Hey all ,

i dont know where i should be posting this so if any mods feel the need to move this please do so,

Here is my story. i am the owner of a 2000 fabia, my dad bought it new at the dealers and i am now the owner for the last two years, the car has always been serviced by our local skoda dealer here in Waterford in Ireland!(fsh).

a month ago i brought the car into the garage with a noticible coolant leak,

Skoda rang me later that day and told me i needed a new waterpump and timing belt, so i gave the ok and the next week i picked up my car after a paying a bill of 620 Euros, Ibrought her home and the next morning i had the same amount of coolant on my drive as i had had all along! i rang skoda and i had to return the car and they kept it for another 2 days, they rang me to say that they couldnt find a leak and that they had pressure tested it and all was good, the only thing they could think of was that the cap from the coolant bottle was worn and they replaced it with a new cap, i brought the car home again, next morning coolant on the drive again,

i rang skoda again and this time they kept the car for 5 days, told me that they were down mechanics due to illness, they discovered a repair that had been done to my radiator and they needed to replace the rad, thing is as i already stated Skoda did all and any work that was ever carried out on my car, i had never been told about the rad being damaged and this is not mentioned on any of the work sheets i received any time the car was serviced.

they replaced the rad without my consent and tried to bill my another 220 Euros. that didnt happen, i caused blue murder without actually abusing anyone,(dont ask).

i got the car home last fri, by sunday the sensor light for the coolant had lit up 3 times over the weekend.

I got home sun evening in the car and noticed a serious knocking sound coming from the engine, i turned off the car and was adiment that i was gonna cause murder with skoda the following day,

Guess what?? the car wouldnt turn over the next morning, a neighbour of mine who is a toyota mec was heading to work at the same time as i was trying to start my fabia, i called him over to have a listen and he told me not to turn the key again as it sounded like the timing belt?

i really do prefer to kissed a few times b4 i get bent over a barrell and shagged!

Anyone got any ideas as what i should do next here??

any help would be great, all together now the fabia is in and out of the garage with over a month now,,

What utter incompetence... That is an all to typical story of skoda dealers I'm afraid. That's why I prefer to get mine serviced locally at a back street garage that I know personally and trust.

Me thinks citizens advice is the next course of action.

I hope you get it sorted, especially as they seem to have been replacing parts with no real knowledge of how to fix the fault.

Complain to there HO, Look on the comsumer direct web site as i think there is a procdure for paying for an u statifactory service. in my opinion most dealers are ripping wayne carr's any way and will looking for any loop hole to riggle out off

I'd start by writing to the dealer and another to Skoda HQ.

If the dealer is part of a chain then write to them also.

Speak to the CAB too as Boilingpoint has suggested.

No garage I have been to has done anything to my car without my prior knowledge or consent.

I did an article where another dealer somewhere else worked on a Fabia then billed a customer.

Sounds like the mechanics haven't a clue and may have really screwed things up royally.

The coolant cap worn? My caps been on for 10 years, the cars done 105k miles and isn't worn.

That will only "leak" if the reservoir is nice and full and you drive with the cap off.

It could be one of the hoses is not fitted correctly causing it to leak when the pressure in the system drops?

And the timing/cambelt only needs changing every 60k miles.

Basically some junior grade/cowboy mechanic has screwed up in the workshop and they are trying to pass the blame from the sounds of things.

Most dealers do have good workshops.

My mate who has a Corolla D4D doesnt like the dealer who services his car.

You just have to be cautious.

If your car was serviced by that dealer before surely they would recognise it?

Dont tar all dealers with the same brush please.

I do admit though that it is bad service you have got there, ask for SUK Complaints number.

Which engine is it?

What utter incompetence... That is an all to typical story of skoda dealers I'm afraid. That's why I prefer to get mine serviced locally at a back street garage that I know personally and trust.

Not sure which Dealer you have in mind but my local dealer Hortons in Lincoln have just won dealership of the year again, all I can say from my experience of dealing with them is that I have always had first class service.

personally I would go to another dealer or a standard garage and get a second opinion, looks like a Dellboy outfit to me :eek: I hate those and fingers crossed you get it fixed

im gonna write me a few letters tonight,get this ball rolling,

as i stated my dad owned the car before me and it was in mint condition even though it is 8 yr old now, he is one of those steady as she goes drivers and never ever drove her hard and saying that she has had a fsh by the same Skoda garage and there wasnt a sound out of her til they started messing about!

thanks all for the advise,

thanks again.

Well i'm living in Donegal and could tell you a much worse story, i feel your pain and i tell you that The main dealers in ireland haven't a CLUE, the only thing they can fix is a tractor, i'm just moving back to kilkenny where i'm from and Laharts garage on the waterford road are the most helpful garage that i have ever been too.

I paid lots of money to keep my Vrs in a main dealer and when the engine seized the top end they told me thats from bad servicing???? And that Skoda won't stand by the car as its out of warranty, the oil pick up pipe blocked and caused engine faliure.

Anyway i'm quite handy at engines, worked for powertune motorsport developing heads for rally cars so i told them what the problem was and then they gave me a bill for 200 euro and gave me the car back with sump off timing all apart - A Disgrace so anyway i do all the work now myself at least i can trust it.

Many people might wonder why i didn't look after it from the start, but when your working all the time on engines the last thing you wanna do is work on your own.

MY advice to you is go to simi as Skoda won't help at all they just re directed me back to the main dealer.

Hope it works out - keep on to them.

Ireland. Tel: (+353) 01 6761690 Fax: (+353) 01 6619213 Email: [email protected]

this **** is just so typical of Ireland! thanks for those numbers jayc.

Good luck, i tried a few things with it like leaving the car there and telling them to keep the peice of sh** but that didn't work, head office in dublin were no help either 28k on a car that goes bang after 74k fully serviced, oh just in case your interested Quigg brothers in northern ireland have everything for cheap cheap prices and the deliver all over ireland No: is 04829571257 hope you don't need it though

Just another funny thing when i was chatting to head mechanic he said that he had never heard of my problem before, when i went back and picked up the car so i could fix it myself he said oh we had two do that now!!! F*****S but anyway he proceeded to ask where i got the new engine from so i told him quigg brothers only for him to say oh we buy parts from them, so don't always think your getting new parts on your car because your NOT, isn't that unbeliveable.

Rip off ireland, i got priced 170 euro for my timing belt i went to derry got the kit for 70 pounds thats only 85 euro HALF the Price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its a small world i had a phone call this morning from Skoda to say that (they had seen my post here) and that they were disapointed that i had slagged them, anyways the car will be repaired at no cost to me, seems to me that i maybe retracting the post about Skoda Waterford!

we shall wait and see!

Ah you can leave it up you haven't lied about anything and last time i checked its a free country you are allowed to tell people and have an opinion.

But then again ireland at the mo is a dictatorship.

They should ring me because i could tell them horror stories from this area, and thats not just my story i know loads of people that don't want to go or never will again.

Bad servive, arrogant, rude and Haven't a clue.

Thats probably why the dealership up here sells tractors because thats all they know about.

Just had Skoda on the blower, they are keeping my car for another 3 weeks, seems they are putting an entire new engine into my car(something to do with serious over heating), at their expense, they have given me a run around to use for the duration, so it seems that maybe the dealers have come up trumps on this occasion, 3 weeks will tell alot!

Just had Skoda on the blower, they are keeping my car for another 3 weeks, seems they are putting an entire new engine into my car(something to do with serious over heating), at their expense, they have given me a run around to use for the duration, so it seems that maybe the dealers have come up trumps on this occasion, 3 weeks will tell alot!

By SKODA do you mean your local dealer or "THE SKODA"

ie:- was your dissatisfaction picked up by your local team or the SKODA UK team

A very interesting point to be heard

National

By SKODA do you mean your local dealer or "THE SKODA"

ie:- was your dissatisfaction picked up by your local team or the SKODA UK team

A very interesting point to be heard

National

By my local team/dealership here in Waterford Ireland, (SKODA UK? i live in the ROI:thumbup:)

i didnt have to go any further. i had direct contact after my first post, so i can only assume somebody from Skoda Waterford read my post? not that they had posted a reply here.

i just hope it all goes well and that i dont get messed about any more than i have been its gonna be a long 3 weeks!

What utter incompetence... That is an all to typical story of skoda dealers I'm afraid. That's why I prefer to get mine serviced locally at a back street garage that I know personally and trust.

Oh yeah, i've never heard of engines falling out where 'back street garages' have not replaced engine mounting bolts when doing a cambelt. Or five days trying to diagnose a central locking fault only to find the footwell is swimming in water on a Superb. NOT!

Dont tar all dealers with the same brush please.

Hear Hear, its no wonder dealers stuggle to get decent trained staff (thus causing these problems) when the public opinion of the network is so poor they dont want to work in it.

Oh yeah, i've never heard of engines falling out where 'back street garages' have not replaced engine mounting bolts when doing a cambelt. Or five days trying to diagnose a central locking fault only to find the footwell is swimming in water on a Superb. NOT!

The point is... Using a back street garage is better because more often than not the person using them either knows them or lives near to them. And in most cases if the garage makes a mistake they will hold their hands up and rectify it. (That's my experience of them at least).

Also a main dealer should never be anything less than perfect. Why? because that's what you expect them to be. They should know the cars intimately and have all the technical knowledge if any issues arise, close to hand. There really is no excuse for a main dealer not being able to diagnose and repair a fault on the first attempt. Besides everyone knows that Skoda main dealers have a shocking reputation nation-wide.

Back street garages were very well when cars were simple, these days they are not. Even the most basic of todays current cars have sophisticated communications systems and having the need for specialist tools when doing mechanical work is getting more common.

It is not safe to assume that a main dealer knows the cars inside out, a dealer who has recently got a new franchise doesn't immediately know all that there is to know about the cars.

What is safe to assume is that a main dealer will invest time and money in developing its' staff, premises, equipment and procedures as laid down by the manufacturer.

For anyone to make a repair on the first visit, you need parts, in my experience alot of car drivers out there can't tell the difference between left and right, let alone the difference between a wheel and a tyre.

There is a saying:

'Buy cheap, pay twice'

Plug in Laptop, Run VAG-COM, contact skoda regarding code (if not sure what it means) fault diagnosed. That coveres most of the computerised electrical faults.

As for the mechanical ones... Well any decent mechanic can sort them.

Sorry.. I fail to see the reason for going to a main dealer. Why pay 2 or even 3 times the price for the same work. At least with the back street garage you can even be there watching them do it and asking questions etc... while they work on the car. So if they do come across any abnormalities, instead of them being covered up and botched you can decide on the spot what to do about them.

Anyway...

'Pays your money takes your chances'

Backstreet garages sounds a bit iffy

Shirley you mean Kerbside Motors UK

Most of our firemenxxxxxxxxxxx Kerbside Motors have the latest diagnostic tools and provide an even better service than Skoda UK

Plus they have about six non mechanics who clean and polish the car inside and out whilst the service is completed overnight so you do not have to take time off work

Delivered back to your door by 08.00 by the driver who is taken back by the big red shiney machine that accompanied the delivery

Job well done

National

My dealer in Bury was great, but they closed and I tried Manchester for the service and MOT. They managed to scrape the front, delivered it back very late, acquire dents above the door as though someone had tried to force the door, charged more than I expected, communicated badly and then denied responsibility for the damage. Not only that, they didn't clear the service indicator or fill the service book in properly. It needed a new tyre, but they did not fit one is they 'could not contact me' despite two phone numbers, and an email address. I'm not going back there again.

They also seemed to have upset the drivers, and the staff left before the car was returned, and so could not be contacted. Is this normal for Skoda dealers?