A Skoda dealership in Bengaluru cheats a customer by selling a fake Rapid limited edition vehicle.
A car buying experience is something that anyone would cherish for times to come, especially if it’s a first-time buy and dealerships play a prominent role in giving this experience to the customers. Dealer-level gimmicks and trade practices (to make that extra money) is what we Indian car buyers are used to. What if we say dealerships cheat customers to such an extent where they actually fake cars! Shocking? Read on…
Here is one such incident in Bengaluru where Mr. Suhas Manjunath has filed a consumer court complaint against Vinayak Skoda (the dealership) and Skoda (the car manufacturer) for cheating and deceiving him. The whole incident unfolds like this. Suhas books the Skoda Rapid Black Package from Vinayak Skoda. He pays the booking amount and since he wanted to avail a loan, the dealer persuaded him to avail the loan through them (because they get a commission for the loans sanctioned through them). Suhas denied. A few days later, the dealer calls Suhas and asks him for a payment of Rs. 30,000/- to block the car and issues him a proforma invoice for the loan.
Suhas gets the loan approved and cross-checked for the insurance. The dealer was quoting a higher price for the same insurance policy which was available outside at a lesser price. Suhas decides to get the insurance policy done from a known agent and at this point, the dealer is frustrated as he has lost his margin on the insurance and the loan. On 25th October the dealer is paid by the bank and Suhas was supposed to get the delivery. The next day, the dealer failed to deliver the car, quoting silly reasons. Five days later, the car is delivered to Suhas, but then again, there were issues regarding the invoicing. The dealer had issued an under-priced tax invoice and also with a different grade name. The invoice read as ‘Skoda Rapid Style Plus 1.6 MPI Automatic’, whereas, Suhas had opted for a manual trim.
After the purchase, Suhas visits the dealer to get the documents rectified as the correct documents had to be submitted to the bank where he had availed the loan. Just because the loan wasn’t availed through the dealership, they tell Suhas, “We deal with all our customers in this manner, if you cannot accept the documents we have issued then it’s not our problem and since you have not availed the loan from us we cannot help you with this.” Suhas makes his adjustments with the bank as he was helpless and now starts the drama.
A few days after he realises there’s an issue with the headlights (flash and high beam not working). The issue is reported to the dealer. Post 9 days of reporting the issue, the dealer requests for 8-10 days time to figure out what the problem exactly was. On 6th January 2017, Suhas visits the dealer who shows him that a regular Rapid’s headlights were functioning normally on his car and only the Black Package’s headlights were malfunctioning. Suhas smells something is fishy and comes to a conclusion that his car wasn’t a limited edition (Black Package) and instead was a regular Rapid altered with the accessories from the Black Package.
Enraged, Suhas takes this to the higher authorities of the dealership who accept the foul they had committed. The Senior General Manager confirms they had swapped a few parts to make the regular Rapid look like a Rapid Black Package. A few days later, Suhas is told to come to the service centre and get the headlight issue rectified. People connected to the dealership smartly lie to Suhas, telling that Skoda has manufactured and sent a “special pair” of headlights for his Rapid. They also mention that they will claim it under the warranty as the car was brand new (Nowhere is this issue being reported to Skoda (the company) as the dealer intended to close this issue without them getting caught).
Suhas meanwhile, expects a call from Skoda as the warranty had been claimed and when he doesn’t, he realises he’s been cheated. Without getting the issue fixed, he walks out of the service centre. After researching online, Suhas got confirmed that his Rapid isn’t the Black Package (limited edition), but is a regular Rapid via the MySkoda app (by keying in the car’s Vehicle-Identification Number). Realising he’s been cheated, he files a suit at the consumer court.
Fake Rapid Limited Edition
– Skoda dealer in Bengaluru fake sells a regular Rapid as a limited edition
– The Rapid had issues with its headlights
– With all the documents and call recordings, Suhas has filed a case in the consumer court
Source – Team-BHP.com