Dealers have never had it so good?

[steve singh]

Across the last week I've phoned up a local VW dealer more than 5 times to book my car in for a MOT, service, cambelt and waterpump change. Not once did I get the promised call back and only managed to secure a booking on the 'off-chance' I got through to someone in that dept when they were free.

I then needed to make an amendment to the booking and another 6 calls later I've given up.

For nearly £600 worth of work that was going to be undertaken, they obviously weren't interested.

They must be making money hand-over-fist to be that apathetic?

Think I might as well travel to an independent specialist even though they're so much further away from me - crazy world !

[mattman]

indie every time - you'll only get fleeced by the main stealers

[Pickled Piper]

No they are not busy just extremely badly organised. One arm is scratching for work by calling potential customers and price matching Indys, while the other arm is pissing them off by not answering the phone.

Many are actually having a hard time as they are now having to compete with the likes of Kwikfit and Halfords.

pp

[BlueProp]

I've always found VW are crap for returning calls.

I recently had most of that work carried out by Oxford Audi on my A4 2.0T Q. Cambelt, water pump and a service for £500ish. Not really any dearer than an independant. And they washed my car and I got a courtesy car.

So maybe try an Audi garage?

[Animala]

I tried calling the dealership I work at on my day off to book my personal car in for a service a couple of months ago.

First time I rang there was no answer for about 5 mintues so I hung up. Then the second time I called (about 15 minutes later) it rang for about 3 minutes, the phone was picked up and immediatly put back down again before I could get a word in.......the point i'm getting at is I believe the OP :P

[Gibby78]

with the Ex Mrs's TDI PD she used to go to the Skoda dealership, cheaper and better customer service than VW

[L100NYY]

Animala said:

I tried calling the dealership I work at on my day off to book my personal car in for a service a couple of months ago.

First time I rang there was no answer for about 5 mintues so I hung up. Then the second time I called (about 15 minutes later) it rang for about 3 minutes, the phone was picked up and immediatly put back down again before I could get a word in.......the point i'm getting at is I believe the OP :P

So you don't reccommend the Citroen dealer in Berkshire then?

[Animala]

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

I tried calling the dealership I work at on my day off to book my personal car in for a service a couple of months ago.

First time I rang there was no answer for about 5 mintues so I hung up. Then the second time I called (about 15 minutes later) it rang for about 3 minutes, the phone was picked up and immediatly put back down again before I could get a word in.......the point i'm getting at is I believe the OP :P

So you don't reccommend the Citroen dealer in Berkshire then?

[L100NYY]

Animala said:

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

I tried calling the dealership I work at on my day off to book my personal car in for a service a couple of months ago.

First time I rang there was no answer for about 5 mintues so I hung up. Then the second time I called (about 15 minutes later) it rang for about 3 minutes, the phone was picked up and immediatly put back down again before I could get a word in.......the point i'm getting at is I believe the OP :P

So you don't reccommend the Citroen dealer in Berkshire then?

Have you been there long?

Edited by L100NYY on Thursday 2nd December 14:51

[Dog Star]

mattman said:

indie every time - you'll only get fleeced by the main stealers

I'll bite.

A mate of mine is a mechanic and MOT tester and he is very much of the opinion that a lot of the indies who specialise in certain marques are very often more expensive than the main agent - it's a bit like those times when you go to, say, Costco and find that stuff there is more expensive than down your local Sainsburys or whatever. People assume that they must be cheaper but often they aren't and will do just as much to add stuff to your bill and fail to replace parts. His observations bear out my own experience (I'm the sort of person who marks parts to make sure they're changed - the results are depressing).

I've been spending ages lately pricing up a major "B" service for my Merc. Because my car is over 3 years old it qualifies for cheaper labour at Merc (plus fixed price), most indies were at most 10-15% cheaper and some were actually more expensive! Add to that the nice new courtesy car/taxi, nice premises etc etc and that all important main dealer stamp in the book (my car is still worth quite a bit, despite it's age). They also replaced my SBC pump at MBUKs expense - that would have cost me about 2K otherwise.

For the "savings" I might make it's not worth it. I'll stick with a main dealer, ta!

(I'm sure there are good indies about - I just felt I'd balance your statement).

[Animala]

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

I tried calling the dealership I work at on my day off to book my personal car in for a service a couple of months ago.

First time I rang there was no answer for about 5 mintues so I hung up. Then the second time I called (about 15 minutes later) it rang for about 3 minutes, the phone was picked up and immediatly put back down again before I could get a word in.......the point i'm getting at is I believe the OP :P

So you don't reccommend the Citroen dealer in Berkshire then?

Have you been there long?

Edited by L100NYY on Thursday 2nd December 14:51

yeah, in all fairness it was on a saturday I had as holiday and there's only one person working on the service desk till like mid-day.

I would of taken it to be done by my local tech but my service manager said they'd do it for a lot cheaper, plus it's at where I work so a lot more convinient. I just booked it in person on the following Monday.

[Pickled Piper]

Dog Star said:

mattman said:

indie every time - you'll only get fleeced by the main stealers

I'll bite.

A mate of mine is a mechanic and MOT tester and he is very much of the opinion that a lot of the indies who specialise in certain marques are very often more expensive than the main agent - it's a bit like those times when you go to, say, Costco and find that stuff there is more expensive than down your local Sainsburys or whatever. People assume that they must be cheaper but often they aren't and will do just as much to add stuff to your bill and fail to replace parts. His observations bear out my own experience (I'm the sort of person who marks parts to make sure they're changed - the results are depressing).

I've been spending ages lately pricing up a major "B" service for my Merc. Because my car is over 3 years old it qualifies for cheaper labour at Merc (plus fixed price), most indies were at most 10-15% cheaper and some were actually more expensive! Add to that the nice new courtesy car/taxi, nice premises etc etc and that all important main dealer stamp in the book (my car is still worth quite a bit, despite it's age). They also replaced my SBC pump at MBUKs expense - that would have cost me about 2K otherwise.

For the "savings" I might make it's not worth it. I'll stick with a main dealer, ta!

(I'm sure there are good indies about - I just felt I'd balance your statement).

Good point, well made. I've had similar experiences. Not all Indys are top notch.

pp

[BlueProp]

Same experience here ^^^

Edited by BlueProp on Thursday 2nd December 14:59

[L100NYY]

Animala said:

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

I tried calling the dealership I work at on my day off to book my personal car in for a service a couple of months ago.

First time I rang there was no answer for about 5 mintues so I hung up. Then the second time I called (about 15 minutes later) it rang for about 3 minutes, the phone was picked up and immediatly put back down again before I could get a word in.......the point i'm getting at is I believe the OP :P

So you don't reccommend the Citroen dealer in Berkshire then?

Have you been there long?

Edited by L100NYY on Thursday 2nd December 14:51

yeah, in all fairness it was on a saturday I had as holiday and there's only one person working on the service desk till like mid-day.

I would of taken it to be done by my local tech but my service manager said they'd do it for a lot cheaper, plus it's at where I work so a lot more convinient. I just booked it in person on the following Monday.

You're certainly not up for employee of the month now are you.......

[steve singh]

With my Porsche I stick with an indy, but I found the VW network very competitive on prices - a few indies quoted me £40 more than VW to do the cambelt and water pump change (as an example)...

Edited by steve singh on Thursday 2nd December 15:06

[Animala]

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

L100NYY said:

Animala said:

I tried calling the dealership I work at on my day off to book my personal car in for a service a couple of months ago.

First time I rang there was no answer for about 5 mintues so I hung up. Then the second time I called (about 15 minutes later) it rang for about 3 minutes, the phone was picked up and immediatly put back down again before I could get a word in.......the point i'm getting at is I believe the OP :P

So you don't reccommend the Citroen dealer in Berkshire then?

Have you been there long?

Edited by L100NYY on Thursday 2nd December 14:51

yeah, in all fairness it was on a saturday I had as holiday and there's only one person working on the service desk till like mid-day.

I would of taken it to be done by my local tech but my service manager said they'd do it for a lot cheaper, plus it's at where I work so a lot more convinient. I just booked it in person on the following Monday.

You're certainly not up for employee of the month now are you.......

Hey i'm still shocked I couldn't get through, in that particular case I was a customer, I certainly wouldn't have let that happen if I was working that day, so yeah actually I think I am up for EOTM :P

What if it was somone from head office or a mystery shopper? I mentioned it to my manager and he just said everyone was busy.....thought that was a bit of a cop out.

Edited by Animala on Thursday 2nd December 15:09

[steve singh]

Fair play to the dealer, I dropped an email complaining and they've got back to me ultra quickly and knocked off a sizeable amount off my bill as a goodwill gesture.

All is well in the world again!

ETA: Just got to watch out for them recouping that gesture through other means

Edited by steve singh on Thursday 2nd December 15:25

[junglie]

I just rung up to enquire about a car from a dealer (very short advert giving the usual 'Great car and first to see will buy' sketch and it went something like this:

Me 'Hi, just ringing up about the BMW 330i you have advertised'
Dealer 'Yes, it is still for sale what would you like to know?'
Me 'I would like to know what spec the car has - for example, does it have parking sensors?'
Dealer 'If it had I would have put it in the advert'
Me 'OK, how about the length of the MOT?'
Dealer 'It probably has 6 months or so. Anything else'
Me 'No thank you, I will buy from elsewhere'

Maybe I caught him at an off time, maybe he did not know but it really is not the way to sell a car. The annoying thing is I now have to find another!

[Animala]

steve singh said:

Fair play to the dealer, I dropped an email complaining and they've got back to me ultra quickly and knocked off a sizeable amount off my bill as a goodwill gesture.

All is well in the world again!

ETA: Just got to watch out for them recouping that gesture through other means

Edited by steve singh on Thursday 2nd December 15:25

What car were you having the work done on? i'm seeing beamers and Porsches in your profile and no VWs :P

[steve singh]

Animala said:

steve singh said:

Fair play to the dealer, I dropped an email complaining and they've got back to me ultra quickly and knocked off a sizeable amount off my bill as a goodwill gesture.

All is well in the world again!

ETA: Just got to watch out for them recouping that gesture through other means

Edited by steve singh on Thursday 2nd December 15:25

What car were you having the work done on? i'm seeing beamers and Porsches in your profile and no VWs :P

Sorry I should really make it clearer in the profile - my current car is a 996 and my wife's car is a MK5 GTI - the other cars are chronologically ordered in terms of my previous ownership.

ETA: I've updated my profile - makes it easier to read now !

Edited by steve singh on Thursday 2nd December 15:55