Skoda Octavia 1.8 tsi and have to say that as amazing as the car is to drive, my 9 year of ownership have come with its own set of regular headaches.

Water seepage was a common phenomenon with service center not being able to fix it (more due to lack of interest than capability) even after explaining it to them and them raising a 28,000/- bill. After that they asked me to get a part changed at an additional cost which i absolutely refused so they somehow managed to fixed it with glue.

Not to mention the time where the technician used a screw driver to unblock the water holes at the bottom of my car doors and ended up making 3 small but very sharp and prominent dents on each door which they refused to acknowledge was their doing (some delay on my part to notice it tbh but still dents were made from inside so only one possible reason). Also as you already mentioned out, spare parts are a nightmare as they are never readily available.

Only suggest i have for you as a skoda owner (and as a lawyer) is keep following up continuously and have proof of every communication in writing and not orally incase things get escalated. Sad to see all this happening this early in your ownership.

[cka]

Skoda/VW cars are only good till the time you dont face an issue. Hope you get the car running soon.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by DGSCS

Water seepage was a common phenomenon with service center not being able to fix it (more due to lack of interest than capability) even after explaining it to them and them raising a 28,000/- bill. After that they asked me to get a part changed at an additional cost which i absolutely refused so they somehow managed to fixed it with glue.

Not to mention the time where the technician used a screw driver to unblock the water holes at the bottom of my car doors and ended up making 3 small but very sharp and prominent dents on each door which they refused to acknowledge was their doing (some delay on my part to notice it tbh but still dents were made from inside so only one possible reason). Also as you already mentioned out, spare parts are a nightmare as they are never readily available.

1: The car is sensitive to the door seals - My old Octavia had this issue and once seals were repaired, all was ok

2: Water should not even enter your doors considering the electrics inside. It drains down the sunroof channels to outlet pipes through the front pillar which end in a rubber nipple on the front wing edge where it meets the door. You need to squeeze the nipple to get rid of any muck