Same car that spent eleventybillion weeks in the shop before?

Hahahaha! Yessir.
Fifteen months….

Dan, that inhales vigorously. Two weeks without a callback. I'd be lighting their phone up every 5 minutes until I spoke to someone, while I was driving to the dealership. That is piss poor customer service.

Yessir, I’m more than a little bit disappointed in the communications. Especially after the last round, when the [previous] service manager was easy to contact and great to deal with.

My Friday afternoon and Saturday morning are booked already; I’m thinking if I can’t get someone by phone by noon on Thursday, then I’ll be leaving work early and paying another visit.

Two calls made today. One of them yielded an actual human!

And she sent me through the matrix, right back to the service manager's voice mail.

Calls, 4; successes, 0.

Grr.

- - - - -

Called again. Actually got the service manager this time (after a run through the BDC).

The car's in the shop now, and it looks like the lower intercooler hose is cracked; they'll put together an estimate and call me back.

[partial sarcasm] Is this where we start playing the "how long will it take to get a call back" game? [/partial sarcasm]

Calls, 5; successes, 1. Maybe just 1/2...

Well, friends, I got a call from the service advisor at about 6:15 this evening.

A hose leading to the intercooler has cracked and needs to be replaced. We'll be in for roughly $900 to do the job, PLUS the $199 diagnostic fee. After that, the techs can find out if anything else is wrong in there.

Stay tuned....

- - - - -

It occurred to me last night that after getting the car there a day later than expected, the car still sat there for over a week before finally making it into the shop yesterday afternoon.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vthoky,

Finally. Hopefully that is all it is and nothing more.

I helped my son replace his AdBlue pump in his Q5 a few weeks ago. Saved him a few dollars by doing it ourselves. While it was stubborn, we succeeded. Just in case that is an issue the dealership tells you.

I'm hoping that's all it is.

If that pipe is the one I looked up earlier this morning, the retail on it is roughly $425. Mental math says that makes about $350 in labor --> what's that these days? Two hours' worth of shop rate?

Fun note, relevant to P250UA5's question above: when I spoke to the advisor last evening, she told me she was new to the VW group at that dealer, having recently transferred over from the Subaru group. She mentioned a chat with one of the techs yesterday, who told her, "This is the car!" She was caught off guard by that, and wasn't sure what he meant. The tech went on to tell her about this car having spent so many months with them previously.

Klaus is a legend!

- - - -

I'm stewing a little on this diagnostic fee. My thought is that if I had asked them to diagnose it and then left with the car, it would be fair for me to pay them for their time. But if they diagnose it and I ask them to go ahead and make the resulting repairs, then I'm not thrilled about paying the additional fee. (I'm even less happy about it, given that I had to wait a month to even get an appointment, and the car sat there for more than a week after that before ever being looked at.) I do understand they've got time invested in figuring out what the problem seems to be, but that task is part of the overall task of making the repairs. Am I off-base?

Usually the fee is waived if they perform the repair too. Sounds like these guys give dealerships a bad rap.

Are you a member at Costco? They provide 15% off of repairs by way of coupon. I used the discount at my Audi dealer, but I don't know if Volkswagen participates in the program or not.

Having discussed this fee with a few people nearby, I don't think I'm off base. Thank you, petr, for your matching thoughts on it.

You know, it's like the people I've dealt with there truly are trying to help (and have been good help in the past), but the organization is getting itself a bad rap. I talked with someone this afternoon who's got some Subaru work to be done -- the dealership (same conglomerate) set him up for the first Friday in December. Another month-out scheduling. I'm thinking they're just way shorthanded.

Thank you, too, for the Costco idea. I'm not a member, as the nearest warehouses to me are over two hours away, whichever direction I point. I'll look into it some more, though. A membership may cost less than the 15% it saves, so it would be worth it.

Well, here we are, a week after receiving the car's [initial] diagnosis. Parts were due on Monday (10th); Crickets from the service crew so far this week.

Looks like I'll be on the phone again in the morning.

The crickets could be two things. They didn't get Klaus back in the shop to perform the work, or they are further diagnosing the main issue after the pipe was replaced.

Yessir, exactly.

Honestly, either way is fine — I’m not in a pinch about it, thanks to the fact that I’ve got another vehicle to drive. I do, however, think that communications from the service department could be a lot better.

I called last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and got nothing in return. No answers, no return calls.
I’m thinking this service group is way understaffed. It’s a consumption of time and fuel, but I’m considering driving down there tomorrow after work.

Ms. P (the service advisor) called at about 4:30 this afternoon. The technician had Klaus in the bay and was in the process of replacing the pipe.

Hopefully I’ll get some good news (as in, no further repairs needed) tomorrow.

I still think I’m going to challenge this diagnosis fee when I go there to settle the bill.

- - - - -

Edit for accuracy --> Ms P

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vthoky,

Klaus is in the house! Well... at the house.

I picked up the VW yesterday evening.

Short version: the dealership experience stunk. Redemption: the service advisor and the technician were great. I'll say it again: great.


Longer version: Ms P called me again on Tuesday to tell me that the work was done and the oil was changed also. We discussed that $200 diagnosis fee and that I'm not happy with it. After a couple of sentences each, she said, "I can take care of that for you, especially given all you've been through with getting the car here to begin with." Thank you very much, ma'am.

When I arrived yesterday afternoon, Ms P greeted me with a smile and some good news: the bill was somewhat less than expected. The pipe that needed to be replaced was stupid expensive. She said the tech (who knew my car from its 15-month stay a couple of years ago) was "personally offended by the price of that pipe" and came ranting to her about it. She said, "I can't fix that, man, go see the parts guys" and he did. Evidently, he took a good bite out of someone over there, as he got the price knocked down considerably. (Thank you, Mr J!) She said he went on quite a rant about it, exclaiming, "it's not even a fancy pipe!"

All told, I got a nice discount on the pipe, an hour's worth of labor charge (yikes), and a freebie oil change. Not bad. When I got home, I found a 3" socket extension on the cowl, in between the wiper arms. I emailed Ms. P this morning, and mailed that back this afternoon.

On the drive home after work today, I was halfway formulating a letter to the dealership in my head. Stopped at an intersection, and the warning lights went crazy. Airbag, traction control, ABS, TPMS, and whatever the steering-wheel looking light is. (I haven't looked that one up yet.) I stopped at a friend's house for a moment immediately afterward, shut the car down, started it again, and all was well. Gremlins? Idunno. We'll see what tomorrow's commute brings.

Anyway...
- I'm not enthused that this whole process took seven weeks, particularly for what's listed as a one-hour job.
- I'm not a fan of the lady in the business development center.
- I'm worried that the dealership is either way overbooked, or way understaffed, or both.
- I wonder if there are bigger underlying issues with the organization.
- But I can only say nice and good things about the advisor and the tech. I do feel like they each went to bat for me as much as they could, and truly "gave a crap" about solving the problems.

Man. What an experience. I am glad they worked with you on the cost.

Scan it with the RossTech. It sounds to me like there is a module that might be having a fit and everything is tied into that one module. Once you get the scan, you might be able to post it on the RossTech forum for a solution.

Any water intrusion? Sunroof drains clear?

If I remember correctly, there is a wire harness that runs under the drivers foot well/ seat. The harness chafes from your feet and can rub through the wire insulation causing shorts or breaks.

Thank you, petr. I'll hit it with the RossTech this weekend and see what I can learn.

I'm not aware of any water getting in. I did have the drains checked a year or so ago. Looks like I'll learn how to do that over the weekend, too.

This car has been a learning experience, for sure.

Nothing obvious found. I’m thinking there’s a connector loose, maybe something that was unplugged during the last visit.

I dropped it off again this afternoon. “Here it is, fix it. It wasn’t like this when I brought it in.”

I didn’t call and ask for an appointment this time.

Ugh.

That’s fairly close to what I said.