smiffy64

Like I said in the first post, they said they needed to phone their manager for advice as he was on holiday. What advice did he/she give them, I wonder. The other thing I do not like the feeling of, is that they are phoning the customer in a panic, before they did what they said they had done to find out it wasn't my car. I.e go to the workshop bin and look at the part number on the bottle. It could only have taken a minute if there is any truth in this excuse. So they are all either incompetent idiots, or liars. This is the choice I have to make. Yes some people make mistakes, and my hunch and some of the comments on my car cam still have my 'alarm bells ringing', but I am going to find out the truth whatever the cost, and if it turns out they have knowingly sent me away with a 'ticking time bomb' in my car, they are in serious doodoo. I have already had a reply from the dealer principle and he apologises for the way the matter was handled and states that the correct oil was put into my car. On who's say so? The mechanics? OK, so I have his letter, so that counts for something if anything does go wrong. The problem is it could go wrong in 500, 5000 or 50,000 miles. He also says that the next time I come to their place to get any work done that he will deal with me in person. Oh that's reassuring. :no: If his guys can commit a fundamental 'school boy error' on ANY car such as this, I would not even get them to change a light bulb, so I do not bloody think so! All that said though, I like some of your advice. Like informing SKODA of the potential mistake and ask them to take a note against my car. Also the link to the oil testing site is very handy. So have decided to get it redone and send samples to the test site. I will let you know of either outcome.

It was not engine oil but manual transmission oil.

I like that idea very much. I think I will do it.

Well it's good to know that if it was the wrong oil then I would probably notice immediately. Thank you for that advice. Asked VW service centre about it, and they say that if a water based oil has been used (I am surprised that there is such a thing) then it would wreck the gearbox. They also said that they could not really sample it, but instead do a full flush out and replace as it is the only way to be sure. Oh well...another £160 is better than three grand. I do realise that maybe I am being too cautious and maybe even a bit paranoid, but I still cannot shake off the nagging doubt. Especially since my car cam was on during the service and captures statements made by the mechanics like 'Making that mistake could happen to anybody', 'OK we'll take it for a spin to see what happens' and finally after returning from a test drive, one guy comes over to the driver as he puts the window down and asks 'Is it all right?' and the driver says 'Aye, its going to be alright man...it's going to be all right'...hmmm!

At last...Someone on the same wavelength as me. :clap: It's not as if my car is a £700 Vectra or something. Of course I need reassurance. What do you think of their story that they got my car mixed up with one of there own that happened to be getting the same procedure done at the same time? Can some one correct me if I am wrong, but I cannot imagine that a 40K DSG service is as much an everyday procedure that they are doing two at once. Why are they so sure that it was the other car they have put the wrong oil into? I also wished I knew if driving my car is dangerous as much as for my own safety as well as the cars. Could the gearbox seize? Thanks for your understanding so far.

I am now taking time off work to get it checked. But I do need to know something. Do you think that putting in the wrong oil could be 'The kiss of death' for the gearbox even after 30 miles. I got the impression that they seemed to think so. My invoice states the correct part number of G052182A2. I know it is not something someone would test just to see what happens.

I made the trip again to the dealer/service centre again today to get a more detailed explanation. Speaking to their senior mechanic, he explains to me again that I have nothing to worry about and that somehow they got my car mixed up with another car that also happened to be in on the same day getting the 40k DSG service done. This other car also happened to be their own car...apparently. I explained that I will not be satisfied until I get a written and signed confirmation that I have nothing to worry about from them. He then said that I will have to wait until Tuesday before the manager can do this and that he can see no problem that I get this. Analysing and conveying to you guys how this has transpired, it looks like I have nothing to worry about, but seeing the body language, tone and general demeanour from both him and the customer service personnel in person, I am not convinced. I am thinking of getting the car checked independently from them to check that I have the correct oil and I am genuinely worried to drive my car as I have already said, I do a lot of motorway miles. Yes I may be reading into this too much, but after 33 years of owning cars and being shafted left, right and center, it feels to me that nothing much has changed, regardless of how reputable the dealer are perceived. For me, this is the last straw as far as I am concerned. It's a case of 'nice cars, shame about the dealer network'. I am now seriously considering getting rid of the car and turning my back on Skoda. It's not as if may car is a lemon or anything, because if the dealers I have had to deal with just fixed the bloody thing in a competent and respectful manner, then everything would be great. It's very frustrating, because I still believe that the Superb is still a league above a Mondeo or an Insignia, but I just get a weird vibe from the three dealers that I have dealt with, that they themselves do NOT believe in the product. And this is ridiculous considering I own what is meant to represent the best car that SKODA present. Sorry for coming across as being so pi$$ed off.

That is exactly the reason my son is taking me in his car back tomorrow to get it in writing that they are certain that everything is OK as far as they are concerned. I realize that this may be that they are only showing that they have the customers interests at heart, but I cannot afford to take any chances. Especially since they seemed to be 'all over the shop' in how they were going to solve the situation.

Sorry about the over dramatic topic title. I am only trying to convey the tone or context of what has happened in the last hour. I took my Superb L&K to get it's 40K DSG gearbox service today at a SKODA service center that I am not going to mention just yet. I waited the 6 hours it took, paid the money and drove the 30 miles home to relax. Suddenly the phone rings about 17:00 (I presume finishing time), and one of the girls at the front desk is on the phone in a panic telling me that they think they have put normal gear box oil into my DSG. She tells me that they need to send a lorry to pick up my car and that under no circumstances am I to drive it. She tells me I will get a courtesy car, it will be picked up tonight and we will phone our manager to get advice as he is on holiday, etc, etc. She was very panicky sounding! Five phone calls later in the space of 15 minutes, that gives me the impression that all the staff are in 'we need to cover our arses' mode, she tells me that all is taken care of and that I have nothing to worry about :think: So I ask 'You say that I have not to drive the car under any circumstances and yet I have already driven it 30 miles. Is there a chance that the gearbox is already damaged and this is why you want to collect the car and put it on a lorry'. She replies 'Well we do not want any further damage...' Then she stops that sentence half way. NOT GOOD, I thought. So it's all arranged. I am getting a courtesy car and my car is being collected tomorrow. Five minutes later, another phone call for her to tell me. 'Panic over, we got your car mixed up with one of our own cars that was also getting the gearbox serviced. The mechanic got mixed up' So the cynic in me is wondering if they did manage to get a hold of their manager and he is went into 'Company Damage mitigation' mode and told them to deny all liability. So I am asking you guys for advice on this. What will happen if normal gearbox oil is put into a DSG? Since I do a lot of driving on motorways, is my life in danger? Do you think they are at it? The fact that their possible mistake has got as far as that the customer knows about it has me worried.

I have over heard a salesman at a Skoda dealer make the comment to one of his mates that my car probably came with a free packet of Werthers Originals. :| OK, even if it is it is brown, I am sure that Skoda UK would have a word with any salesman that had that attitude. Aren't good salesmen meant to believe in what they are selling? I am also only 50, and still got all my hair and everything. :p

OK, My tolerance level has peaked with the local SKODA dealer to the point I think that SKODA needs to know about their incompetence. Not so much in their abilities, but in their attitude it seems to the paying customer. So can anyone please give me some advice in how to go about raising my concerns to SKODA. BTW I am normally a tolerant person, so do not assume that I am a serial complainer or anything.

A few weeks ago, a 'White Van Man' seemed to adjust his van (small car type as opposed to Transit size) more to my side of the road when we met at a blind corner. He hit my mirror quite hard which folded in and also hit the window. Luckily my mirror survived, which was sheer luck. Especially since it is heated and also adjustable so I assume it would have been very costly if it did break. His mirror was all over the road, so I am assuming that Skoda's mirrors are very solid. Crucially though the guy did not stop, so I followed him. Only half a mile down the road he stops outside his works office. The first thing I said when I got out was 'You are supposed to stop when you hit someone else's car'. I go the usual smirking 'wide boy' routine. I explained to him that it looked like he deliberately drifted across to my side of the road, and was I was met with a tirade of abuse at that remark (expected I suppose), saying that he had his mate as a witness etc. etc. When I pointed to my Blackvue 500, I said 'Well I have got a better witness than you mate!'. His smirk was soon wiped I said to him that I was going to check my mirror for damage and check the footage to see if he did swerve to my side when he had plenty of room and if it looked like he did I was taking it to the police. His attitude certainly changed at that point. The point is, if my mirror did not survive and I did not have video footage, I would be struggling to prove my story for insurance/prosecution purposes. And when looking at the video...he certainly had more than enough room and it DID look like he made a subtle manoeuvre to my side more than he had to. MUPPET! Too many smart arses on the road nowadays!

Your a braver man than I if you left your car after doing it's perfect parking next to a van. Some careless or spiteful cretin could say ' Look at this guy with his perfect parking and leaving me no room to get out'. I just would not take the risk personally. This is the main reason I have never used it.

I like it actually so it's a 10. It is not as bad as you may think as the brown and black with chromed highlights make it look very classy IMO.

Yes I agree. If Skoda expect to keep the loyal fan base that is obviously represented very well in this forum, they need to 'keep their finger on the pulse', 'keep their eye on the ball' etc. etc. I know it helps that they are first in the car ownership surveys for this year (and some previous years), but if they do want to make cars within the 'not so budget brand' territory, then they need to keep justifying it with exceptional quality and after sales service. I realise that the owner surveys confirm that they do, and I will be looking at the next gen Superb with optimism and excitement the same as everyone else on here. But if my car pi$$es me off any more, I for one may reconsider.

I have always promised myself that I will do a review of my Superb L&K combi, 170 BHP DSG so here goes. Before we start, it's the magnetic brown paint with brown leather interior. I was not too convinced I was doing the right thing when purchasing the car since it looked like the most boring SKODA Superb advert on Ad Trader. I was not even too convinced I would even consider buying it before I went to see it on a whim. However, seeing the car 'in the metal' and doing a test drive changed my mind. Especially since I looked at Audi A6's and seen what I wasn't getting for my money. Anyways, it is just about to tick over 30k miles, and it's been to the dealer to get some issues looked at five times, which is five times more than my previous Passat which had almost 100k on it before I part exchanged. More on the issues below. Now I know there is not such a thing as the perfect car, but mine has had some issues which I am going to list in order of annoyance. 1 for slightly annoying and 5 for being serious and I think should be fixed under warranty. Some of these have been mentioned by me in other posts. 4: The steering wheel is slightly off centre and the car consequently pulls to the left as it seems to try to centre the wheel. I give this a 4 in my annoyance scale. I am not saying that I have to drive constantly keeping a tight grip of the wheel, it's just that I know it is there. 4: The Air Con makes a wheezy grinding noise sometimes. This has been looked at twice by two dealers and has supposedly had the condenser and the valve seals fixed, but it still does it. I get the impression that the system just leaks and I am being 'panned off' with any old bullsh*t just to keep me quiet at least until the warranty expires. 4: The magnetic brown paint seems to be very soft. I have more chips, even rashes, on the bonnet in the 14 months I have had this car than the five years I had my silver Passat. I have had to buy a 'CHIPEX' kit and I always seem to be having to use it. 3: All four wheel hubs are very rusty and as you can imagine on a brown car, this just does not look good at all. 3: The dashboard creaks and squeaks annoyingly and changes in intensity with the outside temperature...ARRGGHH! Depending on my mood this varies in annoyance from 2 - 4. But it seems to be getting worse. I have mentioned all of the above to the dealer as I feel they are quality issues. I have had four courtesy cars in the 14 months of ownership and they have fixed none of it. Twice I have wasted my time only to be told that they could not find the faults. (the creaking dash and the wheezy air-con) and had to bring the car back when the noises reappeared due to the temperature. But I feel this is not good enough. I have been patronised on occasion, as if I have been perceived to have had petty issues that are not worth complaining about. E.g. 'All Skoda's pull to the left...sir'.... Boll*cks! But c'mon, this is supposedly the best car that Skoda make and is reflected in the new price of 32K Yes it is a very nice car, but these issues are tainting my ownership experience to the point I will be seriously considering buying something else the next time. So my personal marks out of ten? Driving experience 7 Practicality 9 Driver satisfaction 8 Quality 5 Dealership experience 3 Some other stuff I have not bothered the dealer with is rattling speakers in what is meant to be a HI-FI upgrade....really! All that said though, I do not think I have had such an emotional connection to any car I have had, and I have had a few. All electrics and major mechanicals are other wise perfect. I also realise that my Superb is much more advanced and complicated than any other car I have had. So I may come around to 'loving' the car a bit more as I plan to keep it to at least 100K miles.

Since buying my Superb L&K when it had only 6000 miles on it, my car has very subtly pulled to the left. It's not as if I have to keep gripping the steering wheel or anything, but the wheel is also off centre and when the car is doing it's 'slight drifting to the left thing' the steering wheel is centred. When my offside front tyre was wearing on the outside edge, the Skoda dealer said at the time that is was most probably due to the tracking which was also causing the other problems. At least this is what they said when I first started to take my car to them. I felt most assured that they agreed with me and were on my side. However, when I started to indicate to the Skoda dealer that I was not happy with this situation , and maybe something should be done under warranty, I was told that 'All Skodas pull to the left'. I came to the conclusion that something was definitely wrong after I had went to get the tracking done at an independent garage, and the mechanic said they could not adjust a 'toeing problem' out probably due to a faulty part. I was also told that I had probably kerbed it by Skoda and I know I did not. I did not feel I was getting much respect from the Skoda guy, who happened to be their 'Warranty officer', so I pointed out that I did not visit their place just to be bullsh***ed. I also pointed out that none of the four courtesy cars that I had from them in the previous weeks due to other problems did not do this. Since my brother in law coincidentally was in at the same time as me doing the finishing paper work on his brand new Octavia that he had already driven for a week, I said to the guy 'look there is my brother in law over there, I will ask him'. His reply....'eh, no Mr Smith, you do not have to do that' in an abrupt and almost panicky tone. That was 6000 miles ago and I am going into their main branch tomorrow to get the air conditioning fixed...again, with only 1500 miles to go before the 30000 mile warranty. So the purpose for this post...DO ALL SKODAS PULL TO THE LEFT?

The Volvo V60 hybrid is not a city car either, although that one only has a 30 mile range. Still not bad. Nor is the big Mercedes E-class hybrid, but that one only has a 20BPH electric motor built into it's gearbox and only assists the engine rather than be an alternative to. Oh yes...there is also the shocking £8000 hike on a standard engine E-class which only does around 12MPG less. So the technology is definitely getting there but not quite at the 'having our cake and eating it' stage. The VW Golf Hybrid does look like a big step in the right direction. Especially for us Skoda owners. We can only live in hope.

Seems like another justification to get a Car-Cam to me. Especially since actual scams are getting more prolific. Even if it isn't a scam, too many people do like to try their luck at someone else's expense. They would think twice though if they knew the other party had a camera. I have even had guys doing a sudden cover up or head turn away when they notice my camera. I can only assume that they think my dark coloured superb could be an un-marked police car and that they shouldn't be driving. Seriously though, I do not think I can ever do without a car-cam now as I just feel reassured that I am protected against any possible scam.

All I know is, and I am sure there a lot of people who know a lot more, is that you can only really polish a car with a machine polisher a very limited amount of times. This is because it will take a small amount off the thickness of the lacquer each time. So think very carefully before investing in any amount of money on one as you will have to justify it's cost. This certainly put me off buying one. The other thing I know (only due to researching before deciding not to buy) is that rotary polishers are more risky for a novice to use. So a DA is the way to go for us noobs.

Maybe the Superb estate is too big and heavy to make it viable. But I cannot help but be optimistic as most other manufacturers are doing the research to lighten the chassis etc. I am prepared to wait two or three years or so but it would be reassuring if Skoda at least announced they were planning plugin hybrid technology. It has to be plugin as I believe that most big employers will install the charge points in the company car parks. I assume that they will be happy to do this as they would be able to claim on their tax bill due to being green and energy efficient and all that.

There is only one thing that will get me at least to buy another Superb, and that's plugin hybrid technology. It is not as if there is not enough free space in the boot for the batteries. Especially since I cannot fit a full sized 18" spare in my estate anyway. Just think... 170 HP diesel, mated with an electric motor that boosts it to say...240-270(ish) and 70 - 140(ish) MPG Or am I just pipe dreaming? :wonder: . Oh yes... and a bigger fuel tank with at least 60 miles range from batteries alone. If I could get that on a Skoda Superb I will never buy another car again!

I have never used mine at all. I am in the mind that if you need the feature to help you park into as tight a space as possible leaves you at more risk of some careless twit next to you to hit you when they come out. So I always give at least a meter each end, so I do not need the car to fit itself into any tight space. Maybe if I get arthritis in my arms I might use it someday :wonder:

Yep...Also having a Magnetic Brown L&K with brown leather, the combination does look and feel a lot better than you may think. I also feel that the steering wheel buttons do seem a bit naff though. All other cars I have ever had look cheap in comparison. (they actually were much cheaper but I have also been in friends Mercs and Audis and the L&K is just as good IMO) If you said to me 5 years ago I would own a brown car with brown leather, I would have laughed in your face. But you just can't deny the look and feel of quality.

I have the Ferplast Atlas 100. I paid £90 new and I can vouch that it fits perfectly into my Superb estate/combi. Also very easy to remove and feels like it will last for years. BTW...my dog is a springer spaniel and she now leaps and clears the bumper (thankfully) in her eagerness for her walks. I recommend whole heartedly. Not "tailor made" but it is almost like it is made for the car as it fits exactly between the moveable bands that slide in the track, hence no movement from side to side.