Sorry to read this story and good luck to Carnivorous with his next car, and good luck to whoever buys his old one (perhaps Carnivorous should post its license plate number here for future reference!).

Does the German government have some sort of "trades license" for things like auto mechanics - I believe it does for trades like plumbers and electricians, who are also of a "variable quality" in the UK in my experience. This poor service is a failure at multiple levels:

- so-called mechanics who must have near-zero pride in their work

- so-called car company "management" who allow defective business processes to continue in their territory

and indeed

- so-called motoring journalists who don't campaign to improve the situation in this country

Having ranted the above, it is possibly something to do with our national psyche as mentioned above. So when an electrician bungled a light fitting in my house, I didn't phone him up to tear him off a strip, demand some redress, or complain about him to some trade body - I just fixed it myself. But with a ~£20K car, the situation is different...

As I said earlier the route of the problem is our very poor education system in the UK and the slackening of discipline in schools under Human Rights etc.

TP

Final verdict on my Yeti experience:

Car : Amazing

Company : Great

Customer Service : Very good

Dealerships : Shocking

Warranty procedure : **** poor

:-/

I can second that after the nightmare I had trying to get my fault diagnosed. To be fair though once you contact the Head of Skoda UK the dealerships tend to try a tiny wee bit harder than normal!

Sorry to read this story and good luck to Carnivorous with his next car, and good luck to whoever buys his old one (perhaps Carnivorous should post its license plate number here for future reference!).

Does the German government have some sort of "trades license" for things like auto mechanics - I believe it does for trades like plumbers and electricians, who are also of a "variable quality" in the UK in my experience. This poor service is a failure at multiple levels:

- so-called mechanics who must have near-zero pride in their work

- so-called car company "management" who allow defective business processes to continue in their territory

and indeed

- so-called motoring journalists who don't campaign to improve the situation in this country

Having ranted the above, it is possibly something to do with our national psyche as mentioned above. So when an electrician bungled a light fitting in my house, I didn't phone him up to tear him off a strip, demand some redress, or complain about him to some trade body - I just fixed it myself. But with a ~£20K car, the situation is different...

The Germans have a better education system, where they dentify at a reasonably early stage the kids who have a more practical ability and move them to technical schools where their skills are developed. What it means in practise is that your average technician is as highly regarded and paid as anyone with a more academic job. Seems to work for them.

There is too much emphasis, in the UK education system, towards going to university to do subjects, which are never going to be occupation based--just what are we going to do with all those psychologists especially now the BMA has said you need a doctors qualification before you can practise!

My friend left his job as a "highly qualified" BMW master tech to go build race engines at a small engineering firm. They replaced him with someone that has virtually zero education/ability and does everything through the "technical help centre" - because it's cheaper.

The reason he left was that it literally got to the point where he felt like all he was doing was babysitting parts-fitters, and he wasn't actually permitted to diagnose faults on warranty claims. The procedure is to report symptoms and then wait for technical to tell you which parts to fit...then fit them even if you know that they aren't the faulty parts. It's procedure.

Sounds like a result, albeit a sad one.

I owned 3 RAV4s in sucession (2lt Petrol) and was happy with them until I had a dealer experience similar to yours!

In those days I was a quite, retiring sort of person ( ) and so I voted with my feet rather than get further involved.

I did consider another RAV when I got the Yeti but it couldn't compete on any front and certainly not on value for money.

Good luck.

Fred

Funny, I drove both before I got the Yeti and had a hard time choosing between the two. I prefer the Yeti for style, interior feel and handling. However, I prefer the auto gearbox on the RAV (I like the old school auto better than DSG in a non-sports car), the more comfortable ride and the 2.2 engine in the RAV4. As far as value for money, that reverses when buying "nearly new" as the RAV4 drops in value quicker - although I will most likely pay for this when it does come time to sell. I've ended up with a far younger and lower mileage RAV4 with more extras for the same money. Running costs won't be miles apart either.

Only time will tell if I've made the right decision, but either way the wheels are in motion now - I handed in the paperwork and spare key today and should be getting my refund via BACS tomorrow.

Edited 16 March, 201214 yr by carnivorous

This is probably the wrong forum now, but I signed the paperwork for the new car today and will be picking her up Tuesday.

She's no Yeti but the looks are growing on me and she impressed me with her comfort on the test drive....

The pleasant surprise was the dealer had quoted 6k miles because that's as low as their system will go, but it's actually 4,500 miles and she's completely unmarked. Fingers crossed this one doesn't start playing up as well....

Edited 16 March, 201214 yr by carnivorous