First dealer contact in a year: Service Plans, and Software Upgrade

[Walter Eagle]

My Enyaq iV60 is coming up to a year old, and over the last two weeks I received a flurry of emails from various sources about health checks, service plans, etc.

First was from Skoda Financial Services. They invited me to subscribe to a Service Plan for my vehicle. Once I'd gone online to their site, entered my registration number, it then informed me "there is no service plan for your vehicle. Please contact your Local Retailer for details." Local retailer was a hyperlink, and when I clicked on it I got a "404 - Page not found" Aaarrgghh! What it is about bloody Skoda and software?

Second was from Lightcliffe Skoda in Warrington, the local dealer where I'd bought the car. "As your car is almost a year old, please accept our invitation for a free Health Check." I took them up on this, not because I expected anything significant to happen, but just to have an excuse to visit them for the first time in a year.

Third email was also from Lightcliffe Skoda in Warrington. This one said that "As your car is almost a year old you need to book it in for a service. Please go online and select a date that suits you." This email was signed with the name of the Service Manager.

When I turned up today for the Health Check I queried two issues: what exactly are the circumstances with Service Plans; and how do I get an upgrade from my delivery ME3.0 software to whatever the latest is?

Service Plans: There are none. There are Service Plans for ICE Skodas but not for EV Skodas. Or so I was told. I honestly don't know what or who to believe. The Service Adviser I spoke to was amazed at my email from the named Service Manager inviting me to book a service - he'd left that dealer nearly a year ago! They said the Enyaq is 2-years service intervals and you just pay whatever the rate is at the time. No plan to offer monthly purchases etc.

Software Upgrade: "There's no recall or upgrade listed against your car by Skoda. So we can't just start doing upgrades. If there was a fault or a problem we could do some diagnostics and fix it. But we won't do anything until Skoda says. And anyway, it all happens automatically. Your car will upgrade itself. You [i.e. me, the customer] need to phone Skoda Support and get guidance on this." Yeah, right.

Oh, I passed the Health Check, so I guess that's the good news.

[snalbansed]

Interesting!

Did you see what the health check comprised of?

[Mfhphil]

I bought a service plan in March this year

[Ken3966]

The upgrade can’t be done over the air and apparently takes about 5 hours at least if no issues. Each module has to be done individually and checked before starting the next.

[Ken3966]

Skoda hasn’t transitioned yet to the difference with EV’s from ICE cars. No doubt the computer just fires off a letter annually telling you it’s time for a service as it has always done this. This prompts the call to the service department to find out what is needed and book a date.
Doesn’t work for EV’s yet clearly!

Other issue to affect me is I noticed I don’t have a green strip on number plates. Presumably my dealer just ordered their standard plates without thinking.

[Walter Eagle]

Interesting!

Did you see what the health check comprised of?

Yes, they gave me two or three pages of items that had been checked.
Most of it was binary: green for good or red if bad.
Other things were quantitative: tread depth, break wear.

It did look like a standard form, and probably not one generated within the dealer. Perhaps based on a template from Skoda.

[By the way, 'consisted of' or 'comprised' - never 'comprised of'. Apologies. I'm just an old nit-picker and that one gets me every time!]

[Aragorn]

If your car is on ME2.0 then it will need a dealership software upgrade to get it onto ME3.0

If its on ME3 it should update OTA.

[Walter Eagle]

If your car is on ME2.0 then it will need a dealership software upgrade to get it onto ME3.0

If its on ME3 it should update OTA.

Ah, the old 'should'!

It was delivered new as ME3.0. There have been a couple of OTA module upgrades that have taken place but they haven't affected any driver-visible issues.
The software number shown on the Infotainment (God, how I hate that word!) screen has stayed at 0333.

Since visiting my dealer I did try using an online chat with a contact at the Skoda Customer Support.
She said, "oh, you'll have to contact our Digital Service Team." And the email address she offered for them was some anonymous support@skoda.blah.blah
She also made things more intolerable with a "here's what you could have won" link, to show me just how good the ME3.2 upgrade is!!
https://www.skoda.co.uk/owners/enyaq-iv-software-update

[Deasea]

My Enyaq will be 2 years old (well registered for 2 years) on the 1st of September 2023 A few days ago a message came up on the driver binnacle saying 28 days to inspection. Has counted down each day since. I had the service done today at my local Skoda dealership and it cost £196.50. Brake fluid was changed as was the pollen filter. Rest was a visual inspection. After 15k miles tyres still have 6mm of tread and are wearing evenly.

Just for info in case anyone else coming up to the first service milestone

[Walter Eagle]

The continuing saga ...

I did contact customerservices@skoda.co.uk for clarification of this software upgrade issue.
And, I even got a reply.

I am sorry to learn that you are experiencing a long waiting timeframe for the software update for your vehicle. I appreciate that this is disappointing and frustrating for you.

Kindly be advised that the software update is executed in groups, thereby ensuring that only a limited number of vehicles receive the update at a given time. I would recommend waiting for the notification on your Škoda Connect to inform you the update is available for your vehicle. You could also wait for your local retailer to notify you when the update is available for your vehicle.

At present, there is no possibility of expediting the process.

While I was waiting for this reply, I also used Facebook Messenger to contact them on the same matter. The reply there was -

Hi, thank you for contacting Škoda UK. We are sorry to learn that you have not received the software update for your vehicle. We understand that this is disappointing and frustrating for you. We can confirm that you have email us and a response was provided to you regarding your enquiry

So, much the same wording (sorry, disappointment, frustration) and much the same lack of action.

I've since suggested "Rather than issue apologies and sympathy, is there any prospect that Skoda could identify and implement a solution? Then you wouldn't have to be sorry any more."

I'll bet that's just pushed me right to the back of the queue!!