mbames

I was meant to be collecting my car tomorrow morning, but the Dealer phoned at 1830 (full marks for working late) to say that due to a Skoda IT issue they can't release my car as the Skoda Computer system isn't working so they can't connect my car up to report back to Money-Central about what work has been done. One fail after another. The conversation started with "We've got some bad news....", I thought they were going to say they'd crashed it , so an IT glitch is only minor. Hopefully it might give me a bit more bargaining power. If not, it will make the overall write up even more of an embarrassment for Skoda "car held hostage due to Skoda IT system failure" SUK say any contributions are made by the dealer (since the start of 2015), but it seems the dealer has to get it approved by SUK who then say no. I can see there little movement here, the dealer has knocked their expensive price in half, but I think there is still someway to go. When I spoke to Carrs of Bridgwater I asked them "who footed the contribution - dealer or SUK", the guy wasn't sure, but I can't imagine it would be the dealer (otherwise it would affect their bottom line every time Skoda knackered up the design of something. This experience certainly has been a learning curve, hopefully the dealer will come out of smelling of valentines day roses, while SUK can end up in the manure bed....

Mileage was at 62k when I first noticed it and booked it in (mentioned when booking in). http://www.heritageskoda.co.uk/special-offers/service/fixed-price-servicing/ The T&Cs makes interesting reading: Basically the fixed prices only come into play once the warranty has expired, so prior to that you are at the mercy of the dealer and what ever cost they pick out of the air... Just out of interest I have phoned SUK again, and spoken to someone else (Gemma?) and she seems to be some what more attentive, but has re-iterated that any discount is from the dealer and that Skoda UK will wash their hands of the warranty aspect as I am over the 60k, regardless of the fault being caused by a poor design, Quality Control or anything else. She is, however, going to phone the dealer and see if there is an room for movement.

I bought it from a car sales place (primarily VAG, but not 100%) just over the bridge in Wales (so a bit of a pain to return to). Are you saying that Skoda warranty's are only valid with the initial owner of the vehicle, and not transferable to subsequent owners? If so, I never knew that. Sad thing is with all of this is when I booked it in with the main dealer that told me it would be covered 100% by warranty (they knew the age and miles), otherwise I'd have taken it back to the supplying sales place. Obviously that was only a verbal conservation, nothing is written down, so I can't prove that :-(

The dealer says the "fixed price service" costs are the cheapest they can do, but these prices don't apply when they do warranty work. They say the best price they can do it for is £445 (belt & pump), so a slight saving over the servicing price, but makes a mockery of the warranty aspect. Service Manager is out today, but back in tomorrow, so I'll see him at 8.00am. It is at a dealer in south Somerset currently.

Phoned dealer, they are going to check and get back to me, but they confirmed the price they quoted for the water pump (with 50% discount) was £247 and the cambelt kit on top is another £197, so at least I know I didn't get the wrong end of the stick yesterday. The waterpump only is £494.50 (which they will then half with the warranty and then add on £197 for the cambelt) which is more expensive than walking in off the street for a cambelt and waterpump (£485). Guess they hope that no ones checks the numbers when they come up with the prices!

Sadly the car is now in with the dealer. I was going to check out the pricing in the morning and then resume battle with the dealer. The figures I scribbled down were: cost of water pump & labour [which I was expecting to fully covered by warranty]: £494 dealers/SUK "warranty" discount for water pump & labour (50%): £247. cambelt kit: £197, which they said would be fitted for free due to the water pump (warranty) work. Simpons Skoda: Cambelt, pump & labour: £485 So that implies the dealer price for changing just the water pump is more than of having a whole cambelt change which certainly sounds suspect, and given that Skoda claim to have no report of the warranty call (who knows if the customers team have access to warranty logs). Either way both Skoda and the dealer aren't seemingly doing much to help themselves and just appear to be out to extract as much money as money and while destroying their reputation! They did tell me the investigation would be covered under warranty even though they knew it was just over the 60k limit, but under the 3 year window. I could ask them to put the car back together with my dodgy waterpump and return it to me with zero cost, and then have someone else do a cambelt, water pump and service for a lesser amount of money Skoda = Simply Thieves.

Curious, phoned Skoda UK, they have said they can't issue any gestures of goodwill (as of 1st Jan this year), and that it all needs to come from the dealer. When questioned they said they have no record of a warranty call for my car for today, but when pressed further Charlotte admitted she had no access to the Warranty call logs - which is an internal team for which I am not allowed to speak to. It seems that Skoda UK think their cars are likely to fall apart after 60k miles and have virtually no interest in happy customers. Feels like I am just going to get given the run-around on this, but I'll dedicate tomorrow morning to chasing both the dealer and the Skoda UK.

Dealer has just phoned, apparently after they assured me they had all the necessary parts in (given it was booked in 2 weeks ago), they don't so I'm stuck with a citygo for a few more days. Will chase up Skoda UK and see what they have to say.

Car is a 2014 plate, and I believe it has a full dealer service history I've only owned it for about 6 months, but it was a Lease car, so I'd doubt it didn't have a full dealer history. I'll bring up the washer fluid issue with the courtesy car when I go back later tonight. Dealer say they have spoken to Skoda UK about it and best that Skoda will offer if 50% on the pump & labour. Dealer says while it is an issue, it isn't considered by Skoda to be a recall and thus I'm stuck at the mercy of Skoda UK - and how much they want to ruin their reputation. First time I have had a car with a warranty and Skoda screw me over. Seems a bit rubbish that the water pump has a service interval which is half that of the cambelt due to their tinkering.... ;-0

Ouch. Well they have taken the pump out and concluded it is sticking, but as I am over the warranty miles about about 4k (was 2k when I booked it in), Skoda are only prepared to pay 50%, so now I am getting stung with a £247 bill for replacing the pump :-( Add in the cost of the cambelt kit at £197 that is making today quite expensive, plus the loan car they gave me is a CityGo with only half an engine and no washer fluid in it - as I found out to my horror when tootling along the A303 earlier.

Plus £7 for postage

That was my initial feeling, but it depends on what price they quote. If they want to charge me the full labour and parts cost, then I'll wait a bit rather than changing it only a 1/2 (distance) / 3/5 (age) otherwise I'll basically be paying for warranty labour on the pump replacement.

Mine used to take for ever to heat up, then one morning it must have decided to move, and jammed in the "thermo-nuclear meltdown position". Since then it has warmed up much quicker! Spoke to dealer about doing a cambelt change at the same time, but they said "we might not remove the cambelt, we just slacken it off.... when doing the inspection". Apparently they will phone me on the day of the work and if they change the pump they will then decide how much I need to pay for the cambelt kit and labour. It almost feels like I might end up paying for the labour time for replacing the water pump! If that is the case, I'll let them just change the pump and then shell out for the cambelt when it is due (5yrs/140,000 miles they say).

"Simply Clever" - lets take an important part of the cooling system and bugger about with it Although it is nice when the does warm up quicker, less keen when it keeps beeping at me though!!

They asked the mileage when I booked it in & said the investigation would be done under warranty. Now I could say I had clocked up 4-5k between me calling them and them actually having a suitable workshop slot & loan car available.... ;-)

Dealer is going to look at it under warranty - provisionally booked on Monday 13th Feb. Now my question is: shall I ask for the cambelt to be done at the same time (guess I'll have to pay for the parts and probably some labour?) Car is a 14plate with about 64k on the clock - not sure what the interval is on the cambelt? I have a feeling it is 5years/120k miles.

Thanks, will see if a dealer will take a look and hopefully do it under warranty.

Looks like I am just about to join this club - 2014 vrs cr with just over 60k on the clock. Will phone around the dealers tomorrow and see if any of them will do it under warranty.

outside temperature: about 8 deg C Car parked overnight in the garage (last used yesterday at 1800). Drove car through town, in some slow queuing traffic for a few traffic lights, and some 20-30mph from my house over to the Isle of Portland (about 5 miles). Drove up Fortuneswell Hill, and just as I reached the top (Portland Heights Hotel) the dash pinged up "Overheat! Stop" (or similar), and the temperature gauge was about halfway between 90 and 130. The drive from my house to the bottom of the hill is about 5 miles, and to the top about about 1 more mile. The hill climb was completed in 3rd gear ranging from about 20-30mph (with no stopping) (driving mode: N) Once on the top of the hill, the road gently dropped (I'd planned on pulling in the garage a few hundred yards down the road), but then the temperature gauge dropped back to 90 and all was seemingly good. I had the bonnet open last night to top up the windscreen wash solution, and didn't notice anything else amiss (but wasn't specially looking either). Can I put this down to the stat was closed, and only opened late - maybe towards the top of the hill and the rad couldn't cool the water quicker enough? I normally have a 120 mile round trip to work (heading in the opposite direction), leaving earlier in the morning, so no queuing traffic and the hill climb out of Weymouth is completed at about 50-60mph instead so there a if a good flow of air.

Given it is a 230 and a new car to the OP, it might be hard to determine that from the current MPG figures ;-) Anyone know if VCDS can read both feeds?

My mk2 had a couple of failed elements too. Think they were more in the middle area rather than top or bottom of the glass. Mk1 was still going strong when I part ex'd it,

I carry a torque wrench - longer than the VAG supplied 'tool' and means I get the wheel bolts done back up to the correct torque. Another useful extra to carry is a 12v light (I've got a florescence tube), as that makes any wheel changing much easier in the dark. Never had to use it, but always handy! Also have a towrope, solid tow beam, jump leads, gloves, etc.

Well you seem more than keen to pay BT an over inflated priced for internet access for many years, so we will have to assume that money isn't the issue here. I recently switched my father to Origin Broadband (which appears to run through Plusnet) to save him a few quid. If you wanted a capped service, plusnet still do them.

And as much p*rn as he would like to download too :D :x :peek:

I very much doubt that the logging of data will be recorded via your homehub - if it were you could simply use any other (non-Homehub) router which reported back zero usage that would ruin BT stats. Most likely BT will be logging the IP address you are assigned when the HH connects and then log traffic against that. The equipment can't also prevent intrusion because you might have an insecure wifi password, and may have left a network cable dangling out of your window for a friend to use (obviously you will say you haven't, buy my point is that if you fiddle with the settling, etc you can make a semi-secure device totally insecure).