[NPinUK]

I booked my car in for a repair of the electric boot lid as it was no longer working. On 20th April I dropped my car off and hoped this would be covered under warranty and they don't make up some other excuse for the problem.

I had a phone call that day to say they had identified the problem and that the part would be here on 22nd and it was covered under warranty. Happy Days. They asked if I wanted to leave the car with them or collect and rebook which I agreed to leave with them as rebooking meant a further delay of a later date.

I went to pick up my car on Friday the 22nd. The 1st thing I did was try the boot, something wasn't right as it still made the error beeping noise but it did work. I then got in the drivers seat and saw this in the rear view mirror.

The trim on the boot lid had been fitted incorrectly. It should be fitted on top of the brackets not underneath them. This has scratched the trim.

Also i notice they not even put the screw back in the part you put your hand in to manually close the lid.

At this point I'm thinking why has the trim even been taken off? My obd 11 scan was showing motor 1 as the problem which is the passenger side strut. There is no need to take off any trims to replace the strut, only lower the headliner slightly to unplug and plug and remove the clips from the strut .

I parked outside the workshop and asked to speak to the person who worked on my car. The service manager came and I showed him how the trim had been fitted. He first tried to say it was difficult to fit back the trim back but then agreed it is there fault. I also told him the boot is still beeping funny which they agreed they would look at but I had come back in. He gave me his email address and phone number. They had changed the latch motor for the boot lid. Why, I don't know.

When I got home and tried the boot but it had already stopped working and was behaving like it was before the repair was carried out. I sent the service manager an email and told him straight that from my knowledge it should of been the strut that should have been changed and not the latch motor which is located on the boot door itself. I explained that the boot has always been unlatching fine but just not opening out. This is how it was recorded on the job sheet. I thought the behaviour of the boot and the error code stored on obd 11 was a straight forward diagnose of the problem. I then rang him to see if he had seen my email and he started getting a little defensive saying the boot was working when they tested it after changing the latch motor. However he did say bring the car in on the 27th and they take a look and do a obd scan.

On 27th I pop in and they scan the car and tell me that there scan is only saying motor and not motor 1 so they cant be sure its the strut . But they going to take my word for it and replace the strut. Also they will order a new trim piece for the boot lid which has been damaged due to it being wedged under the brackets. I thought they were being reasonable so we agreed to book the car in 2 days later. I asked him if he could give me the parts to fit myself but he said they cant but agreed he would let me take take the new trim and I could fit that myself.

Therefore the car was dropped off yesterday 29th where they changed the strut under warranty. Upon collection the boot was working fine, no funny beeps. The new trim piece was left in the boot for me to fit. I left and everything seemed ok.

Today on closer inspection the cowboys have scratched the paintwork when changing the strut. They've not even bothered to put a cloth or similar to where the tool might hit the paintwork when removing the clips from the strut.

Also where they have lowered the headliner to unplug and plug in the struts they have kinked it as they have folded it. In the VW manual it states the the headliner needs to be replaced if kinked.

It seems these cowboys just don't care on the quality work they carry out. I find there is no duty of care and they are not really mechanics of such. They don't even follow the correct procedures from the workshop manuals. I'm now thinking why I didn't just purchase the strut and fit it myself. Will not be going back to this VW dealer ever again. Truly unprofessional. 3 trips just to sort out a strut that takes 30mins to fit. Knobs.

 

[nheather]

That’s terrible. Not in any way justifying this level of service, just an observation, but when I drive past dealerships a good proportion of them continually have signs up advertising vacancies for experienced mechanics and service engineers.

I wonder if there is a skills shortage in the industry like there is in others.

If so your experience might be the result of engineers rushing jobs because they have too much on their plates or from inexperience engineers.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[Sparkie1984]

To be honest I’m not surprised. seeing first hand how awful the dealerships are even when selling you a car I’m not shocked they show no care when it comes to fixing it.
I’m so disappointed in VW.. always been BMW before this but my god the service is awful! My salesman sounded drunk when he called me yesterday.. he couldn’t give less of a crap. And he never emailed me like he said he would.

 

[Pioter]

Yup. I had a similar experience. They broke some plastic parts on one of the rear lamps on my car while doing some repairs. Now the lamp doesn't sit firmly and has a few millimetres of play. Albeit it was done by one of the dealers in Poland.

 

[A1VWD]

Truly awful experience and why I usually service a car myself. I hate dealerships where they won't let you see what they get up to. No doubt the apprentice was left to do the job without supervision.

 

[Scorpion]

That level of repair should result in someone getting dismissed.
Mind it may not have necessarily been the junior mechanic as some well experienced ones treat cars like sh#t.
I can honestly say I would be taking that right to the top.
At VW in Durham they have a workshop where you can view the vehicles being worked on so quite open and transparent.

 

[Sparkie1984]

That level of repair should result in someone getting dismissed.
Mind it may not have necessarily been the junior mechanic as some well experienced ones treat cars like sh#t.
I can honestly say I would be taking that right to the top.
At VW in Durham they have a workshop where you can view the vehicles being worked on so quite open and transparent.

I agree with this actually, a trainee is most likely to put some effort in…. A more experienced tech who perhaps has given up on their job and finds it boring etc is much more likely to do that sort of thing. I mean leaving the new trim for you to fit???? Disgusting

 

[Essjay]

This disgusting level of service is totally unacceptable. I would take all of the photos you have of the ‘shoddy’ workmanship, and put them all, with a rundown of events, in an email to VW UK and copy in the manager of the dealership.
Explain to VW that this is not the level of service you expect from one of the UK’s ’approved’ VW dealers, and you could also mention that the whole episode has been shared on one of the UK’s premier VW forums for members to decide, in the light of your treatment, whether or not to use this particular dealer.
I agree, you should certainly find another approved dealer for any more work, and steer well clear of these ‘cowboys’ in future.

Steve

 

[A1VWD]

..........At VW in Durham they have a workshop where you can view the vehicles being worked on so quite open and transparent.

Is that just being able to view at a distance in a waiting room through a window? They have to let you view when doing an MoT but for general servicing or repairs I've been given every excuse possible to prevent me from seeing what they do from not being insured within the workshop to the mechanics who do not like being watched! I got virtually kicked out of a Halfords Autocentre once when all I wanted was a tracking done and tried to explain to the mechanic about the slight off centre steering wheel - some grease ball stood eyeball to eyeball to me and ordered me out of the workshop! I won't be going back there again!

 

[Scorpion]

Well you obviously can’t sit in the workshop for safety reasons but you can sit in the waiting area and watch them working on your vehicle.
There is no workshop that I know where you can enter to watch or be near your vehicle as their insurance would be invalid due to public being in the restricted area.
I must say that I have never had an issue in gaining access to a workshop in order to show the mechanic the issue. It is all about how you approach getting in there.
I know with my modified vehicles the workshops always let me in and some even let me drive mine in and out.

 

[Rory]

Had an odd experience wirh a glow plug failure on ours a few weeks ago.

First was amazed ro ring on a Wednesday and the dealer asked me to pick any day the following week, and with a courtesy car. I was expecting have have to wait 4-6 weeks.

Took car in and they changed the glow plug. Also identified both rear shocks leaking bad enough that the All In warranty alos agreed to replace them. Parts on overnight delivery but no problem to keep the couresy car, even for a third day if we couldn't get back. I looked at the video they sent and you could see the oily patches on the shocks. I then looked at the VHC from the car's service and MOT last Sept and they look exactly the same but weren't even mentioned, and it's not a like a VW dealer to miss an upsell or MOT advisory opportunity.

I'm sure the car drifts left now where it used to be rock solid - I'm sensitive to this as my Merc was a nightmare for alighnment. Dealer insists it's impossible that alignment could have been affected.

Then got an email saying VW Warranty had picked up that when the glow plug was changed, it hadn't been adapted to the car! So they wanted it back to do that. I asked if I'd been a paying customer would they have realised and the service manager said, basically, no. Leaves you wondering what else they 'forget' to do.

 

[ThePhatGit]

Had an odd experience wirh a glow plug failure on ours a few weeks ago.

First was amazed ro ring on a Wednesday and the dealer asked me to pick any day the following week, and with a courtesy car. I was expecting have have to wait 4-6 weeks.

Took car in and they changed the glow plug. Also identified both rear shocks leaking bad enough that the All In warranty alos agreed to replace them. Parts on overnight delivery but no problem to keep the couresy car, even for a third day if we couldn't get back. I looked at the video they sent and you could see the oily patches on the shocks. I then looked at the VHC from the car's service and MOT last Sept and they look exactly the same but weren't even mentioned, and it's not a like a VW dealer to miss an upsell or MOT advisory opportunity.

I'm sure the car drifts left now where it used to be rock solid - I'm sensitive to this as my Merc was a nightmare for alighnment. Dealer insists it's impossible that alignment could have been affected.

Then got an email saying VW Warranty had picked up that when the glow plug was changed, it hadn't been adapted to the car! So they wanted it back to do that. I asked if I'd been a paying customer would they have realised and the service manager said, basically, no. Leaves you wondering what else they 'forget' to do.

Should get a full 4 wheel alignment done if shocks are replaced. Any dealer that says that it’s impossible that it could have been affected is an idiot

 

[Stevie G]

Sadly you are all correct regarding VW service departments, I’ve said it before I used to work in sales for VW in Bristol (now retired) and we as a dealer were constantly let down by poor customer service and work quality from the after sales service department so I’m not surprised by the bad comments above,