Rust on Roof

[BEP51]

fact is your ammo, they seem to have almost completely stopped paying out under their warranty now. most people are having trouble. Will either go to watchdog or small claims court when i find time.

[arronarronarron]

As much as I love VW, I'm up for Watchdog. Let me know

[gavstar88]

Ive been in the same situation, bullsh1t from VW about buying it 2nd hand meaning it then wasnt covered by the warranty, im ready to go National on it, im sure plenty of other people are too?

[BEP51]

yep, will gather all my paperwork and fill out the watchdog application some time this week.

Will let everyone know what is happenning.

Edited June 14, 2011 by BEP51

[grazo22]

Just to give you a quick update/ maybe not so quick. I had a call from my case manager a couple of weeks ago saying she was going to liasing the the retailers and the body shop and looking further into why my claim had been rejected.

They asked me how long I had owned the car for and obviously I was honest so they never have anything they can pinch me on. Replying november. I've done an HPI on my car and know it's clear.

In all fairness the lady who was dealing with my claim was very attentive and from a customer service point of view I have been very satisfied so far aside from the rejection of my claim.

Last friday I got a message from the case manager saying that she would like to call me regarding the "good will gesture" and she was going to be away. Unfortunately I was abroad when I got the message so was only able to call back yesterday. Good I thought though, a good will gesture being mentioned is a good sign. There is no beating about the bush it has been mentioned.

I called back yesterday and spoke to the CM who had been asigned this whilst she was away. I called at 12 to be told he was on his lunch and requested a call back at 4:30 when I finished work. At quarter to 5 I still had not had a call back so called the number from my mobile and then asked to be called back.

I started off by discussing the message that had been left on my phone about the GWG. He said there was no indication of a GWG and that she had called to say it wasn't covered. Slightly different tone to how the voice mail came accross. He then went on to tell me that my case manager was new and maybe she had made a mistake and when I asked if their staff were trained he left about 15 seconds of silence and I had to say "hello" to get his attention.

Next I was told their "tech guys" had looked at the 6 images send to VW and they had concluded my vehicle had been resprayed due to the paint depth. I haven't owned the vehicle since new so don't know but respray or not their layer of paint is still underneath if it has been covered. No respray would take the roof gutter back to bear metal. Continuing he said the corosion was not cause by the metal underneath but offered no explanation as to where it was coming from. When I challenged this and advised of their paint still being there and they it would be impossible for it to come from the paint he possibley stayed silent for another 30 seconds. "The dealer thought the same as our tech guys did"

When I asked what the garage had actually said he went silent again. "hello" I said to make him break the silence. "I'm reading the report." He actually never told me what the dealer had said. Bearing in mind they literally saw the car for five minutes.

There is no break in the paint at all.

I advised I was doumenting on here and he said "you can find lots of bad things about cars when you google them." Yes but not 24 pages long. I asked to be contacted via email as I can do this whilst at work to which he replied "I would rather not send you emails if you're documenting them." I would just like to think that emails given out by vw contain correct infomation and not something they might regret saying at a later date.

I asked if I could please have the complaints procedure sent to myself to which I got the answer "you've followed it" and another silence. blah blah......I said I wanted to be satisfied with the outcome and I would like him to look into it again and left it in his capeable hands for an update today.

I HAVE RECEIVED NO UPDATE TODAY.

I am more than happy to go watchdog and am going to get this sorted.

Sorry for a rant but I need to document this somewhere and hopefully it is useful for others aswell.

Edited June 14, 2011 by grazo22

[BEP51]

thanks for that, bstrds not wanting to send emails, they said the same to me too.

Will fill out the watchdog form 2moro, if anyone else wants to, we could send several individual applications all saying basiacally the same thing, i will draft it 2moro during the day, and will post up the summary that anyone interested could edit to tailor to their specific case to send 2moro evening.

All in favour say Aye!

[grazo22]

I quote "I just need to discuss the discision made regarding the good will descision for the corosion on your vehicle"

That implied something entirely different to what I was told yesterday does it not?

Fantastic. I'll also do a watchdog if you want to pop the template up here. In my experience from working with complaining customers evidence is exactly what you need.

They should be recording all calls we have to the centre and we are able to file for a data request at the maximum cost of £10 which would enclose all contact we have had with volkswagen regarding this issue.

I am using a camcorder to record the messages left on my voice mail.

[richyyy]

im up for watchdog depending on how it goes today when they phone me back.. i was in nearly 3 weeks ago without any reply, ive been busy finishing college coursework etc so hadnt phoned, phoned today so will see what happens. if a template is put up il go along with it.

[richyyy]

just got my phone call there, i was in 3 weeks ago tommorow and have just been told the report is still "pending" and they have emailed for an update and will let me know as soon as they know, 3 weeks for it to still be pending is a bit of a joke is it not?

[gavstar88]

This is ridiculous, if your going to offer a "warranty" on bodywork...then at least have the balls to admit when your wrong and honour it when it fails.

I think if we all club together then there will be no way of them being able to get out of this, they dont want any bad press as their products are usually of the highest standard.

Once the template is put up I will fill it out and send off to the necessary portal.

Could we have necessary instructions on where we need to send the info/watchdog form off to just to save any confusion.

G

[BEP51]

will do, just about to put up a template, then just a case of going to their website and putting the complaint in the cars section.

[BEP51]

Use this:

I have a VW Lupo, a common problem with this model of car is rust in the roof gullies, I have small amounts of bubbling and small areas of visible rust in both gullies, this should be covered by the car's 12 year body corrosion guarantee.

“Body protection warranty

All current Volkswagen vehicles are fully protected during manufacture against through corrosion for 12 years from the date of first registration (6 years for the Sharan models).

The only preconditions are:

• The defect must be reported to a member of the Volkswagen Authorised Network as soon as it is discovered and within the warranty period.
  
• The perforation must not have been caused originally by damage, neglect, insufficient care or maintenance or by external rusting.
  
• A member of the Volkswagen Authorised Network must be advised about any rusting as soon as it is found.
  
• All body repairs will be carried out promptly in accordance with the manufacturer's specification and procedures, using only approved parts and materials, so the original level of anti-corrosion protection is maintained.”
  

However VW have refused to repair this for varying reasons... [iNCLUDE YOUR PERSONAL CASE DETAILS HERE]

It is an extremely common problem affecting the vast majority of Lupos and there are several examples of identical rusting on other Lupos sourced from members of the "clublupo" forum (currently featuring a 25 page thread with 486+ posts). A repair with a guarantee is around £600, innocent lupo owners should not have to pay this!

VW have agreed to repair many Lupos in the past, before this was realised to be a common problem, and have also more recently dismissed many cases like myself. It is very unjust that the work should not be carried out under warranty when the vast majority of Lupos suffer from this problem and it is clearly covered by the warranty.

[iNCLUDE ANY FURTHER DETAILS REGARDING THE CASE]

VW UK has recently begun to tell owners without full VW service history that, had they had the car lifetime serviced by them, then they would contribute towards costs out of “goodwill”, it appears that they know that they are in the wrong and that the warranty should be honoured and that they are simply trying to reduce their costs.

Please get in touch, this NEEDS to be sorted.

[sIGN AND PROVIDE CAR DETAILS]

I will post mine shortly this afternoon and will hopefully hear back soon!

[gavstar88]

Good man, im on it now

edit: sent!

Edited June 15, 2011 by gavstar88

[BEP51]

i keep getting application error messages returned i will try to sort this.

[BEP51]

try their email address:

watchdog@bbc.co.uk

[gavstar88]

I sent it online mate, filled out the form and just pasted that template into the "info" area of it, sent fine as far as I can see

[BEP51]

good good! anyone else managed?

[grazo22]

I spoke again to VW today to see if they had got anywhere with my claim. I advised them there are a number of individuals going to watchdog about this issue and was told volkswagen will no be back into a corner.

The case manager I currently have is trying to impliment methods of thinking outside the box and trying to currently bring the best customer service.

Fair enough. I quoted the message I had received on my phone and again was told the member of staff who had left it was quite new. This time he seemed to have more idea about what I was claiming for. Maybe he was scared by my last blast down the phone.

Apparently there is a difference between a good will gesture and it being covered under warranty. Warrenty comes from the team in Milton Keynes and a GWG comes from the customer services team.

What circumstance would a good will gesture be given out on?

Again I was asked if I had received a quote on getting the work done. I had to reply no as I am planning to get it done through the warrenty. I offered to go in and get a quote if needed.

I asked about email again saying I would just like them for evidence and even if there was a queueing system for emails going out I don't mind waiting as I'm in no rush. He said once the case is resolved he could send me a comcluding email with all of the infomation in. I'll stay for however long it takes to get done. I admitted I would just get the work done through my work if they said no as VW would be too expensive, however I have no plan of doing this. I'm claiming through them :-)

I have been promissed an update by friday and if it's still a no then I will do the watchdog

Edited June 15, 2011 by grazo22

[BEP51]

What circumstance would a good will gesture be given out on?

I have been promissed an update by friday and if it's still a no then I will do the watchdog

gwg are only for those with full vw service history.

go to watchdog anyway, cant harm your claim, may get it all paid for rather than a contribution!

[sunblindman]

Hi

I've found rust near gutter rails, I phoned Robinsons in Norwich, they said new just what I was referring too, had other customers with same problem.

Car's booked in for Wednesday this week, they will take photo's to send to VW, could be about four weeks wait.

I'll let you know.

Tony

[BEP51]

Anyone heard back from watchdog yet? I've had nothing.

[gavstar88]

Ive had nothing yet, do you need photos of the rust?

[BEP51]

Ive had nothing yet, do you need photos of the rust?

post them up if u can, watchdog will probably look thru this thread anyway.

[gavstar88]

Passenger side

Driver side

[BEP51]

would say that yours it at a similar level to how mine is currently.