As you can guess by the title, I've had some pretty poor service from my dealer and I want to know what I can do....

Started off when my wiper motor went bust and the car was in for about 4 days to get this repaired. I had to fork out £50 to get insured on a courtesy car (1.4L corsa - hardly a car of equivalent spec) because of my age, fair enough. Not fair - This wasn't refunded (ABSOLUTE JOKE!!!)

I had asked, if, while my car was in, they could check out a few little issues I had

1. Rattling radio fixing

2. Mirror Adjustment Switch (collapses inside the door whenever I touch it)

3. Software update because of the juddering on idle

I was told this would require another booking so that they could do the work because they didn't have time.

The job was meant to take a few hours so I left it with them for the day. They called me in the morning and told me they couldn't do the work because they had the wrong switch ordered for the mirror adjuster. They suggested I leave it over night and they'd have a new switch first thing in the morning (which I find hard to believe considering the first one took about 4 weeks to come). I asked for a courtesy car and was told this wouldn't be a problem, but when I arrived I was told because I'm not 21 they couldn't give me anything. Took me near on an hour to get to the garage to be told this and to say I was displeased would be an understatement.

Anyway, they called me on the Saturday and told me the car was ready to collect - I went to collect the car and low and behold, the mirror switch didn't stick in place, the judder was still there, and the radio still rattles. They've had my car for 1 and a half days and have done NOTHING.

I've called Skoda Customer Services and listed a complaint and I've let the dealer know i'm not happy. I've got letters written out and just need to send them out but i've got a feeling its going to get me nowhere!

Anybody got any recommendations?....

Write a letter to the manager of the dealership and a copy to Skoda UK stating the events that have occurred, times, dates, whos said what etc. Be polite, but to the point and list the costs you have incurred and time spent etc. Stress that the faults you have reported are due to manufacturing defects or design. Ask the dealer what is the schedule for fixings these faults and what arrangements will they make to ensure you are not out of pocket when the car is being fixed. Also ask for a refund on the costs you have incurred as none of the faults were corrected when the car was with them previously.

If you're unhappy with the dealer's service, and clearly you are, formally write to the Dealer Principal or, as a minimum, the Service Manager with your complaints and at least give them the opportunity to sort things out. If they don't, then formally write to Skoda Customer Service and ask them to take things up for you. If you still get nowhere, take your complaints up with the Local Authority Trading Standards Department. Let us know how you get on.