[ajmat]

Manufacturer warranties for any consumer goods normally start from the date of delivery to the customer unless otherwise stated, right?

In the case of VW, maybe wrong, but in the case of Elite Motors and its erstwhile affiliate VW Downtown Bangalore, no way!

A colleague of mine asked me to look into the case of her friend’s Polo 1.6. It suffered from a waterpump failure and was given in to VW Rajajinagar for repair. The owner had bought the car on 9th December 2011. One would think that the warranty would be valid till December 8th 2013. Plese note the invoice below



VW Rajajinagar were unable to honour the warranty as the system stated that the warranty began sometime in April. They regretted that they could not do anything and suggested he contact the original dealer to correct things. The owner went to VW Downtown which has shutdown so he went to Elite Motors (the owner of VW Downtown). They refused to take any action claiming “The warranty begins when the cars are invoiced to Elite Motors”

We now have the following possibilities

1: Elite Motors made an error in entering information into the system. If this was an error, it can be inferred that they would have made an attempt tp correct this.

2: Elite Motors have sold the hapless owner a May 2011 car in December 2011. The owner might or might not be aware about this but if you refer to the warranty booklet, it clearly states otherwise. Another inference is that this car might be a cancelled last minute order or even a demo car sold as new (this could be verified on the odometer or ECU reading).

The warranty booklet clearly states the terms of the warranty as below:



The owner has contacted VW and received a complaint number and not much else so far. Although one can clearly highlight that Elite Motors have erred, Volkswagen’s reputation and brand are still at the mercy of substandard dealers. Remember my travails over below?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...epair-job.html

[abishek2222]

Originally Posted by ajmat

They refused to take any action claiming “The warranty begins when the cars are invoiced to Elite Motors”

Something is clearing wrong somewhere undoubtedly. Even if the car is invoiced to elite motors 6 months prior, there must the plenty if cars sitting in stockyards for a few months before being registered and sold to buyers definitely these cars get the full two years of warranty. Something fishy here seems more to lean into your demo car theory.

[bigben]

I don't understand the deal here. Why is it that the VW group do not change parts under warranty?
AFAIK When it comes to TATA motors National Insurance provides them with the extended warranty. It works like an insurance. So when parts fail, as long as the change is justified...they change it ever so willingly...no questions asked.

[ajmat]

I am given to understand that within 30 min of posting this, VW contacted the dealer and ordered him to engage with the owner. Will update when I get more information

[shankar.balan]

Well done! These errant dealers need to be publicly flogged and made an example of!

[csateesh]

Originally Posted by ajmat

I am given to understand that within 30 min of posting this, VW contacted the dealer and ordered him to engage with the owner. Will update when I get more information

Good to see VW acting on it. Hope this is settled amicably. Hate it when end customers are short changed with no legal protection :-(

[Warwithwheels]

This is downright ridiculous. Please don't waste time haggling with the dealer level front office folks. Engage the Top brass ASAP. Hope the vehicle owner gets the justice.

Originally Posted by ajmat

I am given to understand that within 30 min of posting this, VW contacted the dealer and ordered him to engage with the owner. Will update when I get more information

Looks like VW is hooked to TBHP 24X7

[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by ajmat

I am given to understand that within 30 min of posting this, VW contacted the dealer and ordered him to engage with the owner. Will update when I get more information

Vow. If not anything VW is atleast hooked on to the right forum. The power of Team BHP. Going back to VW,they surely must have have audit trails for their warranties?or do they choose to keep quite?

[y448]

My understanding was that the manufacturer pays the dealer for warranty related repairs.
If that is true why would a dealer be reluctant to do the repair and get the money?

[Vid6639]

I don't get it how did a Dec 2011 bought car get invoiced in May?

My theory is the last minute deal. Someone might have ordered the car and cancelled the deal at the last minute. Maybe even cancelled because they found something wrong in the car. Dealer then palmed it off to another owner after a few months but forgot to correct the invoicing in the system.

[speedsatya]

If I am not mistaken Dakshin Honda is also a part of the Elite group of dealerships. I am not surprised at all. They are easily one of the worst in Bangalore

[honeybee]

Not sure about the exact legal jargon, but the warranty coverage must and should start from the date the customer took possession of the car, at worst from the date the car was invoiced to the customer.

When the car was invoiced to the dealer simply doesn't matter.

[shinuak]

Once again the Volkswagen / Skoda stable proves to be a Augean stable. We indeed literally need a Herculean effort to clean it up. It is a good thing that they finally took notice and is doing something about it. But in the first place why do they need to put a customer through such experience for his mistake of buying a car from them. Everyone buys cars for a pleasurable experience with peace if mind and not to run behind the dealer and company to escalate , raise their BP and then solve their issues. As mentioned in another post the company's policy, attitude, friendliness etc is experienced through the dealers and they should ensure that such thugs should not operate, if VW wants to keep their image clean. This kind of stories actually puts off prospective customers.

[ajmat]

Latest update

Owner emailed me to say that in a dramatic reversal of events, Elite Motors have asked him for his invoice and warranty booklet in order to make the corrections and to get the repairs approved.

He felt Bangalore Motors should have been more forthcoming and reported this issue to VW and ensure VW resolved it instead of throwing it back on him to run around.

I told him, it is not over till he gets his car back. I have asked him to check whether the ECU mileage reading correlates with the speedo reading.

[poloman]

The damage inflicted on VW brand by showrooms like VW downtown Bangalore is enormous and irreversible. At least better sense prevailed and they closed down this joke of a dealer. But looks like the parent Elite motors has still not learnt any lessons and continues to hoodwink customers.

The VW dealership experience in Bangalore continues to be average to pathetic.