Heres my story starring my Reflex Edition30 5 door... (bit long, apologies)
My first point of call was Gilbert Lawton VW in Macclesfield. Chap named Chris there who was very helpful took all the paint depth readings and some photos. I had more than one issue though. I had the usual rusty wings but in addidtion to this i had some quite severe corrosion on the both sills, rust on bottom of both front door skins, bubbling rear arch corners where they meet the bumper, tailgate handle rust and some other paint imperfections on a rear quarter.
I got a call after around a week with the following news. VW were going to foot the bill 100% on the wings, but only 50% on the sills and the tailgate. The rear arches were not to be covered atall. I thought this was fair to be honest - was still going to cost me much less than going to a independant repair shop.
So within a few days my car was down at Inchcape Smith Knight Faye in Audenshaw, Manchester. All seemed to be fine.....
17 days later, she is finally ready to be collected and typically its absolutely pissing it down - that rules out a really good inspection of the work they have done. So after a brief walk around i set off home. The following day when the weather was good i spent about an hour going over the car in fine detail and saw some very dissapointing results...
The first issue which i am amazed i didnt spot at first was that they had left the 'GTI' and 'Edition30' badges off the boot! Now they did a 'smart repair' on the bumper aswell, but now the bumper to boot shut line is completely wrong! Also a nice scuff just below the numberplate now that wasnt there before. Maybe they reversed into something after it was done?
The actual front wings look fine (new panels not repaired) but the sill repair is terrible. Looks like they have just cut the rust out with tin snips and filled and painted it. Really a poor repair, looks nothing like it should. In the same area, they havent replaced the side skirts like i had asked (as a couple of screw brackets underneath are bust). Instead they have glued them on with white sealant. Looks shoddy given the panels are silver. Think there is one screw fitted on each side.
The drivers door takes an almighty slam to close. The interior and exterior handles are really stiff to open the door. Obviously the door striker is in the wrong position. Its that bad you can see almost a 3mm difference between the front and rear door shut lines!
The last thing is an odd one. Whether it is allll in my head but the engine/intake noise is much louder than it used to be. I got an ITG exposed intake so it does make a noise, but it almost sounds like the cone filter is in the glovebox! Had a quick look to see if a seal had not been refitted or something but i couldnt see anything (underneath all the dust in my engine bay that has magically appeared). I guess it might be that i got used to the quietness of the VW UP courtesy car they gave me.
Either way im really peed off. Complained to my local dealer who was gobsmacked. Told me that VW would be offering me some sort of good-will contribution. Car has now got to go back again for them to sort. I actually think the car looks worse with all the bad panel gaps etc than it did with rust... Atleast it was all straight! Definately going to construct a letter to VW even if they do compensate me in some way.
Sorry about the rambling on, i needed to get it off my chest. Hope it gets sorted quickly!
Steve
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