rallyejake

I have just bought a yeti and am having this same problem, I feel the head restraints are pushing my head to far forward forward (I also have a spinal fusion in my neck which makes things worse) The head restraints are causing me major problems with neck pain and headache and make driving unbearable. I had the same but much lesser problem in my previous car a volvo v70. I have ended up turning the restraint in the yeti back to front which takes away the problem but also removes the safety issue of reducing whiplash - something I really can't afford to lose as my neck has enough problems already. I may pay an upholsterer to reshape the restraint and reduce its depth by 4 to 5 cm. This will hopefully correct the head restraint posture for me. Funny enough my wife has a fabia and they do not cause this problem in her car - i will try them in the yeti and see if the fit is any better or hopefully correct.

The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don't understand it.

For information Financial ombudsman is free service, just make sure you have a good case ie honest and with facts that reflect both sides of the issues.

Hi I Know that VW are the controlling arm of the Skoda warranty albeit the company trade as : Lawshield UK Ltd and are the ‘Appointed Administrators and Claim Handlers’ for Volkswagen Services. I never got them as far as a court, I simply wrote them a letter pointing out the terms of the warranty booklet - ie my contract with them, this was backed up with the financial services ombudsman who took on the case and started discussions with them. Under UK law there is quite a lot of protection given to consumers. It's no good ranting and raving you need to extract and lay out basic facts (not opinions) and back these up with bits of law from the consumer and financial services system. It takes time and effort but if you get this bit right they often have no where to go - these are at the end of the day lawyers and accountants - they understand nothing but legal wording and figures. Play them at there own game. I am not a well schooled person just an ordinary bloke. I spent some time doing my research and then very carefully laid out the way i communicated with them. It paid off for me - it was not easy but like I say a bit of effort has saved me a fortune. I wish anyone the best of look in dealing with them and i hope never to have to in the future. I would never make trifling small claims in any case. That said I may or may not take a warranty in the future as the car I have just bought comes with one for a year.

When it concerns a cheaper repair I agree with you Hetty, However when it concerns £5500, I had nothing to lose in the fight - and in my case I think if someone does not make the time then they are very rich or very stupid not to fight a case. I have learnt in life quick and easy is not usually a reality in any case. But I am getting on in age - and I am patient, tenacious and have a wilful mindset more so when someone tries to pull a fast one on me. Even more against beancounters who no nothing about mechanics or engineering (part of my trade background). If no one stands up and fights then they always win - so always stand your ground against these firms - they are legally bound by contract if you have paid your money.

I would also clarify one position - in this case where my skoda fabia gearbox failed the warranty company were difficult to deal with once there were some problems with the repair, but in the first instance they were reasonable ok ie if the gearbox had only needed the mechatronics as is usual with these failures it would all have been done inside a week. The garage were fine from the outset, no delays they took the car in and started work the next day. The warranty on a 7 yr old car cost £250 The final repair bill was £5500 the car was valued at £4300 so my option would have been a written off car, as it is my car is like new and cost me very little and certainly saved replacing the car. Even with all the hassle dealing with the warranty company it was very much worth it to me in this instance.

My car had all the upgrades and recall work carried out including 34f7 - after I bought the car from a london dealer all the recall work done By Silbury skoda, Cramlington. I kept the car maintained by them throughout. Warranty by skoda are nothing more than insurance company they admitted to me they have no mechanical expertise they are simply accountant based insurance and employ assessor to carry out inspections. On a side note once dismantled my car blocked a ramp at Silbury for about 7 weeks so this was hard for them at a time of new registration sales coming through but they never made an issue of it to me. I called in several times during the process and the car was on the ramp. They also supplied me with a courtesy car - which under the terms of the warranty was not included. Simply excellent garage and staff.

I bought an extended Skoda warranty to cover my wife 2011 fabia dog 1.2 tsi. I bought the warranty when the car was 6yrs old Following a problem the car had at 5 yrs old when it was out of warranty. (with the cam chain tensioner and cam chain failing, the repair cost £800 however as the car had a full Skoda service history and had covered 42000 miles Skoda kindly contributed £700 towards the bill). About 5 month after taking out the warranty with 52 000 miles on the car the DSG box exploded, a loud bang and it locked up solid. The fun begins. Skoda garage and technicians said new gearbox was needed as it was a mechanical failure of the gearbox, Warranty company only authorised a new mechatronics to keep cost down. Garage argued the case that this was not the solution but this was all the warranty would authorise. new mechatronics ordered and whilst trying to remove the old one a bolt snapped. Garage said this was consequential damage as the gearbox / car was old and the bolt had seized. Warranty company refused a claim to have this bolt removed as they stated it was due to corrosion (and as such excluded under the warranty terms) I was offered an alternative repair at my cost it required the whole gearbox to be removed and the gearbox taken out of network to have the bolt drilled out. I was told I would have to pay £650 but the gearbox nor any work would no longer be warrantied as it had gone out of network. I quoted the fact that the warranty booklet states WE HAVE GOT YOU COVERED, and that all work under the warranty would be CARRIED OUT IN HOUSE BY SKODA TRAINED TECHNICIANS USING SKODA PARTS. So such a repair is a contravention of the warranty terms. Warranty company refused. (Garage was on my side and trying best to stand my case) I contacted executive team at Skoda Uk who took on the case and told me not to worry they would sort this matter. In the end the warranty company still continued to refuse, I contacted the financial ombudsman who put pressure on them so this seemed to get things moving along again a bit. So the gearbox was removed on authority of SKODA UK and the Warranty company for removal of the snapped bolt however this allowed also a full inspection of the gearbox and this revealed the 2nd and reverse gear main bearings had collapsed so the mechanics at Cramlington Silbury Skoda had been correct from the outset it needed a new gearbox. , the gears could not be selected and this was backed up by Skoda technical UK and CZ tech dept. Skoda UK and the garage informed the warranty company irrelevant of the snapped bolt the gearbox was Kaput they gave them video and photo evidence as well as reports from tech dept. Warranty did not accept this and sent a man out from there dept to look at the gearbox, he looked and agreed it was buggered, so they sent another more senior man out ( 6 weeks have passed by now) he disagreed and said the gearbox was ok to drill out the bolt fit mechatronics and refit the gearbox. It would be fine. My Skoda garage workshop manager was unable to understand nor explain how this man came to this conclusion. The garage Silbury Skoda refused to do this knowing it would not work (it had failed bearings, swarf in oil etc it was Kaput. ) Skoda UK who had repeatedly told me not to worry it would all be sorted came to grinding halt with the warranty company. I was told sorry your car is a write off or you need to pay £4000 for the gearbox and remaining work as they already had a new mechatronics from the warranty claim. I again put together a letter carefully outlining the terms of the warranty from there own warranty wording informing them also that I would no matter what take them to court at whatever cost for breach of contract and failing to carry out repairs in line with the warranty terms and sent this to the warranty company and also informed the financial ombudsman of the ongoing matters. After 48 hrs the warranty company backed down and paid to have the work completed in two separate jobs (claims) 1 the mechatronics and 2 the gearbox. The total time taken was almost 9 weeks to reach this stage. I would like to thank firstly Silbury Skoda at Cramlington Northumberland who stood by me at every stage and never backed down to the warranty company and kept me informed of all the details of their findings throughout the process. They have been better than anyone could ask a dealer to be even though I did not buy the car from them in the first place.. It was nice to have the backing of Skoda Uk who tried but however failed to fight against the Skoda warranty group on this matter. I do feel they were on my side all the way but words were not followed up by strong action and they if anyone should have been able to achieve the result that I managed with the ombudsman and some legal wording in my letters, but feel they were weak when it came to the crunch of forcing the hand of the warranty company but it was still nice that they tried, but I should not have had all this hassle in the first instance. I am so pleased with Skoda at Cramlington I have just bought a nearly new Skoda Yet 1.2 tsi dsg SE - L from them as my main car . My wife is still running the Fabia which incidentally is smoother and better than it had ever been from new. I hope to have more luck with the new Yeti. I may even risk taking another extended warranty as i feel I have recourse to this example of the course taken to achieve a repair that should stand well if a court case was required in the future. Cheers Brian.

Cheers.

Cheers Jed I will go into it in the next few days when i have some time, my local dealer so far is being very good, Skoda warranty absolutely shocking to say the least ombudsman and others involved at the moment so i have to be careful as there may be legal redress as well. Watch this space Cheers Jake.

New to the forum a few problems to discuss - speak soon on the Fabia and warranty pages. Cheers jake