Sold with incorrect spec
Discussion
Ok so I bought a golf gtd 2015 last April, paid over the odds to get a car with correct spec pan roof pro nav leather seats etc and from main dealer ... for peace of mind
Anyway travelled last April 2017 from wales to buy car from a dealer in derby to view and test drive the car, salesman said car had carnet (connectivity to your phone that unlocks various features)
cars great in general, and returned week later to pick it up, sale was a little rushed tbh but I dont like fuss so cracked on and got out of there got car Home and had a play with things one thing couldn’t get to work was carnet. Tried the manual no luck not big problem car had to go into local dealer for service and fix broken dash vents under warranty so I asked them to take a look they did but said they’d have to have it a few days so rebooked.
They took a look and spoke to be technical dept to try to resolve issue, which is it won’t connect to WiFi hotspot or allow even to get to that screen because menus greyed out..
They said they tried wiring loom for breakages and various other fault finding. Then They said the issue is the control unit which controls all this has been swapped with one that doesn’t support carnet. Service manager said It flagged on VW computers control unit swapped? back in March a month before I purchased the car!
They claimed I need to speak to VW customer complaints as a new unit will be £4000!? with coding and fitting !
Rang customer complaints who checked with local dealer they then instructed i take it to another dealer for second opinion. Who weren’t as helpful but finally confirmed wrong control unit fitted.
Complaints spoke to supplying dealer who confirmed it does have carnet just needs activation, which isn’t the case, but at least they have admitted it should have it.
So now they are trying to find out when it was swapped or if it came from factory like this, my only gripe is they have now gone back to supplying dealer who are obviously not in a rush to help sort it as I have had Complaints dept involved in this issue and another regarding a tyre that had damaged sidewall. Anyway I was told a maximum of 2 weeks for the supplying dealer to see where it has been swapped or has it come from factory like this.
We’re now in week 3 and I’m getting fed up the whole saga has been going for about 5 months maybe more!
What are my options in terms of legality of the whole thing !
I'd be annoyed that they sold you a car without something they said it had...... but CarNet is sh*t. Not just a bit, but totally, absolutely worthless.
Took me months trying to get it properly registered with support from VW Germany via VW UK.
Once registered, I find out that it gives you about 5% of the capability of your smartphone, with far less comprehensive coverage, and less accuracy.
My recommendation for any new-ish car is to make sure it either has Android Auto/CarPlay or Mirror Link. That way your head unit is actually useful. OEMs have been fobbing buyers off for years with sub-par 'infotainment'. The VW ones are amongst the worst I've had in recent years.
Took me months trying to get it properly registered with support from VW Germany via VW UK.
Once registered, I find out that it gives you about 5% of the capability of your smartphone, with far less comprehensive coverage, and less accuracy.
My recommendation for any new-ish car is to make sure it either has Android Auto/CarPlay or Mirror Link. That way your head unit is actually useful. OEMs have been fobbing buyers off for years with sub-par 'infotainment'. The VW ones are amongst the worst I've had in recent years.
I guess the car could be rejected for being not as described.
It seems unlikely someone would go to the trouble of swapping the units for what has been correctly described as a completely rubbish service. I think you have to pay for it once the car is 3yrs old too.
It strikes me as possible that someone has screwed up in the factory, or even that CarNet might not have been available at that point, or could have been an option. Our Sept15 Tiguan came from stock so we couldn't option CarPlay (£100). I was told "no problem, it can be added later". Took VW many months to come out with a software upgrade (at £250) and it turns out it can't be done on our car as it wasn't fitted with CarPlay compatible USB ports.
It seems unlikely someone would go to the trouble of swapping the units for what has been correctly described as a completely rubbish service. I think you have to pay for it once the car is 3yrs old too.
It strikes me as possible that someone has screwed up in the factory, or even that CarNet might not have been available at that point, or could have been an option. Our Sept15 Tiguan came from stock so we couldn't option CarPlay (£100). I was told "no problem, it can be added later". Took VW many months to come out with a software upgrade (at £250) and it turns out it can't be done on our car as it wasn't fitted with CarPlay compatible USB ports.
Edited by Sheepshanks on Monday 5th March 23:20
Good luck getting anything from VW. We brought my wifes Tiguan from a main dealer and may as well not bothered! The car didn't have the Bluetooth phone functionality as advertised and a leaking (read snapped) diesel filter case, which even the head of VW said they wouldn't fix!
Made me join the class action lawsuit for diesel gate as a result of my bitterness!
As a result - will never buy a VW again.
Made me join the class action lawsuit for diesel gate as a result of my bitterness!
As a result - will never buy a VW again.
Yeah I heared carnet isn’t all that great but there’s other software issues linked to it that are useful, I’ve emailed a 14 day notice under the consumer rights act to sort it or at least get it booked in to be sorted within 14 days or I will be issuing the claims to small claim court
There seems to be a degree of uncertainty over carnet availability on the changeover point for the revised unit that has it. I was talking to a gent with an R at the weekend and he mentioned something to do with the bezel colour?
We went with Discover Pro on ours, which gets it anyway. I paired my phone to use it, wished I hadn't bothered, and spent ages trying to undo it as the manual is less than helpful. I wanted to use the USB port for charging, but not have bloody carnet start up every time I plugged it in. Had to reset the network settings from the head unit in the end. From memory the phone has to be connected to the USB port in the centre console for carnet to work as well.
The hotspot stuff doesn't connect automatically unless you switch it off on your phone and back on again after starting the car - tried to get to the bottom of it with Apple, but lost the will to live after x4 hour long calls!
We went with Discover Pro on ours, which gets it anyway. I paired my phone to use it, wished I hadn't bothered, and spent ages trying to undo it as the manual is less than helpful. I wanted to use the USB port for charging, but not have bloody carnet start up every time I plugged it in. Had to reset the network settings from the head unit in the end. From memory the phone has to be connected to the USB port in the centre console for carnet to work as well.
The hotspot stuff doesn't connect automatically unless you switch it off on your phone and back on again after starting the car - tried to get to the bottom of it with Apple, but lost the will to live after x4 hour long calls!
Adrian E said:
The hotspot stuff doesn't connect automatically unless you switch it off on your phone and back on again after starting the car - tried to get to the bottom of it with Apple, but lost the will to live after x4 hour long calls!
I couldn't crack it on our car - IIRC the hotspot on iPhones disconnects after 90 seconds of non-use and the only way to get it going again is as you describe.The only thing I will say is that using it you get Google's traffic flow information and it gives you so much information it's hard to deal with. TMC in my old Merc works pretty well most of the time but get in the SE and it goes bonkers.
Alucidnation said:
Hotspot stayed connected forever on the one I used for a while, although had to manually connect every time via the iPhone but thats Apple s
t for you.
That's right. The pain is it doesn't reconnect automatically each time you start the car - like the Bluetooth (mostly) does,t for you.So seems the email of 14 days notice of legal action pushed them along a little.
Just got a call from VW customer care hahaha!
Anyway the selling dealer are not admiting to changing he control unit in their VW network.. well they wouldn’t would they saying a third party garage must have done it ! Prior time buying it, which is find hard to believe don’t these things need coding and whatever else dealer only job?
But they said the legal contract lies between myself and the selling dealer so legal action need to be taken against them for false advertisment I guess.
As the salesman clearly told me and my partner that that it had carnet, even told the customer service rep it does have it but all thats wrong with it is it needs activating when we were troubleshooting months ago so there an admission.
Now wether they didn’t know it wasn’t working or not they’ve sold the car when it wasn’t as they described
do I have a case here to proceed to small claims or am I wasting my time
Just got a call from VW customer care hahaha!
Anyway the selling dealer are not admiting to changing he control unit in their VW network.. well they wouldn’t would they saying a third party garage must have done it ! Prior time buying it, which is find hard to believe don’t these things need coding and whatever else dealer only job?
But they said the legal contract lies between myself and the selling dealer so legal action need to be taken against them for false advertisment I guess.
As the salesman clearly told me and my partner that that it had carnet, even told the customer service rep it does have it but all thats wrong with it is it needs activating when we were troubleshooting months ago so there an admission.
Now wether they didn’t know it wasn’t working or not they’ve sold the car when it wasn’t as they described
do I have a case here to proceed to small claims or am I wasting my time
I’ve never been to one before but realistically all I have is my word against there’s although the salesman also told the customer services handler that it does have carnet so there is also an admission to liability there again.
Hate the dealers doing what they want and dreaming up some bullst to get out of it
Hate the dealers doing what they want and dreaming up some bulls
t to get out of it Probably should add some context as to why I think it’s not worth it....
Brought my wife’s last Leon from Seat, ex demo 59 miles on the clock, registered 1.4.12 model year 2012.
Got it home noticed that Bluetooth streaming didn’t work, read all about it and internet searched etc and found that even though brochure stated it has it for 2 weeks in July 2011 they had to install different head units in all Leon’s, no physical change just software due to supplier shortage.
Turned out my car had sat once built in a field somewhere from mid July 2011 till April 2012 but sold as “new” because of the reg date.
Asked Seat just to update head unit as even brochure for 2011 model had Bluetooth and was told tough basically, what it came from the factory with was what it had.
Brought my wife’s last Leon from Seat, ex demo 59 miles on the clock, registered 1.4.12 model year 2012.
Got it home noticed that Bluetooth streaming didn’t work, read all about it and internet searched etc and found that even though brochure stated it has it for 2 weeks in July 2011 they had to install different head units in all Leon’s, no physical change just software due to supplier shortage.
Turned out my car had sat once built in a field somewhere from mid July 2011 till April 2012 but sold as “new” because of the reg date.
Asked Seat just to update head unit as even brochure for 2011 model had Bluetooth and was told tough basically, what it came from the factory with was what it had.
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