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Poor service from VW and a warranty question

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 12:46 pm
by smithy1311
Not sure what the prototcol for naming dealers is so I will keep names out of the post for now.

After getting a Scirocco delivered from a dealer in North London with a big scratch on it last March, my VW dealer experience has gone further downhill. A sanitised extract from my complaint is set-out below to give you a feel for the problems and their low level of service. This relates to the repair of just the indication section of my passenger mirror.

- I booked my car in for 24 January 2010 for a waiting appointment having been told that the repair would take 30 minutes.
- after 40 minutes I was told that incorrect parts had been ordered and that I would have to book in again.
- I was told that the repair would still take 30 minutes next time around and that I would receive a telephone call when the parts were in stock.
- I subsequently booked the car back in for a waiting appointment on Wednesday 2 February 2010.
- I handed over the car at 0830 on 2 February 2010. I then left your dealership two hours later at 1030, missing pre-arranged appointments
- I was told on four separate occasions that the car would be ready in five minutes. The length of time between the first occasion I was told this and the time that the vehicle was ready was around 45 minutes.
- I was told that the reason for the delay was that the mechanic had broken the electric window switch when carrying out the wing-mirror repair - apparently you need to remove the inside door panel to repair a wing mirror section!!!
- On paying for the repair, the story was changed and I was told that the electric window switch was already broken. I confirmed that I have never had any problems with the passenger window operation in the window was functionally properly one day before I brought the car in on 2 February.
- I specifically asked for the car not to be washed/valeted to avoid any paintwork damage caused by a 'quickie' wash. Having said that, the passenger interior door and wing mirror were dirtier than when I handed over the car and the mirror itself was covered in a lot of fingerprint marks.
- On leaving the dealership, I discovered that the passenger door could no longer be opened from inside the car and it is if the door handle has not been re-connected. Therefore, to let a passenger out of the car, the driver must exit the vehicle.
- throughout the experience the garage used a number of excuses that relate to internal processes (dealing with the parts department, collect/delivery staff being on holiday to give two examples).

Which brings me to my question....I want to avoid this dealer like the plague in future. Are you required to get cars under warranty sericed at a VW dealer to maintain the warranty?

Cheers!

p.s. I live in Leeds near Elland Road stadium :)

Re: Poor service from VW and a warranty question

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 12:55 pm
by juniorbanks
smithy1311 wrote:Which brings me to my question....I want to avoid this dealer like the plague in future. Are you required to get cars under warranty sericed at a VW dealer to maintain the warranty?
:)
Easy one that .. No .. I cant remember the exacts but as long as they are using VW OEM parts then you can use a third party. I for example use AmD in Essex to do all mine which is twice as far as my crappy local dealer :)

EDIT: Although im talking services etc, im not sure what the state of play is with warranty repairs.

Re: Poor service from VW and a warranty question

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:37 pm
by maisbitt
If the door switch was broken, whether they broke it or just said it was broken (as in not working, but with no apparent physical damage), I thought they would replace it under warranty and not try and charge you for it. The internal door handle being non-operational needs a fix from them straight away. Let thm put right what they did wrong and then avoid them like the plague. Let the site manager know afterwards what a poor service you've had and that you won't be using them again for warranty work or servicing. Just take it to a different dealership for warranty/repair/servicing in the future.

Not sure you have much come-back on fingerprints on the mirror after you asked them not to clean the car externally.

Warranty work will probably have to be done at a VW dealer, they are contracted to do the work for VW at a certain hourly labour rate. Dealers have to invest a lot of money into a dealership (they are obliged to have a certain number of dealership "fleet" demo vehicles), they rely on knowing that they have a guaranteed income from VW for warranty work.

With official VW parts used, non-warranty repairs and servicing can be carried out elsewhere without affecting your VW warranty - this is set out in EU law.

Re: Poor service from VW and a warranty question

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:38 pm
by JG400
smithy1311 wrote:p.s. I live in Leeds near Elland Road stadium :)
Ah that explains the careful car cleaning, as you live near the home of 'The Dirty' leeds :lol:

Sorry couldn't resist that :D

Re: Poor service from VW and a warranty question

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:40 pm
by RW1
smithy1311 wrote:Which brings me to my question....I want to avoid this dealer like the plague in future. Are you required to get cars under warranty sericed at a VW dealer to maintain the warranty?
You are free to take your Scirocco to the dealer of your choice in the network! Not all dealers are the same, shop around.

Third party is as said, if genuine parts are used.
One negative is that any updates such as the ECU software updates will not be done as a general rule.
Although I have just helped out my local garage to establish capability to download dealer software updates.
Dealers carry out "Service Workshop Actions" which a 3rd party garage may not be aware of.

C.