I hope my 06 TDI lasts a long, long time. I have owned a used V-dub back in 80-81. I don't even know the model however it was a station wagon like VW. It was a cool little care and I loved it. It had a little problem with shutting off/bogging down while driving, besides that it was great, lol.
A little schooling please. I bought my TDI at Fitzgerald's in Annapolis. Initially I thought it was a great dealership, however I have since started to change my mind.
My salesman told me the TDI was 23,5k sticker. He would sell it for internet price of 23,1 if I didn't take their little service program that costs about 360 bucks. It was just oil changes and it didn't even cover the costs for synthetic oil. I had to pay the difference.
Also it had the XM installed and I wanted Sirius, as thats what I have now and Im familiar with it. I didn't see the big deal in switching the box out of the trunk and asked to have it "thrown in". The salesman had to ask the manager who came over and blah, blah, blah, said it was a big production and he would do it for 150.00. I said ok, but I am not happy with that. Way to keep a customer happy.
So I go into finance and the guy was pretty good. He didn't jam the extended warranty down my throat. I told him I was going to compare VW's program vs. Geico's program, (he told me, probably correctly, that Geico will not use OEM for repairs).
Would Geico using non OEM parts for repair void the warranty?
Anyway, the finace guy said they didn't charge me for the servicing program. So for some reason it didn't hit me that I was charged the 23,5k and not the 23,1k price the salesman told me I would get.
I realize this that night and called the next day and talked to finance guy. He said he would talk to the sales manager, (a guy who just rubbed me the wrong way on day one), and the saleman. He said they could send a check for the difference.
I said instead of that I would be willing to just have the XM/Sirius swap done for free, call it a wash. He said that sounds reasonable. But again he has to get with the two other knuckleheads, (my words), salesman and salesmanager.
The car is dropped off, I get the loaner, (a junky chevy). I go back the next day to pick up my TDI. I wonder if the service managers are supposed to know much about cars? Check this out. I drop off my TDI and I inform the manager that while driving a constant speed the FM stereo kinda fades in and out. Not like bad reception but you can hear it go up in volume and down.
One of the managers said he is a old man and just now is getting into CDs. The other said he has never heard of that, except that GM has that setup on their stereos and perhaps its the same on VW? Im thinking what the hell have I gotten into.
I then ask about changing the fuel filter and is bleeding required on the PD engine? He looked at me like I was from another planet. Again, Im thinking, *** is going on here?
I was going to ask him something really difficult and see what he said but I figured why bother? (I asked the salesman when I bought the car about the glowplugs. He told me you dont need to worry about them, just get in and start it. I asked him about the winter, he said not to worry, they are the kind that you don't have to wait for!!). If its true then its new to me.
Jeez, where was I? Oh yea, so I go to pick up my TDI, I couldn't wait to give up that loaner, YIKES. I am supposed to get with the finance guy and my salesman about the money issue mentioned above.
The salesman was in training, the finance guy was with a customer. So that salesmanager comes over, (that jerk I don't like). He tells me about the xm/sirius swap out. He says thats it was a really really big job and how it took four hours, they have to remove the back seat, etc. He went on to say the shop charge is 200hr, so they would normally charge me 800.00 for the xm/sirius swap!!! My god man.
So the manager said he'd honor the 150.00 he quoted me originally and not charge 800. Wow, what a nice guy. I asked him why he isn't going to honor the 23,1k the saleman quoted me? He just side stepped the issue.
I am not happy at this point. He did say he would check into the whole thing when the salesman and finance guy and get back to me. I told him once I leave I will never see the 150.00 nor the difference between 23,1 and 23,5.
So I pay the 150.00. The service manager told me that they checked out the stereo and couldn't duplicate the fading issue. He said, again, why worry, you have Sirius? Jeez, what a professional shop.
I split and call the finance guy when I get home and let him have it. I told him I don't want anything from his dealerhsip. That I don't need them and will take care of the VW on my own. I didn't want his extended warranty, and how I didn't need the salesman to acitvate the Sirius as I've done it myself.
I told him how I didn't like the salesmanager and thought he was a jerk.
I even said that the money isn't even the issue, its more about treating a customer well.
The finance guy said he agrees 100% and he doesn't want to lose a customer over a few hunderd bucks.
He says he will get with everyone and get it worked out. Im not very confident however.
Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to say what I feel about Fitzgeralds in Annapolis.