Last week my July 2006 Skoda Octavia vRS had to go into the Skoda dealer for a recall to replace the ignition coils. On getting into the car after the work had been done I was immediately annoyed to find that every setting of my driver's seat had been altered, the height, the rake of the back, even the control for the lumbar support had been fiddled with. It took me several minutes to adjust things to a point where I could drive the car home, and a further two days of tweaking to get the seat back the way I had it before. On getting home I opened the bonnet to check that all was well, and found that a rubber grommet on the engine oil filler had not been put back, a bolt on one of the air filter brackets was loose, and a part of the engine air intake trunking was hanging off and about to disappear into oblivion.

I have often observed you recommending owners to have their cars looked after by the main dealer to preserve the service history, but what is the point if (in my case) you have to put up with really shoddy workmanship? My car is now looked after by a local independent garage, which has a couple of excellent and dependable mechanics, and I will never ever go back to the main dealer.