Poor experience at authorised service centre for my Skoda Rapid DSG

Incidences like these really make me feel that at one point in my life I should open a workshop myself and cater to just mine and enthusiasts cars.

BHPian sachin_cs recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

 As of writing this, my car is in service centre and I was supposed to pick her today but I just couldn’t accept my car in the state in which they wanted to return me. My car was given for Service on 15th May 2024 for 7th General service and a minor dent repair. Upon request I was given a courtesy car- Rapid petrol, which I really appreciate. I specifically asked them to be careful with my car, went on a test drive with a senior mechanic and explained him the rattling issues from doors and underbody. Today I got a call that my car is ready and I may take my car back. When I walked in the Skoda service centre, what greets me was-

• My car has a missing roof antenna
• Car is covered in dust and streak marks
• Cheap & smelly interior polish on the inside
• Upon close inspection, I saw damages on Front-Right door and door card

This was a clear disappointment from them, after a lot of promises that we are doing a lot to improve our service quality feels like all talk and no show. So, sat with the management and we came to conclusion that-

• Antenna was removed during bodyshop paintwork and it was installed back in my presence. Fair enough!
• Door panels were opened and instead of using prying tools, metal screwdriver was used
• When I asked the mechanic to provide me an explanation, he blamed it on someone else that a new guy has done it.

Dear Skoda, my car is not a Guinea pig that you will teach your mechanics a hand-on experience. When I’m sending my car for service, I expect my car to be returned in a better shape and not with more damages. It was a sheer disappointment. For them, it might be a small issue, but for me its not. I can’t stand a scratch on my car and I always bring my car to service centre to repair, the least I expect is to get new damages from the place where I’m supposed to get repair my previous damages.

So the service team assured me that they will take care of it- please take your car back, whenever you come back, we will get it repaired. Had they been slightly more proactive, I would have not wasted half of my day. I made it very clear that I’m not taking back my car till the time it’s back in shape. Let’s see how long does it take, I dropped my car on 15th May & on 17th it was supposed to be with me but alas.

If the authorised service centre is supposed to use screw driver to open the doorpanel, I would rather take it to a roadside mechanic, if both have to do the same thing.

It really pains me that when I'm giving you my time (showroom is 40kms from my home one way), energy, money and in the end this is what we get. Incidences like these really make me feel that at one point in my life I should open a workshop myself and cater to just mine and enthusiasts cars.

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