My car, a Skoda Octavia, was involved in an accident on 3rd dec’05 the car was driven by an authorizedrepresentative from TAFE Access to Skoda showroom and authorized service centerat M/S TAFE Access, Bangalore. TAFE Access checked the car and informed me that thefollowing repairs/replacements would need to be completed in order for the carto be road-worthy and useable in about a month.However, as events unfolded, we realized that was not the case.About 2 months after the accident, we went to inspect thevehicle and Mr. Vijay Ragahvan, the Service Manager at TAFE Access, informed usthat there was an unusual sound emanating from the engine bay, which wasattributed to the engine itself. He went on to state that he has received theclearance from the insurance company and it would take approximately a week tofix and have the car ready for use and that someone from TAFE Access would callus once it was ready.Since then we have been running pillar to post and not onepositive response from was there we were only given numbers of people who arehardly interested in doing their job. We have contacted are Mr. Rajshekar , Mr. Arvind , Mr. Mani and everyone onlyshifts their responsibilities on others and asks us to follow up with all theindividuals rather than coordinating themselves. Four months passed, during which we were forced to use our other vehicles in order to satisfy ourdaily requirements. A few days ago, we received a call from TAFE Access statingthat our vehicle’s repairs were completed and we were requested to collect thecar from their service center. About a day or two later, Mr. Pruthwish fromTATA AIG called stating that for the past month or so, he was trying to locateour car (unsuccessfully, I might add) as TAFE Access had mentioned that therewas some under-chassis damage and also some damage to the engine itself whichaccording to Mr. Vijay Raghavan was sorted out four months ago as statedearlier. The insurance company is shocked that it has been over six monthssince the accident had occurred and the processing of the claim is not yetcompleted.Subsequently, I visited TAFE Access on 20/05/2006 to see my car and ascertain the status of the repairs. Iwas informed that the service center had been moved to another location (awayfrom the dealer’s showroom). Mr. Naganathan (senior executive) mentioned that he had not received any reports from the bodyshop for the last two months and asked us to visit the service center ourselvesto ascertain the status of repairs on our vehicle.I went to the said service center to see my car and met Mr.Vijay Raghavan there. He informed me that all that was left to be done on thecar was replacement of the front bumper. However, I noticed that the interiorsof the car were in a mess and immediately asked him to show me the engine bayso that I could confirm that no other work was pending. Not only was he unableto locate the key of the car, he expressed shock that the car was under hiscare for over six months now. The utter disinterest shown byTAFE Access is not only disconcerting but also discouraging. While casually smoking a cigarette onmy face, he also mentioned that he would deal with Mr. Pruthwish (TATA AIG) inhis own way and sort out the issue with the insurance claim. The sheerdisrespect shown by him projects a rather disturbing image for Skoda Automotiveas a whole.When I took up the matter with Mr. Majid Ali who issupposedly the chief of Customer Care and acquaint him with the fact that I ammoving to the consumer court I receive a letter on 05/06/06 that our vehicle is ready kindly pay Rs3, 73, 152 by DD andrelease the vehicle. discount.The final payment was made.After that they said we need a day to clean the car and hand it over.But everyday therewas a reason for not sending the car. Finall I speak to Mr. Roobesh. I explain tohim and also say that Skoda Auto India was informed of this via e-mail but there was no responseand only a legal action would be taken on it. Mr. Roobesh with immediate effectagrees to give us a standby company car and also give us our money back till weget our vehicle back and asks me to get in touch with Mr. Narsihman.The next day I call up Mr. Narsihman and he says thatinstead of handing over the entire amount he would agree to pay 6% pa intereston our money and also give us a standby car. Then according to Mr. Sri Bala and Mr. Naganathan thevehicle is ready on 28/07/06.about which we were only informed on 09/08/06 but I was out of station and Mr. Naganathan says thevehicle was not given to us for taking it out of station. I don’t understandhow such people work in the organization.I come back on 21/08/06 and they hand over our car at 19:35 P.M. out of trust my father asks them to park the car in thegarage and hands them their vehicle. The next morning I open the garage tocheck this time the vehicle it hounded worse than a diesel.There were following additional problems AC not working, Creaking noise fromall doors, Front bumper notpainted properly which was billed as a new one during the accident repair bill, Towing hook notrepaired despite pointing it out to them several times, Vehicle startedjerking in 3rd gear, Jack and tool kitmissing, The entire body wasfull of scratches, The vehicle handedover to us was still having all the accident dirt and grass in it.This made me loose my cool as they only handed over ourvehicle to get back theirs and to avoid paying the interest than to actuallytouch the car to rectify it.On 23/08/06 myfather, elder brother and I go to their showroom fired up and put forth onlytwo solutions
1) Take back the vehicleand refund our entire amount including the service bill
2) Or, to give us ahigher end Laura L&K and collect the difference of amount then and there tosolve the problem
Mr. Narsihman entersat around14:15 and first thing he tries to do is to avoid responsibilities andsays that this is my statement “YOUR VEHICLE IS ONLY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY” andsaid I better not discuss on that issue. For the compensation asked no help canbe provided at the most a meager amount of Rs10, 000/- shall be given.
Mr. Sri Bala says do what you want and it is not rightfulon our part to approach the cops. But after 9 months of patience we have alllost our temper and filed a Police Complaint against Mr. Sri Bala Tafe Accesson the very same day.Hence I suggest anyone and everyone not to buy a Skoda as even the company has not supporeted me on this issue.