[Mechano]

Thought I'd post this here so it might help others prior to purchasing a VW.

I have a 2010 MKV Jetta. It's a great car and really an enjoyable drive.

Sadly I feel VW cars are not as reliable as they appear. My car may be 7 years old, but it has hardly run 45,000kms. Service has been done only at authorized dealerships.

I have visited the service center numerous times during ownership. Mechanical and electrical issues - ABS sensor failure (more than I can remember), fuel pump failure.
The interior roof lining came off once - fixed, door panel leather has started peeling off too - haven't bothered.

A very expensive affair throughout, I assure you. But issues can happen - and I held on the car.

However, recently I had an experience that has demolished my faith in the brand.

On the road I had just climbed to the apex of a bridge and was on the descent slope when I wanted to change the gear from third to fourth. It slotted out of third and then the lever just went limp. The shifting mechanism had disconnected from the gearbox and there I was stuck in neutral. Luckily I was not in the midst of an overtaking maneuver.
I coasted the car to a safe spot without incident.

At the service station, when I asked why this occurred, I told it was "wear and tear" and such things can happen. They also told me they don't check these components and they can fail at any time. I was livid. I know issues can crop up but this was a critical component of the car whose failure could have been fatal. Brakes, engines, transmission or steering failures should be unacceptable. Why bother servicing at an authorized outlet then?

Frankly I could have died with this incident.Curiously enough after getting it fixed they would not certify the car is safe. Read what you sign when you take delivery after servicing. It usually states that YOU are satisfied and nowhere does it give any assurance.

For a company that brags "German engineering" and do not hesitate to charge a premium for this - it is shameful.

So for potential buyers, take it from someone who has spent 7 years dealing with VW. Don't bother. VW reliability ratings are not as great as they'd like you to believe. Even if their cars are engineered well, they are not engineered with our country in mind. Their parts are expensive and take time to arrive.

And while less "premium" brands might try to appease you with prompt service - VW does not bother. (but this might be a dealer specific issue)

I've decided to sell the car for what it's worth. Just wanted my story out there.

[Ferrariwell]

Vw has almost become a hallmark for lack lustre after sales service all their complaints calls get forwarded to the dealers anyway whom the complaints are against in the first place and no concrete solution is every obtained from them. Here is my experience with them thus far

Experience 1
Around June last year I wanted shock absorbers for my Polo a 2011 model Polo 1.6 but vw couldn’t procure the ones that were fitted on the car but instead were offering me ones that are fitted to later model cars. Many many 1.6 owners and older Polo and vento owners have complained about these shock absorbers making their ride more floaty making the handling worse inspite of explaining this to them and telling them that I didn’t mind waiting even for a few weeks they blankly said it was not possible to source these parts. This is a car that is only 6 years old and newer models of the same car are still very much produced by them I can only imagine what it would be like owning & sourcing parts for this car for the next six years with this kind of shabby service.

Scenario 2
This was with our other vw product A 2014 vw vento some time in end of 2016. The car had just gone out of warranty. I had booked an appointment for what I recall was the 3rd service for 11am and reached there maybe around 11:15 upon reaching there I just sat there for about an hour until an SA came and attended me he took the car in and for almost another hour it just sat with no work done to it. This made me furious as this was our only car at the time and my mother who primarily uses this car is a doctor and can’t do without the car for long. I had made them aware of this fact yet they were taking their own time. I made the SA aware of this and he told me it was now lunch time and there was nothing he could do so for 3 hours my car just sat there doing nothing with no work even started. This would still be understandable if I had just walked in but I had taken an appointment almost a week ago. He also came back with various faults such as clutch wear steering rack failure suspension failure and an estimate of around 85,000 rupees. I quickly denied all these problems to which they gave me standard reply stating that any of these parts could go anytime. The battery lasted me 1.5 years more my car has since done 30k kms more and my clutch only just staring to go and my steering rack is absolutely fine. I never went back to that particular dealer again.

Scenario 3
The latest one that happened today 19th January 2018. My polos head light switch had broken and I needed to get it fixed. I had called Vw mangalore (Bharath cars) on 10/01/2018 and they had told me the switch was available and it was for 6500rs I obviously found that steep but where I’m situated now in Udupi/manipal region there’s absolutely no one that I know off who can manage repairing Vw cars + the broken switch was stuck and refused to come out it took me a few days to gather the money and I called them yesterday asking to book an appointment for 2pm. Again for almost half an hour after reaching I was just sitting in the lounge until an SA came to get me. They again took 2 hours to fix what was a straightforward job and this time I stood right beside of the car the whole time inspite of constant nagging by SAs saying customers are not allowed to stand in the service bay-area ( come on Vw where the transparency if you don’t allow customers to watch their own cars get serviced). This workshop though the biggest Vw workshop I’ve ever been to didn’t have a customer lounge facing the service bay either like the other ones. The SA after the job was done around 4o clock quoted me a whopping 8458rs which included 260rs as labour TO REMOVE A SWITCH! Now I know it’s a difference of 2000rs but think of it from my perspective I’m a student studying in a completely different state & city from my Home they had quoted me 6500rs just a week back (10/1/2018) so I had gone to them with merely 500rs more which I had kept to get lunch later. I instantly told them quite frankly that this absolutely unacceptable and that 8500 rupees for a simple switch was absolutely bizarre and that I would like to see the service manager pronto. The SA came back to me with a story on how the prices were changed on the 10th of jan ( the very day I had asked about the switch for the headlight). I refused to accept this and the SA gave me the service managers no and stated he was traveling as expected the service manager didn’t answer the phone nor has he bothered to call back since. The other solution the SA gave me was to remove the part and give me the car (this actually felt like a black mail). After almost 45 minutes of waiting during which I typed 90% of this post someone from the customer relation department stepped in and tried his best at sweet talking and agreed to drop the labour charges citing that nothing can be done now as the bill had been made etc etc he even refused to show me when the prices were changed and refused to give me in writing that something like this had even happened he infact ‘gave me advice’ that I should’ve double checked the ‘today price’ to which I told him that the SA should’ve told me the cost before taking the car in. My mother had to leave all her work and run to the bank and put some money in my debit card while all this was going on. In the end after another hour at around 6pm I was tired of their un-ending rubbish logic and just gave up I told them quite blankly that I would not sign the customer satisfaction form nor would I ever come to them again for even the smallest work. They were beaming when I told them that sadly I didn’t have The call on record when I was quoted 6500rs (Has Vw really been reduced to this level where we have to record each and every conservation of theirs ?). All they did in the end was send me an apology email and drop the ‘labour charges’ (270₹)
They even gave me an excuse stating that the representative I had spoken to has now left the organisation which I again found strange as I had called the same phone no to book my visit the previous day which was registered.
I’m not annoyed at the fact that the switch cost so much I would’ve still bought it anyway in this situation but they should’ve told me what it costs at the very beginning so that I could go prepared or just admitted their fault instead of playing such blame games and making such petty excuses.

These are just 3 of the countless bad experiences we’ve had with Vw and it’s counterpart skoda.

Verdict
I have never ever in my almost 5 years of VW ownership walked out of a dealership happy or not feeling cheated and ripped off. Their cars though finicky are absolutely brilliant to drive especially long distance. But I’m sad to report that our next car will not be a Volkswagen or even a Volkswagen product we’ve been loyal customers for 10 years now but it’s high time for a change. Nor would I recommend anyone I know to ever make the mistake of buying a VW product Audi Skoda VW are all feathers of the same bird.

As for the fate of our current VW products my Polo is my first car and while I don’t have the heart to sell it I won’t deny that the thought has crossed my mind a few times. As for our vento it’s fait is sealed.

[Theyota]

Most dealers who are selling cars for companies that have low volumes are losing money due to wrong business model. They end up trying to rip off customers in after sales services to make up for these losses.

Unfortunately owning real estate on a prime road still seems to be primary criteria in allocating dealerships. When these dealers end up selling only 20-30 cars a month after investing 5-10 crores in a dealership (a lot of which is borrowed on high interest rates), they are not going to make money and they resort to such unethical practices. As long as this business model continues to exist, such dealers will continue to exist.

The OEMs have a role in bringing the investment needed in opening a dealership down and selecting the right kind of dealers.

[Nissan1180]

The level of deceit being practised by VW in India is frightening. Many years back, an MBA student once told me that VW was an aspirational brand, while Maruti or Tata were not. So VW products would continue to sell, irrespective of service quality. I hope he was wrong. In any other country, the media would have buried the company. Here, almost no auto magazine reports issues of the sort described here. Sad to see people still falling for them.
I somehow think that this perception affects the resale value. You can get a WagonR and a Polo of a similar vintage for almost the same price. A Vento costs less than a Dzire. This is really sad, because the products are competent but the people selling them are not.

[Ferrariwell]

I forgot to mention that While I was there the customer representative just decided to assume on his own that I had inquired about the switch in dec 2017 which is not possible at all since the car and I both were in Bombay at that time and it was driven through the night to manipal on the 9th of January which would be impossible without a headlight switch they constantly kept trying to put words in my mouth and had a prompt excuse for every problem.

UPDATE

I tried to lodge a complaint yesterday I also did send an angry tweet to the vw India page the moment this happens on Friday and they promised a call back after I gave them my details it’s been 3 days now and nothing has come out it yet the helpline guys are saying that the department that handles their complaints against service is closed since it’s a Saturday. This is honestly sad as even all VW dealerships and anything relating to a buying a new vw is open 7 days a week which clearly shows vw is not really bothered once you’ve bought the car. All they’ve done is give me a complaint no and promised a call back which hasn’t come yet. The service manager from the dealership continues to not answer his phone and neither call back i can’t help but feel helpless and cheated In a situation like this. The customer relation manager sent a sorry email but refused to give me anything in writing stating when the part cost was changed he even gave me lane reason stating that he can’t use a vw letterhead as that serves as proof in court. If the part cost was actually changed in the time between when I went there and when I had called why can’t they give it to me in writing or show me any proof? Infact they even gave me 2 different dates at various point of time regarding when the price change happened the SA told me on it was on the very day that I called that is on 10/01/2018 and the CR head told me it was the 1st of January 2018 and kept trying to tell me that I might have called in 2017 (which is absolutely not possible as the car was in Mumbai in 2017 I have till bills with the reg No to prove this)

The email received from the customer head at vw Mangalore and the mail received from vw India including the complaint no are attached below.

[vredesbyrd]

Haha. Look where we are now. 8 years and they don't have a modicum of shame. Zac Hollis can't fix everything, even though he's trying to. For that, you'll have to destroy every dealership, fire everyone and start afresh like they were entering a new country. 2 years of ownership and I am crying rivers of blood. Not just that, even FNGs don't get parts easily while you can fix a damn Audi/VW from 2008 in a matter of days.

[gus]

So many VW owners and not a single one with a happy ownership experience. Is the VW management smokingn weed ?? or they just dont give a dime of what their customers think?
I would have loved to ride a VW for the build and fit and finish and the ride quality but not at the expense of my peace of mind. I am inherently lazy and visiting the service center now and then is just going to blow my fuse out.

Sometimes I wonder what are the people running VW do all day ? do they ever wonder why their sales volume are so low here in India or why the japenese and the koreans have either overtaken them or are on their heels in almost every market they sell cars.

Why VW why ??

Maybe they should hire a japenese or a korean or even an Indian to run their show for better results....

[oldmonk85]

The horror stories of VW After sales continue. This time around it is about how irresponsible they are about a simple check up despite of specifically asking for it.
I was looking for a pre worshipped Volkswagen Vento for a while and I found one on olx. Before purchasing I took an appointment for a paid general check up of the vehicle with Apple Auto Volkswagen, Whitefield Bangalore.
At the service center, the service engineer was friendly and I have no complaints about the behavior of the service engineer. However the quality of the check up is at question. He kept telling me that the check up will be done in just an hour or hour and half but I never said that I was in a hurry. He seemed to be in a hurry of some sorts.
The the service guy gladly told me that there are very minor issues with the vehicle. He reported a small lose suspension cap, a rat hole in the bonnet mat, some broken ac vents and a damaged rear dome light. Most of these (except the suspension cap) are visible to anyone. There were other things like a broken arm rest and a broken knob of the music system which was also pretty obvious but were missed by the engineer. I really don't have a complaint on this though.
The thing that gets me furious is that the vehicle apparently has some steering rack issue which was mentioned in the previous service history (from another VW service center) and the Apple Auto service engineer did not report that despite of explicitly asking to check the service history.
Based on the report given to me from Apple Volkswagen I went ahead and purchased the vehicle. Now when I go back to Apple Volkswagen for an add on warranty they are telling me that there is an issue with the steering rack mentioned in the history and hence that will not be covered under warranty.
I am furious because their two departments are giving two different versions of the same component. Their own engineer did not find a fault
There is a serious doubt on the capability in identifying issues because now that I own the car I can feel the issue myself. The worst is this issue was already mentioned in the service records and was not checked despite of asking to check the records.
I have emailed Volkswagen Customer service regarding this and they had forwarded the issue to Apple Volkswagen who are not willing to accept their mistake. I am having emails back and forth with the customer relationship of Apple Volkswagen and I have included Volkswagen customer service.
I would like to hold them accountable for the mis information.
I am keeping the thread of emails open with Volkswagen until I get some reasonable resolution.
Any idea how this issue can be escalated further ? Any email ids I can include in the email threads ?
I am looking for opinions from others who have been battling with Volkswagen after sales horror stories.

[androdev]

I doubt they will agree to cover the steering issue. Pre purchase check up by their tech is just a courtesy service and it does not carry any sort of assurance. Maybe you could have asked the previous owner to buy the warranty (obviously to be paid by you) as a precondition to make the purchase. Sorry, I wish I could give more helpful suggestion and hope they consider your request favorably.

[BackInTheFold]

Originally Posted by oldmonk85

I would like to hold them accountable for the mis information.
I am keeping the thread of emails open with Volkswagen until I get some reasonable resolution.
Any idea how this issue can be escalated further ? Any email ids I can include in the email threads ?
I am looking for opinions from others who have been battling with Volkswagen after sales horror stories.

While I understand your justifiable anger about their incompetence, I doubt your ability to hold Apple Auto accountable for the results of a vehicle inspection. In retrospect, asking for the extended warranty quote while the car was getting inspected might have brought the issue up automatically.
In any case, if you intend to now sort the issue out, my two cents would be to take it to a reliable FNG and move on.

[oldmonk85]

Originally Posted by BackInTheFold

While I understand your justifiable anger about their incompetence, I doubt your ability to hold Apple Auto accountable for the results of a vehicle inspection. In retrospect, asking for the extended warranty quote while the car was getting inspected might have brought the issue up automatically.
In any case, if you intend to now sort the issue out, my two cents would be to take it to a reliable FNG and move on.

My frustration doesn't really come from their incompetence (human error is possible) but rather from the fact that despite of explicitly asking to check the history the engineer came back saying there was no issue. I did ask for the quote for the add on warranty, the same engineer gave me a value and said the whole procedure would take 20-25 days. I agree there is not much I can do now. Any good FNG in Bangalore for Volkswagen cars ?

[BackInTheFold]

Originally Posted by oldmonk85

Any good FNG in Bangalore for Volkswagen cars ?

Maybe look in the TBHP directory to find one near you? A few options below:
I recollect Carsmith being mentioned as competent though I've never used their services. Krithi car care, which is a highly rated PPF shop, apparently also has a multi brand service outlet.

I have worked a couple of times with Yes Motor, a Bosch service outlet in Whitefield and found them reasonably competent.

[Raja Rakesh]

I can feel your pain regarding the attitude of apple auto’s ways of conducting business. I have bought my polo in 2013 from them and had lot of trouble explaining small issues which they could easily catch during periodic inspection or getting the issues fixed by them. Never got even 30% satisfaction on the service they did over the years on my car. Waste if time and money going there, no satisfaction, headache and frustration are a added bonus.

[igemini]

I never thought I will write something like at least this early. This was actually an eye-opener for me and I will also hope this may help someone who really considering purchasing a VW car in India. Probably that's applicable to Skoda cars in India as well.

I'm a big fan of VW cars globally and my favourite among them was the Golf GTI Mark 6. Though I wasn't able to own a Golf GTI, while I was in Malaysia, I was fortunate enough to own a used 2011 MK6 VW Golf 1.4 TSI DSG from 2012 to 2017. I pretty much used the car for around 70k Kms if I remember correctly. I never faced any issues with the ABS sensors, DSG etc. Apart from the regular service and a set of tyre changes the car never ever visited any service centre. Not even a scratch when I sold that in 2017, due to my return to India. My office also had a VW Passat and my friends there owned Jetta, Scirocco etc. some of them had the infamous DSG issues. So I am a well-informed customer but little I knew about the scenario in India.

I came to India by end of 2017 hoping that I will return in 6-7 months and at that time we bought a Tata Tiago 2017 XZ Petrol as most of the usage was within the city limits. That was a no-nonsense car it served me well for 3 years and 26000kms without any repairs/maintenance other than scheduled services. The car was in a showroom condition when I part ways with it.

As my stay in India prolonged unexpectedly and pretty much decided to continue here. My usage climbed up and due to some minor accident happened at home, my back and left knee developed some problems and I was desperately in need of an automatic car.

My budget was around 15 lakhs INR and I did test drove almost every single car under 20 lakhs bracket and decided to purchase a Polo GT / Vento. Since I don't travel a lot on highways and the primary use will be in a city, thought of purchasing the Polo instead of Vento. Booked the Polo GT in March 2020. There were many dramas involved and I ended up changing 3 dealers and finally got the Polo GT on Jan 10, 2021.

Everything seems good till the first week of Dec 2021. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5207848 (Volkswagen Polo 1.0L TSI : Official Review)

On Dec 02, 2021, after a drive, I noticed some grinding noise and I knew something was not right. Soon enough I have seen the ABS sensor warning on my instrument cluster. At that point, my car was 10 months old and 4890 km on the ODO. I did contact the VW service team at they have told me casually the sensor has gone, now we have those in stock so please bring the car when I can. I brought the car on the very next day and they informed me that they will need to hold the car for at least 2 days for the warranty claim. Since the annual service also coming up in under a month, they advised to bring the car the next week so that they can do the annual service as well as the ABS sensor replacement. Assuring me that it is safe to drive the car till then.

First ABS Warning


As agreed, I brought the car to the service centre on the 10th of Dec 2021 for the first annual service along with the ABS sensor replacement. I have been told, they will release the car on the 11th of Dec 2021 after finishing the warranty claim formalities. As agreed, I got the car back on 11th Dec 2021. I have been told that the Front Right Wheel sensor had the issue and it has been replaced with the new sensor from Belgium. They delivered the car around 7 pm and during that time the electricity at the service centre was off and all their staffs were rushing to go home. So, I took delivery of the car and drove back home.

Service Proof


After I reach home, I did a thorough inspection and I found out all my 4 alloy wheels were deeply scratched due to the carelessness of the technicians who carried out the work. One of the alloy wheels had minor permanent damage due to some sort of hammering with some heavy objects like a spanner. I also found that at the underbody, at the jacking point the paint was peeled off due to rough handling of the jack and the metal was exposed to 2-3 inches. Do note that when I gave the car for service, the car, as well as the alloy wheels, were spotless without a single scratch/dent.

I immediately sent a text message to the service advisor to which he did not even acknowledged after reading. On Dec 12th I made a call to VW India customer service and report about this. They said they will do something to rectify this within 48 hrs. By then I buffed the wheels and did some minor repair to the impacted wheel so that it looks better.

Dec 13th, I got a call from the VW service centre at Cochin and they were literally told me like this.
“IF the car was damaged by us then we apologize and we will try to rectify it”. “But we don’t know IF that was caused by our team or if it was already there.” I was not interested to continue the conversation and mentioned that I will live with it. Soon after I got a call from their so-called Service Manager and his resolution was, please send the car and we will repaint the alloy wheel and will do some touch up on the underbody jacking area. I rejected the option to paint the alloy wheels and told him that when I am free I will bring the car for an underbody touch up as I am concerned it may get rusted. His reaction was EPIC. His claim is that the alloy wheel damage is so minor and the underbody jacking point is meant to have exposed metal. I felt it was wise not to argue with such people who don’t show ownership of their mistakes. And I call it a day.

Second ABS Warning


Dec 14th morning, I drove the car and the ABS sensor warning light lit up once again with the grinding noise from the brake pedal. I called up the service centre again and their reaction was not welcoming. Thus I thought of calling the other VW service centre at Kochi and explained the situation. The guys over the phone were very accommodating and mentioned that as per VW policy we can replace all the sensors under warranty and we can give the appointment only on 22nd Dec.

Do note that my earlier service centre never even acknowledged all the sensors can be replaced, even after I asked for it.

As I had a family trip planned on 21st Dec, I had requested for an early appointment but no luck and they also told me that due to Christmas, they may have a holiday on 24th afternoon onwards. Even though the work may take only 2-3 hrs, if VW India cannot approve the claim early, then the delivery of the car may get delayed and can prolong till 26th Dec even. That’s another cause of concern as I have another family trip planned for 24th till 26th Dec.

I called up VW India on 19th Dec and raised this and requested them to expedite the warranty claim. As usual, the 48 hrs turnaround time was offered. Nothing happened on the 20th, so I called up again and requested the update. They assured me of a call back soon and assured me to speak to the new service centre to expedite the process. I called up the service centre CRM and requested for early delivery based on my communication with VW India and I have been told no such communication came from VW and politely informed the car can be delivered earliest by 23rd Dec.

Again, I made a call to VW India CS on 21st Dec and they assured to get me a call back from their senior official before 1600 hrs. As usual, nothing happened. I called again around 1630 hrs to find out, same lame excuses.

Today 22nd Dec 2021. I went to the new service centre and gave the car. Asked for the sensor replacement and touch up at the underbody. Below are their responses.
- We cannot guarantee if this sensor will fail again quickly.
- We cannot offer touch up as VW don’t have any such options. Unless I want to repaint/underbody coatings. No word about the possible corrosion occurrence.
- We cannot give the car today it can be given tomorrow only
- We cannot give any special care to the car, we can only follow VW India’s instructions to remove the tyres and cannot guarantee any underbody damage. That may or may not happen.
- We will try to expedite and not to give you any nasty surprises.

Only time can tell how these replacements will turn out. I will certainly keep that posted here.

Even today I called up VW India CS and asked for a speedy warranty claim process and insisted to give me an assurance that the car will not get any new damages, unlike the previous service. In response, they literally told me that we can give the car by 24th latest. What a bunch of jokers. We ask for something and we got answers for something else. They certainly take their customers for granted, I am convinced.


I love VW cars no matter what. But these recent happenings made me realise why I should have avoided purchasing a VW car in India. As I said in the beginning, I purchased a VW in India mainly because of the trouble-free ownership I had while I was abroad. I was also expecting to visit the service centre only once a year or twice at max. Also considered S A F E T Y and their fun to drive nature. Speaking of safety, while I was coming back today from the service centre, I was in a UBER and due to his reckless driving the cab almost crashed and that gave me a shock of my life and a strong wake-up call. I feel like I should have bought an Espresso instead of the Polo if you know what I am talking about.

You can own a safe car but due to the incapable service and frequent part failures, that too on a brand-new car, you’ll end up with no safety of what it supposed to offer. Additionally, you’ll get the added benefit of U-S-E-L-E-S-S customer support with the service centres that are bound to damage the car!

Very bittering experience and I truly REGRET choosing a VW car in India. I may still love their cars but their Customer Service and Dealers, as well as Aftersales, are nothing but a joke!

I advocate strongly to my sister to purchase a VW Taigun over Kushaq and the Korean twins. The first thing I did after reaching home was to call her up and tell her my ordeal and requested her to CANCEL the booking of their Taigun 1.5 DSG model and ask to look for the Korean twins.


I believe that if a dealer is bad, then that shouldn’t be the only reason to shy away from that car/brand. That’s why I changed 3 dealers and still bought the car. But what I learnt so far, all are the same. Let it be sales/service. Below par in all manners. Considering these guys, the infamous TATA service seems like an exceptionally high-quality one for me.

German cars, my foot. This is all CRAP don’t fall for these. They sell cars in India with substandard parts for sure. With compromised aftersales quality and with zero customer support.

VW India, no wonder you don’t even cross 2-3% of the market share in India. Your team sucks big time and the after-sales are headed by visionless thugs. Probably never a VW again. I had enough! That too this early.

It may sound like a rant but I thought of sharing it here.