Another GC faults thread

[thesquirrelpatrol]

So after 7 months of ownership I’ve finally decided to vent my frustrations on here in the hope that someone in a similar situation has had a good outcome from VW.

We have had 3 cali beach vans over the last 8 years but with a larger family this time round we decided to sell our latest beach and “trade up” to the GC.

We received our ex demo GC600 at the end of July and set off for a 10 day trip to Arran. 3 days in and the kitchen tap micro switch failed and the pump started to run at 2am. Frantic googling and this forum thankfully meant I knew where to look under the sink to disconnect the cable to the tap. We limped on through the rest of the trip with me connecting and disconnecting the tap as required. Other than that the trip was great and absolutely loved the GC space and convenience over the beach.

Since then it’s been one fault after another. We had trips planned until mid October so all of the issues were raised with the dealership but had to wait to be fixed or we would have to cancel the trips.

So the list of issues is as follows;
Kitchen tap micro switch causes pump to run.

Rear roof light broken


Both roof blinds have tiny holes in them all over


Silicon sealant in the wet room is poorly done and let’s water escape the wet room.

Escaped water from the wet room has caused the passenger seat laminate on the chipboard end panel to bubble

Yellow staining to kitchen work surface at sliding net

Battery initially would not charge from engine running and subsequently does not even charge from hook up

Rear strap holding the bed vertical has snapped off its fixing

Brakes have squealed at low speed since day 1

Thuma control panel shows an error code each time you try to use the water/heating controls when gas is switched back on after being off - the error code has to be cleared in order for the main control panel to show that gas is switched on

The water will gradually become a dribble the first time it is used when parked up. This needs to be left off for 5 mins before it will start pumping water again.

The ambient RGB LED lighting randomly stops working intermittently

The last time we used the van as a camper was a trip to Alton towers for the October school holidays. During that trip the rear roof light became unattached at the front and when it was wound the whole glazed panel would slide backwards. Took it to the local dealership in stoke who gaffer taped it down for our long drive back to scotland. On our return I contacted the van centre we bought it from and our local dealership. 3 weeks later I was asked to bring it in for them to inspect and order the necessary replacement parts. Time passed and then in December it was booked in for a week for further investigation and to fix what could be fixed. Everything required a technical enquiry so nothing was fixed.

Our local dealership have tried their best to help us with all of the faults but ours is the first GC they have had to fix and as such most of the problems require technical enquiries. Product knowledge and guidance from VW on the GC to the dealership seems to have been zero.

We have not been able to use the van for camping since October. It is now in its 5th week at the dealership. I think, understandably, my wife and I are pretty pissed off that we are paying so much to VWFS every month for what is essentially a very expensive panel van at this point. I wanted to know what VW would do given the number of faults and the length of time to fix them.

I called VW customer care 4 weeks ago and was told someone would get back to me in a week. Two weeks later I had heard nothing so called again. Very apologetically I was told a case handler would call in 24 hours. A week later still nothing. I called back and was told that a case had never been raised and that I would have to wait another 72 hours for a call back. When I finally did get a call it was to tell me that customer care could not help me with any sort of compensation for the issues and that I would have to contact VWFS. I now have to start all over again with them.

So overall the van has been great…except for when it has not.

 

[Eber123]

Hello,

I am very sorry to hear about the experience you made with your Grand California. I know what it means to have one issue other the other. Have a look, I opened several posts about this.

We were very close to give back the GC. Doing so we would not had any problems because our VW dealer and VW Ireland would gladly agreed to it.

But we didn't. Why?

There were several reasons why we decided to keep it.

1.)
My wife and I agreed that the GC can meet our camper needs if everything is working. Beside all the giving out it is (can be) a brilliant camper.

2.)
We were lucky. Our VW dealer was very helpful and has some experience with the Grand California. They engaged closely with VW Ireland, got specialists in from VW Ireland and VW Germany (online) and as long as parts were available work was done within a few days.

3.)
We (still) believe that if all of the issues are sorted we know the camper quite well and it should be the most reliable in Ireland (hopeful thinking).

4.)
Never the less we checked the Irish camper market. There are not a lot of campers available to start with and the few are not what we want. If we order a specific camper with a configuration we want it could take something between 12 and 18 months and nobody knows how much they cost at the end.

5.)
All vehicles and especially campers will need some troubleshooting, nothing wrong with that. But we like that with VW everything comes from one place. I know not all VW dealers have experience with the Grand California, but at least with the Crafter.

Because we bought a 2021 March Grand California 600 which was on the forecourt straight away available the specification is not bad, but not 100% as we wanted. So we had to add a car alarm and in March we get the LPG system installed (I would have preferred a diesel heater).

We lost the rest of summer and early autumn 2021 because of all the issues. But most of them are sorted now - I have to be fair. The only issue is that the water pressure just disappears after about 30 seconds. I took a video and did send it to VW dealer, but this is the first time they had not found a solution. I guess I have to put on a wee bit of pressure.

It is frustrating and it is a very hard to decide what to do. I believe one of the important things is to have a good VW dealer which is on your side and work with you and keeps VW UK invloved.

Whatever you decide, best of luck.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[dominichayhoe]

So after 7 months of ownership I’ve finally decided to vent my frustrations on here in the hope that someone in a similar situation has had a good outcome from VW.

We have had 3 cali beach vans over the last 8 years but with a larger family this time round we decided to sell our latest beach and “trade up” to the GC.

We received our ex demo GC600 at the end of July and set off for a 10 day trip to Arran. 3 days in and the kitchen tap micro switch failed and the pump started to run at 2am. Frantic googling and this forum thankfully meant I knew where to look under the sink to disconnect the cable to the tap. We limped on through the rest of the trip with me connecting and disconnecting the tap as required. Other than that the trip was great and absolutely loved the GC space and convenience over the beach.

Since then it’s been one fault after another. We had trips planned until mid October so all of the issues were raised with the dealership but had to wait to be fixed or we would have to cancel the trips.

So the list of issues is as follows;
Kitchen tap micro switch causes pump to run.

Rear roof light broken
View attachment 89172

Both roof blinds have tiny holes in them all over
View attachment 89173

Silicon sealant in the wet room is poorly done and let’s water escape the wet room.

Escaped water from the wet room has caused the passenger seat laminate on the chipboard end panel to bubbleView attachment 89175

Yellow staining to kitchen work surface at sliding netView attachment 89174

Battery initially would not charge from engine running and subsequently does not even charge from hook up

Rear strap holding the bed vertical has snapped off its fixing

Brakes have squealed at low speed since day 1

Thuma control panel shows an error code each time you try to use the water/heating controls when gas is switched back on after being off - the error code has to be cleared in order for the main control panel to show that gas is switched on

The water will gradually become a dribble the first time it is used when parked up. This needs to be left off for 5 mins before it will start pumping water again.

The ambient RGB LED lighting randomly stops working intermittently

The last time we used the van as a camper was a trip to Alton towers for the October school holidays. During that trip the rear roof light became unattached at the front and when it was wound the whole glazed panel would slide backwards. Took it to the local dealership in stoke who gaffer taped it down for our long drive back to scotland. On our return I contacted the van centre we bought it from and our local dealership. 3 weeks later I was asked to bring it in for them to inspect and order the necessary replacement parts. Time passed and then in December it was booked in for a week for further investigation and to fix what could be fixed. Everything required a technical enquiry so nothing was fixed.

Our local dealership have tried their best to help us with all of the faults but ours is the first GC they have had to fix and as such most of the problems require technical enquiries. Product knowledge and guidance from VW on the GC to the dealership seems to have been zero.

We have not been able to use the van for camping since October. It is now in its 5th week at the dealership. I think, understandably, my wife and I are pretty pissed off that we are paying so much to VWFS every month for what is essentially a very expensive panel van at this point. I wanted to know what VW would do given the number of faults and the length of time to fix them.

I called VW customer care 4 weeks ago and was told someone would get back to me in a week. Two weeks later I had heard nothing so called again. Very apologetically I was told a case handler would call in 24 hours. A week later still nothing. I called back and was told that a case had never been raised and that I would have to wait another 72 hours for a call back. When I finally did get a call it was to tell me that customer care could not help me with any sort of compensation for the issues and that I would have to contact VWFS. I now have to start all over again with them.

So overall the van has been great…except for when it has not.

Kitchen tap - Best bet is to follow the users here who have repaired this themselves, as it is the fact it gets wet inside and the contacts are too close, creating an electrical circuit which turns on the pump.

You need to prise the contacts further apart to fix this issue. A new tap may eventually have the same problems. Some of us have also installed a separate switch to turn the water pump off. This is how all vans used to come before micro-switches.

Rear straps holding points - yes same here, I fixed it more strongly and also added the plastic hook to the rear cupboards to hold it up.

Yellow on cupboards - Yes same here, it's where the glue has not been wiped properly. Annoying as its hard to remove.

Truma gas issue - this is the same on all vans if the system can't sense the gas. It's v important to ensure you do things in the correct order. I also light the hob first to ensure the gas is flowing before trying to turn the heating or hot water on. Annoying, but it's Truma at fault here.

Low water pressure - yes I haven't got around to finding a fix for this yet, but there must be one. Just go to work out why it happens as clearly the pump is ok, so Im guessing it must be something to do with the pipe run.

Which dealer are you working with? I find Liverpool very good although they are a long way from me.

 

[The Yorkshireman]

You think you’ve had problems!
So I said to her I can remember when all you had was a sprinter a mattress and a bucket, but oh no here we are 16 months later on our third tap, broken wire were the outside shower is stored, cable ties stopping the power lead under seat from disconnecting, yellow loose sealant in the shower, cupboard door catches replaced, new type of seal on the shower door, fridge door catch fix, fridge panel replacement, wrap peeling away, WiFi router replaced; I can remember when all you needed was spare change for the phone box ; sorry drifted off a bit.
So after our latest 4 month adventure to the dealer; deformed panel around the window; she says we could have had gone to the Maldives for the next 10 years.
My recommendation, Sprinter, mattress and a bucket, what could go wrong!