Workshop Manual CD-roms

IANAL but I think what you are refering to is parapah 26 of:

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1400/2002 of 31 July 2002 on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices in the motor vehicle sector

In practice I suggest you get the Bentley CD for the nearest US equivalent to your car and then get supplements for the european variants from erwin.

Bentley sell several versions of the manual. You probably want the "Official Factory Repair Manual", not the "wrokshop" version.

Charles.

If you do a web search you can buy pirate copys. The Bentley manual covers everything but the engine. You need a copy of VAG-COM to interrogate anything on the engine anyway & it's well worth the cash. VAG will sell you the manuals, they sell them online as secure pdfs from

It's cheaper to buy the bentley CD & then buy the engine manuals off erwin if & when you need them

They actually lease them for 12 months !! Access expires after that time. Rgds Alec

"Alec" wrote in news:c026sk$7ut$ snipped-for-privacy@hercules.btinternet.com:

I've just had a look at the site. Not interested in manuals but was very interested to see how the ebook (?) system works. Quite impressive!

Is this the Adobe ebook system? I'm new to this but enquiring because my own book has just gone out of print and I'm considering this means of publishing. As this is OT, maybe some kind person who knows can email me at snipped-for-privacy@adviegundogs.co.uk? Thanks!

Derry

Well it does say that but the ones I bought two years ago are still readable on the computer & obviously you can just print them. I think it's badly phrased & what they mean is you get free updates for twelve months (that's how it seems to work anyway)

You need to be careful with Erwin. Subscriptions are renewed and charged for automatically every year until you go through a very non-obvious process before the year is up. You need to keep careful records of the unsubscription process because Erwin seems to set up a 'continous debit authority' which seems to be impossible for you to cancel, other than with their consent or by suing them, which is not easy as they are based in germany.

Charles

Ah well I've changed credit cards since then so they'd be doing well

Thanks very much for that link it is exactly what I was looking for and shall use it in ongoing contact with the SMMT regulator.

I had already looked into the Erwin situation and decided not to go down that route as it is designed for independant garages with an annual subscription at considerable costs for information not applicable to a single model.

Yes it is the Official Factory Repair Manual from the Bently web site that I was talking about at a cost of 99 usd. Indeed I enclosed a copy of that web sheet with my letter to the regulator demonstrating how consumers in the USA have freedom of information and access to all that information while we here in the UK are denied those basic consummer rights.

Thanks to all others who have made such interesting comments to the thread.

Don't waste your time:

1. The directive doesn't help members of the public, it's about ensuring business competition, not consumer rights.

1. Erwin arguably represents compliance with the part of the directive you are interested in.

2. The purpose of the SMMT is to 'promote the interests of the car industry'.

Charles

I have downloaded it but only glanced at the first couple of pages so far but will read through it all anyway.

Yes I think you are right but I shall give them the opportunity to respond to my complaint and keep it on file before taking it further. There are various ombudsmen who will accept complaints from the public, it is just a matter of identifying the correct one. A final option will be to pass the details on to my local MEP as he should know what rights consumers have under European legislation.

Although seeing as you can apparently buy what you want it's a tad tricky to see what your complaint is?

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Sorry for the delay in replying and I realise the thread has just about run it's course but despite all the helpful contributions I cannot buy what I want.

What I want to do is call in to my local dealer's stores department and hand over x amount of ukp in exchange for the single official repair CD-Rom which covers my own vehicle.

My own reading of the posts made suggests to me that I would have to purchase a CD-Rom from the Bently people in the USA which does not include all the information I require. Apart from that I have never purchased anything over the Web and would not even know how to go about it. That CD-Rom would cost over 99 usd which would equate to a considerable amount of ukp. I would again have to use the Web and pay a subscription to the Erwin organisation to then purchase another CD-Rom or PDF files that can be downloaded. Given the warnings in the posts about not being able to cancel standing orders/direct debits with this company I would not wish to go down that route either.

So I am back to my original position and they phoned me today confirming receipt of my letter and enclosures and stated they would be contacting VAG UK in the next two days.

Incidently it is not the SMMT who are dealing with my complaint who are a trade organisation as pointed out but something called the Code Conciliation Service who are *supposed* to be independent.

I do hope that you are successful and will publish the results of your efforts in this NG anyway.

Michael Chare