VW California T5 ONLY Roof Corrosion - General Discussion

[Fresco 2008]

Very prescient Barry, Had a call earlier today from a lady called Charlotte Gaunt. She said she was the end of the line for discussion, ( she's with with VW UK exec) & there is no further recourse to appeal. She said they were drawing a line in the sand and I would get NO support from VW at all. My Cali was registered on 1.1.08. I went through the usual trope: ie that they had known about this for 2 years, why didn't they advise Cali owners, that the corrosion must have been there within the 6 year window. Staggering response was ( to paraphrase) ' well it's your fault for not inspecting the roof !!!'. My response that it's not normal to expect to have to inspect your Cali roof in case it is corroding was lost on her; that without the forum I would still be in blissful ignorance etc etc.
I am considering my options as clearly within the forum there are the 'haves' and 'have nots' Any 6 year + owners care to comment on their situation? Also I have lost the thread (literally!) is the solution proposed by VW total roof replacement or strip down and re spray?

 

[Martin]

If all the people that have had their claims rejected on 6 year old + vans can email us at admin@vwcaliforniaclub.com we can then build up a database.

 

[T5WOB]

my vans 2006 so have not been to vw .i did have a small hole above windscreen panel .lets face it these vans are made not very good .running side parts engine etc are good. but the camper side is a joke . .

 

[BarrieE]

Re: Roof Corrosion - Latest Updates 2007 cali

Have just had my blistered paint work on the front of van assess and submitted a claim. Having read earlier post regarding 12 year through body warranty I was unreasonably optimistic. My claim has been refused and i was hoping somebody on the forum might have advice on how to proceed with customer care. Also does anybody have an idea of the price if you have to have it done out of warranty and can it only be down by one of the four approved centres?

 

[barry]

Re: Roof Corrosion - Latest Updates 2007 cali

Have just had my blistered paint work on the front of van assess and submitted a claim. Having read earlier post regarding 12 year through body warranty I was unreasonably optimistic. My claim has been refused and i was hoping somebody on the forum might have advice on how to proceed with customer care. Also does anybody have an idea of the price if you have to have it done out of warranty and can it only be down by one of the four approved centres?

Do you know the grounds for refusal?
Is it the age of yur camprrvan?

 

[yanathem]

Re: Roof Corrosion - Latest Updates 2007 cali

Have just had my blistered paint work on the front of van assess and submitted a claim. Having read earlier post regarding 12 year through body warranty I was unreasonably optimistic. My claim has been refused and i was hoping somebody on the forum might have advice on how to proceed with customer care. Also does anybody have an idea of the price if you have to have it done out of warranty and can it only be down by one of the four approved centres?

I have been quoted £4500.00 inc vat for my roof repair. Some others on here have been quoted slightly less but still over £4000.00. A ridicules amount of money for a know fault and a repair that should be a corrosion warranty issue.
Customer care won't and cannot do anything but worth contacting to raise a complaint which will be logged.

 

[stresseddad]

We now have at least 65 people with corrosion of the main elevating roof , we however need more pictures of this please. If you can upload them here it will really help us, We need as much feedback as possible before we get back to VW.

Also please make sure you have added your entry to the poll above, (this is only a guide but still very useful) this can only be done via the website and not on Tapatalk.

Thanks

Hello,
My first post on this forum as I read systematically through the thread from its start. My thanks to those who have gone to great lengths already to pressure VW to do the honourable thing and fix this poor quality bodywork construction and finishing issue. It is a small comfort that I am not the only one who is being shabbily treated by VW and their local dealership. I'll probably post more on this later.
I have contributed to the poll and, in response to the above post, am uploading photos of my October 2010 Cali showing the extensive paintwork blistering on fixed and elevating roof sections.

 

[Raggedroy]

It has finally appeared, mainly around the rear of the roof. 2012 Cali.

 

[stresseddad]

Martin I have not received a letter.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk

Andy, I would chase this up as several people I have spoken to who have had their claim accespted then receive a letter from VWCS confirming the repair in writing.

My experience is that I would not advise anyone to put too much reliance on one of these letters.

I received this exact letter from VWCV customer services dated 30th April 2014 in response to my emailed claim with photos of corrosion on both fixed and elevating roof sections sent directly to them on 1st April (a selection in my post earlier today).
After receiving this promising-sounding letter - no progress at all despite numerous chasing phone calls and emails to both the VWCS and the inspecting Van Centre until...

on 21st July I received a phone call from VWCV advising me that my claim had been rejected as it was submitted 5 months outside the standard VW 3-year paintwork warranty.

And, no, I am not making this up.

 

[BarrieE]

Yes, refusal was on the basis of age. Mine is a 2007 and so is a year past the 6 year threshold.
I will give customer service a go with the extensive list of faults I have had to rectify since buying this van 5 years ago.

 

[Andy]

Still no news. Called VW today, despite logging my claim 6 weeks ago they
a) cannot give me a time line for its repair
b) have not allocated my Cali to a body shop repairer
c) cannot give an estimate of when I can expect a call.

I appreciate its a big job, 2 weeks some are saying. But VW chose to train only a handful of repairers, I think the quality of customer service from VW regarding this issue is below par and falls short of expectations for a product costing circa 40k

I logged my roof fault in January & have not been given date so I would not worry about it. The repair will get done in due course.

Martin I have not received a letter.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk

My error I found the letter yesterday when sorting out some paperwork, which is not my strong suit !!

 

[Andy]

Martin I have not received a letter.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk

Andy, I would chase this up as several people I have spoken to who have had their claim accespted then receive a letter from VWCS confirming the repair in writing.

My experience is that I would not advise anyone to put too much reliance on one of these letters.

I received this exact letter from VWCV customer services dated 30th April 2014 in response to my emailed claim with photos of corrosion on both fixed and elevating roof sections sent directly to them on 1st April (a selection in my post earlier today).
After receiving this promising-sounding letter - no progress at all despite numerous chasing phone calls and emails to both the VWCS and the inspecting Van Centre until...

on 21st July I received a phone call from VWCV advising me that my claim had been rejected as it was submitted 5 months outside the standard VW 3-year paintwork warranty.

And, no, I am not making this up.

The front panel above the windscreen is being covered by an extended 6 year warranty. So your 2010 Cali should have it's front panel repaired under this 6 year warranty.
I would suggest you download the VWCORLET.pdf that Martin posted on page 31 & ring Customer Services quoting from that letter.

 

[stresseddad]

Thanks Andy,
At the time I pointed out the VW 'goodwill' warranty had been extended to 6 years in respect of the front fixed roof at least. The call handler was completely confused as he knew about this and could not answer why my claim was being rejected while well within this warranty period. As a result my claim has been "escalated to a manager". I'm currently waiting to hear back....
S.D.

 

[calikev]

A big thank you to phil at VW Listers Coventry for the quickest authorisation ever
I took my Cali in this morning for Phil to take some pictures of the front panel and roof corrosion.He rang me about 1 o'clock to say he was going to try and get it on the system
Today or tomorrow he has just rung me 3.o'clock to say he has managed to send both claims off and had had a reply both authorised I have now got to wait for the body shop to get in touch
Thanks again
Kev

 

[Andy]

Join the que kev

 

[calikev]

:laugh2 :laugh2 yes Andy at least I'm in it now

 

[Andy]

Yes welcome to the club !

 

[nick]

Stuck abroad without internet, hence missed the roof corrosion survey.

Just to let you know that my 2011 Cali was presented to VW with similar problem, just before we left England at the beginning of summer

 

[stresseddad]

Yes, refusal was on the basis of age. Mine is a 2007 and so is a year past the 6 year threshold.
I will give customer service a go with the extensive list of faults I have had to rectify since buying this van 5 years ago.

Ah, but BarrieE, but mine is 2 years and 7 months within the so-called 'goodwill' 6 year paintwork warranty.

S.D.

 

[SusiBus]

UPDATE ON CORRESPONDENCE WITH VW RE ROOF CORROSION

We have received a holding letter from VW in which they state:

“I would personally wish to assure you that the concerns and comments in your letter have been highlighted to our colleagues at the factory in Hannover. We have requested that they provide a response on the specific questions you raise.

Please could I request your understanding that the factory may not be able to respond immediately, however, I will of course ensure that we re-contact you as soon as the information is received in order that you can update the members of the owners club directly.

In addition to responding directly to you we will also be writing to our customers directly very soon and update them on progress with repairs. I would like to reassure all our customers that this issue being managed at the highest level”.

 

[Stu]

Just had the call from AB Crush to say mine has been fixed and all is good, just making arrangements to get it back to me. :cool

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

Excellent!

 

[DavidofHook]

Just had the call from AB Crush to say mine has been fixed and all is good, just making arrangements to get it back to me. :cool

Brilliant Stu,
Mine is next with them, 4th August with an automatic Cali coming on the low loader ( they assured me).

 

[Stu]

Just had the call from AB Crush to say mine has been fixed and all is good, just making arrangements to get it back to me. :cool

Brilliant Stu,
Mine is next with them, 4th August with an automatic Cali coming on the low loader ( they assured me).

In that case you'll get the Van we have now. OE63 HWD (we called it Huw) :lol:

There weren't any maps installed on the RNS510 so I have installed the latest. The FW system had not been commissioned so we have cleaned it out with Milton & flushed it. There is no key fob for the parking heater but they are aware. All the mattresses are still sealed as we used our own last weekend.

 

[Larkrise]

(Apologies if this has been covered already)
Am I right to say that the front panel issue is fixed on all new vans (from ?July 2013) but the main roof issue has not been addressed. So everyone with a Cali, even if still on order, will likely experience the corrosion sooner or later, and probably within the 6 year warranty period. Right? Or not?