Skoda UK's response to owners views

[MikeWales]

Hi all,

 

Further to my post in the Clutch Click! Driving Me Mad! thread.

 

After having no joy with customer services at Skoda UK, who just repeated dalek-like, 'this is a characteristic and not a fault', I did email the new managing director of Skoda UK, Alasdair Stewart with firstly my very positive opinions of Skoda cars, in particular my Yeti, and up until now our Citigo.

 

The next day, 'one of a small team that works directly with Alasdair Stewart' rang me. Unfortunately he again repeated the same mantra, 'it is a characteristic.....

 

He suggested that cost may also be a factor in a fault a car may have. I said so you re saying that I should have bought a more expensive car!

 

I asked if anyone at Skoda UK reads the Briskoda website, He said that they were not interested in reading owner's websites/forums and they deal with cars that are presented to dealers with faults and not owners views.

 

Nice to know that the views of car owners are important to manufacturers!

 

So ladies and gentlemen, there you have it, the view of our vehicles distributors - time for a change, I think!  

 

 

Edited 8 September, 2014 by MikeWales

[mannyo]

We happen to know that Skoda UK do read this forum, we've had an issue in the past where a member had their warranty revoked as a result of posts on this very forum. One member also almost lost their job within the dealer network as a result of posting here and the intervention of Skoda UK.

They may officially not view websites and forums, but they do if you know what I mean.

Please do not cross post across multiple forums, its against Briskoda rules.

[MikeWales]

We happen to know that Skoda UK do read this forum, we've had an issue in the past where a member had their warranty revoked as a result of posts on this very forum. One member also almost lost their job within the dealer network as a result of posting here and the intervention of Skoda UK.

They may officially not view websites and forums, but they do if you know what I mean.

Please do not cross post across multiple forums, its against Briskoda rules.

 

Mannyo, sorry about the cross post, I wasn't aware. 

 

Re Skoda UK viewing this forum - I am only repeating what I was told by their representative. 

 

Having worked in the entertainment industry for over 35 years, where customer's opinion is vital and paramount, I find it a strange comment on Skoda owners, to say the least.

 

At the end of a very long day, I am not here to stir the Cach (Welsh). All I would like is our clutch click stopped! 

[M12MKD]

Skoda UK and the dealer network and fully aware of this forum.

[MikeWales]

M12MKD, thanks for the comment, but you are only repeating what the Mod said.

 

I am trying to move on, hence the last line in my last post.  :cocktail:

[EikokuSanzoku]

Was he paraphrasing the legendary Gerald Ratner?

 

"People say, "How can you sell this for such a low price?", I say, "because it's total crap."

 

 

 

 

 

 

He suggested that cost may also be a factor in a fault a car may have.....is Slovakian for it's a gem.....

[bluecar1]

the same fault is on the VW UP!, and SEAT Mii, both of which are more expensive than the Citigo, and the whole of VAG say the same, it is a characteristic

 

if it was an easy design fix there would have been an updated peddle box at some point, but there wasn't so I am inclined to think either they do not know the exact cause (I doubt this) or the redesign / re-tooling costs are prohibitive for something which is not a safety issue (more likely)

 

while I agree it is an annoyance it is not a reason to bin a car, the car is fantastic value and fun to drive

 

if you look at Japanese or other European manafacturers who's cars cost more will have many issues, you might not have the clutch click but you will have other issues

 

Skoda UK are between a rock and a hard place they have to toe the VAG party line or they could lose their franchise to sell Skoda cars in the UK and keep customers happy so they sell cars

[oldstan]

To clarify my own understanding, I said today, in another, related, post on this forum, that Skoda told me on the phone today, that they are aware of the clutch click issue and that it has affected some early production cars but they have now, apparently,  corrected it on current production cars.  I simply advise what was said to me today by a senior Skoda representative in response to my email to  their MD.

 

What remains unclear to me (but not necessarily to Skoda UK... who obviously know better than I do) is what happens to the earlier production vehicles that have it.

 

Some unaffected users here have said it's just a minor annoyance - put up with it.  If you don't have it's not even an annoyance...it's someone elses problem.  If you do have it it's a bane, I'm sure.

 

Having, seemingly, clarified that it's now been addressed by Skoda on current cars (by some sort of modification that I'm not privy to)  the question is whether a retrospective correction could be applied to the vehicles that do have it.  Other users who have contacted Skoda have said that their cars won't be rectified but maybe that situation could change?? I don't know.  I think there are currently three threads covering the subject so maybe interested parties would be advised to check them all to see it anything happens in the foreseeable.

Edited 8 September, 2014 by oldstan

[cseach]

Hello,

My first post here but felt the need to add a comment on this.

I purchased a new citigo in June...  the original purchase was not smooth and my dealer eventually worked hard to sort out the issues.

 

However after 1800 miles the car developed the clicking clutch. I returned the car to the dealer who replaced the clutch pedal but unfortunately after just 500 miles the click returned. This time the dealer said that Skoda uk advised them to not replace these pedals and to advise owners that no solution was available. The dealer advised me to contact Skoda Uk which i did.

 

After 10 minutes on the phone it soon became apparent that i was going to get nowhere, they advised me to ring round different dealers for a second opinion. I eventually gave up.

 

I think there are two points here that skoda hopefully are aware of;

 

If owners test drive cars which have the clutch click, the chances are they wouldn't go on to purchase a Citigo, Personally if the car i drove would have had the clutch click i would not have gone on to make a purchase. (its easy for people to say "ignore it, its a minor issue) but it does spoil the enjoyment of driving.

 

Secondly as the smallest and cheapest car in the range, skoda / VW / Seat will of course be hoping that owners go on to purchase a bigger, more expensive car after their Citigo. Now perhaps its not a big enough issue to deter some owners but Skodas apparent lack of empathy, and or ability to fix a component on a car says to me that i'm not being valued as a customer and any future car purchase will have this taken into account. 

 

Yes the Citigo is a brilliant little car and yes its fun to drive, its economical, its cheap to run but unfortunately with a clicking clutch it lets itself down. 

 

Chris

[MikeWales]

Totally agree Chris - spot on  :sun:

[oldstan]

A warm welcome, cseasch, and may I briefly say you have concisely and reasonably offered an opinion which, those with the clicking problem, will readily recognize.  And, understandably, those without it will be less concerned......but I hope the latter group will still have a care for the former group insofar as any one of us could experience a problem whereby we seek the assistance of our dealer or Skoda UK and would hope to receive a sympathetic ear from either, or both.  And, clearly, there does remain a number of customers who haven't been able to get a reasonable resolution to their issues...which is a shame and I still hope that they may, as paying customers with a choice of manufacturers to choose from in the future,  get their problem sorted in the foreseeable.

[2SkodaFamily]

For something to be classified as a "characteristic", wouldn't all cars have to exhibit the same thing? I only say this as I'm sure SWMBO's Citigo doesn't make this noise.

 

IMHO, Characteristic translates to "random manufacturing fault we can't be arsed to fix".

[The Plumber]

Possible the issue is the car is not actually built by Skoda (apart from the engine), so they have less control over production design updates :wonder:

 

Similar I suppose to the oil consumption issues with some vRS Fabia's; the engine is another product of VW manufacture. Where Skoda do have more control, then they do strive to fix things; chain rattle on their 1.2TSI for example.

 

 

Oh on the subject of communication, then having once communicated directly with the manufacturer, they seemed much more genuinely interested in helping customers then I've ever found with our importer; a shame we cannot buy direct and cut out the awkward middle man

 

 

 

TP

[Pistol]

I've had my Citigo SE for almost a year now and done virtually 14k miles. The clicking kicked in permanently at 2k miles. I have reported to the dealership (Blade in Gloucester) and to Skoda UK. The responses consisted of variations on the same general platitudes that others on this forum have received :-

- "its a characteristic".

- but despite the above the issue is "under investigation".

- "unable to do anything about it".

- "it's a feature of the model".

- "it's not a safety issue".

Then a new unexpected opinion was provided when I took my car into Blade for its first service. The technician came out to greet me and said he knew what it was and he would show me. He said it was a fuel saving feature and if I looked down in the drivers side footwell (behind and just above the pedals) I would see a blue lever which moves with each clutch press/release. Depress the clutch and it cuts off fuel to the engine. Release and the opposite happens.

Sounded to me like he was describing something similar to stop/start (I know very little about car mechanics) but my car is not the Greentech.

When I asked how many other Citigos he had seen with this "characteristic" (not his quote") he said "one". So why did my car have this amazing blue lever ? He did not know but he was "99.9%" certain that was what was causing the noise. He was on his hands and knees demonstrating this by pushing the clutch up and down with one hand and touching the blue lever with the other.

Why did I only start to get the noise after 2k miles ? He did not know.

Lovely bloke but none of it stacked up for me. My invoice states "Checked for clutch clicking and found to be Clutch Switch".

Case not closed for me and I will raise it as an issue at every service but continue to live with it.

On every other count (bar a jarring noise from rear seat if you go over a bump, where it connects into the metal bar - resolved if you put the rear seats down) I love the car !

[Stormchaser]

If that was the case then everyone's car would cut out on every gearchange. Sounds like complete b*****ks to me [emoji6]

[mannyo]

The Citigo is actually built by VW on the same VW production line that produces the Up!, not by Skoda. A quick google search shows that eveven the Up! has the same problem of clicking clutch, take this thread as just one example of many

http://www.upownersclub.co.uk/forum/clutch-clicking_topic1704.html

And the google search

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=vw+up+clicking+clutch

Someone who had their Up! fixed.

http://www.upownersclub.co.uk/forum/clutch-pedal-click-noises_topic5065.html

[Pistol]

It is a complete load of tosh, you're right.

[Owens]

Sounds like the blue switch is Cruse control cut off switch for when the pedal is pressed. There would be a similar switch on the break pedal as well. This would mean the break pedal would be making the same noise!!!!

[Pistol]

Hi Owens.

It would be nice if I had cruise control but I don't (standard SE).

I've just taken a look for the first time and the 'switch' is just a tiny (3cm or so) piece of blue plastic that sits neatly right at the top of the clutch pedal stalk. You have to literally shove your head right down in the footwell and shine a torch up and you can just see it. There isn't one on the brake pedal stalk.

[dyljam]

So I had the clutch click start 7 days after buying my brand new car September 2013. Now a year on and in the lead up to my first service (a 1 month ago) I mentioned the clicking. They looked at it and said they would book it in to replace the clutch housing. They have today replaced said clutch housing and hey presto, no clutch click.

 

Hope this helps some of you.

[Pistol]

Result !

[Beaglegem]

Having experienced the 'clutch click' on my Citigo for some time (it wasn't evident on delivery), my local dealership unfortunately did not manage to cure the problem when the car was in for the first service. However, having contacted Skoda direct, and having received a positive and professional response from their Ian Watson, my Citigo's clutch pedal was replaced under warranty last Wednesday. On this occasion my local dealership, Progress in Northampton, and Skoda H.O. have both provided an excellent customer experience. Hope this helps.

Edited 10 October, 2014 by Beaglegem

[mac11irl]

so... Does this mean a possible cure for all clicky clutches come service time???

[Owens]

Do you mean they have replaced the clutch pedal housing or the gearbox/engine clutch housing?

[Beaglegem]

Sorry 'Owens', they just said that they had replaced the clutch pedal.