‘I will never buy a skoda‘ shouts out the post signature of a member of the popular Indian Auto discussion forum team-bhp.com
Why? In perhaps the best example of the Streisand effect seen in the Indian social media scene, Skoda India has suffered irreparable damage.
(Streisand effect – The Streisand effect is an Internet phenomenon where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized.)
So what really happened?
Mr. Harish Kanchan (username harishv on team-bhp) has been fighting with Skoda for the last one year now.
Why?
Skoda dealer in mumbai, Nummer Eins had replaced spurious parts in his car to the tune of around 4 lakhs. In a post on the forum, Harish gives details of the entire event. He mentions how he even had to follow up with Andreas Prinz (MD, Volkswagen India) and how Skoda tried to shut him up.
Harish has got photographs, original reports from Skoda engineers and all documents supporting his case.
“One of the most honest guys in Skoda, Mr. Ramakrishna Surabhi inspected my car at JMD Auto and confirmed all my allegations.
I am in possession of their internal vehicle inspection report submitted by Surabhi. I got this with great difficulty and maneuvering.“
Harish approached the district consumer forum which gave an interim ruling ordering Skoda to release his car repaired to its international standards immediately.
How did Skoda respond?
They appealed this decision and took it to the state forum which stayed the release of his car. The case is pending.
Now it gets even more interesting!
This post by Harish on team-bhp has received more than 500 replies and 60,000 views in less than a month! So Skoda finally realises this and actually threatens team-bhp and their users.
I have been advised to inform you that the hosting or publishing of such information (which , does not represent all of the facts) would instigate both Team-BHP as well as the various users in the ongoing court case.
The team-bhp guys posted the entire threat by Skoda and started another discussion! This post on the forum has received 1,306 replies and 100,000+ views in just 10 days!
Skoda in short have lost a lot of potential customers. Instead of accepting the racket, apologising to the public and coming clean…
They’ve now landed in a mess which is going to take some serious cleaning up.
Users are talking to each other about this incident and purchase decisions are based on such conversations. Thats the power of social media.
Amazing stuff Rajiv. This will definitely awaken few more auto manufacturers and other product and services oriented companies to start treating their customers better and be compassionate about their complaints.
oops! din see it was Ekalavya. Great going Eka
Mr.Andreas Prinz (MD, Volkswagen India)should learn a few lessons in crisis management. The business of cars today rests on the after sales service aspect, and one bad apple can kill the tree, everyone knows how solid and reliable car a skoda is and how ridiculously overpriced its parts are.. there’s a certain commercial model that rules the equation between build quality and cost of spares and service. So if you are a smart businessman, you should realize the odds and play ball accordingly, or else the game’s up my friend… same goes for other european brands here.. merc, bmw, audi etc.. the good days are over boys.. I happened to see a 2008 Merc E240 which ran up a water damage estimate of 17 lakhs, for just having waded in a cloudburst .. and it was repaired in an oridinary garage for about 6 lakhs.. but not all are lucky..
Posts like these bring out the power of media well & also serve as a good lesson for big bully companies . Good job – Keep it UP !
Thanks Saurav and Sonia
well said eka..
also, good to see eka’s post here again..
Bijay,
http://BijayRungta.com
http://twitter.com/rungss
Hi Ekalavya, that was a good summary of the incidents. I am a forum member of team-bhp.com and it is amazing to see the stupidity being displayed by Skoda.
Most team-bhp members are decision makers in their families and have the potential to influence car deals, which is the second costliest expense, after a house. Skoda has given us no choice but to stop recommending and start warning our friends and families about the pathetic and even dangerous (brake pads replaced by fake ones) after sales service.
The amount of potential business lost to Skoda is mind-blowing. Instead of apologizing and giving a repaired / brand new car, Skoda has lost atleast a 100 potential customers. And that is just the ones reported on the forum. This has spread over orkut, facebook, internal company mailing lists and is in general a hell of a mess.
Unfortunately, we dont really see Skoda trying to make amends. They are just sitting there with their heads in the sand. We like their cars, but are not willing to play with our lives, taking the car to a Skoda Authorised service centre.
Cheers,
Srijit
I had similar experience with FIAT. I bought a new car FIAT Palio and during one of the services in Delhi , one of the dealers replaced the extra new tire in the trunk of car with some old shabby tire.
I saw this and went back to him and he said that he has not done it.
I then approached FIAT and complained about the dealer.
In fact he was doing this kind of mischief earlier also.
Finally on instructions of FIAT, he replace the old tire with the new one and he wa’nt happy doing it.
He said that he was doing it because FIAT asked him to do so
The dealer was Vievk automobiles.
y wud FIAT ask a dealer to steal tyres?
dont go for skoda…..Same experiance in pune also….
Thanks for sharing. Wondering this incident happened because it’s Skoda or because it’s Skoda India.
The brands should realize that they don’t control the brand anymore!. Its a brutally open and transparent world… where nothing rules but the quality of products/services and the quality of relationships with the consumers.
the attitude of the dealers are not too good either here at kolkata.
i dont have much to say, but these guys have attitude problem too…maybe they are trained that way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I toally agree with Ekalavya Bhattacharya. I have been cheated by skoda. I bought a laura 30 days back. I did all the cross checking with the Skoda dealer that new laura variant will not be launched in next couple of months. Skoda Dealer M/S Fahrenhiet Motors assured me that they will be launching the new model late this year. Only 15 days after my purchase Skoda launched the new Laura variant which is readily available for delivery. I could have waited for 15 days provided they should told me the truth. I have spent 15 lac and they have cheated me.
I am fighting against them. If there are any other people who are fighting against them please let me know rohitmaheshwari2005@gmail.com so we can unite and teach them a lesson.
Thanks
Rohit