Lack of Dealer Service

**dmn** · 23-10-2011, 10:07 PM

Hi all - after owning my 147 for just on 1 year I thought it might be time to give some feedback on the woeful inefficiencies of a Canberra service department - I will not mention any names but the dealer concerned is based on the north side of Canberra and has recently been acquired by another company. The tiggy went in for it's first service early August:

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...ing-63570.html

and at service pickup time I was told that the wastegate clips were to be replaced, the towbar wiring was to be rectified - first part was to cancel out the reverse sensors when reversing (a harness was to be ordered) and the second part is that it has been incorrectly wired...at first I thought it was my trailer but it's not the case as the trailer is fine on other vehicles + when I disconnect the trailer plug I have to change a few convenience settings as they have been set back to default - keep in mind that these guys fitted the towbar and I was without a bootlight for 12 months as they obviously forgot to plug something back in. I ring up 2 months later (as per the link above) and they know nothing about it, anyway left them a message (5 times) to get them to ring me back and of course they never did so thought it might be an idea to ring the sales manager who promised me that if I ever have any servicing issues to give him a ring, I did and he also told me if I don't hear anything in a day or so to give him a ring back - I did (again) and 4 days later I was told that he left them a note with the issues and he also apologised for their lack of service and pointed out that good service advisers are hard to find these days, I thought, well that's interesting but you didn't tell me that when I purchased the car but you did take me down to the service department to show me where to go for service - yea, right.

My last option is to walk in and demand that the car get fixed as was stated after my first service but I am reluctant to do now as I can just imagine what sort of job they would do, if at all. So here I am with a great car but it unfortunately comes with appalling service with no obvious interest what-so-ever in performing any type of customer based service - being my first Volkswagen it has not left a good impression, ironically I am also looking at another car and the Golf R came to mind but have now got our eye's on a Lexus due to the lack of any form of customer service.

Another option would be take it to another dealer but as been previously involved in this industry I know how other dealers treat new customers specially when someone's drops in for warranty work, mind you they would also be getting the service work as well so if anyone has some suggestions please reply to this thread.

I guess my last message is to Volkswagen, you have some great cars but seriously could you please sort out this dealership because if I am experiencing these issues there must be others!!

**Transporter** · 24-10-2011, 06:19 AM

Did you contact VW head office?

**dmn** · 24-10-2011, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by Transporter

Did you contact VW head office?

no but I am about too...just getting some info about the vehicle together so they know who they are talking to.

**Tiggy1** · 24-10-2011, 01:57 PM

Hi dmn. I hear your pain. Fortunately have not had the issues you have had, but only had the car a month so early days yet. I ended up buying mine from a Dealer about 900km away from where I live, as the local Dealer is totally hopeless. Have a friend who bought his Golf from them, and discovered they were putting wrong oil in - must have been any old stuff they had (Nissan and Mazda dealers also). Had a big blue with Service Manager after they tried to fob him off initially - needless to say, he no longer takes it there! Talking to another guy (my Barber), who has had similar dramas with a Nissan Tiida he bought new for his wife a couple of years ago. Apparantley they broke 4 of the 5 clips off a hubcap at first service (genuine Nissan, so pretty solid things), and didn't own up to it. Only discovered himself after taking it back to them to be told they couldn't find anything wrong. Final straw for him was when Service Advisor (chick with crewcut, pink mohawk and piercings) was treating him like imbecile until he told her off! Needless to say I won't be taking the risk of going anywhere near them! Dealer I bought it off hasn't been too bad, other than their "Service Dept" - misnomer if ever I heard one - not putting side trim at end of rear seat back properly when running towbar wiring. No other electical issues though, so "touch wood" they did that part right. Quick and simple fix once I straightened clip they had bent trying to force it back in, but for $50k car you'd expect a bit better! Hoping like hell I don't have any warranty issues, otherwise it will be a 10hr drive each way to get sorted

**Pullstarter** · 25-10-2011, 10:40 AM

Hi dmn,
I know exactly what dealer you're talking about and I have had numerous issues with them. The latest being the waste gate fix. In order to get the waste gate fix done in the first place I basically had to threaten them with going to VWA if they didn't do it. They begrudgingly agreed to do the fix and said it would be 2 weeks before the part arrived so I booked it in for a fortnight later.

I dropped the car off on the allotted day and then received a phone call at approximately 2.30pm saying that the clip for the waste gate had been damaged in transit and was unusable. Also they had no other spare clips. Hang on, a fix which affects so many cars and they only ordered one of them? A metal clip can be damaged in transit? The box it came in would have to have been driven over by a truck to cop any damage. More likely they forgot to order it and no one bothered checking before my booking. I am still waiting for them to call me back (2 weeks since) even though they assured me I was now a "priority" job. Yeah right.

Anyway, moral of the story is I get my car serviced at Canberra VW Centre in Tuggeranong. Michael is an excellent mechanic and very conscientious, as well as being considerably cheaper than the dealer. He would have more VW/Audi knowledge in his big toe than the so called "expert dealer". I really can't recommend him highly enough.

As for my next VW purchase I don't think it will be made at either of the Canberra dealers, for some reason they don't think they have to compete with Sydney prices. Having said that, I will give the second Canberra dealer a chance to make a good deal. To me it's just atypical of the lack of service you get in Canberra. Be it car dealers right down to restaurants, the service here is appalling.

Anyway, end of rant

Go to Canberra VW Centre at Tuggers and you'll be a very happy chappy indeed

**Sanman** · 26-10-2011, 10:55 PM

When Thinking about my VW "experience", I quite like the car, the problem is that the service is expensive and bad. Either option I could accept. VWA needs to upgrade its service if it wants repeat customers

**governor22** · 26-10-2011, 11:31 PM

dmn that sucks big time.

i take my car to Peter, Deane and Gareth at Canberra VW Centre in Belconnen (a stone's throw from the dealer I suspect you're talking about). Have been using these guys for the past 2yrs and would easily recommend them to others. Much cheaper than Stealer$hip and these guys really love doing what they do. Drive in and have a chat. Tell them what happened. I'm sure they'll try and help out

**dmn** · 26-11-2011, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by dmn

Hi all - after owning my 147 for just on 1 year I thought it might be time to give some feedback on the woeful inefficiencies of a Canberra service department - I will not mention any names but the dealer concerned is based on the north side of Canberra and has recently been acquired by another company. The tiggy went in for it's first service early August:

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...ing-63570.html

and at service pickup time I was told that the wastegate clips were to be replaced, the towbar wiring was to be rectified - first part was to cancel out the reverse sensors when reversing (a harness was to be ordered) and the second part is that it has been incorrectly wired...at first I thought it was my trailer but it's not the case as the trailer is fine on other vehicles + when I disconnect the trailer plug I have to change a few convenience settings as they have been set back to default - keep in mind that these guys fitted the towbar and I was without a bootlight for 12 months as they obviously forgot to plug something back in. I ring up 2 months later (as per the link above) and they know nothing about it, anyway left them a message (5 times) to get them to ring me back and of course they never did so thought it might be an idea to ring the sales manager who promised me that if I ever have any servicing issues to give him a ring, I did and he also told me if I don't hear anything in a day or so to give him a ring back - I did (again) and 4 days later I was told that he left them a note with the issues and he also apologised for their lack of service and pointed out that good service advisers are hard to find these days, I thought, well that's interesting but you didn't tell me that when I purchased the car but you did take me down to the service department to show me where to go for service - yea, right.

My last option is to walk in and demand that the car get fixed as was stated after my first service but I am reluctant to do now as I can just imagine what sort of job they would do, if at all. So here I am with a great car but it unfortunately comes with appalling service with no obvious interest what-so-ever in performing any type of customer based service - being my first Volkswagen it has not left a good impression, ironically I am also looking at another car and the Golf R came to mind but have now got our eye's on a Lexus due to the lack of any form of customer service.

Another option would be take it to another dealer but as been previously involved in this industry I know how other dealers treat new customers specially when someone's drops in for warranty work, mind you they would also be getting the service work as well so if anyone has some suggestions please reply to this thread.

I guess my last message is to Volkswagen, you have some great cars but seriously could you please sort out this dealership because if I am experiencing these issues there must be others!!

***Update***

OK Volkswagon got involved after ringing their customer service hotline, 3 weeks later the service manager rang me and told me to bring in the tiggy (mind you no apology for the lack of service), he checked what was supposedly ordered and low and behold nothing was ordered (surprise surprise), anyway they installed a control module for the towbar and it now works as it should even when hooked up

but they cannot figure out how to cancel the reverse parking sensors when the trailer is connected (car was in for 2 days) so they spoke to Sydney and are now awaiting some info from Germany but my guess is that it will be all too hard and I will be lucky to ever hear from them again (probably like me going there again).

They also said that they replaced the wastegate clip but the exact same noise is still apparent between 1500-2000rpm in D7 (around 80km/hr) so maybe its something else - who know's so I guess I will just have to put up with it, dissapointing but really don't want to go their back again if i can help it. They also replaced the battery earth lead as the existing one was too short - they told me that it was part of a national recall??