Dealer Issues

[Cloud9]

Hi there
I bought a demonstrator cali last week. I have had a few problems straight away. We went camping as soon as we bought it. While having driven 3 and a half hours and stopped, we discovered the heater did not work at all.
then we went to attach gas and our cali was missing the camping gaz connection to the bottle.
The next day i spent 2 hours on the phone to the dealer who insisted I was putting the heater on wrong. Finally they said to call AA and they could not fix it. in the end they said to go to a dealer near me when i get home.
So no heating.
then we went to 3 camp shops and they all said the connection i needed should have been supplied with the cali.
So no heating, no cooking!
I got it to a dealer this week locally who has fixed the heater, the original dealer said they are posting the camping gaz connection for me and apparently we are missing the remote for the heater. the original dealer said it is not supplied with the vehicle, the local dealer said it is. I do not know who to believe.
The original dealer also told me that there was no waste water tank and that the plug in did not charge the battery!! AHHHhhhh
I am going to write to VW but it would be good to know if i should have a remote. it is a 2015 140 dsg SE but no climatronic.
Any advice welcome please!!
Thank you

 

[calikev]

You should have 1 remote for the aux heating. Look in the download section there is a list of things the Cali should come with

 

[WelshGas]

There are also other things you should have as well. Fly Screens x 2, Child Safety Net for upstairs bed., Tie Down straps and clips for Roof, Table Strap and First Aid Kit. I may have missed something's but check the list in the VIP Download section as suggested by Calikev.

 

[motacyclist]

The dealer obviously is not familiar with the vehicle he has been so fortunate to be allowed to sell. It would be useful to know who it is.

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will be very pleased with your Cali once you get the correct kit it should have come with.

 

[GrannyJen]

Yes, there is something that we can all do.

Point one, as I am finding out, most Cali dealers prefer you to be a fleet driver of a builders merchants who don't give a monkeys toss about the vehicle. They are not used to complaints, people taking their expensive purchase seriously or even people expecting service.

Point two. Don't get treated as a blob of cement left in the average builders van. Go to VWCS and complain like hell to Lee manuel. It's time VW woke up to the fact that private owners of £60k vehicles do not like being treated as trash.

point three. Go to VW commercial vehicles Facebook page and bitch like hell. If we keep stopping cheesy comments about the wonderful new Caddy and instead keep on the front page comments about the totally appalling after market service that is provided by the VW dealer network then as a group we may may just get somewhere.

I am appalled by the service. My vehicle has been in the trusted hands of one of the few "cali friendly" dealers we have, even so it's returned to me unwashed, bits loose, bits broken, two oil marks on the roof lining and sweet fanny adams information about what they have done to it. My bicycle gets better service than that tossed out by VW commercial dealer network.

 

[Freeley]

So SMG are not all that then?

Sent from my Galaxy S6

 

[larrylamb]

So SMG are not all that then?

Sent from my Galaxy S6

They have been noticeably absent on the forums since that chap left. Shame, was good to have contact with a knowledgeable dealer.

 

[GrannyJen]

So SMG are not all that then?

Sent from my Galaxy S6

Better than everyone else that I have tried, which means that failing to ask Genghis Khan to be a peace ambassador I instead turned to Otto Bismarck.

 

[Max-Felix]

The more time I spend on here and vwt4 the less appealing a T5 conversion or VW factory California/Beach becomes. I know forums highlight issues but it looks pretty bleak out there in modern VW land to be honest...

 

[GrannyJen]

So SMG are not all that then?

Sent from my Galaxy S6

Three weeks ago I took my Sister's BMW 120D in for a service.

This vehicle, new, is less than half the price of a Cali.

It was taken off my hands, I was seated in a spotlessly clean hospitality area, and every 10 minutes had a hostess asking "did I need anything ... coffee, tea, ice cream?"

after an hour someone came out, sat with me, explained the vehicle was just being washed and hoovered, here is an explanation of work done.

A clean vehicle was then presented to me after making sure I fully understood what had been addressed.

My California is collected. For nearly three weeks I hear nothing, not a peep. I make enquiries, politely suggesting that I would like to use it one day.

It is returned. No one tells me what's happened to it, what's been done, etc.

I notice two black marks on the upper bed roof lining, the inspection access in the boot is falling off, I lift the bed board grill to get to it and notice bits have fallen off. It is obviously dirtier than when it went in. I did try to give it a quick clean beforehand, but then I had just returned from France, so it went in mucky, collected three weeks of dirt on the exterior, then was returned to me with the additional dirt.

This is VW service.

 

[Bluesea]

The more time I spend on here and vwt4 the less appealing a T5 conversion or VW factory California/Beach becomes. I know forums highlight issues but it looks pretty bleak out there in modern VW land to be honest...

Agree Max- Felix .
Not sure we can face the incompetence of the VW dealers.
Our local village independent garage returned our 2014 car after a minor bodywork repair in mint condition. Beautiful clean inside & out.

 

[Freeley]

Three weeks ago I took my Sister's BMW 120D in for a service.

This vehicle, new, is less than half the price of a Cali.

It was taken off my hands, I was seated in a spotlessly clean hospitality area, and every 10 minutes had a hostess asking "did I need anything ... coffee, tea, ice cream?"

after an hour someone came out, sat with me, explained the vehicle was just being washed and hoovered, here is an explanation of work done.

A clean vehicle was then presented to me after making sure I fully understood what had been addressed.

My California is collected. For nearly three weeks I hear nothing, not a peep. I make enquiries, politely suggesting that I would like to use it one day.

It is returned. No one tells me what's happened to it, what's been done, etc.

I notice two black marks on the upper bed roof lining, the inspection access in the boot is falling off, I lift the bed board grill to get to it and notice bits have fallen off. It is obviously dirtier than when it went in. I did try to give it a quick clean beforehand, but then I had just returned from France, so it went in mucky, collected three weeks of dirt on the exterior, then was returned to me with the additional dirt.

This is VW service.

Wow this sounds like my local dealer who I used a couple of times when I first bought my cali. Nowadays I make a 100 mile round trip to Carrs Exeter in preference.
My local dealer is so good that I learnt this week that they no longer sell or service commercial vehicles.
I'm shocked that SMG have dropped to that level, they used to be top notch I thought along with their presence on here.

 

[motacyclist]

The same problems exist with all mainstream car and van suppliers. They all work the same way.

At the beginning of the relationship, a "sales executive" sits in the showroom. His job is to to make friends with the customer, or punter. He doesn't need to know anything about the vehicle he is selling and frequently knows less than the punter, who has researched his prospective purchase thoroughly. He goes through his rehearsed routine with the punter and then offers him a deal. The punter then asks for a better deal and the sales executive, giving the impression he is on the punters side, goes to see his boss, the "ogre" sitting in the corner office, and eventually comes back with a slightly better offer and eventually a deal is reached. Subsequently, punter is talked into having paintwork protection, gap insurance, and alloy wheel insurance in effect wiping out all the discount he has achieved in his previous sparring.

Next, the handover. This is where, in the case of a vehicle like the Cali, the sales executive trots out a load of misinformation and the punter drives off in his extremely expensive and shiny vehicle to start his new adventures.

Shortly after this, the punter finds some problems, and discovers his cosy relationship with his friend the sales executive has ended and he is in the hands of the receptionist. Punter describes his problems to said employee who types them into the computer, completely misunderstanding them and missing important details.

The details are printed out and given to the "technician" Wayne on the garage shop floor, who half reads them, finds a completely alternative meaning and proceeds to fix a non existent fault, leaves a few oily footprints, screws and handmarks around and scribbles something on the fault report which is then half read by the receptionist and types her/his interpretation into the computer. Vehicle is then washed and vacuumed but oily marks are missed.

Punter then comes in to collect the vehicle and receptionist smiles and hands over the keys. On being asked what the problem was, he/she squints into the screen for a few minutes and eventually states that a software update and ECU reset was carried out. Quite what this has to do with the original problem evades the punter, but believing that dealership knows what they are doing happily drives off. Unfortunately, shortly after finds that the original problem is still there and vehicle is looking distinctly second hand with oily marks, missing fasteners and screws lying on the floor.

And so starts three years of frustration and

 

[rippers]

motacyclist that did make me chuckle it's so spot on!

 

[Max-Felix]

Very good summary and that really does indeed sum it up.

SMG Tonbridge was where we viewed the California and I must admit the salesman was very patient and non-pushy while we spent an hour or more with two kids crawling all over their showroom Cali. Of course this means little and they only become an asset when* something(s) (*won't say 'if') goes wrong with said purchase.

Funny Granny Jen mentions the 120D as this is my main drive and has been utterly superb. And generally so have the BMW dealers. Our other car is our 12 seater Land Rover 110 CSW. Between these two we have all bases covered bar camping - one wafts along with 175 bhp with a superb auto box, climate, leather etc with an 800mile South of France to UK in one hit no problem. The other swallows 4 bikes and riders or a boat and engine or 14 people once and will go anywhere, costs peanuts to run in terms of spares/repairs, has zero depreciation (appreciating if anything as one of the last of the 300tdi non ECU dependant models).

And I would have to give up both and add another 10 grand to afford even a 10 year old Cali.

That idea seems nuts.

Other options are to find a nicely specced van and convert or maybe the best option is to find a late post 2000 T4 Westfalia at the right price. Again this would have no more depreciation, has the rather more 'VW' type build quality for the base vehicle (and conversion) than the extremely fragile T5 and the 'they don't build them like that anymore' Westfalia bullet proof fittings.

Or just rent one when needed and let the warranty/owner deal with the inevitable issues.

I know it's not the best idea to be a newcomer on a Cali forum and whinge about the vehicles but I have to say from reading all the topics on here that many Cali owners are either extremely forgiving or less fussy about their 50 - 60k purchase as not many would put up with blinds held down with paper wedges, roofs corroding and crumbling, dodgy electrics, elastic bands around their canvas roof, leaky plumbing, faulty electronics etc, etc.

 

[GrannyJen]

Wow this sounds like my local dealer who I used a couple of times when I first bought my cali. Nowadays I make a 100 mile round trip to Carrs Exeter in preference.
My local dealer is so good that I learnt this week that they no longer sell or service commercial vehicles.
I'm shocked that SMG have dropped to that level, they used to be top notch I thought along with their presence on here.

\\

I'm sorry, my remarks were over critical. SMG have been brilliant in collecting, taking back and turning round my vehicle in the best way possible for me.

They have been under a lot of pressure with my vehicle. They have been working under the direction of VW technical, had customer care on their backs sometimes hourly and had me leaping up and down wanting my camper back. To be fair they have returned my camper sometimes not at their convenience, when the would have liked a day or just a few hours more, but according to a deadline promised to me by VWCC who whilst making promises to me were hiring replacement vehicles from all over the place.

Sadly if it had all worked I would have been delighted, it's when the "fix" doesn't "fix" anything and a week later I hear those dreaded words "we are going to have to take the vehicle back"... not talking days, talking weeks at a time.

The whole package comes together as a bit at a time, test a fix at the customers inconvenience and if it doesn't work then we will just have to inconvenience the customer more.

My standards are set pretty low, I used to work for British Leyland

However I am used to excellent service, Landrover, Jaguar, BMW in my experience have all been excellent in terms of customer care, looking after the vehicle when it is in their care and if they can't fix at, as with my Range rover 2, replacing it.

 

[GrannyJen]

I know it's not the best idea to be a newcomer on a Cali forum and whinge about the vehicles but I have to say from reading all the topics on here that many Cali owners are either extremely forgiving or less fussy about their 50 - 60k purchase as not many would put up with blinds held down with paper wedges, roofs corroding and crumbling, dodgy electrics, elastic bands around their canvas roof, leaky plumbing, faulty electronics etc, etc.

I think we need to put it all into perspective.

A cali is not just a motor vehicle, it's a camper.

The top of the range 204 DSG 4 motion transporter is £34,000. Take one of those and go to one of the High spec converters and they will want £20-£25k to convert. Add on all the bits that come as standard on a Cali but are options with this converter, including fairly basic stuff such as leisure batteries, and the Cali looks good value.

Then take all the "faults". No one I know has had all the reported faults, or even a high percentage. Most, like me, have had one, perhaps two. Apart from my one fault my vehicle has been superb, so superb that even given my problems I would still buy another one, not because I am ultra-forgiving but because it has delivered in every way possible for me, in many ways it has been a far better experience than I first expected and compared to the rest it delivers with good reliability. I also know the Cali to be as tough as old boots, what I have crashed over and got away with would have challenged most. My one fault inconvenienced me, it did not prevent me from using the vehicle, that only happened when it was "fixed".

The elastic band around my top is my choice, it cost £13 and is a spare bit of insurance because I use my cali in extremes of weathers. If that roof goes up then it has to come down and if yesterday evening was a nice, mild, pleasant evening and this morning it's blowing a force 8 then that roof has to come down in a force 8. The only time I have had a mishap with my roof was my fault, idiot-face here opened the side door as the roof was coming down and the fabled force 8 blew into the van and inflated the bellows. Even then damage was minimal.

If I had to rate the cali for reliability and doing what it says on the tin then it would have to be 98%. If I had to rate the service and customer care response (not the department of the same name) when that 2% goes wrong it would be a big minus number. I compare that to my BMW and my Landrover vehicles it would be around 90% for delivering reliability and 95 % for service and customer care.

 

[pjm-84]

Welcome to VAG! Had an Audi once, never again, and then decided to buy a Cali. I've dropped my standards accordingly.

The problem I have is that I've said 3 years and replace but you become attached to the Cali.

 

[GrannyJen]

Welcome to VAG! Had an Audi once, never again, and then decided to buy a Cali. I've dropped my standards accordingly.

The problem I have is that I've said 3 years and replace but you become attached to the Cali.

How true. It's not just a vehicle, it's a home, something that you eat and sleep in, something that you carpet and accessorise, something that takes you for long distances and then keeps you safe and secure. for me going away in Albert is an adventure with a friend, he is a friend and a comfort,

 

[Bluestone]

I totally agree with the comments on VW Commercial - Granny-Jen has it spot on with regard to we're not the normal builders who buy vehicles - I race with a guy who owns a large company and he bought a fleet of Transporters - he had nothing but problems with the dealer so replaced them all with Ford Transits I believe.

What I will say though is that having VW cars for many years now - I have nothing but good things to say regarding the car dealerships and servicing - it really depends on where I'm working at the time, but I spent a couple of years taking my Golf to VW Stafford who were exceptional - they didn't care I didn't buy it from there, gave me a courtesy car every time (included in the cost), full valet, more tea and coffee than I could drink when waiting to pick it up, put minor things right for free (they changed some lights for me for nothing) and gave all around excellent service - the same can be said for other VW dealers I've used over the years.

Personally I think that the VW car centres should sell the Cali and not commercial centres - I always thought it strange that the commercial centres sold them (I can understand from the point of view that is a Transporter base oh and as far as I'm concerned the Caravelle is still a transporter base ), but I'm sure the technicians could easily be trained to service the transporter - I'm sure they are many common components across the entire VW range - this is how it works now to maximise profit and save costs.

Perhaps we could put some consumer power together to 'bulk' complain to VW and make things change for the better - it's ridiculous to be treated in any other way than as a valued customer when spending (well any amount really) around £60K for a top spec Cali Ocean.

It's terrible that not only did the dealer not supply everything you should get, but then to turn around and say the remote is not supplied!! Name and shame - I think we should all name and shame, hopefully their sales will drop and maybe they will make amends accordingly

 

[T6 CFO]

The same problems exist with all mainstream car and van suppliers. They all work the same way.

At the beginning of the relationship, a "sales executive" sits in the showroom. His job is to to make friends with the customer, or punter. He doesn't need to know anything about the vehicle he is selling and frequently knows less than the punter, who has researched his prospective purchase thoroughly. He goes through his rehearsed routine with the punter and then offers him a deal. The punter then asks for a better deal and the sales executive, giving the impression he is on the punters side, goes to see his boss, the "ogre" sitting in the corner office, and eventually comes back with a slightly better offer and eventually a deal is reached. Subsequently, punter is talked into having paintwork protection, gap insurance, and alloy wheel insurance in effect wiping out all the discount he has achieved in his previous sparring.

Next, the handover. This is where, in the case of a vehicle like the Cali, the sales executive trots out a load of misinformation and the punter drives off in his extremely expensive and shiny vehicle to start his new adventures.

Shortly after this, the punter finds some problems, and discovers his cosy relationship with his friend the sales executive has ended and he is in the hands of the receptionist. Punter describes his problems to said employee who types them into the computer, completely misunderstanding them and missing important details.

The details are printed out and given to the "technician" Wayne on the garage shop floor, who half reads them, finds a completely alternative meaning and proceeds to fix a non existent fault, leaves a few oily footprints, screws and handmarks around and scribbles something on the fault report which is then half read by the receptionist and types her/his interpretation into the computer. Vehicle is then washed and vacuumed but oily marks are missed.

Punter then comes in to collect the vehicle and receptionist smiles and hands over the keys. On being asked what the problem was, he/she squints into the screen for a few minutes and eventually states that a software update and ECU reset was carried out. Quite what this has to do with the original problem evades the punter, but believing that dealership knows what they are doing happily drives off. Unfortunately, shortly after finds that the original problem is still there and vehicle is looking distinctly second hand with oily marks, missing fasteners and screws lying on the floor.

And so starts three years of frustration and

Excellent! LOL or perhaps not!

 

[T6 CFO]

I totally agree with the comments on VW Commercial - Granny-Jen has it spot on with regard to we're not the normal builders who buy vehicles - I race with a guy who owns a large company and he bought a fleet of Transporters - he had nothing but problems with the dealer so replaced them all with Ford Transits I believe.

What I will say though is that having VW cars for many years now - I have nothing but good things to say regarding the car dealerships and servicing - it really depends on where I'm working at the time, but I spent a couple of years taking my Golf to VW Stafford who were exceptional - they didn't care I didn't buy it from there, gave me a courtesy car every time (included in the cost), full valet, more tea and coffee than I could drink when waiting to pick it up, put minor things right for free (they changed some lights for me for nothing) and gave all around excellent service - the same can be said for other VW dealers I've used over the years.

Personally I think that the VW car centres should sell the Cali and not commercial centres - I always thought it strange that the commercial centres sold them (I can understand from the point of view that is a Transporter base oh and as far as I'm concerned the Caravelle is still a transporter base ), but I'm sure the technicians could easily be trained to service the transporter - I'm sure they are many common components across the entire VW range - this is how it works now to maximise profit and save costs.

Perhaps we could put some consumer power together to 'bulk' complain to VW and make things change for the better - it's ridiculous to be treated in any other way than as a valued customer when spending (well any amount really) around £60K for a top spec Cali Ocean.

It's terrible that not only did the dealer not supply everything you should get, but then to turn around and say the remote is not supplied!! Name and shame - I think we should all name and shame, hopefully their sales will drop and maybe they will make amends accordingly

Hi there
I bought a demonstrator cali last week. I have had a few problems straight away. We went camping as soon as we bought it. While having driven 3 and a half hours and stopped, we discovered the heater did not work at all.
then we went to attach gas and our cali was missing the camping gaz connection to the bottle.
The next day i spent 2 hours on the phone to the dealer who insisted I was putting the heater on wrong. Finally they said to call AA and they could not fix it. in the end they said to go to a dealer near me when i get home.
So no heating.
then we went to 3 camp shops and they all said the connection i needed should have been supplied with the cali.
So no heating, no cooking!
I got it to a dealer this week locally who has fixed the heater, the original dealer said they are posting the camping gaz connection for me and apparently we are missing the remote for the heater. the original dealer said it is not supplied with the vehicle, the local dealer said it is. I do not know who to believe.
The original dealer also told me that there was no waste water tank and that the plug in did not charge the battery!! AHHHhhhh
I am going to write to VW but it would be good to know if i should have a remote. it is a 2015 140 dsg SE but no climatronic.
Any advice welcome please!!
Thank you

As I live in the South West and intend buying a Cali I would be interested in knowing who the dealer was.

 

[T6 CFO]

I totally agree with the comments on VW Commercial - Granny-Jen has it spot on with regard to we're not the normal builders who buy vehicles - I race with a guy who owns a large company and he bought a fleet of Transporters - he had nothing but problems with the dealer so replaced them all with Ford Transits I believe.

What I will say though is that having VW cars for many years now - I have nothing but good things to say regarding the car dealerships and servicing - it really depends on where I'm working at the time, but I spent a couple of years taking my Golf to VW Stafford who were exceptional - they didn't care I didn't buy it from there, gave me a courtesy car every time (included in the cost), full valet, more tea and coffee than I could drink when waiting to pick it up, put minor things right for free (they changed some lights for me for nothing) and gave all around excellent service - the same can be said for other VW dealers I've used over the years.

Personally I think that the VW car centres should sell the Cali and not commercial centres - I always thought it strange that the commercial centres sold them (I can understand from the point of view that is a Transporter base oh and as far as I'm concerned the Caravelle is still a transporter base ), but I'm sure the technicians could easily be trained to service the transporter - I'm sure they are many common components across the entire VW range - this is how it works now to maximise profit and save costs.

Perhaps we could put some consumer power together to 'bulk' complain to VW and make things change for the better - it's ridiculous to be treated in any other way than as a valued customer when spending (well any amount really) around £60K for a top spec Cali Ocean.

It's terrible that not only did the dealer not supply everything you should get, but then to turn around and say the remote is not supplied!! Name and shame - I think we should all name and shame, hopefully their sales will drop and maybe they will make amends accordingly

I reckon you have hit the nail on the head. A good starting point would be to get the California's sold by the car dealerships. It makes no sense to be in the commercial centres. If we could hammer this home every time we may get somewhere!

 

[snowy55]

After a very frustrating and at times fraudulent attempts at buying a new Vw Polo I vowed never to buy another Vw car. I am currently in the process of changing the Polo and buying a new Kia and the difference is chalk and cheese, Kia people ring you back, they know their cars inside out, you can have a 3 day test drive, they dont look at you like you're something unpleasent stuck on the bottom of their shoe. So far it has been how it should be.

 

[Bluestone]

I think with nsowy55 account on VW car dealership, it really does depend on the dealer then, VW Ipswich are excellent as are Stowmarket and Bury St Edmunds (same franchise) where between them I've bought many VW's over the years.

You should always complain to VW MK though as they do score their dealers and will do something about it if there are too many complaints.

I think the trouble is that we don't like to complain and to be fair why should we have to - it should be done perfectly in the first place - I remember once buying a Dyson, the hose didn't quite fit properly so I called Dyson, they collected it from my house the next day and I got it returned two days later all fixed with a new hose attachment - I also happened to mention that the clip at the end of the hose was better on a previous model, they actually fitted the other style as well so they listened to what I said and gave excellent service. I did call and tell them it was excellent service - but this is the sort of service we should get on everything from a £300 Dyson (or what ever it was) to a £60K Cali and everything in between and beyond