You'll tell from the tone of all this that I've had a slap in the face, been spectacularly let down by Skoda

 

2 months after placing an order on a Superb Estate L and K Dsg Tdi 190ps, suddenly, after total silence from dealer, they called. Great I thought, new car ready? No, not at all. They told me that the 190 is no

longer available even though it became unavailable long after my order went in but all the same, a new alternative order will be needed. 

To add insult to injury the dealer, who proclaims to be in the dark as much as me can't say whether the scrappage discount lodged at order time, will be honoured on a new order which would now be out of the the qualifying period. That's it, so far, nothing else back, it's always me who has to call. 

Firstly, why a new order, why can't it just be modified i.e. an alternative engine? Secondly, why the doubt over scrappage discount? Wasn't me who caused all this. I'm actually getting sick of it. Not a hint of apology from dealer, no concern even, nothing. 

This was my first look into the world of Skoda. All I want is a nice shiny car, I'm holding out the money fgs.  Anyone else has this? Buying a car is supposed to be great experience..Not!

I really feel let down. Back to square one and I'll probably go and get an Audi A6 now.

 

However I don't give up easily and I may prove that the dealer is legally bound to honour a signed order at least in terms of preserving the original costs. 

 

What ever happened to customer care?

 

I'll definitely update on this because I don't want others to have the same happening to them. 

 

 

Edited 10 May, 20188 yr by davembk

Looks like you have to demand the return of the deposit and then start again elsewhere.

It's interesting that on the configurator you can still spec the Superb L&K Estate 190ps with manual g/box, but not with DSG. We have an Octavia Scout 184ps DSG on order (ordered about the same time) and as far as I know, that's still going ahead with an unconfirmed build week 22. Our dealer did say that if we'd ordered two weeks later we couldn't have had that Engine/gearbox combination, but at the time you could only order the Scout DSG with the 2.0 TDI 184PS engine or the manual version with the 2.0 TDI 150PS engine. Petrol versions were available in Europe but not the UK. I'll wait for bad news with interest. 

Not sure if its the same engine but the 190 diesel on the VW passats dropped of our company car list some months ago.

I have ordered a 150 bhp passat (dont have skoda on our list sadly) and when i spoke to the dealer they noted that the VAG diesel range is in all sorts of flux and even a delivery date of septe/oct could not be guarenteed :(

Thanks for your comments. 

Here's an update. 

The dealer salesperson was not moving things along at all. I'd called him at least a couple of times and all he'd said was, that it was in the the hands of Skoda (this was presumably about whether I'd still get scrappage on my old car as after all it was not my fault that the scrappage date was now passed. I'd already told the dealer I'd settle for the 150 now) Still nothing back from him. So I then raised a case directly with Skoda via their help line. Eventually managed to speak with someone who called back after a couple of days. Even though I'd explained the problem clearly when I raised the case, the person I spoke to seemed vague and I had to explain all over again. After this and with still no response from either there nor dealer, I decided I'd had enough and have cancelled the order completely. I have since found a pre registration of almost what I originally wanted ie without options, at another dealer network. 

As of now I have still heard absolutely nothing from Skoda reference the case I raised. 

So that means I'd still be no further forward. 

I really am at a loss to explain why everyone seems so sluggish. After all here's someone waving around £30,000 in their faces yet it's like I'm buying a set of floor mats. I don't get it. What did I do wrong?

 

This is my first venture into the world of Skoda and I'm really hoping that all of this is not a nasty taste of things to come, having to wrestle with big sluggish corporates when things go wrong. 

 

I've had my  2005 Honda Accord Tourer Sport 2.2cdti since new when it was a company car, that I then bought in 2008. 

In that 10 years it's been serviced at a small local garage. 

Never any problems, always get to speak with the mechanic/ owner direct. 

In fact the car is going great (just a bit tatty and probably after 153k miles storing up some reliability issues although it's never ever broken down) and I sometimes wonder after all this, why am I getting a new car?!

 

Yes it's great to have a new car but that's all we want, a new car, Not the hassle!

 

So I'm hoping that the culture shock of dealing in future with things eg dealer outlets much bigger and impersonal than what I've been used to will in a word, be ok. 

Edited 19 May, 20188 yr by davembk
Adding more

Sounds piddle poor to me.

 

My local VW is absolutely the opposite  end of the scale, hence why I keep going back.

 

Always found my local BMW dealership to be like your Skoda experience :(

I really wanted to try a 335d but they were not interested at all, I had to keep ringing them and popping in etc but they couldn't be bothered to find a 335d, so I went back to my VW dealer again and bought another Golf, thier loss.

 

Hope the new pre-registration works out.

A chance to save some money

^^^ No use them offering discounts when the Factory has stopped building certain models,  engines / drivetrains unless they have stock already built or in transit which can be supplied.

Always worth a try cost nothing

2 hours ago, Offski said:

^^^ No use them offering discounts when the Factory has stopped building certain models,  engines / drivetrains unless they have stock already built or in transit which can be supplied.

 

All sorted,

 

Happy ending

 

After days of being told by the dealer that they "can't do anything, it's up to Skoda Head Office", and after getting little back from Skoda Customer Support either, over whether my scrappage deal would be preserved, now past cut-off but through absolutely No fault of mine, I went to plan B.

 

.....Found what I'd originally wanted, a 190 ps DSG, albeit pre-reg, in Chesterfield, the lower price easily making up for the lost £4k scrappage, a good £1.5k less net overall, which will also  pay for the main option I'll need to retrofit (towbar)

 

The whole process with this new dealer was worlds away from the chaos of before.

 

Here, any anxieties that I might have had, evaporated. Great service, great car, great handover.

 

Summary:

Early March, using Build Your Own Skoda etc, went to the dealer, ordered car, paid £1k deposit.

 

A silent two months, then, dealer called: Sorry old chap, car's not happening, Skoda's pulled that config (190 ps DSG)

But your Honour, the config was available....It was on Build Your Own Skoda etc, we sat there together and made the order...

 

Anyway, I said ok, I'll have what's available then please, (150 ps DSG) and it would be really great if I could still have scrappage, because you'd agree, none of this is down to me.

"Sorry again old chap", hear what you're saying, etc but, hands tied, in the lap of the Skods as they say....

Ok. I'll consult the Skods.

 

Raised a case. Days passed...black hole.....nothing...

 

So, cancelled, found pre-reg, the 190 ps DSG I'd wanted, and this shabby, debilitating fiasco was magnificently eclipsed forever by the joy of joys of finally collecting my new, new car, from that great place in Chesterfield -:)

 

Finally, an update on my support case:

 

Yesterday, after almost two weeks of nothing, got a call from Skoda Customer Service:

Bad news again: Skoda was NOT going to preserve any scrappage deal. As far as they were concerned this was going to be a brand new order, even though forced by their own decisions etc. As a new order, it was outside the scrappage end date.

 

 I'd already climbed out from this mess, and didn't care much, but what if I had just waited.....and waited........?

No one, Skoda itself included, seemed bothered. Who needs customers anyway....!?

 

And anyway again, I'm happy now and luckily, unless a con-rod snaps in the wrong place, that dealer is far enough way for me to never have to go near. Although to be fair, in hindsight, was there a lot practically that they could have done?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 26 May, 20188 yr by davembk
grammar

erm yes its called customer service name and shame i say

5 hours ago, cssuk said:

erm yes its called customer service name and shame i say

Good point

Because without naming and shaming the spotlight could fall on a completely innocent dealer

 

So, stopping short though of actually naming a dealer, as I don't know what implications there are,  I will say, my original trip to order the car was to the seaside town of Weston Super Mare

 

One more update. 

The aftermarket towbar fitting went ok in the end

 

I went to my local Skoda dealer who is halfway between Taunton and Bridgwater

 

After this recent rubbish experience in WSM

I was a bit cynical and on edge. 

 

So when I got a call to say the towbar install  had hit a problem due to a part missing I just thought "here we go again"

 

But the dealer really did come good and next day the problem was sorted and all is well. 

 

And to be fair it wasn't their fault.