my mums fabia - shes had it since 10k on the clock, has always been serviced by Vindis Skoda in Cambridge, infact was bought from there has this repeating problem.

First of all i noticed that in 2nd gear from 2-4k revs there was this AWFUL juddering which was almost as though the engine was being starved of petrol. about a month after she bought it then engine warning light came on. she took it back to the dealer, said they 'reset' the ecu and it was fine. ofcourse over the next year or so it has come on repeatedly. on and off. its been back 4 times, one of the times they said 'its a worn spark plug' at 35k ? i don't think so, surely they should have replaced ALL the spark plugs anyway

anyway this evening while dropping off an independant dealer - just bought another one but this time for me, the light came on intermittantly in my mothers fabia. then about 2/3 of the way back from dropping him off it came on permanently. and has been on since. the juddering in 2nd gear was back but came and went intermittandly.

i am getting *mightily* ****ed off with Vindis as they keep saying its 'fine' to drive etc but the gear judder is just not on - oculd that have something to do with the fly by wire accelerator?

any ideas? anyone suffered something similar? she can't take it back for a while. so i'm going to take it in when i can. but if they have the utter *cheek* to say nothings wrong, its going to be handbags all round ladies. is it worth buying a fault code reader myself and doing it seeing that Vindis are completely incompetant ?

any ideas would be GREATLY welcomed

Take it to ALS Lock in Lt Downham near Ely.

Much better than Vindis IMHO.

i'm guessing you've had sh*tty experiences with Vindis too?

I was told today by a Fabia owner who has recently experienced appalling service by Vindis that they have fired 2 fitters and a receptionist. His car was returned in an unroadworthy condition following repairs but with a new MOT certificate supposedly showing that all was well.

I was in Vindis a couple of weekends ago and was told by the salesman that both the Service Manager and Parts Manager have gone.

The new face I met (his first day) had been brought in from their Woolpit branch but I'm not sure which one he was replacing.

In addition to replacing them they will also be appointing a service receptionist (new position) to help things move along.

When I got fed up with Vindis I ended up being put in touch with the Vindis Skoda Brand Manager who I found will listen to any issues and do his best to resolve them. While I'm not sure if I can post his name without his permission I do have his e-mail address and, if people agree, will e-mail him a link to this thread to draw his attention to the issues raised.

Hopefully things will improve with the new staff.

If you're not satisfied with the service from a particular dealer I would advise going elsewhere. You don't say whether the car is still covered by warranty - if it is then take it to another franchised dealer and explain the problem.

the car is still udner warranty. my mum gave me a ring earlier. said it was a spark plug problem/coilpack

now if they'd replaced ALL the plugsat the same time theis may not have happened