Just wondering about my position here

GTE · 03-09-2010 1:12pm #1

Hey all,

Having a problem and its come at the wrong time.

Car went into VW main dealer to get a complaint from the front investigated.
They offered me a free health check as well and I accepted it.
The car was in there for the best part of the day and I came back in to check it out.

They told me what was wrong and when I asked about the health check they said everything was fine. A nice load off my mind.
Sadly they were charging so much for the other work I brought the car home then and there.

Got tyres fitted last week and the rear brake discs are in horrible condition. For arguments sake say the place where the pad is meant to contact the disk is 1.5 inches. Id say only half an inch is actually being touched by whats left of the pad now.

The profile of the disk is as wobbly as I have ever seen it and the tyre guy when he took the wheel off was amazed that the car was at most 2 months out of this VW health check.

I mailed the garage, confirmed that brakes were on the check list, revealed who I was (the car reg) and sent in a pic of one of the discs. No reply yet.

What can I do?

I dont have the time to go all the way to the garage so would I be able to get a full check over done by the local citroen and get the bill payed by VW?

God knows what else hasnt been checked.
No money for this and Im leaving for college in a week and a half.

Just writing this now I realise how little time I have and really all the money I set aside for work I knew had to be done is spent. I cant rely on the rear brakes now so I cant really travel to the north for college in it.

:mad:

Worse then that. If you could feel how warped the disc is.
Disc or disk, feck it

EPM · 03-09-2010 1:21pm

Of course they're not going to pay for another garage to check your car for you. That's ridiculous

BostonB · 03-09-2010 1:29pm

I think the reality is you can't prove anything since theres a time gap between the work being done and now. The best you could hope for is to get them to check it again. Not thats any use if you don't trust them.

Sadly I've had similar experience with different dealers over the years. on the rare occasions I've needed to use them. So much so that I'd never go to a dealer if there was any other option. I don't have any faith in dealer service histories either.

R.O.R · 03-09-2010 1:38pm

With a free health check, you tend to get what you paid for.

Unless you have a detailed check list from the VW dealer with the condition of the brake discs clearly marked as OK, then you don't have any recourse.

Even if you do have that document, 2 months is long enough for something to go wrong.

Vikings · 03-09-2010 1:47pm

What are you hoping to get out of this in all fairness?

If VW had told you the discs needed replacing would you have paid their prices to do it?

Either way the discs needed replacing, whether VW told you or not is another matter.

GTE · 03-09-2010 1:58pm

Vikings wrote: »

Either way the discs needed replacing, whether VW told you or not is another matter.

The whole problem is that I could have gone the next few thousand miles without knowing that the disk was on the verge of expiring. The very point of the health check is to get an idea of what the condition of the car is. A fluid service was done on the car anyway for other reasons before hand so I had 8000 miles or so to go before the next garage check and this health check should have been perfect to let me know if anything else needed attention before I went on my way.

Its not a case that I want to get free this free that its the fact that they told me my car had nothing else wrong with it and all of a sudden I cant rely on my brakes as I thought I could?

The reason I mentioned getting another garage to do this is because I was successful in that type of action before. There was a service, wasnt done properly, had a different garage fix the problem that resulted and money wise was dealt with by the first garage. Whether or not I can realistically get something out of them is another thing but I firmly believe that the garage cant get away with that type of thing without some hassle from me.

Thanks for the replies.

smash · 03-09-2010 2:16pm

If they're as bad as you say they are then you should have felt it while braking in fairness. If a disk is warped then it's not up to a dealer to tell you to change them, you should know it!

Also i find it hard to understand why you'd go after them to pay for something that you didn't pay for in the first place. It was a FREE health check ffs. Even if they'd noticed it, you'd still have to have paid for the job to be done!

BostonB · 03-09-2010 2:25pm

A health check that doesn't check health.

GTE · 03-09-2010 2:29pm

steve06 wrote: »

If they're as bad as you say they are then you should have felt it while braking in fairness. If a disk is warped then it's not up to a dealer to tell you to change them, you should know it!

Also i find it hard to understand why you'd go after them to pay for something that you didn't pay for in the first place. It was a FREE health check ffs. Even if they'd noticed it, you'd still have to have paid for the job to be done!

Warped may have been the wrong word to use as I dont quite know how to describe it but the contact patch of what was left of the pad is flat. I would not have felt anything this way.

Im not disputing that I still would have had to pay for the replacement parts, I dont know where you are getting that point from but in an effort to get a bit accountability going Im not going to let it pass.

_______

What I am asking is that since the check itself is in question, and they do have records of me asking for it what I would like is to get the local garage to do the same check but paid for by the VW garage. Of bloody course I'm going to have to pay for what is wrong however with the car, its daft to even think other wise however having to pay for another all round check because their last one was not up to scratch is not unreasonable.

The time between the check and me noticing it is going to be a problem but I firmly believe that all that wear in tear did not happen in the last 1000 miles.

smash · 03-09-2010 2:42pm

bbk wrote: »

Im not disputing that I still would have had to pay for the replacement parts, I dont know where you are getting that point from but in an effort to get a bit accountability going Im not going to let it pass.

Accountability for what exactly? It's 2 months since you got the check done and anything could have happened. it's general wear and tear on these parts!

bbk wrote: »

What I am asking is that since the check itself is in question, and they do have records of me asking for it what I would like is to get the local garage to do the same check but paid for by the VW garage.

Not a hope in hell, like I said it's wear and tear. They're consumables!

bbk wrote: »

The time between the check and me noticing it is going to be a problem but I firmly believe that all that wear in tear did not happen in the last 1000 miles.

Are you insane? 1000 miles and you believe they didn't wear? Sorry but in the space of 15 mins I had a pad and disk torn to shreds as a result of grit getting between them. In 1000 miles anything can happen!

GTE · 03-09-2010 2:50pm

steve06 wrote: »

Are you insane? 1000 miles and you believe they didn't wear? Sorry but in the space of 15 mins I had a pad and disk torn to shreds as a result of grit getting between them. In 1000 miles anything can happen!

Of course I knew they wore down but the fact the condition of the disk did not result from a couple of months driving. I cant agree with you on any of that.

If it was the case the whole pad had worn down and was causing damage across the disk then yes but the damage that was there was there many moons before it was meant to have been checked.

EDIT:
To prove the point the garage has just mailed me back saying that they have the record of the check and it does say the disk and pads needed immediate changing however they never put it on the documentation they gave me afterwards. Very apologetic and they are offering a discounted repair at the moment.
So at least the check was done, though Ill ask for the record of this for proof.

EDIT 2:
Just in case you base the argument on the picture that was an example. The actual disk is in much worse condition.

smash · 03-09-2010 2:56pm

bbk wrote: »

Of course I knew they wore down but the fact the condition of the disk did not result from a couple of months driving. I cant agree with you on any of that.

I'm sorry but it IS a fact that a couple of months driving will wear a disk. That's how they wear.

bbk wrote: »

but the damage that was there was there many moons before it was meant to have been checked.

how do you know?

At the end of the day there was no damage done, you need new part so get them. If you're not happy with the garage then don't use them again. But to think you can get something out of them is laughable.

BostonB · 03-09-2010 3:11pm

The idea that a dealer would do what they said is laughable.

-Corkie- · 03-09-2010 3:17pm

BostonB wrote: »

The idea that a dealer would do what they said is laughable.

They get it hard to stand over new cars never mind a Golf of that age..:rolleyes:

whippet · 03-09-2010 3:24pm

you should demand the cost of the original health check back. I am sure the VW dealer will refund you this amount without much argument.

smash · 03-09-2010 3:29pm

whippet wrote: »

you should demand the cost of the original health check back. I am sure the VW dealer will refund you this amount without much argument.

He never paid for it, it was free.

whippet · 03-09-2010 3:32pm

steve06 wrote: »

He never paid for it, it was free.

exactly !!!

smash · 03-09-2010 3:33pm

GTE · 03-09-2010 3:36pm

whippet wrote: »

exactly !!!

Well pending on what the service document that I've asked says for then I may consider the discount on the repair.

They have admitted the disks were shot even back then, those couple of months ago and they they forgot to tell me so Ill wiggle a better deal out of them yet.

BostonB · 03-09-2010 3:41pm

steve06 wrote: »

He never paid for it, it was free.

I wonder what the cost to the dealers rep if people found out they can't rely on them to tell them their car needs repairs.

tossy · 03-09-2010 4:15pm

Not much use to you BBK and not much of a contribution but why did you bring it to a VW garage? reputable independent over a main dealer all day everyday unless my car was still in warranty.

ottostreet · 03-09-2010 4:16pm

I think ye're being harsh on the OP.

OK, hes not entitled to have anything paid for, and doesn't have any fallback, but the health check, free or not, was there to determine the health of the components of the car.

If the disk is as bad as he says it is, then surely VW should have noticed it and notified him?

07Lapierre · 03-09-2010 4:27pm

Just curious OP...

1. What was the Milage/Klm on your car at the time of the "Free" Healthcheck?

2. What was the milage/klm on your car when you went in to get tyres?

Why didn't the garage report the worn tyres? I suspect its because the tyres were OK at the time of the Health check. This also suggests that the brakes could also have been ok at the Healthcheck too.

mooman · 03-09-2010 4:29pm

ottostreet wrote: »

I think ye're being harsh on the OP.

If the disk is as bad as he says it is, then surely VW should have noticed it and notified him?

Surely he should have noticed. I can't understand how people are happy to drive around completely oblivious to work that needs to be done to their cars. Who checks his oil, tires, coolant and other things like that. I bet his car is a mess.

03-09-2010 4:46pm

Not good to hear the garage are complete and utter f**ktards but I'm amazed to hear you reckon there is a chance they will pay some other garage to do work on your car as they told you all was ok.

GTE · 03-09-2010 5:14pm

With regards to why it went to a VW garage I was getting a price and wished to get the work done there and then. I didnt know what was up with the car that was causing the noise. Turned out it was bushes and things like that, then I was so horrified at the price that I called the local garage who although being expensive in the past did it for half the price VW wanted and a day quicker.

With regards to the tyres:
The car went into them at about 159900 and its on 160459 now. The tyres were changed at 1.7 and 1.8 mm tread depth last week.

Mooman,

I have replaced the oil and filter in the car last week.
I have replaced the front tyres before they reached the limit (Ill admit it was close to it though)
The coolant has been flushed and filled back with G12 requirement after a different brand was put in for a different job, a full 6 months before that is recommended to be done so your comments on my car being a mess are far from founded in any truth.

With that dealth with one of the reasons that I was oblivious to what was happening to the rear brakes could be down to the car was given a clean bill of health when I asked for it to be checked head to toe.

Rover, as I said I was able to do it before and that is the only reason the idea of getting another garage to do a check and have VW pay for it came up.

From now it would be interesting to see what they offer as they have admitted the disk was in need of replacement back at the health check.

Just wondering about my position here

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