Dealer woes.........the ups........the downs (lots of em)

[SteveyD]

Hi gang,

Ok so its nice to have a forum dedicated to the car I own, full of like minded people because I can have a good old moan and bounce some ideas of people here.

Righty, car went in to have cambelt noise investigated under warenty and also the HID kit (came fitted to the car when sold) was faulty.  I thought since the MOT is due in 2 months time I would also get this done whilst VW had the car (they could cover anything under warrenty) sooo....... all went well, dropped car off and collected the beast that was a 1.2 3cyl polo.

I decided to ring up on Monday at 08:45 to tell them if they wouldnt fix the headlamp not to bother with the MOT for obvious reasons, I was supprised to hear it had already been done and faild, angry that they MOT'd the car knowing it would fail I was told the price would be reduced, fair enough.

Nobody called me to say car was ready until 17:55 meaning I had to collect first thing the next day, so up at the crack of dawn, girlfriend following me to collect car etc and supprise supprise, car still sounded like a dog from cold.  After waiting for 20mins a "technician" lead me to my car for a listen before admitting cambelt noise and rebooking my car in for my trouble I was given a bottle of bubbly, again fair enough mistakes happen etc.  I also wanted to have the HID kit removed and headlamps returned to normal, the cost of this was reduced as much as possible so again I was happy that VW had done everything reasonable to make me happy.

I collected the car at 6pm and things were looking good, car was quiet on cold start, headlamps repaired for cost of parts only, 12 months MOT for a reduced cost perfect!!  very pleased, could have done without the stress but sh!t happens and I live in the real world. 

T H E N....

3 hours later kerry calls me saying the car wont start and sounds funny, first thoughts were that the cambelt had snapped (at this point I should point out I hadn't drove the car, only started it at the dealers, kerry drove it home).  I turned up to look at my car and all I could smell was fuel.  The car had lost 1/2 tank of fuel in 12 miles and upon inspecting the engine I could see a fuel hose had cam away from the engine.  I couldnt get it back on so I called VW assistance, who kindly rang me back an hour later to say they were snowed in and couldnt possibly attend until 7am the next day.  I gave up.

S O....

Today I take a day off work, meet the RAC at my car and together we fit the hose.  The guy was a top bloke and all was going well, trying to start the car was not happening, the fuel was gushing out from underneath the car, and it wasn't a little trickle either.  At this point I decided to have the car recovered to VW, although my car isnt lowered, and the RAC have a specially built dedicated one off trailer (costing £9000).... the spoiler prevented my car from going on.  I had to wait for a flat bed trailer.

I was livid and calling VW customer care got me nothing but a ref number, I met the manager at VW who was actually a nice guy, he already knew about my trouble and was full of appologies etc.  I stated that to a certain extent I could live with the cock up with warrenty work, mot and communication, thats life, mistakes happen.

My whole point is that this could have quite easily caused my car to burst into flames, causing injury or death and financial peril because I bet VW would wash there hands of any blame leaving my insurance to deal with it.  I explained that if the car would have been test drove after the work it woul dhave been picked up on.  I still think im lucky to have a girlfriend and car after this incident and it has really helped me to loose all faith in the so called experts of the industry.

I still dont have my car back..........

Ok rant over, sorry it went on and on (and on some more), its been quite a few days though.

[MAT ED30]

now thats bad  how the fook could they leave a fuel pipe off    the car coud have blown up  thats not good at all and if i was u i would be having a big chat with vw head office

[SteveyD]

Its a crazy one mat (you must have nothing to do if you read all that lol),  when we put the fuel pipe on the leak started somewhere else, you know how much pressure the pumps create too.  Im so thankfull that it didn't catch fire I really am lucky.

in true brit style "im going to send them a letter".

Im hoping to get out on track on sat too and to say i have little confidence in the car (if I get it back) is an understatement, ill show Nikki Lauder how its done 

[MAT ED30]

i would ask them to show u that the leak is fixed ie up on a ramp with the engine running 

[SteveyD]

thats a good idea, would never have thought of that one!

[MAT ED30]

best of luck with it but dont take any crap from them as they know they will be in deep sh1t with vw hq if u tell them  i for 1 would do. Make sure u get you invoice with a job number on / ref number so it can be traced and also get there dealer code from them and any other ie people doing the job

[SteveyD]

lol remind me never to do a bad job for you.

I see your point Mat, and trust me im furious given the potential for disaster but I hope I dont have to go down the whole headhunting thing, getting someone the sack wont change anything and hopefully after a bollocking from the gaffer it wont happen again.

I will be writing to HQ but more for compensation for my time, holiday loss, fule loss etc.

[VC]

complain and complain hard, they dropped the ball mate, they should now be refunding you all monies and repairing at their cost

the fuel problem is just disgusting, pure negligence, and theyll know that too

would you be so forgiving if kerry was in A&E?

[Greeners]

You hear about these little ''cock ups'' from time to time on forums but this one was one almighty ''F**k up'' 

One word Steve, COMPENSATION

Not only the fact it could have ended in a very bad way but you have also been majorly put out and had to take time off work! Go for the jugular! 

[vRS Carl]

Sorry to hear about all that mate.

That is truly shocking. As everyone else has said go for compensation. It's not as if they put the wrong dust caps on your tyres it's a fuel line. That could have killed you or your GF and any number of other people that had been around at the time if that had gone horribly wrong

That is gross incompetence and they need to be punished. I know you don't want anybody sacking but if they are bad enough to leave a fuel line disconnected then they bloody need sacking.

Hope you get a decent outcome

Carl

[B3n]

Sorry to hear about your problem mate hope it all gets sorted

But ive got to ask how do you know its the dealers fault and not another problem with seriously bad timing?

[Lyons]

Thats unbelievable. Why did they even have a fuel pipe off?

At least everyones ok mate.

[VC]

[SteveyD]

VC... Cheers mate, I will be complaining I'm just waiting to see exactly what the cause was.

GREENOUS... it's the biggest cock up iv ever known but I have heard of worse, ask Beddie about vw forgetting to connect his brakes back up

MATER... fully see your point and believe me I'm furious but thankfully nothing serious happened, probably due to Kerry's tame driving and the fact it was snowing.  Putting out someones flame won't make mine burn brighter, I'd prefer training, educating etc over sacking, we all deal with tight deadlines at  work and although a major sign of neglegance, I doubt it was done on purpose.

BEN... lol do you work for VW? of course it's related to the work it happened 12 miles later, all of which were done at 30 mph.! The hose was from the fuel rail next to the cambelt, but now fuel leaks from underneath.  of course if the car caught fire they would wash there hands of it.

[tony_danza]

Stevey.

In the true sense of wanting to help, I suggest you just burn it out and have done with it. You cut quite a dash in that Polo, get one of those instead......