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CB Automotive and Vehicles Review of Skoda India / Laura
Skoda India / Laura

Skoda India / Laura review: Terrible service! 30

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12:00 am EDT
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I had purchased a new Skoda Laura in March '07. After 2 days I had to tow away the car to the Skoda JMD workshop, Mumbai. They said that the spare part "Gateway" had to replace because of my mishandling and water logging in it and I had to pay for the Gateway. But when I gave my car the second time for repair works, the gateway was again changed because of the same reason but this time they changed my gateway without any charge because water logging happened due to their fault and hence they replaced it under warranty. The cars A/C is also not effectively cooling the cabin.

Whenever A/C is started in the car, the windscreen gets condensed as the airflow is towards the windscreen and not on the passenger and has no control to it.

30 comments
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Dippy Ghoshj
, IN
Nov 07, 2011 7:37 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I Have a 2010 July purchased Laura and has done approx 1800km. while driving the clutch Pedal suddenly goes limp and is without tension, hence the rev goes up and somehow I park the car. and tow it to the dealer.
The dealer checks the car and says that the clutch plate has been burnt for riding on the pedal.
I have been driving for 30 years and I don't keep my foot on the clutch furthermore to me it appears as if the clutch cylinder has leaked for some reason as if the pressure plate had gone the symptoms would be different, as on acceleration the power would be wasted it wouldn't be transmitted to the wheels and the entire thing will not happen on the spot.
Skoda is maintaining it is a pressure plate burn and has given an estimate of Rs 62000/-
need an expert comment on this

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saurabhkapoor
, IN
Oct 11, 2011 12:45 pm EDT

At the outset, I express my sincere confidence in your pedestal to take my call further alongwith with several fellow sufferers collectively under the “United by Skoda” cause, started recently. The opinions of Skoda customers across the country indicate that Skoda probably has highest number of complaints – production, quality, spares, service, repairs, faulty replacements, fake parts, car-withholding etc. amongst its counterparts. As probably a confirmation, “United by Skoda” has found a base of over 900 documented complaints, communication with 310 Complainants with over 65 committed individuals & 4 legal suite references across different cities, probably largest for any automobile company in India; which have been simply suppressed even as customers have been crying hoarse.

A glance at Customers’ Correspondence at forums like http://www.consumercomplaints.in/?search=skoda repeats that Skoda shows little mercy towards addressing their basic value proposition rights against its unfair business practices. Most voice that Skoda seems hands-in-gloves with its Dealerships & Authorized Workshops with a free-hand to exploit customers and fleece them mercilessly. These voices also cumulatively translate into a staggering Multi-Crore Figure of ambiguities dished out to both complaining & silent customers alike across our country. To cite an instance of a highly surprising discovery, an email from Skoda itself states that though it cancelled a particular dealership on x date, its public notice was put after complete 1 month. Can’t believe that Skoda was actually waiting for its customers to suffer and be fooled in this period?

Hence after duly losing my money, peace, self-respect and worth with Skoda, I want to raise some concerns with Skoda via your esteemed pedestal. Skoda may try to oppress a single voice but I am sure that the impactful voice of public at large will receive the deserved focus on the aspects queried as follows:-

SKODA AS A BUY:

· Lowest availability of spares, which are priced unbelievably high anyways. This usually results in cars being lying unattended in workshops for months, and there have been instances when fake parts have been deployed by Skoda ASCs themselves.
· Recurrent production faults & short-lived sensors, with tiring discovery procedure and highly expensive replacement cost. For example, Skoda’s Air-Conditioning is highly unreliable with frequent failures in almost every 1 amongst 3 cars.
· Severely high-priced and under-delivered, and ultimately comes to cost higher than its much better competitors due to high maintenance, low reliability, frequent repairs and costly replacements.
· Choice of worst Authorized Workshops & Dealers due to their prospective compliance with companies opaque terms & policies. The company makes no intervention over its highly variable ASC’s conduct, operations & even billing; leave aside an audit or standardization control.
· Most oppressive customer-handling, with several instances when car has been held hostage for years; as a proof of which over 7 Consumer Court Cases are in visible across country apart from several unknown ones.

MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS STRATEGY:

· Initially, commit a small amount for overall well-being of a car, then take it hostage and alongside inflate the estimate doubly.
· If the owner agrees, his perfectly working parts are taken out and replaced unnecessarily, thus fleecing him of much more amount than informed.
· If the owner objects, he is threatened that there won’t be any assurance of car’s performance if the said parts are not replaced now.
· If the owner temporarily delays the matter, they create a small fault in the car and return it. After a few days the said fault is aggravated and the owner has to return to the workshop.
· Cosmetic damages are intentionally done during the repairs so that the car has to return to them once again, lest it is needed for any cover-ups.
· In short, it’s a win-win situation for Skoda Centers any which way, which seems to be educated as a Code of Conduct to its highly unethical Dealerships and Authorized Centers as well.

QUESTIONS AT LARGE:

· Is Skoda offloading their international stock of poor-quality automobiles in India
· Is Skoda essentially propagated the agenda of unbelievably expensive spares to encourage Grey-Market
· Is Skoda intentionally maintained a low-availability of spares to push Customers in purchasing them
· Is Skoda chosen worst agencies as their Authorized Service Agencies in India due to low running costs
· Is Skoda actually following the policy of fleecing us due to low awareness and customer rights in India
· Is Skoda using the Time-Limitation, Giving-Up & Mute-Protest of its customers to its advantage
· Why should one buy a Skoda when he would end up paying much more than a Mercedes or BMW or Toyota or other Auto-Co. product, courtesy the joint cost factor of time, money, convenience & brand image.

The mentioned matter is based on common experiences of us several customers, because it would not be practical for us to expect you to go through each of our individual correspondence and experience details with Skoda. As an aggrieved customer, I believe that your platform would help us put these questions to the appropriate levels.

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Tushar159
, IN
Aug 21, 2010 3:35 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Hi all, i do facing same problem, i bought Laura in 2007 from Giriraj moters..Gurgaon and i had faced lots of problem till now like HORN, AC, suddenly music system stop working...But all these issue are minor in front of current one...last month due to heavy rain my engine stop suddenly on road...the water level is not too much even Maruti wagon R passed with no issue ...i toe the car to service station and they inform that engine is seized due to water enter in via turbo charger point and have to replace the connecting rods and turbo charger...costing me aprox 2.5 lac with no insurance claim in this case...PLZ SUGGEST WHAT TO DO IN THIS CASE...

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JunkSkoda
, IN
Jun 12, 2010 12:59 pm EDT

Hello, My Skoda Laura is about 3 years old and my compressor has gone wrong THREE times in a row! It happens quite predictably every single year.

And it costs Rs.80, 000 to fix it (parts and labor).

I have owned an Audi, Lexus, Mitsubishi and others in my life. Never had this experience with any of them before.

When you call the customer service number some call center in Bangalore picks up the call and they have a standard answer "We will pass on the information to our technicians and someone will get back to you".
After several attempts someone did actually get back only to advise me that my car is out of warranty.

There are several of my friends that are having a similar A/C problem. I think this piece of junk should be recalled and the defective part analyzed and the design flaw should be fixed.

My local dealer says only Skoda can authorize an out of warranty replacement and he cannot do much about it.

I'm planning on painting "Do Not Buy This Junk" on my car and parking it outside the dealership.

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narwal
, IN
Oct 18, 2009 12:58 pm EDT

I am also a member of suffers team due to laura problems.

Put / display defects or the car or DO NOT BUY LAURA.

May be u can get some help from skoda.

You should get new design improved parts fitted.

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narwal
, IN
Oct 18, 2009 12:42 pm EDT

Will u all HELP me. I am facing all these problems in my new Laura
1) Horn defective + out of stock.
2)AC cooling very poor . Known to everyone except skoda company.
3) Today the fuel gauge stopped working .Then I switched off and then on the car and it again worked.
4)There is nobody to listen too our complaints / manufacturing defects.
5) The front windscreen gets fogged.
6) cooling is hopeless in summers.
I FEEL WE HAVE TO PUT A FAN IN FRONT OF THE CONDENSER TO MAKE THE AC WORK.

I feel we all can`t do anything like this.

ALL OF YOU GET IT PAINTED OR PUT STICKERS ON THE CARS ABOUT THE RESPONSE OF THE COMPANY AND THE DEFECTS IN THE CAR.

I FEEL THEY HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU AND RECTIFY THE DEFECTS OF PUT NEW DESIGN PARTS TO SET IT RIGHT.

All of you start this and mail to me at narwal_sunil@yahoo.co.in

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pioneeraaron
, IN
Oct 10, 2009 4:08 am EDT

I just booked A Fiat Linea 1.4 Petrol..i was supposed to go for Laura.after reading all this crap i dropped the idea..my 2nd choice was the corolla..but the waiting period was too much..i didnt want to wait so i booked the Linea..Im very happy about my decision :-)

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Gurudas
, IN
Aug 03, 2009 1:23 am EDT

Skoda India and their dealers DO NOT CARE a damn about their customers.

I bought a Fabia in June 09, and regret every moment. My complaint was badly handled right from the lady who is their "After Sales" contact person on their mail.

After that I got a "survey" call wherein I explained everything again, I got a Complaint number, and thought that luck has smiled at last. But after 3 weeks, the complaint number has effected nothing.

Complete insensitivity to the customer. I think Skoda is pulling a fast one on Indian consumers.

The car is not made for Indians at all - they just force it down our throats. The levers are all designed for LHD cars, The bonnet can be opened only by the co-driver. Insensitivity at its best.

Fabia problems :

The window mechanism button console can be picked out by a 10 year old. Skoda dealer confirmend that this is the problem with EVERY FABIA, and Skoda is aware.

Bonnet opening lever can be pulled out by a 7 year old. Skoda dealer says that the snap fit does not snap fit sometimes! Sorry ! nothing can be done about it.

Snap fit fastners of the break light mounted on the rear windscreen are broken when the car is delivered.

My Skoda India experience I can understand why Skoda is an unpreferred brand in Europe.

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pami
, US
Jul 07, 2009 10:58 pm EDT

Great going... fight those incompetent rogues..

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Divakar
, IN
Jun 13, 2009 12:33 pm EDT

Dr,
If u had read my issue earlier- i decided to take up the case with the top management fought hard and recorded the telephonic conversations of the dealer on my mobile and threatened to take legal action and report to the media. subsequently the company accepted to replace the clutch and ultimately i got it done.

Try doing the same thing it works. For any assistance in this regard pls feel free to call me at [protected]

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Dr. (Mrs) Vinod Verma
, IN
Jun 12, 2009 2:48 pm EDT

I bought Skoda Fabia ambiante petrol in January from Sai Auto Mobiles. After 3000 Km last month the car stopped on the high way, no petrol emission. When I telephoned the company, they said that I should wait for two hours as this car heats uo. I should cool it down. The car was stopping afer every few km and it took me 6 hours to do 140 Km. DEaler refused to help, Company in Aurnagabade is not responding to my complaints accept their local agent said that the problem occurred due to dirty petrol in India (what a joke!). Germna and Czech offices are saying the Aurangabed company is independent and we cannot help.
It feel like a Thug has taken away my 6 Lakh 11 thousand rupees.
I request the government of India to deal with these Thug foeign companies and throw them out of the country. They come here to sell us the garbage and take away our hard earned money.
Please never ever think of buying any skoda product if you want your peace.
Dr. (Ms) Vinod Verma
drvinodverma@dataone.in

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Divakar
, IN
Apr 29, 2009 2:04 am EDT

I bought a Skoda Octavia in Jan 2008- last week i gave the car for service and got a shocker from the service station- my clutch assmebly needs to be replaced- the estimated cost is Rs 55k no warratny cover since it is due to driving issues- i have been owing premium cars for the last decade and never have had such a miserable feeling. I am a chartered accountant - i intend to file a case with the manufacturer- in case any of you would be interested please join me

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Harman
, IN
Apr 23, 2009 5:28 am EDT

Hello everyone..
Thanks to this forum and team-bhp I have dropped my idea of buying the all new Superb 2009 in petrol. I went to the Ludhiana showroom with the check of booking amount in my pocket but the sales people and the overall experience was not the way I intended. The message I got from them was that they don't care whether I buy or not...!

Harman

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Dilip
, IN
Mar 30, 2009 4:18 am EDT

Please visit www.team-bhp.com and type skoda there you will get many threads on pathetic service and unreliability of skoda...Many have ongoing court cases against the manufacturer..
Dilip Kumar.V

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Robin
, IN
Mar 29, 2009 2:59 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

thanks for the heads up !

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Rajiv
, IN
Feb 25, 2009 4:43 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Hi Gentlemen, Just like to share that after reading all above, I thank my stars for not buying Skoda one year back. Last year I bought Toyota Corolla. Before that at one point of time i was planning to buy skoda. I would like to mention with Toyota I have never visited any service station in last one year except for routine services under warranty. Car is smooth, excellent AC, nice pick up and good cabin space..

Regards

Rajiv

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TARUN THOMAS
,
Nov 03, 2008 9:31 am EST

Hello guys,
Was really intrested in the Laura, so spoke to people who had one and also had information from a cousin of mine who runs a service center of good repute, for all imported cars in Coimbatore.
He simply told me stay off, if I didn't want serious dents in my wallet on the maintainence of the skodas as it it carried too many electronics and should some thing go wrong you really had it, as all spares are ridiculouly priced.
I hope to go in for the diesal Altis due for launch soon as Toyotas are reliable and are supposed to be easy on ones pocket
Tarun
Kerala

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S.Danishk
,
Aug 20, 2008 8:39 am EDT

Hey...you guys just dont seem to like the Skoda. Its a very good piece of equipment and apart from a few slags at the beginning they have sorted out rest of the issues.
I have a Skoda Laura Ambient and it runs superbly. I have had a wowow expe. ever since i brought this car.

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Ajay Oberoi
,
Aug 03, 2008 9:52 am EDT

I completely agree with you. looks like they fit a Maruti800 A/c in Skoda Laura. Customer care dogdes queries. Mails to MD and Sales director bounce. Skoda India shying away from problem. Is their any legal action tht can be taken against the company for providing deficient product & design?

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ganesh bhattar
,
Jun 11, 2008 9:59 pm EDT

hi friends,

all original laura tyres get bubbles on its running ... and the service is also very very bad, they make u for months just for getting a small part replaced giving the same reason everytime, OUT OF STOCK ... i have filed a case against the defective laura tyres in the court ... if anyone is facing similar problems do e mail me which would help me fight against skoda ...

ganesh bhattar
pappubenz@yahoo.co.uk

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Johnson Chacko
,
Apr 14, 2008 7:40 pm EDT

hello guys,

tks a ton for all the inputs that have been put u on the board, after having visited the Skoda showroom, i was planning on buying the skoda laura, but after seeing all these complaints, i have dropped that idea, i better buy a car which wont give such headaches after shelling out a abt 15Lacs.
i have mailed in a query to the skoda group and awaiting their reply. i will post in their reply once i get it.

Johnson C
kerala

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parag sathe
,
Feb 26, 2008 11:16 pm EST

Hi ... everybody, I bought my laura l&k in the month of sept 2007 . during this 6 months i have sent my car to workshop for 3 times for the leckage of A C gas . even now my horn is totally gone . now i am waiting for my compressor and horn to get change . for me JMD Mumbai people are great. they have helped me in all possible way. till now they have never refused to attained any of my complaints. i am really thankfull to people of JMD MUMBAI. now i am planeing to buy laura ambient ... for that i need ur suggetions ... that should i buy that or no ...

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Chirag
,
Jan 05, 2008 6:32 am EST

hi guys,

thank you very much for giving me a right advise. actually i m planning to buy laura ambient, but i have changed my mind by reading all these complaints.

after purchasing such a costly car, we should get a perfect car without any complaint and here laura is totally fail to fulfill a defination of perfect car.

my advice to all diesel car buyers to have a look on optra magnum diesel. its very good in all way and in lower price.

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Madhavan
,
Jan 04, 2008 9:48 pm EST

Dear All,

Thanks for your postings here - I was planning to buy the new Laura Ambiente - but now have dropped the idea after reading all your experiences.

I also support the idea that the people who suffered should collectively do take this matter up and should definitely be compensated by the car maker.

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Dr. Ravi kumar
,
Jan 02, 2008 11:06 am EST

Hi pals, asa u all I too one of the worst sufferers of this idiotic company and stupid Laura. My problem is with both the car as well as the service. Bangalore Tafe access is no less . They dont even bother to see the complaint even after u tell them 100 times. My problems started in the first week itself with AC pipe broken, then 40 days waiting for a small part, next goes the loose contacts in the so called sophisticated allay of indicators and every now and then it beeps for no reason, then as usual the tyres and wind screen for which those great technicians advised to keep a towel . Next to make it worse the USB , braking system gets switched off by itself on a highway drive. I ve given it for checking and they banged my car into a bus while going for a trial . I really dont know wat to do with this car. If we can collectively raise our voice and fight back on this royal loot , atleast many others will be saved and they also learn some lessons . Somebody please take the initiativeand I hope lots more people are ready to join with us for this noble cause.

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v.vashishat
,
Jan 01, 2008 4:53 am EST

well.. my first bad experience with a great company..
Its starts something like this..
I bought new Skoda Laura in April,2007 from Krishna Autos Ludhiana. I never thought i was making a mistake.. after a month with just a usage of 3000Km.. i faced the problem with Airbags.
after two mounts in july i was in chandigarh & i faced problem with a/c my car showing near 8500km run
krishna auto took a weak to repair my car. After some days i faced the problem with the rear door window. Problems were coming from everywhere... then got problems with the car speakers. AND THEN! a huge problem with clutch start, it was doing slipping. Finally my clutched changed on near 18500 and i paid half payment for it as company refused to pay it..
I got clutch start replaced with a new one.. can you believe i just drove it almost 1500km after the replacement and clutch stopped working.. its completely failed to work..

Its simply unacceptable, that clutch failed after using it for 1500km... i don't know its a negative point of Skoda Laura or bad servicing and repair.. of Skoda workshop.

Now skoda is simply refusing that its not their fault.. and they are tending to move backward.. not accepting input from my side. I got call from Krishna Autos today evening they said that I have to pay all the repair amount. This is something which is pinching me a lot after all i faced with this car..

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S A Singh
,
Nov 17, 2007 10:20 am EST

There is also a bubble which appears on all original Laura car tires. You have to shell out another Rs.29000, to replace these tires.

S A Singh

Mumbai.

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S A Singh
,
Nov 17, 2007 10:12 am EST

Yes, the AC problem is pathetic, you have to keep changing the controls to avoid the screen getting condensed. Most people do not know there are three major flaws with all Laura's:

1. The hose pipe touches the fan near the bonnet, causing a harsh sound. This causes both the fan and the hose pipe to wear out prematurely. If you notice the problem the service engineers wil put two wiring harnesses from the local market that are used to tie computer cables. They will charge you Rs.500 for service and Rs.150/- for each harness (they cost Rs.2 in the market). However the problem will not be sorted until you go to a good garage and ask them toe tie thin ropes (suthli's). This is a manufacturing defect in all Laura's.
2. The headlight cleaner that pop's out after five windscreen washes, has a body colored cover which falls off on the driver side. The replacement cover costs Rs.500 and and extra Rs.300 for the paint since it only comes in black.
3. The ac control has to be directed to the feet to avoid the screen from getting condensed. This causes the passengers in the rear to become very uncomfortable.

Apart from the above standard problems the fuel lock release switch is also problematic, with most cars facing that problem. After about a years usage the lid refuses to open, Skoda engineers will surely replace something and give you a huge bill, but the problem never completely goes away.

Our company has 20 Skoda octavias and 9 Lauras, including one of the original imported Lauras with 8 airbags. The quality of Skoda has really suffered, with even the Octavias giving a ton of problems. I spoke to 5 people in Skoda Ahmednagar and they didnt even bother to reply to our directors. This after buying 29 cars, I can imagine what an individual owner goes through.

If you have to go for a diesel go for a Optra Magnum. Chevrolet is trying hard to please its customers and the price is low too. Our company scrapped the idea of buying a superb after seeing the host of problems. We are not even buying the Passat which has been offered to us in a loyalty scheme, since it is the same family and shares the same parts and manufacturing facility.

Moral of the story... Old Octy's rock, new ones suck. Laura is a defective car, not meant for keeps. Our company has already sold 7 of the 9 Lauras.

S A Singh.

Mumbai

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Swaroop
,
Nov 09, 2007 7:53 am EST

Yes, skoda reliability is hopeless. I spend 3 weeks on reviewing various comments on internet and dropped the plan for buying Laura Ambiente.

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Srinivasulu
,
Sep 25, 2007 9:11 am EDT

Hi,
i Agree totally with you.its one of the worst experience for me.I am the owner of Audi,Nissan.But to be honest i have never had any problems with other cars .But with skoda the problem started from the first week itself.Its just been 7 months since i have owned this worst car(skoda laura ) and i had turbo failure,AC failure(same cooling problem), and what not.Most of the time i have seen it shwoing me TAKE IT TO THE WORKSHOP.We all need to get together and put a case in the court against these people who are cheating us.

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