What to do...............

[martininwillerby 0]

Been on the phone today(5pm) to the stealer about my GTI.They tell me they can't fix the paddle problem and that they have to seek assistance from the factory in germany to sort the problem out.This will be the second time it's been in to have the problem fixed.The first time i had to point out that there was a problem with it,they claimed that's how it should be and not to take any notice of you lot cos you all talk s**t.Then i pointed out that it said it in the owners manual and his asnwer was it's translated from german and is probley wrong,but they would email germany to find out....So in I went again on Saturday(at least 3 weeks later) to see if they'd had any joy..."NO sorry,but the demo we have now does it so you must of been right in the first place" he said. Book it in for a couple of days and we'll get it fixed for you,so in it went yesterday...

'O' bye the way my friend came round today.He saw some young lad kicking the ass out of my car yesterday afternoon.

I didn't think an electrical problem needed a test drive,and not a speed.......

Anyway my main point is do i give them a letter tomorrow stateting that they've had the car twice now and have not fixed the problem and give them till the end fo September to fix it or I want a new one....

[silentandy 0]

I'd be having a quiet word with the service manager first about seeing your car driven like that!

It sounds like they have a bad attitude towards you and a lack of customer service, are they any other dealers nearby that you could take it to? You're not limited to the place you bought it from for sorting warranty issues.

[RedRobin 1]

Hi Martin....Sincerely sorry to hear of your probs and I'd love to give a severe kicking to that lad attacking your car!

My advice is to definitely start putting things in writing....Calmly and unemotionally....Clearly set out ALL the facts from the beginning and send a copy to Customer Relations VW UK and make sure you write "Copy to etc" on your letter to your dealer so they can see you have done so.

Every dealer has to satisfy VW that they are representing VW in ways which meet VW's approval. The dealer is only an appointed agent and franchise and VW have the power to dump them. If the dealer loses his dealership he could easily go out of business and rightly so!

The problem may be simply the attitude of the individual salesperson but, either way, by putting matters clearly and articulately in writing they are obliged to deal with matters properly and the case has to be investigated formally and is then also on record and potentially very valuable if you later need a LegalEagle.

I can't emphasise enough how important it is that your letter sounds reasonable and unemotional other than expressing your extreme disappointment and dissatisfaction with the dealer's conduct. Sound as if you mean business and DO be committed to backing it up if necessary.

You can't really set them a deadline at this stage imo. That can come later but you can point out how they have procrastinated over your case to date. Don't use any fancy words without knowing what they mean btw.

Hope I don't sound too paternal over this but I've run my own business for 25 years in Central London and have all kinds of experience over all sorts of issues including High Court.

[RedRobin 1]

Ooops! When you wrote "kicking the ass out of your car" I thought you meant literally. Now reading Andy's post I see I was wrong.

As Andy suggests, perhaps a quiet but very firm word with the Service Manager gently threatening to take matters further if necessary, may hopefully get you results. But I would start writing your own log of events just in case you have to get heavier with letters.

[Tunner 0]

Can you name the dealership?

[martininwillerby 0]

I can do but I'd rather not just at the moment

[Tunner 0]

I am related to a VW dealership service manager. Please send me a private message and I will see if they can help?

[martininwillerby 0]

Hi...collect the gti today with 6 extra miles on the clock so it's not to bad.They've told me that the factory is on shutdown now for three weeks,so they won't have any answers for a while.I asked about how long before they offer me a new car,but they said there'll have to wait and see first.I'm waiting for the organ grinder to call me as i only spoke to the monkey and been female she knew nothing...

[SamD 5]

This shutdown thing is a bit of a joke. Seems to be something that the stealers roll out when they don't want to help. As far as I know the factory is open as my car is being built....

[scook66 0]

Yeah...I fed up with this shutdown thing. Its a great way of stealers stalling for time imo.

[dmg11eng 0]

Shutdown finished on the 12th of August, production resumed 15th August.

[SamD 5]

Which tallies with what my dealer told me too.

[martininwillerby 0]

The saga continues.....after telephoning them (cos they didn't ring me) to find out whats going on and slipping in at the the end that a new order may be called for they rang me yesterday...Can we poosibly have your car ALL next week so we can fix your problem.Germany have tasked us with the job of fixing it,as they haven't a clue what to do....

So in it goes on Tuesday am...If by the end of the week they don't seem to have fixed it,well i guess they could always offer me a replacement......

WE'LL SEE

martin

[UBM 0]

Nightmare..

Hope you get it sorted.

[martininwillerby 0]

Hi All.....Took the golf in today.Aparently they have taken their demo off the road so they can strip things off it to put on mine to see if they can fix it......"we'll get back to you in a weeks time unless we fix it before" Not much hope there then.....

And guess what they have loaned me.......One of those tuoreg 4x4 things,and it's auto....God can you tell a difference in power and the auto box....DSG please come back

i'll keep you up to date with whats happening

martin

[martininwillerby 0]

Rang the stealer today....sorry sir we haven't fixed it yet,we've sent all the details to germany and we are hoping they'll have some answers for us next week....when can i have my car back then?...not til next week,we'll ring you...

so how long before we go down the route of ordering me another one then....you'll have to talk to pinky and perky(names witheld) about that, it's not my dept......

And thats how the phone call went.....

As for the toureg(loan car) it's like driving a armchair and it drinks more than my golf even though it's a diesel...

[DanAdams 0]

[ QUOTE ]

Yeah...I fed up with this shutdown thing. Its a great way of stealers stalling for time imo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, no - got back from a holiday to Germany and Wolfsburg and factory tour was not running for 3 weeks because of factory shutdown - most employees go on holiday at this one time

[RedRobin 1]

The 3-4 week factory shutdown so that workers can have a decent holiday break is normal in Europe. This has been going on in Italy and I think France too for decades! I wonder if Brussels will ever insist it's done in the UK too. Abt has only just re-opened after its factory break too.

[aswall 0]

It still happens in some industrial towns in the north of England and Scotland as well. It's generally disliked by employees as it removes choice of when to take holidays so is unlikely to be adopted here. I think it's more likely to go the other way and fade out on the continent as is happening in some industries there

[jamiey 0]

It means it's impossible to find a plumber for two weeks in July.

[redbaron 0]

[ QUOTE ]

It means it's impossible to find a plumber for two weeks in July.

[/ QUOTE ]

All the tradesmen in Edinburgh are off for the first two weeks of July, and all those in Glasgow are off for the second half of July (might be the other way round - can never remember!).

But as Jamie says, it is impossible to get hold of a plumber or sparky in July.

[robp 0]

Martin

My car has the exact same problem as yours - 'off' doesn't work on the '+' paddle

Alan Day in New Southgate looked at it yesterday and are flummoxed by it, though they accept it is a fault. I mentioned your case to them and they would be delighted if I could find out if and when a fix has been done on yours, so that they can find out what it is!

Would appreciate it therefore if you could post when you have any further details

Many thanks

[martininwillerby 0]

UPDATE AS OF TODAY......been to the stealer toady to see whats gone on and they inform me that they are changing the gearbox out with the demo car starting tomorrow and should have it on the road by tuesday if not before.If that doesn't work I can have a new one....

My feeling is that exchanging the gearbox will fix the problem as the ECU for the gearbox is built in the box itself.

robp...what spec do you have on your car ie DSG,MFSW with paddles,midline computer and 2006 model....

Does anybody else have the same problem......

[robp 0]

Hi Martin

Glad some progress is being made, albeit slowly. Fingers crossed for you

My spec is as you state: 06 model, MFSW with paddles, midline

Alan Day has a DSG demonstrator so if you gearbox swap works I may have to ask them to do likewise with mine, assuming the demonstrator doesn't have the fault

[robp 0]

p.s. I would have thought that it's a setting in the software that is wrong, so in that sense you would have thought that they could isolate what needs changing in the settings. Rather than having to change the whole gearbox just to get those settings, which seems a bit 'hammer and nut'!

Who knows (I know nothing about car mechanics/software/electrics!), and if I got a gearbox with far less than my 2000 miles, then I probably wouldn't grumble!