Date:         Mon, 24 Feb 2003 22:18:50 -0500
Reply-To:     ian Butler <ian@BLUEMOON.HPLX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         ian Butler <ian@BLUEMOON.HPLX.NET>
Subject:      Where NOT to take your Volkswagen in SE MI
Comments: To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Just a quick heads up to both Vanagon and Scirocco crowds:

Livonia Volkswagen of Livonia, MI (suburb of Detroit) is an excellent place
to avoid if you're ever in the area.  I took my Scirocco in to have it fixed
today, and got a call saying that they didn't have any old diagnostic tools
for that old of a car (it's a 1988, for crying out loud) and couldn't
diagnose or fix it.  When I went to pick it up, I got charged $86.
"Standard diagnostic fee," claimed the cashier.  She handed back my pill key
in three of its constituent pieces.. somebody had dropped it along the way
and not even bothered to put it back together.  And when I drove it home,
much to my chagrin, I learned that they'd fiddled with the timing; the car
was doing its 45mph top speed thing instead of the 55mph thing it was doing
when I brought it in.

In short, I got charged an hour's labor to a) be told that they couldn't
work on it and b) receive my car in worse shape than when I brought it in.
Gonna call them tomorrow and see if I can weasel money back; I think I'll
give VWoA a ring too.  I had hoped better from a dealer... bad idea.

ian Butler / ian@bluemoon.hplx.net
'88 Scirocco 16v, '87 Syncro GL