[HeavyFuelRun]

After a lot of research and soul searching, I decided to take the plunge and get myself a VW Polo GT TSI around November last year. And that machine has only made me happy since it has arrived

One of the biggest concerns on my mind during this process was some of the bad experiences other forum members have had when it comes to VW Service. I checked with someone who used to work at VW, and he assured me that internally VW India has made some changes and that they now focus on customer feedback/service experience.

Last week, I gave the car for its first check up (~7500 kms) and also needed to get some work on due to a stone on the road (see pics). The car needed a new wheel, tyre and paint job on door. All this was done, without any complaints, however what I found really heartening was the level of personalised service and attention I got from VW Downtown, Mumbai.

I have appended below the appreciation email i sent them.

My question to you, fellow team bhp'ians is, do you think VW Service has turned a corner? Have things improved for all of you?

Hi

I would like to thank Lalit and Salman for the wonderful work they have done on my car (VW Polo GT TSI - MH xx cc xxxx).

The car was damaged by a stone on the road and need replacement of wheel and tyre along with repainting of rear right door. When I brought the car to the service centre, I was promptly attended to. Lalit made sure car was lifted and checked for damage of any other kind, after which I was promptly advised on spare availability, Salman made sure I was given the right forms to fill and car was kept for inspection. The fact that all of this was done in my presence greatly helped me understand damage and repair that must be done.

I picked up the car on 05Mar15, and was very happy with the level of workmanship that has been displayed and service levels. Salman was available to address any queries or concerns though the process, and gave personalised attention before the car was handed back to me.

Would like to thank you once again.

Before I purchased a VW, I was afraid of the negative service reviews that one finds on review sites online. However, I must say that this experience has taken away any such fears from my mind. I have had cars from other companies in the past, however, the level of service I received from VW Downtown, surpassed past experience from other manufacturers.

Thanks!

Regards
xxxxx

[rpunwani]

I too have had good experiences with VW Downtown Service @ Sewree. We have a Polo & Passat, both bought in 2012.

The Polo has been through a paint job a couple of times & a engine mount replacement under warranty as well as two services. The Passat has been through two services and a Start/Stop button replacement and rear ABS Sensor replacements under warranty.

The only time I felt they were stressed was when they shut down their Lalbaug workshop and moved everything to Sewree.

[BackInTheFold]

I have a 2014 Jetta and am very happy with the VW service to date. I've a great dealer (VW Mysore) whose CEO/GM etc. are always available and eager to help. Since I'm based in Bangalore, they even put in a call at VW Whitefield (where I normally take my car for routine service) to ensure that I get good service.

I had a Skoda earlier. The general horror stories with that brand notwithstanding, I found that cultivating good relationships with the dealer folks ensured that I always had a pleasant ownership and service experience.

[Kumar R]

Bit Off topic -- Today while at Nariman Point I spotted a new VW Polo GT TSI Test Vehicle parked in front of Maker Chambers. While looking at the car the driver (and salesperson) returned and seeing my interest very courteously engaged in what I thought was a very informed discussion about the GT, the DSG transmission and modifications. He was quite pleasant and cheerful and showed no impatience even though he figured out right away that I already had a Polo (though not such a high end version). On being asked, he replied that he was a Hardik from VW Downtown, Mumbai.

[wysiwyg25]

I had given my car for service at VW Downtown Service center in Mumbai owned by Shaman Cars Pvt Ltd on 20th Jan 2017 as there was some rattling noise coming from underneath the car.

I was informed after initial test drive and analysis by the service center (Service advisor Roshan Chavan) that two rubber brackets under the car needed to be replaced and that should fix the issue. Total cost of the parts and labor was expected to be around Rs. 12k. I gave my go-ahead for the same. I was told it would take more than a day to finish the task - wondered why at that time but agreed to it.

I got a call the following day from the service advisor (or should we call them revenue generators) that although the parts had been replaced the under body noise was still existent and in further tests it was revealed that the Steering rack underneath which connects to the wheels needed to be replaced as well. By the way my car is a 2012 Passat with just 11k on the odometer (Dont drive it much). Oh and by the the cost of the replacement would be wait! Drumroll please!! Rs. 85,000. a whopping bloody 85k!! It will be done in a day if I give the go ahead.

I asked the service advisor to just send the car back and I will investigate it further as 85k seemed too much to spend on a very low mileage car.

The car was sent back the same day on Jan 21st 2017 and the problem for which the car had been sent to the workshop still existed.

Didn't drive the car much the following few days. Today at the suggestion of a relative I took the car to Pai Automobile on SV Road in Santacruz West. Mr Rahulbhai (a thorough gentleman I must say) took a test drive and agreed that there could be an issue with the Steering rack.

Took the car back to the shop and removed the two front tyres. Lo and behold what we discovered was that the VW service center had loosened the nuts connected the steering rack with both the front tyres and that was what was causing the rattling sound underneath while driving. I didn't know what to say beyond this.

I couldn't believe that a service center to stoop to such levels to generate revenue by endangering the life of others. I was supposed to take the car to Aamby tomorrow and might have taken it even with the rattling sound. Can't imagine the mishap possibility on the Mum-Pune expressway at high speeds.

On confronting the service advisor Roshan Chavan and his Supervisor Nazim about the issue they were apologetic which is a sure sign of admittance of malpractice - "Sir sorry mistake ho gaya phir se nahin hoga". I mean the nerve of these people is unnerving to say the least.

I would love to hear some feed back and next steps that should be taken in this case from forum members here who may have faced such issues in the past.

[diyguy]

Did you pay the 12k to change the rubber brackets?
This crap should be reported to VW senior management and am sure you will get contact emails/numbers from following posts.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by diyguy

Did you pay the 12k to change the rubber brackets?
This crap should be reported to VW senior management and am sure you will get contact emails/numbers from following posts.

Usual sort of story. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...e-settled.html has some names you can try reaching out to.

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Since you are a member of this forum, you would know that criminal malpractice from VW / other German marques is nothing new.

It's become boringly repertitive (take a look at the Merc story on the home page).

The problem lies with owners who BLINDLY trust German ASS's and give them the go ahead to repair their car despite reading so many stories on this forum.

It's similar to placing your wallet on the road side and then putting up a thread because someone stole it.

In the current day scenario servicing / repairing a German car is no more a case of handing over your car and asking ASS's to service / repair / remove rattles. Although manufacturers like you to believe otherwise.

If you do not want to be cheated again, your options are:

1. Increase your knowledge about your car and understand what could be wrong or get the ASS to confirm what is wrong and analyse if that is correct before giving the go ahead.

2. Identify a trusted FNG and get them to do the work for you.

3. Buy a Maruti or a Hyundai where trust / service quality levels are slightly better.

If not, expect a repeat of this scenario.

Don't bother escalating this to VW management, you're wasting your time. They have far more important work to do - like getting others to buy VW cars.

It isn't worth going to court either - unless you're prepared for an even bigger waste of time.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by wysiwyg25

I would love to hear some feed back and next steps that should be taken in this case from forum members here who may have faced such issues in the past.

I am trying to figure out what exactly happened and I have few questions:

1. Are you saying they fixed the rattling issue by replacing the 12k rubber mounts, but decided to make more money by loosening the nuts?

2. They should have returned the damaged rubber mounts, do they look like they needed replacement?

3. Was the noise different before and after the service visit? The noise coming from loose nuts should be different from noise coming due to worn out mounts.

4. Do they need to remove these nuts to replace the rubber mounts?

5. What is the dealer's version of the story?

Without being biased, I see two theories. They were hopelessly incompetent - they forgot to fully tighten the nuts after replacing the rubber mounts and made a wrong diagnosis during subsequent test drives. We do hear about cars being returned with loose lug nuts. Or they are big time cheats. I doubt anyone could be so incompetent so I suspect malice.

You should write a stinker to VW asking them to share what measures they would take to restore your trust. Don't write an FYI mail, set the expectation that you want to know what they do about it.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

It isn't worth going to court either - unless you're prepared for an even bigger waste of time.

If the OP has proof or has some documentation, then I should say, the time and $$$ should be worth it, but if not, better to avoid this and forget the episode.

The more I read about these Germans, the better it is. Have dissuaded few [including myself] to get a car from these hollow brands and will continue to do so.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by wysiwyg25

I couldn't believe that a service center to stoop to such levels to generate revenue by endangering the life of others. On confronting the service advisor Roshan Chavan and his Supervisor Nazim about the issue they were apologetic which is a sure sign of admittance of malpractice - "Sir sorry mistake ho gaya phir se nahin hoga". I mean the nerve of these people is unnerving to say the least.

VW already has a large essence of notoriety when it comes to service, incidents like these are perfect examples. The problem in India, when it comes to cars, is that people think the owners know nothing about their machines and can be bilked for whatever ridiculous amount possible in the name of unnecessary repairs and replacements. If the only issue was loose nuts connecting the steering rack, then even the rubber brackets @ Rs.12k were unnecessary. Amounts like these could've as well been given to charity than thugs in the name of service advisers.

Do you mean to say the nuts were somehow loosened in the previous service which led you to complain about the rattling noise? If so why did they even touch that area where there was no issue to begin with? A little more detail in terms of the core issue might help in understanding the exact motives of all the people involved.

As for suggestion, it goes without saying that the service station should be avoided completely from now, I won't say that you should write mails to the manufacturer because I've found that in India, doing that is utterly useless and the same dealership people will call you back to issue a uselessly formal apology (while cursing you in reality). Not sure if you can get a refund for the rubber brackets since they have provided you the new parts as promised, but that's between you and the dealership.

[poloman]

This looks like a case of gross incompetence rather than criminal malpractice. As pointed out the rattling sound due to loosened nuts will be completely different from that created by worn out rubber bushes. All nuts should be periodically tightened during service.
Also I am not sure if this is one of those nuts which are tightened or loosened during alignment checks.

[aargee]

Not just VW, but everyone!!

Sharing an incident with Maruti ASC when my car was around 40000 Km & I wasn't a member here then; I was at Cars India MASS & the service advisor told me to change the steering column. So I asked him why & what was the problem.

He gave a very simple answer - Maruti recommends changing steering column at 40000 Km & hence we're suggesting.

Damn!! I thought, asked him, what was the present issue with steering column (my mistake); for which he said, "sir, there's no problem for now, but something may or may not happen soon & if that happens & you're about to leave home or office, that's ok, but if it happens in the middle of nowhere, it's going to cause you & your family a lot of trouble"

Like they say, greed & fear are two weakness of human & that's how many of us are taken for a ride; here's how he precisely took me for a ride that day. I changed to a new steering column at 40K km for no reason.

Through the years I learned that every service advisor working from Tata to Tesla, have a sales target on them. They know upon whom, when & how they can put on their targets. For instance, if you're a customer who nags with million questions or a tech savvy, they warn you mildly on an issue; but we've to understand that, something major repair is under the way as they've applied a "fix" that's about to get loose. If you're a nice or sweet customer, then you're a very easy prey for them; talk to you sweet or even swap the OE parts.

Bottom line - No ASC is trustworthy be it Maruti, Hyundai or even Mercedes & that's precisely because all of them are run by third party (exception MSM) & they at some point start running it for greed & not for money.

[sgiitk]

I cannot but help commenting the Skoda and VW are the same animal. This is why I will not touch Audi with a bargepole either. As for Porsche that is beyond my thought. What this shows that my warnings to any friends looking at a VW family product had a sound underpinning.

Are they also not the crooks caught out doctoring the Diesel pollution tests?

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by wysiwyg25

Didn't drive the car much the following few days. Today at the suggestion of a relative I took the car to Pai Automobile on SV Road in Santacruz West. Mr Rahulbhai (a thorough gentleman I must say) took a test drive and agreed that there could be an issue with the Steering rack.

Though i am glad the issue got resolved but here is my experience with "Pai" automobile.

Moral of the story if the fix/repair is expensive always get a second opinion.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post3623867