Where Your Author Ultimately Decides to Give Up Golf (Part I)
In our last installment of the Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen saga, I’d received the Golf back with some issues after its second headliner replacement in less than two years.
Let’s pick up from there, shall we? Today is Part I of… we’ll see how many.
The day I picked up the Golf, I’d fully documented the headliner fitment issues and damage caused to various interior panels during its service. Emails went to both the service manager and general manager of the dealership, since I’d received a “How’d We Do?” survey-type email. Afterward, the waiting process began for the replacement trim parts to travel from wherever (probably Mexico) to the dealer.
I’d identified most of the issues I noticed while still at the dealer, and all the issues via email with picture documentation on June 4th – always better to be thorough. I made a mental note that it’d probably be a couple of weeks before the parts arrived. The service manager assured me in person they’d call as soon as the parts were in to set up an appointment for the fixes. I did not receive an email response from the service manager of any kind regarding the pictures I’d sent of the headliner issues and damaged areas. The general manager did reply and said he’d speak with the service managers about the issues.
Meantime, it did seem the roof leaking issue was fully remedied. I didn’t notice any moisture in the headliner at all after some considerable June thunderstorms here in Cincinnati. The quiet waiting game continued for two full weeks, at that point I’d not heard anything regarding the arrival of my parts. Late in the afternoon on June 18th, I sent an email to the service manager. Said manager replied fairly quickly and said they’d been out of the office and forgot to follow up but good news: My part arrived that afternoon!
Part. Singular. I reiterated immediately there were several places that needed repair, so replacement panels or parts would be required in all those places. Again I was assured the dealership would make everything right, and they in fact had seen the pictures I forwarded. Remember this fact for later. The nearest day they had loaner availability was on Monday, June 28th, so I’d have to wait another week for the car to go in. This time they’d send someone to pick up the car and drop off a loaner, to minimize my hassle. Great, appointment set for 10:00 AM on the 28th.
Think that went as planned, or was it a high blood pressure sort of day? We’ll find out next time.
[Images: Corey Lewis / The Truth About Cars]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
More by Corey Lewis
Comments
Join the conversation
Are people used to dealing with stand alone dealers? Where I'm at we have Acme Toyota, Honda, VW, Jeep, BMW, Ford dealer group, etc. Is the claim that the service at VW is worse than Jeep or Ford when they are all run by the same company?
Corey you could either live with what is wrong with your VW or sell it while prices are high. If you have another car you should probably sell it now and take your time and find another vehicle. Might be wise to stay away from the German and European brands since they seem to have more issues.