GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk6 => Topic started by: gti210ps on 02 June 2011, 07:34
-
Hi guys
just wandering how happy you are with the level of service your (mostly) UK dealers afford your GTIs. Residing in Cyprus, there are only 4 official garages over the island and I must say not 2 happy about them - too much time, and NO priority over everything else not-GTI (Audi on the other hand has priority service for their TTs; why shouldn't VW have the same, our cars cost substantially more than virtually anything else bearing the VW sign bar the Touaregs and the R20/32s) - so much that I chose to take my brand new GTI to an unauthorized service centre (authorized VW garage up until 2009) whom I've been using for the past 6 years or so (took care of my late tornado red GT too). Don't know if this affects guarantee but it's simply unacceptable to wait 45' for oil change or leave the car sometimes overnight for its service :angry: How do others feel??
-
Only had two dealings with VW on this car:
1st when I collected it and wasn't pleased as they'd scuffed the NSF corner of the bumper.
2nd when it went in to have cruise fitted which it turned out they couldn't do.
So 0/2 for me - VW fail - looking forward to the first service....
-
Supply dealer
-200000000000/10 Delivery dealer were obstructive, destroyed my family life for 7 months and just complete idiots. They scratched the cars front bumper drivers side corner, coat type zip type marks down both sides, scratches on rear spoiler. (idiots with a capital F)
Local dealer
5/10 Local dealer who did the first service did a OK job on the service (apart from one of the lift points for the ramp was not lifted in the correct location.) :rolleyes:
But i also sked about fixing some rattles my doors have.
Their solution was cut the decorative trim panel off the door and glue it on perminent (meening i could never repace it if a passenger hit it with a seatbelt and damaged it for example) They also wanted the car 3 days to do this! Sorry but NO WAY, not on a £27K car thats 1 year old with only 3K miles on it and has been used less than 4 months that year your not. So -10/10 for that idiot idea. I also don't think its that panel causing the rattle as it seems like the door panels not tight against the window and moved there and makes the noises unlike the one thats tight and silent.(and others on other mk6s ive looked at which are tight there)
Other makes would have simply replaced the door panels after talking to friends and relatives who work in dealer workshops & parts..
So not sure who to goto too now.
Not impressed at all and VW customer service are no help as there a franchised out call centre, and the claim handlers change monthly!!
-
Supplying dealer (car ex-demo) 7/10. Car priced well, staff friendly. A few small marks on the car that should have been attended to really, I sorted them myself as I wasn't prepared to keep bouncing back and forward to a dealer for such minor issues.
Servicing dealer, okay so far but previous experience tells me to keep the car away from the dealer as much as possible. There are better smaller dealers not a million miles from me but it is still a hassle getting the car there and back.
-
out of 10, 9 of them will be cnuts. :smiley:
hth
-
out of 10, 9 of them will be cnuts. :smiley:
hth
.... and out of those 9, all will be dry as those of a nun!!!! :laugh:
-
I had always praised my dealers here, but now my view is different !
Poor aftersales/service.
They just want your cash and their commission !
-
Correct. you have to remember that VW dealers deal with all VWs for that town or city. Take Leeds as an example. A city with a population of 3/4 million has one VW dealer so they service Polos, Golfs Sharans etc. etc. Our GTis are just another VW out of 100s through the workshop which is why you get a sh*tty Polo or Fox as a courtesy car.
If you want genuine service, go buy a Lexus - otherwise accept you are just one of hundreds. The fact you drive a GTi (which is the price of a Lexus) is irrelevant to VW and this is the one and only thing that really p*sses me off about buying a VW.
-
I've been buying cars from my local VW dealer for the last 11 years. I deal with the same salesman and he pretty much acts as an account manager for me. Any problems I have I go straight to him and he gets it done without any drama.
Building a relationship with people always makes for an easier ride. 10/10 for mine.
-
Stu, what dealer is that?
-
I know my parents have loathed them in the past after owning multiple jetta's, a passat a bora and currently a Golf.
I'm new to the fold and still only had dealings with the Salesman. With my Audi I've always tried to deal with Derby Audi, out of seven years they only let me down once and then it wasn't a big bother for them to sort the issue out. Every time I went to any other dealer, Stratford, Worcester, Shirley, Halesowen they messed things up. So I think the 9 out of 10 cnuts is on the money.
-
I've not had to go in for service yet, so can't comment on that.
I wanted a year old GT TDI, so went to my local dealer to try their demo, then told him the spec that I wanted (5 door, tornado red and vancouvers) and that I would be ready to buy in 6 weeks time. He told me he could source a car from anywhere in the country no problem at all. As the time drew nearer I rang him and he said I was ready to buy and gave him a few reg numbers of suitable cars from the VW used car locator site. He said he would ring me back in a couple of days. I'm still waiting for the call, 3 months on.
Anyhow, I had found a dealer in Alltrincham who had 2 identical suitable cars. We were going to Manchester that weekend, so called and had a good look round both cars albeit when they were closed. I rang them the next day and did the deal there and then over the phone. When the invoice came in the post I was most suprised to see that the dealer I had bought the car from was part of the Inchcape group, as is our local dealer that I originally went to. I guess the local boys just couldn't be bothered. Ah well, their loss.
When we went to pick the car up I had a look around the car again and noticed it had no mats in it. GT's come with carpet mats as standard. Initially the salesman said it was a used car and if the mats had been taken out by the previous owner, it was too bad. Eventually, he could see I was having none of this and went into the stores and found me a brand new set of carpet mats. All was fine then I thought until we got home. They had fitted a new pair of front tyres, but had fitted them the wrong way round. Not only that, but when they had taken the rear wheels off, they had fitted them on the wrong way round as well. With mistakes as obvious as that, it worries me how it's likely to get treated when it has to go into a dealers next time.
-
My main problem with dealers is that the guys they have washing and servicing your car don't care one bit about it - scratch it, scuff it or scrape it - not their problem.
I had a bad experience with BMW dealers when I used to have a Mini Cooper - Car came back from a service with a ding on the rear panel and paint specs all over the roof, turned into an epic trying to get it all sorted.
Now, even with my VW dealer, I always book my car in for it's service on a Saturday morning and I am quite happy waiting in their cafe for it to be ready. Less time with the dealer the better. I also always request they don't wash it after services because washing is a very fast and loose term for what they do.
That all being said, overall, my VW dealer is pretty good, i've never bought from them, just use them for servicing. I don't know if that's because I hand hold them though :-)
-
My main problem with dealers is that the guys they have washing and servicing your car don't care one bit about it - scratch it, scuff it or scrape it - not their problem.
I had a bad experience with BMW dealers when I used to have a Mini Cooper - Car came back from a service with a ding on the rear panel and paint specs all over the roof, turned into an epic trying to get it all sorted.
Now, even with my VW dealer, I always book my car in for it's service on a Saturday morning and I am quite happy waiting in their cafe for it to be ready. Less time with the dealer the better. I also always request they don't wash it after services because washing is a very fast and loose term for what they do.
That all being said, overall, my VW dealer is pretty good, i've never bought from them, just use them for servicing. I don't know if that's because I hand hold them though :-)
Where are the promised pics of your car then?
-
When looking to change the MK4 I went to the VW garage down in Cardiff - what an obnoxious twit he was :angry: Told him I was looking for a GT TDI 170, ideally with 18's and xenons. His reply - 'you'll struggle to find one of those' :rolleyes: On the test drive he told my missus to sit in the back rather than asking if she minded. In hindsight it was a good job as she could hear the squeaking brakes. When I looked that them there was hardly any pad material :shocked:
I'm new to the fold and still only had dealings with the Salesman. With my Audi I've always tried to deal with Derby Audi, out of seven years they only let me down once
Derby Audi (sales part) tried to sell me a car they didn't even have :lipsrsealed: :grin: :grin: And fed me some bullsh!t for a week saying that they were waiting for the car to come in from another garage (car was a p/x from a BMW garage) but when the guy went to pick up his BMW it had an engine management light on. The car in actual fact had been bought by another garage so I ended up buying it off them for a £1000 cheaper :laugh:
As for servicing at VW, my local garage is OK for service although when they replaced a window regulator on my MK4 they damaged the passenger grab handle and left the cable undone so you couldn't open the door from the inside....
Parts wise they were really good although they are no longer allowed to sell you anything other than VW parts meaning if I want something for the Audi I have to travel 30 miles to the nearest dealer in Cardiff :angry:
-
Where are the promised pics of your car then?
Ha, yes, I did promise that - I just picked it up on Tuesday night - left Glasgow at 6pm got to Birmingham 9.45pm and was the proud owner by 10:30pm ....
... So what i am trying to say is that it's too dirty to post a picture of just now. I am going to give it the complete treatment on Saturday, I'll take some photo's then and add it to the appropiate picture threads that are floating about :cool:!
-
My GTI was X-demo. The sales guy from VW Chiswick brought the car over to my office for me to test drive. Loved the car so traded my mk5 in for it. Got the car within a week. Once I washed the car myself for the first time I noticed a bit of kerbing on one of the Monza's alloys. I contacted the delaer and they were happy to replace. All in all I was happy with the service VW Chiswick provided and would buy a car from then again.
Regarding any maintenance I take the car to VW Crawley. Had one long life service there and not had any problems.
-
Where are the promised pics of your car then?
Ha, yes, I did promise that - I just picked it up on Tuesday night - left Glasgow at 6pm got to Birmingham 9.45pm and was the proud owner by 10:30pm ....
... So what i am trying to say is that it's too dirty to post a picture of just now. I am going to give it the complete treatment on Saturday, I'll take some photo's then and add it to the appropiate picture threads that are floating about :cool:!
Look forward to seeing them :smiley:
-
I've been buying cars from my local VW dealer for the last 11 years. I deal with the same salesman and he pretty much acts as an account manager for me. Any problems I have I go straight to him and he gets it done without any drama.
Building a relationship with people always makes for an easier ride. 10/10 for mine.
Very rare !
Good for you.
For me personally, it is/was hard to build a good relationship with my account manager as his aftersales service was poor and as he is a salesman, who now has to deal with my servicing and AOB he seemed to have lost interest, despite me insisting that I'll buy a £20k Polo for my wife from him (Yes, I know I'm mad spending that on a Polo, but she will last this for 10+ years as she only does 3k miles a year). He just wasn't interested, so I went to another dealer.
Anyhoo, well done and I'm jealous !
Red
-
if its going to take me 11yrs of VW purchases to get good service from a dealer he can go fcuk himself and his VW!!
-
Red, was that the one in West Bridgeford?
For me they seemed like they were there to do you the favour of buying a car and you should grovel at their feet.
My sister was ready to buy a polo for cash and all they could do was push "VW Options" finance packages at her. My sister got the hump and walked out, bought a new mini instead, delivered to order in 3 weeks.
Bosch!
-
Red, was that the one in West Bridgeford?
For me they seemed like they were there to do you the favour of buying a car and you should grovel at their feet.
My sister was ready to buy a polo for cash and all they could do was push "VW Options" finance packages at her. My sister got the hump and walked out, bought a new mini instead, delivered to order in 3 weeks.
Bosch!
No pal it was VW in Derby (Parkway). I wanted to buy the missus a Mini too, but for some silly reason (which the fairer sex will only understand) she wanted a 5 door, and she made me buy a 5 door too. Its safer for me not to argue, been married for 7 years so I knw my place :angry:
Red
-
My Brother in law went there one sunday to buy a second hand golf, salesman just fobbed him off with his feet on the desk. again he walked away. I told him I'd had good dealings with a chap there, went back to that chap, walked away with a car being shipped up from leicester to look at...bought the car.
btw I should point out the drive at Christmas at my parents is already a dub fest! We had a fleet of polo's once.
-
My Brother in law went there one sunday to buy a second hand golf, salesman just fobbed him off with his feet on the desk. again he walked away. I told him I'd had good dealings with a chap there, went back to that chap, walked away with a car being shipped up from leicester to look at...bought the car.
btw I should point out the drive at Christmas at my parents is already a dub fest! We had a fleet of polo's once.
Where, Parkway Derby? if so, who was the salesman? Mine was James Hall.
Tell me more about this meet, I'm near Mansfield....
Red
-
No problems here.
If you want bad service buy a Vauxhall, I made the mistake of buying one a few years ago (for the better half) and the service was really, really bad. While in for a 3 yr service I asked them to look at a couple of things (temp dispay and brake judder) and their answer was....
Sorry, we didn't have time, could you book it in again please?
-
This basically sums up the nature of this thread i.e. it comes down to individual people in individual dealers with mass market makes like VW and Vauxhall. I've bought a lot of cars off a Vauxhall dealer in Harrogate and they've been top drawer every time. Miles better than any service I've had off any VW dealer I've dealt with. But that's because I see the same guys every time.
I once had this sort of relationship with a guy at Otley VW and the service was brill. Once he left the service went down the tubes - that dealer has now closed down.
So I don't think you can generalise - you'll get good VW dealers. good Vauxhall dealers but in both cases, that experience will almost entirely be driven by the individuals you deal with.
-
^ exactly. I had a similar thing for years with the sevice guy and one of the mechanics at my local SEAT dealer, helped by the fact they realised i worked with them when i was kid.
-
I am very happy with VW West London and with my Warranty Manager. :drool:
-
This basically sums up the nature of this thread i.e. it comes down to individual people in individual dealers with mass market makes like VW and Vauxhall. I've bought a lot of cars off a Vauxhall dealer in Harrogate and they've been top drawer every time. Miles better than any service I've had off any VW dealer I've dealt with. But that's because I see the same guys every time.
I once had this sort of relationship with a guy at Otley VW and the service was brill. Once he left the service went down the tubes - that dealer has now closed down.
So I don't think you can generalise - you'll get good VW dealers. good Vauxhall dealers but in both cases, that experience will almost entirely be driven by the individuals you deal with.
^ exactly. I had a similar thing for years with the sevice guy and one of the mechanics at my local SEAT dealer, helped by the fact they realised i worked with them when i was kid.
Not so long ago Skoda had the reputation as having the best dealerships in the VAG group. This tended to be because the were small dealerships that kept the same staff for years and knew their customers well. Then Skoda sales took off, dealerships were pressurised into investing masses of money into flashy showrooms and many dealers jumped ship to other niche marques. Skoda dealers are now no better than any others.
The big dealer groups have a heavy turnover of staff and it tends to be pot luck if you get decent ones or not looking after you and your car.I am very happy with VW West Lodon and with my Warranty Manager. :drool:
:smug: No comment
well okay maybe a little one......is she married? Does she want to be? :laugh:
-
Randy Andy. Don't know. Will go over there one evening and report back personally to you.
She is a big girl with the most beautiful eyes and would suit both of us together at the same time. What about your wife? Throw her in for free?
-
No comment. :smiley:
Well, alright if I must; my missus can do the catering.....
-
No comment. :smiley:
Well, alright if I must; my missus can do the catering..... to our surplus requirements ...... :grin:
-
Yes :smiley: