Car repair nightmare!

[cbzdel]

The woman took in her car (2003 VW Jetta GLI) to a local place called Precision Tune. The owner is a friend of the family so we thought we would give them some business.. The problem was the dome light switch connected to the passenger side door broke (the dome light would come on when you opened any door but the passenger side from) Also we have a "aftermarket" warranty as well through United Car Care, who agreed to cover the charges.

So we make a problem to have it done, and they keep the car all day from 8am to 5pm, and call and say we ordered the parts at 9am and they said it would be 3 days to get them in.. First problem, why did they leave us car-less all day when they knew at 9am it would be a 3 day wait...

So we went back in 3 days once again at 8am (we had an appointment)... We call them at 3pm and ask when it will be done they say it has not been started yet. We say why did you have us come in at 8am. They said we got busy.. But they assured us it would be ready at 5pm.. So we showed up at 5pm, not ready.. We wait in the waiting room until 6:30pm until they say "its done" then they collect their $25 co-pay for the warranty work and we leave..

So remember it was the passenger door sensor (which is inside the passenger side door) that was the only problem so ALL the needed to do was take off the passenger side door..

We realize these problems later on that night..

1) The drivers door lock does not work
2) The trunk release button which is on the drivers door does not work
3) The gas door release button which is on the drivers door does not work
4) The drivers window rattles while driving, it sounds like its out of the track or something
5) You have to pull the drivers door handle twice to get the door to open
6) The drivers door pull handle on the inside is missing the rear portion of the handle.
7) The window tint on both the passenger and drivers side windows are all scratched up has cuts in it.

We went back this morning to give them a piece of mind.. Here is what they did.. Gave me a their shops loaner Kia and refunded my $25 co-pay and said it would be fixed in the next couple days. They said the problem was someone wrote drivers side on the work order so they took it all apart before realizing they needed to be working on the passenger side. I said fine make it right and what about the window tint, they said we cant do anything about that here, I said you need to hire someone to do it and they said unless I can prove it was them they are not responsible.. WTF!! It was not scratched up prior to the event..

Any thoughts on what I can do here?? I paid $100 to have the front windows tinted to match the rears and now its ruined and no one cares..

This whole suituation is BS, doe anyone have any advice on anything else I can do?? I feel like I am screwed because they have to fix the car but they can take their sweet time if they want to, I feel it needs to be priority but they don't feel the same..

 

[FZ1inNH]

Get it repaired on your own then file a small claims case against them. Just as much as it is up to you to prove they did the damage, it is also up to them to prove they did not.

Chris, you're having the worst of luck lately. I hope things turn around for you!

 

[dako81]

I FEEL your pain.

The past 6 months to a year I have had ZERO luck having anyone do anything for me and 1) having it be done right, 2) having it be the correct price, or 3) not damaging anything in the process.

I just got my windows tinted from a professional who has been doing it for 19 years. Guess what I am doing next week, taking it back to get it redone...

Also, I'm young, but I've learned that unless it is something that really can not be fudged up, like really can not be messed up, foolproof, don't do business with people you're close to. At least with cars.

 

[cbzdel]

Chris, you're having the worst of luck lately. I hope things turn around for you!

Reading my posts it sure sounds like it haha.. This car is the woman's car, and I am just dealing with it because I know how to get things done (typically) she is one to just agree to whatever they tell her, she would of just accepted the broken door and lived with it.. (she was in a fender bender, she was rear ended at maybe 10mph and it diss-aligned the bumper from the body and left a dent in it because he had a front receiver hitch, and she didnt do anything because the guy that did it was very sorry!!!)

I ended the tint problem by saying they will be paying for it and I will make sure it gets taken care of, and then the owner just walked away from me..


----

The other post about the scam, actually had nothing to do with me, just my family. But it still sucks none the less...

 

[Andz]

The woman

I hope that's not how you refer to your wife...

 

[cbzdel]

I hope that's not how you refer to your wife...

soon to be wife hahah.. whats her's is her's so its the womans car.. I dont want that car when we do get married, I hate modern VW's and hers is a LEMON to begin with....

Classic VW's FTW :rockon:

Modern day VW :ban:

 

[The Toecutter]

Allright...heres what happened...you came in with a dome light problem.those types of job's are given to apprentices...he is probably not very well equipped as far as tool's and sounds like the master tech thats supposed to be training him did nothing more than tell him where the switch was...then the (ap) proceded to dismantle your doors without ever opening a repair manual to get the correct procedure and that's how all of that got tore up,and the inop switches were not plugged back up or he might have even broken up the connecters...Why don't you ask to talk to the Tech that performed the work with the shop manager at your side....:spank:

 

[wolfc70]

First off, no matter how simple, never let a non VW mechanic touch a modern VW! The proprietary VW software is very complex, and a normal ODB II scanner will misinterpret non emissions DTC's. You need a VAG-COM to properly diagnose any form of electrical issue, just to be sure some monkey with a torque wrench did not mess up any form of programming (very easy to do).

Ross-Tech: Home has different VAG-COM kits, it would be a wise investment. Not only can you clear DTC's, you can reset readiness codes, monitor injector timing, graph boost pressure, enable all of the "deactivated features for the US market", and pretty much anything besides changing actual programming codes.

Modern VW vehicles are a marvel of engineering. They are very sensitive vehicles, and need an experienced mechanic, or something simple can turn in a nightmare. I would hound your mechanic to make things right, including the tinting. In the future, either work on the car yourself, or find a independent VW/European car specialist.

 

[Coopdman]

Not sure about your area but one of our local news channel has a service called Action 9, where a journalist deals with situations where a customer feels they have been treated wrongly or scammed. The reporter then contacts the company and basically becomes a detective for the case as well as negatively publicizing the company doing wrong. Most cases are settled very quickly after that. Only a few times were officials brought in, and in those the news company helped pay for any expenses. I'd say it's worth a shot if you have something similar in your area.

Otherwise, best of luck to you. I'm sure it's not worth the hassle of taking anyone to court. Just stay away from there in the future... maybe your buddy can do some work for you outside of that garage for side money?

 

[CHEMIKER]

Not sure about your area but one of our local news channel has a service called Action 9, where a journalist deals with situations where a customer feels they have been treated wrongly or scammed. The reporter then contacts the company and basically becomes a detective for the case as well as negatively publicizing the company doing wrong. Most cases are settled very quickly after that. Only a few times were officials brought in, and in those the news company helped pay for any expenses. I'd say it's worth a shot if you have something similar in your area.

Great idea. They do a lot of work for you. We have one here called Action Line through the local newspaper. A great majority of cases are handled very quickly and in the customer's favor.

I would also suggest filing a claim with the Better Business Bureau about the windows if the auto shop refuses to take care of them. I have had good luck with the BBB; they also do a lot of work on your behalf, like pestering the business to respond to your inquiry about why they think they were in the right.

The good thing about the BBB is that they take care of every case where an Action Line type resource may not. Good luck man.

 

[wrightme43]

I work for midas as a service advisor.
Slow down on talking to, or threatening to talk to this that or the other. Talk to the service advisor in private, talk to the manager. It can most likely be resolved.

You have to understand that we frequently and I mean FREQUENTLY get people in the shop, with you changed my oil and now my intake gasket is leaking. You put tires on my car and now my wheel bearing is out. You caused my problem. Its your fault. In front of a waiting area full of customers. This gets them nowhere. I try to be polite, but it gets them nowhere.

If someone has a legitimate problem I will go way way out of the way to take care of it. Talk to them. Show them whats going on. Be polite. The guy at the counter didnt work on your car. His job is to communicate your problem, let the tech find the problem, determine the best course of repair, tell you the price of the repair, aquire the parts, and schedule the techs time to complete the repair based on the parts availability. He wants you to be happy.

It sounds pretty messed up though. I try to eliminate stuff like this by reading my customer problem back to the customer and asking if there is anything else they are unhappy with about thier car. Problems arise when all the people at a shop are not on the same page.

The whole drop off vs waiter thing is a huge problem at my shop too. That and appointments. For some reason if you give someone a appt. they feel like you should have a tech standing there waiting when they walk in the door. I keep telling the owner that they cause resentments and lose us business. It should be first come first served and that no one should cut in line because they are in a hurry. Its not fair, its normally people with stupid stuff, and they never come back anyway.

We dont have any problem working on VW, but all our techs are ASE cert, with three master techs now, and one of them even just got the new advanced engine diag that is over master tech.

 

[zigzagg321]

Hopefully they fix it... but it sucks for both of you. No excuse for their false information about it being done...and not telling you at 9am...etc..

I have worked on German cars for the last 10 years. ****ty electronics is to blame most likely, but they never should have tried to give you the car back with the other new problems.

There is probably a module that needs to be coded, or replaced. But start with the battery. If the battery is not over 13 volts at the battery termianls...the car's modules start to freak out and cause all sorts of havok. If the battery measures low, replace it. Or if its 4 years old, or older...replace it.

 

[cbzdel]

they called this morning and said the car was done, great.. we go in to get it, and the first thing we notice is all new window tint.. Its looks great!! They said they couldnt match the bluish tint that was on there so they just re-tinted it all..

the door is fixed correctly, and they even put together an apology letter on behalf of the company, and even did a FULL DETAIL on the car, it looked brand spanking new..

They really did good here, and made me feel better about this place.. I still wont be going back though..

Side note:
I did all the talking in private, sort of, the tech dont show up until 8:30, they open the doors at 8am, but we got there at 7:30 and the manager just happened to be there..

 

[urbanj]

Personally, as much as VW's look great and maybe drive great there are too many problems. For me it's not a big deal but then when some stupid thing goes and it costs you hundreds just for the part, no thanks. But that's just me. Though if I'm working on someone else's car getting paid I really don't care

What was it with your car? I'm getting the latch mechanism in the door? That's where the switch is for the lights anyways.