Volkswagen Liverpool (once Known As Corkills)

Recently had first service on my Touareg at 19500 miles. The experience was far from a pleasure and the following letter has been sent to Liverpool VW today. I will post a response if I get one!

The General Manager
Liverpool Volkswagen
Derby Road
Liverpool
L20 1AB

Dear Sir,

I recently booked my Touareg in for a first service at your workshop, this work was undertaken on the 30 June. I must say that I was very disappointed with the customer service offered by Liverpool Volkswagen on this occasion, it certainly failed to live up to the standard I would have expected when dealing with what is by your own admission a luxury model. I have set out the reasons for my dissatisfaction below.

Firstly I booked the car in for service by telephone and was quoted a sum of ?320 for undertaking this first service. After exploring the experiences of other Touareg owners I discovered that the price quoted by VW dealers can vary significantly and so I telephoned another local dealer and was quoted a figure of between ?255 and ?270 for this service. I telephoned your service department to query this and they offered to speak to the Service Manager about price matching this quote. However after around 30 minutes I got a phone call to say that the price quoted was for a full inspection whereas the other dealer would do a lubrication service only. I have no way of verifying this and bearing in mind my car was due for service I agreed to go ahead with the work the following day.

The car was collected promptly from my place of work the following morning. Around 1.30 my secretary took a call indicating that the car was ready but that I would have to speak to service reception to pay before the car could be returned. I tried to phone back straight away and speak to the lady concerned, but whilst your main reception desk answers the telephone promptly this is clearly not the case with the service department. I telephoned 3 times over the next hour each time the telephone once transferred to the service department remained unanswered. I left my name and number on 2 occasions asking to be called back but to no avail.

At around 3.45 still with no phone call back I was getting somewhat annoyed that my both my car and repeated calls were not being returned. I telephoned yet again and this time got through to service reception. I explained that I had been trying to call all afternoon and was told by the receptionist concerned that she had returned calls and left ?several messages.? I checked the telephone number she had been using and that these messages had been left personally, not on voicemail. I was told they had been left with a lady on the phone. The telephone number concerned is a direct line answered only by my secretary who had received no such calls other than the initial one referred to above.

The telephone conversation then set out very basically that the tyres were OK the work had been completed and everything was OK. Not much feedback for a full inspection service and for which I was paying a premium price. I was also informed that you had not been able to update my service schedule book as this was not in the car. I informed the lady concerned that this was actually in the owner?s manual which was located in the driver?s door pocket, not too difficult to find I wouldn?t have thought. She agreed to pass this on and after I arranged payment stated that the car would be returned shortly.

Bearing in mind the journey from your dealership to my workplace is around 2 miles I took this to mean that the car would be returned within 30 minutes. The car actually arrived back an hour later and well over 3 hours since I had tried and failed to contact you to arrange payment.

Having paid ?320 for a full inspection service I expected some further explanation as to the work that had had been undertaken but the single page invoice I received was far from detailed. I could see why there had been limited dialogue with the service receptionist on the phone, the explanations and details on the invoice were minimal. For example there was no inspection record to show the work undertaken, the comment on the tyres was quite literally ?OK? no indication of tread depths or likely life, no indications as to brake condition or wear in fact very little at all. Even the parts used list was vague, long life oil 2 units, but what does this mean in real terms i.e. litres? Bearing in mind the high unit cost of this item I would have expected it to be itemised and priced in much smaller units.

I would have expected better service from any main dealer but to give this level of service to a car in the VW luxury car range is particularly disappointing. Frankly the signs had been there before, though I hadn?t quite realised it. When the car was returned a few months ago because of irregular tyre wear. A very basic phone call told me that the wheels had been realigned and the car was returned. I had expected some feedback to be left in the car on the work undertaken, any issues noted including tolerances and how these had been corrected but nothing. I put that experience down to a bad day and receptionists who frankly had little knowledge of the work undertaken, perhaps looking back it was an indication of how you always operate.

Based on my experience your service falls far short of that I have experienced recently with Land Rover, BMW and Audi dealerships. Perhaps they understand more fully the concept of customer care and support.

Overall I would put to you the following questions:

? Why do you automatically undertake a full inspection service for customers without offering them the opportunity of a standard service when it appears this still meets the first service requirements of the warranty. Surely this option is a decision that the customer should be made aware of and is able to make themselves.

? Why is it possible to get through on the telephone to your main reception promptly, but then almost impossible to get hold of anyone in service reception? I would also like to be called back promptly and as promised when I leave my name and number and ask to be contacted.

? Why is it not possible to give the customer more full, well informed feedback both in person and on or with the invoice for what is after all an expensive and premium cost service?

I seriously believe that you should take a look at how well other dealers handle customer servicing as based on my experience you clearly have several lessons to learn.

I will be posting a copy of this letter on the mytouareg forum under dealer experiences. I will be happy to post your responses once received or you may take the opportunity to also respond directly to this site.