Yeah, that's a terrible experience... My experiences with Austral VW in Brisbane have been really great lately - my car and I have some 'special needs' and they've been very good at accommodating both =D
That's a terrible experience; I hope it gets resolved for you.
Wow, I just looked at the Google reviews for VW Alto Service Artarmon![]()
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Yeah, that's a terrible experience... My experiences with Austral VW in Brisbane have been really great lately - my car and I have some 'special needs' and they've been very good at accommodating both =D
Yes it's their Google reviews that really set my alarm bells ringing. To see that another customer has been told that a software update has cured their car leads me to suspect they are pulling something dodgy. Seems like an easy way to shift a job they don't want but I just don't understand the disincentive to undertake a warranty repair. Surely VWAG must reimburse them for warranty jobs or maybe they just don't pay the same as other repairs? As a consumer you really are at the mercy of unscrupulous operators if they choose to be so.
Oh dear this drags on and on…
Can anyone help me understand the process of fault logging and clearing of faults in a Tiguan ECU?
I have been informed by Volkswagen Customer Care that the reason why VW Alto Artarmon have been “testing” my vehicle for so long is because in the process of investigating the logged fault (Gearbox in Emergency Mode) the ECU automatically deletes any logged faults.
This smells of absolute Bull*hit to me. Surely the act of clearing a fault would need to be a deliberate act? Someone would need to press the “Clear Faults” button? Why would they delete the fault while investigating that very fault? Defies logic.
Thanks in advance for your valued input.
Feeling your grief and sorry you've been put through the wringer.
I'm sure someone will correct me but the system could potentially clear it's log but then that would be a fault in the system. It would be more believable if they said that they had to clear the logs in order for the errors to consistently appear to further troubleshooting.
Personally if it was me, instead of having to deal with VW Alto, I would count my losses and go to a different dealer for repairs. Hopefully that's still an option for you. I would rather do that than deal with those bunch of clowns.
Current:
2023 Mk2 Tiguan R - Lapiz Blue
2015 Mk7 Golf R Wolfsburg - Limestone Grey: Stage 2
Gone but not forgotten: 2008 Polo GTI Shadow Blue
If is sporadic DTC Fault, Yes it can vanish and delete byself, if is not DTC static. Once is registered as static it can remain longer time till is cleared or problem is resolved by self, so computer realize is no problem.
It happen long time to me when i had trouble Gear box in emergency faulty DSG . Problem by the time i get book to go to Dealer so they check, unfortunately it cleared by self as was not permanent or static but sporadic so it clear itself.
So they making me problem. like is nothing wrong , till one day car start rolling back and jumping like horse from starting . This was no more mocking around ,which they did mock me almost for 2.5 years i was pulling my hear dealing with crooks AU VW customer service. they find so many reason not to replace crooky transmission.
Sorry but experience tell unfortunately Australia VW is crookest car brand here in Au when it come servicng faults under manufacture warranty . No doubt dq500 DSG on tiguan is big trouble, but they keep producing and pushing to Customers without any major improvement or R/D to resolve and improve DQ500 . Yes it is good till it work, but that's very short period in City drive and hot au climate, There is always exception of trouble free DSG transmission ,but say 80% will be affected with some kind serious trouble in 150k .
That's why VW already loosing stake and customers, they will be soon finish as leader by Korean, and probably soon also by Chinese in EVs range . Thats fact , just question is for how long they will be able to survive with such crook warranty strategy !
Finally a result - VW Alto were in possession of my Tiguan for 71 Days. Eventually VW Australia Group ordered the Warranty repair and they replaced the entire mechatronic unit.
I wish it had ended at that point but they gave my car back stinking like an ashtray in a filthy state having racked up 2,500kms, $800 in unpaid tolls and kind of glad about this but they didn’t even do the service that was asked for.
I think there are some really shady practices going on at that place and I would strongly advise anyone in Sydney to stay well clear of VW Alto North Shore.
I experienced absolutely disgusting treatment from beginning to end.
I know two things for sure - My next purchase will not be a VW & until I can get rid of it, my Tiguan will never go near that place ever again.
Have you told VW Australia this?
VW Australia have been involved for a couple of months. Once they ordered the Mechatronic unit to be fixed they washed their hands of the matter. Insisted that I deal with Alto to resolve any further issues like the tolls, filthy car, cigarettes stench, mileage…VW Australia dodged my calls and refused to answer emails.
Such an ugly and stressful experience. So glad I stood my ground and refused to take delivery of a dangerous and faulty vehicle until they repaired it but Alto pulled every trick in the book to not undertake the repair.
The worst was claiming to have fixed it with a software update. I could sense this was a lie but I’m not mechanically minded enough to understand if this was possible. Information on this forum has been invaluable and they quickly backed away once I called them out.
They claim the mileage was all down to testing but that car should not have been driven while we were in dispute/waiting for parts… the frequency and pattern of the tolls and the cigarette stench leads me to believe someone there was using it as a daily driver but I cannot prove this and I technically gave them permission to drive it for the purposes of testing to effect the repair.
Seriously though, who smokes in a customers car in this day and age - disgusting.
Pretty keen to move on with life now, good to be back in my Tiguan and gave it a thorough clean and bought the best air freshener I could afford and really don’t want to waste any more time stressing about a car.
F*ck Alto North Shore though…
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