Good & Bad VW Dealers - We need your feedback!

[GrannyJen]

Everyone seems to like thier VW dealer, where did this sudden harmony come from?! Haha


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Some of us though have had to have multiple tries before we found a half-decent dealer

 

[Richardmk]

Have used West Yorkshire Van Centre for over 10 years, and this year bought current Beach from their standalone Lifestyle Centre, where Mark Wheelwright is the most focussed and helpful sales executive I have ever encountered. For servicing I cannot fault Steve and his team, who are totally customer centred and make every effort to please. The only drawback is the location - out of town and off the M62.


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[sapto]

Three from Switzerland:

1.) autoweibel aarberg | Murtenstrasse 4 | 3270 Aarberg | fon 032 391 71 21 | fax 032 391 71 20 | http://www.autoweibel.ch/de/neuwagen/vw_t5_california.php?navid=5

Jürg Will is great!
He owns a California, likes to travel and VW is his passion!

2.) AMAG Zug
Alte Steinhauserstrasse 1-15
6330 Cham
http://www.zug.amag.ch

Ernst Frischknecht is happy when his customers are satisfied. He‘s also a happy owner of a T6 California Liberty.

3.) Not an official one but these guys are incredible and have a lot of experience (and great workshop too)

http://traveltech.ch/
Allmendstrasse 5
6048 Horw

Mathias Jauch is into VW California and how to update them for offroad adventures!

 

[jessecampervan]

What a brilliant/useful idea .

Recently posted a review on Snows Plymouth.
All good so far. Used for 1st interim service & replacement of sliding table (under warranty). Also x2 wing mirror parts ordered(colour coded to Cali ).

We opted not to have Cali washed by them ,have a detailer who does it .Or I do it.

Courtesy car or collection/return service available.

Lee Marshall(service manager) is aware I've posted a review.

We didnt buy from Snows. Bought from Eurovans Crawley.

Our mot was done here and the experience was good. However the communication skills regarding the roof repair have been absolute dreadful - 6 weeks and still waiting. I know the work is being done in Bristol, somewhere?? But it’s me who keeps chasing information and Lee still doesn’t seem understand how important updates are for the customer. Perhaps I should be dealing with the guys in Bristol. Still they did invite me to a special event to sell off stock

 

[Spitfire]

Vindis St Ives have a Cali specialist - unusual as they don't have a demonstrator Cali or a sales team who seemed very interested in selling us one (we bought our Cali at Northampton, whose sales bloke, Mark Harris, was great, though we had already decided we wanted one so it wasn't a hard sell!).

We have now had 3 warranty jobs (sliding door window broken on first use, sliding door closer stopped working, new tap). They do the work well, but slowly - they had the van for four days for the door closer and 2 for the tap. This is fine as I'd rather they took their time and got the job done well. Courtesy Caddy was provided for the longest job as I didn't have any family members available for pick up/drop off, though I did opt to pay a voluntary £12 insurance waiver as the excess if I had had a prang with the courtesy car was enormous.

So, in conclusion, St Ives has a Cali specialist, and is recommended by this forum member!

Our Cali came from another Vindis dealer - Northampton. We’ve been very happy with the service all round, and their specialist Mark is good to deal with.

 

[Busdarren]

I will start that I have been using (or avoiding) VW dealers for many years. Many forums call them VW stealers for obvious reason! I don't generally post but this may interest you on my story to buy a Beach... I've had VW campers over 20 years and was set on what I would like.
Local garage Snows Plymouth had a Beach demonstrator. 3 miles away and 4 times I rang to see it and 4 excuses as to why I couldn't... 5th time sold! I would imagine someone they knew wanted it and had to wait to tip some mileage or other. 2 visits to Carrs Exeter, promised the world and talked the talk and delivered big fat zero as I didn't want their £70k one on display...
Next stop Dorchester Heritage! Cannot sing their praises enough - sent video guide and lots of info before travelling. Really friendly small team - bought older than expected and was reassured by servicing, cam belt and so on. What they didn't know (I knew more on some counts) they found out. So impressed my wife bought a Polo GTI on collection. They delivered that free.
It's only my experience and I'm sure with the other article about a possible surplus things may change!

 

[Trev]

Good service from John Clarke at VW Van Centre Bury St Edmunds. Helpful when we were deciding to buy, on collection, sorting out extended warranty (we missed the deadline by a few days) and currently sorting out a broken table for us.

 

[marchugo]

For Brits visiting Holland, Camper Centrum Nederland can be a repair shop of last resort. They service our Cali for about eight years now, and are excellent, their seventeen engineers are Cali devoted.
Have a nice shop too, and free tea and coffee.
Address: Basicweg 5, Amersfoort, Netherlands
52°10′25.59″N 05°25′15.58″E
+31-33-4530882

Regards from Amsterdam,
Marc.

 

[MichaelB]

Off to VW Van Centre Swindon in the morning so will report back, having a "campaign" done as they like to call it, a recall to you and me!

How did you get on in Swindon. I popped in when looking to buy and was not overly impresses. Be good to know if their service dept is any good.

 

[Jim O'Donovan]

I've had a good impression so far from VW Citygate Wooburn Green.

First issue was a broken catch on the pop out table. I walked into the service desk on a Saturday without an appointment and walked out 20mins later with a brand new table no questions asked.

Second visit was for our first service last month. Good communication on the phone and a free courtesy vehicle. Two warranty issues to deal with at the same time, kept me well informed and told me early on day 1 that a part was needed so wouldn't be ready until next day. Water/hookup housing replaced and also a cable in the control panel was plugged in to give me a functioning water display (apparently left unplugged from the factory)

Also had a good experience with their body shop (in Chalfont), was a slight issue with the repair that they addressed properly when I picked them up on it.

I wish my experience with Citygate Wooburn Green was as good as yours. I can't fault the service I have received from both the sales person (Barry) and the service team. It is the communication that I found lacking. Firstly trying to phone and get through to the correct person is very hit and miss (I did report this to the manager). Then when I had the van in for warrantee issues, communication was always instigated by me, never from them. If I didn't call them (again, hit and miss), I would never get my van back!
So, my perception of Citygate Wooburn Green is not good.

 

[Mickm]

Good service from John Clarke at VW Van Centre Bury St Edmunds. Helpful when we were deciding to buy, on collection, sorting out extended warranty (we missed the deadline by a few days) and currently sorting out a broken table for us.

I agree. I've bought 2 Californias from John Clarke at the Bury St Edmunds VW van centre. Extremely helpful and knowledgable. I've phoned from France for advice on a problem and he knew the answer straight away. Great service. I've not had to service either of the vehicles but the warranty jobs have been done well. They have a California trained engineer who has good knowledge of the vehicle. I would recommend them too.

 

[motacyclist]

Wherever you get your Cali from, make sure they can spell

 

[Stoneybroke]

Two garages so far - Preston & Birmingham, both now part of Sansway chain.
All buying activity with Guy at Preston - very knowledgeable and stopped me making a few ordering mistakes (comfort seats, which don't swivel!)
A few little niggles sorted out with Preston, no issues.

Birmingham is about 1-hour closer, so opted for them when booking first service through the Swansway service line. They also had a list of some more niggles. Service desk personnel at Birmingham were friendly and helpful, but...
I had to take it back to sort out some poor finishing from the first visit, still not really resolved to my satisfaction.
I'll update this post depending on their response to my latest email... Let's see which camp they fall into?
I have a feeling I'll take the journey to Preston next time.

 

[Blubus]

SMG Tonbridge - Martin in sales was excellent and the service centre extremely helpful when we had our melted / split awning replacement done under warranty. I have yet to have my 24 month service but I will use SMG for this next year.

 

[dayslikethis]

Bought my Cali from VW Liverpool Van Centre. The salesman was Chris Evans and I notice that Chris is now providing a very useful Q&A and 'How to" demo videos on Youtube which are very informative. I bought my Cali over 3 years ago and yet Chris still makes himself available to answer the odd query. Obviously I haven't experienced a service from them as I live 150 miles away but very impressed with their help post sale.
Link to one of the videos:

 

[daisyduke]

That is good to know Mandy, thank you. We should also have Carrs Exester onboard as well, I have a meeting with them in a few weeks.

i brought from Bridgwater van centre but no idea about Cali ( always helpful though) so for first service took it to Exeter. All OK, wasn't offered valet/clean and none done. Had loan transporter kombi for the day. Ticked boxes nothing outstanding but also no issues. Didn't leave feeling they valued my business.

 

[altvic]

Two garages so far - Preston & Birmingham, both now part of Sansway chain.
All buying activity with Guy at Preston - very knowledgeable and stopped me making a few ordering mistakes (comfort seats, which don't swivel!)
A few little niggles sorted out with Preston, no issues.

Birmingham is about 1-hour closer, so opted for them when booking first service through the Swansway service line. They also had a list of some more niggles. Service desk personnel at Birmingham were friendly and helpful, but...
I had to take it back to sort out some poor finishing from the first visit, still not really resolved to my satisfaction.
I'll update this post depending on their response to my latest email... Let's see which camp they fall into?
I have a feeling I'll take the journey to Preston next time.

Our Ocean was bought from Guy at Preston. It was a demonstrator with 60 miles on and in absolute pristine condition and he removed from showroom into protective storage as soon as we had signed terms; Guy looks after his vans as if they were his own! He is very knowledgable and answered all our queries with depth and width - felt very confident in purchase.
Preston too far from home to deal with any future snagging list so will likely go to Llandudno Junction for service. Wrexham van centre is close by but not distributers of Campervans, they should be good for majority of general van issues; I took my Golf lease to Wxm for a service and I was pleased with their professional approach.

 

[MrCaliMan]

I have always (since 2012) had 1st class service 5 star from Breeze in Totton (Southampton)I trust them with my van and feel they always care & respect it. They do not sale the California at Totton but over the years I have seen more and more Cali's in for work there. Not only have they serviced my van they have sorted a couple of Cali issues - stuck down bed and electric switch in rear. They always go out of the way to help, Derek Govey in the service department is the face I know and work with. They also open early and close late.

While a discount would be nice I would rather pay full price for 1st class service (my next 4 services are paid for up front) . Feel it is great to have a list "user" recommended VW garages
I have always said find a good dealer you trust is the most important part of Cali ownership.

Breeze in Poole are cool too

 

[SLHT6PEARL]

Justin at listers Coventry is there designated Cali salesman he's great to deal with and very knowledgeable.

 

[Meoncoast]

Please remember we only want feedback on servicing and not sales )

working well

 

[Knutty]

We are currently building a list of preffered VW Commercial dealers as the most common complaint we get is from people who take their Cali into a dealer and receive bad service or the service department will not be familiar with the VW California.

We already have a few dealers on board but we want to try and build up a nationwide network so all members will have a trusted dealer nearby.

Here is the plan:

- You tell us which dealers are good and which are bad
- The club will contact the dealers that get the best feedback
- We request from them a named point of contact within the service centre
- They have the option to offer a VIP discount of between 5-10% off servicing
- If they fail to offer good service and start to receive bad feedback, they will be removed from the list

The ones we have already spoken to were more than happy to offer the above so we hope the others will follow suit.

All we need now is your feedback please so we can start this database. ( Please remember we only want feedback on servicing and not sales )

Kk

 

[Knutty]

Hi, I would recommend the VW dealer in Liverpool, efficient and friendly. I have tried the Manchester Trafford park dealer but would not go back.

Knutty

 

[Digger]

Hi, I would recommend the VW dealer in Liverpool, efficient and friendly. I have tried the Manchester Trafford park dealer but would not go back.

Knutty

Liverpool even pay for your breakfast if you have travelled far

 

[Lost Boy]

Cordwallis at Heathrow have been very good, by no means a Lifestyle dealer but for basic servicing and mechanical issues they have been excellent, they've also been good with my roof corrosion (van is in currently). i've been a few times but they know me by name now (even got breakfast bought for me once) always offering coffee etc. I'd recommend them.

On the other hand Lookers at Peasmarsh near Guildford are horrendous, never answer the phone have been hung up on several times and when asking a question about which oil to top up with was met with stunned faces...they had to go and check what they used and when they told me it didn't seemed to be VW 507 approved....needless to say, I don't get my servicing done there!

 

[pjm-84]

Derek Govey in the service department is the face I know and work with

Agree. Poor Derek has had to put up with me for over a year now and we have a good rapport going. I have no issues with them servicing my vehicle and happy to recommend them.

The sales at Poole are however another matter.