[Phil_Armitage]

Hi Guys,

I have just given the Treg a good clean and have noticed that 2 of the wheels have lacquer peeling off them. There are no kerb marks or scuffs on the wheels either. Looking at the other wheels they look a bit funny in places and it looks like the same is going to hapen to them.The car is just under 2 years old. Has anyone had the same issue? Its going in for its first service on Monday and I'm going to ask them to sort it. Here is a picture of the problem. It looks pretty bad when you catch the wheels in the correct light as they look patchey and blemished.

Cheers

Phil

 

[Cas]

I had a problem with the Atheo 19? wheels on mine when I bought it (I bought it privately at 21 months old)- the wheels had corrosion (a dull/mat finish) near the centres and on parts of the rims where the wheel is polished & lacquered.
I pointed this out to my local VW dealer (who is not a Luxury dealer) and they changed them under warranty without any fuss as it was a known problem.

I would ask for new wheels rather than a refurb as applying new lacquer will only be a shirt term fix.

Whilst it is being booked in with the delaer- get them to check is there are any oustanding recals/quality updates for you car.

Regards

Cas

 

[Phil_Armitage]

Thanks for that Cas,

As you point out about a dull uneven finish. i have this on the other 2 wheels and in some areas on the ones which i have picured. Its mainly located one the side of the spokes near the centre of the wheel I'll ask for them to be replaced under waranty then if its a known problem and get back with the response.

Yeah i have asked them to check if any recall or waranty work is needed. They have it for the day so i will get a fox as a courtesy car. Strange really as when i had an Audi they always gave you an equivalent spec of car to your own at the very least. I think VW are lacking in this respect.

Cheers

Phil

 

[Kaine]

Phil

Which dealer - I think we need to start making up a list of experiences at dealers - i.e. which are worthy of selling Touaregs - i.e. VW Luxury Car Dealer

Kaine

 

[Phil_Armitage]

Kaine,

I bought the car as an approved used VW it was 13 months old back in Feb from Richard Alexander in Leeds next to the Leeds United Footy ground. I must say that they were a good set of people and they provided good service throughout the buying process. They even kept filling the tank with diesel when i had to go up and sort out the paperwork for my plate transfer and on another occasion where i had to turn up to collect the service book which they forgot to put in the manual.

I phoned round a few places for the first service and Hayselden in Barnsley came in the cheapest @ ?311 for the service, break fluid change and an aircon overhaul. So i'm going to take it there as its only 6 miles from my house. I didnt bother with Richard Alexander due to the distance i would have to travel. I have only noticed the wheels since making the booking so i'll point it out to them on Monday and see if i can get them sorted under waranty. If not i'll contact Richard Alexander and take it up with them. I dont believe either are VW luxary car dealer status as i havnt seen any signs in the showrooms stating they are.

Cheers

Phil

 

[Kaine]

Originally the Touareg came under the same 'Luxury Car Dealer' status as the Phaeton, however I feel this has now been dropped by the VW UK directive (only my feeling).

When I purchased my first Touareg from Shrewsbury VW in 2004 I was advised by the salesman I would be provided with an equivalent sized car (maybe not a Touareg, however a Passat or Touran etc) when I service it. On the first occasion I was offered a 'Lupo' and ended up with a 'Polo' - the second time I was offered the same and refused it - ended up with a Touaran. After this I stopped taking courtesy cars from them completely. I was always disappointed with Shrewsbury VW customer service

Sidlow VW on the other hand seemed a completely different experience - dedicated Luxury Car Manager and a dedicated showroom section for the Phaeton (and Touareg), plus a salesman (Chris) who actually knew about the cars in detail.

 

[Malt]

I have had long conversations regarding customer service over the last 6 months & may be able to help here. I had to resist posting any information till this point as I was prepared to go legal if they didn't sort it... it did get finished this week so read on.
I ordered my brand new 3.0 Altitude fro Ventura Park Sutton Coldfield. Salesman was great & he did a good job, however within a week I found a few issues that needed to be sorted. 20" Ayers rock wheels had a crap finish & you could see all the "cut" marks as the wheels had been spun. Four wheel alignment was out causing scrubbing & pulling to the left, offset steering wheel & the n/s/f door was poorly aligned. I reported this to the warranty guy who smiled, muttered that he would contact VW etc & then did nothing for a month.
I chased them & received a letter back stating that they couldn't get the door any better & if they attempted to it may leak & that the wheels were in tolerance etc etc blah blah. :evil: :evil:
Not happy, I went to see the service manager who shouted at me to go away as I had reached the end of the line & no more could be done.
Unsurprisingly I wrote a letter to the DP stating my issues ... 3 pages of A4 explanation.... & he wrote a letter back saying .....go away no more can be done!
Now I am really "focused".... letter to VW, no response... another letter to VW... ahhh now they are listening

To cut the story short... Birmingham VW have now adjusted my door, put 4 new Ayers rock wheels on the car (even though I had curbed all 4 of them in the 6000 miles it took to sort this out), 4 wheel alignment etc etc. All done under warranty & 50% towards the now very edged front tyres 8) 8)
Now.... what I found out along the way was.... when the Treg was launched it only went into certain dealers.... who were luxury car dealers and they had to provide courtesy cars of equal status & a dedicated luxury car engineer.
VW later decided to lower the bar & a lot more dealers could sell Tregs without the dedicated member of staff in the workshop etc etc. I unknowingly purchased the car from a regular dealer- not a luxury car dealer :evil: Who--- once had had my money couldn't give a toss!
Birmingham VW have been very good & sorted my issues out. The DP gave me he mobile number & said "call me if you get any more problems". VW once activated have been calling me on a weekly basis with progress reports (one wheel was damaged for new & had to be back ordered) and the twice it has been in I have been given a 2.5 SE Treg on the first instance & a 3.0 Phaeton on the next 8) 8) Very good by the way but I am not old enough to have one yet.
VW luxury car number is 0800 0322278 & the Treg is STILL a VW luxury car!
Moral of this is.... find out if your dealer is a "proper" Treg dealer before you buy.

Ventura park in Sutton & Tamworth will not be on my Christmas card list.
If I buy another VW it will be from Birmingham VW Nuff said

:
If anyone want's to read the full letter of complaint (which is very good if I do say so myself) & the disgustingly dreadful response that Ventura park gave me back is welcome to. PM me & I will send.
Mal

 

[Kaine]

Mal - I think your experience and explanation sums it up perfectly. I really do think a list of dealers and experiences is worth putting together on the forum. Not a list of gripes - just a factual list of experiences - i.e. service costs (date and cost), loan car given when Toaureg is at the dealer, whether the dealer has a Lux Car Technician and appropriate ramp etc etc

Thoughts??

 

[mjstubley]

I've said it before I'll say it again

The Treg is a brill car ruined by inconsistent service. Two of the basic ideas of customer service are

1) Be consistent
2) Manage expectations

As far as I can see - VW fails on both counts

I bought from a dealer with 'Luxury' status (JCT600 in Wakefield) who six months later couldn't remember telling me that I would get an equivalent to the treg as a courtesy car.

I could never get booked in because their Treg specialist was invisible or had the crappest family life known to man by the excuses given as to why I couldn't speak to him (although he did more or less tell me to sod off and stop bothering him one time when I was trying to get the stepper motor problem sorted) - so I stopped going there

I used to groan when I went to Richard Alexanders in Leeds because I was invariably 'served' by one little prat who couldn't give a tinkers cuss, and I think he actually went out of his way to be unhelpfull - I'm even sure he was behind my car not being looked at one day after I'd driven over from Liverpool especially, and spent a day walking round Leeds like a spare part :evil:

Go in another time, and I'd get the Lux Car manager who couldn't be more helpfull. organised a pick up and drop off service from my house, a Touareg the one time I needed a courtesy car, and a lift to work the other time I used them for warrenty work.

Who do I remember and why don't I take my car there anymore? Its the little prat who resented serving me.

Same at JCT600 in Bradford - one time I go in, I get the most helpful and courteous service imaginable and another, its as if they resent serving you because you have a bigger car than everyone else - and I don't need to tell you its the one who resents touareg owners who is dealing with VW UK about the valve chest issue

:roll:

As for courtesy cars, VW UK are now saying that if you have a Treg, you should get nothing smaller than a Golf Plus(!) even though the car was sold on the basis that you would always get a Treg or equivalent (ie. a Phaeton).

Unbelievable - I get free days driving R50's and offroading and have access to all sorts of freebies, but can I get service better than if I bought a VW Fox even though I effectively bought the monetary equivalent of 6 Foxes in one go??

Come on VW - Sort out your Franchises. A lot of us have spent a LOT of good hard earned money so you can ferry tennis stars around parties and give V10's to sports stars like confetti

 

[Malt]

It would be great if we could set up a dealer list of good & bad experience & vote with our feet / tyres 8)
Individual expectations will be different & every report would have to be taken as indication only not as absolute 100% accurate. My wife's Touran came from Ventura Park & we had not had any serious issues with them as we had no real need to use the service department, until after the Treg came & then her car needed warranty work as well. Just bad timing to find out the service department was crap with both cars.
Maybe a voting system for dealers, have you used them, were you happy with the service, would you use them again, etc etc. Then a comment form on the bottom, like ebay I guess.... but no slander.

An bit of my complaint letter below to bore you with... but the last sentence says it all really.

Mal

"The attitude of the service manager was shocking! If one of my staff spoke to a customer of mine in such a manner he would be severely reprimanded. I own a ?Bose Centre of Excellence? in Sutton Coldfield, the only one in the West Midlands and we sell high quality Video audio and Computer equipment. Bose has a reputation for selling expensive but high quality product, just like VW they are at the top of the consumer level in their field. You cannot live on the product alone, sales sell the first product and the service you give sells everyone after"

 

[mjstubley]

Kaine

Would it be possible to do a questionnaire form that places a standard set of questions/answers into a post?

Might stop the more emotional members (ie. me) venting our spleans :mrgreen:

 

[Kaine]

I'll take a look at what I can do

 

[Phil_Armitage]

So i took the Treg down to Hayseldens today and it had its first service. They did a cracking job and gave a full explanation to every aspect of what had been done. The car check showed that the breaks were only 40% worn front and rear so at least another 25k in them. The car was fully valeted when i picked it up. Even spent time with the teccy talking about the cars in general. There was a luxary car manager down there who was very accomodating also.

On the wheels front - Aparantly the wheels in question have been refurbished so they aren't covered on waranty with VW and the job wasnt done properly so i'll give Richard Alexander a call and ask them to sort it.

The only gripe i have is that they gave me the VW fox 08 plate as a loan car. Who in their right mind would buy one of these new? the interior was made out of that cheap plastic like you get with microwave meals and it rattled like mad. There was no sound proofing what so ever; i thought the door was half open when in was infact shut. Why dont VW just concentrate on keeping there midrange cars decent and leave Kia to produce pointlessly small death trap rubbish!! Anyway rant over as i could go on forever.

Cheers

Phil

 

[majordomo28]

Phil,

Are you looking forward to the new Gilders opening at Bannercross in the next month or so ...

Hopefully the service will match the building although I have to say they have always been very good to me.

Apparantly it is the largest VW showroom in the country ...

Domo

 

[Phil_Armitage]

Domo,

I'm in north Sheffield out near Penistone so Hayseldens in Barnsley is the closest but i'll certainly go and check them out. I'm going to buy the new Golf in Jan for SWMBO so will drop by thier show room then. Always good to play stealers off against each other to get a discount.

Cheers

Phil

 

[mjstubley]

I was given a Treg for a days test drive at Banner Cross before I purchased from JCT - was very impressed with the whole set up including the dedicated luxury cars area separate from the main showroom, the very low pressure sales guy and the trust to give me a Treg for the day.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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.......(if only their finance deals could have been as good at the time :roll: )

I also keep hearing good things about Haysledens in Barnsley from a work colleague who knows the Service Manager

Oh for some consistency among dealerships.... :roll:

 

[Phil_Armitage]

Hi Guys,

So i had the car in at Richard Alexander in Leeds for the past few days having the wheels sorted. Must say i am very impressed; they have sorted both wheels and they look like new but to top it off they have done the other 2 as well so that all 4 wheels match. They look really good just like new again.

Cheers

Phil