Sold it.

[Pumatron]

So, my woes with my dealer, and thought of letting them loose on my car after last times fiasco was the tipping point for me. I was getting very itchy feet anyway and the harsh ride with poor lumbar support was playing havoc on my back (18" wheels with sports suspension after long term ownership is not advisable if you've a delicate back!!).So after two years ownership I've sold it, goes next week. I will really miss it but my local dealers in part helped to ruin the Skoda experience. The pcp redemption was quite reasonable at £300 to pay to get out of the car with 18 months left to go on the plan. I may of had to think again if it was thousands!!! Some may think I'm mad but there we go, it's a done deal now. All the best to you all in the future.

[Dempsek]

Good luck with the new car, you have to do what is best for you and your body.

[themanwithnoaim]

Sounds like a great get out to me £300, hope you are recovering now.

[Mence]

Good news buddy, all the best for the future.

[Gabbo]

What are you getting as a replacement?

[Matt Pez]

Glad you got a deal that suited your situation. Good luck and good health for the future.

[Pumatron]

Thank you for the kind replies. I'm off back to Mercedes Benz. A new C250 c class amg. I've been hankering over one for a while and I just happened to pass my local merc dealer and see what I was after in the showroom. The numbers were right so I decided to be spontaneous and go for it. My local merc dealers were very good when I owned my last C200, I'm hoping things haven't changed much!!

[Pumatron]

So, my early 2013 Skoda Octavia 1.4 Elegance has been out of my ownership for the last week or so. I thankfully avoided having to take it the dealer from hell for its annual service and traded it in with the service warning light on. It will make a great low mileage buy for someone, if they can deal with rather harsh decision i made of 18 inch Golus wheels with sports suspension!! Ouch, my back aches at the thought of it. It was a good car, quite well built and gave me very little problems over 2 years, just woeful dealer experience. Which plays a big part of car ownership for me.

The new car (Mercedes C class-piccy below) is great so far and has exceeded my expectations in every way. The dealer has been sublime, with nothing to much trouble (I have never drunk so much tea/coffee/water :coffee:   etc).

The sales executive showed me the basic functions as i had the children with me on pick up, and I agreed to return at a later date which i have for a mammoth 2 hour session of showing every extensive function on the car. They even provided some goodies for the kids which were on the back seat for them when they uncovered the car. A nice touch I thought.

If only Skoda could take the same ethics, I was literally thrown the keys for my new octavia and told it was out front when i picked it up in 2013, and the service department, well we all know my opinions on that. This was two separate dealers, 200 miles apart. So from my experience a consistently poor customer service. Sorry but you need to try harder Skoda if you want to keep your customers. I doubt i will return unless things massively improve.   

I must say though this is an excellent forum and has been the best i have used, with some very level headed users. :clap:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kfckfc]

Very nice C250, look like adaptive LED lights too (v. envious).

 

My other car is a C220 AMG Sport (W204) and like yourself I was fortunate to have a first class handover at Mercedes they even paid for a stay at a De Vere Hotel the night before pick-up.

 

I am not sure what Skoda handover is like as I bought my Octavia used from a not franchise dealership. However my initial contact with Skoda servicing has not been good in the Hampshire area, trying to buy a Skoda service plan proved far harder than it should be with every Skoda dealership wanting to sell there own plan at rip-off prices. Even rang Skoda UK who passed me over to Skoda Finance who were both equally clueless, certainly wasn't 'Simply Clever'.

 

On a more positive note, I have had my Octavia for two weeks now and am still over the moon with it.

 

Good luck with the C250.

Edited 6 June, 2015 by kfckfc

[hobbie2k]

I have to say, the new C-Class is the first Merc in decades that I have found desireable (especially in Estate form), but here a base C is nearly three times as expensive as a base Octavia, and 50% more than a loaded vRS.

Enjoy.

[randomeclipse]

Looks like a lovely Merc, enjoy.

[M12MKD]

I like the new c class. It was on my list, but dealership is terrible near me, added to that they would not budge on price and even lied about the current MB campaign I've given it a miss.

It rides very well indeed.

[Gizmo]

There are a handful of good Škoda dealers out there, Allams (Epsom) is certainly one of them, despite having half a dozen dealers closer to us, they are certainly worth the travel, our experiance has been a mirror image of your Merc dealer.

[Pumatron]

There are a handful of good Škoda dealers out there, Allams (Epsom) is certainly one of them, despite having half a dozen dealers closer to us, they are certainly worth the travel, our experiance has been a mirror image of your Merc dealer.

Your right, I'm not doubting there is some good Skoda dealers out there, just never saw it in my ownership of my Octavia.

I have had terrible experiences with Mazda, Honda and Nissan dealers. They were all terrible with various things like failing to do safety recalls to stop the car catching alight, denying any problem with the car when I had the safety bulletins in my hand which proved the problem. Nissan was probably the worst. The 2nd hand car I got from them still had the previous owners junk in it, half eaten chewing gum, bottle of opened water, some onions in the boot, paperwork in glovebox, failed to rectify dents agreed during sale, it was real shambles. So to be fair I've not had many good dealer experiences!