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View Full Version : Please Help SEAT claim Tunits void goodwill and warranty



head4heights
17-10-2014, 05:43 PM
I've been a fan of Tunits almost from the first day they were made, when Mike Bromley (they were known as Bromleys to begin with) was on the support line. When I bought a new 60 plate Alhambra TDI I popped on a Tunit because I have a long held belief that the vehicle warranty isn't affected. Indeed, for the 3 years the car was under warranty my servicing dealer never said a word and they have done all the servicing and repair.
Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago when a horrible metallic clattering heralded the failure of the dual mass flywheel. The car has done under 35,000 miles with a full fixed cost maintenance service record from the Seat dealer.
The vehicle was recovered by the AA to a different (and more recent) Seat dealership that is actually closer to home. The clutch and flywheel was repaired (what choice did I have?) for a cool £1700. I approached Seat and explained that a 4y.o. vehicle with under 35k miles should not suffer such a failure. This vehicle is more bus than sports car and the Tunit is there for reducing fuel consumption. Ah, the young lady said, she'd look into it. Well, she just spoke to me and said that not only did the Tunit constitute a modification that voided any chance of a goodwill gesture, it would also have voided the vehicles warranty. Which is as load of bovine excrement. If it's not... guys, you'd better watch out and Tunit will need to re-engineer their business.

Tunit begged to differ when I spoke to them. They would wouldn't they, but the outcome of this issue will have little impact upon them one way or the other. They can say what they like really.

In my experience VW have a very poor reputation for doing the decent thing (I won't go into detail now, but they displayed breathtaking mendacity over a Passat of mine a few years back). This is shaping up to not be any different. Apart from asking you good people for any advice etc on how to beat Seat up a little bit, does anyone know if it is the franchise business itself that is playing hardball or is it VW? Does the franchise have a financial stake in the 'goodwill' gesture (the cost of the parts) I am looking for. The answer will help me to focus my efforts on the right party.

Many thanks in advance.

Lukenkarl
17-10-2014, 05:46 PM
I've been a fan of Tunits almost from the first day they were made, when Mike Bromley (they were known as Bromleys to begin with) was on the support line. When I bought a new 60 plate Alhambra TDI I popped on a Tunit because I have a long held belief that the vehicle warranty isn't affected. Indeed, for the 3 years the car was under warranty my servicing dealer never said a word and they have done all the servicing and repair.
Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago when a horrible metallic clattering heralded the failure of the dual mass flywheel. The car has done under 35,000 miles with a full fixed cost maintenance service record from the Seat dealer.
The vehicle was recovered by the AA to a different (and more recent) Seat dealership that is actually closer to home. The clutch and flywheel was repaired (what choice did I have?) for a cool £1700. I approached Seat and explained that a 4y.o. vehicle with under 35k miles should not suffer such a failure. This vehicle is more bus than sports car and the Tunit is there for reducing fuel consumption. Ah, the young lady said, she'd look into it. Well, she just spoke to me and said that not only did the Tunit constitute a modification that voided any chance of a goodwill gesture, it would also have voided the vehicles warranty. Which is as load of bovine excrement. If it's not... guys, you'd better watch out and Tunit will need to re-engineer their business.

Tunit begged to differ when I spoke to them. They would wouldn't they, but the outcome of this issue will have little impact upon them one way or the other. They can say what they like really.

In my experience VW have a very poor reputation for doing the decent thing (I won't go into detail now, but they displayed breathtaking mendacity over a Passat of mine a few years back). This is shaping up to not be any different. Apart from asking you good people for any advice etc on how to beat Seat up a little bit, does anyone know if it is the franchise business itself that is playing hardball or is it VW? Does the franchise have a financial stake in the 'goodwill' gesture (the cost of the parts) I am looking for. The answer will help me to focus my efforts on the right party.

Many thanks in advance.speak to VW customer services. I haven't the number but some one will on here or Google

zollaf
17-10-2014, 06:11 PM
so you buy a car, then modify it to produce more power. then when it breaks , out of warranty, you still expect the work to be done under warranty. what planet are you on ? regardless of how the car is driven, it has been modified. if they did this under warranty then it would open the floodgates for every tom **** and harry to do what they like and get away with it. just accept the fact that you played with fire and got burnt.

Guest 2
17-10-2014, 06:20 PM
so you buy a car, then modify it to produce more power. then when it breaks , out of warranty, you still expect the work to be done under warranty. what planet are you on ? regardless of how the car is driven, it has been modified. if they did this under warranty then it would open the floodgates for every tom **** and harry to do what they like and get away with it. just accept the fact that you played with fire and got burnt.

This man speaks the truth.

zollaf
17-10-2014, 06:22 PM
nothing but the truth me, don't believe in beating about the bush, sorry if it comes over as harsh or unfair.

stuart
17-10-2014, 07:52 PM
As I understand it the manufactures warranty would not cover a component or components that are defective due to a modification... If you increase power the component that takes the "stick" is the flywheel and clutch..... so..not covered..

From personal experience I cannot praise SEAT or the dealer network... I own a 2011 Seat Ibiza,registered in February 2011 so out of warranty in February 2014, in March this year it developed a "ticking" sound at start up which disappeared after a few minutes.. In April and at 60000 miles (I do 100 miles a day in the car) it went into D.M Keith in York...

When they investigated they found 2 issues, first it had developed "piston slap" not a major issue at this time, but more important half a valve collect had disappeared, and I mean disappeared and did a bit of damage in the process... The result was a new SEAT engine... total bill £4000!

D.M Keith said that as I was loyal to the brand (owned 6 SEAT in 10 years) and the car had dealer history SEAT would contribute maybe 50%, 75% or whatever... to which I said anything would help

In fact SEAT paid the whole bill apart from £400 that I paid for the diagnosis... No questions asked!

So I have nothing but praise for both SEAT and the Dealer network... Yes, there are some fantastic independents who could maintain both my cars, but I choose to use the Dealer.. I have a good relationship and they look after me...

The car is standard by the way.. ... This shows that they do stand by there cars and warranty.. and for a car 2 months out of warranty and 60000 miles I think it is more than GOODWILL!