This is rather a long tale, so bear with me, but I've a feeling I was nearly taken for a ride by a Skoda dealership that tried to make additional work/money for itself.

1. Wife took in our a Skoda dealership with a problem with the central locking. We were charged £190 for re-wiring work, but when the car was returned to us the central locking problem wasn't fixed and our reverse parking sensors and reverse lights no longer worked.

2. I went into the garage and suggested that the central locking problem was with the switch in the door, but also that I wanted my reverse parking sensors fixed.

3. The central locking was a problem with the door switch and Skoda fixed this and "kindly" said there would be no additional charge. However, they were unwilling to fix the reverse sensors saying it was a problem with the control box being corroded, not their problem.

4. I refused to accept this and went home and exposing the wiring in the boot found that the reverse parking leads had been completely disconnected from the control box - no wonder they didn't work.

5. I went back to Skoda this morning and asked why the car was returned without the control box wires connected the mechanic said he did this in case "the corroded control box shorted out the ingition". Is this a credible explanation?

6. When we reconnected the Control Box wires the reverse parking sensor still didn't work - Skoda said my Control Box was corroded and I needed a new one, I said it was mild oxidation on the connections nothing more.

7. To cut and already long story short, I basically insisted that Skoda get my reverse parking sensors working again. Skoda took the car away for ten minutes and lo and behold the reverse parking sensors were working again in no time at all and mysteriously so were the reversing lights were too. The head of service came out and said "someone switched your reverse light switch off, who did that, that's really dodgy?". He was really sheepish and kept trying to dodge any further questions.

My question is if the reverse light switch is disconnected will this also switch off the reverse parking sensors? I believe this is the case, which begs the question why Skoda, when I said my sensors and reverse lights weren't working, didn't immediately check the reversing light switch, rather than trying to sell me a new control box?

My ultimate suspicion here is that, because it was my wife who went in, the dealership saw a bit of easy money, disconnected the Control Box and the Reverse Light switch with a view to selling us an expensive new control box. I am minded to report the garage to Trading Strandards, if it turns out the reverse light switch and the reverse sensors are run from the same switch.

Edited 21 September, 201015 yr by th0mascricket

The reversing sensors are powered by the reversing lights, so I suspect them 'turning them off' was possibly a fuse being pulled / blown, once the power to the lights was restored the sensors would of re-gained their power also .

The reversing sensors are powered by the reversing lights, so I suspect them 'turning them off' was possibly a fuse being pulled / blown, once the power to the lights was restored the sensors would of re-gained their power also .

That's really helpful. Basically, they have unplugged the control box and switched off the reverse light switch and tried to flog me a new control unit. Unbelievable.

This also begs the question, why did they do a re-wiring job in the first place when it was just a switch? Too cheap and non-profitable for them? :wonder:

Sounds very dodgy mate and I'd be putting in a formal complaint with the dealer and Skoda UK, asking for the diffference in replacing a switch and full re-wiring job to be refunded. If they don't accept this, next stop Trading Standards and possibly even small claims court.

Any chance of a name and shame?

Good luck anyway

This also begs the question, why did they do a re-wiring job in the first place when it was just a switch? Too cheap and non-profitable for them? :wonder:

Sounds very dodgy mate and I'd be putting in a formal complaint with the dealer and Skoda UK, asking for the diffference in replacing a switch and full re-wiring job to be refunded. If they don't accept this, next stop Trading Standards and possibly even small claims court.

Any chance of a name and shame?

Good luck anyway

Quite. Haven't even gone there yet. At the moment I am trying to get a straight answer as to why they tried to flog me a new Control Box, rather than reaching the simply conclusion that the reverse light switch was off. If you're interested below is my correspondence with Skoda to date - as you'll see their story is riddled with inconsistencies. Any advice on the technical aspects of this would be appreciated as I will be looking to pursue through Trading Standards. Correspondence starts from the bottom up:

Andrew,

Dealing with this a logical manner.

1. There is some level of corrosion on the control box connections, no one is refuting that. But, any copper connection exposed to moisture in the air will oxidise, leaving a blue residue. The trace corrosion on the connections was cleared up by your mechanic in 30 seconds. This isn't indicative of a systemically broken or corroded part, to my mind, and clearly, given the fact the control box still works, I am right on this point. What the control box certainly isn't is "green because of water getting into the car" as you suggested to my wife over the phone. You also suggested to her you had replaced the control unit which clearly isn't true, but that's a separate issue.

2. Your assertion that the control box may not last very long is neither here nor there. The material fact here is that the control box works now and has always worked. This is irrefutable, otherwise the reverse sensors wouldn't work at all and yet they clearly do.

3. You have not disagreed that the reverse sensors are powered by the reversing lights, this, I think, we agree on. So, the reason why the reverse sensors weren't working was because the reverse light switch was off and because the control box wires had been disconnected.

4. When we spoke you apologised for giving the car back to me without the control box wires connected. Your mechanic suggested this was done "to stop the ignition shorting out". Doing some further digging, this explanation is apparently not feasible - the ignition wiring is nothing to do with the control box.

There are so many inconsistencies in what I've been told and certainly too many to go into here. So I'll boil it down to one simple question. Why did you and your mechanic, having known that neither reverse sensors and reverse lights were working, not see fit to check the reverse light switch and instead try and convince me the control box was corroded beyond repair?

In your email you have asked me what more I require. Put simply, a proper explanation of what has been appalling service from start to finish.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Tom

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From:

To:

Subject: RE: Central Locking Problem

Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:39:45 +0100

Dear Mr. X

Thank your e-mail to which I would like to answer the following points,

Sorry you feel unhappy about the service received from DM Keith, its not our intention to do so.

I'm unable to comment on the garage who checked of the reverse lights

The control unit and plugs for the reverse park sensors are corroded which DM Keith could not have caused, how more am I able to convince you?

As agreed we have got the park sensors working again regardless of when they ceased to work, due to the corrosion we cannot say how long this will last

I cannot de-tract from the fact that the reverse light switch was disconnected when we looked at the car today

A price was agreed prior the work being carried out to repair the central locking wiring

We apologise that the fault wasn't rectified but we agreed to make that right, which we did even though a separate wiring issue was found

I cannot stop you contacting trading standards nor our head office but could you please point out exactly what you wish from us, as to my mind we have done all you asked from us.

Regards

Andrew

-----Original Message-----

From: Tom

Sent: 21 September 2010 11:47

To:

Subject: Central Locking Problem

Andrew,

We spoke this morning about my central locking and reverse sensor problem.

I am still very unhappy about the service I received from DM Keith. Since getting home, I have done some digging around and it transpires that the reverse parking sensors are powered by the reversing lights. If the reverse light switch is off, the reverse parking sensor won't work - this is common knowledge, seemingly. To note, the car was serviced 2 days before I brought it into you - in conversation with the service garage they have assured me that reversing lights would be checked as a standard procedure on the service schedule. There was no recorded problem with the reverse lights as part of the service.

Talking this morning, you repeatedly asserted that the problem with the reversing sensors was because the car's control box was corroded and that I would need a new one - at least £100 for the part, plus fitting, I believe. Given that I had explicitly told you and your mechanic that neither the reverse parking sensors or the reverse lights were working, and in light of the information above, I would have expected it to be a fairly straight forward case of checking the reverse light switch and/or the fuse. Instead, we had the rather strained 20 minute conversation with you trying to convince me my control box was corroded - clearly, the fact that the control box is now working again suggests this was simply not a correct diagnosis. For the avoidance of doubt, the issue here is not about why the reverse light switch was off - although I would be happy to have a separate discussion about this. Rather, the question is why you and your mechanic failed to diagnose a problem that took me 2 minutes digging on the internet to establish and instead tried to have me purchase a new and unnecessary control box?

As you might expect, I am extremely annoyed and frustrated with the service I have received and the time and money wasted on my part. I note X is a registered Motor Code garage. Looking through the Code of Practice I can identify numerous examples of where you failed to meet the expected standards set out within - I would be happy to spell these out to you in detail, should you wish. I would also note the Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982/ Common Law Scotland. This provides that work should be carried out with reasonable care & skill, for a reasonable charge (unless the price is fixed by contract), and within a reasonable time (unless the time scale is fixed by contract). It also provides that any goods & materials supplied as part of the service should be of a satisfactory quality i.e. free from defects. I think the service I received from you was substandard with regards to the first and second of these expectations "carried out with reasonably care and skill" and also "for a reasonable charge".

To let you know, it is my intention to report your garage to Trading Standards and also to write to your Head Office setting out the nature of my complaint and how I was dealt with by you and your team. However, before I do this I would like to offer you the chance to explain this morning's conversation and the points I have raised above.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Tom