Are we going to see a turnaround in Skoda/VW servicing?

[K1W1]

Wrong.
According to Hyundais website each 15,000 km service for the AcCent costs $189 giving a total of $567 for three services over 45,000 km. if individual dealers are pushing intermediate services that is a dealer issue not Hyundai. The Suzuki dealer we take our car to does the same thing and we ignore them and follow the service schedule laid out by the manufacturer in the owners handbook.

[Umai Naa!!]

Hyundai does have provisions for intermediate services in the service book, as does Nissan.

[K1W1]

Have a read of their web site maybe things have changed since you last looked.

[woofy]

Actually until a few weeks ago Hyundai did charge that much for an accents service, but it was always 15k/12mths. The new capped servicing is much less and only applies to new deliveries, the rest of us were screwed over and paying wht the dealers feel like. Hyundai routinely charge more for the same service Kia does and even their spare parts cost double, I've learnt already to get bits from Kia.

I paid recently for 3yrs servicing up front by the dealer only to see capped servicing works out less. And yes they press pretty hard for interim servicing. It even says quite clearly in the manuals and warranty to get interim services for pretty much every scenario.

We are still on the original brakes too Dave at 55k with plenty left of pads and rotors as has a friend who drives his hard at 70k. I think it's a manual thing, I hada 323 go to 90k with still factory pads etc all round. Our 6 sold at 70k with all factory brakes as well, others did theirs at 30k.

As for the timing belt, Richmond told me 4yrs but that was a while back and Skoda have now revised it to 105k/7 yrs. Ive been curious as to what Richmond will say now.

[BluChris]

Seeing they said 4 years to me recently, I'd love to know too. This ridiculous lack of certainty is part of the problem, as is the take it back 4 times to get it fixed (or not) deal which all goes to poor product knowledge. These guys are the busiest in the state. Why do they not know this stuff? Off warranty $189 an hour is not cheap service either.

[woofy]

Problem is that they were a niche dealer, Preston and Geelong were big dealers that were both very popular. I still don't know what happened to Bayfords, by all accounts they had it right, but did hear it was with a disagreement with VW HQ.

Richmond are where they are now, not by any merit anymore (George really was their sales and followup guru) but by default, their service area was never made to cope with the massive influx where they went from not many jobs to being swamped, so raised the prices as busy tradies do and decided they were Number 1 in Skoda and acted like they were.

Preston where the number 1 dealer in the country, had they still been around things in Melb would be very different, but so far noone has stepped up to knock Richmond into reality. I have been hoping Penfolds might, but they have a similar arrogance as well. They were great at one point, but the mighty fell some years back now.

[BluChris]

Hmmmm. Tried Bayford not long before they pulled out, in desperation. Mount Waverley to Preston - ouch.

Much better attitude than Richmond - willing to listen and try to help. Did with 1 - 2 things but not others. But they also damaged 2 pieces of trim and had to replace at their cost. I have heard of others with damage too.

From the horses mouth - Skoda insisted they build new facilities to meet VAG standards, Bayford refused because they weren't getting the volume needed to pay for the investment. Couldn't agree so Bayford pulled out. The service guys were pretty despondent about it because they liked working on Skodas.

They desperately need a competent, customer focused dealer in the Eastern suburbs. From 1 - 2 comments on this forum Lance Dixon isn't it. Also needs to be more accessible to public transport and the city than them...

[woofy]

I remember Richmond before they moved into the current premises, they had to jump through a lot of hoops with the service area setup, Skoda were more demanding than Audi in that respect. The Skoda service area still isn't technically operating though, its the back part where the used cars were lurking.

[PassatB6]

Wrong.
According to Hyundais website each 15,000 km service for the AcCent costs $189 giving a total of $567 for three services over 45,000 km. if individual dealers are pushing intermediate services that is a dealer issue not Hyundai. The Suzuki dealer we take our car to does the same thing and we ignore them and follow the service schedule laid out by the manufacturer in the owners handbook.

Not true. The Hyundai website mentions Optional Intermediate Servicing. Two of the conditions which require OIS are Extensive idling and repeated short distance driving. Normal city driving for some? The i30CRD is listed at $289 a service WITHOUT intermediate servicing. If you get OIS I imagine the cost for a small diesel sedan could blow out quite a bit.

http://www.hyundai.com.au/Owners/Ser...ing-conditions

[woofy]

I'm factoring on having to use the intermediate servicing when the Santa Fe becomes my wifes car as she pretty much does short trips every day, although we do live right near a lot of 80km/hr roads so its not like its all stop start.

[wai]

Sadly, VW is a good car range spoiled by the worst service I have come across in 35 years of owning vehicles.

It is the ONLY car company that tells its customers that "they have done everything they can, and if the problem persists, then it is standard for that type of vehicle". I have been told this, and so has the wife of a work colleague at an unrelated dealership across Sydney.

It is the ONLY car company that expects the sales reps to continue to smooth things over with the customer years after the sale has been concluded.

No, it is not the dealerships fault that this mentality has been created. Car companies train dealership customer service representatives,so the attitudes shown by CSR's are simply a reflection of the car company's attitude.

On surveys, I completed one where I received an e-mail invitation on behalf of VW Australia. These and other points were raised in that survey, but woosh, right over their heads as they duck. On another survey where I got a written invitation from the dealer, the vehicle shown was wrong (remember, this was the selling dealer), so I tried to correct it and it shut down because as far as VW were concerned they wanted comment on the incorrect vehicle! Great way to deflect adverse comment.

The strange thing is that pricing is good, and their sales reps are probably some of the most helpful I have come across, just that once the sale has been concluded, it is the sales reps who are required to smooth things over with the customer because of pathetic service.

These attitudes are very difficult to change once they become entrenched. It will take something major for VW and its associated brands to change how they treat their customers. They fail to realise that they are successful only because they have customers. Just look at Ford and Holden where buyers are staying away in droves.

[BluChris]

I'm hoping VW will call me, given I indicated to the survey company that I would appreciate the opportunity. Hasn't happened so far though, which is disappointing. Genuine concern for customer satisfaction would see them on the phone to someone like me straight away, since they have just lost me to the brand.

I do wonder about the 'something major' you talk about Wai. I suspect VW repeat business is nowhere near where they want it to be, entirely based on customer satisfaction. If you feel you have been messed around, that it has cost you plenty of time and money, and that the dealer network can't competently maintain a vehicle that in some cases is on the fragile side, would you come back again?

[Transporter]

This is a very interesting thread. I call it, the trail without the jury.

There are many VW/Skoda car owners that are very happy with the car and the service they receive. Of course they will not post about it as often as someone who is complaining.

The internet just concentrates few of those that aren't happy - and every other brand has those believe me, or you can try a different brand, maybe you'll be lucky, maybe not.

Sadly, VW is a good car range spoiled by the worst service I have come across in 35 years of owning vehicles.

It is the ONLY car company that tells its customers that "they have done everything they can, and if the problem persists, then it is standard for that type of vehicle". I have been told this, and so has the wife of a work colleague at an unrelated dealership across Sydney.

The Jeep dealer was telling me 5 years ago “this problem is on most of these Jeeps, so it is a characteristic of that car”, and I heard the same from the MB dealer 10 years ago. So, wai you should fix your statement, because it’s wrong.


I think it’s time to move on.


As far as the higher cost of servicing goes, I’ve never in my life bought a car (new or secondhand) without checking first how much it costs to service it. Usually it’s easy to go to spare parts department and ask, how much are the filters, fluids, brake parts and the timing belt. Simple like that, of course you will need to add the labour cost to it. Then make the decision to buy that car you want, or not.

[woofy]

I do that transporter, unfortunately, my dealer saw fit to jack up the prices repeatedly within a short period of timepoints. I can accept rising costs, but it sometimes has gone up 2-3 times a year for no real reason. It was originally under the cost of a GTi Golf which is on par with other countries but has since surpassed in Melbourne here. There is no excuse for that one. I suspect if VW dealers were to service all Skodas that problem of non competition that has developed here locally would go away. That was the original intention and information I was given when I first bought and seems to be for the most part a fallacy except for some sparse regional centres.

If VW Camberwell next door to me would operate as a dedicated SKoda service centre (they have the ex Bayford Skoda mechs) then Richmond would suddenly come back to earth I suspect.

[BluChris]

I have to disagree to an extent Transporter. I completely agree all brands have problem cars and I know I'm taking a risk in changing. I did check the servicing costs, but in real life they have (a) gone up significantly (b) never played out in real life. Example? This year I was up for a minor service, about $450 from Skoda here. But, I have paid $2,500 in maintenance in 2012. Part of this was optional so fair enough (preventive work), one was a window regulator mounting that gave way ($700), one a small air leak in an intake pipe ($450), plus a few other things. Even more important, $900 of these costs shouldn't have happened. One was misdiagnosis of the leak, never fixed properly and no refund, one was about the same $ for other work I explicitly told them I didn't want done but they did anyway. Refund? Don't make me laugh.

This on the back of a long history of not resolving even very simple issues is what killed it for me. God help those who've had the big issues.

The Internet also brings out the die hard loyalists who find it hard to acknowledge a genuine issue. I have never ever, across multiple brands and vehicles, received service as poor as that offered by Skoda dealers. And that was unknowable when I bought mine several years ago.

I have moved on, literally...