Cali issues, please help!

[bob-on]

Well I've finally collected our first Cali, fantastic vehicle but I've got a few issues with it I hope you lovely lot can clear up for me.

I had a few extras fitted at the dealer so it was all ready to roll and I wasn't messing around after buying it, just want to use the thing!

Side awning - should it have a rubber gasket between the body and the awning along its length to stop the rain coming in from behind it?

Genuine VW Towbar - is it meant to have Westfalia stamped on it or should it have VW? Also, isn't it meant to have a ball cover?

Kenwood DNX521DAB - It won't pick up any DAB radio stations, I got told to 'get out on the open road and it'll pick them up then'! Never heard such rubbish, after a 200 mile trip it still hadn't picked up a station. I'm assuming there's a fault with it?
I also mistakenly found a trip meter on it that reads over 7500 miles - this is supposed to be a brand new item.

One other thing on that, does it link into the dashboard to display satnav info, radio stations, phone, etc?

Folding mirrors - any special way to get them to fold? I've pressed and pulled the button but it's doing nothing.

The mattress up top - Aren't there 2 parts to it? A large one and a small one? Is the grey a different colour between Warm Grey and Anthracite seating or are the outer panels and plain sections all the same?

Sorry to bore you all but please help me, cheers.

 

[Californiaman]

Side awning - should it have a rubber gasket between the body and the awning along its length to stop the rain coming in from behind it? YES!

Genuine VW Towbar - is it meant to have Westfalia stamped on it or should it have VW? Also, isn't it meant to have a ball cover? I've only had mine out of the box once but I think it may well be badged Westfalia. I don't believe it had a cover. Isn't the advice today generally not to grease them?

Folding mirrors - any special way to get them to fold? I've pressed and pulled the button but it's doing nothing. Twist it around, with the ignition on

The mattress up top - Aren't there 2 parts to it? A large one and a small one? Is the grey a different colour between Warm Grey and Anthracite seating or are the outer panels and plain sections all the same? We have two bits the main part and a small bit at the end - both the same colour.

 

[TravellinJones]

Re. Towbar - can confirm our factory fit is Westfalia branded also.

 

[bob-on]

Just tried the twist for the mirrors....... They work! Thank you very much for that and confirming about the rubber gasket on the awning........ They left it in a box inside the van and told me they didn't know what it was for!
Thanks also for clarification on the Towbar.

Anyone got any answers for the Kenwood?

So the grey sections on all Cali's are the same?

 

[MisterTea]

Could the keyword relate to the fact it has travelled from Taiwan or somewhere in the Asia region, to here... And as such, might have been powered up in its original country before shipping... Could that cause it to show the fact it has moved 7500 miles to get to where you are? (Just an idea)

 

[jamesC]

My Kenwood was working in the dealership workshop, mad a simple scan normally pulls around 20 DAB channels in rural Suffolk!!

Is the aerial installed on the windscreen??


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[bob-on]

Yep, stuck to the windscreen. Does it link into the dashboard display?

 

[jamesC]

Some stuff appears on the MFD... No nav info, but radio station name appears.


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[bob-on]

Thanks so much for that, need to confirm everything before I go back to garage. Cheers.

 

[DoubleWah]

Seems like there's definitely something up with your kenwood (or the install?). Mine picked up a lot of stations all the way from Leicester to Edinburgh after I picked the Cali up, even through the hills in the borders on the way (although then it lost the good ones temporarily

It shows the station name on the MFD, but not much else. You can control channel hunting and volume from the buttons on the steering wheel. It can also show the graphic of the car with parking sensors on the main kenwood display (if yours has sensors).

Good luck getting it all sorted - sounds like a disappointing start!

Simon


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[MisterTea]

Do let us know. Which dealer sold you this Cali and failed to prepare it properly.. Was it a VW van centre, or via some other source?

 

[bob-on]

I won't say who just yet but it is a VW Van Centre. There was no walk through, just basically the keys handed to me.
The upholstery is stained and cooker filthy, when I pointed this out they said it had been cleaned twice before I picked it up.

I was told by one of the salesmen that Kenwood's don't link into the MFD when I asked why it didn't display on the dash.

I asked for the roof to be raised so I could check the roof fabric, good job I did as there was no mattress! They brought 1 piece over, I asked if there was meant to be 2 pieces but they said no, just the one.

When I found the trip meter showing over 7500 miles I then started searching what else there was and it looks like they'd been using the van to collect lunches from the Tuesday until I collected it on the Saturday! I should have collected the previous Saturday but got put back to Wednesday, then maybe Thursday then finally Saturday. Even then it wasn't correct and the bike rack i was meant to have was out on another van!

A very disappointing start to our Cali adventure.

 

[choplee]

It would be nice to know who ,as someone else maybe looking at that vw dealership for a purchase and they could be on here soon with issues .. it's not to slate the vw dealer ,but it's to make people aware if they find what they want at that dealer that they need to be alot more alert and make sure everything is as it should be and then check it all again ,as the dealer doesn't really know what a california is really about compared to their higher selling panel vans .

or it gives people the option to take a wide berth before they get into an issue filled cali ..



sorry to here about your issues from another under performing vw dealership

 

[DoubleWah]

OMG - that's a horrendous dealer experience! I hope, once you've got it sorted out, you name and shame so others can avoid the them.

Simon

 

[MisterTea]

In this situation, I'd tend to keep every interaction written down in detail, ad followed up with formal letters sent to the retailer and also to the manufacturer.

The sloppy prep and lack of handover indicates a firm that doesn't care about customer interactions, and is unlikely to take and follow on aftercare interactions with care and attention it deserves. in my experience such a retailer is basically just a badly run from that has lost it's way, with bad management locally.

I had a similar experience with a different main car dealership years ago, and within less than 1year the firm had closed down.

The manufacturer has a duty to you too, it's not just the retailer, so tackle both, and follow every interaction up in writing to document the sequence of events in case you need to resort to the threat of solicitors later.

 

[bob-on]

What's the best way to contact VW Milton Keynes?

 

[choplee]

What's the best way to contact VW Milton Keynes?

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/volkswagen-world/contact

 

[David Eccles]

what appalling service...my experience of pick up was similar to many on here..an hour of explaining and showing everything...too much to take in at the time! I would deffo inform VW UK of this experience of a dealership.....

 

[lewisnoble]

A very below standard service, I agree.

Our handover took about 1 hour, when we bought ours in 2008 - and covered pretty well everything.

Do you have the handbooks? I found myself referring to ours many times over the first few months . . .

A small point about the mirrors - po9inting the arrow on the knob forward folds them in. Arrow back - mirrors being heated. Unlike on most car based vehicles, the mirror heaters do not turn themselves off aftger a while - they stay on for as long as the arrow is pointing rearwards (at least, that is the case on pre-facelift models). So it is easy to forget they are on and mirror elements have been known to burn out. An easy diy repair / replacement, but annoying. Arrow to the sides enables adjustment, of course.

Lewis

 

[bob-on]

Thank you all for your advice and also for the link to VW UK, that number will be getting used first thing in the morning!

A quick update for you all, I emailed the garage last night listing the faults and said that I will take the van back for them to have for as long as it takes to make perfect and they can provide me with a replacement Cali in the meantime, also please call me once you have spoken with service.

I also sent them the link to the Kenwood site which shows a clip of the satnav linking to the MFD, I asked that the saleman who told me the wrong info should update what he tells customers about this unit.

By 11:00 this morning I received an email to say that a replacement will be sorted and they'd phone me later in the day...... It's 19:10 and no missed calls on my phone!

I'd have thought that knowing there was a slight problem with a Cali sale the dealer would be straight on the phone to apologise and to say not to worry, they're dealing with it right now and then given me an update later but not in this case. I'm quite upset with this purchase at present, it's definitely taken the shine off being a new Cali owner.

 

[James]

Thank you all for your advice and also for the link to VW UK, that number will be getting used first thing in the morning!

A quick update for you all, I emailed the garage last night listing the faults and said that I will take the van back for them to have for as long as it takes to make perfect and they can provide me with a replacement Cali in the meantime, also please call me once you have spoken with service.

I also sent them the link to the Kenwood site which shows a clip of the satnav linking to the MFD, I asked that the saleman who told me the wrong info should update what he tells customers about this unit.

By 11:00 this morning I received an email to say that a replacement will be sorted and they'd phone me later in the day...... It's 19:10 and no missed calls on my phone!

I'd have thought that knowing there was a slight problem with a Cali sale the dealer would be straight on the phone to apologise and to say not to worry, they're dealing with it right now and then given me an update later but not in this case. I'm quite upset with this purchase at present, it's definitely taken the shine off being a new Cali owner.

Very sorry to hear of your problems, hope you get it sorted

The old Kenwood (like mine) doesn't link to the MFD etc... The new one does (I believe)

James

 

[sebking]

that's all pretty bad. Time to call the brand manager at the dealership, let them know all the issues and cc VW. name and shame please, cali handover is 2 hours and if they done that they'd have noticed few things!

 

[bob-on]

Thank you all for your advice and also for the link to VW UK, that number will be getting used first thing in the morning!

A quick update for you all, I emailed the garage last night listing the faults and said that I will take the van back for them to have for as long as it takes to make perfect and they can provide me with a replacement Cali in the meantime, also please call me once you have spoken with service.

I also sent them the link to the Kenwood site which shows a clip of the satnav linking to the MFD, I asked that the saleman who told me the wrong info should update what he tells customers about this unit.

By 11:00 this morning I received an email to say that a replacement will be sorted and they'd phone me later in the day...... It's 19:10 and no missed calls on my phone!

I'd have thought that knowing there was a slight problem with a Cali sale the dealer would be straight on the phone to apologise and to say not to worry, they're dealing with it right now and then given me an update later but not in this case. I'm quite upset with this purchase at present, it's definitely taken the shine off being a new Cali owner.

Very sorry to hear of your problems, hope you get it sorted

The old Kenwood (like mine) doesn't link to the MFD etc... The new one does (I believe)

James

That would explain why it has over 7500 miles on it then! Thank you very much for that info, much needed.

 

[James]

Thank you all for your advice and also for the link to VW UK, that number will be getting used first thing in the morning!

A quick update for you all, I emailed the garage last night listing the faults and said that I will take the van back for them to have for as long as it takes to make perfect and they can provide me with a replacement Cali in the meantime, also please call me once you have spoken with service.

I also sent them the link to the Kenwood site which shows a clip of the satnav linking to the MFD, I asked that the saleman who told me the wrong info should update what he tells customers about this unit.

By 11:00 this morning I received an email to say that a replacement will be sorted and they'd phone me later in the day...... It's 19:10 and no missed calls on my phone!

I'd have thought that knowing there was a slight problem with a Cali sale the dealer would be straight on the phone to apologise and to say not to worry, they're dealing with it right now and then given me an update later but not in this case. I'm quite upset with this purchase at present, it's definitely taken the shine off being a new Cali owner.

This won't help much but please don't let it take the shine off.

When I used to work in banks we used to say your bank was as good as your branch and I see the same here. I c**p dealer is bad and needs to be sorted but there are good dealers and hopefully when everything is sorted people can put you in touch with those.


James

 

[Andy]

There was no walk through, just basically the keys handed to me.

I believe they are given 1 hour by VW for handover, ie paid for that. We need to inform VW customer care about this in particular as you are not the first person who has had a shoddy handover. Were you shown & told how to open, & more importantly, close the roof. If not then this also need reporting to customer care as they are now refusing to replace damaged roof bellows under warranty saying it is user error.

If that was my purchase I'd be taking it back & make them fit sealing strip & clean it properly. If it is supposed to be new it should not show 7500 miles any where as that says to me it is not new !!
Failing that ring them & try to talk to the MD & tell them you intend to inform VW customer care of their poor service.