Previously I'd posted 'I've lost most of the options on MySkoda app...car locking, climate control, charging status, etc. Now only have map, dealer and car status. Any ideas anyone please?'

 

Well, ten minutes to spare this morning (actually it's taken an hour and half), I've bottomed this out. Should explain I have an iV, and like all latest models with the MIB3 infotainment, it's interactive. That is IF you pay. With the latest MIB3 infotainment, Skoda removed the ability to have your own SIM card, so now locked to CUBIC, who charge a whopping £99.50 for 60Gb of data.  And if you don't use it, it expires after a year.

 

Now I've found that all the features in MySkoda (doors and windows, preheating and climate, locking, where did I park, charging) are actually a subscription service. This was never mentioned at POS a year ago - I suspect the garage doesn't even know. And after 12 months, they've shut down, pending shaking cash out of my pockets. I'm £45 the poorer - and that's for buying a limited package, I've not taken several options - for one year. So the result now is that simply to run the infotainment and take advantage of the advertised functionality with both web and remote MySkoda functions it's going to cost £145 a year...and that won't ever go down. I'm fed up with being ripped off...do we have any lawyers around here? 

 

PS: If you're going down this route you need to buy the services through the Skoda Connect website. It'll also reset your radio so you need to go through the paraphenalia of resetting your profile, two keys, and then becoming the primary user once again. 

To add insult to injury half way through the system did a random reset and restart - it's been doing it randomly and was in the garage last week when I was told this had been solved. 

Edited 23 May, 20215 yr by Brockysuperb

Who knew?

 

Did you not see the 'Contract period duration 1 year" on the invoice that you paid?

 

How are you £45 the poorer when you have already had the benefits that you paid for during the specified period?

 

What do think that a lawyer could do for you?

 

Sorry if I seem unsympathetic but I dont get why it seems essential to people to control everything with a mobile phone, if your car was incapable of safely and legally conveying you to where you want to go like the speedo km/h issue or real mechanical & electrical issues then that would be a different matter.

 

Presumably all these functions would work if you paid the subscription? You have already put yourself forward to be shaken up by paying the first subscription.

 

Or was it perhaps included in the vehicle price?

Edited 23 May, 20215 yr by J.R.

Hi JR, sorry you've taken umbrage. You're right first year was included, but there was never any mention of an annual fee (until now...that's what I have posted above). And I think that's a con...trumpeting the functionality, but failing to say that after year one it's extra! Imagine if your fridge, doorbell, TV or any other smart device stopped working without warning after a year unless you paid more.

OK, I hadn't realised it was included, that said unless it is someone elses invoice then you should have known, myself I would have refused it and asked for the price to be reduced which would probably have flushed out the truth.

 

But thats a fictional scenario as I would not buy new.

 

Without wanting to sound sarcastic I cannot imagine the scenario you describe with the smart articles because I would never even buy any of them, whipping my 2004 Nokia out of my pocket usually stops any of that sales nonsense.

 

It does appear to be the way things are going, moneterising something given away that people then wont want to live without.

 

As Ronald, or was it Nancy said, JUST SAY NO!

 

No umbrage taken, I realise that I am apart from the rest of the world.

What they want you to pay to retain  (to me unnecessary) functions is more than my total fixed annual motoring costs, insurance, CT test (every 2 years) and carte grise (equivalent of road tax but only paid once), plus I dont use a smartphone.

I don't really have an opinion on the issue here but just to point out your email address and VIN are viewable in the screenshots, I would blur them out if it were me posting them.

In fairness and sympathy to Brockysuperb, when I got my (now returned) Octavia MK4 - (currently awaiting a Superb) my invoice made no mention of the one year services.

 

Nor did it make any mention of the RAC cover included. 

 

I only knew the details of both having researched it myself on the Skoda website. So don't take it as a given that such stuff will appear on an invoice prepared by a dealership.

 

Whenever I get my Superb, I can let people know if the sales team or finance manager bother including this on the invoice.

 

And for what it is worth...I wouldn't pay a penny for any of the services it offers, plus the app seems to be offline most of the time anyway.

Edited 24 May, 20215 yr by Gax

I can see now that it is something that they are slipping in, if you look in the thread "Octavia 3 VRS TDI 184 4x4 with many extras" (sorry, dont know how to link to it) it has a link to a pdf of the factory build sheet and PR codes, the very last one is 12 month subscription to infotainment.

Well a Smart TV is not much good without some sort of subscription to a PPV service and a paid for internet connection. 
Car is pretty much the same. Has SMART capability, but it’s optional. If you want to pay for internet access and the provided services then it’s an available optio, and if u don’t you don’t have to and you can save the money. 
id rather the option to pay if I want rather than it be front loaded on the cost of the car & it’s not something I actually need or want. 

Granted the sales staff can probably make this clearer but honestly I don’t think half of them have a clue about what they are selling. The amount of information that I knew about the car I was buying compared to what the sales guy was telling me was bordering on criminal 😂 

I may not have bought the car based on his selling points. I did the research myself to check out the options that the car was coming with - and he was missing all kinds of selling points he could have been pushing. Clueless 🤷‍♂️

"**Bingly bong**

 

Hello Superb owner, we notice that you have not subscribed to the Skoda Steering and Reversing package. Would you like to do so now for only £79.99 for 12 months? Your subscription will also include three months of Braking for free and 20 uses of the Handbrake. * Further Handbrake activations are £0.20/pull."

 

"You selected No. Your car is now restricted to going forwards in a straight line only."

 

27 minutes ago, unclerichy said:

"**Bingly bong**

 

Hello Superb owner, we notice that you have not subscribed to the Skoda Steering and Reversing package. Would you like to do so now for only £79.99 for 12 months? Your subscription will also include three months of Braking for free and 20 uses of the Handbrake. * Further Handbrake activations are £0.20/pull."

 

"You selected No. Your car is now restricted to going forwards in a straight line only."

 

 

You jest but that's exactly the direction some manufacturers are moving in with their 'mobility as a service' subscription approach, as opposed to 'ownership' approach...

 

Volvo Cars Launches M Mobility brand | Volvo Car Group

 

Mobilize, a Groupe Renault brand - Renault Group

 

AMI, 100% electric mobility solution designed for everybody | Citroën UK (citroen.co.uk)