Volkswagen - Part I

So, over the past 2 yrs that GMan has owned this VW Passat 2.0 TDI it's been nothing but trouble. Each time we have something sorted you tend to think "OK, should be fine now, let's keep it", and each time another thing comes up. But the biggest problem has been the turbo.

So, not long after he got it, the turbo blew. Took it in, and after threatening VW head office, they replaced it. See, I had all the previous owners paperwork, and in there I found that the turbo had already been replaced, twice, and not more than 12 month prior. And, seeing as the back of the invoice / statement says "12 month warranty on parts" there was no way these fuckers were going to get away with their shit attitude. This was last year May/June.

So, in December, GMan is down in Balito. The cars computer warning system kicks in, and tells him to get the car to a shop. He goes down to VW in Umhlanga Rocks, where they attach it to their computers, and tell him - Turbo trouble. Take it back to the place that did the last one, it's still under warranty, and you can drive the car there, no problem. It had not 'failed" as yet, but was not working properly.

Anyway, he comes home, and we get the car into the shop. There we had over 5 weeks of run around from the VW head office again. Check this, test that, oil the waste gate hinges! (Are you fucking kidding me? Oil the waste gate hinges? Do you even know how much heat a turbo generates? How long do you fucking think the oil will last?) Test this part - and mostly we had to wait for a suitable "donor" car to come in, so that they could strip the matching part off of the car, fit it to ours, test it, and prove / disprove that this part was faulty.
Eventually, they did some work on the turbo which made it "better", and even though the workshop manager pointed out that it was not "right", the regional service manager deemed that the noise was "acceptable"! Acceptable? It's on this basis that I am going to fuck him over. I want him to prove (in a court of law if that's required) that he's qualified to "listen" to a turbo, and deem the noise to be within acceptable levels? Levels of what? That it will last another 10 days, 6 months?

Anyway, had it in there again after that, and another run around, and they replaced some "Harness" that had bad connections "Aluminum / copper corrosion / bad joints".
Ant the lights went off, for a while.

Eventually the turbo packed up again.
GMan had to tow the car in - got LuckyL to tow him. They removed the turbo, and confirmed it's stuffed. Cool I said. Talk to VW, tell them to replace it. And that's where this story starts. Initial response - no way.

So I email head office. Ask for someone to contact me. I get a missed call, and call back within 3 minutes, and the lady is out! OK, ask her to call me. She doesn't. So I call again later, and get hold of her. There's the usual, "we need to get the garage to submit a claim first" discussion. I tell her they have. She says they have not. I call the garage. They have. But it's an electronic request, and electronic response. There is no intelligence behind making the decision. It's based on the captured data - is this part under warranty? Oops, no, that expired 2 days ago. Sorry -no go.

So the bitch says she will contact the garage Friday (last week). Friday afternoon I call the service manager. Nope, didn't get any call. Monday I call her again. You didn't call I say. I did she says. Well I spoke to the workshop manager, who you said you would call, and you didn't. Well she has a recording she says. Nice I say, give me a copy so I can screw this bastard for lying to me. Oh, no she says, she spoke to the service assistant. EXACTLY I say, not the manager, so you didn't speak to the right person.
She goes on about how she needs him to supply the info, blah, blah, blah.

So,  the service manager had raised the issue with the Regional Service Manager - and he said "No way". OK, I say, but I'm not accepting this. Well then, I will have to get the service manager to set up a meeting for you with the regional service manager person. No problem, I said, please arrange it - for this week. I've now been without a car for ore than 4 weeks!!!! (Didn't tell her we got a loan car from them).

So that's the current status. Now I'm going onto the South African Gov web page, to do some reading through the new Consumer Protection Act. Let's see if I can rape this bastard!!!!

If we don't come right, I have someone who does turbo reconditioning. Will cost me ZAR 3500.00, after which I'm flogging the car. GMan wil just have to buy something else. And this car will have to be on his name. I cant keep up with all the fines he's getting!!!!

Salagatle!