Post warranty blues...

[dazag]

Hey Brad, I'm up in Newcastle and we dont have a specific Skoda service centre, but I get all my Skoda work done through the Audi service centre and they have been a wealth of knowledge, have all the gear and push hard to Skoda for any kind of warranty or Goodwill support. I can't fault them. I know the VW service centre at Maitland is no good for Skoda work though. I think it must depend on the sevice centre....... the service centre at the Sydney Skoda dealership I bought my car through was crap, I'm glad they forfeited their Skoda franchise

I can only refer you to my own Skoda thread about warranty & the dealerships & Skoda/VWs lack of willingness to find a mutually agreeable solution.

It's a shame you had to find out the hard way that VW & Audi Service Centres have no ability or authority to carry out any warranty work on a Skoda. Infact, they also don't have access to any Skoda software updates & their ECU scanning equipment is marque specific. This is in total contradiction to Skoda's assurances on service & warranty when the brand first appeared in Australia.

Pssed-off with them? Too right I am.

[K1W1]

I'm sure that Mr. Samuel can think whatever he wants, but why is it on the paper that the warranty is 3 years, why?

In this case what Mr Samuels thinks is actually all that matters. What is written on the piece of paper is a result of the manufacturers marketing company and lawyers decided what the minimum they can get away with is.

Under consumer law manufacturers must provide a warranty against manufacturing defects.
There is no provision in the law about how long that warranty should be.
The warranty length is largely determined by the manufacturer in relation to what they feel they need to do in the market hence in this case some cars have two years warranty, some three, some five and some have up to 10 years on specific components as well as time some manufacturers impose mileage restrictions (3 years/100,000km) and some don't (3 years/unlimited).
In Australia the ACCC is the final judge of what is acceptable and what is not. If the ACCC (headed by Mr Samuels) decide that a problem which otherwise falls outside the terms of the written warranty should in fact be covered by warranty then they have the power to force a manufacturer to heel.

[woofy]

Totally agree with the ACCC call, in Australia we have a statutory warranty that quite often comes into play. So far though Nissan with their early 90s bad fuel pumps, then the 3L diesel in the Patrols and now the X trail all have got away with selling cars they knew full well had a fault they didn't bother to ever correct. Mazda snuck some sneaky engine killing faults with the 323 SP20 (loose butterfly valve screws sucking into the intake and killing the engine) and some of their own faults with the diesel Bravo/BT 50 engines that they ignore as well.

Its all to do with perception of quality and seeing as Skoda chose to position themselves as a more premium car (with the prices to match) here compared to more established countries, they will be an easy target to be held accountable. What defies logic, is that they tout the 5 cars they sell each month and matthew talks like they are working hard, but they can't even do simple things right.

Part of Skodas appeal in the UK is that customer service, and dealer service, we see very little here and most of it stems from VWA. I can't think that Matthew can be that naive about their crap performance, so he is either in the dark or pretending he doesn't know. Either way his ass should be gone from the position.

[brad]

I can't think that Matthew can be that naive about their crap performance, so he is either in the dark or pretending he doesn't know. Either way his ass should be gone from the position.

I assume he is a typical Australian style CEO. Reads reports from all his managers that state everything is rosy (or "tells a good news story" as my boss suggests the house style should be) and he never gets out in the weeds to see what is actually happening among the operations/production people. If the managers (at most large enterprises) spent as much time getting things right (& kicking some arses) as they did manipulating KPIs & making everthing sound shipshape, then a lot of companies would be far better off.

[Transporter]

they have the power to force a manufacturer to heel.

You're kidding me, right?
Where is the lemon law then?

It was the competition that extended warranty from 1 to 2 and to 3 years, not ACCC.
In the case of Hyundai it was after the big recall for loose spot-welds on the front cross member that they came with 5 years 130,000km warranty, hmm and the Mitsubishi we know why they extended their warranty, but it didn't save them anyway.

[woofy]

I still think if Skoda were serious and wanted to differentiate themselves more from VWs almost similar offerings...and pick up customers who normally would buy Japanese cars in the same field, they should offer 5 yrs warranty by default, that way people who hear the stories about euro cars killing them financially after the warranty ends, can at least bank on 5 yrs.

Mazda will chuck in an extension to 4yrs without any qualms, if they are not already running a promotion with it included, as do Honda (Honda go up to 5yrs). It really sticks out like you know whats when in all the promos not once have Skoda (or probably even VW really) offered the extra warranty.

It says a lot too, if they are that reliable, then we stand by our product.

[Transporter]

...and both Mazda and Honda is 10,000km between services. You can't have it both ways, servicing every 15,000km or even longer, car for next to nothing and 10 years warranty.

Now, seriously, I think that they figured out when they extend the warranty, people will keep the cars for that period and instead selling you a new car every 3 years they will have to waitn 5 years or longer.

[woofy]

I'm happy with 6mth 10k servicing, it works out cheaper with our 6 and things get picked up quicker (like wheel rotations). 5 yrs warranty would be enough, they still make plenty on them.

They way it looks now though, customers won't buy in the first place and current owners won't be repeat buyers due to lack of confidence in them lasting out of warranty. So they won't have to worry about repeat business, cause the dealers either dump Skoda before then or manage to annoy all their customers so they go elsewhere. It defies logic how things work out. Seriously how hard can it be to at least provide some support to dealers if not potential customers.

[brad]

5 years/150,000km warranty & fixed price 10,000km/9 month services.

[Transporter]

I think that Honda was the last company that increased from 2 years to 3 years their warranty. They had 24 month/75,000km for long time after all others had 3 years. The logic behind is that the good car doesn't need long warranty, just to sell (convince people to buy them).

IMO, people that want bargain all the time (or best for free what I call them) are as responsible for ever dropping quality (of all products, not just cars) as greedy management and CEO's of the companies that want more, more. It makes me sick sometimes.