Dealership Parts Department ......

[MattPoss]

Called in to my local dealership today to order a rear valance in order to be able to fit the Milltek I am getting. Seen the fella on the parts desk, told him what i was after and he asked me what year the car was to which i replied "My car is an 04 TDI but i'm after a GTI rear valance and they weren't available in 2004 as the GTI wasn't released until 2005 so just anytime after 2005 please.

He continued to ask me if i'm sure my car is a MK5 as "normally an 04 Golf is a MK4?" At this point I knew where this was heading.

After eventually getting him to search for a GTI Rear Valance he said it was going to cost me £375. I said that can't be right as surely they are only around £50 normally. I asked him whether this was for the large black textured part that clips onto the rear of a MK5 bumper to which he replied "No, this one comes primered so will have to be painted"

I asked him if he was sure this one wasn't the Ed30 valance as that would be painted where as the standard GTI valance isn't. He told me "Nope, this is the one for the standard GTI's, it's the only one we do"

To be Honest, I couldn't be bothered to ask him to come outside and look at a one of the cars on the forecourt as by this point I was getting sick of him. Told him I wasn't paying that price for a part I didn't want and left it at that.

Got home, picked up the phone to Awesome GTI, within 5 mins I ordered the Milltek and the exact valance I was after. The valance came to a grand total of £46, bit of a saving from the dealers so called £375.

Awesome GTI 1 - Local Dealership 0

Matt

[Top Cat]

That score wont stay 1-0 to awsome. I predict a final score of  Awsome 2 VW Stealers 8.

Aswome is a great garage but they have your pants down on lots of products. 

[MAT ED30]

open fog grills  

[prepree]

This is quite amusing as some dealers dont even know what a Edition 30 is! Glad you got it sorted though!

[candy turbo]

its the same every where , people in jobs they know nothing about , it really gets my back up ! the salesman at lion motor group where i got my S3 from did not have a clue what he was selling , i asked him questions for a laugh really , he would have been far more suited at macdonalds

[Nasir]

What an idiot, computer says no kinda guy. Why do they even bother putting these people in a VW dealership when they clearly know nothing. When I go in for a part, I give my instructions slowly and clearly 

[Mako V12V]

This is quite amusing as some dealers dont even know what a Edition 30 is! Glad you got it sorted though!

And some dealers dont know how to retrofit an RNS510:-

1) Broke a clip
2) positioned antenna deep inside dash
3) return visit to ask them to move antenna to top
4) told me they'd done this and upon inspection by third party found it to be in same place
5) didn't bother plugging the FM boost cable in
6) didn't bother telling the 'computer' that my car now had navigation
7) charged me £55 for the privilege
waited 3 hours over 2 visits for the pleasure

 

[Greeners]

They'll also have you believe that GTI front mudflaps won't fit an ED30! 

[TomB]

Most dealers flatly refuse to pay for parts training, including the one I work for.  In fact I've only been on 3 courses in my 6 years of working parts! 

The guy is probably not a VW fan.  If you love something, its wise not to work with it.  I used to work for a VW motor factor and seeing VWs all day grew tiresome.

Every partsman gets shown up by the owner one time or another, only you know your car.  Its a good job I'm a quick learner or else I'd look just like that guy on a regular basis! 

[mortygttdi]

Most the lads down at Leeds VW are very good as they do own modded vw's graeme in the parts dept is great and always gives me discount cos I go in with the part number but If I don't have it he knows his way around ETKA very well.

Darren

[Andy]

 quoted  at Lookers Darlington £550 incl vat for the helio's wheel.I phoned Lookers in Northallerton and they quoted me £350incl vat for the same wheel

[pazz]

I've met a few lemons on parts before but then also some legends.

Hands down winners for me are the people on service (no offence, probably just my bad experience from other manufacturers).

Here's some of my favourites that I've met.

1) The ex-Salesman
Where they try and sell you a service, set of tyres, brake fluid change, CD changer etc etc you dont actually need, want or could care about.

2) The Power Trip'ers
Where they pretend to be experienced mechanics/technicians/the boss etc and fob you off with complete nonsense.

[no golf clubs at all]

No sir, the ed30 front spoiler (lower lip) will NOT fit your 2006 (55) GTI. So I refuse to sell it to you!

I was only enquiring re prices, exchanged a firm but polite series of opinions and left.

Shame the ed30 body kit is soo dear. Guess they're trying to keep it exclusive (quite right too).

(I'm building up to offing the milly quads for twins and changing my abt sides for something more stock)
 

[JPC]

This is quite amusing as some dealers dont even know what a Edition 30 is! Glad you got it sorted though!

And some dealers dont know how to retrofit an RNS510:-

1) Broke a clip
2) positioned antenna deep inside dash
3) return visit to ask them to move antenna to top
4) told me they'd done this and upon inspection by third party found it to be in same place
5) didn't bother plugging the FM boost cable in
6) didn't bother telling the 'computer' that my car now had navigation
7) charged me £55 for the privilege
waited 3 hours over 2 visits for the pleasure

 

i coulda told you it was going to go that way. stealers are a nightmare and normally sh*t themselves when something out of the blue turns up. There normally trick is "computer says no" then the whole site goes into meltdown.

I would have done your install for you and i'm only in Accrington! ;)

[stealthwolf]

I've had several encounters with the parts dept of various vw dealers. They either know exactly what you're after or are willing to come out to the car to have a look. Never had problems or been fobbed off. Yet. 

However, one salesman from a local vw garage had little knowledge on the GTI or options. Didn't know highline was an option (said it was available only on the passat, thought a base-spec GTI had lots of features (all of which I knew to be std) and didn't know much about the ED30. Hence why I didn't buy from there.