VW California T5 ONLY Roof Corrosion - General Discussion

[snowy55]

Well I had my roof survey carried out at the beginning of September. VW Leics confirmed that I had corrosion (May 09 reg)

This was the last I've heard. No comms from VW or a bodyshop!

Going in for service Feb time so will chase then.

At the very least I was expecting a letter on confirmation......!!!!

Vw Leics rang me to confirm corrosion but you have to ring and plead with Vw to be sent a letter that you are on " the System ". The letter has to be approved by their legal people to ensure that nothing un-towards has been admitted or promised, mine took a month to arrive.You will then be put on the list at Shorade at Cannock. In November I was 105 on the list and they are repairing 2 per month so be prepared for a looooooooooooooooong wait. :censor

 

[Tangle Foot]

Thanks for the reply.

Waiting is not a prob. The longer the better for me....

I can really wear this one out first ;-)

 

[jts46]

"Given mine is fixed under warranty and its over 8 years old i am surprised that the forum is not making a collective approach.. i have not seen any of my posts on the forum website of mine..so no one knows barr the one's i have emailed. i would think my warranty fix is an open door for the forum to pursue.."

The above is from a fellow Cali owner, Is the California Club in conversation with VW re vans over six years old?

John

Happy New Year

 

[jts46]

Does the club have a list of cali owners that have vehicles over 6 years old? If so could these owners be emailed for them to inspect the front roof panel for blistering, to find out how many members have this problem?

Do we also have anyone with legal experience who could advise us?

John

 

[Martin]

We have sent emails out on numerous occasions asking people to contact us, so far we have just 12 people on the list which is contained in the CC email that has been sent to everyone concerned.

It needs someone to take a lead on this as it does not seem to be going anywhere ?

 

[jts46]

We have sent emails out on numerous occasions asking people to contact us, so far we have just 12 people on the list which is contained in the CC email that has been sent to everyone concerned.

It needs someone to take a lead on this as it does not seem to be going anywhere ?

Would it be possible for you as an administrator to start the process with VW ?

John

 

[Martin]

We are happy to work with you all on this but we would need someone to take a lead on it that actually has the problem. I will send an email out to all concerned this afternoon.

 

[dr nick]

Hi,

I have a 2007 cali with corrosion on the front panel, I have not registered with you before but would happily get involved with some joint correspondence. I have not read much of the 131 pages of this post so can only assume the response has been poor to vans over 6 years old but it does seem like at least one has been fixed. what has the approach been so far?

Chris

 

[Pyabies]

We too have an older Cali (2006) we've had the assessment and corrosion has been noted... Our trail goes cold there because DH thinks I took the admin role on this one when clearly it's a blue job! Thought I'd post this as a bit of a bookmark for him!!! :crazy

 

[stewie]

We have sent emails out on numerous occasions asking people to contact us, so far we have just 12 people on the list which is contained in the CC email that has been sent to everyone concerned.

It needs someone to take a lead on this as it does not seem to be going anywhere ?

hi, martin i am one of the unfortunate 12 on the list,i recently spoke to which magazine legal who informed me of the existence of ( time limitation statute ) of the sale of goods act which is 6years in the uk, they went on to say it would be difficult to pursue this legally if a claim was not made against vw within 6 years, indeed it would be difficult to find a solicitor to act for me especially since my claim to vw (twice rejected)was after 6 years, vw it seems have boxed clever on this. i mentioned to w.m.l.the possibility of the problem being a design fault but again this should have been addressed in the 6 year period vw may have acted differently if it was a safety issue. w.m.l felt the best course of action be persistent with vw and push for part of the costs for the remedial work not the whole cost or try contacting( trading standards) in the area where the vehicle was bought or or the( competitions and markets authority) ,this authority apparently replaced
the office of fair trading earlier in 2014, i intend trying the first option with vw






regards
stewie



2006 reflex silver,auto,174pds

 

[Martin]

Thanks for that Stewie, are you on our email list?

 

[stewie]

Thanks for that Stewie, are you on our email list?

hi,martin
yes i am



regards stewie

 

[northumberland]

I August my <3 year old vehicle was booked in for roof repairs and some body paint work. I was told that no date for the work could be given for the work. After waiting for confirmation I finally got back to the garage in mid October to find my vehicle was not on the VW list - this was resolved immediately but still no date for the work could be given. I was concerned that if it was to take up to the 2 years I keep reading about on the forum for the work to be done the extended warranty would run out after 1 year following the work on my 3 year old vehicle. This would leave very little time to see if the problem would return. Fortunately, after reading a previous post where someone suggested that the delay in getting roof repairs done was actually linked to the number of California's available as courtesy cars I decided to approach my dealer. To my surprise, when I said that I did not want a courtesy California, my vehicle was booked in within 4 weeks.

This is the 2nd time I have had roof repairs carried out - I had my front roof panel replaced >1 year ago. In conversation with the garage I was told since that repair VW had changed their supplier for that part and also its specification. I understand that the original aluminium alloy part was supplied with too much copper as a constituent which has caused the front panel problems.
My vehicle now has had a faulty part replaced with a part which may well have the same fault.

FYI - I wanted my vehicle done urgently because some paintwork 'pimples' had appeared on the offside rear wheel arch that were starting to erupt - rust! I was told that this is not uncommon and was due to 'inclusions' during the galvanizing process! Further, I was told that this may be classed as a paintwork fault and not carry the full bodywork warranty. I suggest next time you wash your vehicles - just check.

 

[BarrieE]

Hi all, I am one of the twelve who have registered that we have blistering on the front panel.
This is the history of our engagement with VW customer service so far.
My Cali is 2007 and was 3 months past the 6 year cut off date when we had the first show of paint reaction to the faulty material used in construction of front panel.
Claim was rejected and I went to appeal.

The VW manager dealing with my claim Danny Phillips was very encouraging and clearly said he was optimistic that they would be able to help me. This was as a recognition of long term relationship with VW as the owner of a previous camper for 22 years and two golfs and two Audis.

After a significant wait he then came back to me saying that customer care UK was not able to fund any part of the warranty repair and he was approaching the dealers who have serviced the vehicles over the past 30 years. However, surprise surprise, they didn't want to be any part of a good will gesture!

The outcome is that in-spite of all the encouraging comments, they will not make any contribution to the repair.
This feels like a strategy to sap any effort you make by fobbing you off with nice words and regular delays waiting for updates from them.
They have now closed the case and we are back where we started last July.

Has anybody had any work done as an analysis of the metal content of the front panel?

 

[Pyabies]

"Given mine is fixed under warranty and its over 8 years old i am surprised that the forum is not making a collective approach.. i have not seen any of my posts on the forum website of mine..so no one knows barr the one's i have emailed. i would think my warranty fix is an open door for the forum to pursue.."

The above is from a fellow Cali owner, Is the California Club in conversation with VW re vans over six years old?

John

Happy New Year

Hello John (and Happy New Year!)
I'm trying to trace the original post you quoted... Is it yours? We too have a 2006 Cali with corrosion, we are just awaiting a fob off from Nina Sykes + customer relations - so wanted to be armed with a decent come back!
Any pointers would be great.
Best regards,
Helen

 

[stewie]

"Given mine is fixed under warranty and its over 8 years old i am surprised that the forum is not making a collective approach.. i have not seen any of my posts on the forum website of mine..so no one knows barr the one's i have emailed. i would think my warranty fix is an open door for the forum to pursue.."

The above is from a fellow Cali owner, Is the California Club in conversation with VW re vans over six years old?

John

Happy New Year

hi john
all the best for the new year
is this recent fix your second , i thought you mentioned before on the forum unless i am mistaken you had in 2009 reported the same problem and this was rectified then and this
latest was a recurrence,this may explain why the second fix was carried out your original
claim was made within the 6 year period. my particular claim was twice rejected outside
the 6 year cut of.was the work carried out by a dealership or one of the appointed specialists .its nice to hear of another successful conclusion. whilst i live in hope. if i have mistaken you for some one else then i apologise


regards
stewie





2006,reflex silver,auto

 

[jts46]

"Given mine is fixed under warranty and its over 8 years old i am surprised that the forum is not making a collective approach.. i have not seen any of my posts on the forum website of mine..so no one knows barr the one's i have emailed. i would think my warranty fix is an open door for the forum to pursue.."

The above is from a fellow Cali owner, Is the California Club in conversation with VW re vans over six years old?

John

Happy New Year

Hi Helen & Stewie,
The quote i gave in red is from one of the 12 people (me being one) that registered with Martin from the forum to keep us informed about the front panel roof corrosion, we exchange emails and debate what next!!!

Stewie,
I was interested in your post re. which legal department. I had a fix done on my front roof in July 2009, within the original 3 year warranty, now the blistering is happening again have i any legal recourse back to VW for them to replace the front panel?
The work in 2009 was carried out by Listers bodyshop in Coventry
I am again writing to VW and appealing their decision against my van being repaired, i did write to a Rose Butterworth in November/December but did not have a reply from her, but from an "executive officer". I will keep pursuing this.

John

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

I think because of the time that has passed (nearly 6 years) since the repair you don't have any comeback to VW or the repairing body shop and from what has been said doubt that you will get anything from VW as they have said a 6 year limit for the repair.

thanks

 

[stewie]

hi john,
i think it was tani who you quoted had the remedial work done on her 8 year cali. my mistake,thinking it was you. tanis fix was carried out in france and which legal will only give advice on uk bought products i mention this because i used tani s case as a example when i spoke to w .l.. regards your question about vw having a further liability because you reported this within 3 years my under standing after discussing at length the 6 year time limitation statute and its implications late last year, the 6 year is extended from the 3 year point you reported the corrosion and remedy was carried out , and yes you have a case, insist to vw it is one and the same problem , but w.l.said the difficulty is getting any company to accept they will twist and turn before they concede its the same fault,finally hoping this is some help to you
regards
stewie


2006,reflex silver,auto,2.5tdi

 

[CannellWalker]

We've had an interesting conversation with Terry Potts at VWCS who states they are going back to one centralised list of vans awaiting the roof fairing repair due to the bodyshops working at different speeds. He would not tell us where we were on this centralised list or why we had not been informed of the change.
Oddly after speaking to Shorade in Cannock they still had us on their list and had not heard of any change.
Terry said he would get back to us within 24hrs 48hrs ago.
Has anyone else heard of this change?

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

Nope, have not heard of anything changing so am carrying on as per normal.

cheers

 

[Andy]

We've had an interesting conversation with Terry Potts at VWCS who states they are going back to one centralised list of vans awaiting the roof fairing repair due to the bodyshops working at different speeds. He would not tell us where we were on this centralised list or why we had not been informed of the change.
Oddly after speaking to Shorade in Cannock they still had us on their list and had not heard of any change.
Terry said he would get back to us within 24hrs 48hrs ago.
Has anyone else heard of this change?

Not going to be a popular move with owners. Could end up dropping down the list. So does this mean a cali from south coast could be repaired by the repairer up north. Will also be more administration work for VW.

 

[Meoncoast]

My roof claim. I think things have changed how VW are working since the full repairs 1st started

After SMG had been told our roof repair (main & front) had been accepted no letter from VW(UK) to us.

After several emails and 4 conversations had a letter confirming they would repair but confirmed they could not tell us what body shop would be used - implied VW would hold the lists at allocate what body shop would be used

 

[northumberland]

We've had an interesting conversation with Terry Potts at VWCS who states they are going back to one centralised list of vans awaiting the roof fairing repair due to the bodyshops working at different speeds. He would not tell us where we were on this centralised list or why we had not been informed of the change.
Oddly after speaking to Shorade in Cannock they still had us on their list and had not heard of any change.
Terry said he would get back to us within 24hrs 48hrs ago.
Has anyone else heard of this change?

I hope that you had a positive response from Terry Potts. As stated in my post to this forum (5/1/15): "after reading a previous post where someone suggested that the delay in getting roof repairs done was actually linked to the number of California's available as courtesy cars I decided to approach my dealer. To my surprise, when I said that I did not want a courtesy California, my vehicle was booked in within 4 weeks."
I know it's a bit much be without a £50k vehicle through no fault of your own but it is one way to 'jump the queue.

Dave

 

[calikev]

I tried that tactic with shorade to be told they have 2 loan Cali 's so makes no difference
They did say the more they do the quicker they are getting