USB port not charging

[MrTomOates]

Hi guys,

The second USB port isn’t charging or working at all. How long does it take to sort this sort of issue out? Will I have to leave the car at the dealership and pick up later or will they simply do it there and then?

[SRGTD]

VW don’t tend to sort issues like that there and then. You’ll probably need to book the car in for them to investigate and sort it.

No harm in contacting your dealer and explaining the issue and asking if it can be sorted while you wait, although in light of Covid-19, most dealers probably want to minimise the number of customers waiting on the premises, so it probably will be necessary to book the car in.

Presumably it’s not the cable if it works in the other USB port. Have you tried wriggling the cable when it’s plugged in the ‘dead’ USB port to see if it’s a poor connection?

[Harrihealey02]

When I picked up my car the two front ones didn’t work, they took it in the back and after an hour they said it was a loose connection behind the dashboard and I think they got access to it through the passenger footwell. Not sure if yours is going to be the same solution though since it is only one port.

[MrTomOates]

Cheers guys. Managed to book an appointment for the 17th which is a while away, I hope it's not going to be a long wait for a small thing.

[Andy Beats]

Dealers seem to work on a two-appointment basis these days.
First appointment to confirm the problem and order any parts, another appointment to fix it.
It's so infuriating, but they all seem to work this way these days - regardless of make.

[Simonz]

Dealers seem to work on a two-appointment basis these days.
First appointment to confirm the problem and order any parts, another appointment to fix it.
It's so infuriating, but they all seem to work this way these days - regardless of make.

Gone are the days you could call in, a person would take a look and then go into the back and come out to fix things which are a 5 minute job like this sounds to be.

[Andy Beats]

Gone are the days you could call in, a person would take a look and then go into the back and come out to fix things which are a 5 minute job like this sounds to be.

Indeed.
A bug bear of mine is perfectly exemplified by the misting headlight in my 'Beats'
I put it in, they agreed there was a problem, told me a headlight had to be ordered and I'd have to come back another time.
Are you kidding me?
When the car park has literally dozens of Polos they could take a headlight from to let me go, then replace that one at their leisure?
The lack of flexibility/restrictive procedures drives me mad.

[Simonz]

Gone are the days you could call in, a person would take a look and then go into the back and come out to fix things which are a 5 minute job like this sounds to be.

Indeed.
A bug bear of mine is perfectly exemplified by the misting headlight in my 'Beats'
I put it in, they agreed there was a problem, told me a headlight had to be ordered and I'd have to come back another time.
Are you kidding me?
When the car park has literally dozens of Polos they could take a headlight from to let me go, then replace that one at their leisure?
The lack of flexibility/restrictive procedures drives me mad.

what you describe is a million miles from VW dealer culture! Yes probably a small independent garage could do the same, especially if you had a good relationship with them they would just whip off a lamp from a spare vehicle and get you on your way. Now it's all got to go through the system, I think it's deliberately drawn out to create more opportunities to charge for stuff.

[Andy Beats]

what you describe is a million miles from VW dealer culture! Yes probably a small independent garage could do the same, especially if you had a good relationship with them they would just whip off a lamp from a spare vehicle and get you on your way. Now it's all got to go through the system, I think it's deliberately drawn out to create more opportunities to charge for stuff.

It's not just VW, to be fair, it's more or less endemic.
A customer having to travel miles and take time off work twice, for what should be an easy repair, is the norm.
Customer service is now classed as washing and hoovering.

[CarbonChaos]

I agree with most points here but please be mindful that dealers can’t have a large amount of capital tied up in parts stock just waiting for you to come in ‘at some point’ .
Remember it’s a business and since every business is going through tuff times the less stock/ money tied up doing nothing the better,especially when most parts can be ordered overnight.
There are always two sides to every situation

PS. would you want a second hand part from a sales car fitted to your car obviously with no warranty just for convenience ?

[monkeyhanger]

I agree with most points here but please be mindful that dealers can’t have a large amount of capital tied up in parts stock just waiting for you to come in ‘at some point’ .
Remember it’s a business and since every business is going through tuff times the less stock/ money tied up doing nothing the better,especially when most parts can be ordered overnight.
There are always two sides to every situation

PS. would you want a second hand part from a sales car fitted to your car obviously with no warranty just for convenience ?

Fully agree with that. My A4 was in for a software fix and it was in and out same day, fixed.

Can't expect the dealership to stock even the 10% of the most common replacement parts for the car range. My local TPS carries next to nowt too - it's all ordered in for next working day. Best thing is for them to keep the car 2 consecutive days - look at the car in the morning of day 1 and order parts to arrive and fit on day 2.

Cannibalising a car in the forecourt is twice the work for the dealersip, and even in the same model you could potentially have 3 or 4 variants. For the Polo you have halogen headlights, non-GTI LEDs and GTI LEDs (with red stripe). If the donor car is used or a demo, it could have a stone chip on it.

[Andy Beats]

PS. would you want a second hand part from a sales car fitted to your car obviously with no warranty just for convenience ?

In certain circumstances, definitely.
In my case it was a headlight, in this case a USB box.
Unless they look like a dog has chewed them, it would literally make no difference if they were from a stock/demo/slightly used car.