Multiple Issues - Ignition / Starting related - would be grateful for advice

Hi All,

I'm hoping some of the wise heads on here may be able to offer some advice and expertise. Apologies for the long'ish post - I'm trying to make sure all relevant info is included.

A few weeks back my 08 Octavia VRS cut out while I was driving home, car was warm, there was an audible click and all the needles in the dials dropped to zero but the lights / radio stayed on. I tried restarting the car several times and there was no response at all - throttle felt dead, no reaction etc from turning the key. Taking the key out and reinserting got the car to start again and I got home without further incident. When I got home and switched the car off it wouldn't start again no matter what I did.

It started again the next morning and I got it to the local Skoda dealer. They diagnosed a faulty ignition switch which was replaced, along with other bits that they recommended and that I had been meaning to get done anyway (new front discs/pads, new rear wiper motor, fix a split in the feeder pipe for the rear wash wipe, resolve issue for drivers side mirror not demisting).

Within 48hrs of receiving the car back it once again wouldn't start and I had to have it recovered back to the dealer. They advised that they had been able to start the car at least once and that a relay needed replacing which they did FOC. So far so good on the starting issues (it's been a week now) but on receiving the car back this time I noticed that it was flashing up the service reminder - could just be a coincidence, it was last serviced about a year ago. It was also flashing strange symbols in the LCD panels where the climatronic system usually shows the selected temperature. The letters FR appear in the bottom left hand corner of the panel - a strange symbol in the centre and what looks like an 8 on the right hand side. These flash for around 15 seconds every time I start the car before it returns to normal with the selected temperature displayed.

I sent a video of this to the dealer who have advised that their initial view is that a new control unit would be required but they are double checking that. The control unit is particularly expensive - to me anyway - at £550 + VAT so I really want to get a clear understanding of this if I can.

My concern / confusion here is as follows:

- If the relay has resolved the starting issues then was the ignition switch actually faulty and requiring replacement to begin with (£10 relay vs. £250 odd ignition switch)?

- Replacing the relay has introduced the flashing symbols on the climate control (they weren't there before) so I'm curious as to whether that work caused any damage to the control unit which requires it to be replaced? Either way I'm not sure that I should be footing the bill for the control unit in this instance as the issue has resulted from work done by the dealer?

I have asked these questions of the dealer but I would very much appreciate any independent advice / input from folk on here who know much more about this than I do.

Thanks in advance for any replies.