[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Mechanical Engineer turned Malayalam cine-actor Kiran Aravindakshan wrote in with this unfortunate issue:



Summary of the events:

• 2019 Volkswagen Polo 1.5 TDI run 58k kms.
• Under 4 years, 1L kms factory warranty and 2 additional years extended warranty. Car was still under factory warranty when the issue occurred. Still is!
• Services performed as per schedule.
• Breakdown happened on 27th August 2021. RSA towed the car to EVM Kochi.
• EVM Kochi Marad service center claimed water in diesel filled and provided an estimate of 2.7 lakhs. No warranty cover as this was blamed on driver fault.
• Fuel collected from tank by service personnel to show the customer showed no water content.
• Customer was asked to go and check with fuel bunk where last filled. Did that and they were able to prove no issues with fuel. Further the car also had not stopped post fuelling.
• On 7th Sep - VW Service provided revised estimate of 1.2 lakhs with goodwill reduction. But denied warranty coverage citing fuel adulteration with water. Car remains at the dealer service.
• Customer tries escalation to Volkswagen. No response received.
• Consumer court case filed by mid-September 2021
• March 2022: Consumer court orders fuel collected from the car to be tested at Govt Laboratory in Kochi
• May 2022: Kochi Govt Laboratory submits report that no water content was present in the fuel.
• May - Dec 2022: Court case is dragged on with appeals from Volkswagen that the fuel has to be sent for testing in Pune at a Volkswagen recommended laboratory, and the report from the Govt Laboratory in Kochi is not admissible for warranty.
• Meanwhile car is put through horrible conditions at the yard, with dents on body panels, broken bumper clips and scratches all around. Not to mention dust inside-out. Looks like major refurbishment will be needed even if the original work is now repaired under warranty.
• Since 8th Dec 2022: Customer is standing in the hot sun protesting outside EVM Kochi Marad service center for justice.

Car is still under EMI and is sitting useless at the service center for over 16 months, denied warranty care.











Media coverage on the issue (in regional language):

https://youtu.be/ceUi_X6rLgs

https://youtu.be/boedaIYZvKk

https://youtu.be/uk6Sj-loJfc

An intiail mail sent to Volkswagen escalating the issue with the dealer. No response received other than re-routing to the dealer:

Hi Team,

I am Kiran Aravindakshan, a mechanical engineer and an actor in Malayalam Film and Television Industry. I am a VW customer for the last 3yrs. I exchanged my Polo 1.2 petrol for my latest car Polo TDI Diesel and have been using this car for more than 2yrs now. During the period of use, the car service was done regularly and you may check the history with vehicle number KL 33 L 7222(59k kilometre run). I purchased my car with a 2yrs of extended warranty and this was my great confidence to select such a high-cost brand. I am a proud owner of VW cars and I always recommend it to my friends and family for its built quality and its brand.

Let me bring to your notice about the health issue of my car. I experienced a complete breakdown on 27th August and it was towed to the nearest VW service centre at EVM Cochin Marad. Post-inspection, they informed me that fuel had water content in it and as evidence, they showed me a moisture content in the diesel filter. What got faulty is the high-pressure pump, however, according to VW policy, the whole CR system is to be replaced with an estimated cost of 2.7Lakhs rupees. In the conversation with the service manager at the service centre, they informed me that this issue will not be covered under the warranty, which is not acceptable to me. In the meantime, I even went to investigate with the pump owners on the fuel quality and did take a few samples of fuel to test its purity. The pump owners proved that their fuel did not contain any water content. Further I went back to service centre and asked them to collect fuel from the diesel tank outlet then I noticed there is no water content in it.I don't know, why did they say the fuel have water presence? they argued it's because of my mistake, How it's? Then it's clear that the water is not mixed with fuel from the fuel station. Moreover, the presence of moisture content in a diesel filter as usual and it's meant to filter the moisture content says, industry experts. I can also produce my recent service bills which indicate the replacement of the diesel filter as well. This kind of misguidance from the dealers forced me to have unwanted discussions and arguments with the pump owners which
made me to think to take the legal action against them. Why did the dealers misguided me?

After multiple conversations with the dealers, they asked me to wait until they reach out to VW and after 10days, i.e. on 7th sep I received a call with a new deal of fixing this issue at a discounted rate of 1.2L(estimate). When i am eligible to have this covered under warranty, the dealers took around ten days to even revert with a discounted deal which was again a mental distress to me

My rational for demanding service under warranty:
1. The car did not show any indication for the owner to take action and hence this cannot be a mishandling issue. Poor Diesel quality in India have reported to have same issues in diesel cars and hence to minimize the damage it is expected that the product must provide indicators for the owners to go for an immediate service without waiting for the parts to fail.
2. When the customer cannot find out this issue unless the product alerts with an indication, there is no way that the customer can take any action before break down. Thus, its the manufacture's responsibility to support a common man who is purchasing such a high mantainence brand.
3. The exisiting warranty(4yrs)+ extended warranty(2yrs) taken for any Indian cars is for all the problems that could be faced on any parts when used on Indian roads with the use of products like fuel,oils available in India.
4. The reoccurrence of this issue is much higher if the filter is not capable enough to filter out moisture and I cannot afford this onetime repair cost.

My car is at the service center from 27th August and the dealer is not able to help me further. Its clear that the dealers do not want to provide the service under warranty. I am much inclined to use this vehicle for many more years.

Note: In my case, the product to be replaced is the high pressure fuel pump(no issue for 4injectors and Lp pump)and the estimated cost by dealers is too high for me to afford, hence I went for a quick consultation with a local mechanic and learnt that the high pressure pump repair and cleaning could be done with a cost of 20k and if thats not possible there are VW genuine parts seconds are available in the market for a replacement. How are these parts available in the market for purchase? Then it's clear they can sell my good quality parts in the resale market if I go to replace the CR system. Industry experts also says that if the diesel filter is changed at the expected service time this issue will not occur. Now I am doubtful whether the dealers have changed the filter at the time of service. With my mechanical background i did quite a bit of research for the last 2weeks and this is pathetic to say that there is a huge mafia running behind the scene who deals with the business of selling geniune VW parts. I trust VW will take this up seriously and act on it as this is a matter of credibility of the brand. I also doubt the service quality provided by the monopoly dealers in Kerala and am sure that the parts we are getting billed for is not getting into the vehicle. Please find out an effective way to prove to the customers on the service quality(for eg. share the spare parts code with the bill).

I expect you provide me support to resolve this issue under warranty.

I am looking forward for an customer friendly service and support from the company for such issues which customer is not responsible for. Looking forward for a positive response.

Thanks and Regards,
Kiran Aravindakshan

Email sent to Volkswagen before public protests, after waiting 16 months since the car was taken in at EVM Volkswagen Kochi and 7 months after successfully getting the fuel tested through court at a govt Laboratory that the fuel was not to be blamed:



Report provided by the court-appointed Kochi Govt Laboratory as per samples collected from the car with the presence of the court:

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

• May 2022: Kochi Govt Laboratory submits report that no water content was present in the fuel.
• May - Dec 2022: Court case is dragged on with appeals from Volkswagen that the fuel has to be sent for testing in Pune at a Volkswagen recommended laboratory, and the report from the Govt Laboratory in Kochi is not admissible for warranty.

Feel sorry for the owner. Hope he gets the car sorted soon under warranty, and the court helps him get some decent compensation as well.

Did the court accept this non-sensical appeal from VW? Why can’t a report from an independent Govt lab be accepted?

I wonder if they ever made a similar appeal in a US/EU court? Oh, our cars are perfectly non-polluting, and there is no cheating device. Just that it needs to be tested in our labs. We don’t trust your emission testing labs or methods!

[Axe77]

VW losing the wood for the trees here. When multiple checks have shown no water in fuel what’s the gain in making the customer suffer. The money saved is not worth the negative publicity and ill-will the brand is generating with incidents like this.

Regardless of the final outcome of the legal proceeding, this customer will never touch a VAG product again.

Separately, escalation of serious matters where the company simply reroutes to the dealer is absolutely unacceptable. The customer usually escalates because he is not making necessary progress with a dealer. To simply be sent back to dealer just doesn’t make sense.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Personal take - Looks like the case of an egoistic dealer and apathetic management.

Dealer tried to pass on a large bill claiming some issue without any real proof, and now doesn't want to back out when the customer has proven his side. Company doesn't want to get involved because EVM is a large dealer network that handles multiple operations for them across districts.

It is sad that the onus to prove innocence is on the customer, and he is made to run around despite having done so.

Hopefully Volkswagen management takes notice soon as the case is getting a lot of media attention. Didn't crop out the first picture received for that reason- that FB post alone has over a million views, let alone news reports on mainstreams regional news channels such as Asianet.

Here is another news report from India Today - https://malayalam.indiatoday.in/amp/...412-2022-12-10

Another one from One India - https://malayalam.oneindia.com/news/...hy-365501.html

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Did the court accept this non-sensical appeal from VW? Why can’t a report from an independent Govt lab be accepted?

Unfortunately, time plays against us customers in such cases right? Customer is fighting a losing battle against EMI (16 months of EMI without a car), running from court to dealership and deterioating condition of the car in the dealer yard.

Dealer is probably just trying to drag the case - hoping that the customer loses hope mid-way.

[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.

Pro Tip: If you are initiating a consumer court case against a car company, first take the car in your possession and then file the case. Else, your car will rot in their service center, as with this Polo. There is no such requirement that you should keep the car parked there & sue the company. Move it outside, get it fixed and drive it. At least, you won't be car-less in a 10-year court case or paying EMIs without having access to your car.

[vb-saan]

Feel sorry for the customer. Along with VW, EVM as a brand also will take a hit – I believe the same group run the dealership for many other brands like BMW, Mini, MG, Nissan etc. in Kochi.

[Silverfire]

Whenever I read threads like this I am so thankful at deciding to buy a Hyundai and not a VW/Skoda/Audi. The marginal improvements in performance are completely not worth the pain of downtime, dealing with bad dealers and spending exorbitant amounts to keep these cars running, in my opinion.

For a car brand to win in India, good affordable service is likely the top most feature that a customer looks for. This in turn leads to a good ownership experience and good resale value down the line. VW group doesn't seem to have been able to execute this despite being here for 12+ years (and even longer with Skoda).

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Kiran wrote in with a copy of the insurance survey report, as few people seems to have reached out asking why insurance claim was not raised when warranty was denied. Insurance survey was raised as part of the legal proceedings, and was rejected on account of EVM Volkswagen informing the surveyor that the reason (later proven false in govt lab reports) for mechanical failure is water content in the fuel tank.

Personal take: Insurance isn't a solution here anyways, without an external incident causing the failure. Makes a proper case for warranty, if not for the whole 'water content in fuel tank' reasoning by the dealership. Not that VAG injector issues are rare! We have multiple such threads running on the forum. Example:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...replacing.html (Rapid & Vento: Faulty Injectors? Repair instead of replacing)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...koda-cars.html (Fuel injector / pump failures due to fuel adulteration in all Skoda cars?)

Relevant portion of the insurance survey report attached:



Meanwhile, the case is attracting even more attention in the media -

Another regional news channel reported it today:

https://youtu.be/3zRa2HDm0zo

Being reported in regional Film-news:
https://ml.b4blaze.com/kiran-aravind...agen-showroom/

Cartoq picked up the report today as well:
https://www.cartoq.com/actor-protest...for-16-months/

[neil.jericho]

Today, while passing by the EVM VW showroom, I met Kiran Aravindakshan and discussed his plight. What a horror story! While I was there, at least half a dozen people stopped by, to offer him their support, take pictures to share on social media and so on. Meanwhile, a few nervous sales executives kept looking outside, to see how much attention Kiran has been drawing to his ordeal.

For those that arent aware, the EVM group runs several car and motorcycle dealerships in Kochi.

To me, both EVM and VW are getting what they deserve. Had the dealership simply accepted the warranty claim and processed it without any issues (as they rightly should have!), this self-imposed trauma could have been avoided for all parties. Time and again, they have shown that they dont want to resolve this matter, in a manner that ensures customer satisfaction.

VW has also had enough and more chances to step in and sort this out, to the satisfaction of the customer. They havent done anything. It isnt like their new products have been run away successes in Kerala. The negative publicity from this incident is only further going to dent consumer confidence in their after sales experience, and consequentially, their sales. Im sure the Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and other showroom managers, are thankful to EVM VW for sending many new customers, their way!

I am baffled by how both EVM and VW continue to remain oblivious to the damage that they are doing to their brands, in the city. At its very core, Kochi is a small and tightly knit community, especially among the working professionals. Ive grown up here. The media coverage has brought this issue to light. This thread has also been circulating in multiple local Whatsapp groups and many readers are understandably irate at the high-handedness shown by both the dealership and the company.

If someone from EVM and / or VW is reading this, kindly consider the option that its time to settle this issue amicably with Kiran. I dont know him from Adam, but he seems to be a reasonable person, for someone who has suffered a lot, for no fault of his. Otherwise, the longer this drags on, the more it becomes, both for EVM and VW, a case of - "For the want of a nail, the battle was lost".

For now, EVM is shooting themselves in the foot and VW has picked up the hammer, to hit themselves on the head, with.

[Sankar]

I sent (PMed) this to GTO on 8th when the news first broke out. I don't trust EVM to buy another car from any of their dealerships, not just VW, after all they are the ones who sold me a Polo GT TDI without the rear roof spoiler which is standard fitment on the GT TSI and GT TDI. I had to involve VW to get the rear roof spoiler for my car, that they did by replacing the whole rear hatch with the one that has the spoiler. I consider it luck. Why pay good money for crap experience?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

On a side note:

Had a shocking realization while searching twitter for this particular case, if customers are reporting such issues. Ended up with a dozen fresh breakdown reports on EPC issues. Yes, EPC breakdowns are still happening and owners are getting stranded. Posted here - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ml#post5455902 (Skoda Kushaq breakdowns & problems)

Hard to expect Volkswagen to step in and curb these dealer malpractices, when the company has been so unapathetic to let a mass failure issue run for more than a year.

Meanwhile, others VW users seem to have suffered exact same issue at this dealer, with no response/help from VW India:

[shancz]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

- the EVM group runs several car and motorcycle dealerships in Kochi.
- Time and again, they have shown that they dont want to resolve this matter, in a manner that ensures customer satisfaction.
- VW has also had enough and more chances to step in and sort this out, to the satisfaction of the customer. They havent done anything.

Quoting some points which are surprisingly common whenever I have read any such horror stories.
Tata Motors and its dealers used to be the usual culprits but VW has bettered them in this case.

Some observations :
- The high headedness is due to the dealer bringing their ego and clout into a customer facing business. Absolutely unprofessional and undeserving of owning the dealership.

- VW not stepping in to resolve the matter indicates that the dealer is bigger than VW in that region. So VW don't deserve the right to talk of efficiency, customer focused working or ethics.

- From some experience my impression about VW and its dealers was expensive but courteous but this indicates otherwise.
Does the pursuit of sales over anything and Skoda calling the shots have any link to this ?

All this pales in comparison to the grit and perseverance of Mr. Kiran. Respect.

VW has to get back to their senses and the commitment to their customers.
They shouldn't just provide a solution to Mr. Kiran but also compensate him fairly for the trauma and wastage of time and effort.
Next should be firing of their employees who have dealt with the issue and not performed their duties.
Another equally important step should be to take the dealer to task, revoke the dealership if it's in their powers.

[northstar*]

I have known Kiran for more than the last decade. It is disheartening to see a once VW fanboy now has to fight against the brand for his prized possession.

I still remember the discussions we had when he was finalising his first car, the now-rotting Polo TDI. He was using a friend's Polo MPi at that time and fell in love with the car. I knew he was on a strict budget and had suggested him look for some alternate brands as well, but he was hell-bent on VW that if he is buying a car, it should be a Polo! He even got hold of the original GT alloys, spoiler etc by the time of delivery to get the look and feel of the GT variant. I had driven this car couple of times during the initial days and had appreciated him for going with the full extended warranty coverage despite the budget constraint but never knew that it couldn't even survive the standard warranty period.

I wonder what would be the fate of the car after this ordeal. Justice from court may be delivered late, but what about the car which was made to stand idle in these harsh conditions for 16 long months ? Visually the car has accumulated a good amount of scratches and dents all over and detailed bodywork is needed to get it back to its glory. But I think there could be more damage under the bonnet like rodent attacks or a dead battery or even a weak engine mount. The car was shod with new Continental tyres at the time of the incident. It would be needing a replacement before hitting the roads again and most of the other rubber parts also would have lost a decent share of their life. What will happen if there arises another warranty claim just because of this prolonged non-usage? Will the brand or showroom accept that or will he have to fight again for that ?

I hope VW and EVM will give up their egoistic approach and will deliver justice to the customer. All the facts including the court-appointed lab report are out now. There is no point in VW dragging the case further and should come up to a mutual settlement which shall compensate the physical condition of the car as well as the mental trauma of the owner.

[designatedriver]

Just when I almost made up my mind to buy a Taigun GT plus after knowing all the baggage that comes with owning a VW/DSG, I read this. I hope VW fixes this soon. They spend tons of money building a reputation, and then ignore things like this which come to bite them in the back.

I hope he gets justice soon along with a big fat compensation for all the trauma and agony. I can't image going thru this for this long.

:-(

[Brumby]

It's really sad and worrisome.

A few days ago, a dealer member posted as why customers cannot accept a new car with painted panels, with lots of reasons to justify.

I have one query to all the dealership representatives (hoping that they will read this), why there is a personal sentiment by the representatives at the dealership in case there is a warranty claim? The guys at the service centers who open the job card will deny a claim request, even without consulting a senior at the service center.

Why do the people at dealership behave as if they have to pay for the warranty parts from their own pockets?

As per my understanding, a warranty is a contract/agreement between the customer and the maker, the authorised service centers are just a medium of communication between the customer and the maker.

I expect an authorised service center to present my claim to the maker with true facts and help to get the claim passed, not the other way.

Why bring your own sentiments in the matters for which you are not responsible.