Angry with VW!!

[Wickes]

What a bad show for VW...

Took my Roc in for several warranty issues including those pesky smearing wipers, bubbling varnish on a refurbed alloy, the infamous metallic sounding engine rattle and to code a spare key which was missing upon purchase.
Arrived Wednesday morning to a half hour wait for a technican to come for a test drive to demonstrate the rattle and show him the forum chats regarding possible causes. Asked them to bend heat shielding away from turbo and replace down pipe if poss. Two out the three is worth a punt!!

Phoned Wednesday afternoon and was told they hadn't even started on my car!! But they had looked at the alloy and reckon it is a stone chip that has caused the bubbling as water has got under it. Yeah right!!! Then they say pay us £322 + VAT and were send your alloy away for inspection and refund if found faulty!! Jokers!!
Told them Thursday morning the Alloy was a refurb (mistake I know) so now the refurb company need the car for 5 days to look at it!!

Following that... Thursday afternoon they ring to tell me my Roc won't be ready as they performed a new update via the ECU for the power steering and have broken it. So VW in Germany have told the dealer to replace the ECU.....

Today comes and I look forward to having my Roc back for the weekend after driving a 20 year old Toyota Corolla for the past few days and am told they replaced the ECU and its still broken. So now VW Germany have said 'replace the steering column'!!... Now i'm no mechanic but that sounds a huge job!!
I asked if they had any luck with the rattle and my reply was answered.... Haven't even started the other work yet!!

I replied I hope VW are going to give me some sort of compensation for breaking my Roc and they said like what??
Dunno actually.... Free service maybe??

Any others had these problems?

[pat15312]

But they had looked at the alloy and reckon it is a stone chip that has caused the bubbling as water has got under it. Yeah right!!! Then they say pay us £322 + VAT and were send your alloy away for inspection and refund if found faulty!! Jokers!!
Told them Thursday morning the Alloy was a refurb (mistake I know) so now the refurb company need the car for 5 days to look at it!!

Sounds about right. I've had my wheels powder coated black but I've noticed a stone chip on one of them... It a bastard but oh well, these things happen. Might cost me £75 to get it sandblasted right back and redone but not overly bothered by it tbh. Will get it done if the paint starts bubbling up.
If it was always like that then VW should be able to do a refurb quite quickly I would have thought. However you can't expect VW to refurb the alloy if the chip has occured since you've been driving it...

I replied I hope VW are going to give me some sort of compensation for breaking my Roc and they said like what??
Dunno actually.... Free service maybe??

REALLY doubt it but its worth a rant at them! Go into the showroom on a busy day and start shouting lol

[Wickes]

I guess Monday will tell!! If not a phone call to customer services will be on the cards!!
Still can't see how they would need the car for 5 days tho to repair an alloy!!

S

[pat15312]

i had all 4 odd my wheels sandblasted back, refurbed and powder coated in 10 hours... so no, can't see how a refurb can take 5 days lol

[adamj]

Sounds like the kind of service VW and VW dealers seem to think their customers deserve.....

[ffiish]

You could ask for at least a GTI while you wait for your car to be sorted...

[rhcp128]

Welcome to the club... Everytime I go to my dealer to have something checked out (wiper smear, metallic noise in engine, whistling sound on 1.4 TSI, rust), the usual answer is: "They are all like this..." The best one so far was when I asked about the rusting boot bolts. I showed the chief of the service center the rust and his explanation was "Don't worry! It's nothing serious. If we lift the car I can show you a lot more places that have rust! VW save on components..." SERIOUSLY how do you respond to that.... It's like these people don't want you to buy another VW... go figure

[Wickes]

It goes on and on....

Got my car back tonight after a week long wait of excuses how my local VW dealership hadn't finished the work...

I was hoping to report that the metallic rattle noise had gone but after replacing the down pipe its still there and its worst, they didn't even attempt to bend the heat shielding out which I asked them to do following reports on the forum. They did say 'We have fixed it tho!!'
What tops the week long wait off is that now my steering is out of alignment following the steering rack replacement, so its going back in the morning with a disgruntled owner in tow who is going to shout at the Service Manager for giving me back my Rocco WITHOUT testing it!!

On a positive note they have replaced the rusted boot strut fixings following VW's recall. Yet to test the wipers for smears but will do that in front of the unluckly service department tomorrow!!

Keep ya posted on the rattle as i'll be off to another dealership if they can't sort it!!

[Slippy]

I am interested in seeing how this pans out, I have always heard VW were great for customer service, apparently not...

[badben16]

if any one even considers repairing the gt spec wheels from vw for £322 it only costs £299 to buy a new wheel rip off bastards. i only know this cuz i scratch one parrallel parking oops

[Wickes]

Totally agree!!!

Got my VW back on Thursday night... after speaking with Customer Services and complaining about the fact that VW had caused me severe inconvinence for the past week and additionally releasing my car without proper steering alignment they stated that they have no control over VW franchised dealerships and it was down to the dealership's discretion if any compensation was offered. (Bottle of Cheap sparkling wine was given to me as a good will gesture!!) Still think a phone call to the dealer principle may be in order.

I have however noticed that since they bent the heat shielding, the metallic rattle has somewhat reduced. My dealership said that VW Germany's official word is 'the wastegate is to blame and it is not causing any damage. Characteristic of the engine'
We've all heard that one before.... Apparently the new build change Scirocco is out and was offered to test drive it..... would be interesting to drive one to see if the rattle is still there??? If not, i'll be asking for a turbo change to the new build spec and they said 'fine'.

My wiper smear has now been fixed tho

Finally, i'm yet to sort out my alloy wheel refurb, they want the car for 5 days to fix one wheel.... i'm going to leave it for now as I don't think I can handle another week driving crappy courtsey cars.
What has annoyed me is that after reading the Scirocco's price list it state that 4 X 18'' Interlagos wheels with tyres and anti-theft locking nuts is £400. However parts department want £322 + VAT for ONE ALLOY!!! Absolutely disgusting.... Don't even try to tell me its cheaper to fit at the factory.... ITS A WHEEL and takes about 10mins!!!

[greenstick]

What has annoyed me is that after reading the Scirocco's price list it state that 4 X 18'' Interlagos wheels with tyres and anti-theft locking nuts is £400. However parts department want £322 + VAT for ONE ALLOY!!! Absolutely disgusting.... Don't even try to tell me its cheaper to fit at the factory.... ITS A WHEEL and takes about 10mins!!!

Is that not the upgrade price for the non GT spec cars, from 17" to 18" wheels.

4 tyres costs more that £400.

Hope you get everything sorted soon

[archebald23]

yeah, this is quite a revelation because Volkswagen prides itself on its customer service. i did encounter a problem with them before, if im correct it was about my Borla Down Pipe but they were able to sort it out so i hope your you do the same.

[yellowplum]

Alas it is down to the individual dealer that you have dealt with. That is your point of contract and where you must complain, it isn't really worth contacting the manufacturer as they won't take any interest and you have no recourse against them. However I would suggest that if you continue to have issues you begin by writing to the dealer - always best to keep a record of everything.

I had an 08 BMW with turbo lag, the dealer would not admit to the issue, ended up with two independent engineers examining the car, both concluded there was a lag - and ended up with solicitor threatening court action before they even did something (bought it back just so they could re-sell it to some poor sap that knew nothing about it).

[RW1]

You're right Yellowplum, but I have also used VW Germany direct to instruct VW Milton Keynes to instruct the Dealer on more than one occassion in the past 30 years. It is a last resort when all else in the above chain has failed me. Peeps don't half jump. You do have to present your case in a professional manner with all the evidence etc..

C.