VW Dealerships: How they treat you?

[Blimey 0]

Hi All,

 

OK, I have been well and truly stuffed by VW Heathrowm charged me £900 to fix my MFA, replaced a load of parts that were not broken and now just do not want to know, never call me back, never update me and treat me like an annoyance the arrogant feckers.

 

I've written to P Willis of VW UK complaining and am gathering feedback from all VW related forums/ clubs to put together a complaint about how bad their service depts are. Top Gear and What Car both slate VW for their pants service.

 

So... Now is the time to let me know what experiences you have had with VW so I can gauge just how bad they are... or if indeed I am the only one!!

 

All feeback appreciated, cheers guys

[Jim 1]

Well I have only ever dealt with their parts department, and they were always a friendly bunch and always got the right bits for me.

 

Thanks to stories like yours mate, I always stayed well clear of VW when it came to having garage type work done on my last Corrado!

[VR6 0]

Going to move to Servicing and Suppliers..

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Wolsey of Ipswich are excellent. They honour the CCGB discount and they always get my stuff in next day, instead of the usual 2-3 days :lol:

 

I don't ever take my car to a dealership for repairs, so I can't comment on that aspect but if their parts team are anything to go by, then they're probably good at that too. All the mechanics have sporty VWs, so they're enthusiastic of the marque, which is a good sign.

 

K

[Ka` 0]

Blimey,

 

I wouldn't mind giving some feedback but how are you organising this? I would advise against

anyone naming and shaming VW garages here, in a public place, since it's possible you'd get sued for slander.

 

It's alright to praise them, but you could get in serious trouble for bad mouthing them.

 

Cheers,

Rica

[Tempest 0]

As Jim and I probably go to the same VW dealer in Coventry, I can only agree with what he's already said:

 

Their parts department are a friendly bunch, good for a joke, I get the parts that I want without toooo much trouble. They've got a new kiddie now, that still has to ask sometimes (recently had the lad on the phone, asked him the difference between coolant G12 and G12+, he didn't know ...).

 

I don't know about their repairs department, other than that they outsource that to an independent garage just around the corner from them. I have never used that garage, as I also tend to do most things myself, if I can.

 

Tempest

[Madjackal 0]

kevhaywire, You must be the chap i bumped into in the golden lion the other week with Steve 'supercharged' My MOT is up soon so would you recommend Wolsey?

[HiAsAKite 0]

Colbornes parts in Guildford (no idea about the actual service dept) are great.. but thats probably because the manager/senior chap is an ex-corrado owner

[Supercharged 2]

kevhaywire, You must be the chap i bumped into in the golden lion the other week with Steve 'supercharged' Reid My MOT is up soon so would you recommend Wolsey?

 

Alan, nice to see you on here! - I remember seeing you that night, mentioned the word Corrado and Kev just appeared from outer nowhere! :lol:

 

(thats about all I can remember from the whole evening tho! :roll: )

 

Like Kev says, Wolsey seem very good for parts (I get really good discounts now and can order over the phone depending on who I speak to), The servicing will be ok but you may be better off going to a specialist, especially if you need the charger doing as well - you will get more of a service for your money then!

[jims corrado 0]

I have the benefit of being a fleet car driver as well as a corrado owner. If buying parts for my corrado, the parts dept treat me like a lower life form. however if i wander into the showroom and mention company car renewal then they will quite happliy lick the sh!t off my arse! I have tested this on a few occasions, the last one being last summer. My local dealer is Parkway in Derby.

 

 

Jim

[HiAsAKite 0]

Sounds to me, insofar as Corrados are concerned, its down to the individual who deals with you, if they are a true vdubber with appreciation for the C,... they will go out their way to help.... otherwise welcome standard VAG customerr care..

[Bolster 0]

VW in Walton-on-Thames (or more correctly the service dept in Hersham) I will NOT visit again for any reason.

 

However Wayside in St Alban's have been very professional and helpful and given me discounts on all parts I've got from them, and their workshops look a thousand percent better managed than Hersham.

[vr6storm 0]

Specialist-Cars(Aberdeen).......both parts dept and servicing can't fault them at all.....parts dept very very helpful and my C always comes out purring after being serviced or sorted by their workshop :wink:

[Guest]

I deal with Dane VW in Chester for parts, i have had nothing but quality service from them from the word go.

 

But as Service Departments go; im a workshop controller, and occasional service receptionist when I feel like it, and I can guarantee when you take your car into a busy dealership, although they will endeavour to keep you posted throughout the job, and although they will try to diagnose the problem on you're car straight away, they will and unfortunately charge you every hour of the priveledge of this time. (probably around £60/hour if you're lucky), and struggle to call you back due to the amount of work they have in. It aint an easy job, I can assure you!

 

I am fortunate in that my friend is the workshop controller at Dane VW in Chester, and so i get treated like staff in there. But your average customer gets shafted on cars like Corrado's and other older VW's everyday, cos the truth is the technicians you'll find in most dealers thesedays have now become so accustomed to working on maximum 4-5year old vehicles, they see their arses when it comes to something like a 2.9 VR6, and guaranteed there would be flipping of coins to see who wants to work on it.

 

So, the point of the discussion is, stick to specialists and avoid the dealers at all costs unless you've got some sort of Warranty to claim off from them, otherwise its their job to screw you for every penny of the job, cos thats how they make bonus.

 

P.s. i get to rip off Vauxhall drivers everyday, so i can sleep at night :wink:

[markTTC 0]

I never use Citygate VW in Watford for servicing my C anymore - basically very rude, very unhelpful, didn't have a clue what they were on about (they reckoned you had to remove the cylinder head to replace the cambelt! :lol: ), and too damn expensive. Their parts department were amoungst the rudest people I have ever come across when I was buying some suspension bits for the C a year ago.

 

Wayside in Stevenage on the otherhand seem to be very helpfull and polite - they always phone you back if they said they would.

 

Citygate in Colindale seem okay, but the parts department there is always really busy.

 

HTH

Cheers

Mark

[dazzyvr6 0]

Deviboy, can you get discount at dane in chester through ccgb??

[Bally 0]

Wayside In MK are very helpful, as they all no me, does helps that I once worked in VWHQ :D

[andycowuk 0]

the head technition at my local gave me a whole lot of duff advice about abs faults, told me it only flagged up electrical faults, not pnuematic or mechanical ones. He didnt like the idea that i was questioning him.

[Madjackal 0]

Supercharged,

 

cheers man, and for the Gwerks info. this year im gonna really go to work cos ive got too much money that i don't know what to do with! LOL

[Jim 1]

Supercharged,

 

cheers man, and for the Gwerks info. this year im gonna really go to work cos ive got too much money that i don't know what to do with! LOL

 

Haha.. thats gotta be one to frame and keep :)

 

We'll see how you are getting on one year down the line with your Corrado.. I think a Corrado could bleed Richard Branson free of finances if it wanted to!

[Madjackal 0]

jims16v, every one should have a hobby. mines gonna be squeezing all the bhp i can out of me car :mrgreen:

[Madjackal 0]

jims16v, well it'll keep me busy :)

[stevemac 0]

Local VW dealer (JCT600 in Wakefield) treats me great - I used to work for VW.. :lol: :lol:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

kevhaywire, You must be the chap i bumped into in the golden lion the other week with Steve 'supercharged' My MOT is up soon so would you recommend Wolsey?

 

Guilty as charged, welcome aboard..... Steve will make sure you're glued to the forum no doubt :lol:

 

I wouldn't MOT your car at Wolsey, try somewhere like Williams Tyre and exhaust or Hadleigh tyre services as they love german motors....and they passed my old heap, so gotta be good :lol:

[Guest]

Deviboy, can you get discount at dane in chester through ccgb??

 

Hi m8, i can discount on servicing from Dane for myself only unfortunately, but can get parts heavily discounted without usin CCGB, so if you need anything, you can get 'em through me. How does that sound m8?