Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:16:55 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Stevens Creek Volkswagen in Santa Clara
In-Reply-To: <308440.37793.qm@web82710.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Sounds like you're getting the right plane now David.
You might see what I wrote just before seeing this.
That 3,000 repair bill they tried to hit you with.
Don't think for a second that car dealerships are competent or even worse,
don't think they're honest.
A car dealership in a place like Santa Clara, the need to bring in some
insane number like a hundred thou a DAY.
There are three departments, Sales, Parts, and Service.
The service department is the biggest money getter. I don't go around
readily accusing of fraud or even assuming it, but it's not impossible to
image that they do that 3,000 repair and then update the ecu and not tell
you about that part, when they knew that was the real issue in the first
place.
Worse than that..........i am sure car dealers somewhere, have charged the
3,000 repair, and not even do the work to the car, just say they have,
upgrade the ecu, and charge as though they had done two new cats or
whatever.
There are endless cases of car repair fraud in California, or have been. I'm
not saying I think they did this, but I am saying this sort of thing has
probably happened.
Sears Auto Center in San Rafael, now about 15 years but they got busted so
badly for over selling front suspension repairs, it's silly.
I used to get 'The Repair Reporter' ......that's a state issued report on
all the actions that the CARB takes against shops. Huge long list of 10,000
dollars fines and being suspended form doing smog checks, that that's just
in smog checks, not in all types of repairs.
I have read of someone dropping off a pretty new Honda for service, and
marking the tires somehow so they could tell if it had been moved or
touched, and .........i don't know if this is true or not .............but
the claim was they got charged for service, and the car never got touched or
moved.
I'm not saying they are all crooked, but some of the time some of them
are.
It's extra bad in California , the animosity and distrust between shops and
consumers. I worked there professionally for many many years on cars. I've
worked at a car deanship a bit. At the one I worked at, on warranty
repairs, on which they did pretty well money wise, they would replace more
than they had to , and rip off the parent auto company. Gladly, and almost
openly. They figured that was just a 'normal part of
business'...........cheat the car company on warrantee repairs. That was a
Lincoln Mercury Renault dealer in the late 80's in California.
I good competent independent hard working honest repair shop is by far the
best deal. Dealers can be crooks, for sure.
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
David Kao
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 11:09 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Stevens Creek Volkswagen in Santa Clara
Oh well, it's Friday so why not a little more on this issue.
Yes, I agree. The guy apparently was trying to make me accept a
repair that I will pay. If it is done under factory warranty they
probably won't make any money at all. This explains why they have
tried all kinds of words to deny warranty coverage. It is indeed
up to me to justify the effort to fight and what I will get if
I win. I think I will get very little. You will never know if they
will do something to your car and cost you a fortune in the future.
I still have bitter memory from the Check Engine light that came on
more than a year ago that would have cost $3000 for parts to fix.
Had I not found that it was a flaw in the ECU, and VW had a recall
on it I probably would have two new CATs on the Passat but a loss
of a ton of weight due to thinner pocket. The service adviser at
Stevens Crook VW never discovered the recall until I questioned.
THey reprogrammed the ECU. The light never came back on. Passed
California smog test with excellent numbers a few months ago.
Forget it. I will repair it myself. A few hundred bucks. It's really
the time and sweat that matter. The VW brand is one to avoid in the
future. Accura is on my radar screen in future years to come. Meanwhile
my two aging Vanagon will have their last breaths before they die.
I am happy with the two aging legendary bricks.
David
--- Syncronicity1 <syncronicity1@gmail.com> wrote:
> Don't forget that the "Service Advisors" at dealers are on commission.
> Their incentive is to create problems, not satisfy customers. You are
> really on your own now, they cannot be trusted, you can't believe anything
> they say.
>
> Roland
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> David Kao
> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 11:21 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Stevens Creek Volkswagen in Santa Clara
>
> Maybe this is actually an American culture in the auto industry.
> A warranty is not really meant a warranty. It means if you are able
> to fight you will get it. I do not want to fight it any more. I
> don't think I will have any advantage by getting a pair of
> remanufactured axles.
>
> David
>
>
>
>
> --- Allan Streib <streib@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>
> > New car warranties are a marketing gambit, just like rebates. They
> > are not a guarantee that you won't have problems. They are not an
> > indicator of the real longevity or quality of the vehicle. Not at
> > all. KIA has 10 year warranties. Why? Are their cars that good?
> > NO, it's because it is the only way they can get people to buy them.
> >
> > Problems getting them to actually honor the warranty when something
> > does go wrong is not unique to VW. I have heard horror stories about
> > people trying to get Chrysler to honor their warranties.
> >
> > Sorry to hear of your troubles. Hope they come around.
> >
> > Allan
> >
>
>
>
>
>
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