One of my friends, a fifty-something head teacher, has had VWs for years but was interested in a Yeti because of my enthusiasm. When visiting a Skoda dealer in the north east of England, she asked a member of staff for ' more information about a Yeti'. 'It's all on the display board' was the reply, with which my head teacher friend took her wad of cash straight to a VW dealer, who COULD be bothered to talk to her and bought a £25,000 Tiguan.

What a let-down for the Brand, it only takes ONE uninterested member of staff to scupper a sale. Just a reply like 'one minute and I'll get someone to help you' would have been enough to retain my friend's custom.

Many Skoda dealers are first class, my own being Vindis in Bury St Edmund's from whom I have had exemplary service over 2 1/2 years.

My daughter had a similarly poor experience in a Midlands Skoda dealer and also went to VW with her cash.

I know there are always loads of bad dealership stories but I was disappointed that my friend spent her hard earned on a VW instead of a Yeti.

Having had a good look over the Tiguan, I concluded that I loved the colour, thought the styling maybe better than a Yeti BUT preferred the flexibility of Yeti's removable rear seats. In most ways the Tiguan seems a great alternative to a Yeti.

AFAIK all dealers out here are VW dealers with a Skoda outlet as an afterthought.

Maybe there is more profit margin in the VW.

aw, this needs enlarging a bit and sending off to Skoda UK principle.

They need to hear of Poor & Good experiences.

Feedback is good for the soul.

 

If they dont receive feedback, they cant solve the problems.

Dealer principle also needs a copy.

 

Heh, why not send the principle a copy of this thread?

Edited 27 July, 201510 yr by Carlo diesel

aw, this needs enlarging a bit and sending off to Skoda UK principle.

They need to hear of Poor & Good experiences.

Feedback is good for the soul.

 

If they dont receive feedback, they cant solve the problems.

Dealer principle also needs a copy.

Excellent point.

All businesses need feedback or they're going out of business.

The message is, sadly, clear but it would have more impact if you felt free to name the dealer in question.  That would be helpful to members and, just possibly, prompt the dealer to investigate. 

Depends how they pay and treat the staff really. If the staff are on a nice commission and are treated with respect then you will usually get top notch service. If the staff are on minimum wage with no commission or benefits then they probably couldn't give a hoot. £25,000 is a hefty chunk of change to miss out on.

Name & shame both - so that Škoda Uk can send in the Brand Police  

From personal experience, dealers seem to employ customer surveyors to get critical feedback once you become a customer of theirs.

Every aspect is covered and confidentiality is assured.

It's incredibly competitive in such a product diverse market as a result of a free trade agreement with Thailand, Japan and S Korea putting pricing pressure on European manufacturers and a bad dealer is toast.

There are libel implications to 'naming & shaming' so I'm hoping said dealership knows who they are.

Use the word 'allegedly' then  There will be no legal implication for commenting one a specific case of poor customer service. If that was the case, review sites would get shut down.

Well report them to Škoda UK then?

 

Only libellous if not true and what you've described is a statement of facts, no?

 

Sorry if this sounds a tad prickly, but how are these unacceptable customer practices going to be corrected if we don't take them to task?

 

Most reputable dealerships would not tolerate this treatment of potential customers - I think I'd have gone straight to the dealer principal in those circumstances!

Just bear in mind most dealerships are part of large multi site groups who may cover half a dozen manufacturers or more. Staff get moved around between sites so the member iof staff could now be at the vw dealership, or Renault, kia....

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

Hi when I bought my "Snowman", Test drove Subaru Forester, Holden Captiva,Mazda,Nissan, VW Tiguin etc.

Have had many vehicles, + over 3/4 MILLION KM of driving experience.

When I climbed into my Snowman, it was perfect and I haven't regretted my decision since, ease of access,

+ confort, plus my friend's, comments, when the doors close, you get the experience of Quality.

The service or lack of it really shows with my Skoda Dealer

compared to the years of brilliant service from my Ford dealer

and it is not all to do with money. We love our Yeti but not the

dealer.

Can't you just name the town/locality without naming? it then becomes fairly obvious!

 

 

Only libellous if not true and what you've described is a statement of facts

 

 

Absolutely, as long as what you are saying is true, no need to worry. Name and shame away.

Edited 28 July, 201510 yr by fatwomble

I'm possibly a bit out of step with everyone else here but I've just re-read the OP a couple of times and all I can see is that a member of staff said, "It's all on the display board" in reply to a question about info on the Yeti. There must be more to it than that, was it a salesperson or a receptionist trying to plug the gap until a salesman was available, what else was said.

 

I'm all for naming and shaming but long experience has taught me to believe what *I* know to be true.

I agree with longedge. The OP got this information second hand.

I agree with, the thought that you cannot improve service if you don't know where you are failing, & the only way to know is to tell the business.

 

If it is true that the customer was told all the info you need is on the board, then my parting shot would have been - You obviously dont need customers as you must have a magic money tree out back keeping you in business, I will take my money elsewhere.

I had a similar issue with both skoda and VW dealers

I agree with, the thought that you cannot improve service if you don't know where you are failing, & the only way to know is to tell the business.

and I agree with that 100%. Anytime I run up against shoddy service I make my feelings clear there and then in a voice loud enough for anyone and everyone to hear.

 

For the sake of accuracy, the OP quote was "It's all on the display board" with no mention of need.

 

My feeling is that it wasn't a salesman. When I'm looking around at cars, my experience is that if I show any interest I get shown to a comfortable chair and offered a cup of coffee so that I can be browbeaten into buying. It just doesn't equate to any experience I've had at any motor dealership.

I'm going to contact the dealer principle at Derek Slacks in Middlesbrough over their apparent non-requirement to sell a car.

1. Found they were selling a car I want.

2. Checked Autotrader and found a higher spec version with less miles getting sold for the same price. The difference was DSG and optional more expensive paint.

3. Started emailing them, a salesman bounced a few emails back and forth. I explained there price to me was too high due to it having lesser options for the same money. But I was interested in theirs if they would look at the price. Cash buyer.

4. He pushed me on a figure, so I started with an offer of £1500 less than what they were asking (I deducted the cost of the missing DSG and paint)

5. Just had an email telling me he couldn't get anywhere near and he would let me know if he found "something similar in that price bracket"

WTF? Didn't even come back with ANY sort of counter offer. Just no.

Dealers out here want you face to face before they will deal with you seriously.

Dealers out here want you face to face before they will deal with you seriously.

Rubbish. Some of my best deals were done over phone/email before even seeing a car. Especially if the dealership was some distance away.

Also, I've already put my money where my mouth was in buying a new Blackline off them a few years ago. So to not even offer me so much as a pound off is insulting.

By the way, since posting on #22 I've sent further emails to the Derek Slack salesman. Sent him the links of the cars that are £1000 cheaper than his from other official Skoda dealers. He replied telling me he's seen them, yet still no discount was offered.

I'll be picking the phone up first thing Saturday morning (I'm away in Egypt) when I'm back and I'll be buying a Black Edition Yeti from somewhere else. When I've done the deal I'll contact the dealer principle at Slacks and tell him my thoughts, forwarding him the email chain between myself and his salesman.

Rubbish. Some of my best deals were done over phone/email before even seeing a car. .

I said "out here".

Maybe in your neck of the woods but from the prices I've seen you seem to be getting ripped off.

They practically sell cars 'at cost' out here and hope to lock you in to v profitable servicing and make up also on the trade in.

If you're a cash buyer with no trade in, there's b all fat.

As an example MarieK's old car is being offered for what we would pay for a new one.

You can't compare markets in different hemispheres.