Paint repair took 4 days at dealer, 20 extra miles on my Roc

[bfmuffin]

This whole story started when I took the delivery of my Candy White Roc at my VW dealer 2 weeks ago, upon inspecting the exterior paint I noted a tiny black sand-sized protrusion on the panel above the front passenger wheel, to be honest I was not too bothered by this as it was clearly invisible from about 1 foot away. However, my sales was keen to have this paint imperfection corrected for me anyway (he said it would take 4 days as the whole panel will need re-painting.... I didn't quite believe this at the time but since I only use cars on weekends so I agreed to have it done, for free of course), thus the following week I brought the car back and when I left my car at my dealer I recorded the total milage of 143....

I went back to collect my car yesterday afternoon and saw my car being washed; this is when I started to get annoyed because not only the 2 guys washing my car was enjoying the music provided by my radio, but the engine was being ignited; I thought perhaps my car has just been moved from the bodyshop to where they do valeting, ok fair enough, but when I approached my dash I became speechless; the milage was then at 162!! and I have lost about 1/5 of fuel!!

How could a simple paint restoration add 20 miles to my car?! I asked the guy who took the servicing of my Roc, where he also recorded 143 4 days ago. Unsurprisingly he had absolutely no idea, nor did anyone else at the scene, then suddenly a repair engineer at the door and said "they had to take the car out with an special equipment/machine to test if they have painted my car correctly". Perhaps I lack any commone-sense what so ever (please shout at this point if you think so), but to my mind having to drive a customer's car for 20 miles to test paint plus not telling your customer in advance that this was going to happen to his car clearly suggests they were talking non-sense!

At the time as I was already late for another appointment, and in attempt to prevent myself of losing temper, the only way I expressed my disgust to the dishonesty of my dealer was to tell them to give back the fuel I've lost, which they did without any bit of hesitation. Having thought over this this weekend, I think it would be necessary to report this incident formally to VW customer service (or please advice if you can suggest a more suitable body, but if you think this is totally unnecessary please say so too). I would really appreciate it to those who cared to read this far to give your opinion on this.

All the best

B

[Anakin]

Where is the Body shop they used ? on site or maybe 10 miles away ?

[bfmuffin]

Where is the Body shop they used ? on site or maybe 10 miles away ?

It is on the site, right behind the showroom...

[albertz33]

The answer is simple, they took it for a jolly. This happened to me with my Mk5 GTI, i actually saw it on the motorway 30 mins after i dropped it off, he was doing close to a ton, i was livid, and when confronted they appologised, but only when confronted. I think it happens quite alot.

[Andy-GTI]

"they had to take the car out with an special equipment/machine to test if they have painted my car correctly".

At this point you should have kicked up a major fuss, as that is UTTER BULL!

But by the sounds of it you pretty much knew you were getting lied to but let it slide.

TBH, you should have sorted it then and there, and not had to come here to ask.

[trix]

20miles is excessive for a paint repair if the bodyshop was on site, if they need to check paint thickness & are painting panels on site then they would have all the tools required on site.

I think in the first instance you need to speak to the dealer principal but what resolution are you hoping for? they have replaced the fuel they used without hesitation, they can't remove the mileage from the clock.

S

[bfmuffin]

The answer is simple, they took it for a jolly. This happened to me with my Mk5 GTI, i actually saw it on the motorway 30 mins after i dropped it off, he was doing close to a ton, i was livid, and when confronted they appologised, but only when confronted. I think it happens quite alot.

Too bad for you...now I am worried whether or not something bad is gonna happen to my Roc in future if they had been pushing my car hard during their 20-mile long "test drive" as it obviously hasn't been broken-in yet....

[trix]

they can't do a lot in 20 miles really.

as i said before what resolution are you hoping for as they can't remove the miles from the clock & they have replaced the fuel they used.

S

[bfmuffin]

20miles is excessive for a paint repair if the bodyshop was on site, if they need to check paint thickness & are painting panels on site then they would have all the tools required on site.

I think in the first instance you need to speak to the dealer principal but what resolution are you hoping for? they have replaced the fuel they used without hesitation, they can't remove the mileage from the clock.

S

True, I was tempted to speak to their superior at that instance....but as I was in a hurry to leave and knowing nothing could be done about it....This Roc is my first car in the UK and I have to say I am totally disappointed with my dealer, they probably thought I would never have found out as I would not have deliberately noted my milage at the beginning due to my age (I just finished uni), how can I even trust them in future with my car in for service? I think now the only thing I could do is to make it clear to them that although I am young, I am not to be fooled around with....

[trix]

there are plenty of other dealers you can take it to for servicing but how do you know others will be any different? what else has this one done to annoy you?

& you can't generalise that only people of a certain age note their mileage when a car goes in for work, i always note mine i'm only 25 & I know people at work of all ages who don't bother.

S

[RW1]

As said, you've lost ground but I suggest you put in writing, not talk, and address it personally to the M.D. of the dealership stating in pleasant terms your dissappointment of what you've experienced. Keep it short and to the point but make it clear how your Scirocco was being treated by the individuals. The point here is that you trusted the dealer with your property and they don't appear to have respected that or subsequently explained themselves, instead giving you some obvious mis-information! You need also to take into account they have already replaced the fuel that has been used. So what do you want from this, a formal apology???? Senior management knowing what is going on in the workshops that is bad customer relations??? Think it through as you may need this dealer through convenience to yourself in the future.

Are you happy with the paint repair? You may add a comment in the letter about that to balance things up if it is OK. If not......

Deliver the letter if you still are of that mind by no later than mid week or the effect and memories of people involved will have lessened.

If then you are still not satisified with the dealership's response, going to VW Customer Services as your next course of action will be on a much sounder footing and the dealership has at least had the opportunity to put matters "fully" right.

TBH, the test drive has most likely done no harm mechanically but its dented your pride which I sympathise with. If you saw what they do to the engines before it even leaves the factory engine plant, you'd wince.

C.

[bfmuffin]

Thanks a lot for all the advice guys! I think I have a clear idea what I am gonna do about this now. As suggested it is best to keep a good relationship with my current dealer since it's the one closest to home. I will write a polite letter to describe everything happened and my concerns to their MD and lets hope this will get them to treat all their customers' cars with a little more respect in future!

[Ibanez33]

Well hope you get something more from it too. Cause simply replacing the fuel isn't enough, maybe they should let you take your pick out of something from the accessories book. .

[maisbitt]

If they used 1/5 of a tank to do 20 miles, then they've been caning it (i'm assuming here that the car washers didn't have your car on idle for hours to clean it with the radio on)- thats equivalent to 8.3mpg average for their 20 mile trip. Caning a car with only 143 miles on it isn't good for the car, is dangerous as the brakes and tyres aren't worn in until about 300 miles and totally goes against VWs own "running in" guidelines.

I'd be looking for a free service out of this. I'd lay it on thick with the trust issues and tell them that you'll inform VWs customer services about your recent dealership experience.

"they had to take the car out with an special equipment/machine to test if they have painted my car correctly".

This is complete bollocks. The car wouldn't run any differently if the paint finish was slightly thick or thin, can they elaborate on their "special equipment/machine". I can't believe how much they've lied to you here.

As you've had a paint repair, i'd want to know that the paint thickness is right too. A repair I had on a replacement quarter panel (Golf) looked perfect, until the wheel arch started to rust after 3 months - you could see then that the paint thickness was 1/2 what it should have been. Not sure why they'd have to repaint a whole panel for your defect - Solid paints are a lot easier to blend in than metallics/pearlescents.

[coldel]

Good advice, you have entrusted your property to a business, that business HAS failed you. In this sort of situation be it your example or any service where you expect a level of trust and service don't let them get away with this easily...otherwise similar customers will have the same problem unless its addressed.

Put it in writing and arrange a call with the guy in charge. I would also say that you expect to be compensated, the fuel being topped up is an absolute mute point, you shouldn't be asking for it to be topped up in any case and it shouldn't be missing in the first place. On top of that the guys on the workshop floor have lied to you.

The whole issue regardless of whether 'it happens a lot' has to be pulled up.

Im sitting here fuming...it's not even my car!

[bfmuffin]

I called my dealer again this morning and asked for their M.D.'s contact email so that I can write a formal complaint, when the lady who answered my phone had put me on hold to find out the email address (she said); my call was then picked up by their business manager who tried to deal with the issue himself, I explained the incident to him and then his answer was that they had to take my car to their other bodyshop (which is about 9 miles away, I worked out the distance myself afterwards) to carry out the repair...

This was not the same answer I got from last week as the technician claimed that he took my car out to test paint (or perhaps he meant the same thing). However, if this was really the case, how could the guy who serviced me knew nothing about it?? If they knew this was going to happen why haven't they informed me at the start or when they knew they can't repair on site? I asked these to the manager and all he did was to offer an apology....he even said the magnitude of the issue does not require going to the M.D.!

Since he has basically denied that my car was out for a jolly and offered a sound reason for the extra milage this time (although this was not what they said last week), there is perhaps no other way I could find out what really happened...My trust however, to this dealer is severely damaged since this is only the 2nd week I have my Roc, I guess it will take some time to cool this down and hope this will not occur again in future services.

[maisbitt]

BFmuffin: Looks like they've closed ranks and come up with a plausible story, with the other workshop being 9 miles away. It's still very suspicious that 1/5 of a tank was used for 20 miles - it still implies that the car was caned for those 20 miles to give an average 8.3mpg for that 20 mile round trip, or someone siphoned a few gallons out of your tank while it was in the shop.

I don't think you'll ever really know what happened now - best to make sure they know that you'll be giving them a wide berth for lucrative warranty work and services (unless you've no other options if there isn't a competitor within easy reach).

[trix]

iirc he mentions that the car was running while they were washing it, if they had kept it running a while then it can get through abit while standing idle.
when mine had to go in for the rear screen to be fully checked they had to have it running to check the relays etc were working & got through a fair bit more fuel than I expected but the mileage tallied with it only being moved into the workshop & out again.

so put them together & it may not be the full truth but it rings reasonably true.

S

[Eric]

In my opinion...leave it, don't bother to get something out of it, better look for an other workshop.
It's your word against them, they never gonna admit that they did something wrong, so stop putting your energy in it...it blow over anyway.

[coldel]

Yeah sounds like you will end up banging your head against a wall there. Hopefully though it will have served as a bit of a wake up call for them at the garage. I guess my main feeling is that this will have happened to previous customers and if someone had put as much effort into pushing this as you have it might not have happened.

Just simply avoid using them, advise others (such as us) not to use them and I am sure the message will get through sooner or later, its a service industry and bad service eventually gets its come-uppance.

PS, its not up to some ground floor manager to decide if this is an MD issue or not, escalating the issue if it cannot be solved by juniors is perfectly normal in business. As the poster above says they are covering their ass's as they have been caught out.

Best thing you can do is post the full details of the garage here and we can all then make sure we swerve them in future! ;-)