Not to dissimilar to yourself Spur.
Very long story short. I had a leak in the GTD so they had my car for a week. When I got it back the trim down the side of the windscreen was scored and I had a rather large stone chip. They agreed to sort them both as they had checked the car with me before I dropped it off and "can't be sure it wasn't there originally"
2 months later it was due a service so rather than just the service guy check it over with me they insisted a technician also check it over. Without a word of a lie they both must have spent 15 minutes checking everything. They even noticed the tiniest of dings on my rear door. It must have been the way the sun was hitting it as I'd never seen it before and haven't seen it since. So it shows you how small it was and how meticulous they were.
Car was serviced and parked in a spot on its own and I looked over it with the service guy. Given it had previously been damaged and thy had spent a lot of time checking it over I was confident it would be okay. It looked fine in the 20 seconds or so I checked it over. Schoolboy error I know.
I came home and decided to wash my wifes car. As I bent down to do the lower part of her car I noticed a mark on my sill. There was a big indentation in it. So I fired up my dashcam footage and could see the swinging arms of the ramp would marry up perfect with the indentation. I phoned them and they chased me. I then phoned their customer complaints section and they said they would look into it. A week later I got a letter saying I left the dealer after looking over the car with their employee so they they are taking it no further.
I told them I had video footage and was willing to go down to the dealership as it was closing or at any time they suggest, put the car on the same ramp and see if the swinging arms match up with the indentation. If it doesn't I'll eat humble pie and if it does then they would be responsible. The basically told me to "do one"
It was Arnold Clark so a big dealership.
A few months later my wife's GTI was in at another Arnold Clark's bodyshop. That's a long story I won't bore you with but they basically painted her bumper without our knowledge. We thought the spoiler under the front bumper was being replaced but they thought they would do us a favour and paint the bumper as there was a scuff underneath it. The car was only a few weeks old from brand new!!
Anyway when we got it back the bumper looked a bit misshapen as if one of the bolts had been tightened too much and pulled the bumper in a bit. I was told to go back to their bodyshop.
So I spent the morning washing and waxing the car before taking it into them. Took it to them and they put it in their workshop while I stood in the car park as they said it would be literally 5 minutes. Half an hour past and they brought it out unable to sort it. They denied the misshapen bumper was their doing but there was now a dent right bang in the middle of the bonnet. As if someone had dropped a heavy spanner on it.
I can 100% guarantee it wasn't there previously as I'd spent the morning cleaning it and looked it over it again as I got to the bodyshop. I got the manager and his response was "Yeah I seen that dent when the car was driven in and thought why was the customer bothering about a slightly misshapen bumper"
I've never been so livid in my life. I had to walk away and phone my mate and left a 10 minute answering machine message on their phone of pure hatred. It was either that or I was getting jailed.
So as you can see I detest dealers and more so Arnold Clark. Its just the lies they tell. If they said, Look we've had an accident it would be fine.
The GTI with the painted bumper, the lacquer is now starting to peel. I told them the car had been coated in a ceramic coating but they've obviously just ignored me. I'm now in the process of going to a different Arnold Clark bodyshop for it to be repaired. So am dreading the whole affair.
I don't know what I'll do come next year when the R is due its service!!!
Sorry. What started out as a quick reply got my blood boiling again
