Didn't go as well as I had hoped but they are still leagues ahead of anything else I've experienced (except maybe the local BMW dealer before they spent £8m on a new showroom and seemed to have to cut back on service...)

Took my Fabia in on Monday for a couple of things - the window switches in the drivers door lift out when you raise the windows (suspected missing clip in the surround for the switches) and a buzzing upper glovebox lid.

Went to pick it up and I don't think much had gone right for them. Turns out the parts they ordered for the switches were just the switches and not the surround. They then try to get one off a car in stock and end up breaking that one!

They also tried packing the glovebox with some stick on foam - until the service manager pointed out to the technicians that the foam was white and was quite visible on a black dashboard! They said they wouldn't have accepted that as a fix on their car so were contacting Skoda to see what else could be done.

They were very apologetic.

Then to top it all, I had just got my daughter in the car and went to open the front passenger door and noticed a line of paint missing for about 2 inches on the trailing edge of the door!!!:eek:

Went back in to tell them and to their credit, the service manager was out in 30 seconds with the worksheet, took one look at it and said "we record the vehicles condition on these sheets when they come in and according to us, your car was unmarked so it must have been us and we'll get it sorted when it comes back in for our second attempt at the glovebox and switches".

Now I know it would have been nice if they hadn't done it in the first place but the fact that they owned up without arguing "it must have already been there" or "you must have just done it" like I've had with previous dealerships did go some way towards making me feel better about it.

Phoned me back again today, still apologetic, and got me booked back in for the 18th (1st available courtesy car).

The courtesy car I had on Monday was a 1.9TDI level 3 with about 6500 miles - really showed me what my engine will be like when it's loosened up some. Didn't quite get my usual 50-something to the gallon as I was enjoying it too much:D

It did have the same glovebox buzz as mine though!

I ve had mine back twice with the Buzzy glove box. I have to say they were going to fit a new one but then said no when they found out that there was to much work involved. They did manage to cure it the second time, mind I dont know wether it was because my glovebox is jammed with my stuff, which has stopped the buzzing.

Possibly a good comparison of service coming up...

My wife's Vauxhall Astra TwinTop went in for some warranty work yesterday (strangely including a rattling glovebox) and came out with a couple of nice deep scratches on the boot lid.

She ain't happy.

We shall see how they respond. They are currently "assessing the forms that they fill in with the car's condition". Awaiting their response (since 1st thing this morning).

Edited to say - hadn't phoned back so I've chased them. Want us to bring the car in so they can look at it before they decide anything.