Warranty fail! Fog light and aircon condenser

[mrred32]

So booked my car into VW yesterday for them to take a look at my air on not blowing cold air and some condensation in the fog light on the n/s. Driving in I thought "it's ok , I have the extended warranty so this should be fine".... How wrong I was.

They called me to state that they can't exactly see what is causing the condensation but believe that the fog light would have small hairline crack due to a stone chip....when I asked to see the crack they stated they can't find the source of moisture but 'think' it was caused by a stone chip and that is enough to not be covered by warranty also it is classed as 'interior plastic'...£156 please.

This was enough to annoy me but the aircon was worse, apparently the condenser has corroded and corrosion of any kind is not covered by the extended warranty. When I asked how a 5 year old car could have this issue I was told that "this is a common issue as its only made of aluminium so prone to it". What kind of bullsh!t answer is that? They want me to fork out £850 to have the condenser replaced!

My question for you guys is am I being fed bs and should I take this further? I've seen people get good will from VW but as I have the extended warranty from autotrust or whatever it is called, do I have a leg to stand on?

[SunnyGTI]

I would phone up VW customer care and ask them. They can get into contact with your dealer directly.

[mrred32]

Ok, so first port of call to VW customer care? I'll give that a go. thanks

[mrred32]

Ok, so VW customer support have advised that this case passes the criteria to be given to a case manager to follow this up (first hurdle I guess). We'll see what they come back with.

She did say that either way the fog light would not be covered so that's pretty much a dead fight .

[The ANT]

I'd be telling them they can fix the fog light issue if they can't find the damage or they we not be seeing that car again. I don't see how a fog light is part of the interior.

[topher]

I have seen a lot of failed compressors on mk6s.. they must must MUST be serviced at least every 2 years even if they seem to be blowing cold fine. PAG oil is injected along with the refigerant which prevents the compressor from corroding. If you don't have proof of having this done they will reject the warranty claim... they may still reject it unless it was done at a main dealer. VW have lots of costs to cover with the emissions scandal so seem to be denying a lot of warranty claims lately which in the past they would have accepted as a good will gesture.

[mrred32]

Yeah the aircon has been serviced within the first year of me owning the car, which was less than 18 months ago.

Latest news is that the issues were referred from the customer service team to the case manager, from the case manager to the specialist then referred to the supplier and then back to the customer service team who told me to call dealership (who I originally went to!)

The dealer has told me 'unfortunately we are unwilling to do anything about the aircon' which I found both ridiculous and rude. Now VW UK have told me that the dealer have changed their story about the flimsy aluminium aircon unit and said that it 'may' have been caused by a stone chip and if I want them to re-evaluate their position then I need to take the car to another VW dealer and pay to have another diag done (£99). This is getting ridiculous... There's no way I'm buying a new R with this kind of service!

[mrred32]

I want to keep fighting this but not sure how.

Suggestions have been made of emailing a senior member at VW or hashing it out on Twitter with VW/an exec there. Anyone had experience with doing this? Any tips?

[SunnyGTI]

I'll send you a PM mate