I think the correct action would have been to refuse delivery , the scratches on the door may or not be an issue but the rest should be easily sorted

I'd want enough money for a decent detail at least

Don't suppose the dealer was in Reading was it ?

Gadgetman, did you mean the comments on the Dealer list on this forum? I had noted a couple of issues there.

I did consider giving the dealer right to reply before contacting SUK, however, whilst I was in the dealer for the handover a reasonably elderly lady came in on her own and put down a deposit on a new Fabia. If it had been her who had this experience when she has a handover, would she have known what to ask for or consulted with experts on an owners forum if she was unsure? I think that it was the fact that they let a known poor company who they had previously complained about complete pre-delivery 'valets' on customer's new cars...

They literally had a whole week from when the car was delivered to them on Monday to get it right...

Don't suppose the dealer was in Reading was it ?

No, not Reading, but not to far away at all.

I didn't really want to name and shame, but i have posted about this in the relevant Dealer section on this forum for those who are interested.

Gadgetman, did you mean the comments on the Dealer list on this forum? I had noted a couple of issues there.

I did consider giving the dealer right to reply before contacting SUK, however, whilst I was in the dealer for the handover a reasonably elderly lady came in on her own and put down a deposit on a new Fabia. If it had been her who had this experience when she has a handover, would she have known what to ask for or consulted with experts on an owners forum if she was unsure? I think that it was the fact that they let a known poor company who they had previously complained about complete pre-delivery 'valets' on customer's new cars...

They literally had a whole week from when the car was delivered to them on Monday to get it right...

No I meant comments direct to Skoda about the dealer.

I am dealing with Progress Letchworth Skodaand so far I am full praise for them. That is despite the fact that I've been waiting over three months for a warranty repair to a burnt out rear wiper motor - not dealer's fault at all as it was a problem with the main supply chain. They went out of their way to help me etc. I did write a letter to SUK with a complaint, addressed to the MD of SUK. Got a nice letter and had a chat with one of his execs. They accepted thier (SKoda and VAG) failure to manage the process and offered a suitable good will gesture. I thin this how customer service should work

From what you described the dealr you are dealing with is in a wrong business simply... How dare they mouth back to you that you wrote a letter to SUK complaining about thier worse that negligent attempt at providing thier sorry excuse for a good customer service?!? I am trully schocked by that attitude and I'd write another letter to SUK describing it! THis is simply not acceptable.

If I were in your shoes I'd write to your dealr and copy this to Skoda saying that you lost confidence in their valeting services and therefore you will do it yorself and will send them the bill. That is following replacement/respray of the scratched door - do not accept scratch repairs. I am not sure I've ever seen a scratch repair which looks like it was never scratched before.

Buying a new car should a trully joyful experience as you are spending a very hard earned money of yours. From what you described one might have thought you ere buying a second hand, 10 year old hoover and not a brand new car :(.

Having written all that, if you can, put that whole experience at the back of your mind and enjoy your brand new pocket rocket . They are proper smile inducers and are guranteed to raise adrenaline and endorfins levels in your bloodstream for all the good reasons

I understand your disapointment, and can't argue with the poor level of service you received on your 'special day'.

However I always think standard customer complaints should follow a fairly standard protocol in order to resolve the issues and to be fair to those responsible.

By that I mean registering the complaint with the person / company that has been responsible for the problem and allowing them to fix it.

Only if they can't / won't resolve it to your satisfaction would you normally raise it to the next level, in this case the franchise owner & SUK.

By all means document and record your problems and communicate in writing, as these can be used as proof later if need be.

I would hate to think that every time I didn't get things right, my boss was the first to hear about it from those on the receiving end. Talk to me, I'll put it right.

I also believe you are much more likely to get better compensation this route as the franchise owner wants you 'happy', & less likely to report to SUK

Are those available to be viewed Gadgetman?

I think if it had been a standard complaint about one or two missed items or maybe just the dirt and scratches I would have just let the dealer sort it first. But when there is a catalogue of basic errors, I thinks it is right that the boss gets to hear that simple things are going wrong. How many other mistakes are being made? If no one is ever really brought to account who knows how bad it would get?

Are those available to be viewed Gadgetman?

I very much doubt Skoda will share with you any other complaints they've had.

We only have access to what members post on the site the same as yourself.

I've dealt with customers who speak to my boss rather than me about problems, so there are two ways in the world...

If I was in the OPs situation, I would have probably done the same - the dealer knew of the issues and still released the car. If they had said "we have a couple of things to sort out - we agree to do these over the next x weeks for you - do you still want to take the car today?" then possibly fair enough.

Who knows - if the dealer does sort everything out and come up with a suitable goodwill gesture, then perhaps that's enough to go back to SUK afterwards and let them know that despite the shaky start, the dealer did (hopefully) bend over backwards to make them happy?

Back to the car - enjoy it!

I've dealt with customers who speak to my boss rather than me about problems, so there are two ways in the world...

If I was in the OPs situation, I would have probably done the same - the dealer knew of the issues and still released the car. If they had said "we have a couple of things to sort out - we agree to do these over the next x weeks for you - do you still want to take the car today?" then possibly fair enough.

Who knows - if the dealer does sort everything out and come up with a suitable goodwill gesture, then perhaps that's enough to go back to SUK afterwards and let them know that despite the shaky start, the dealer did (hopefully) bend over backwards to make them happy?

Back to the car - enjoy it!

Cannot agree more.

There are genuine mistakes, people can get overwhelmed, people have their own problems, can forget about things etc. Such can be very easily resolved. That is why there are layers of control in each company, where somebody's mishap is easy to see and rectify before releasing a car/product/documentation etc.

Such basic failures as described by OP are simply too much and testify that there was a massive, systemic failure of procedures in the company where all control layers failed and customer ended up picking a dirty, scratched, shoddy looking BRAND NEW CAR...

Perhaps there wasn't any "ill will" or "delibarete wrong doing" involved, I do not think so.

Still...

I went initially to dealer with my issues but got nowhere didn't even give me a curtesy call, so went straight to suk which dealer was not happy , dealer response " take both your ******* cars away from here never want to see you or ******* cars ever again " that's customer service ! Fortunately he is no longer allowed to sell new cars just quality second hand lol , I hope he goes bust oh and the dealer is

Gwyn

At skoda dealer, pant y waun , waunfawr , Gwynedd , n Wales ll55

You reap what you sow?

Personally I would back the car. The scratches alone would have made my mind up on that straight away. I have worked in the body repair industry all of my life in one way or another and would not want any paintwork taking place on my brand new car. Even just polishing the living daylights out of them to possibly get rid of them is not good enough. The words "fit for purpose" are ringing around in my head. You have bought a new car with second hand car problems. I would be asking the dealer to "start again" with my purchase or if they do not feel confident that they can supply a product without any issues, a full refund. It is not acceptable.

I think that's the thing, if the salesman on the day had said 'this needs sorting, take a loan car and we'll have it all sorted for you in a day or two' - I would have gone for that. They let the car go out knowing it was below standard.

Yes, I could have said I wouldn't accept it, but that's easier said and done later on when you have had time to think about it. I just wanted to get into my lovely new car that I had waited 12 weeks for!

As a first-time new car buyer unaware of the process, you rely on the integrity and honesty of the dealer. I know a reasonable amount about cars themselves but not necessarily about the process of buying a new one. Like I've said elsewhere it worries me that a less-savvy customer will get totally fleeced.

You hit the nail on the head there! I think you were right to write to SUK straight away as the more details you provide the more it sounds like they tried to sweep the whole underthe carpet hoping that starry eyed owner of a new car will not notice ... That with them later on mouthing back to you that you dared to complain seals the deal. I hope they will ge what they deserve and either clean up their act of go on to sell used lawnmovers!

A bit of an update....

So, the car went back to the dealer on Monday (3/6/13) so that the scratches could be polished/painted and the other bits and pieces made good. Originally told 2 days, this was then extended by a further 2 days because they 'had to paint the damage' - hmmm. This was what it was booked in for!

Anyway, today I went to collect my car. The scratch on the door had been buffed at best. Still in evidence - no better than before.

The side of the roof panel had been resprayed - badly.

There are very obvious masking marks above and below the repair area (the roof side strip above both doors). Basically very poorly repaired and certainly not what I would expect to see on a new car. Masking appears to have been removed when paint was nearly dry, causing rough edges which have then not been blended/reduced.

Very disappointed.

Dealer has kept the car, will be getting it back to the paint shop on Monday.

So what should I do now?! Skoda UK are calling me on Monday to see how I have got on.

Pics of paint edges below (hope you can see it ok!)

Just make sure it's perfect before you take it back. No scratches, no marks. If you can tell there has been any work done so will the next buyer when you try and sell the car

It should be as new and no less

If SUK ring just say there were issues and its gone back to be rectified again.

Reject that car now.

Demand a perfect new car.

They can wear the cost of their incompetence.

Whoever is responsible for turning that out without even an attempt to make it presentable and get past and untrained eye is a plonker.

That is a ridiculous condition to turn out a new vehicle to anyone.

Even a used car should not look like that.

If they were unhappy before at you contacting Skoda UK, they have the chance now to put things right and get a happy customer.

Vehicles in Transit get damaged and have Repairs done at various Centres, some Quay Side,

they are invisible repairs, not pathetic attempts at Re-finishing like your pictures show.

Did that go to a Paint Shop

or a 'Mobile Paint Technician', that popped along and messed about with all the gear and no idea?

george

Would I be in a position to reject?? Can it be returned on the basis of poor paint? Does having finance on the vehicle cause problems with that?

I really don't want to return my lovely car but I'm really concerned that any repairs are going to devalue it in the future...

As long as you can't see the repairs it should be fine

Maybe worth speaking with the finance company as legally they own the car.

If otherwise the car is perfect and they can get Professional work done then no need to reject.

Tell them 'In Writing' what you want,

A perfect car which you are taking to a Professional Paint Shop to be inspected at their expense to see that it is finished to a 'As new Condition.'

They should be able their selves to see when a car should not be going out to a customer.

If they do not have the Staff or contractor to do the perfect job, they are in no position to do the correct delivery.

george

As far as I am concerned, I don't want to reject the car - I just want a new car that looks like a new car.

I'm hoping that the 2nd repair is good, but I'm worried it won't be, and then what? Can these things be repaired over and over?, surely the area of paint repair will just get bigger and bigger!!

So frustrating!!!