Dropped mine on Thursday, had nothing in writing from anyone to say they formally accept the reject, promised calls from Skoda never happened.

 

I have a hire car but don't paticularly know why! As in, nobody from any of the parties involved has actually said conclusively what their intention is.

 

So, I have been in touch with VW Finance asking them to take on the complaint and process the reject, given nobody has actually said they accept it.

 

I will give it until sometime later this week, and if I don't have something in writing saying they accept the reject I am going to ask for something in writing to say they do NOT accept the reject. At least with that I can go to the Motor Ombudsman and raise a case.

 

I raised my initial reject complaint one week ago, which may not seem much, but I told them from the outset I will not accept this dragging out for months, and I mean it. 

 

I have also asked for all contact to be by email now. Everyone else should insist on it too, when there are phonies who promise to ring you on a set day and not only do not do that, but have staff claim they are unavailable when you end up trying to call them yourself.

1 hour ago, neonplanet40 said:

I left my car with the garage (after being contacted and arranged by Kate Laws, like others on here) on Saturday. They could give me no idea if when I would get it back. They said that they have already had a car in for over a month to no avail.

May I ask which dealership this is?

1 hour ago, fox2319 said:

I picked mine up from the dealer on Sept 1st and reported it to them on Sept 2nd. However, I only raised an issue with Skoda UK at the start of October.

 

I've now successfully rejected the car

Pretty conclusive that they knew about the issue before Christmas then and were still selling the car. Shocking stuff.

For those that are rejecting and bought outright, have you had a 'buy back' offer yet? It seems if you reject after 30 days, Skoda take off an amount per mile (which I think is shocking as they delivered a faulty car).

27 minutes ago, OctaviaFirstEdit said:

Pretty conclusive that they knew about the issue before Christmas then and were still selling the car. Shocking stuff.

 

Well, I mentioned it back in this thread, but I got mine at the start of December and the very first update the dealer first used to try and fix my car pre-dates the day I bought it.

 

So not only have Skoda not been asking for vehices to be returned by dealers, but the dealers aren't even bothering to apply existing updates to vehicles prior to collection day.

 

What on earth is the point of having a car that exists in the modern-day world of software and updates and not even bother using them?

@Gax My car has been in to the dealers today, apparently there were two software update recalls outstanding which have been applied and they said they should resolve my issues.

 

The version number 0892 is still the same after these updates so I'm unsure what they have actually done.

 

Interestingly I've received an email from Kate Laws at Skoda UK today saying that an update to resolve all issues with A8 vehicles is being released shortly.

59 minutes ago, fossman said:

@Gax My car has been in to the dealers today, apparently there were two software update recalls outstanding which have been applied and they said they should resolve my issues.

 

The version number 0892 is still the same after these updates so I'm unsure what they have actually done.

 

Interestingly I've received an email from Kate Laws at Skoda UK today saying that an update to resolve all issues with A8 vehicles is being released shortly.

That is interesting. I got an email that indicated that they were still not close! Anyone else heard this from Kate Laws?

I spoke to Kate yesterday and the only update was she would ring me next week !  Thanks. Ajay. 

On 26/04/2021 at 10:00, Coume said:

May I ask which dealership this is?

It's West End Skoda in Stirling.

1 hour ago, Ajdude said:

I spoke to Kate yesterday and the only update was she would ring me next week !  Thanks. Ajay. 

 

She told me one week ago that she would ring me last Friday.

 

She still hasn't.

I will say one thing which is slightly off topic but related to the fact we are dealing with a person on the other of the phone.  
 

Whilst organising a hire car, I required it big enough to transport a large dog, which after some effort Skoda managed to do so.  Sadly though the day I picked up the car, our dog was diagnosed with bone cancer and had to be put to sleep.  Very unexpected and upsetting!
 

In an email response from a request by Kate to put blankets down in the boot I told her it was no longer an issue given the situation. 
 

Two days later, I received a food hamper and a condolence note from Skoda UK.
 

it was a very thoughtful gesture.  It just showed me that they do actually care about there customers.  

17 minutes ago, Ajdude said:

I will say one thing which is slightly off topic but related to the fact we are dealing with a person on the other of the phone.  
 

Whilst organising a hire car, I required it big enough to transport a large dog, which after some effort Skoda managed to do so.  Sadly though the day I picked up the car, our dog was diagnosed with bone cancer and had to be put to sleep.  Very unexpected and upsetting!
 

In an email response from a request by Kate to put blankets down in the boot I told her it was no longer an issue given the situation. 
 

Two days later, I received a food hamper and a condolence note from Skoda UK.
 

it was a very thoughtful gesture.  It just showed me that they do actually care about there customers.  

So sorry to hear of the loss of your beloved dog.

 

A very nice touch from Kate & Skoda UK.

59 minutes ago, Ajdude said:

I will say one thing which is slightly off topic but related to the fact we are dealing with a person on the other of the phone.  
 

Whilst organising a hire car, I required it big enough to transport a large dog, which after some effort Skoda managed to do so.  Sadly though the day I picked up the car, our dog was diagnosed with bone cancer and had to be put to sleep.  Very unexpected and upsetting!
 

In an email response from a request by Kate to put blankets down in the boot I told her it was no longer an issue given the situation. 
 

Two days later, I received a food hamper and a condolence note from Skoda UK.
 

it was a very thoughtful gesture.  It just showed me that they do actually care about there customers.  

Sorry for the loss. Dogs are fab.

 

Nice of Skoda to do this.

Thanks for condolence messages.  much appreciated. 

 

Has anyone had anymore feedback from their garages about the current state.  It sounds like for some it has been a number of weeks without any feedback and an indication of when cars will be returned to them?

 

I know my car hasn't moved since last Thursday according to the mySKODA app.

8 minutes ago, Ajdude said:

Thanks for condolence messages.  much appreciated. 

 

Has anyone had anymore feedback from their garages about the current state.  It sounds like for some it has been a number of weeks without any feedback and an indication of when cars will be returned to them?

 

I know my car hasn't moved since last Thursday according to the mySKODA app.

There is no news. It is obviously much harder than they thought to sort. I heard from the Brand Liaison Manager yesterday confirming there is still no date to any fix. My car is been at the garage now for 3 weeks. I am in the throws of rejecting so if there was any hope that something was in the pipeline, I think she would have told me.

33 minutes ago, Ajdude said:

Thanks for condolence messages.  much appreciated. 

 

Has anyone had anymore feedback from their garages about the current state.  It sounds like for some it has been a number of weeks without any feedback and an indication of when cars will be returned to them?

 

I know my car hasn't moved since last Thursday according to the mySKODA app.

 

My car hasn't moved for almost 3 weeks; however, for the last 7-10 days, the Vehicle status is not available anymore so I can't see the total mileage nor the fuel left in the tank. 

 

4 minutes ago, Coume said:

 

My car hasn't moved for almost 3 weeks; however, for the last 7-10 days, the Vehicle status is not available anymore so I can't see the total mileage nor the fuel left in the tank. 

 

I never bothered with Skoda Connect so no idea about the status of mine. It all sounds as though the fix is still some time off yet,

57 minutes ago, Ajdude said:

Thanks for condolence messages.  much appreciated. 

 

Has anyone had anymore feedback from their garages about the current state.  It sounds like for some it has been a number of weeks without any feedback and an indication of when cars will be returned to them?

 

I know my car hasn't moved since last Thursday according to the mySKODA app.

 

I'm actually starting to find the childish incompetence of all parties as slightly amusing (slightly) and none are doing themselves any favours for if I pursue this with the ombudsman, which I will.

 

This Sunday will be two weeks since I emailed to formally reject the car.

 

I dropped my car a week ago and the dealer service blokes did some shrug of shoulders as to what would happen but yes of course they will be in touch with updates. I haven't had one word from them since.

 

Kate Laws over a week ago promised me rapid action and updates within days. I haven't heard one word from her since.

 

On Monday VW Finance acknowledged my request to them (sent last Friday) for them to take my complaint. I will be a bit more gentle as they are new to the party, however there response said a formal acknowledgement would appear 'soon', which two days later has not materialised so I have emailed them this morning asking what is going on.

 

I don't even want to talk to any of these people by telephone or face to face now, as it is all promises promises promises. Mark my words the adage is true that if it isn't in writing it isn't happening. Don't believe anything they say to you unless they say it in writing. It just helps them with the ombudsman down the line, as anyone can deny the content of a conversation.

 

The laughable part is they could have sweet talked me into a new car deal by now and took some more profit, but instead they are losing £688 per month on hiring me a superior model vehicle. Which does give rise to the thought of yeah just let it drag on then! I'm paying less to have a better car, the insurance excess is lower than mine, I can put unlimited miles on it driving in whatever style I choose and not have to give a second thought to the wear and tear or future maintenance costs of the car. Actually sounds like a reasonable deal to me.

 

Nobody is bothering to update me at all, so maybe I'll fall silent too and we'll just keep this arrangement going!

 

Obviously I am being flippant, but....as a serious point, Skoda are paying more than double my monthly direct debit to hire me a car but are making no attempts at resolving my own car, which would be far cheaper for them. Weird people.

Oh and regarding Skoda Connect...

 

The last time my car was in the garage the app showed a couple of journeys in it of 4 miles which each lasted in excess of an hour. For 4 miles!

 

And it also showed a very short duration trip at something like 20:17pm on a Friday night. This trip later vanished from the app. It was still shown as parked at the dealership though.

 

So, either take the app with a complete pinch of salt or be aware that dealers may have the potential to delete entries from the vehicles log somehow, as I have never seen a recorded trip vanish from the app before.

,I've just had a look at my app. There are 3 dots top right of the page, this gives a couple of options, one of which is to delete a trip. Not very comforting if our cars are going to be with the dealer for an extended period. I've deferred taking mine in for a couple weeks in the hope that they might come up with the necessary fix - or is that wishful thinking.

My dealer has had my car twice, once for over two weeks, and both times claimes to have applied numerous software updates that they were absolutely positive would cure all ills.

 

So yeah it is wishful thinking!!!

 

If they knew what the problem was they would have coded the software by now, applied the updates, and told everyone who is trying to reject that actually their car is fixed if you'd like to give it one last chance.

 

There is clearly a serious mismatch somewhere between the vehicle, sensors, wiring, power outputs, computer hardware and the software that runs it (or doesn't run it, as it is now evident).

 

As someone who lived through the 1980s rise of home computers (as a kid, but an interested kid who went on to study computer programming, so I know what I am on about) this absolutely reeks of various computers and game consoles and associated hardware where there were serious glitches with the machinery and the software programmers were unable to code their way around the problems. This resulted in a lot of programmes and games just not being fit for purpose.

 

This just sounds too similar to me. There is something rotten to the core in at least the first iteration of the MK4 launch, and the situation as exactly the same as I experienced growing up: The codies are trying to respond to sub-standard hardware by programming bits and pieces to respond to new faults being identified all the time.

 

I doubt they will ever get a handle on it and I could see this needing either a recall and car replacement or retrofitting new hardware to the vehicles that will successfully interact with the vehicle and software.

 

Skoda haven't got a clue what is going on, it is clear.

 

I would push anyone with issues to reject asap or you're going to regret it when you can't.

I'm assuming everythin must be fixed now. 

 

That's because the car I rejected 3 weeks ago due to faulty matrix lights and the various problems with mph / kph is now up for sale at the garage, as shown on the used car locator. The price is a little under £20k for an SEL First Edition with 2600 miles on the clock. Comes with Perseus alloys and matrix lights so, on paper at least, it looks like a bargain. If they haven't fixed it yet are selling it anyway, surely that would be illegal?

 

BTW - I've really loved being able to take a car on a journey without stressing about what surprises it might have in store for me. It's amazingly relaxing.

1 hour ago, fox2319 said:

I'm assuming everythin must be fixed now. 

Not sure that's a good assumption based on the number of cars still in dealers with the owners driving hire cars...

Paid a visit to the dealer to pick up something I left in my car, so took the opportunity to chat to them about status.  They did a software update which removed the ability to change the units altogether.  So no fix there.   They had sent a report to Skoda UK Technical on Monday, it hadn't been read as of yet so they don't know what to do next.

 

They told me that another vehicle was booked in for "multiple" faults but had told the owner to wait, as there's little point having two vehicles in the garage with no fix in place.  They only need the one to experiment with.  This car was a 70 plate so about 6 months newer.   

 

To my mind, I have lost confidence in the Mk4. in total and these conversations reinforce that view.  I can imagine a life of constant niggles and issues so am moving away from swapping my car for another Octavia.  The Kodiaq is the only other Skoda range car I would consider balancing size and practicality  but I'm not a huge fan of SUV's and unnecessary bulk and lower fuel economy/higher CO2 emissions.  

40 minutes ago, Ajdude said:

To my mind, I have lost confidence in the Mk4. in total and these conversations reinforce that view.  I can imagine a life of constant niggles and issues so am moving away from swapping my car for another Octavia.  The Kodiaq is the only other Skoda range car I would consider balancing size and practicality  but I'm not a huge fan of SUV's and unnecessary bulk and lower fuel economy/higher CO2 emissions.

Understandable - though the loan Mk4 I have is working fine so they are not all bad. Contrary to several views expressed here, I live in hope of a fix one day. Though to be honest, I’m not expecting it within the next week…

Instead of a Kodiaq have you consider Superb? My previous car was a 14 plate 1.4tsi which returned about 49mpg over the four years and 50k+ miles I drove it. Just a thought.

Edited 29 April, 20215 yr by sneal