Volkswagen of America Poor Costomer Service, Internet

I bought my jetta in February 2007 I first had issues with the oil change than my headlight bulbs needed replace multiple times. Now I only owe a year on my car I have the check engine light on. The dealership told me to run the code would be 100 dollars not happy :( . I finally got the code ran for free from a friend that works at a dealership. I get coupons now for a free check engine light check from the dealership good customer service would be to have waived this fee. I was told both fans would need to be replaced I had less than 45,000 miles on this car and still paying 350 dollar payments. I was told it will cost 900 dollars just for the parts. I would still have to pay for labor too. I have owned Toyota's and Honda's with this amount of milage that i never had to put only normal maintenance. I am very disappointed to hear this is a known issue and they are failing to recall this problem. This will be my last Jetta I will buy a Ford at least this is putting American to work.

Warranties are specific. Sure, sometimes concessions get made for certain things based on how long ago the warranty expired. These are in special cases such as when the engine or transmission catastrophically fail due to a defect. A defect that would have had to have been latent during the warranty, and in a part that would cost a large amount to have repaired.

Here's why you didn't get any help: It's a fan.

That fan is not super expensive (around $100-$150), it's even user replaceable. It's held on with some Torx screws, that's about it. I had the same problem with my Jetta. I got it used and it was long out of warranty, so I did the mature thing and ponied up the necessary cash, fixed it and got on with my life. My car works perfectly now and I didn't even have to throw a hissy fit.

If I'm 20 years old and can pull that off, you certainly can.

Grow up.

Not a ripoff. <3 VW.

Hi Dallas Author.. (sorry for your out-of-warranty trouble):

The Only thing IS to alert the NHTSA in DC..

Google: Nat. Highway Transposrtation Safety Admin: office of defects (ODI).

Just Google ODI, and enter the DEFECT Complaint. If it has a Safety Impact even better for you... pressure mounts for a Recall on VW of America..

I Agree the VWoA customer service is completely according to the script. What is NOT legal is ignoring the warranty defect DURING the warranty coverage period (under 4 YRS..) All consumers should remember to push for repairs during that period AND get a lawyer lined up.

That's what VW of America versteht (understands in German).

Regards,

Another 2006 Jetta owner with bad defect! GOING BACK TO HONDA!

 

Buy a Honda..they are generally cheaper to maintain. However read through some reports here. Seems some Honda owners think they are "entitled" to a new transmission "good faith" at 100,000 miles. Of course the dealer told them to get bent.

I have never been able to have any repairs done on my cars out of warranty. Nor has anyone I known ever been able to have this done. Can I ask all people who read this report to give me any evidence of a car dealer covering anything not under warranty for free? I call horse plucky on this one. What is the purpose of a warranty at all if people expect to have coverage after it expires? Why not just lifetime warranty every vehicle on "good faith"?

Oh I will tell you why Because MOVING PARTS WEAR OUT...hence they are more often then not...NOT covered under warranty ad infinitum. And when a warranty expires (look up the word "expire"), it means we all have to pay for repairs out of pocket after that time. Yes ALL of us..each and EVERY one.

Below is what I posted on a VW forum website. The EXACT same thing happened to me. I had taken the Jetta in under warranty for numerous issues, some fixed and some ignored. All of the sudden a couple months out of warranty the check engine light came on and I took the car to Auto Zone to have code checked and it was the cooling fans. I can go on but basically everything the original person said happened to me.. The only difference was I sent over 100 emails to VW corporate executives and someone named Katie Fox called and said the same thing to me that was said to the original poster. "Take car in pay $70 to test and we will let you know." $70 laters I was told what I ready knew, cooling fan needed to be replaced at $800, but then I was told by Katie Fox VW will not fix under a "good faith warranty." but she was nice enough to send me a coupon for $1000 off a new VW Jetta.. I take major issue with "buying a new car" but I had just purchased this Jetta for $15k cash with 43k miles on it in 2007. When i had it appraised by a VW Dealer i was offered $5k because of the check engine light, go figure! Needless to say I immediately traded the car in for Honda. The strange thing was not ONE auto part store sold this cooling fan. This was back in 2008 and the only place that sold the part was VW for $600.

For the people that say a warranty is a warranty that is complete BS. I have owned 15 different cars over the past 10 years, mostly Honda's and I have NEVER had to pay $800 for a repair on a car with only 50k miles. I even owned a Honda with 240k miles and the most expensive piece I had to replace was a timing belt at 100k miles for $800. As of now I own a 2010 Camaro and will ONLY buy American for now on! I was hesitant when buying the 2006 Jetta because of the horror stories I had heard of VW breaking down and costing a lot to fix, obviously VW reputation holds true!

More details are below -----------------------

This is also my first VW. I have owned it for about 1 1/2 years. Paid 15k cash For the car/ had 39k miles on it. Currently at 54k miles (outside of warranty by 4k miles). Had a few issues under warranty: trunk/ headliner/ cosmetic issues. Also thought I had issues with AC but the dealer said no. So I had no where to go.

Current issue:

What triggered the series of issues was a check engine light. I though I must have forgoten to screw on gas cap tight so I reset the light by turning car off and then on 3 times.. The light went away and then came back. This happened a few times until finally the light stayed on for good. Took car to autozone where I had tested and got a code related to cooling fan relay (0080 0081). This is when I checked under the hood and found that One of the 2 cooling fans is not working (the smaller one) that is supposed to turn on with AC. From what I have gathered online is that there may be an issue with the actual relay (there are supposed be 2 relays one for each fan). I already checked all fuses inside the car and under the hood related to the ac or cooling fan and they are all ok. The main/ big fan seems to he working harder than normal. Also this fan stays on after I turn off the car, which never happened before. The AC is blowing and working fine. Gets cold like it always did.

While messing with the car I noticed that when the AC is on high I hear a humming noise. I tracked the noise to the blower under the glove box. I don't really know what that part/ piece is bt that is where the noise is coming from.. Of course I never heard this noise before the check engine light.

As I said had many issues with the car under warranty and strange noises and issues were related to AC. Again AC is working/ car is not over heating. I think there is a bad relay but I can't find any information on where this relay is located. I already looked under the battery. I want to figure this out but am close to taking to the dealer. I already contacted VW America spoke with Katie Fox (apparently any email sent to the CEO or other executives are filtered to her).

This VW Cooling Fan is warranted against defects in materials
or workmanship for a period of 4 years or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first, or 4 years and two weeks.

Usually the warranty period ends when it ends. I could be wrong but I doubt it. I would be glad this was just the cooling fans and not the motor or transmission like what happened to me. No matter how much I pleaded they would not pretend the warranty period was not up and basically concluded that I was not special.

Here is a perfect example of why they should never bend for anyone.  Once they bend even a little bit, everyone expects them to bend everything, every time, for everyone - or at least for them, maybe no one else, but their case is, of course, special  LOL

Either you are (i) not a business owner, (ii) a poor business owner who does not care about repeat business from valued customers and will eventually go bankrupt, or (iii) a 46 year old man who lives in his mother's basement with nothing to do but blog and argue with people.

The point is, if you value your customers, you value their business and make concessions, within reason.  If you are willing to do for one, you, as a good and successful business owner, ought to be willing to do for the other. 

The "rip off" is the run around I have received.  They said that they would cover it at 55k miles, but not 2 weeks post warranty?  Obviously their warranty is not set in stone if they were willing to honor it at 55k miles.  In addition, this is a common problem with this vehicle and Volkswagen of America is refusing to acknowledge it. 

"According to you, if your motor blows a week after the warranty expired, too bad right?"

   That's the way it works.   A warranty covers manufacturers defects for a very specific time and mileage. 

    That you feel entitled to be covered outside of the specific time specified in the warranty is too bad for you.   Sure, a manufacturerer can decide to cover a defect outside the warranty period, but if they choose not to it's certainly not a ripoff.  They have held up their obligations under the warranty. 

Thanks Joe, I may do that.

...I agree. If a motor blew a week after the warranty was up I would be pissed as hell. But the warranty is up and that's that. It is not a rip off. Sure it would be great customer sevice for them to make an exception and perhaps some places will at times..but if they did it for everyone they would soon be bankrupt.

My transmission went bad on a Mustang around two weeks after the warranty expired. They made no concession or exception, I was SOL. I was pissed off..but I did not lodge a complaint because of dumb luck that it went bad soon after the warranty period was up..I had to be reasonable and learn to live with the facts.

Now if it was under warranty and they tried to get out of covering the repairs like we read about all these extended warranty companies do all the time, then it is worthy of lodging a complaint. But the reality is moving parts wear out..and unless they have a lifetime warranty..then each and every one of us is subject to paying for repairs once the warranty expires, be it a week, a month, or a day. Is it that complicated?

WRITING TO THEIR CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS IN GERMAN?

Nobody thinks that they are special.  It is all about customer service.  You know as well as I do that it is not that cut and dry.  There are many companies that do the right thing because they care about the consumer, repeat business, and company reputation. 

I personally know that Lexus replaced a transmission on one of their vehicles after the warrenty expired by a short time.  Did they have to do it, or was that person special?...No.  They did it because they care about the customer and knew that there is value to not drawing lines in the sand!  According to you, if your motor blows a week after the warranty expired, too bad right? 

Hopefully, there are more people that feel the way I do then not. 

   Your warranty is for 4 years or 50K miles, whichever comes first.  After 4 years, the warranty is over.  Not 4 years and 2 weeks, or 4 years and 2 months.   Doesn't matter if you drove it only 2K miles.  Once the warranty is up, the owner is responsible for the cost of repairs

   This isn't a ripoff because VW is following the terms of the warranty.   It's obvious that VW does not recognize that you are special and should be extended special consideration, but that's hardly a ripoff.