Volkswagen Assist

[AJD]

A little feedback on one of the "benefits" provided by Volkswagen -
Late last night my niece had need to call Volkswagen Assist when the battery in her TDI Golf died. She went to great lengths to provide detailed and accurate information about the location of the car being on Argyle Street, The Rocks, near Sydney CBD, and the nearest cross street, to the telephone operator, who, by all reports, wasn't particularly interested or even appeared to be listening. A little over an hour later my niece receives a call from the service technician who advised he was on Argyle Street and could not see her. After a short discussion it was determined the service technician had been sent to Argyle Street Camden (only about an hours drive between them at that time of night). A further call to Volkswagen assist resulted in the same sort of response as the first - she was advised as it was late, there were a lot of road works in Sydney and it was a Monday night, she would have to wait another hour or so while they attempted to locate a technician to respond to the call.
Eventually a very helpful and efficient technician arrived and 10 minute later my niece was on her way, unfortunately we had been by the side of the road for well over 2.5 hours waiting for him to arrive.
It may well be worthwhile maintaining any other road service membership you have - if it takes 2.5 hours to get someone in the middle of Sydney, who knows what the wait may be further afield.

[wai]

Unfortunately, it is just a service contracted out. It is not necessarily people trained or even employed by VW. It gives customers a warm feeling by letting them think that it is the company that is offering this service.

Yes, it is well worthwhile having another service available.

It is not limited to VW Assist. A few years back when I had my Hiace, I got bogged in my mother's back yard in Bendigo when the drought broke. I have a Premium NRMA membership, so called the RACV as I was interstate. Everything was OK, so they organised a service vehicle to help me out. Around 2 hours later, a vehicle turned up but had no recovery gear whatsoever. No traction boards, or towing straps, or mud chains or anything. All he did was to just look at the vehicle and say that he could not do anything and that I would have to get a commercial towing service to get me out. He would not help at all.

In the end, I had to go through the Yellow Pages and locate a towing service and wait another 2 hours before I was finally able to leave for Sydney.

So, they are all just as bad as each other. I does not make it right.

[siu_loong_bao]

Took 2 hours for a tow truck to come after calling VW Assist and told it was within 60 mins.

It was so unsafe for me on side of freeway near the exit of an off-ramp with a dead car...

7R just died today on side of freeway

[Umai Naa!!]

Volkswagen's roadside assistance is contracted out to Mondial.

From previous experiences, they aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. We've cars towed to use back when I was in the dealership, for all sorts of silly things, like service reminders appearing on the dash, no fuel in the tank, low washer bottle water indicators displaying, you name it. Worst of all, they kindly inform the customer that it'd be all covered under warranty...

[wai]

Then again, my nephew and niece bought a Mazda Tribute recently. When they insured it the policy came with "roadside assist" as part of it, so they cancelled their NRMA membership as it seemed redundant. They live in Canberra, and with the extreme heat yesterday, my niece was out on an errand with 3 little ones (4, 2, and a few months) when it appears a sensor has failed and the vehicle went into limp mode. She had no idea what was happening, so pulled over in the heat and called the assist number, only to be greeted with the news that because the vehicle was not completely unable to be driven, they could not provide any assistance! They would not even come out on a paid call. The vehicle was unable to be driven safely as it would only drive at around 50 km/h and this was a touch dangerous with the posted speed limit at 100 km/h (this happened on the Tuggerenong Parkway).

She had to wait in the heat for a couple of hours, with a limited drinking water supply until her husband could come out with cold drinks and and then "escort" his wife and three children home.

So, not all such services are necessarily what they appear to be. You only find out when you need them.