[Reinhard]

What a sad state of affairs. But - if it were me in this unfortunate person's place - my first step would have been to drag the car out from the dealership. No matter what. Call me crazy but the way I'm built - I would never leave my property indefinitely at a 3rd person's mercy. I'd rather scrap the car and lose all money, than watch it being mistreated by a bunch of people who can easily be termed as frauds or even criminals given the behaviour so far. I for sure, will never take the legal route for such matters in this country. Its a suicide.

[Dr Alpha]

Replacing the car with a new one , even though a tsi and a good compensation should be the small step in right direction for VW and the said dealership in order to save some face from such an horrendous saga. Anything less than that would be a huge let down for every party involved including Mr.Kiran.
But I doubt VW would do that thinking giving hope to one customer would lead everyone to take the same route !!
High time for some customer protection law in India !!

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by GTO

This is what destroys a brand. For every major complaint by a Maruti owner, there are 30 major complaints by VW owners. This is all the more depressing when you account for the fact that Maruti sells 30X more cars than VW.

VW's long-term reliability sucks. Their parts are too expensive. And clearly, the company's & dealer's support sucks.

This seems to be the case for people who haven't complained in public also. My dad who owned a Vento till recently, had only one non-negotiable requirement while buying a new car: No cars from VW. In his experience, the car was very expensive to maintain compared to cars from other brands.

Volkswagen should learn that such experiences scare other potential customers too. I am sure that neither my sister nor I would ever consider buying a VW car. For every unhappy customer, they would lose many more customers. That is why Volkswagen should listen to customers instead of yielding to pressure from the dealer.

[Sahil00090]

This is horrible customer treatment and a nightmare to read for us VW owners.

If court can't help the consumer to get the fair treatment then I don't know who will. When it comes to put taxes on cars, we are very strict and eager but when it comes to protecting the consumer from unfair treatment, I rarely come across something encouraging. I wish our market had strict laws to protect consumer from these practices.

I can't even imagine the mental stress Mr. Kiran must be going through to put up a fight against the dealer and VW.

I hope someone from T-BHP escalates it to higher management and help Mr. Kiran.

[sgmuser]

Oh no VW at it again. Let's not think this is nothing to do with VW. This can only happen because of the manufacturer. The dealer assumes VW will/can not do anything against them. That's why they resort to this extent. If this is Toyota or Maruti, the percentage of resolution will be far higher and that is because of the Manufacturer. I will only blame VW. Just this one reason is enough to recommend against VW. In this case, only legal can help to resolve this issue and not this kind of pressure IMHO.

[Guna]

I don't know if someone already suggested this:
Since the car is in dealer's possession, he should be responsible to keep it in the original condition. OP should send a lawyer notice to keep the car in the original condition and at the time of hand over, if there is any kind deterioration, dealer is liable.

[LEOMAN]

I think VW should step in and solve the puzzle should not complicate more by remaining silent. Its high-time Indian customers should be treated equal with developed countries. Paying through the nose for the car, extended warranties ,scheduled maintenance etc. and being betrayed by so called dealers , its a lot of mental trauma and financial drain for the customer.
Even after Fords exit from India they are way better in service and in honoring warranty claims. My personal experience with my Ford endeavor 3.2 & Ford Eco sport 1.5 dragon petrol automatic has been stellar.

[frewper]

What is missing here ? Why would a dealer reject your warranty if you have warranty and even extended warranty at an additional cost ?

Why on earth would a dealer reject a warranty if the company is the one paying for the parts and labor. What could the dealer possibly gain in monetary terms? 20K ? 30 K ?

It makes me ask some questions about the dealership itself.

1. Did the dealer really sell the owner an extended warranty ? Or was it faked. Can the owner get this verified?

2. Was the car a test vehicle which the dealer has sold which was not known to owner ?

3. Is the dealer trying to charge the customer for the parts and make the claim for the warranty on the side, trying to pocket the money. Given that its 2 something Lakhs, that a good some of money.

[aniketi]

I always want to buy German car. But such incidents always keep coming and this is not good for sure. Treatment given by VW and dealer is simple unbelievable. How can they do this to customer who is in warranty and has paid extra as well?

Better buy cars like XUV700, Harrier, Scorpio N etc. I am sure they will not treat you so badly. Also this type of issues will mostly not occur at first place.

[pms]

I can't imagine the plight of lesser-known folks (common people) if this is what a known film personality has to go through. High time VW steps in and resolve the issue amicably with Mr Kiran. It would help bring back the customer confidence and trust. Its beyond me a biggie like VW turning a blind eye to this. KL is a small state with highly connected society, me from there, I can clearly say EVM and VW is going to take a big hit in their already not so impressive sales.

After sales network & support, trust, reliability, confidence, dealer backing is much more than drive experience, sheet metal, door thuds, gearbox etc.. No wonder Maruti, Hyundai still have a special place in Indian consumer's heart!

[Kaumad]

Have informed Vishal Bhat and he has agreed to look into this.

[charanreddy]

Talk about being pig headed (no offence to the Pig).

Journalists and TV personalities are the second worst sorts to pick up a losing battle with after politicians and bureaucrats. It is like fighting a court case with a lawyer as the opposite party; the lawyer goes to court on a daily basis and has enough influence to screw you. Similiarly journalists and tv personalities live on the screen and for them to make a passing comment in a TV interview is super easy. Imagine if this guy has a mainstream movie hero like Mammooty or Mohanlal comment on his behalf and against EVM or Volkswagen !! The horror.

For a brand that spends millions in building customer consideration, it’s foolish to pick up this battle with a TV actor and lose many many leads for over a few thousands of rupees.

The less said about the common man the better !! It seems like a serious gamble buying a VW car.

[HammerHead]

Wow what a tragedy!! I'm shocked to see how VW has been handling this situation. In today's world the last think you need is negative publicity.

OT - My Fiat Grande Punto had three needle tip sized indents on the rear bumper. I noticed those in the 3rd year and reached out to the service center and then got the matter escalated to Fiat. That's just 'me being me' . Guess what Fiat sent a CSM, Quality Head and Paint Shop technician to inspect my car. They checked the paint quality at different panels and was consistent across the car.

This is what they offered.
1. Polish the bumper
2. Repaint the bumper

Since I was not satisfied with results post polishing, went ahead with bumper repaint.

While having a casual conversation with the Quality Head, mainly around the mechanicals, got to know that Fiat calibrates the clutch and amount of force required to press the clutch pedal in order to engage gear. They asked me if I feel the clutch a bit heavy. I said 'Why don't you get one of your service advisors take a test drive and check. You are the exerts and I will agree to your observations'. Test drive was taken and the service advisor reported back that the pressure required is over by close to 2 pounds.

The next was suggestion to get the clutch plate, master & slave cylinder replaced. And guess what they got it replaced under 'goodwill'.

Well, this is how Fiat handled the situation. Fiat which is not known for its after sales service.

In my personal opinion, no other brand would have entertained me.

[VikramCS]

Really feel so sorry for Mr.Kiran. Imagine leaving your loved car with crooks for such a long time...He bought his dream car with so much anticipation, expectation and dreams, only to find VW and EVM shatter them all with such cruel punishment.

Just a day before, read about horrible ASS from Tata and now VW. What i fail to understand is - who is the boss here? Are OEMs so dependent on Dealers??
VW India - are you so toothless to step-in and resolve your customer's issue?
- is this the way you build brand image?
- why are you draining millions if you can't even handle Customer issues?
- are you mindful of the negative impact and subsequent consequences on potential buyers?
- you boast on investing billions on the new India specific 2.0 platform, MQB-AO-IN. If indeed you are serious about business, don't you think such episodes leave a long lasting impression in customer choices?

Finally, we all can see why MS and Hyundai still have a lion's share of sales despite having glaring shortcomings? Their ASS are much stronger and they have built customer confidence over decades of service. Companies like VW, Skoda, Tata, M&M should understand that building safe cars, performance cars is not sufficient. Yes, you build great cars, but, please understand that without proper customer care, you can never fully achieve your sales potential. Great ASS is of paramount importance to survive and thrive.....time to wake-up???

[The Rationalist]

What a bunch of losers! Running a huge automotive dealership and fighting for ₹2 lakh or so. Absolute jerks. This news would have cost him at least 10 times the amount. VAG group has the most number of these kind of complaints, which points to the callous attitude of the parent company. Some irate customer is going to take matters in to his hands and man handle some top honcho of the dealer.