'buckshee respray' - but how do I prove it?

rollcall

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice. Bought a brand new VW in 2010, but this time last year I noticed one day that some paint had come off under the fuel filler cap, it looked like something had been spilled on it as the clearcoat was gone too in about a 4 inch radius. I brought it straight back to the dealer. They photgraphed it and told me 'informally' that it would be covered under warranty. As usual in Ireland, I had to chase them for an answer. After weeks of this, they told me that the damge was caused by a 'stone chip', and would not be covered. I also got on to VW head office and was fobbed off by them too. They said the damage was caused by 'outside influence' so was not covered. I didn't get the fault fixed as it was going to cost a lot of money, so I left it as it was. I was unhappy with the VW dealer as I found them patronising - they were an outfit that got huge in the boom and treat customers with arrogance, so I moved to another dealer recently. When the car was in for service I explained about the paint and asked them to look it. Guess what, it looks like the panel got a dent before delivery to me, was filled, masked & sprayed. Now the filler has come out, causing the paint defect. With a zoom lens you can see overspray on the plastic neck of the fuel filler cap, so it had to be done after it left the factory. I reported back to the original dealer and VW head office and included detailed photos. They have now agreed that the car was resprayed, but as I cant prove it was done before I collected the car, they are refusing to cover the repair. I am really angry about this, but maybe I should be used in Ireland to dealing with 'professionals' who are shakinmg your hand and peeing on your leg at the same time! Any advice lads? I have threatened them with the usual 'Troika' of the small claims court, sale of goods & suppply of services act, Joe Duffy etc., but nothing seems to work!

Cee-Jay-Cee

If you have independent evidence along with their admission that it was damaged/repaired then take a case against them in the small claims court. It will cost you €28 and so long as the claim isn't more than €2k then the small claims court can hear it. You basically tell the court the story and present whatever paper work you have and jet the court decide. Even if you lose it won't cost you more than the initial €28 registration fee.

Noel Kinsella

rollcall wrote: »

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice. Bought a brand new VW in 2010, but this time last year I noticed one day that some paint had come off under the fuel filler cap, it looked like something had been spilled on it as the clearcoat was gone too in about a 4 inch radius. I brought it straight back to the dealer. They photgraphed it and told me 'informally' that it would be covered under warranty. As usual in Ireland, I had to chase them for an answer. After weeks of this, they told me that the damge was caused by a 'stone chip', and would not be covered. I also got on to VW head office and was fobbed off by them too. They said the damage was caused by 'outside influence' so was not covered. I didn't get the fault fixed as it was going to cost a lot of money, so I left it as it was. I was unhappy with the VW dealer as I found them patronising - they were an outfit that got huge in the boom and treat customers with arrogance, so I moved to another dealer recently. When the car was in for service I explained about the paint and asked them to look it. Guess what, it looks like the panel got a dent before delivery to me, was filled, masked & sprayed. Now the filler has come out, causing the paint defect. With a zoom lens you can see overspray on the plastic neck of the fuel filler cap, so it had to be done after it left the factory. I reported back to the original dealer and VW head office and included detailed photos. They have now agreed that the car was resprayed, but as I cant prove it was done before I collected the car, they are refusing to cover the repair. I am really angry about this, but maybe I should be used in Ireland to dealing with 'professionals' who are shakinmg your hand and peeing on your leg at the same time! Any advice lads? I have threatened them with the usual 'Troika' of the small claims court, sale of goods & suppply of services act, Joe Duffy etc., but nothing seems to work!

Small claims court ? Is that not up to only 2k or something ? I had a similar problem with a quarter panel on a VW in 00. If it was me I would just get it sorted myself by trimtec or one of the good paint shops maybe €150 ish ?? Life is too short, you can vote with your feet next time and buy a different brand. Have you contacted VW in Germany ? Might be worth a chance ?
Good Luck.

drunkmonkey

When you say you bought a brand new car, did you? Or did you buy a nearly new car? I suspect you bought a second hand one which may have been painted a little. There's feck all you can do in that situation.

rollcall

CJC999 wrote: »

If you have independent evidence along with their admission that it was damaged/repaired then take a case against them in the small claims court. It will cost you €28 and so long as the claim isn't more than €2k then the small claims court can hear it. You basically tell the court the story and present whatever paper work you have and jet the court decide. Even if you lose it won't cost you more than the initial €28 registration fee.

Thanks for the advice, that was quick! Small claims court might be worth a go, The letters I got from the VW dealer and VW head office are contradicting each other, so that is is my favour.

rollcall

Noel Kinsella wrote: »

Small claims court ? Is that not up to only 2k or something ? I had a similar problem with a quarter panel on a VW in 00. If it was me I would just get it sorted myself by trimtec or one of the good paint shops maybe €150 ish ?? Life is too short, you can vote with your feet next time and buy a different brand. Have you contacted VW in Germany ? Might be worth a chance ?
Good Luck.

Thanks for that, I know life is too short but every so often something just gets you on the basis of being taken for an idiot by smug gits. Like most people, especially in the last few years we have had this with 'professionals'! Broken promises, bad service, overcharging & the rest. Only for that Joe Duffy would not have a programme at all!

rollcall

drunkmonkey wrote: »

When you say you bought a brand new car, did you? Or did you buy a nearly new car? I suspect you bought a second hand one which may have been painted a little. There's feck all you can do in that situation.

Thanks for that, but the car was definitely brand new as it was ordered with a particular spec & upgrades from the factoory, thats what makes it more annoying. If they told me about the respray and knocked a few quid off, that would have been fine. The annoying thing is that the car must have got damaged in transit or at the dealer, and somebody pulled a fast one on the idiot customer. The car would have been filled, sanded, primed, masked & sprayed so it was a big enough job

drunkmonkey

I'd be straight back to Volkswagen Ireland with that and I wouldn't be accepting another respeay on the car. Talk to head office no joy there talk to a solicitor.

oregano

The car was repaired pre delivery to you, so therefore was repaired in either Vw factory, Vw storage in Ireland, or at the dealer. The question is why is there no paper trail? Someone got paid to fix it.

When bird **** destroyed new cars when I sold BMW and Toyota we got the repairs approved by the distributor showing the chassis and before and after photos for exactly this reason. Follow the money !!!

L-M

There's definitely a paper trail for that if it was painted, someone had to suck up the cost somewhere. Cars often get damaged during delivery, but the paint shouldn't fall off.

It's going to be a hard one to prove, but there is most certainly a paper trail somewhere.

RandomAccess

Keep us informed, you have a strong case! I hate when companies get so big they no longer care about the customer.

Kenny Logins

Wouldn't that fall under PDI? Where minor repairs and touch-ups are carried out. Could it have been carried before the dealer received the car?

Go direct to VW with the complaint, bypassing the dealer.

mickdw

Get an independent report by Engineer and straight to solicitor.
At least they will put the right questions to vw / Dealer and they may not be as likely bull**** if they know you are not giving up on this.

fasttalkerchat

mickdw wrote: »

Get an independent report by Engineer and straight to solicitor.
At least they will put the right questions to vw / Dealer and they may not be as likely bull**** if they know you are not giving up on this.

That's a lot of unnecessary cost (hopefully) when he hasn't tried the small claims option.

mickdw

I figure the op should be looking for in excess of small claims limits.

ei9go

I bought a new Subaru Justy from a Subaru main dealer in March 2011.We had a test drive in a Black one which was in the showroom with 23km on the odometer.Before we left the garage, we drew the salesman’s attention, to damage on the passenger side of the car and very bad scratches on the driver’s door sill and said that we would not accept this car and wanted a brand new one. The test car new unregistered but had lots of 1 inch long vertical scratches on the passenger door. The car was black and the scratches were through the paint and down to the white primer.He said that he would get another car as he would not accept that one himself.

The new car never arrived and every time we phoned, it was coming or there was some kind of excuse.He phoned after two weeks with the new cars registration number 11-W-850.

I went to collect the car. I sat opposite the salesman at his desk while he was filling in the paperwork and I said to him, “is this a new car or have you repaired the one I test drove”? He responded that it was a new car which was only taken off the transporter on Thursday.

When I got it home I was very unsure of this car so brought it to a car repairer. I asked him to look around the car without telling him why to where to look. He said that the passenger wing and door and the sill on the driver’s door was resprayed and pointed out the imperfections in spraying.

I phoned the saleman and I said to him that he had sat opposite me on Saturday and told me a deliberate blatant lie that it was a new car. There was a silence and then he said “alright I put my hands up, I did it”

He initially offered me a few free services to keep the car which I declined and said that I wanted a new car and would not accept the repaired car.I was offered me €500 to keep the car as it, I rejected the offer then I was offered €1000 I rejected this offer and again said that I wanted a new car which he promised to get for me.

At this stage the car had done 195 kilometres and they were anxious not to get anymore on it.
They brought down a Jeep and trailer on the Wednesday and took away the car and left us a replacement car until the new one was delivered.

To cut a long story short the new car was never delivered and they gave me back the amount paid and my trade in.

They deregistered the Justy and and advertised it on Carzone an “unregistered demo” which you might consider not quite the whole truth. They did not offer me any compensation and refused when I asked.

Check 11W850 on Cartell, it’s still there so if you are driving a black Justy bought around the middle of 2011 probably in the centre of the country, this is your car history.

rollcall

Hi all, just to update this thread, I went back to the garage and produced physical evidence & photos showing that the car had been repainted, also told them that I had lifted a paint sample for comparison, as there has to be a paper trail somewhere showing that somebody ordered this paint for a repair job. I also pointed out discrepancies bwteeen the letters I received from the garage and also the head office last year that clearly proved somebody lied to me. I also threatened them with court, Joe Duffy & the Fraud Squad and guess what? They would not admit anything but the car is being fixed as I speak, and they gave me a replacement car for the week! Thanks for all your advice, after 14 months the car is being fixed at no cost to me.

Sometimes the little guy can win!