[woof]

Hi Guys,

I am posting this on behalf of my BIL. He is not a team-bhp member, even though he follows the forum regularly.

On 30/12/2012, I bought VW Vento TDi Highline model from VW Delhi Metropolitan Saket, New Delhi, India for close to 1 million INR. We trusted the German brand, and with lot of expectations took delivery of the car after a thorough inspection of the car at the showroom. Straight away, took the car to the Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) to offer our gratitude to the almightily.
.
Our trouble started immediately after that. Post offering the prayers, I started the car and tried to apply reverse gear. To my horror, I wasn’t able to do so, and realized that the gear box is not functioning properly. I reported the matter to the concerned dealer who advised us to take it to the workshop at Okhla (Lal Kuan), New Delhi, where in the whole day they could not rectify the defect. On our request and great persuasion, fortunately the dealer agreed for changing the car.

So, VW Metrolpolitan Saket handed us a brand new car on 02/01/2013. I myself did a thorough inspection, and was quite satisfied with the car at the time of delivery.

I drove it for 467 kms exactly over the last couple of months, and didn’t encountered any problems.

But, on 04/03/2013, destiny had something else planned for us. I started the car in the morning, and took it out from my parking place. I had barely driven it for 30-40m, when the car’s engine stalled, and switched off on its own. Tried restarting the car 2-3 times, but without any luck. The matter was reported to the VW customer care who after a long and unbearable delay sent the crane to tow the car to the workshop at 13:15.

It’s been almost 4 days now, and VW technicians are unable to locate any fault in the car. They are giving implausible reasons, and using delaying tactics to hide their incompetency to repair the car.

It has been a sad and shocking experience with VW. Never thought that the so called ‘German Engineering’ can be so bad. I can understand that there can be instance that a car turns outs to be a lemon. But, how can two brand new cars fail???? What quality standards is the company following??? Are they taking us Indians for a ride????

Truly, a pathetic experience till now. I presume that the service centre does not neither the competent service personal nor requisite machinery for servicing/repairing the cars.

In the meantime, I have been trying to contact the Sales Head of the dealer (Delhi Metropolitan Saket, New Delhi, India) Mr. Himanshu Tandon, who never bothered to pick up my calls and reply back. What is he hiding? and why he is not cooperating? I hope somebody from VW group can help me answering these questions.

In this state of affairs my faith is totally shaken about Volkswagen and its trustworthiness. There is zero reliability and dependability. I can simply infer a gross negligence at the level of the quality control management.

My faith is shaken to such an extent that every member of my family wants to get rid of this so called world famous German Car brand.

In this case, I need advice from all of you:
1. What can we do? We have tried to escalate the matter to senior management at dealership, have sent emails to VW India & VW Germany customer care, but without any luck so far? Is there any way to make higher ups at VW leadership team to take notice of this case? Will appreciate if somebody can PM me email IDs of senior management in the organization.
2. To be frank, my BIL has lost trust in the brand and the car, and would like to ask for a complete refund of money? Any idea, how can we go about it?

Looking forward to your help and guidance. Thanks.

[MotoNanu]

Oh boy, another VW horror story and this is some serious stuff!

I really sympathize with your BIL for going through such pain. It is quite obvious that you lose all trust and confidence in the brand after such terrible experience, no matter how robust it is perceived globally!

I would suggest you to expose this issue using social media. That is a direct blow to the brand. Post the situation on VW India FB page. Also you can forward this thread to your friends and they will do the needful.

Apart from this, do catch hold of the 'top' people at dealer as well as regional/ territory manager for VW and keep a history of all the mails and communications that you have with them.

I hope VW India and Germany both take notice of this and come to rescue.
Wishing you all the best, keep us updated

[swami.n]

Very sad to hear. Hope your BIL gets justice. Shows the German brands still taking Indians for granted.

My suggestion would be, Do not be too harsh with the personnel. It is your BIL's money which is being taken for a ride. It is always better to speak in person(not on phone or mail) and try to reach an agreement with the people at the showroom.

Of course your BIL has every right to feel cheated but, ultimate aim should be reaching an agreement and not winning the argument.

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by woof

Hi Guys,

I am posting this on behalf of my BIL. He is not a team-bhp member, even though he follows the forum regularly.

So, VW Metrolpolitan Saket handed us a brand new car on 02/01/2013. I myself did a thorough inspection, and was quite satisfied with the car at the time of delivery.

Is your BIL sure that they gave him a completely brand new car. I mean did he do a check with the VIN number to confirm that they gave him a brand new one. If they havent, then its a clear case of cheating.

Originally Posted by woof

In this case, I need advice from all of you:
1. What can we do? We have tried to escalate the matter to senior management at dealership, have sent emails to VW India & VW Germany customer care, but without any luck so far? Is there any way to make higher ups at VW leadership team to take notice of this case? Will appreciate if somebody can PM me email IDs of senior management in the organization.
2. To be frank, my BIL has lost trust in the brand and the car, and would like to ask for a complete refund of money? Any idea, how can we go about it?

Looking forward to your help and guidance. Thanks

Since in your post, you have not specified that you have contacted VW directly.Do so using the toll free numbers mentioned in their website. Make sure, you receive a complaint number as well as the time within which they would call back and then follow it up immediately with an email to their customer care mentioning these details. Also please be vocal about your dissatisfaction about the brand in your email as well as on phone. Make use of the power of social media also. (FB as well as Twitter)

Meanwhile, if you know of a lawyer who is a family friend of yours, accompany him straight to the showroom and insist on meeting their head of sales. Else, do not budge from there and threaten him that you will file a case in the consumer court. Dealers, in most cases do not want to be running around for court cases.

All the best. Hope you find a resolution soon.

Edit: Please go through this thread. You may find many contacts of top VW officials in this. Fellow BHPian Harishv has been relentless in his fight for justice against sister group Skoda.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...d-5-years.html

[noopster]

Hi woof,

Sorry that your family is having to go through all this. The Vento TDI is a fairly robust car and stalling without reason is definitely a big concern. What is the explanation being given by the dealer for the delay in diagnosis?

Please contact VW directly and make sure the dealer knows that you are escalating. There is a central CRM team at VW that does independent checks and follow-ups on all complaints. From my experience, the dealers are a little scared of this department and usually fall in line.

VW Customer Care contacts here

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by woof

how can two brand new cars fail????

Your signature mentions you also have a Vento TDI, how is your experience with the car? Did your BIL buy the VW after experiencing your VW or you insisted him? And most importantly, are you sure that his driving style and car usage pattern was perfect? Asking because your first problem is related to gear and gear operation in VW group cars feels so easy and effortless that sometimes it feels like one can kill that gear shift mechanism if habitual of rubbery old school gearshifts and applies same hard efforts to operate the easy gearshifts in VW group cars. Please don't take offensive, but these questions come in the mind since two cars failed but user was one.

1. What can we do? We have tried to escalate the matter to senior management at dealership, have sent emails to VW India & VW Germany customer care, but without any luck so far? Is there any way to make higher ups at VW leadership team to take notice of this case?

Customer care, mail and toll free numbers don't work. Only thing which seems working in VW's cases is the Facebook page of VW India. Contact there, post the issue in details. Hope and wish you and your BIL get out of the trouble soon.

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Your signature mentions you also have a Vento TDI, how is your experience with the car? Did your BIL buy the VW after experiencing your VW or you insisted him? And most importantly, are you sure that his driving style and car usage pattern was perfect? Asking because your first problem is related to gear and gear operation in VW group cars feels so easy and effortless that sometimes it feels like one can kill that gear shift mechanism if habitual of rubbery old school gearshifts and applies same hard efforts to operate the easy gearshifts in VW group cars. Please don't take offensive, but these questions come in the mind since two cars failed but user was one.

Customer care, mail and toll free numbers don't work. Only thing which seems working in VW's cases is the Facebook page of VW India. Contact there, post the issue in details. Hope and wish you and your BIL get out of the trouble soon.

I dont think it would be a case of faulty driving as then the dealer would not have replaced the first car so easily. There must have been something really wrong with the car for them to replace and give a second car. That car also turning into a lemon is just

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by arvind71181

There must have been something really wrong with the car for them to replace and give a second car.

First thing which looks fishy in the whole case is that how can a dealers replace a sold car so easily, atleast I never heard such incident. If any issue cops up there in a brand new car, they won't be agree to replace the whole car since all the formalities are done and it has already been delivered, rather they will fix the issue. Doesn't matter how serious the issue is. I have even seen incident of engine replacement in one case of my known person, but they didn't replace the whole car. Though exceptions are always there.

[saket77]

Gosh!

Just an hour back, I was reading about the Vento, the great test drive review by GTO as I liked the car. Its a beauty man. Though not right now, but I was 'dreaming' that Vento will be my next car and was showing the pitures of the white Vento to my wife too.

AND here comes your post...as a complete shocker! A new car stalling and then refusing to start. To top this horror, the service center is still unable to diagnose the cause?? This is simply unacceptable. Hope it's not another VW/ Skoda story in making.

I hope you get your car's problem rectified soon. & please keep us posted on the matter.

Good luck!
Regards,
Saket

[gaurav_chopra04]

Its unfortunate that VW Metropolitan Saket gave you 2 cars both of which have turned out to be problematic. I agree that experiences like these shatters your confidence in the brand (especially if you look up to one, German Engineering as we say.)

I had a bad experience with our polo when there was a problem and there was a compression leak in the engine just 8 months and 10k kms old. But the way VW and the service center VW West delhi handled the problem is to be appreciated. Its been over 2 years since the problem has been rectified and the car is performing nicely ever since (27k added since then). You can find more details here on my polo thread

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2161144

I never mailed VW for the problem I had with my car, but I did mail them twice on two different occasions when my friend's vento had issues. The first was regarding the hard clutch and the company immediately addressed the issue by changing a hose pipe. The second was when the vento met with an accident and was not repaired properly by the service center, which resulted in heating issues (that too 500 kms away from delhi in Dharamshala). Moreover, the self also went bust and the service center wanted to put the blame on my friend. On this instance too the customer service took action quickly and all repairs were done by VW and the car was handed over to my friend in 2 days.

I would say a strong mail to the customer services should definitely work.

I hope they solve the issue as soon as possible.

Gaurav

[HKap]

Have you considered approaching the consumer court? Its about time that these dealers realize that they can't play around with customers.

[ABerry]

Sorry to hear about this.
The VW Vento is a pretty decent vehicle from the VW stable. I suggest you to visit the VW West Service Centre or VW Noida Service Centre to take a second opinion. And also visit the VW Facebook page. They have feedback section, and you may put in detail the issue. I am sure VW will respond and act.

[revintup]

Are you sure the replacement car was a "Brand new car"?


Consider the following scenario -

* Two lemon cars available with the dealer, A and B.
* Both sold, A to Mr. X and B to Mr. Y.
* Both develop problems shortly after sale
* Dealer agrees to give a 'new' car in exchange for both A and B.
* Dealer repairs both A and B.
* Swaps the cars and re sells both; A to Mr Y and B to Mr X. The unsuspecting customers are satisfied with the dealers response.

* And now one of the lemons develop the same problem again.



Possible? Or do I have a weird mind filled with conspiracy theories?

Case in point - Some laptop replacements done by company are 'refurbished' laptops. While almost as good as new, it isnt brand new in any way.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by swami.n

ultimate aim should be reaching an agreement and not winning the argument.

Touché

I started the car in the morning, and took it out from my parking place. I had barely driven it for 30-40m, when the car’s engine stalled, and switched off on its own.

This could either be something small that the dealer isn't able to fix, or a severe mechanical issue. Does seem to me that the dealer is extremely incompetent. Neither does he have qualified staff members that know how to troubleshoot, nor does he realise the gravity of the situation (for the car owner).

As other members have suggested, your relative should get in touch with VW directly. Time for the company to step in.

Originally Posted by HKap

Have you considered approaching the consumer court?

Lets not jump the gun. First wait for the exact problem, see what kind of resolution VW / the dealer offers, then decide on taking matters to court.

[Panko]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

First thing which looks fishy in the whole case is that how can a dealers replace a sold car so easily, atleast I never heard such incident. If any issue cops up there in a brand new car, they won't be agree to replace the whole car since all the formalities are done and it has already been delivered, rather they will fix the issue. Doesn't matter how serious the issue is. I have even seen incident of engine replacement in one case of my known person, but they didn't replace the whole car. Though exceptions are always there.

Our Ford dealer had replaced Fiesta. So, it is possible!