Car serviced with wrong oil

[Frenzy]

Well the car was serviced today at vw chiswick and they managed not to wash it as requested however my specific request for fully synthetic oil fell on death ears and they replaced the fully synth oil it had in it from the last service on wich it has only done about 2.5k miles with semi synth oil.

When I brought this up the service guy, who was on the whole a pleasant and helpful chap started quoting straight from the handbook stating it got semi synth because that's what hq say should be used for T&D services. I pressed the point politely so they got the manager who wasn't aware that fully synth could be used for T&D service but would need to check with Finance to authorise it for my vehicle. She'll contact me tomorrow.

Hopefully I get the news tomorrow that I'm hoping for and should. However in the event they choose to be a holes, how do I argue this one successfully? The car has always had fully synth for service oil changes and the service book denotes this.

Advice much appreciated 

[PDT]

If you requested fully synthetic and recieved otherwise then there should be no reason for them to question the matter 'with finance' and for the sake of a few £ worth of oil and a filter they should swap it immediately.

The more work I see carried out my main dealers (of all manufacturers) and larger nationwide chains the more worried I become, if people on here saw some of the things we do on a daily basis they would cringe.

[Baz300]

I would contact vw customer services if you get nowhere with the dealer. But at the end of the day it's your car and they should be putting in the oil that you ask for ( especially if it's within spec)

I can't understand why people prefer to buy cars that must have full dealer history when there are so many horror story's of dealers getting things wrong.

I was doing some searching on my local vw dealer and there are lots of stories of them forgetting to tighten bolts and a quite a lot of reports of them putting the pipes for the fuel filters the wrong way round.

[sub39h]

i didn't think a semi-synth oil would be VW approved?

press for an oil and filter change through VW UK if necessary

[Frenzy]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated 

So essentially whatever oil I ask for I should get and whichever dealer I'm at is obligated to fulfil the request?

[SRC]

So essentially whatever oil I ask for I should get and whichever dealer I'm at is obligated to fulfil the request?

If you've asked for something above the usual service (or product), then you must expect to have to pay a little more for it.  But if they haven't done the extra, you shouldn't have to pay for the lesser product.

[Frenzy]

Maybe that's where the issue is occurring, I have the 2 year service plan so they are probably trying to do everything on the service for free so there are no nasty surprises for me, hence I've got the freebie oil rather than what I asked for. For the 30 quid or whatever it is I would have no problem for paying for what the car needs. As it with my complaint registered I may end up getting the correct and good stuff for free, either way all I care about is that it gets the good stuff.

[George]

I've recently had my car serviced at the local dealer (South Hereford). I supplied my own Castrol Edge 5w30 from ECP. Along with the invoice they also gave me the checklist the mechanics use when changing the oil, on there it states 502 oil  ! The sheet is specific to my car as the details are printed at the top

[Starshaped]

I've recently had my car serviced at the local dealer (South Hereford). I supplied my own Castrol Edge 5w30 from ECP. Along with the invoice they also gave me the checklist the mechanics use when changing the oil, on there it states 502 oil  ! The sheet is specific to my car as the details are printed at the top

Well thats correct 502.00 is 5w/40 fully synthetic and is suitable for a GTI on time and distance.

[Frenzy]

Result! 

vw chiswick rang me yesterday to apologise for the fk up and that they'd collect the car early next week, change the oil to fully synth and replace the oil filter. I accepted the apology but told them I wanted it sorted sooner than early next week and that i'd be more than happy to deliver the car myself so they could rectify the problem (the sooner it got the filth removed the better in my book) so it's just been done now for gratis and the log book updated and a note made and stamped.

Can't fault vw chiswick for their customer service on this one, everybody makes mistakes but it's whether you apologise for them and then importantly put them right which is what counts - well played to them   

[SRC]

Spot on.  In fact, you can sometimes earn more customer loyalty from the way you deal with a mistake than from getting it right first time!

[Tortaruga]

We all love a happy ending!