kremer
Member
I recently purchased a 2002 Golf TDI from West Side Volkswagen. I was excited to find exactly the car that I was looking for at the dealership that I have dealt with in the past. I have never had any issues with cars purchased from them in the past, and they are the place I would take a used VW to get it checked out, so I figured I didn't need to take it to a 3rd party mechanic. Boy was I wrong! The car has 110,000 miles on it, but I expect a dealership to be selling a mechanically sound vehicle, especially a VW dealership selling a VW.
I did ask about the lack of cargo cover for the car, and they said they'd look into it. They gave me the completely wrong owner's manual (2005 Jetta) and said they would remedy that. (I finally ended up with a 2003 Golf, which is close enough to have accurate info, and I had them pull my radio code for me.) After the sale was complete, they gave me ONE single key for the car. When I asked about it, they said they'd work on that another time. I'm familiar with Murphy's law, and didn't want to go home with only one key, so I paid the $150 to get a new key from the parts department before going home, since the salesman now had my money, and he was too busy to help me with that one.
During my test drive, I noticed that the drivers side seat heater was not working at all, but that was really the only thing I could pick out before I purchased the car. They agreed to fix that as soon as they could schedule service, and I was fine with that, since it has been 90 degrees out lately, and I won't need my seat heater for a couple months.
Once I got home, I noticed that they had the dome light turned all the way off, so I switched it to the "door" setting. The dome lights are actuated by both the door, and also by the remote, so over the next couple days, I noticed that the lights were only responding to the remote, and not to the drivers door...and also I sometimes got into my car and fiddled with things for a minute, and the alarm would rearm itself. I called my salesman and asked him to add the door sensor to the repair order for the seat heater. He says fine. I'm already a bit wary...did they have the dome light turned off in the hope that I wouldn't notice the door sensor thing?
I took my car in when scheduled, and they fixed the door sensor, but told me that they didn't have the part for the seat heater, so I would have to bring it in another time for that. Why did they schedule the service if they didn't have the part? I told them it was probably the heating element worn out, they agreed with me, they determined that was the actual problem, but they didn't have the part. Strange?
After I took my car in for that service, the very next day a CEL came on. I drove it back to the dealership and asked them to scan it. They told me the CEL went away, and it must have just fixed itself! I told them I would be back when the CEL came back. Sure enough, a couple days later it came back, and I brought it back and stayed with my running car until I could watch them scan it. Coolant temp sensor, it turns out. Schedule service again.
When I showed up for the service appointment, I was told that I didn't have an appointment, and as such I also didn't have a loaner car reserved, and they were already out for the night. They somehow managed to drop the ball again. I went and talked to the used car sales manager and after about 20 minutes of waiting, he found me a car and made sure my appointment was in the computer. (I didn't need a loaner, but since they said they would give me one, I didn't bring my bike with me...and there is no bus route in the area, or I would have happily used that.)
They finished that service the middle of last week, and I have put less than 100 miles on my car since then...and suddenly this morning my TDI was a DI. No boost, no turbo noise, no power above 2500rpm. I called to inquire, and of course, they reminded me that my car is an old used car, and things break. Fine, yes, it is an old car, but I haven't gotten to my first oil change and the turbo magically stops working within a week of them servicing it? They transferred me to the used car sales manager, and I told him what I thought of his dealership and of the service department there, and that I suspect that this whole deal was just conning me out of my hard earned money.
He said he will get his best guy on it, but do I even trust them to look at my car, and return it in better (or even not worse) condition than it is in now? I'm really fed up with this. I know that cars with 100k+ require maintenance and repairs more often than new cars, but I think this is a bit excessive, especially for a VW TDI that I just purchased from a VW dealership.
I did ask about the lack of cargo cover for the car, and they said they'd look into it. They gave me the completely wrong owner's manual (2005 Jetta) and said they would remedy that. (I finally ended up with a 2003 Golf, which is close enough to have accurate info, and I had them pull my radio code for me.) After the sale was complete, they gave me ONE single key for the car. When I asked about it, they said they'd work on that another time. I'm familiar with Murphy's law, and didn't want to go home with only one key, so I paid the $150 to get a new key from the parts department before going home, since the salesman now had my money, and he was too busy to help me with that one.
During my test drive, I noticed that the drivers side seat heater was not working at all, but that was really the only thing I could pick out before I purchased the car. They agreed to fix that as soon as they could schedule service, and I was fine with that, since it has been 90 degrees out lately, and I won't need my seat heater for a couple months.
Once I got home, I noticed that they had the dome light turned all the way off, so I switched it to the "door" setting. The dome lights are actuated by both the door, and also by the remote, so over the next couple days, I noticed that the lights were only responding to the remote, and not to the drivers door...and also I sometimes got into my car and fiddled with things for a minute, and the alarm would rearm itself. I called my salesman and asked him to add the door sensor to the repair order for the seat heater. He says fine. I'm already a bit wary...did they have the dome light turned off in the hope that I wouldn't notice the door sensor thing?
I took my car in when scheduled, and they fixed the door sensor, but told me that they didn't have the part for the seat heater, so I would have to bring it in another time for that. Why did they schedule the service if they didn't have the part? I told them it was probably the heating element worn out, they agreed with me, they determined that was the actual problem, but they didn't have the part. Strange?
After I took my car in for that service, the very next day a CEL came on. I drove it back to the dealership and asked them to scan it. They told me the CEL went away, and it must have just fixed itself! I told them I would be back when the CEL came back. Sure enough, a couple days later it came back, and I brought it back and stayed with my running car until I could watch them scan it. Coolant temp sensor, it turns out. Schedule service again.
When I showed up for the service appointment, I was told that I didn't have an appointment, and as such I also didn't have a loaner car reserved, and they were already out for the night. They somehow managed to drop the ball again. I went and talked to the used car sales manager and after about 20 minutes of waiting, he found me a car and made sure my appointment was in the computer. (I didn't need a loaner, but since they said they would give me one, I didn't bring my bike with me...and there is no bus route in the area, or I would have happily used that.)
They finished that service the middle of last week, and I have put less than 100 miles on my car since then...and suddenly this morning my TDI was a DI. No boost, no turbo noise, no power above 2500rpm. I called to inquire, and of course, they reminded me that my car is an old used car, and things break. Fine, yes, it is an old car, but I haven't gotten to my first oil change and the turbo magically stops working within a week of them servicing it? They transferred me to the used car sales manager, and I told him what I thought of his dealership and of the service department there, and that I suspect that this whole deal was just conning me out of my hard earned money.
He said he will get his best guy on it, but do I even trust them to look at my car, and return it in better (or even not worse) condition than it is in now? I'm really fed up with this. I know that cars with 100k+ require maintenance and repairs more often than new cars, but I think this is a bit excessive, especially for a VW TDI that I just purchased from a VW dealership.
