Dreadful service

[tony359]

Hello everybody.

First post here, my name is Antonio and I moved in your country in July from Italy. In October I brought my car over, a Golf 1.4 TSI 140HP since it is brand new (April 2008) and it was a pity to sell it and buy something else.

My car was in spotless condition. I'm not washing my car every week and waxing it every month, but since it is new, it is easy to maintain it in good shape. I've never washed it with brushes for example (something it's very common in my country) and I bought a polishing kit with Meguiar products to keep the paint in good shape.

I took my car to a service point to have it serviced two months ago. On that occasion, I asked the service staff to look into my driver's seatbelt that was making an annoying "clicking sound". They looked into it and decided to replace the entire seatbelt assembly.

When I collected the car the service manager told me that an accident had happened. Someone parked the car next to a ramp; when they lowered the ramp it hit the passenger door. I saw the door and there was a big dent on it, with the plastic part of the inside detached by the door itself.

You can imagine how disappointed I was. The guy was very apologetic and polite and I couldn't get angry! But I pointed out that the restoring job should have been perfect, spotless.

Making a long story short, after 10 days of excuses I went to collect my car and I found that

1. The clear finishing of the door was different from the other part of the body. It was not as smooth as the rest of the car.
2. The plastic part inside the door was not fitting properly, I could see the white clips and the inside of the door
3. There was a couple of scratches on the door, and one small nail scratch next to the handle that showed the white under the paint.
4. Replacing the seatbelt they cracked a plastic trim

Comparison from the new door and the old door. Made with a mobile so picture quality is poor.


Plastic part of the door not fitting properly


Cracked plastic trim



I rejected the job and asked them to do it again in a proper way. At the same time I contacted VW UK since I felt that they were not taking the issue seriously.

After 10 more days I went again to collect my car and I found the following:

1. The door finishing is now ok but they polished it in the wrong way and circular scratches can be seen if you look at the paint under the sun
2. White wax spots on plastic and rubber parts everywhere
3. To fix the passenger door that had the plastic part not fitting properly on the chassis.... they put a shim behind the driver's door to have the plastic part look like the other one!!!
4. They washed the car with brushes, or in the wrong way I don't know, and now the paint is full of dreadful micro-scratches.

Good polishing job



Micro-scratches everywhere on the body


Just collected car from the bodyshop


Polish dust


Was traces



A shim to make the driver's door looks like the passenger door.


I don't remember this one. Right next to the cracked plastic trim...


I collected the car anyway because it is clear that they're not able or they don't want to make a good job.

I'm in touch with VW UK, I hope they can do something because I'm very upset and disappointed. I trusted my car to the service point. It was spotless and to keep it that way I spent some time and money. They damaged it and now they're not able - or they don't want - to fix it properly.

I don't know wheter I can write here the name of the service point ot not.
May I ask you for your opinion? What do you think of it?

A couple of picture of my polishing job last year





Have a great day and please excuse me for any grammar error!!
Antonio

[richard@thebrae]

Shocking workmanship, ask for a vw representative to meet with and arrange for restoration. Name and Shame them, this is not acceptable.
I would be furious

[tony359]

Glad that you agree with me.
I sent VW UK the same pictures and maybe what you suggest is the best idea: ask for a VW representative to meet with and show him/her the car.

[tony359]

Update.

Volkswagen UK is not able to receive email with attachments so they asked me to print the pictures off and send them out to them via regular mail.... Why not by pigeon?
I got a call a few days ago from them, they would like to arrange a meeting with the service's manager. I told them I can attend it, but under no circumstances am I giving them another chance. Please note that they damaged my car 40 days ago.

In the meantime I'm still waiting a letter from the service point declaring that I collected the car but I was not happy with it. They told me they had a problem with the printer. Today they told me they shipped the mail one week ago... I must have been snowed in.

I have a question for you. Can someone advice for a good VW service point in the Berkshire? Some place where they CARE about 20k quid cars, where they do their job with professionality?

Is there some of "us" working for a service point? I'd prefer to drive for 100 miles and have a real professional looking after my car rather than having to cope with the service I've been having...

Thanks
Antonio

[richard@thebrae]

So Far So Good, keep control and keep calm and I think the outcome should be satisfactory.

[RickT]

One thing to ask...

If they damaged the door, have they repaired it or replaced it??

Someone went into my door and I requested that the full door was replaced as i did not want any body filler on the car.

ENSURE they have fitted a new door for you.

Cheers

Rick

[tony359]

No problem for being calm and controlled, my problem is where to take my car now. I do not trust VW service anymore, basing not only on this issue, but on 4 different - Italian - service points.

Door: I'm not a bodyshop expert so when they showed me the damage I told them that I did not want any "patch" on my car, any compromise. At first, they wanted to fix the existing door, then they went for a new "door skin" (the external part of the door). Obviously the internal part of the door is slightly bent too otherwise the plastic trim wouldn't have trouble fitting in properly.
It sounded a bit odd to ask them to replace the whole door for a dent on the outside so I trusted them, and I was mistaken

What I'm going to ask VW for is a full new door including internal part, everything. I was kind enough and I trusted them. They tried to cheat me. Now I'm not kind anymore, I want my door to be taken off and a new one fitted in, from top to bottom, full stop. After 40 days, umpteen phone calls, and a lot of wasted time, I believe this sounds reasonable.

Any suggestion for a good VW bodyshop in Berkshire?

Thanks guys for your help!
Antonio

[tony359]

Took my car to another bodyshop while VW decides what to do.

He was a professional and was absolutely able to identify which part of my car have factory painting and which have been repainted. The whole right side has been repainted. He pointed out a LOT of imperfections. And he told me that, obviously, the value of the car has slightly lowered now.

He checked the door card that is not fitting properly. Using a piece of paper he was able to slide it inside, showing that ONE CLIP IS MISSING.

What is VW doing???? They re-installed the door card without the clip and when I complained they fitted a shim under the other door card instead of replace the missing clip?

This is nonsense.

Now I have to send a letter to VW with the picture above, more time and money wasted, and I hate it. I'm calm, but this is going too far IMHO.

[tony359]

3 months have passed since the damage, and I'm still at the starting point.

I managed to send the letter VW asked me with pictures inside. After TWO weeks I decided to call the customer service myself.

The lady was busy so the customer assistant reported that they received my photos and that she would have called be back the following morning.

Nobody called, and 5 days have passed.

Tomorrow I will call again, for the last time, then I will ask a solicitor to call VW on my behalf.
I have been chasing VW for the last three months. According to VW service point, Royal Mail has lost TWO letters and Internet has lost one e.mail. Strange, isn't it? I had to go in person to meet the Service manager trying to sort something out a number of times. I had to drive 100 miles trying to track my car up. I had to call several times customer sevice, and it's not free by mobile.

After many service points visited during these years, and a direct contact with VW germany, I must say that Volkswagen is a poor company. It's my opinion, after experiencing VW services.
Volkswagen renowed customer service has been non-existant for me. In my experience Volkswagen gives their customers second-rate service with NO customer satisfaction at all.

Taking into consideration the price they sell their products, I can't think of anything else.

Please keep in mind when evaulating your next car.

Antonio

[Ben]

who was the dealer you took the car to and what is your location?