Volkswagen Customer Care sinks to a new low!

Dave ND wrote: : Volkswagen Customer Care sinks to a new low; Pretending they can't hear : you on their end of the line! I am currently in another warranty dispute : with the dealer concerning my Dad's car and I had contacted VW customer : care about it. In the middle of explaining the circumstances the : customer care rep named Tess suddenly starts saying "Hello, hello, are : you still there, sir?" I replied, "Hello, can you hear me?" I was : talking on a land line cordless phone and I could hear her plus all the : other reps in the background perfectly. There was no static or drop offs : on my end. This went on for about 5 minutes and she still was helloing : and saying she couldn't hear me. Then, I started saying hello in funny : voices. That's when I heard her snicker under her breath! I did the : funny voice a second time and she snickered again. I then announced I : was changing phones while she was still saying she couldn't hear me. I : switched to a corded phone and she was still asking if I was still : there. I then said, "somebody's playing games", which caused another : underbreath titter and I hung up. I immediately called back and asked : another girl for a supervisor. I was put on hold for about 10 minutes : when a "supposed" male supervisor came on. I told him what happened and : he looked at my reference notes on the call and he said that Tess wrote : that after I switched phones, she couldn't hear me. Now that proves she : could hear me all along since she was saying she couldn't hear me before : I switched phones! So how did she know I did? The supervisor said he : would look into this but that is about it. I don't even think this guy : was an actual supervisor because he sounded 12! Do I have any recourse? : Is there anyway to contact any real managers, supervisors or higher ups : at VOA?

She might be telling the truth, our company's techs are now using VoIP phones and they hate them; complaining about dropped calls and unable to hear customers at times because someone else started a video conference on the net...

I have never had them pretend not to hear me but I have had them hang up on me. The thing to remember is: Don't waste your time trying to plead your case with them over the phone. They are just there to answer questions. Plead your case in a written letter to customer care. It doesn't mean you will get any satisfaction but you have a little better chance than telling your story to a 19 year old, bored operator who has no power to help your case.

PS: By all means, try to turn this "Tess" in to the higher ups, if you can figure out how to get a hold of them!

I will have to say that they have helped some people out. One of them owns a '01 Golf VR6 and the timing chain components started making noise. Dealer says they don't have a record of all of the oil changes so "TOO BAD $3300.00 please" The owner called up VWCC and got a case number and was told to provide proof that the oil changes were done regularly. The owner produced receipts and just got the car back last week. They are very happy! The whole ordeal took about 2 months but saved $3300.00, but of course the dealer found other things that needed addressing. lol

I have heard of people successfully getting their non-recalled heater cores replaced free too!

So they were able to get the timing belt replaced under the powertrain warranty because it was making noise and before it actually broke? I am dealing with a timing belt case with them right now and they as well as the dealers say that the timing belt is only covered if it breaks.

The VR6 engine has an internal timing chain. Do you have this engine? Yes it was repaired before total failure under the powertrain warranty. You could distinctly hear noise coming from the timing chain area, if you were paying attention. ;-)

My 1.8 t has a belt. It was making noise from the timing belt area as well. Dealer says it is covered under warranty only if it breaks. Before that they say it is considered maintanence! My tensioner roller bearing failed causing it to shred my timing belt. My belt didn't break but was holding together by a tread. I am waiting for VOA'a decision whether they will cover it or not.

I think that VW approaches your problem with a very stupid philosophy. Stupid in this case means that you possibly lose current and future customers due to VW having 'NO HONOR' at least in your case!

For good will it would be better to have a very happy customer, one who's car has been properly and timely repaired under a warranty, rather than one with a bitter taste in their mouth due to a "only if it breaks" mentality. That sounds like a slick way of trying to avoid honoring their warranty hoping that things break after the warranty period is up. :-( I would think that the dealer should fight on your behalf to save the engine and only spend pennies instead of dollars.

What if doctors can't save your life, or make your heathier, until you die! Just stupid!

JMHO Good luck and let us know what happens! later, dave (One out of many daves)

Exactly! I have been a lot luckier with this car than a lot of people have with their various VW's. I have had relatively few mechanical problems compared to some of the horror stories I've heard. What I have had is a constant stream of aggrivation from both the dealers and VOA. I have had them do things like refuse to do a "goodwill" brake light switch replacement on a BLS that was replaced during the first recall because even though I brought it in before the one year replacement parts warranty was over, they failed to diagnose it after three 3 tries. When they finally figured it out, it was 5 days past the warranty so the service manager refused to goodwill it because I didn't have the front and rear brakes done there when they said I needed new ones (BTW, I only needed front ones!) even though he initially said he would goodwill it. VOA wouldn't do a thing about it. To add insult to injury, they now recall the one I had to pay for and I can't find my receipt! Thank god I didn't pay dealer prices to replace it. If they would have handled things like this in a fair way, they would still have a current and future customer but now I will NEVER buy another one.

In regards to my current timing belt dispute, I don't think this thing has been handled right from the beginning. After finding out that the timing belt IS covered under the PT warranty (2 dealers told me it wasn't and I have never heard it called a spur belt before as it's called in the warranty manual). I brought my car into the dealer to make a claim on the "Emergency service reinbursment" clause of the warranty. The service manager never looked at my car or my parts. He told me it wasn't covered and the TB and it's components are never covered because they are wear and tear items (he said the spur belt in the warranty manual is referring to the serpentine belt!). When I told them VOA says they are, he called them and found out they were. He took my parts, my letter of explanation and said he would submit them to VOA and call me with their decision. When he did this, he actually was acting nice. Of couse he never called. When I finally got a hold of him after a week of leaving unreturned messages, he rudely said I'm not honoring that and neither is VOA. When I asked for an explanation, he just asked, "Are we done?" I said, "No, I'm not done" and he said, "Well, I am" and he hung up. It's now in VOA's hands and I haven't heard from them yet. ( there is more to this but it's just way too long)

Sounds like you are directly battling the Service Manager and they are not even trying to be nice! Hint..............they don't want your business and want you to go elsewhere! ;-) Did you review that dealership here

for others to see? Is your dealership the only one in town? Could you find another? Did you get a case # from VOA

Sounds like you still like the car but just dislike the company now! ;-) I would take your car elsewhere! And before you buy elsewhere write a letter to VW explaining to them the trouble you have had with service and why you are switching to a different company.

I thought dealerships make more money off of servicing their customers than the selling of the cars. Now they have lost both from you. STUPID!

JMHO

I wish I could go to another dealer with this claim and I am trying to see if there is anyway I can. The problem is, I don't think I can because they are the ones who did the warranty water pump replacement without recommending changing the timing belt and they are who I brought my emergency service claim to with my parts. I think they sent my parts to VOA or they threw them away by now. Anyway, it's in VOA's hands now. BTW, there is no argument whether the timing belt is covered according to VOA. It's just that most of the dealers don't seem to know. I was just told today by a service writer for another VW dealer that the tensioner roller bearing is automatically covered by the powertrain warranty even if you don't have service records because there is no way to visually inspect it. And if it fails, all the incidental damage caused by it is covered as well like a shredded timing belt, like happened to me. I called VOA to confirm this and the "girl" I talked to said she had no info on that!