Re:Why Volkswagen has lost my business.
While most Mini drivers have a good relations with their Mini dealer, I know some have had problems. I thought I'd level out the playing field a bit. Here is an actual letter by a friend of mine with his *last* experience with Volkswagen.
In his conversation with Volkswagen USA the next day, he told them not to have the dealer call him. He said if the dealer called, he would promptly sell his car. BTW, I see a future MCS owner in him.
Enjoy.
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Re:Why Volkswagen has lost my business.
Today I took my car to S***h Volkswagen, W*******n D*******e, for a simple (at least I thought so) 20,000 mile check up. Please keep in mind I have had poor experiences the previous two times I took it to their service department but I decided to give it one last shot. I will try to recap my day as best as possible.
• I booked a service appointment online received my auto generated reply but never heard back about my appointment or even confirmation my request was received.
• I called in to make the appointment at which point it was too late to get the date I wanted and they had no record of me requesting it over the internet. (This is the second time this has happened! What’s the point of online booking if it doesn’t work?)
• They gave me a 7:30am appointment. Which I knew from my last two experiences the appointment time means squat. Why don’t you just come out and say it is first come first serve? I thought I’d beat the system by doing the early bird drop off that way my car would be there before 7:30am. I was wrong. Webster defines an appointment as “An arrangement to do something or meet someone at a particular time and place.” Apparently S***h VW has not seen or heard this definition because although I had a 7:30am appointment as of 11am my car had not even been looked at.
• I called around 11:30am for a status. After sitting on hold for several minutes a tech picked up and said “We’ll get to it early this afternoon, you don’t have to call we’ll call you when it is complete.” I never got a call.
• I should preface and say I know a thing or two about cars. Although I am no Volkswagen certified mechanic I’ve done tire rotations and oil changes in less then 30min. Maybe you should think about making me an honorary VW mechanic because it took your techs over 9 hours to complete that work.
• The Time is now 4:00pm, my ride for the day is leaving, and I still have no status on my car. I call Smith, sit on hold 10min, when I am asked for my phone number and Al (Service manager?) will call me back. Al never called.
• 5:30pm I arrive at Smith Volkswagen (Please note still no call and the shop closes in 30min). They said my car is done and the paper work will be completed in 2 min.
• 10 min pass.
• My name is called, hooray this nightmare is over or so I thought. I am handed my paper work and told to take it to the cashier. I get to the cashier, hand her my paper work, and my 10% off coupon I was given by mail. She tells me that she can’t give me the discount and I need to wait in line to again to speak with Al.
• I wait in line. Another 10min pass.
• I speak with someone (not sure if it was Al) who promptly lectures me on how I should have presented the coupon when I dropped off the car. He neglected to realize I did the “early bird” drop off so no one was there for me to present my coupon to. Now if I was able to get a hold of someone during the day, and my requested oral estimate (check the drop off sheet) was given I would have gladly informed them I had a 10% off coupon sent out by you with their name all over it.
That was my nightmare today. I don’t plan on ever recommending S***h Volkswagen to anyone I know. And at this point I am not sure I will ever purchase another Volkswagen. I hope you can address this issue so you don’t lose more customers like me. Thank-you.
While most Mini drivers have a good relations with their Mini dealer, I know some have had problems. I thought I'd level out the playing field a bit. Here is an actual letter by a friend of mine with his *last* experience with Volkswagen.
In his conversation with Volkswagen USA the next day, he told them not to have the dealer call him. He said if the dealer called, he would promptly sell his car. BTW, I see a future MCS owner in him.
Enjoy.
*******************************
*******************************
Re:Why Volkswagen has lost my business.
Today I took my car to S***h Volkswagen, W*******n D*******e, for a simple (at least I thought so) 20,000 mile check up. Please keep in mind I have had poor experiences the previous two times I took it to their service department but I decided to give it one last shot. I will try to recap my day as best as possible.
• I booked a service appointment online received my auto generated reply but never heard back about my appointment or even confirmation my request was received.
• I called in to make the appointment at which point it was too late to get the date I wanted and they had no record of me requesting it over the internet. (This is the second time this has happened! What’s the point of online booking if it doesn’t work?)
• They gave me a 7:30am appointment. Which I knew from my last two experiences the appointment time means squat. Why don’t you just come out and say it is first come first serve? I thought I’d beat the system by doing the early bird drop off that way my car would be there before 7:30am. I was wrong. Webster defines an appointment as “An arrangement to do something or meet someone at a particular time and place.” Apparently S***h VW has not seen or heard this definition because although I had a 7:30am appointment as of 11am my car had not even been looked at.
• I called around 11:30am for a status. After sitting on hold for several minutes a tech picked up and said “We’ll get to it early this afternoon, you don’t have to call we’ll call you when it is complete.” I never got a call.
• I should preface and say I know a thing or two about cars. Although I am no Volkswagen certified mechanic I’ve done tire rotations and oil changes in less then 30min. Maybe you should think about making me an honorary VW mechanic because it took your techs over 9 hours to complete that work.
• The Time is now 4:00pm, my ride for the day is leaving, and I still have no status on my car. I call Smith, sit on hold 10min, when I am asked for my phone number and Al (Service manager?) will call me back. Al never called.
• 5:30pm I arrive at Smith Volkswagen (Please note still no call and the shop closes in 30min). They said my car is done and the paper work will be completed in 2 min.
• 10 min pass.
• My name is called, hooray this nightmare is over or so I thought. I am handed my paper work and told to take it to the cashier. I get to the cashier, hand her my paper work, and my 10% off coupon I was given by mail. She tells me that she can’t give me the discount and I need to wait in line to again to speak with Al.
• I wait in line. Another 10min pass.
• I speak with someone (not sure if it was Al) who promptly lectures me on how I should have presented the coupon when I dropped off the car. He neglected to realize I did the “early bird” drop off so no one was there for me to present my coupon to. Now if I was able to get a hold of someone during the day, and my requested oral estimate (check the drop off sheet) was given I would have gladly informed them I had a 10% off coupon sent out by you with their name all over it.
That was my nightmare today. I don’t plan on ever recommending S***h Volkswagen to anyone I know. And at this point I am not sure I will ever purchase another Volkswagen. I hope you can address this issue so you don’t lose more customers like me. Thank-you.
I'm the opposite.. my local VW/Audi dealer (where I take my A4) is fabulous. They really make me question why I bother to put up with/ignore the BS service I get from my MINI dealer. 
