Leaking Roof

[Paul Mckay 1965]

Is anyone else have problems with a leaking roof. Our new VW California 6.1 has less than 2000 miles since new. Three times whilst away the roof leaked.
I’ve contacted VW Customer Care but have little joy and they are not responding.
The dealership isn’t being helpful at all.
I’ve got it booked in for a repair locally but there’s about 6 California’s in front of me with the same issue and there’s a problem with getting the replacement bellows
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[OooOooTheMonkey]

Have you seen this?

Leaking pop tops on 2023 California Oceans

Looking for other peoples' experiences with the new double lined pop top roof (the one that is grey outside / cream inside), and any potential solutions to the problem of leaking though the seams and fabric. In the last week we've had complaints from customers on all four of our March 2023...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Ryanrunsfar123]

Leaking pop tops on 2023 California Oceans

Looking for other peoples' experiences with the new double lined pop top roof (the one that is grey outside / cream inside), and any potential solutions to the problem of leaking though the seams and fabric. In the last week we've had complaints from customers on all four of our March 2023...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Very long story short - yes everyone with latest bellows. There is some light at the end of the tunnel (fast forward to the end of the thread!)

 

[bullibuskombi]

Is anyone else have problems with a leaking roof. Our new VW California 6.1 has less than 2000 miles since new. Three times whilst away the roof leaked.
I’ve contacted VW Customer Care but have little joy and they are not responding.
The dealership isn’t being helpful at all.
I’ve got it booked in for a repair locally but there’s about 6 California’s in front of me with the same issue and there’s a problem with getting the replacement bellows
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

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Those photos could have been taken in mine!
I took mine to the supplying dealer who had it for two weeks and could not progress the claim as it didn't rain while they were at work.
I have also raised with VW customer executive who insist a dealer has to see it leaking in order to verify the photos I took of my leaks.

 

[Barry Chuckle]

Those photos could have been taken in mine!
I took mine to the supplying dealer who had it for two weeks and could not progress the claim as it didn't rain while they were at work.
I have also raised with VW customer executive who insist a dealer has to see it leaking in order to verify the photos I took of my leaks.

It makes me mad, do VW/Dealers really think that leagues of owners have nothing better in their lives than to spray beads of water inside their bellows then contact the dealer for repair/replacement. Surely the good customer service is to apologise, get the vehicles in then worry about spurious claims if they cannot find a fault. FFS!!!!!!

 

[Ryanrunsfar123]

Those photos could have been taken in mine!
I took mine to the supplying dealer who had it for two weeks and could not progress the claim as it didn't rain while they were at work.
I have also raised with VW customer executive who insist a dealer has to see it leaking in order to verify the photos I took of my leaks.

Which Dealer is this?

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

Is anyone else have problems with a leaking roof. Our new VW California 6.1 has less than 2000 miles since new. Three times whilst away the roof leaked.
I’ve contacted VW Customer Care but have little joy and they are not responding.
The dealership isn’t being helpful at all.
I’ve got it booked in for a repair locally but there’s about 6 California’s in front of me with the same issue and there’s a problem with getting the replacement bellows
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

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This is being incredibly tightly choreographed. After lots of false starts, there's a new version out there and some positivity that they are watertight. But so far we have @Betsycalifornia finding success after personally testing them thoroughly and @RockinNRollin having been told by his dealer that they are watertight.

I'm also aware of a small number under test but it seems nothing is being rushed.

Whether this has anything to do with the 30-day opportunity to reject as "not fit for purpose" or the 6 months "one chance to fix" CRA rules is anyone's guess.

 

[RockinNRollin]

Long story short; a significant proportion (but not necessarily all) of the latest bellows (since around the end of 2022) are likely to leak in certain (but again, not necessarily all) wet weather conditions. Dealers have their hands tied by VW's protocol; they have to have verifiable evidence (i.e. that they've collected) to provide a technical report to VW in order to get warranty work authorised. How dealers go about that is variable unfortunately as there isn't a standard test methodology.

I don't think there's any conspiracy going on with dealers/VW and statutory periods around rejection - dealerships are just generally very busy.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

Long story short; a significant proportion (but not necessarily all) of the latest bellows (since around the end of 2022) are likely to leak in certain (but again, not necessarily all) wet weather conditions. Dealers have their hands tied by VW's protocol; they have to have verifiable evidence (i.e. that they've collected) to provide a technical report to VW in order to get warranty work authorised. How dealers go about that is variable unfortunately as there isn't a standard test methodology.

I don't think there's any conspiracy going on with dealers/VW and statutory periods around rejection - dealerships are just generally very busy.

I am not so sure about the last bit and tend to agree with CaliforniaCylus. Eurovans have had my van for 16 days and fitted new bellows 7 days ago. There’s no reason not to have released it to me already other than that I’ve been clear I’ll reject it if it leaks again. I imagine they’re testing it in all sorts of ways to make sure that’s not a possibility (which is a good thing).

 

[OooOooTheMonkey]

I am not so sure about the last bit and tend to agree with CaliforniaCylus. Eurovans have had my van for 16 days and fitted new bellows 7 days ago. There’s no reason not to have released it to me already other than that I’ve been clear I’ll reject it if it leaks again. I imagine they’re testing it in all sorts of ways to make sure that’s not a possibility (which is a good thing).

Yes I suppose it is. What if it does leak again and they say they thoroughly tested it and found it didn’t?

 

[Corradobrit]

Yes I suppose it is. What if it does leak again and they say they thoroughly tested it and found it didn’t?

Take it to another dealer.

 

[andyinluton]

I am not so sure about the last bit and tend to agree with CaliforniaCylus. Eurovans have had my van for 16 days and fitted new bellows 7 days ago. There’s no reason not to have released it to me already other than that I’ve been clear I’ll reject it if it leaks again. I imagine they’re testing it in all sorts of ways to make sure that’s not a possibility (which is a good thing).

The cynic in me would suspect that the bellows they have fitted leaks, they know they have to accept the vehicle rejection if they release it back to you leaking. They are therefore stalling for time whilst awaiting delivery of a further hopefully none leaking bellows to fit.

I might be completely wrong.....

If you have we connect you should be able to see where the van is - inside or outside the workshop, is the roof open, if you have alerts on you can see every time they unlock it.

 

[Corradobrit]

The cynic in me would suspect that the bellows they have fitted leaks, they know they have to accept the vehicle rejection if they release it back to you leaking. They are therefore stalling for time whilst awaiting delivery of a further hopefully none leaking bellows to fit.

I might be completely wrong.....

If you have we connect you should be able to see where the van is - inside or outside the workshop, is the roof open, if you have alerts on you can see every time they unlock it.

With Eurovans anything is possible. As dodgy as they come......

 

[ParachuteMan]

Long story short; a significant proportion (but not necessarily all) of the latest bellows (since around the end of 2022) are likely to leak in certain (but again, not necessarily all) wet weather conditions. Dealers have their hands tied by VW's protocol; they have to have verifiable evidence (i.e. that they've collected) to provide a technical report to VW in order to get warranty work authorised. How dealers go about that is variable unfortunately as there isn't a standard test methodology.

I don't think there's any conspiracy going on with dealers/VW and statutory periods around rejection - dealerships are just generally very busy.

I’m interested in your comment ”but not necessarily all”. I’ve done a preliminary test so far on my 1 month old Ocean as follows:

2 hours in light drizzle and light wind , van facing 180 degrees away from wind and rain. No signs of water entry and no signs of the canvas “wetting out”. I couldn’t see any large stitching holes at the bottom or on the seams.

I’m probably naive and / or overly optimistic, So for my next test, I’m waiting for heavy rain and higher winds over 4 hours plus. And I may turn the Cali 90 degrees into wind. I’ll also have a harder look at the stitching. I’ve sent photos of the forum’s recent successful bellows part numbers etc to my dealer, but I can’t start a debate with them until I’ve properly tested mine.

Interestingly, if you type in “Fabsil” into the search box, it brings up a number of threads with leaking bellows from 2017+. Not a large number and dealers appeared to be much more helpful, but there were some leakers then. But MY23 is a different order of magnitude.

 

[Kayleigh]

The cynic in me would suspect that the bellows they have fitted leaks, they know they have to accept the vehicle rejection if they release it back to you leaking. They are therefore stalling for time whilst awaiting delivery of a further hopefully none leaking bellows to fit.

I don’t think this is being cynical. There should be no reason for EuroVans to keep a vehicle for an extra week after fitting the bellows. Someone else on here picked theirs up the same day as fitting, but not Eurovans obviously.

 

[Corradobrit]

2 hours in light drizzle and light wind , van facing 180 degrees away from wind and rain. No signs of water entry and no signs of the canvas “wetting out”. I couldn’t see any large stitching holes at the bottom or on the seams.

Mine also remained dry after several rain showers. The first proper rain event (no wind) and the front zipper seam let in water 5 minutes after getting saturated. Then it was a steady drip-drip every second. Closed the poptop as I'd seen enough and water cascaded onto the front seats (luckily no permanent water stain).

 

[bullibuskombi]

Which Dealer is this?

GROUP 1 Dartford

 

[bullibuskombi]

It makes me mad, do VW/Dealers really think that leagues of owners have nothing better in their lives than to spray beads of water inside their bellows then contact the dealer for repair/replacement. Surely the good customer service is to apologise, get the vehicles in then worry about spurious claims if they cannot find a fault. FFS!!!!!!

You would have thought! With issues such as this its best to acknowledge and fix ASAP and keep customer goodwill.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

GROUP 1 Dartford

Ah my local dealer. Between them and Eurovans I’m spoilt for choice.

 

[Corradobrit]

keep customer goodwill.

I think that left the building with the Dieselgate debacle.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

The cynic in me would suspect that the bellows they have fitted leaks, they know they have to accept the vehicle rejection if they release it back to you leaking. They are therefore stalling for time whilst awaiting delivery of a further hopefully none leaking bellows to fit.

I might be completely wrong.....

If you have we connect you should be able to see where the van is - inside or outside the workshop, is the roof open, if you have alerts on you can see every time they unlock it.

We connect has been discontinued.

Can't find on the replacement app where I can see if the pop top is open ..

 

[andyinluton]

We connect has been discontinued.

Can't find on the replacement app where I can see if the pop top is open ..

I didnt realise it was switched off today. New app just shows if locked & van position.

 

[Timothy Walpole]

Is anyone else have problems with a leaking roof. Our new VW California 6.1 has less than 2000 miles since new. Three times whilst away the roof leaked.
I’ve contacted VW Customer Care but have little joy and they are not responding.
The dealership isn’t being helpful at all.
I’ve got it booked in for a repair locally but there’s about 6 California’s in front of me with the same issue and there’s a problem with getting the replacement bellows
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

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Have identical problem with my new VW Cal,due in VW Exeter on the 7/12 to assess for warranty claim.If you look in the dark with a light outside seems there are holes in the stitching,vertical similar to a Tetley tea,bag!!!

 

[Paul Mckay 1965]

Has anyone tried the Ombudsman route and made a complaint? I’m in the initial process of doing this

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

Has anyone tried the Ombudsman route and made a complaint? I’m in the initial process of doing this

I think a few have raised with the Ombudsman but it takes 6 months to progress so if a dealer refuses a rejection the calculation changes over a 6 months period...