Do I have warranty or not? More lousy customer management from Skoda/VW

[Transporter]

Update:
Rang dealer on Tuesday (travelling all day Monday) because they didn't ring me. Claims Skoda said no warranty. Asked for a phone number for somebody in Warranty Department so they gave me a number that turned out to be Roadside Assist (NRMA or Mondial I guess). So that was useless.

Rang Skoda Customer Service (Tuesday). They said they'd talk to the warranty dept & get back to me Wednesday.

wednesday: No call from Skoda.

Thursday: I call Skoda. , so they promise they will get back to me. No call eventuates.

friday: i call again. The person i spoke to is busy. They ring me back at 15.00 - yay! The dealership wants to see my service history. The same service history the service advisor didn't want to know about last Thursday. So I've sent that.

This is so painful. I assume they hope you will give up in frustration.

Wife is about to change jobs & has to choose a new company car. She doesn't like certain aspects of the Mondeo wagon (turning circle is a shocker). Was trying to steer her towards a Superb but I couldn't be bothered now. She'll probably go back to a Captiva or try a hyundai or a kia

Try to write them a letter and if that doesn't help the consumuer affairs would be my next step.

[K1W1]

IMO you have two choices.

1. Go to another dealer. The warranty is not dealer specific. Tell them where you are at see what they say and promise them undying love for assistance.

2. Contact Michael Wiesner the MD of Skoda Australia directly. Don't take no for an answer, be polite and stay on the phone as long as it takes to get to talk with him. He is a very approachable guy and I'm sure he will be shocked to hear your story.
The standard line of attack in this situation is to politely and accurately tell your story to his secretary or PA and say that you want to speak to him and that you are prepared to wait. If you get the run around and it becomes obvious that you are getting nowhere politely and calmly let the secretary or PA know that he will have 2 hours to ring you back before you ring the ACCC and the VACC and start lodging formal complaints. You need to be prepared with your documentation and all records and you need to be ready to make those calls. You will get a return call from somebody at Skoda Australia who will sort things out.

[woofy]

I believe in 2008 when I first bought my RS that Michael actually rang me after I sent them a letter saying how poor their response rate was to anything. I didn't know who he was but in hindsight it was him. He gave me his direct number as well. I've since lost it sadly though or I would PM it.

It was very early days back then though. I don't understand why VW Australia are so poor at customer service. Evn the dealers find that the case, how hard can it be.

[brad]

Kiwi:
point 1: Kind -of over the whole thing now. Any other dealer is a major pain for me to get to these days. I'm sure they work on the basis that people give up as the investment in time gets too much for the return.

I have a mate going through a similar thing with Subaru. They rebuilt his engine at 19,000km (spun a big-end I think), then took 2 years/6 tries to stop all the oil leaks they created. 80,000km later & it's spun another bigend & Subaru have told him to "go fish". It's cost him near $5k to fix so far so his motivation is somewhat stronger than mine.

point 2: Good advice. Will probably write to him anyway. If Skoda is anything like the mob I work for, the CEO thinks that one thing is happening (according to reports, operating procedures, etc) and on the ground it's very different.

As I've said before, it's a great car. I intend to keep it a few more years, teach my daughter how to drive with it & maybe gift it to her if I think she can drive it sensibly (& I can get an RTA exemption for it). From the total "experience" aspect - that's been sub-standard from the first service onwards.

[Highlander]

Brad.

Seems to me that you purchased the Skoda from Paul Wakeling Campbelltown. They were they dealer who "Skoda Registered" the car, probably to meet a month or EOFY target.

You have gone to Nepean VW/Skoda with the warranty claim. Their hands are somewhat tied with the "very official" response from Skoda Australia.

My first port of call would be Paul Wakeling Motors and, if necessary, Paul Wakeling himself. I am sure he would either sort it out with Skoda Australia or, for the small amount involved, cover it out of the Wakeling Budget. It's not even the cost of a decent lunch but it is a matter of principle and I wouldn't give up either. And it's certainly not worth the bad publicity for Wakelings.

I do understand that Wakeling's "handed back" the Skoda agency some time in the past 12 months and the dreaded 404 comes up with the Skoda link on their website but nonetheless I would still recommend a personal email to Paul Wakeling as your issue has the potential to highlight a questionable "consumer affairs" practice..

Paul Wakeling's personal email, pwakeling@paulwakeling.com.au, is at this link.

Paul Wakeling.

[K1W1]

Paul Wakeling is irrelevant.
The warranty is issued by Skoda Australia and is for three years from the date the owner takes delivery of the vehicle full stop end of story. In this case it appears that a dealer has simply ripped off a customer and extracted money rather than even attempting to contact Skoda to ascertain what the warranty situation is.

[woofy]

Just to check Brad, do you hav the Skoda assist card? Mine has it expiring the day before I picked up the car. What dte does yours have?

[BlackSuperb]

My Skoda assist card expires a week before my 3 years of ownership is up. The car was registered a week before I took delivery, and I would imagine (I'll check up on it) the warranty will expire at the same time the car rego and the Skoda assist expires.

[Highlander]

Paul Wakeling is irrelevant.
The warranty is issued by Skoda Australia and is for three years from the date the owner takes delivery of the vehicle full stop end of story. In this case it appears that a dealer has simply ripped off a customer and extracted money rather than even attempting to contact Skoda to ascertain what the warranty situation is.

I don't agree. It appears from the OP's post that Wakelings were the Skoda dealer at the time who "Skoda Registered" the warranty prior to its actual registration and actual delivery to the OP and that "officially" the fault lies with them rather than with Skoda. Skoda was told by Wakelings that the car was sold and most of us would assume delivered and registered on 30 June 2008 so their official position is understandable. Their "goodwill" position is not. Position of other dealers is also understandable as without a "goodwill" component from Skoda, no other dealer would be covered for the work.

I'm not sure what is stated in the Skoda warranty but my VW handbook in the service schedule says

"Cover under the Volkswagen New Vehicle Warranty begins on the date your vehicle is first registered or on the date that it's original owner first used it (whichever is the earlier)"

If the warranty terms (time) for Skoda is the same as foe VW, then OP should have been covered by Skoda till 4 July 2011 and I agree with Kiwi that it is an open and shut case.

It appears that the fault officially lies with Wakelings who, for whatever reason" registered the warranty with Skoda prior to the date on which it we would have expected it to have been done.

The fact that Wakelings/Skoda have parted company doesn't help the OP

Having said that, If I was representing either Skoda or Wakelings I would be fixing what is really a small beer item to avoid what has the potential to become a consumer affairs, or even worse, a "newsworthy" issue with the resultant bad publicity for both.

Shows like A Current Affair love this sort of stuff. Imagine the lead in story. "This case only involved around less than $300 in repairs but the dollar value is not relevant here. What if it had been a $15,000 engine/gearbox repair? Would the same questionable motor industry practices apply and leave the innocent motorist with the bill?

[Highlander]

From posts by woofy and BlackSuperb, it appears that Skoda warranty is from the day of first registration also, so OP should have Skoda warranty, regardless of dealer situation cover till 7 July 2011 as it was first registered on 8 July 2008 and first used by owner on 12 July 2008.

OP's position should be a Skoda funded repair and the ****fight is then between Skoda and Wakelings (if they could be bothered).