No very happy with VW main dealer!!

[mrbeige 0]

Now this just takes the biscuit!

 

The story begins....

 

I’ve just started a new job in Cambridge, and I am living down here for a year. Just before I came down here, I had a KR cam fitted to my 9A engine, and while my friendly mechanic at home was fitting it he changed the cam belt, followers, and chain. He then noticed that the core plug just behind the cam belt tensioner had a little hole in it. Saturday afternoon = no chance of getting a replacement, so a quick bodge later and he’d welded the hole up, to get me down to Cambridge on the Monday morning. The bodge didn’t hold very well, and I had to get it replaced while in Cambridge, and being new to the area I just took it to Vindis; the local main dealer.

 

What a mistake! Apparently it took two hours for them to replace it and it cost £185 all in! :shock:

 

When I picked the Corrado up, it was Friday afternoon 5.30pm and I was driving straight home to Shrewsbury. There was a loud ticking sound coming from the cam belt area, which was a little worrying! I couldn’t ring them as they were closed, so I called my mate who told me not to worry about it, it was probably just the cam belt catching on the cam cover. The sound gradually disappeared on the way home so I thought all was well

 

After driving home (150miles) from Cambridge, the water warning light came on the following day and I managed to put 1.5ltrs of water into the coolant system! Did I have another leak? No, Vindis hadn’t run the car warm with the coolant cap off to eliminate any air locks.

 

I phoned them up, the next week, and they booked it in, again, to replace the coolant completely and finish off the job properly.

 

So I thought everything was fine then, still bruised from having to pay £185… :(

 

Next I start hearing this really loud knocking/ticking sound coming from the alternator, or so I thought! Managed to get another alternator, replaced it and the noise was still there….

 

Thought I’d check all other components on run from that belt, to find the water pump pulley bolts were only FINGER TIGHT! Could they do anything else wrong???

 

So £185 to change a core plug at a main dealer, and my mechanic friend charged me £60 to change the cam belt tensioner , followers and inlet cam, and it only took him 1½ hours!….mmmm something seriously wrong there!

[chrishill 0]

There was an article on the news yesterday about compulsory training for mechanics and they gave the name of some organisation you can complain to if you;re not happy with any work yuo have done, bit like trading standards, someone on here might know who they are but i cant remember! its shocking a main dealer can firstly charge silly money for the job, then f**k it up so badly!

[Jim 2]

Judging by the stories on here, taking your car to the main dealer for ANY kind of engine work is NOT a good idea.

 

Someone posted a story a while back about a main dealer not even bolting a VR6 engine back together properly? Crazy...

[corradophil 3]

You might be able to listen again to the 5.45 news on radio 1 web-site for 3rd or 4th Nov, sorry can't remember try 3rd first, they had it as a special feature with an interview from someone from the organisation chrishill mentioned.

 

Someone I work with who owns my old Mk2 Golf has been to 3 garages to get tracking done, one said its too low to go on the ramp so can't do it, another wasn't sure if it was adjustable, but said, " if you find out it is, bring it back and we'll do it". :lol:

[theRuler 0]

the main dealers are fitters.

they dont fix, they fit.

i know mechanics who have worked at main dealers, and they are "stifled" by company rules that wont allow them to repair, only replace. (it does allow them to rob many good parts that are needlessly replaced though)

 

with this "fitting" mentality, the good mechanics are weened out of the loop (ie they feck off and work for a garage, or go self employed). and mistakes happen. and the main dealer hourly rate is really high too. the prices main dealers charge are criminal.

[mrbeige 0]

theRuler said

the prices main dealers charge are criminal.

You're not wrong, but I wouldn't have minded AS much, if they had done a proper job.... :mad:

 

I'm jts annoyed at paying £75 + VAT an hour and when I picked the car up I asked them why it was so much, and the bloke behind the desk said that they only make around 2.5% profit margin! :lol: I nearly burst out laughing! Even if they paid there technicians £20 an hour (that's over 40K a year!) they would still make a profit out of it I'm sure!

[theRuler 0]

they have to pay for all the fat fucking cunts in suits that sit around doing fuck all, then drive the fuck home in a fat as fuck company fucking car.

 

the fucking good for fuck all cunts. shit. wankers. :D

[dr_mat 0]

Everyone makes mistakes: much as Vince and Stealth have always done good work, and I don't wish to give the impression that I think otherwise, but I drove away from there with two loose track rod ends a few weeks back. I had to take a 90 mile round trip before getting back to the garage and them re-checking the tracking and tightening them up properly!!

[dinkus 10]

As the first rule of thumb, don't ever get a main dealer to work on your car. I'm sure there must be a competent one somewhere, but I've yet to hear of one. Even if they are competent, they still charge a fortune in labour.

 

Having said that, Vindis are particularly bad and I've yet to hear a good thing about them. Someone did post up a thread on here a few weeks ago asking about a good garage in Cambridge and I think Barr Tech came up well. Not sure of the exact details tho as I don't live in Cambridge itself.

 

Now that there are quite a few more people from the area on the board, we will definitely have to organise a Cambridge get-together at some point.

[mrbeige 0]

Now that there are quite a few more people from the area on the board, we will definitely have to organise a Cambridge get-together at some point.

Sounds like a good plan!

 

good garage in Cambridge and I think Barr Tech came up well

Yer I saw that at the beginning of this week....I'm off there next time I need anything done I think! :)

[PhatVR6 0]

Just rang mine today at 1pm to order one art for tomorrow.

 

"I can't guarantee it'll be ordered today"

 

"it's only one part, I can't come down any other day apart from tomorrow"

 

"I'm very busy, I can't guarantee I can order it in"

 

 

lazy f*ckers :mad:

[Unclebuck 0]

I only go to a main dealer for a service stamp, and for a diagnosis of what needs doing. I then take the car somewhere else to get the work done by a 'proper' mechanic. I've had too many bad experiences with main dealers over 20 years of owning VWs, to do anything else.

The last time I had a service (a couple of months ago), I subsequently had to go to my own mechanic for an oil change, as the main dealer (Coventry!) did not stock the fully synthetic oil I had specified. They said there was no call for it.

 

Whenever I go to a main dealer, there seems to be some poor mug at the service desk having a blue fit over some grievance or other. It makes me smile 'cos that used to be me.