Faulty Control Panel Unit - Lines across the screen - unreadable.

[Beaverman]

I have a 2008 T5 California which I have owned for 8 years. In August 2013 the control panel failed and I replaced it at a cost of £755.33. In January 2016 that control panel failed. I contacted customer care to ask for some advice about the short life span of the unit and support with the cost of a replacement. Eventually it was agreed that a new one would be supplied and fitted and that I contribute £100 towards that cost which I did. In September 2018 that unit failed. Again I contacted customer care and was informed that I would need to have a diagnosis of the unit before they could do anything. In October 2018 I had a diagnosis costing me £70.20 the result was that the unit had failed and there was no fault with the van itself. This information was passed to customer care who said that they were not able to do anything as the van was too old, and that the VW commercial centre would not pass on any good will. I spoke to the commercial centre who informed me that they had not been contacted by customer care and given this advice. Therefore it would appear that customer care had provided me with false information. In October 2018 the fourth control unit was fitted into my van costing me £872.16.
Customer care advised me that 'we don't live in an ideal world and things do go wrong" and would not support me in any way regarding the faulty unit. It does appear that there is an ongoing fault with this unit and that VW are not acknowledging this fact by investigating why they fail after a short life span of around 2 1/2 years. Having read this forum it does appear that others have had similar experiences, what can I do about it. I was advised by customer care to write to the motor ombudsman I am not sure they will be able to assist.

 

[westfalia]

Send it off to Holland for a repair.
https://www.verotronics.nl

 

[WelshGas]

Or buy a refurbished unit from the Forum Shop at less than half the price from VW.

True, these units can fail, but more commonly it is the Button switch that fails. Failure of the screen is much less common according to the number of Forum Posts.

It would be interesting to know if the vehicle is stored over winter?
The reason I ask is that I believe corrosion of contacts within the unit could be responsible as the repair to solve this problem basically involved cleaning and redoing the ribbon cable contacts. It is amazing how much water can be collected from within a California using disposable dehumidifiers.

 

[Freeley]

I have a 2008 T5 California which I have owned for 8 years. In August 2013 the control panel failed and I replaced it at a cost of £755.33. In January 2016 that control panel failed. I contacted customer care to ask for some advice about the short life span of the unit and support with the cost of a replacement. Eventually it was agreed that a new one would be supplied and fitted and that I contribute £100 towards that cost which I did. In September 2018 that unit failed. Again I contacted customer care and was informed that I would need to have a diagnosis of the unit before they could do anything. In October 2018 I had a diagnosis costing me £70.20 the result was that the unit had failed and there was no fault with the van itself. This information was passed to customer care who said that they were not able to do anything as the van was too old, and that the VW commercial centre would not pass on any good will. I spoke to the commercial centre who informed me that they had not been contacted by customer care and given this advice. Therefore it would appear that customer care had provided me with false information. In October 2018 the fourth control unit was fitted into my van costing me £872.16.
Customer care advised me that 'we don't live in an ideal world and things do go wrong" and would not support me in any way regarding the faulty unit. It does appear that there is an ongoing fault with this unit and that VW are not acknowledging this fact by investigating why they fail after a short life span of around 2 1/2 years. Having read this forum it does appear that others have had similar experiences, what can I do about it. I was advised by customer care to write to the motor ombudsman I am not sure they will be able to assist.

I have a 2008 T5 California which I have owned for 8 years. In August 2013 the control panel failed and I replaced it at a cost of £755.33. In January 2016 that control panel failed. I contacted customer care to ask for some advice about the short life span of the unit and support with the cost of a replacement. Eventually it was agreed that a new one would be supplied and fitted and that I contribute £100 towards that cost which I did. In September 2018 that unit failed. Again I contacted customer care and was informed that I would need to have a diagnosis of the unit before they could do anything. In October 2018 I had a diagnosis costing me £70.20 the result was that the unit had failed and there was no fault with the van itself. This information was passed to customer care who said that they were not able to do anything as the van was too old, and that the VW commercial centre would not pass on any good will. I spoke to the commercial centre who informed me that they had not been contacted by customer care and given this advice. Therefore it would appear that customer care had provided me with false information. In October 2018 the fourth control unit was fitted into my van costing me £872.16.
Customer care advised me that 'we don't live in an ideal world and things do go wrong" and would not support me in any way regarding the faulty unit. It does appear that there is an ongoing fault with this unit and that VW are not acknowledging this fact by investigating why they fail after a short life span of around 2 1/2 years. Having read this forum it does appear that others have had similar experiences, what can I do about it. I was advised by customer care to write to the motor ombudsman I am not sure they will be able to assist.

I find it unbelievable that after 15 years that these control panel displays are still failing, they should be bullet proof by now.
Our original panel lasted about 5 years, VW knocked 40% off the replacement. The screen on this one has now almost completely gone.
I bought a refurbed panel off the forum shop as we were going away on holiday in September and it was quicker to do this than send ours to Verotronics.
Unfortunately the unit we got sent was in a pretty bad way with a scratched screen and two buttons that didn't work so I returned it. This is after Verotronics had refurbed it so their QC is questionable!
I'm just waiting till the end of the month which will be our last weekend away for a while after which ours will go to Verotronics for repair.
Hopefully it will come back in full working order.

It might be worth contacting the ombudsmen, apart from that taking potentially expensive legal action might be your only other option. You do seem particularly unlucky to have had that many failures.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Emil Silenhag]

That is totally unacceptable. Just like the roof corrosion. But Vw just keep on producing the same things with the same faults. I don’t get it...

 

[Beaverman]

Thank you, I have not heard of these before I will read up on them.

 

[Beaverman]

Thank you, the vehicle is not stored over winter. It is used regularly as a car, the diagnosis at the VW centre stated that they was no water ingress or issues with the van. They wrote in their report that it was the unit that had failed.

 

[Beaverman]

Thanks for your post. It sounds as though your unit failure is similar to ours, in that our first one went after 5 years, then the other two units only lasted 2 1/2 years.

We have sent an email to the ombudsman and are waiting for a response.

 

[Beaverman]

That is totally unacceptable. Just like the roof corrosion. But Vw just keep on producing the same things with the same faults. I don’t get it...

Yes, unbelievably we have also had the roof corrosion as well, but VW did not want to know about that either. It is a real shame as these campers are so good, we love ours. They are very expensive to buy so you would expect high build quality and a good customer service should something continually go wrong!

 

[jts46]

Still on my original control panel

 

[Freeley]

Yes, unbelievably we have also had the roof corrosion as well, but VW did not want to know about that either. It is a real shame as these campers are so good, we love ours. They are very expensive to buy so you would expect high build quality and a good customer service should something continually go wrong!

I wouldn't consider buying another California until I was certain that they'd resolved the roof and control panel issues. At best it's lazy on VW's part. I think that means I'll never buy one ever again.
We had our roof sorted 3 years ago but am now wondering how long it will be before it goes again.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Maurice]

HI, I have been searching the Forum for posts on fixing a Control Screen problem. I remembered that somewhere in Holland was a Company which refurbished the Control Units. Having just located the post I then tried to contact Verotronics.Nl but the site seems to have gone. Does anyone know if they are still providing this service under another name? Many thanks

 

[calikev]

Try the club shop

 

[Maurice]

HI, I have been searching the Forum for posts on fixing a Control Screen problem. I remembered that somewhere in Holland was a Company which refurbished the Control Units. Having just located the post I then tried to contact Verotronics.Nl but the site seems to have gone. Does anyone know if they are still providing this service under another name? Many thanks

I have just made contact with these guys in Eindhoven and the site seems to be functioning again. Don't know why the 404 error code came up earlier. Is this the company people have used:
Verotronics BV
Kruburg 13
5632 PG Eindhoven
Tel: 040-248 34 88
Fax: 040-248 34 81
Email: Info@verotronics.nl

 

[Maurice]

I have just made contact with these guys in Eindhoven and the site seems to be functioning again. Don't know why the 404 error code came up earlier. Is this the company people have used:
Verotronics BV
Kruburg 13
5632 PG Eindhoven
Tel: 040-248 34 88
Fax: 040-248 34 81
Email: Info@verotronics.nl

Thanks for the suggestion of checking the Shop, will probably go this route. I am assuming that the address in #2 should read @verotronics and not @vercotronics?

 

[Emil Silenhag]

If the problem is missing lines/pixels in the display you can fix it your self if you are handy with tools and electronics. I did mine a couple of years ago. Still 100% fine. Done a couple of more since. 5 of 7 with 90-100 % of pixels back. There is a smal flat ribbon connection inside that loose contact...

 

[westfalia]

Thanks for the suggestion of checking the Shop, will probably go this route. I am assuming that the address in #2 should read @verotronics and not @vercotronics?

I pasted a link to their website and it worked.
i can only think that it was hacked to lead people
away from that site.

´ I shake my head´.

 

[Maurice]

Many thanks to the shop (Everything VW California) for supplying a re-furbished Control Panel. It arrived 30 mins ago and is now installed and once again I can read everything on the display .

 

[Joker 1299]

What I find surprising is that VW have not updated the design/technology of these panels, given what they can do with MFD/TFT displays. Kind of reminds me of the original Game Boy in look and feel.

 

[Maurice]

For sure. However, their seems to be a whiff of "austerity" with even new products like the large camper van. From the pictures I have seen, the interior looks very much a budget job, unlike the still cool looking interior of the Cali. I guess they have to pay their fines somehow