PPS Skoda charges 10,000 bucks for radiator flush!

Low coolant issue not fixed in the first visit; Bill of Rs. 38,359 raised in subsequent visit

When dealers don't make enough money from new car sales, there are always existing customers to loot! Prajnya shares this rip-off story with us! Worse still, Prajnya reached out to Skoda for help during the feedback call, but they didn't do anything about this. 

Hi GTO, 

 

Our 2015 Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDI DSG went in for its annual service on 11th September 2020 at around 29972 km. The service was delayed by a couple of months from our end due to the lockdown, and the car had run less than 5K km since the previous service. 

 

Just before taking the car for a service, the low coolant level warning message popped up on the MID along with the engine malfunction light. The coolant level was lower than normal. Since the car was running properly, we drove it straight to PPS Skoda keeping a constant eye on the temperature needle, which seemed to be normal the whole time. 

 

Regular service was done and the following points were mentioned regarding the issues faced: 

 

1. Engine malfunction light- Cut wire due to rat bite. Was informed that the cut has been rectified. 

 

2. Low Coolant Level- Coolant topped up and no leakage found in the cooling system when a pressure test was done. 

 

On 1st Oct 2020 at 30265 kms (which is just 293 kms after the service), the low coolant level warning popped up again. Dad checked the coolant reservoir and found it to be below the normal mark. I told him not to use this car and he took my Polo GT TSI to the office.

 

The car was not used until 3rd October 2020 when we had to fill about 1.5 lts of coolant to bring it upto the normal mark. 

 

On 8th October 2020, the entire coolant had leaked onto the floor of our office basement. 

 

Why wasn't the issue diagnosed properly when the car went in for its service???

 

We immediately got the car on a flatbed and sent it to PPS Skoda at Srirampuram. They diagnosed the same as a water pump failure, coolant over the timing belt so both need to be replaced. I asked them to replace the same, and also flush the coolant + add new coolant just because the other work was being done. 

 

I was charged Rs. 9085 for some liquid used to flush out the coolant. Was surprised looking at this since these two liquids are priced at Rs. 695 & Rs. 1056 , however the coolant is priced at only Rs. 250 (amount mentioned is per liter, GST additional). When I asked them about the material used to flush the coolant, I was told that it needed to be done since I have used non-genuine coolant - they had no proper reply on what is the exact liquid used for flushing. 

 

When I got a call from the feedback team, I raised a query regarding the flushing liquid. The service manager immediately called me and offered a discount of around Rs. 5000/- on my next visit and asked me not to escalate the same to Skoda during their feedback call.

 

When the same query was raised during the feedback call from Skoda, they again routed it to the Service Manager and I didnt get any response from Skoda. 

 

Note- We have had a very good experience with this car & Vinayak Skoda service until this episode. We knew about Skoda's horror stories even before buying this car, but luckily we haven't faced any till this episode and are hopeful that it will stay the same in the future. 

 

Thanks,

Prajnya