A
Alan Gardner
Hi there, I'm Alan, new to the California Club, can I introduce my fellow cali mates - my Wife Sharon and our Bichon Frise dog Clifford.
After many years of a 1972 Early Bay VW camper, we fancied both a more comfortable lifestyle and to get to places without breaking down! We decided to purchase our Cali 2013 SE 170 DSG in April 2016. An ex-demonstration Cali with 3,900 miles from VW Eurovans Eastbourne. Our experience has been good & bad.
The 'good side' - we have done some great trips in 2016 including a trip to Spain. The california is such a versatile vehicle for an everyday run around, such as taking my daughter Abbie to and from University as well as airport runs and carboots!
The 'bad side' We experienced poor service from certain VW commercial dealerships and a lack of support from VW commercial vehicles UK. Starting at the very beginning Saturday 9th April 2016 after a 'very brief' demonstration at VW Eurovans (as it was a Saturday morning they were keen to get us on our way as they finished lunchtime).
On first appearance, the California appeared to be valeted ok but on our return home we found the roof area was very dirty (mattress roof area). The roof mattress was covered in black hair (photos to prove) and we later found that the gas bottle valve was missing! I think demonstration California's can be mistreated on trial weekends. It is evident that VW Eurovans did not check and clean after demonstrations. VW Eurovans apologised for this and sent a payment to re-valet. However we decided to do it ourselves.
Thereafter we ran into other problems. Firstly, under warranty VW Parkway Leicester rectified the Control Panel that didn't show the outside temperature. The kitchen area had to be removed due to wiring fault underneath and they had the cali for 5 days. On this visit they also noticed a 'noisy injector' so the Cali had to go back for a further 2 days to work on the engine. We had to report another problem to VW Parkway Leicester on 14th July 2016, fabric hung out on the roof's closure side. This caused slight damage to the bellows fabric as well as a slight dent to the roof panel and roof pillar. VW Parkway Leicester said they had seen this problem before and repairs had been carried out under warranty, but first they had to get permission from VW Commercial Vehicles UK to do it under warranty. In the meantime, at the start of our trip to Spain (end of July), we were on the M40 and the air conditioning packed up! VW assistance was very good and they arranged to meet us at the channel tunnel. It couldn't be fixed and was diagnosed as a 'intermittent problem', rather than go to VW Ashford/miss the tunnel train we decided to carry on down to Spain. And would you believe it the A/C only worked in the mornings, and hardly ever in the afternoons when you needed it the most! On return, Cali went back to VW Parkway Leicester and found A/C had been over refrigerant charged.
After numerous calls to VW Parkway Leicester, it was not until early September that I had notification from VW Commercial vehicles UK. They claimed that the roof repair would not be carried out under warranty. They also said they'd only heard about the roof problem a week earlier, despite me reporting to VW Parkway Leicester in July. They had clearly 'sat on my complaint'.
Finally, to top it all off, the kitchen sink started to leak. We found water was filling in the cutlery tray below the kitchen sink. I suspected the leak was from the waste connection. I tightened it up and then filled the sink with water to test it, and to my amazement the water was actually leaking from a small pin hole in the stainless steel sink! Since ownership we have never actually directly used the sink for washing, as the sink is complete with a plastic washing up bowl which we used most times outside of the cali. Again, there is suspect that the vehicle went out on demonstration weekends (before our ownership) and it may have been mistreated by throwing cutlery into the sink. But even so, you'd expect a stainless steel sink to be durable and fit for purpose. Hence in my opinion the stainless steel is not of sufficient thickness/gauge. I have reported this fault to VW Commercial Vehicles UK who again refused to replace sink under warranty!
Since VW Commercial Vehicles have refused the above warranty claims, I have recently sent my complaint to the Motor Ombudsman who today informed me they are taking up my case with Volkswagen Group UK Ltd for adjudication.
On the point of roof closure operation, in my view this has not been engineered to be 'full proof and safe' in knowing the damage that can be caused! This may be a contentious issue but the way I see it is this:
California roof closure operation:
The California pop up roof operation is operated via bulkhead control panel. In particular roof closure operation commenced by pressing control panel button which pauses/stops. Control panel screen shows:
1. Roof bed down!
2. Shutter open!
3. Windows open!
Even though roof operation closure is paused/stopped, it can still be continued by further pressing of control panel irrespective of the 3 points being done or not. Surely continued operation should not be allowed until the control panel has sensed that the above 3 points have been done and closure of the roof can be completed.
To summarise, in my opinion, this is a fundamental design fault by VW Commercial Vehicles, in totally relying and being dependent on owners performing the above 3 points. If any of these 3 points are not done VW Commercial Vehicles are aware serious damage can be caused to the roof panel, roof pillars and roof bellows fabric. There should be safety/automatic features in place i.e sensors etc to confirm 'roof bed down!' 'shutter open!' 'windows open!' before closure of roof is completed. An operation of 'dropping windows' (similar to convertible cars) should be performed automatically before continuing to close roof, so air can be extracted from the vehicle.
I would very much appreciate any 'fellow cali owners' comments and advice.
Many thanks,
Alan, Sharon and Cliffie!
1/02/2017
After many years of a 1972 Early Bay VW camper, we fancied both a more comfortable lifestyle and to get to places without breaking down! We decided to purchase our Cali 2013 SE 170 DSG in April 2016. An ex-demonstration Cali with 3,900 miles from VW Eurovans Eastbourne. Our experience has been good & bad.
The 'good side' - we have done some great trips in 2016 including a trip to Spain. The california is such a versatile vehicle for an everyday run around, such as taking my daughter Abbie to and from University as well as airport runs and carboots!
The 'bad side' We experienced poor service from certain VW commercial dealerships and a lack of support from VW commercial vehicles UK. Starting at the very beginning Saturday 9th April 2016 after a 'very brief' demonstration at VW Eurovans (as it was a Saturday morning they were keen to get us on our way as they finished lunchtime).
On first appearance, the California appeared to be valeted ok but on our return home we found the roof area was very dirty (mattress roof area). The roof mattress was covered in black hair (photos to prove) and we later found that the gas bottle valve was missing! I think demonstration California's can be mistreated on trial weekends. It is evident that VW Eurovans did not check and clean after demonstrations. VW Eurovans apologised for this and sent a payment to re-valet. However we decided to do it ourselves.
Thereafter we ran into other problems. Firstly, under warranty VW Parkway Leicester rectified the Control Panel that didn't show the outside temperature. The kitchen area had to be removed due to wiring fault underneath and they had the cali for 5 days. On this visit they also noticed a 'noisy injector' so the Cali had to go back for a further 2 days to work on the engine. We had to report another problem to VW Parkway Leicester on 14th July 2016, fabric hung out on the roof's closure side. This caused slight damage to the bellows fabric as well as a slight dent to the roof panel and roof pillar. VW Parkway Leicester said they had seen this problem before and repairs had been carried out under warranty, but first they had to get permission from VW Commercial Vehicles UK to do it under warranty. In the meantime, at the start of our trip to Spain (end of July), we were on the M40 and the air conditioning packed up! VW assistance was very good and they arranged to meet us at the channel tunnel. It couldn't be fixed and was diagnosed as a 'intermittent problem', rather than go to VW Ashford/miss the tunnel train we decided to carry on down to Spain. And would you believe it the A/C only worked in the mornings, and hardly ever in the afternoons when you needed it the most! On return, Cali went back to VW Parkway Leicester and found A/C had been over refrigerant charged.
After numerous calls to VW Parkway Leicester, it was not until early September that I had notification from VW Commercial vehicles UK. They claimed that the roof repair would not be carried out under warranty. They also said they'd only heard about the roof problem a week earlier, despite me reporting to VW Parkway Leicester in July. They had clearly 'sat on my complaint'.
Finally, to top it all off, the kitchen sink started to leak. We found water was filling in the cutlery tray below the kitchen sink. I suspected the leak was from the waste connection. I tightened it up and then filled the sink with water to test it, and to my amazement the water was actually leaking from a small pin hole in the stainless steel sink! Since ownership we have never actually directly used the sink for washing, as the sink is complete with a plastic washing up bowl which we used most times outside of the cali. Again, there is suspect that the vehicle went out on demonstration weekends (before our ownership) and it may have been mistreated by throwing cutlery into the sink. But even so, you'd expect a stainless steel sink to be durable and fit for purpose. Hence in my opinion the stainless steel is not of sufficient thickness/gauge. I have reported this fault to VW Commercial Vehicles UK who again refused to replace sink under warranty!
Since VW Commercial Vehicles have refused the above warranty claims, I have recently sent my complaint to the Motor Ombudsman who today informed me they are taking up my case with Volkswagen Group UK Ltd for adjudication.
On the point of roof closure operation, in my view this has not been engineered to be 'full proof and safe' in knowing the damage that can be caused! This may be a contentious issue but the way I see it is this:
California roof closure operation:
The California pop up roof operation is operated via bulkhead control panel. In particular roof closure operation commenced by pressing control panel button which pauses/stops. Control panel screen shows:
1. Roof bed down!
2. Shutter open!
3. Windows open!
Even though roof operation closure is paused/stopped, it can still be continued by further pressing of control panel irrespective of the 3 points being done or not. Surely continued operation should not be allowed until the control panel has sensed that the above 3 points have been done and closure of the roof can be completed.
To summarise, in my opinion, this is a fundamental design fault by VW Commercial Vehicles, in totally relying and being dependent on owners performing the above 3 points. If any of these 3 points are not done VW Commercial Vehicles are aware serious damage can be caused to the roof panel, roof pillars and roof bellows fabric. There should be safety/automatic features in place i.e sensors etc to confirm 'roof bed down!' 'shutter open!' 'windows open!' before closure of roof is completed. An operation of 'dropping windows' (similar to convertible cars) should be performed automatically before continuing to close roof, so air can be extracted from the vehicle.
I would very much appreciate any 'fellow cali owners' comments and advice.
Many thanks,
Alan, Sharon and Cliffie!
1/02/2017
You're right - memory failure again!
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