Scum in coolant reservoir

[AdamD]

NOW: While I fully understand Skoda is a relatively new brand in Australia, with not many dealerships, I find it astounding that in a warranty case such as this (less than 1500km on the vehicle), they would not approve a warranty repair by allowing the service guy to order the required IDENTICAL parts from the VW warehouse, and the parts HAD to be ordered as genuine Skoda part numbers, from Skoda factory overseas.

I suppose that's the core issue - because the part numbers are different (even if the parts themselves are identical), processes - and very likely the electronic systems that support them - simply won't allow alternative parts to be substituted as part of a warranty claim. As far as the systems are concerned, the parts may be completely unrelated - the Skoda system may not even be the same one as used for VW.

I sympathise with your predicament, but in the legal minefield of warranty repair land I can see how this is unavoidable - unless the dealer themselves were able to order the VW part(s) independently to fit to your car, and then keep the Skoda parts in stock when they finally arrive (which would be a waste of their money and space no doubt).

[woofy]

Skoda are very particular back at Skoda HQ, when they first setup the dealer I use here 8yrs ago, they had to authorisation for how the workshop was setup and the paperwork was more thorough for Skoda compared to the Audis they also sold and serviced there. Which is a good thing really. So I can imagine this is what is going on here as well. Which makes it frustrating, but it means they have complete accountability of every part used.

[Umai Naa!!]

VW, Audi, and Skoda use the same backhouse software for parts and warranty, as it's all linked back to HQ in Europe.

As VW and Skoda are under same umbrella here in Australia, their processes for claims are the same.

What we must take into consideration, is that not everything happens instantly, or that the car is actually being worked on the whole time it's in the shop. The workshop may be only able to afford a few hours at a time per day to work on it, due to other ongoing work. It also takes time to go back and forth with technical support, supplying evidence of the fault and symptoms. If it then requires approval from the warranty department at the Sydney HQ, that again can take time to finalise, especially if they need a total costing of parts and estimated labour, before approving. Even the parts ordering aspect is time consuming, each individual item needs to be selected in the catalog (even finding one part, can take a while!), and then transferred over to whatever dealer software interface is used, and then transferred again, one part at a time onto the ordering system. Then logisitics comes into play; are the parts available, and where from?

This whole job, from the technician's perspective, might only take maybe 8 hours tops (for example!), to diagnose, clean, repair, and write up, but it's everything else that makes it drag on into days and weeks. Every aspect of it will be prioritised according to everything else going on at the time. It sucks that you've not been able to enjoy your car as you should, but this is one of those jobs that will take a bit of time to sort out, and most importantly, the dealer needs to ensure that it's done right first time around.

[Spinifex]

All understood and I agree that processes need to be followed.

BUT - it also comes down to a case of customer service. I have no issue with spending a few days diagnosing the problem and getting approval.... but having to wait 2 weeks for a rubber hose to arrive from overseas is a massive cause of frustration.

In my line of work (not a car dealership or mechanic workshop, admittedly) if we make a mistake, or have to fix a problem, we'll think outside the box and provide a workaround for the customer to either help them finish their job, or keep them happy.
We remain fully accountable, as we document all the evidence and processes we've performed in order to provide the workaround solution.
It's really not that hard to do - despite those pesky Germans being very anal about doing things according to a list and not deviating in the slightest.

[Umai Naa!!]

If there's no hose in the country, they really don't have a whole lot of choice. Yourself and the dealership are now at the mercy of their logistics system.

[Spinifex]

OK - I finally cracked it today.



Have emailed both the mechanic and Skoda Australia insisting my car is repaired and returned to me by Monday next week, which will be the 3-week point of it being under repair.

Otherwise, I'm going to escalate it further and insist on them just replacing the car with a brand new one.

I think waiting 3 weeks for a repair, after owning for only 2, is being patient enough with all the excuses about "logistics" and "freight delays" on receiving a frigging radiator hose from Skoda overseas.



These parts should have been urgently air-mailed from wherever they come from - I shouldn't STILL be waiting for a container of Skoda parts to arrive in Australia, be cleared through customs, delivered to warehouse, received into their stock inventory & packed away in warehouse, my parts order picked & packaged, then air-bagged from Sydney to Brisbane overnight, then another day or 2 to fit, flush, test and document the required paperwork before releasing the car back to me.



Can't believe this debacle now and I'm seriously p*ssed at the continual delays.

Give me a new frigging car, and do what you like with the faulty one once the parts are available to repair it.

(I can hear you all saying "yeh good luck with that mate... not gonna happen")

[Tuan]

It'll get there man and I feel your pain. It's just the typical snail paced logistics process of a large company.

Just call every second day until it arrives.

And you're right they won't give you a new car, but instead factor in the repayment/repayments you have made, calculate the interest, insurance cost etc. and ask them for a free service or two. What's that add up to nowadays with capped servicing ? $300/$600 or $330/$660? That could help ease some pain.

[Spinifex]

Yep, thanks mate.

To be fair, Skoda DID call me yesterday after my original email and offered to discuss some form of compensation once the car was returned to me, so they had a timeline to calculate something..... but yes, I'll definitely be asking for some free services or some other compensation for the timeframe I've been without my car, plus the Insurance fees I've paid for to cover the hire-car.

[Umai Naa!!]

They can expedite parts quicker if a VOR (vehicle off road) request is lodged.

Whether they have, and that's as quick as it gets, or they haven't, I don't really know.

I did try and figure out if the Octavia has different hoses to the Golf, but without VINs, it was getting too complicated.

[VW Convert]

Give me a new frigging car, and do what you like with the faulty one once the parts are available to repair it.

(I can hear you all saying "yeh good luck with that mate... not gonna happen")

I feel your pain but if Skoda can't supply a hose, what chance they'll have a new car of identical specs to yours available off the shelf?

Rhetorical question of course!

Cheers

George