Main Stealer = $hite, discuss...

[mowgli]

Longish story, but I will cut it down.  Mk3 Gti into main stealer (fairways St Annes) for new rear discs coz they were VERY competitive on price.  Arranged fro car into garage on a Friday at 12, pick up car at 5 pm...No, parts not availabale even though all necessary chassis/engine numbers given at the booking in.  Parts will be here in the morning, leave the car over night and pick up at 12 tomorrow.  I got a phone call at 10 am, parts have been delivered to Preston by amoeba brained driver, car will be finished by 2 pm today (saturday).  I got there at 2pm to be told that the car wasn't ready, can I leave it to Monday!?!?!?!

Spoke to the general manager and he assured me that the car would be delivered to me at 5pm.  I had to go away over the weekend but true to his word the car was there, but it didn't sound right.  They had snapped the rear silencer off and scratched the rear bumper in the process!!  They did replace the silencer, get rid of the scratch and knock ?34 off the bill, but thats not all..

A couple of weeks later I asked for a set of plugs/leads/dizzy cap and rotor arm for the same ca, same thing, gave them all the relevant no's, arranged to pick the bits up, got there, no plugs, a computer error.  NO, lazy to$$er behind the counter error not checking the stock manually.

Unfortunately, I had a worse experience when I tried Fairways of Preston who only had 2 out of the 4 and when I ordered the parts from Inchcape of Shrewsbury whilst on a visit to the area they got all the parts I needed, but for the wrong model.

I even tried e-mailing South Hereford VW, they didn't even reply...

Is this a common thread or am I really unlucky???

[Leejaydoob]

I bought a vr6 some years ago and the tailgate went rusty so i claimed a new one under the 6 year anti corosion warranty
The car went into carrs vw of truro to have the new hatch sprayed and fitted. i was told to collect in 2 days
2 days later went to collect and car was untouched
I was told the hatch was being sprayed elsewhere off of the car and fitted later and the delay was their fault.

to cut a long story short when i finally got it back the masking lines down the rear were so prominent it was obvious it was sprayed on the car and they had been bullshi@#ing me all along

i managed to get them to redo the job properly and throw in a free service as compensation but it caused a lot of hassle and put a lot of mistrust into main dealers, from my point of view anyway

[mk2driva]

Have experienced similar problems at my local VW dealer (although on a smaller scale). I would go in to ask for them to order parts and they say give it 2 days. Go in 2 dsays later and they still are no there, back another 2 days and they had the wrong bits (suspension bits). Eventually got them and without any expalantion or apology as to the delay. There service is appaling and doesnt impress me at all. As for the price for some bits its a joke as well

[Blue MK2]

VAG are sh:t for service but the bedford branch aint that bad with parts.

[golfvr6]

Most service departments i have dealt with have generally been sh!t. Service advisors want all customers to be muppets with no knowledge, they don't like dealing with people who know there stuff. The parts department at Colbournes in woking is excellent, i have been using them for years now.

[Blue MK2]

Well said VR6 they dont like to deal with people who know their stuff.

[golfvr6]

VW service just make me laugh. About ?160 for an automatic transmission fluid change on a vr6, yeah alright mate.

[Blue MK2]

Just get a VAG friend to stamp your service book once you have serviced it yourself.  

[mk1]

Have to agree, most dealers (parts departments) that I deal with don't have any depth of experiance. They shake in their boots when a customer knows what they are asking for. The chap behind the counter probably was working at Tescos last month , only joking .
Steve.

[Glen]

I really dont think these problems are limited to car parts and main dealers.  I'm the manager of a small print factory and you can guarantee we will be let down by one supplier or another at least once a week.  Deliveries going awol, computer saying stock exists that doesnt, muppets c*cking stuff up, etc. etc.  The list goes on.  Just the state of the country I'm afraid.