Dreadful Customer Care

[Mickm0812]

Hello Everyone.

I am basically looking for advice on how to deal with the appalling lack of customer care I have received from my local VW dealership in Tyne and Wear. It began three months ago when I was involved in an accident whilst travelling to work in my 2014 Blue motion California. The accident was not my fault and the other drivers insurance agreed to pay to have my van repaired, the rear bumper and Tailgate were totally written off. The dealership arranged for the repairs to be carried out at a local VW approved body shop in Newcastle. I spend long periods overseas with my job so my wife dealt with everything and when I returned whilst washing the vehicle I noticed the top tailgate brake light was not screwed in so contacted the body shop and arranged to have it repaired. Again I returned to the UK to find it had not been repaired so contacted the Dealership thinking they would rectify the issue along with some warranty claims I had, namely, rusted wheel nuts, drivers door control coming loose, and the non slip mats on the dashboard peeling. This is where things turned from bad to horrific!!! The warranty manager called me to say that the loose brake light was just one in a long list of defects with the repair work carried out by the approved body shop and that I would have to pay to have them rectified as they were not covered under the warranty?? After giving it some thought he called back to say VW had agreed to put the defects right at another approved body shop in the area. We were not offered a courtesy car and had to wait almost three weeks for this to finally be agreed, we now have a Seat Leon hire car. It was then the dealership stopped answering calls or emails and conflicting excuse after excuse ensued. A week after the van had been delivered to the second body shop my wife received a call from them to ask what exactly was wrong with it??? Then a week after that which brings us almost up to the present day ( still no Cali ) she received a call to say they were fitting a new tail gate as the other one, fitted by body shop one, had stripped the bolts and could have fallen off at any time. They also said welding work had to be done. I am absolutely dumbfounded by this whole situation after spending what you all know is a hell of a lot of money. I am due back in the UK mid December and to be honest do not even want the vehicle back. I was also told that my Cali was 100% not affected by the recent emissions scandal but would not believe a word the dealership said. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, I had a type 2 for many years and this was to be a dream upgrade for me and my wife but has turned into a nightmare. I have zero confidence in the dealership and told them this earlier in this debacle and was told if i wasn’t happy with the repairs I could take vehicle to an independent and have it checked over at my own expense!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give


Mickm0812.

 

[WelshGas]

So, if I have got this correct Accident ( not your fault ) - Agreed repair by Insurance Company.
Your Insurance Company are aware of this accident, even though the other party's Insurance are paying?

I could be wrong, but your Insurance Company should be responsible, as your agent, to return the vehicle to its pre-accident condition, even though they are not paying.

I do not see how VW can be involved with anything related to the repair, as the repair should be back to original condition.

The fault here is with the Insurance Company who should act on your behalf and deal with the Body shop etc: Ok, the Dealer might have some responsibility in that they passed the work to a VW approved third party, but it is that third party that is ultimately responsible and your Insurance company should be actively involved. That is what you pay them for. If the Insurance company cannot return to you a vehicle in pristine condition then they should replace it.

 

[Rich20]

Agree with Welshgas. Had a repair done some years ago on a Passat and the paint match was terrible. Paint shop said it was the best they could do so I took it up with insurance company. They were not happy at all as it was an approved workshop and they made sure that the workshop got it back to pre accident condition. Courtesy car provided by the workshop for the duration.

 

[motacyclist]

What a nightmare

If the insurance company arranged the repair (your's or the other party) I would say you need to contact them in the first instance and tell them you are dissatisfied with the repair, and why. Hopefully they will put pressure on the body shop that they contacted to do the repairs.

While the repairer may be an approved VW one it doesn't mean they are, or have any connection with, a VW franchised dealer and will most likely also be "Approved Ford/Mercedes/Nissan/Renault etc" repairers.

In my experience dealers these days (this includes Ford and Mercedes, and not just VW ones) do not have the in-house expertise to carry out bodywork repairs.

So the connection with VW and their dealerships may be a tenuous one.

Nevertheless, the actual franchised dealer should be more helpful and sympathetic. However, many of us on here know from experience that they are not even interested in selling a vehicle in the first place, never mind sorting out problems with it afterwards!

Good luck and hope you get it sorted quickly and to your satisfaction.