[theragingbull]

I gave my VW Polo for an accident repair to the Tornado Motors workshop at Andheri. This was the first time I went there due to proximity from home otherwise I always went to VW Downtown at Parel.

I have Bharti AXA 100% coverage policy. My car had gone there for 2 repair jobs. A side door dent and a rear bumper dent. The Service adviser told me to add both damages under 1 claim. So we did that. The next day the surveyor came and approved just the side door damage. Upon asking the reason, he just said both damages are not relevant. Door repairing took 4 days and in the meantime I was trying to convince the surveyor to approve the rear bumper damage as there was no reason why it couldn't be replaced. After 5 days of waiting and no response from surveyer, we took the matter to upper authority and the bumper claim got approved after a week.

It was 10 days over and my Polo was lying in the dust with loads of bird poo and no one cared. Then the service advisor tells me "Sir, new bumper will be fixed tomorrow and car will be given next evening". Next day, I called him up in the morning and he tells me bumper is getting fixed. In the evening I get an update that the bumper is going for a paint job and will dry over night. It was 12 days since the car was at the workshop. So next day I called him up again to ask if I can take back the car int he evening. Now comes the shocking reply- "Sir, we do not have a bumper in stock. It'll take a couple of days!" I was furious over the fact that he lied to me previously that the bumper of my car is getting fixed. So now he tells me that the bumper was not for my car but another car that had come in previously. I got so pissed now I decided to take my car back after 2 weeks in the workshop for just a door dent repair!

The horrible experience does not end here. When I get back my car after a "thorough" car wash as the service advisor tells me, I come back home to realise that there are white primer spots on the front fender which did not go even after a shampoo wash. I do an an interior check and find that one of the air vent flaps are out of place and are restricting the movement!
I have to call up the service adviser tomorrow for these complaints. Lets see what reason the workshop give me now.

I recommend VW users in Mumbai to go to VW Downtown only and totally avoid Tornado Motors.

[Akshay1234]

Looks like Tornado Motors isn't the best, member Navin also had a bad experience with a Beetle from his family. Wonder how that turned out?

[pratheekkunder]

A close friend of mine had some issues with VW Tornado Motors.But got sorted out after lot of fighting over mail and phone calls.
Good Luck

[kailashnj]

Is this a habit of the group?????

We have heard lot of horror stories of Skoda, my friend is facing issues with his Audi which is not even delivered and another thread that I see is for the VW.

Man is this group of companies taking us customers for granted and feel that we, he Indian customers, are okay with their pranks and will take everything lying down.

[navin]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Looks like Tornado Motors isn't the best, member Navin also had a bad experience with a Beetle from his family. Wonder how that turned out?

Akshay, with a lot of pressure VW pune finally relented and replaced the brakes for free.

In fact the first email I got (after my thread at TBHP went up) from VW had a line that read like "you went to the press and that's not good". My reply was that your dealer and umpteen attempts to contact VW Pune had failed, the press (I assume they mean TBHP) was my last option.

I feel sorry for those car owners who do not access, time and/or inclination to get what is rightfully due to them.

Ragingbull, check out a thread started by me about my FIL's Beetle for details.

[rauldsouza]

Even I am facing the same problem with VW Tornado Workshop, apparently they promised to replace the vacuum pipe by next day. After a few minutes I get call again informing me that that part is currently is out of stock and would take 5 days to come and the car needs to be kept under “observation”. Car is hardly 2 months old.

[wysiwyg25]

Tornado Motors is going to lose its VW franchise in the next few months so I would recommend not using this dealer for either new purchases or services.

[abhijitpal83]

even I am facing issues in getting an appointment for annual serve of my polo TDI. I have been calling them on regular basis. most of the times no one answers the phone and when it gets answered I get a response that someone will get back and no one does..

Whenever I deal with any VW service centres I get a feel that they are doing a favor to me...

[iliketurtles]

My experience with Tornado Motors has actually been quite good so far. I hope I'm not jumping the gun in saying that.

The buying experience itself was very good, and about a week back I got a call from them saying that the car would be due for a free checkup in about 1.5-2 months at 7,500 KMS. They've been quite proactive with me and I was pleasantly surprised to see that from them. Let's hope that continues.

Sadly, there are just 2 workshops for VW in Mumbai, so getting hold of an appointment seems to be tricky. I guess I'll just report back here w.r.t. my experience of the free checkup.

[bhp]

My experience with Tornado Motors has been very bad too.

My Passat was left with them multiple times for a dashboard light issue. The car was running perfectly fine without any problems. They kept the car for 3 days (everytime i would call they would mention they are working on the car and the vehicle surely has some major issues) with them out of which i am sure for 2 days they just kept it parked and didnt even start working, then gave report of a weak fuel pump which needs replacement and cost 25k +.

I had also got the car scanned at a local garage where it threw codes pertaining to cooling temperature at radiator and O2 sensor, Which is when i went to tornado again and questioned the wrong diagnosis that took place there but instead of accepting mistakes they claimed i must have got codes using a duplicate scanner etc etc.

Which is when i called the car back and then send the car to VW Downtown. They scanned for the light, Found a faulty temperature sensor, cleaned it and erased the code.

A simple sensor job was made to look like a big fuel pump issue at tornado and cheat me of an big amount.

I would avoid going to TORNADO MOTORS ever again !!

[TheLizardKing]

And the Tornado Motors saga continues.

1. As I have posted elsewhere, I believe they are making me unnecessarily replace an expensive sensor instead of repairing it. I have already spoken to VW Thane as well as a FNG, and both have said that it should be possible to repair the sensor. I asked Tornado to let the sensor be, and will be exploring other options.

2. I had given my car for annual servicing and some body repair, and got it back on Saturday after a whole week. When I got the car back, I saw that in addition to servicing and repairing it, they had also put a dent on front LH quarter panel and some nasty scratches on the front bumper. They must have known about it, because after a token protest and some "reinterpretation" of the inventory sheet, they accepted that the damage had happened at their workshop and agreed to repair it at their cost (see note at the bottom of the invoice below).



Most VW owners would know of the company policy that does not allow them to do touch-up paint jobs (so when my LH rear door got a scratch and dent, they repainted the whole door). Interestingly, the Front Office Manager (a Mr. Umesh) told me that they would only be repairing the damaged portion of the bumper and would not repaint the whole bumper, because obviously it is at their cost. Sheer hypocrisy!

[poloman]

Partial repainting of bumper is a standard norm. This cannot be done on a door panel which has a contiguous surface area. The joining area of new and old paint will be easily noticeable.

[TheLizardKing]

Originally Posted by poloman

Partial repainting of bumper is a standard norm. This cannot be done on a door panel which has a contiguous surface area. The joining area of new and old paint will be easily noticeable.

Um isn't the "contiguous surface area" logic equally applicable to the bumper too? I agree there are cutouts, but their total area is negligible for all practical purposes. I have already warned the workshop that if the "joining area" is "easily noticeable" after the repair, I will make them repaint the whole bumper.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by TheLizardKing

Um isn't the "contiguous surface area" logic equally applicable to the bumper too? I agree there are cutouts, but their total area is negligible for all practical purposes. I have already warned the workshop that if the "joining area" is "easily noticeable" after the repair, I will make them repaint the whole bumper.

In the case of bumper they normally join the old and new paint sections at the narrowest part so that the mismatch is least noticeable. But you can always make out the difference with a sharp eye.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by TheLizardKing

1. As I have posted elsewhere, I believe they are making me unnecessarily replace an expensive sensor instead of repairing it. I have already spoken to VW Thane as well as a FNG, and both have said that it should be possible to repair the sensor. I asked Tornado to let the sensor be, and will be exploring other options.

Any updates on the CEL problem? Did you get the sensor/ wiring repaired?