New polo rline. Heater matrix cover cracked from factory. Poor service by vw and vw assist

[lancslad1985]

Lookers Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool all have a bad rep locally so it doesn’t surprise me that they’re messing you about. Wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.

[CLIFFORD2K1]

To be fair the manger of Carlisle was apologetic but only after I went on a 10 minute rant threatening to reject the car. It leaves a sour taste and it’s not the first time I’ve had to act this way to get some decency out of them. Considering I’ve bought 2 brand new cars from them in less than 2 years you’d think they’d value customers

[Bearmode]

You should name and shame. I had an awful time with Lookers Preston when my bluegt had issues from new a few years back. Took 18 visits in 12 months to get the car sorted and then I’d lost interest in it. Also had numerous issues with their servicing department, bunch of clowns.

Can’t say the same for Inchcape Bolton. When my wife had an issue on her United with water ingress they took it in for a look, ordered the parts and fixed it within the week as a liner had not been put in at the factory. No arguments, just an apology and a courtesy car. Was very impressed.

Now I come to think of it, every polo we’ve had between us (6 since 2012) has had some sort of issue or other but my two mk7 golfs, my t-roc and my current Tiguan have had none (touchwood). Maybe QC at the South Africa plant isn’t very good!

I've personally only had one issue with any VW I've had (only had VWs for about 7 years now), but Inchcape VW in Bolton were outstanding. Would always recommend them for anyone nearby, listening to horror stories of other dealers.

[lancslad1985]

I’m the same @bearmode. It’s a thirty mile round trip when lookers Preston is a few miles away and both Blackpool and Blackburn lookers are nearer, but never had an issue with Inchcape since I switched to them two years ago. Dead quick on servicing too if you wait.

[CLIFFORD2K1]

Just had a txt of vw uk saying:

We have had confirmation from your Volkswagen Retailer that your vehicle has been repaired and is now ready for collection. Please remember to refuel the replacement vehicle to the original level and remove all personal belongings. If you have any questions or concerns, contact your Volkswagen Retailer or our Customer Services Centre on 0800 0833 914 Kind Regards, Volkswagen UK THIS INBOX IS NOT MONITORED - PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND


Phone dealship and told to ignore it as parts aren’t even in yet. The fun continues

[iichel]

Let me just grab some popcorn.

[RUM4MO]

Nice to see VW UK are "on the ball" - just that they don't even know what a ball is, still, that is 3rd party outsourcing for you, another success story!

Looker Group grabbed hold of my local independent VW dealer, and completely wrecked that dealership, one of the most annoying aspects of their business was that even phoning the local service department using their local dialling code, the calls were grabbed by Geordie folk and the booking was by default in Newcastle, not too handy seeing as I worked just 100 meters or so from the Edinburgh dealership - I kept having to talk over them to make sure that the booking was for the local dealership, complete idiots, eventually they abandoned that site and vanished back to Newcastle and another local VW dealership took over the operation of that site.

[CLIFFORD2K1]

So I was rang back by vw customer services today and I made offical my complaints being
1:) the car coming out of the factory like this. Vw tried to argue about this a little but backed off when I said I’d had this confirmed by the aa mechanic and he would happily do a report and also the master tech at vw Carlisle which is true
2:) the service received from lookers Newcastle where they basically laughed at the fact the car was red hot and melting and told me to still a thermal heat gun on it even though it was red hot to the touch
3:) lack of courtesy car till I threatened to reject car at lookers Carlisle and poor general attitude towards after sales in general
4:)lack of courtesy car from vw assistance

They asked me “how I would like this resolved, so they know how to proceed” which completely caught me off guard so I managed to spin it round saying how would you like it resolved if you were in my shoes

I’m still unsure the best course of action.
Rejecting means hassle and finding another car in the inflated market place
Asking for a replacement again seems difficult I can’t find another similar available car anywhere in the uk would probs mean a change of brand
Accepting a repair and knowing the car has been ripped to pieces does kill the joy somewhat and it defo feels like damaged goods already.

I have zero confidence in this dealership repairing this car to a high standard after previous work

All in a all a a-stressful situation

[Harrihealey02]

I would personally recommend accepting the car back, you still have time (6 months) to reject it easily, and take your phone and film everything in the cabin after the repair (while you’re still in the dealer) and if you see any scratches, damage, loose fittings then walk back in and show them on the camera that there is unsatisfactory repairs carried out. You’d be amazed, if the master technician did the repair, it would be carried out to factory specification and they do everything by the book. Also they would have spotted other things if there were any. My car has been repaired by Volkswagen Romford and the whole interior carpet was stripped and replaced but they put it all back together again wonderfully.

[KayakerPaul]

Ask for replacement with a car intended for being a demo .
If they are so confident of their repair skills, the garage can sell it on fixed. Demo's have 1 owner so .....
Or if it is going to be fixed ask for an extended warranty on vw expense.

[RUM4MO]

I've had that "how I would like this resolved, so they know how to proceed” from my Audi dealership after I booked the car in for a timed MOT and they then explained when I turned up 2 hours later to collect it that they don't accept timed MOT appointments - even although I used the Audi portal to book it in and that portal at that time claimed "you will never be left waiting if you pick a timed slot"! They were shocked and annoyed when I replied that all I needed them to do was MOT my car within my booked slot, which had now run out and the car had not moved, they explained that doing that would cause someone else a problem, so I pointed out that I had already been caused a problem so sort it or hand that car back now - it got done ASAP and they made it sound like they had performed a miracle - clowns, I've never been back, Indie only now.

Sorry none of that is relevant here as OP is tied to using a VW dealership, but that phrase being made got me going!

[CLIFFORD2K1]

Quick update

Car has been repaired and is ready for collection due to collect tomorrow. I’ve asked for a full written report on work done. Parts replaced and what they found from the dealership

Vw uk escalated my complaints to there management team but are ignoring various aspects of the complaint and seem to think it’s ok cos it’s been repaired and apparently that’s what warranty’s are for. Nearly lost my head with the manager considering this could of potentially lead to a fire in the car how they think it’s acceptable to provide me with a unsafe car because it has warrenty . And they have basically ignored all my complaints about vw assistance and the retailers after telling numerous times I wanted something done about it. Also vw are still not admitting it came out of the factory this way and are trying to worm out of it imo.

Basically p*** poor from the dealership. p*** poor from vw uk customer services. Will be my last vw for sure which is sad because it’s my 7th now but this is the first time anything has gone wrong and it’s apparent there after sales is poor

Will go and view the car tomorrow and if it’s not perfect will start the procedure of rejecting the car. Even if it’s perfect I’m unsure how I feel about the car now it’s left a very sour taste

[CLIFFORD2K1]

Another update:
Went for car today, after sleeping on things last night decided to push for a replacement car. Email has been sent to lookers management. It was made clear on what grounds and which’s act I was asking for a replacement. Also made it clear that me picking the car up today was not acceptance of repair or resolution of case.

Now the car
Damage was found to:
The trim on the passenger side door which now doesn’t clip in correctly
The gear nob has been gouged and it’s badly scratched
The windscreen was full of hard glue
The inside of the gloves box is damaged

I now also have a intermittent alert on the dash saying
ACC predictive control unavailable

As expected a poor attempt at a repair

Coolant also look borderline low

[KayakerPaul]

At the end of the day, you know how you feel about the car, and you know what repair work was done.
I don`t blame you , as the majority of us would be the same.

[CLIFFORD2K1]

More bad news, I took the car down the m6 1 junction about 4 miles. The same part of the cockpit got extremely hot again like a boiling up kettle. Drove straight to the dealership where they look confused and are half passing it off as normal keeping there cards close to there chest. Awaiting the manger ringing me

As it stands I don’t think
1. the car is safe
2.I don’t think this is normal as this is the 4th car I’ve had for a periods of time with the same cockpit and dsg and engine and the other did not get hot here
3. I don’t now think the crack in the matrix is the route cause

Very stressful