[tweaker]

And here I was thinking that VW India has taken steps to improve the after sales service.

My 2012 Jetta TDI Manual went to PPS Motors Bangalore for a clutch replacement on 21/12/2018. I have an annual membership with Wheels Wisdom (which I think every VW owner should subscribe to btw) and they take care of the service liaisons for me. I had done extensive research on the internet and had come to know that there are two manufacturers who manufacture clutch kits and flywheels for the Jetta TDI viz. LUK and SACHS. From whatever research I had done, I knew that LUK was the more preferred manufacturer and often times significantly cheaper than SACHS and that the clutch assemblies can be swapped over easily if every component including the flywheel was replaced with the same manufacturer parts.

Since my car had covered 83,445 kms, I was pretty sure that most of my components would need replacement and the TOB had already started chattering away. Still, I was hopeful that the flywheel could still be salvaged and had decided to install whatever manufacturer clutch kit the car had if flywheel was deemed fit for use and switch over to LUK if everything needed replacement. I was told by the service advisor Mr. Rahul S.R. that the only way to figure out the installed clutch in the car would be to open up the transmission and physically check what is installed. This gave me some relief because what I had researched on the internet was true and confirmed that there really are two manufacturers who make the clutch for my vehicle.

After the transmission was opened up, the advisor told us (I and Wheels Wisdom) that the clutch installed in my car was manufactured by SACHS and that the car would need the flywheel replacement as well. As everything was going to need replacement, I asked the Wheels Wisdom guy to instruct the advisor to go ahead with LUK parts as the price difference between the two manufacturers is close to INR 20,000. LUK components would cost me around INR 85,000 and the SACHS components would cost around INR 105,000. This was basically a no brainer and as the car was at a VW authorized dealership, I was under the impression that there would be no issues with sourcing and installing the parts from LUK. The warranty Sr. Executive Mr. Vishnu Mohan had also confirmed that for my vehicle, clutches of two manufacturers were reflecting on ETKA.

Now here's the googly, after looking at the estimates and approving LUK parts to be ordered and installed, the service advisor makes a vague statement out of the blue that LUK parts will not be covered by warranty as SACHS has been originally installed on my car and the customer would be liable for anything that goes wrong after installation. I found this statement absurd because VW themselves have two manufacturers listed on their own parts sourcing tool and this statement can only mean that the service center is trying to milk almost INR 20,000 more from me by making such baseless comments. I asked Wheels Wisdom executives about this and even they were perplexed. WW did tell me though that I can still go ahead with LUK and they'll intervene if something truly goes wrong with the clutch even though they were confident that such an issue will not come up as even they trusted VW will install everything up to their standards. So, trusting my research and not falling for the absolutely baseless comments that the service advisor had made, I gave a go ahead for the clutch installation with LUK components. As per my confirmation, LUK clutch kit and flywheel were ordered. Along with this, the TOB and the master cylinder were replaced as well. Work was completed and the car was handed back to me on 04/01/2019. The final bill amount was INR 87,085.





After receiving the car, I went for a short test drive and noticed immediately that the transmission was making a faint humming noise every time I depressed the clutch. I could figure this out because I was driving the car with a chattering TOB for almost a year and was tuned to hear any noise coming from the transmission and clutch. I immediately informed WW about this and they conveyed this message to PPS Motors immediately. As the car was due for its periodic maintenance in about a month's time, I was asked to observe this sound till that time and report to WW if the problem still persists after about a thousand kilometers. And sure enough, the sound didn't go away. So on 20/02/2019, when my car was being taken away for its periodic service at about 85,387 kms, I asked the WW executive to get the clutch checked for abnormalities. The car was taken back to PPS motors and scheduled service was done. I was sent all the necessary photos during the servicing and it was done to my satisfaction.

After the servicing was done, PPS moved to the clutch checks. For almost a week, they had no conclusive answer as to what was wrong though they did acknowledge the fact that something is definitely wrong with the clutch. Around 01/03/2019, they blame the culprit to be the pressure plate and that one of the prongs is not working as expected. They claim to have sent over the part to the warranty manager who has denied warranty claim for the same as...the service advisor had already said that there will be no warranty on the installed components! Just that one statement made by the service advisor is now biting me back.

I sent the dealership an email requesting them to answer the following questions. I had also looped in VW India's customer care email ID.

1. The clutch has been deemed faulty since day one. So, either the dealership has done a sloppy job and not installed the components correctly which lead to their failure or a faulty part was installed on to my car in the first place. Why is the customer being held responsible for this and doesn't the warranty clause not even kick in if this is a product failure and has to be unconditionally replaced?

2. Does the dealership have any documented evidence or notice from VW India/Worldwide which says that work performed on the vehicle at an authorized dealership, using VW approved parts and installed by VW certified technicians is exempt from warranty because the customer asked for a different brand of VW approved part with the exact same part number?

3. When the warranty manager himself has confirmed that there are two approved manufacturers manufacturing the clutch components with the same part numbers for my vehicle, why is a vague sentence made by a service advisor of PPS motors with no documented evidence being upheld so much? What kind of a hierarchical superiority does the service advisor have over ETKA or VW defined warranty and parts norms?

4. Where were the parts sourced from? Since I had given my car to a VW authorized service station, I expect genuine parts to be used which have been ordered from VW themselves. And every part which VW sends is backed by a warranty, whether their service advisor likes it/knows it or not.

5. This is the line which the advisor drafted in the initial mails: “IF Luke inform customer that after fitment any issues customer Is responsible for the work due to instruction of customer we have attached the estimate of spares of Luke”. What exactly does this mean? Does this mean that “VW is going to install defective parts along with sloppy labor which will ensure that the product fails, and VW is not going to do anything about it?”

None of these questions were answered by either PPS Motors execs or VW India. VW simply forwarded my complaint (Ref no. CCR163068) back to PPS Motors and PPS motors GM, Mr. John Alvin Babu has simply given me one line answers stating that the hallowed service advisor had stated that warranty won't be applicable and hence a replacement will not be honored.

Both I and WW have tried everything we can to get some traction on this issue but to no avail. WW CEO Mr. Sandeep Menon personally gave me a call and assured me that they will do everything they can to get this resolved but as of now we are both hitting dead ends.

Am I expecting too much here after paying close to 87,000 INR to VW for a faultless clutch replacement? Should I really have paid attention to the service advisor's baseless warnings and let the dealership scam me of 20,000 rupees? Can VW simply disregard warranty and continue to install faulty parts like this? Would I have been better off getting everything done at a local FNG for half the price? These questions have started haunting me and all this while, my beloved car is still sitting at PPS motors. On one hand, VW is touting their 4 year warranty on new cars all over social media and on the other hand, here I am being made to pay the full price for a faulty product without any warranty whatsoever!

Any help from the forum would be greatly appreciated.

[ajmat]

Note from Moderator

Moving to Indian Car Dealership Thread

[GTO]

Extremely strange because of two things:

- The dealer actually agreeing to / offering two options for the clutch, both differently priced? This is the first time I've heard of that. LUK is a very good brand though. Had used it in my C220 too.

- Their refusing to fix it? It's an open and shut case. If they have sourced the parts & done the install, they have to fix it. Enough said.

Am going to send a link of this thread to VW. Hopefully someone intervenes & sorts things out for you.

[tweaker]

Thanks for the help GTO. I had a conference call with the GM of PPS Motors Mr. Alvin, VW Regional Manager South Mr. Suveer Koul and Wheels Wisdon Delivery Head Mr. Vinod Kumar on Saturday, 9 Mar 2019.

For the entire duration of the call which went on for about an hour, the only points which were being driven again and again by the Regional manager were the following:

1. Regional Manager (RM): The car came fitted with SACHS clutch components from factory. The customer insisted on getting the LUK parts fitted on the car. VW recommends parts from the same manufacturer to be replaced even though the ETKA software shows 2 different manufacturers for the clutch components.

Me: Why does VW's own parts sourcing software show 2 different manufacturers for my car's VIN? Do you have any evidence where VW has stated that VW will not honor warranty if customer goes with either of the manufacturers irrespective of which manufacturer's clutch came installed from factory?

2. RM: The clutch components are not interchangeable. He kept on giving me a hypothetical example wherein say a different brand of injector is installed by VW based on customer instruction and after a few days the engine starts giving problems. Who will be responsible for the issue? RM said that injector parts are not interchangeable and so is the case with clutch. There might also be a difference of a few microns in the driveshaft components and other parts in the engine (extremely vague) which ultimately lead to a clutch failure as the clutch components and not in sync with the rest of the drive train and engine components.

Me: If the injector was showing up in VW's parts sourcing tool for that car's VIN then VW will definitely be responsible for the engine giving problems due to the injector. Moreover, if all the clutch components (Flywheel, Clutch Plate, Pressure Plate, TOB) are changed to one brand the question of interchangeability doesn't come into picture. Interchangeability clause can come in if for example, I keep the flywheel of SACHS and change the clutch and pressure plate to LUK and in this case the customer would be definitely responsible for the failure. But I have changed every single clutch component on the car including all the nuts and bolts so the interchangeability clause is a moot one at best. The only component which was not changed is the transmission housing and that part is the same for all Jettas around the world irrespective of the manufacturer of the clutch components. I also told everyone on the call if they need me to send them a few internet links which indeed confirm that the clutch parts are interchangeable and has it has been done by VW customers all over the world.

3. Me: What is the guarantee that SACHS clutch system has been installed on my car from factory? My car has run about 85,000 kms and I am the second owner of the car. What if I tell you that LUK came installed from the factory (it didn't) and the previous owner changed it to SACHS when he wanted to change the clutch. In this case, isn't LUK the original manufacturer of the clutch components and hence warranty should any which ways be extended for my parts? Similarly, after a few years, when my car goes in for a clutch replacement again, what manufacturer will the dealer say is the one that will be eligible for warranty...LUK or SACHS, as when the dealer opened up the transmission, he found LUK components installed on my car.

RM: No answer.

5. Vinod: If VW had such a big issue with replacing parts from another manufacturer, why didn't VW just deny service to the customer? Why undertake the replacement and then deny warranty for your shoddy work and defective parts?

RM and GM: Why didn't WW deny service to the customer when we had clearly said that warranty won't be honored.

Me: VW is the one who did the replacement, not Wheels Wisdom. If VW had a problem with the replacement, it is VW which should have denied replacement. Both WW and myself are customers of VW and PPS motors. If VW has done the work, VW will be held responsible irrespective of what they write in mail without any evidence or documentation to back it up.

4. RM: We here at VW India blindly follow whatever we see on the cars. If there is a certain manufacturer component that is installed on the car and that needs replacement, we have instructed all of our workshops to blindly install components only from that manufacturer irrespective of what comes up on the ETKA software. We expect our customers to follow this protocol blindly as well.

Me: This is a ridiculous proposition from VW and not all customers are technically challenged. This is one of the reasons why VW is failing to get a hold in the Indian market. Nobody knows what is going on with their cars and if VW management is asking their workshops to blindly follow protocol, this is not going to get VW anywhere in India.

Bottom line is this, VW has flat out denied any warranty replacements in my situation, even after replacing my clutch parts with VW approved parts, in a VW authorized workshop and even when the components have been installed by VW technicians.

PPS Motors have diagnosed that there is a problem with the pressure plate and that few of the prongs are not working as expected. The puzzling bit here is that, they removed the entire assembly and refit it. And this time, the noise has gone away completely. This brings me back to the first two questions that I had asked PPS which they have vehemently denied since day one:

1. Either PPS has installed defective parts since day one and should be held responsible for the replacement.
This point is valid now since PPS has confirmed that there is definitely a problem with the pressure plate.

2. The parts were not installed correctly and PPS did a shoddy job of installing the clutch assembly which led to the failure/noise in the clutch.
Since, the noise has gone away after re-installation, this might also be the culprits which eventually led to the pressure plate failure.

As of now, I've managed to get my car out of PPS Motors and it is with me. Wheels Wisdom has stepped in and has offered me a clutch replacement free of cost (which is why I said in the first post that every VW owner should get a WW membership) as they are the ones taking care of all my service and replacement tasks and are taking responsibility of fixing everything up to keep their customers happy.

But I do not want WW to fix things for me. I want VW India to own up to their mistakes and fix things for me. I do want to say that I don't see a problem with the clutch as of now, but I do know for a fact that there's definitely some problem with the pressure plate which PPS themselves have acknowledged. And I do not want to drive around constantly thinking of clutch failure in the middle of nowhere and I want VW to fix this.

I also want VW to educate even their higher management that doing things blindly and expecting their customers to do the same is gross negligence at best and that they cannot take their customers for a ride by making such baseless and vague comments.