In December 2010 my Father in Law (FIL) took posession of a VW Beetle from Tornado Motors. See Bills attached.
Upon delivery it was found that the Beetle's audio system Aux-in connector (for ipods) was missing. We knew if we asked questions VW would use the boiler plate clause that states that "
Specifications are subject to change without notice" so we ignored this.
One week after delivery there was a noise from the rear that was traced to the rear spolier which had come loose so a week or so later the car was taken to the service center to get this fixed. When my brother in law (FIL's son) went to pick up the car he noticed that
- Customised Racing stripes (red, white and green) were torn (even though it was explained to the service manager that these racing stripes need to be taken care of)
- 2 large brown stains were found on the tan fabric upholstery, when this was shown to them the service center tried to clean it but in the process they added 4 smaller blue stains to the seat fabric.
After some persuasion Tornado Motors fixed the racing stripes but were unable to clean the upholstery. Their efforts in cleaning it only made the stains worse.
In the month of October 2011 the steering started to wobble/shake under braking. This wobble/shake got progressively worse and when it got really bad in December 2011 my FIL reported the same to VW-Tornado's service Manager Mr. Milind Kuwalekar and their Service Advisor Mr. Prashant Dalvi.
When the car was taken to the Service center they inspected the car and told me that the brake pads were rusted and they would be cleaned and returned. At this point my BIL (brother in law) instructed all the service personnel present to take care of and not to damage the new Racing Stripes.
After this for the next 4 days they (BIL/FIL) got no reply from the service center. When they called the service center they were informed that the brake pads and the
brake discs (both front and rear) need to be replaced and that the parts would be available in 3-4 days. After this call they called the service center regularly and was told that the parts would arrive in 3-4 days.
2 weeks later (the car was still with the service center) upon pressing the service center for a date of delivery they tell me that the parts would take
2 more weeks to arrive and that they can pick up the car and use it till the brake parts arrive.
When they went to pick up the car they noticed that the Racing stripes have been damaged again! It is obvious that the personnel in the service center don't listen or care about their customer's cars.
A few days ago they receive an email from Mr. Prahsant Dalvi of VW-Tornado along with a quote (See Spreadsheet attached) for new
disc brakes and brake pads for the
front and rear brakes. I was very surprised. They cannot believe that VW would charge a customer for a defect that should be covered under warranty. Mr. Dalvi's contention is that the wobble is due to
rust on the disc brakes. This does not make sense.
While living at his current residence, my FIL and BIL have owned an Audi and a Maruti Swift in the past and neither of these cars have ever had any such issue. Even today my wife's 2nd car (an Opel Sail 1.6) is parked at their residence and although it is seldom used it does not have issues with rust on the disc brakes.
It is well known that that minor rust on a brake disc is normal and is easily resolved with light sanding of the discs. There are many other cars also parked in the same building many of which are less used than this Beetle and the other cars have never faced this problem.
Hence it is obvious the dealer is not equipped to handle this issue. They have not correctly diagnosed the problem as a wobble during braking cannot be from minor rust that could occur in 10 months of light in-city use (5000-6000 km).
When my FIL and BIL reported this to me my diagnosis was that the wobble is most probably due to any/all of the factors below:
- Wheel Alignment
- A Warp in the disc brakes (which should not happen to a lightly used car in less than 10 months)
- Uneven wear on the brake shoes
My FIL and BIL suspect that they have been sold the demo car as VW-Tornado had only 1 blue Beetle which conveniently is not available for test drives after they took delivery of their car.
Attempts to contact any senior management at VW (Chakkan) have gone unanswered. A docket containing all the documents was couriered to John Chacko (since his email adddress was unavailable) at VW but they have recieved no answer from VW.