My Passat B6 V6 I bought 27 days ago died today. Need help.

[Rocket36]

So it's definitely not through negligence. =P

Well not yours anyway...

[jakiman]

Okay. I just got a call back. I'm FURIOUS and need a place to vent or I'll go nuts. Read this and let me know what you think.

NEVER EVER purchase cars off Shane and Clint from Use car sales in Alto West Pennant Hills Toyota.
They are a bunch of liars and have the worst customer support skills ever. They need some softskills lesson.
Service called me up saying they have no idea what's wrong with the car and they won't be able to give me any more updates today. (which pretty much means they stopped looking at my car for today) Then told me they ran out of loan cars and sales should be able to provide one.

Got transferred to Shane. He told me that he cannot give out loan cars as he doesn't have the authorisation level and that person is not in today.

Then I asked for his manager. He hands it to Clint. Another salesman. He told me he's the manager for today. He first said he doesn't have any cars available to loan out as they need to be booked weeks in advance. Then later on, he says "lt's put it this way. we do not loan out cars". Then I told him you are constantly changing your words. When I told him you were basically lying. He said. "Yeah".

Then Shane takes over the call again. He's now basically pissed off and is raising his voice saying we do not loan out cars. Period. Then he says his manager who will be in tomorrow may be able to if he feels like it. I told him why did you put me through to Clint when I asked for your manager. He said he never did. He said he left the phone down and Clint just picked it up out of his own free will. Yeah right. I know the tricks. I've been in customer support for over 10 years myself. (Clint even told me he was the manager)

I asked who is higher than you or clint. I want to speak to him. He then threatened me saying if I say anything wrong to this super boss, he will pound me. WHAT THE. Then he just hung up the phone. (heard him say "I can't deal with this" or something similar before the hangup)

I was FURIOUS.

I just called reception and tghe lady won't pass me on to this main manager. She says she's the relations manager. Then when I was explaining the stuff all over again, she said she need to call me back coz she has to take other calls coming in. What is this.....??!??!

So I'm waiting now.

Tell me my rights. Gimme some ideas. What should you do in my shoes??

[team_v]

Go to Fair Trading
That is outrageous and very sub-par handling of a business/client.

Edited to remove informaton that was clarified by Rocket.

[Rocket36]

Deep breaths mate.

OK, to clarify you are complaining to the wrong people about the wrong problem. FORGET THE LOAN CAR issue.

The dealer must, by law, fix your car so that it is in full working order as per the sales contract. You did not enter into a sales contract for a car that required or was likely to require MAJOR work.

Do NOT involve the media if you want this to be resolved smoothly.

Do NOT talk to salesmen. You should be dealing with the Sales Manager or his management chain. Salesmen are not going to give a ***** about your problem.

Contact the Department of Fair Trading (not the ACCC) with the story of what has happened so far but do NOT mention the loan car debacle. They will be able to provide guidance and what rights you have etc.

AFTER you have spoken to the Dept. Fair Trading, arrange for a meeting IN PERSON with the Service Manager.

Remember the key problem you have here is getting your car fixed and not whether or not you can get a loan car. Don't piss off anyone at the dealer (may be a bit late for that) as you will only get a reputation through the whole place as a whinging git.

As inconvenient as this is, this sort of thing happens. There's nothing anyone can do to completely avoid this bad luck. It could happen to anyone. The best you can do and the best advice I can give is cop the inconvenience of it on the chin, remain calm, maintain common sense and deal professionally with the SERVICE MANAGER. It might be worthwhile dropping in to arrange the meeting rather than over the phone. And I'd even eat some humble pie and make some face to face apologies about what's happened so far. You lose nothing from doing that and will find how your problem is managed will be a LOT better. You may also be lucky and get a courtesy car while it's sorted out but don't count on that. They aren't obligated to provide one.

I sympathise with you but hopefully cooler head will prevail. The Dept. Fair Trading is your friend. Treated right, the Service Manager (or his management chain) is your friend. And you can bet once the Dealer Principal finds out about it he's going to want to sort it out quickly. Dealing with Fair Trading is NOT something they want to be doing.

Keep us posted.

[Rocket36]

Oh, and arrange for an independent mechanical inspection ASAP. They are a Toyota dealer after all and not a VW dealer.

[V6Passat]

As inconvenient and rude as the above is, you need to give them at least a few working days to get to the problem...i know its a pain, but the more opportunity you give them to get to the bottom of it, the more opportunity you will have to demand better service.

I would also contact Toyota Australia (i recall they are a toyota dealer?) and let them know about your experience...stick to the facts and no emotions. Hopefully they MIGHT be able to assist from a brand perspective and right now Toyota could do with some good customer experience. The risk for you is that its not a new Toyota and they might have their hands tied from a Toyota perspective. Nothing to lose.

Good luck and keep us in the loop.

[jakiman]

Deep breaths mate.

Thank you again for such detailed information and help. I sure will try and remain calm. I just had to vent a bit somwhere to let out what I got from those 2 guys. Being threatened just ticked me off.

I have reported and filed a report with Toyota Headoffice.
All they will do is forward it to that dealer's manager.

Loan car, i know they are not obliged and that's okay. Very disappointed but okay. It's the way they talked to me and constantly changed their words in hope for me to hang up the phone. Well, they hung up on me and threatened me instead. Lovely.

I will talk to Far Trading for some advice in the mean time.

[Pana]

jakiman, I'd probably try and remember word for word what was said between you and Clint/Shane etc - and write it all down - especially for the fact that he said he would pound you and hung up the phone in your ear. Means when you speak to the Manager about your treatment you can accurately describe how it went down.

Personally, I found the comments made to you astounding and the manager (if you ever get to talk to him/her) I imagine would be very interested to know exactly how you were treated.

Good luck and hopefully this gets sorted for you quickly.

[Blitzen]

I'll add my bit on the record of conversation here... Keeping one of these with times, dates, who was spoken to, and as close to word for word what is said, is your friend. This helped me with a couple of dealers and an insurance company when they tried to pull some similar stuff with me...

[tryingavw]

i agree with rocket- just go out and hire a cheap car for now - this problem will have to take at least a week or 2 and if youre without a car you'll just get angrier.

Toyota are not keen on loaners- our company bought an aurion and in 2 week the injectors failed - they still wouldnt loan us a car ( for my salesman!) so they are ven tighter than VW!

Hopefully the parts will be avialable for a speedy repair or replacement.

Makes you wonder about the previous history of this car- try to find the original dealership and get a service history?

Best of luck and ( easy for us to say) stay cool!