On 5 February 2011 I wrote to Skoda thus:

Skoda Finance

Brunswick Court, Yeomans Drive, Blakelands, Milton Keynes, MK14 5LR

For the attention of Mr David Heathfield, Head of Customer Services

Dear Sir,

ŠKODA FABIA vRS SE #731 – 1HTU

I record receipt of an undated letter in respect of the £299 two year/ 20,000 mile servicing deal I took out when I bought my car second-hand from Winner of Cinderford. Firstly please note that the address on that letter is wrong! (You’ve omitted the house name)

Secondly I am actually writing to you because your letter sets out the wrong servicing schedule for my car. It is a Mark 1 Fabia and hence is required under the servicing schedule to have an oil change every 10,000 miles and an Annual Inspection Service. Hence your schedule is incorrect in stating:

1 x Oil change at 10,000 miles or 12 months

1 x Inspection Service at 20,000 miles or 24 months

Rather - since I expect to do less than 10,000 miles p.a. - it should state:

2 x Inspection Service at 12 months

I request written confirmation that you accept this change and that the agreement will cover 2 x Inspection Services (besides other scheduled items) – otherwise I shall have to reconsider whether it’s worth paying £299 since clearly I am not getting what I expected from the deal.

Yours faithfully

I didn't get a response...

I followed it up recently saying:

Skoda Finance

Brunswick Court, Yeomans Drive, Blakelands, Milton Keynes, MK14 5LR

For the attention of Mr David Heathfield, Head of Customer Services

Dear Sir,

ŠKODA FABIA vRS SE #731 – 1HTU

Please note I await a response to the attached letter – please send without further delay.

Yours faithfully

I have now eventually received a response:

Thank you for your letter dated 4th June regarding the fixed price serving plan.

With regards to the servicing regime, the plan is in line with the servicing regime recommended by Skoda. Your vehicle requires an oil service at 10,000 miles or 12 months and an inspection service at 20,000 miles or 24 months.

Your Skoda Fabia does not require an inspection service at 12 months and it is for that reason that the plan does not cover an inspection service at the end of the first year.

I trust this clarifies the si****ion, however should you wish to discuss this further, please contact us on 0870 010 2022.

Kind Regards

Chris O'Donnell

Customer Services Advisor

VWFS (UK) LTD

Clearly I will be taking this matter up with him and the garage who sold me the contract since I believe it was mis-sold.

Has anyone else tried to resolve this discrepancy between what the small-print of the service agreement says (which crucially I didn't see until the documentation from Skoda arrived in the post) and Skoda's official service schedules?

**** - the forum software clearly cannot properly differentiate between completely satisfactory words and swear words. Why can't it allow S I T U A T I O N !!!!!

It's also not indenting properly...

By the way - I had an Annual Inspection Service at the twelve month point, completely covered by the Service Plan.

So do I conclude that no one else here has a Skoda service contract?

regardless of age the vrs along with ALL 1.9tdi pd engined VAG vehicles should have

an oil (lube service) every 12months or 10k

and an interval service every 24months or 20k whichever comes sooner.

the inspection services are ONLY due every 40k or 3years (whichever comes 1st)

this is the correct service regime for VAG TIME + DISTANCE servicing

Sorry - but you're completely wrong there.

The Service Schedule is perfectly clear that the Mark 1 Fabia vRS should have an ANNUAL Inspection service.

If my service schedule is anything go by?

I have been on the phone to Skoda Finance today - 30 minutes in all - 10 minutes to get through the automated answering service and being put on hold - it took that time despite the system saying I was first in the queue. Then ten minutes discussion/argument with "Matt", a further five minute wait while he went away to consult others and five minutes of conclusion.

Basically he says that the Service Schedule was mis-sold to me by the dealer I bought the car off - it's was meant only for new cars/post 2008 models. They are washing their hands of the matter and say I have to take it up with the garage that sold it to me.

They refused to accept that they had received the letter I sent in February 2011, despite the fact I have a confirmed fax transmission slip for it, and they accept that the advice they gave in the recent letter was WRONG. They now accept that a Mark 1 Fabia SHOULD have an Annual Inspection Service contrary to the statement in the letter, but that the Service Schedule I was sold doesn't cover Mark 1 Fabias in the first place!

I will now have to ring the garage to confirm they will cover the remaining Inspection Service without additional costs being levied.

Disappointing...

Despite this incident, the saving by taking the £299 Service Contract was significant, since the 40,000 mile service would have cost approx £285 (including brake fluid) and I received £100 of Skoda vouchers which largely paid for the cambelt parts. And I still have at least an oil change service cost allowance left - but I may have to pay the uplift for an Inspection Service

If my service schedule is anything go by?

That's irrelevant. All Mark 1 Fabias are on Service Schedule QG0.

Correct you are. I withdraw my picture

Here's the correct part of the service book:

I've just dug out the form I signed when I bought the Service Contract.

It clearly states it's a Used Car Service Plan

It clearly states that the agreement is between me and Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited trading as Skoda Finance. - i.e. it's nothing to do with the dealer and thus any dispute should be settled by Skoda.

It also clearly states that the "Manufacturer's Service Schedule means the schedules relating to the servicing of the Vehicle contained in the handbook supplied to you by Skoda."

It also clearly states "The Agreement has been designed and costed for the Vehicle..." and that I must "Ensure that the Vehicle is serviced and maintained in accordance with the Manufacturer's Service Schedule."

I shall have to have another long phone call with them tomorrow...

Edited 27 June, 201214 yr by DRJ

Here's the correct part of the service book:

This is still correct and has not been superceded. The one thing the service book doesn't explicitly state but applies is ...

'An Oil Change Service only needs to be carried out if the vehicle has covered 15 000 km (7 500 km applies for diesel operation with high sulphur content) before one year has elapsed.'

The inspection service includes all the items in the oil change service (usually just an oil change and disc/brake pad thickness check)

That's irrelevant. All Mark 1 Fabias are on Service Schedule QG0.

mk1 fabias can be serviced on QG1 longlife or QG0/2 time + distance hence you can reset the service light to longlife!

there is a hint of a na l customer syndrome here!!

pre 2000 cars were QG0 only.. unless youve managed to find yourself the only fabia vrs '99 model in existance??

im a technician at a VW main dealer + have worked at all VAG stable main dealers bar SEAT they ALL have the same service requirements as they ALL have the same PD engine

people/ customers like you are the bain of our job.. A N A L springs to mind

*grabs the popcorn

My car has been on QG1 variable intervals, this is evident in the service book which have all been carried out by the supplying Skoda dealer. On a few of the pages is has 'Variable' and 'on dash' written down for the next service due, 12 stamps in total with Longlife 3 oil used on QG1 interval. The car runs better than my Ibiza FR TDI 130 that I had a few years ago with 100k less miles than the Fabia!

Edited 28 June, 201214 yr by VRSD30

mk1 fabias can be serviced on QG1 longlife or QG0/2 time + distance hence you can reset the service light to longlife!

there is a hint of a na l customer syndrome here!!

pre 2000 cars were QG0 only.. unless youve managed to find yourself the only fabia vrs '99 model in existance??

im a technician at a VW main dealer + have worked at all VAG stable main dealers bar SEAT they ALL have the same service requirements as they ALL have the same PD engine

people/ customers like you are the bain of our job.. A N A L springs to mind

Please note I do not understand "there is a hint of a na l customer syndrome here!!"

I have to say your advice totally flies in the face of perceived opinion on here since I bought my first vRS in 2004. I've never heard anyone suggesting Fabias could be moved over to QG1 servicing and I've never been offered it at the dealers. I understood it to be technically impossible owing to the absence of certain sensors. I would certainly have changed onto it had it been possible.

Edited 28 June, 201214 yr by DRJ

Today's update.

I was onto Skoda Finance for 23 minutes - Joe this time - examining in detail the small print on the application document that I signed on taking out the Service Contract.

They have provisionally accepted I may have a case, and have asked me to assemble all the evidence and put my case forward by email which I'm sorting out this evening.

Please note I do not understand "!there is a hint of a na l customer syndrome here!"

.

Glad to help.

My car has been on QG1 variable intervals, this is evident in the service book which have all been carried out by the supplying Skoda dealer. On a few of the pages is has 'Variable' and 'on dash' written down for the next service due, 12 stamps in total with Longlife 3 oil used on QG1 interval. The car runs better than my Ibiza FR TDI 130 that I had a few years ago with 100k less miles than the Fabia!

Is QG1 listed on the options code sticker inside the front cover of the service record - which is the same sticker under the boot carpet?

No it's not listed so I'm not sure how the dealer allowed the car to follow this regime, obviously it was possible somehow? Would it be possible to reprogram the car for the QG1? She did a high mileage the first owner sometimes over 20k per year and as I said it was the supplying Sloda dealer who has maintained the vRS throughout it's life.

What a waste of time, this has to be the worst thread I've ever seen on here, this guy needs a hobby or a girlfriend.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the vRS never came with, nor could be converted to G01 (variable) servicing. The car would need special oil sensors in the sump to check the condition of the oil, plus brake pad wear sensors.

However, you can still use the long-life oil in the engine, but change it annually (or 10k miles) for fixed servicing.

T

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the vRS never came with, nor could be converted to G01 (variable) servicing. The car would need special oil sensors in the sump to check the condition of the oil, plus brake pad wear sensors.

However, you can still use the long-life oil in the engine, but change it annually (or 10k miles) for fixed servicing.

That is correct, none of the MK1 Fabias can be run on QG1 (Variable) service regime as the car is missing a number of key sensors used to calculate when a service is due. However as mentioned it is perfectly fine to run the car with the same oil as used in a variable service, but it must be changed every 10K miles.

This was the subject of a debate several years ago on Briskoda, and eventually resolved when Skoda HQ in CZ confirmed that a MK1 Fabia cannot be run on variable.

What a waste of time, this has to be the worst thread I've ever seen on here, this guy needs a hobby or a girlfriend.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. One of my hobbies is Briskoda.net by the way...

Not sure if I mentioned the outcome but I didn't pay any extra and my service book is correctly showing an Inspection Service.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. One of my hobbies is Briskoda.net by the way...

Not sure if I mentioned the outcome but I didn't pay any extra and my service book is correctly showing an Inspection Service.

So after all of that you were wrong?