VW's Incompetence

[dom]

Ok, rang my local VW stealer this morning to get a price for a new camshaft sensor for my Mk3 8v. After asking for my reg, which I gave him, he then went through the e.g....'so thats a 97 2.0 gti?' etc.

They then went on to ask; 'and is that petrol or diesel??!!!!' What kind of idiots do they employ?? Surely even if they didn't know that the Gti is petrol they would have it on the computer screen infront of them??!

Also £187.60 for a camshaft sensor? Daylight robbery anyone??

Rant over.

[Jay]

Probably used to asking that/slip of the tongue.

When I called VW recently I gave them the alternator part number and asked for the pulley .. "Sorry we can't cross reference the alternator part numbers with pulley numbers..." WTF. So I spent an hour researching the net for the pulley number, called them back and found they had 3 in stock. Kinda stupid they can't cross reference the VW Alternator part # with the VW Alternator pulley #.

[jv]

Lowly paid admin/reception staff who have next to no interest in the brand, employed by a franchise operation. You are going to go some to speak to someone who really knows their stuff.

[Snoopy]

Lowly paid admin/reception staff who have next to no interest in the brand, employed by a franchise operation. You are going to go some to speak to someone who really knows their stuff.

Sadly all so true,
To most of them its just a job, most of them would not know what the part actually does. I know a few who do it as they love the brand they work for and are car nuts but there so few of them.
You know what they say,  you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

[dadrathers]

I must be lucky then - my dealer parts department are very good. They know me and i know them (all) by name. I get discount and don't have to pay for special order until the parts arrive.

Main reason they like me is that I always give them the part numbers!!

Not always inexpensive of course but there is no knocking the quality of VW OE parts.

[tomsdubs]

I had to get a skoda camshaft sensor for my mum's felicia and that was only £50?

[Lee_dub]

dadrathers has nailed it there, I have a loyalty card with my local VW dealer, gets me 15% off, I know the by name and I don't pay for orders until they arrive.  How did this happen? because I am registered on the free website www.vagcat.com and just give them the part numbers off there, so much easier.  The lad who is annoyed that they can't cross reference the alternator to the pulley are you really that surprised? The alternator is bolted to the Engine block so should those part numbers cross reference?

Save yourself some time and money by registering on vagcat and just ringing them up

[jamie_pyrite]

There's a couple incompetent members at my local VW - They don't really seem to know anything about cars and always order me the wrong parts in.. A couple of the lads are brilliant though - always asking what I'm getting upto now and asking to see my mk2. Never had any discount or anything from them, but at least they get me the right parts!

[moutains]

to many of theses guys rely on their computers got no real knowledge of cars. rely to much on regs. dont use common sense, i ran my own factors for 15 years no computers, you get to know your customers cars and so can give correct parts, most of theses guys wouldnt know a pulley if it hit them on the head

[Fielder]

This is why i use GSF

The local one used to employee dub heads, The car park was always filled with beatles, campers and Golfs. Would ask for a new belt and they would just go get it. No need to even check it on the computer as most of the time they would say 'fitted one of these the other day, total arse but they do the job'

Was even getting a 30% discount by the end of my Golf day, I did build two golfs using mostly GSF parts, The body on my Golf GTI track car was 50% GSF Pattern parts, The arches, bumpers, wings, bonnet, grill, front and back lights all came from GSF.