Kind of frustrated.
 

This car, when purchased in Denmark are missing small key features, such as:

 

puddle lights in side mirrors

detachable flashlight in trunk

 

This is just stupid. What a cheap way to save a few bucks....

 

Coming from a French car, where I got everything just like this, for far less money. 
 

Feeling a bit disappointed, and kind of fooled.

 

 

See post #2 here for list of  Kodiaq  cost cutting items..

 

And here...

 

 

If you don't have electric memory front seats you lose the puddle lights under the door mirrors.

Well, that’s simply clever from Škoda’s point of view. Not so much for the customer.

It's a bit annoying for many of us I think who ordered their car before this cost cutting was put in place. If this penny pinching keeps up, my next Skoda will be my last. Seat are much more generous with their standard specs.

Edited 11 February, 20206 yr by bigiainw

12 hours ago, bigiainw said:

If this penny pinching keeps up.....

They've been doing it for years.

 

When they brought out the MkIII Octavia in 2013 a number of useful features on the MkII had either been removed or became cost options. 

 

Removal of aspherical glass in the wing mirrors, but you could buy Blind Spot Detection for £800.

 

No storage in the rear central arm rest, handy for keeping spare copies of your MoT, insurance, tickets and medication when traveling.

 

Removal of 'umbrella' storage under boot space retractable cover, handy for keeping your breakdown kit, torches, spare bulbs, or even an umbrella.

 

Removal of lockable panels on the side cubbies in the boot.  Stops things from spilling over into the boot (spare oil, coolant, air compressor, 1st Aid Kit) and you can really ram tons of stuff in there.

 Just to be clear about this - when people say they're disappointed etc, did they check the specifications of the car they were ordering? If the specs say you will have puddle lights and you're given a car that doesn't have puddle lights then that's a clear breach of contract. However if you didn't check the spec of the car before buying it then there's only one person to blame for being frustrated.

 

Regarding SEAT having more equipment as standard - I can't say about other markets, but here in the UK that is certainly not the case. I've just swapped my Ateca for a Karoq, one of the reasons being the Karoq was better value for money. And if you want, say automatic lights and wipers on your SEAT, then you're forced to upgrade to a higher model because SEAT no longer do options. With Skoda, you can pay a few hundered quid more to tailor your car, with SEAT it costs thousands more.

 

As for Renault being better equipped - why didn't you just buy a Renault then?  By the way, the OP says he's frustrated because the Skoda didn't have a detatchable flashlight in the trunk. So does the Renault come with a detachable flashlight in the trunk? 

 

 

Edited 13 February, 20206 yr by Guest

@Scot5 to be fair, a lot of the changes are things that were never on the spec sheet to begin with. On the spec sheet did it say removable flashlight in boot, seat rail covers etc? Probably not.

Edited 13 February, 20206 yr by ZacDaMan72

Even where the spec sheet specifically mentions an item, it usually says somewhere that things change without notice.  So no contractual promise can be inferred.

@Scot5, these changes are meant to be discreet. Skoda UK make it deliberately difficult to find what is standard and what isn't. They don't want you to notice.

 

You may not have noticed that Skoda have now ditched their dedicated 'Pricing & Specifications' brochure. This brochure listed almost all of the main features for each model, including some of the smaller details like the torch in the boot etc.

 

Instead they now include more detail in the main brochure but no where near the amount they used to, so it is now going to be even more difficult to determine what you get and what you don't.

 

Gone are the days when you got to check the spec line-by-line, and make direct comparisons with each model variant.

 

Go and tell me for sure which models get the ticket holder on the windscreen...

 

 

All this stuff is down to guess work from now on...

 

 

Don't bother asking your dealer either, they are even less likely to know.

 

Edited 13 February, 20206 yr by silver1011

I disagree, they know exactly what they believe you will want to hear 😀

 

Any resemblence between what they confidently state and truth is a coincidence.

Yes, this is exactly the situation I'm in. I ordered my Kodiaq Edition in late October, price protected (good news) and car is due sometime in March (I hope). I always ask the supplying dealer this Q: "in the brochure/price list, it more or less says, any of what you read may be incorrect, so check with your dealer. So please Mrs Dealer, tell me how my car will differ from the spec sheet?". The reply, with minor variations, is always "as far as we are aware, you'll get what's in the spec." Well, when I purchased my current Golf Estate, the delivered vehicle differed from the spec (should have had a colour version of the info screen between the dials - but it was B&W). VW and dealer responded rapidly, paid me a fair compensation, thanked me for pointing out the error, changed the online spec almost immediately.  

 

Fast forward: since my order date, there have been at least 2 revisions of the spec. Asked dealer "what will I actually get?" Reply was "what was in the spec just before the build date". In my case I guess that's the December price list. I'm not one to quibble without cause, but this is an interesting issue (to me at least) because the order is a contract, albeit with, no doubt, the get-out clause of "actual spec might change." So if there had been a very significant change - for example, if the electric passenger seat reverted to manual-only, or the front parking sensors disappeared, that's a 'red line' and I'd get all legal.

 

So far, the changes seem to be minor - unless anyone knows differently? What would your 'red lines' be (and I assume it wouldn't be "I wanted 2 umbrellas")

It really shouldn't be very difficult for Skoda UK to be able to establish and implement a system that allows their customers and dealers to view the latest vehicles specs and see changes as they're announced.

8 hours ago, DaveMiller said:

Even where the spec sheet specifically mentions an item, it usually says somewhere that things change without notice.  So no contractual promise can be inferred.

My point is that some of the removed features weren’t previously in the spec sheet - so how would a regular customer know? Dealers are hopeless with communicating these changes as well. 

1 hour ago, ZacDaMan72 said:

My point is that some of the removed features weren’t previously in the spec sheet - so how would a regular customer know? Dealers are hopeless with communicating these changes as well. 

OK ... but I was responding to the earlier claim by Scot5 that “ If the specs say you will have puddle lights and you're given a car that doesn't have puddle lights then that's a clear breach of contract”. 🙂

As DaveMiller says, a clear breach of contract, and the 'nuclear option' would be to reject the vehicle because the item is 'not as described' which breaks the Consumer Rights Act.

14 minutes ago, SinglePointSafety said:

As DaveMiller says, a clear breach of contract, and the 'nuclear option' would be to reject the vehicle because the item is 'not as described' which breaks the Consumer Rights Act.

What I actually said was: “Even where the spec sheet specifically mentions an item, it usually says somewhere that things change without notice.  So no contractual promise can be inferred.”

DaveMiller, apologies if I misquoted you. But my point stands: Skoda publish a spec/price/brochure, then tell you to 'check with your dealer', and having done so, that is the basis of the contract. Your Consumer Rights refer to the contract between you and the dealer (not Skoda UK) and, in theory, it's up to the dealer to tell you what the **actual** spec is of the vehicle.

And if more of us did it then Skoda might put a little more effort in developing a method or system to make these changes more transparent.

2 hours ago, silver1011 said:

And if more of us did it then Skoda might put a little more effort in developing a method or system to make these changes more transparent.

With the changes made, I think they don’t want much more communication made about it than current...

To the OP,

 

Just for clarification, were those items ever available in Denmark, and have subsequently been deleted from spec?

 

Or,  they were never available there, and you wish they were?

They were removed for all markets from the last week of November 2019...

 

 

Edited 14 February, 20206 yr by silver1011

15 hours ago, DaveMiller said:

What I actually said was: “Even where the spec sheet specifically mentions an item, it usually says somewhere that things change without notice.  So no contractual promise can be inferred.”

And this is key - Skoda have a clearly stated position that we have to reluctantly accept.

 

I also ordered a car in October and I know it will be missing a whole list of little things that have been mentioned above.

Most of which I have “enjoyed” on my old 2017 model - boot torch, umbrellas, red door lamps, puddle lamps, sun visor lamps (now in extra pack), etc. None of these are show-stoppers for me.

 

But, front parking sensors now included. Colour info screen standard. 
 

I specced my new car with eyes wide open, using the Brochure Of The Day.

 

When they stop providing heater knobs I’ll be looking elsewhere 😂

 

 

To be fair to Skoda they did say in their Skoda. Simply Clever adverts the torch was removable...

 

 

The vehicle I'm buying to replace my Octy Scout will be about 2-3 years old. The spec is the exact same as one being delivered fresh from the factory today; nothing has been added, and, more importantly, nothing has beentaken away. Which makes the purchase a very easy one. 

Removable as in the owner can remove it from the boot, not Skoda removing it from the standard specification.

 

A 2-3 year old Kodiaq won't be the exact same spec as a factory fresh one. The point of this thread is to highlight the changes / differences...