Kudos for Bayford Skoda

[hmoon101]

There is volkspower in Burwood, he does them for ok prices with genuine parts. He owns a tdi rs himself.

I'll probably reach 15,000km in September and land on 12 months interval as well.
As I bought mine from Bayford Skoda in Preston, I feel a bit stranded where to take my car for service not risking void my warranty in any cases.

Could anyone have had car serviced by non-dealership work shops and then had issues with warranty claims?

[pwcar]

I tried to book in to Skoda Richmond for my 60,000 km service, was told there is a month long waiting list.
Now I have to try somewhere else, maybe Burwin VW in Ferntree Gully can do it sooner.
I emailed Skoda asking for an explanation of what happened with Bayford Preston and asking where they think I should take the car, so far no acknowlegement and no answer.

[Halcyon]

The story is that the lease ran out on their building and a suitable replacement could not be found. That there seemed to be shared facilities with the Kia dealership next door may not have been helpful, but that is my speculation.
I signed up and payed my deposit on a diesel manual RS liftback on the Saturday and then found out on the following Thursday that the dealership was terminating. Was worried for a while, but all is well as the deal was moved to the Essendon folks for the same price as agreed with Bayford, the only small negative was the loss of the year 4 dealer warranty.

[woofy]

I don't think you lost much at all, those dealer warranties are never worth it, much better to negotiate a factory extended one. I hope Richmond aren't too busy, but they are probably loving the others going as all the nice servicing $$$ will be coming their way now.

[Fireside]

When you live out in the far eastern suburbs, any current Skoda dealer is too far away. I just want my mid-service interval oil change and filter before a quick dash to Qld for the school holidays, so I rang Burwins VW to book the car in, they said we'll call you back - and never did! Then I got onto Melbourne Performance Centre down the road in Bayswater who seem quite switched on, nice clean premises stuffed with fat Porsches, Audis, the odd Golf and even an Octavia in the driveway. They'll do the oil for me while I wait, does anybody have any experience with MPC?

They're tops mate, I've bought a bunch of parts off them and they are always really helpful and wont go out to rip you off.
The closest dealer to us is Frankson, but if you just want an oil change, why not buy the oil and filter then go down to kmart T&A and it'll cost you $40 in labour. How much did MPC charge?

[SkodaK]

MPC charged $175 ($108 for the Nulon oil and filter). We also discovered that the Skoda TDI uses a different filter to the VW equivalent which added a couple of hours to what would otherwise have been a short wait. I would normally do this sort of stuff myself but I'm at that point in life where I have more money than time. Ironically I sat for three hours reading the paper and playing on their race simulator.

[pwcar]

I ended up getting the 60,000 km service done at Mentone Skoda, a bit out of my way, buth they were good to deal with.
I wasn't able to have it done at Burwin VW in FTG due to needing warranty items attended to, apparently only a Skoda dealer is allowed to do warranty work.

[pwcar]

The Mentone Skoda service was not problem free, the next day the car was filled with a strong diesel smell and it was very evident outside the car too. I found that the fuel filter was covered in fuel and the chassis rail below covered in diesel. I had to take it back the next morning and it took 2.5 hours for them to sort it out. Seal in filter pinched during assembly and causing a leak. Nothing done to make up for the inconvenience of a second morning late/absent from work or lost fuel etc. I don't think I'll be returning there. A pity as the service manager, etc seemed good.

[RSwag]

The Mentone Skoda service was not problem free, the next day the car was filled with a strong diesel smell and it was very evident outside the car too. I found that the fuel filter was covered in fuel and the chassis rail below covered in diesel. I had to take it back the next morning and it took 2.5 hours for them to sort it out. Seal in filter pinched during assembly and causing a leak. Nothing done to make up for the inconvenience of a second morning late/absent from work or lost fuel etc. I don't think I'll be returning there. A pity as the service manager, etc seemed good.

I haven't heard great things about them, i did deal with a Chris in sales when i ordered my RS (subsequently cancelled) and he was really good. The sales centre looked rubbish though, i wonder whether they have found a better showroom, couldn't get much worse.

I did think that the service set up looked fine, it was across the road from memory but it appeared to be all mashed into one like one all mechanics working on all brands, no one specialising type thing. Maybe that was the cause of the pinched cover, inexperience??