When warranty isn’t really warranty?
Discussion
The other side to this is the fact that the repair is a potential money earning job for the dealer.
Regardless of who pays for it, whether that be the OP or Renault Warranty they would have made a profit on the job had they been arsed to go through the correct procedures.
What is the dealers service dept actually there for? To earn money for the business by selling labour and parts, and doing so in a manner that retains customers for future vehicle sales.
The dealer has absolutely no reason to bat away jobs in this manner and in a properly run dealership it wouldn't be allowed to happen.
What should have happened is the Dicksplash that the OP encountered should have welcomed the OP in and said "Right, lets raise a job card detailing what has happened and get it in for a looksee. It's possible that it won't be covered by warranty but we'll do our best to get it through for you" and gone from there.
Ultimately Warranty may well refuse to cover it. Then Dickwad should have gone back to the OP and said this " Hello OP, very sorry to inform you Warranty have refused to cover this. What we could do is try to repair and reinstate the damaged cover ". Or something down these lines.
The OP would still be not exactly happy about the situation but at least he knows the dealer has done their best on his behalf and is actively trying to help.
It is a well known fact in the trade that the Service Advisors have the toughest job in the dealership and good ones who do the above probably sell more cars than the salesmen.
Regardless of who pays for it, whether that be the OP or Renault Warranty they would have made a profit on the job had they been arsed to go through the correct procedures.
What is the dealers service dept actually there for? To earn money for the business by selling labour and parts, and doing so in a manner that retains customers for future vehicle sales.
The dealer has absolutely no reason to bat away jobs in this manner and in a properly run dealership it wouldn't be allowed to happen.
What should have happened is the Dicksplash that the OP encountered should have welcomed the OP in and said "Right, lets raise a job card detailing what has happened and get it in for a looksee. It's possible that it won't be covered by warranty but we'll do our best to get it through for you" and gone from there.
Ultimately Warranty may well refuse to cover it. Then Dickwad should have gone back to the OP and said this " Hello OP, very sorry to inform you Warranty have refused to cover this. What we could do is try to repair and reinstate the damaged cover ". Or something down these lines.
The OP would still be not exactly happy about the situation but at least he knows the dealer has done their best on his behalf and is actively trying to help.
It is a well known fact in the trade that the Service Advisors have the toughest job in the dealership and good ones who do the above probably sell more cars than the salesmen.
100% agree /\/\
We used to actively look for any potential warranty work on service cars so it was double bubble for us, get paid by customer for service Work and paid by manufacturer for warranty work at the same time. No ways would something like this be disputed before even looking at the vehicle . This guy was aftersales manager so not even a service advisor with car knowledge.
They still couldn’t explain why the front most fixing is totallly missing and no signs of it being there for some time. Or why there has been sufficient impact to rip the cover and it’s fixings from the main fuel tank yet not make even the slightest mark on the cover or catch anything which sits lower than the cover in its path first. Nor could they justify why they say the fixing were meant to be only finger tight, yet it’s impossible that they could have rattled loose and caused the cover to drop down.
Instead the decision was its down to abuse as the van was dirty underneath and therefor I have been off roading it in. Nothing to do with it being mid winter and me working in rural areas and the blatant lack of witness marks on the cover from the foremost fitting either never being there, or fallen out sometime ago. Either of which would have nothing to do with abuse or dirty roads.
We used to actively look for any potential warranty work on service cars so it was double bubble for us, get paid by customer for service Work and paid by manufacturer for warranty work at the same time. No ways would something like this be disputed before even looking at the vehicle . This guy was aftersales manager so not even a service advisor with car knowledge.
They still couldn’t explain why the front most fixing is totallly missing and no signs of it being there for some time. Or why there has been sufficient impact to rip the cover and it’s fixings from the main fuel tank yet not make even the slightest mark on the cover or catch anything which sits lower than the cover in its path first. Nor could they justify why they say the fixing were meant to be only finger tight, yet it’s impossible that they could have rattled loose and caused the cover to drop down.
Instead the decision was its down to abuse as the van was dirty underneath and therefor I have been off roading it in. Nothing to do with it being mid winter and me working in rural areas and the blatant lack of witness marks on the cover from the foremost fitting either never being there, or fallen out sometime ago. Either of which would have nothing to do with abuse or dirty roads.
fastbikes76 said:
100% agree /\/\
We used to actively look for any potential warranty work on service cars so it was double bubble for us, get paid by customer for service Work and paid by manufacturer for warranty work at the same time. No ways would something like this be disputed before even looking at the vehicle . This guy was aftersales manager so not even a service advisor with car knowledge.
They still couldn’t explain why the front most fixing is totallly missing and no signs of it being there for some time. Or why there has been sufficient impact to rip the cover and it’s fixings from the main fuel tank yet not make even the slightest mark on the cover or catch anything which sits lower than the cover in its path first. Nor could they justify why they say the fixing were meant to be only finger tight, yet it’s impossible that they could have rattled loose and caused the cover to drop down.
Instead the decision was its down to abuse as the van was dirty underneath and therefor I have been off roading it in. Nothing to do with it being mid winter and me working in rural areas and the blatant lack of witness marks on the cover from the foremost fitting either never being there, or fallen out sometime ago. Either of which would have nothing to do with abuse or dirty roads.
Absolutely. We did the same. We used to actively look for any potential warranty work on service cars so it was double bubble for us, get paid by customer for service Work and paid by manufacturer for warranty work at the same time. No ways would something like this be disputed before even looking at the vehicle . This guy was aftersales manager so not even a service advisor with car knowledge.
They still couldn’t explain why the front most fixing is totallly missing and no signs of it being there for some time. Or why there has been sufficient impact to rip the cover and it’s fixings from the main fuel tank yet not make even the slightest mark on the cover or catch anything which sits lower than the cover in its path first. Nor could they justify why they say the fixing were meant to be only finger tight, yet it’s impossible that they could have rattled loose and caused the cover to drop down.
Instead the decision was its down to abuse as the van was dirty underneath and therefor I have been off roading it in. Nothing to do with it being mid winter and me working in rural areas and the blatant lack of witness marks on the cover from the foremost fitting either never being there, or fallen out sometime ago. Either of which would have nothing to do with abuse or dirty roads.
Warranty is an income stream for the dealership, same as many others.
Why are they trying to come up with reasons why it's not covered?
Knowing that you would be very unlikely to authorise a £1500 repair and the only way the job would go ahead would be if Warranty authorised it, they should have been looking for reasons why it SHOULD be covered.
The normal wintry state of the van underside is totally and utterly irrelevant and shouldn't even have been mentioned.
BAM225 said:
8V085 said:
BAM225 said:
8V085 said:
I'd do that too, tell them you have a Renault Traffique which is tre magnifique except for this small faqapue.
Do you not get bored of people ignoring your posts?
Ohh, I've fed the troll...
Well done you anyway, have a pat on the back for being sarcastic on a internet forum where the posts are text so you have no interpretation of how the post is being 'said'.
k off.So in a plot twist I was sent this by a friend who I’ve been chatting to this about.
Turns out a standard feature on new trafic’s is Grip Xtend traction control which has 3 key features to help with DAILY use. Grip Xtend allows the vehicle to regain traction on lose ground such as sand, MUD and snow.
So by the manufacture’s own admittance the van is in fact capable of being used in mud and even has a specific button to engage for such instances. I did wonder what that button was for, probably should have RTFM
So my claim was rejected due to my van being dirty and muddy underneath and therefore ‘abused’ and yet they are built to be used where you may encounter such instances and have actually added a new fancy traction system to deal with it.
Turns out a standard feature on new trafic’s is Grip Xtend traction control which has 3 key features to help with DAILY use. Grip Xtend allows the vehicle to regain traction on lose ground such as sand, MUD and snow.
So by the manufacture’s own admittance the van is in fact capable of being used in mud and even has a specific button to engage for such instances. I did wonder what that button was for, probably should have RTFM
So my claim was rejected due to my van being dirty and muddy underneath and therefore ‘abused’ and yet they are built to be used where you may encounter such instances and have actually added a new fancy traction system to deal with it.
Good find. OP.
I bet, if you go back to the dealer and ask anyone in there about this Grip Assist or whatever it's called very few, if any, will know what it is or does. Most won't even have heard of it.
This was one of the failings of the franchised dealer system. New Technology that gets introduced by the manufacturers took ages to filter down to the aftersales dept. Quite often only 1 technician got trained up on it and failed to pass on any info to his colleagues.
In a multi franchised set up, as I was, it was even more prevalent. Even the best staff struggled to keep up with it all and having intimate knowledge of 3, 4, 5 different makes was impossible. This was the case before all the EV, Hybrid, DPF, Fly by wire etc etc stuff came to pass. It must be even worse now, glad I`m done with it.
Anyway good luck with shoving that piece of info up Dicksplashs chuffer.
I bet, if you go back to the dealer and ask anyone in there about this Grip Assist or whatever it's called very few, if any, will know what it is or does. Most won't even have heard of it.
This was one of the failings of the franchised dealer system. New Technology that gets introduced by the manufacturers took ages to filter down to the aftersales dept. Quite often only 1 technician got trained up on it and failed to pass on any info to his colleagues.
In a multi franchised set up, as I was, it was even more prevalent. Even the best staff struggled to keep up with it all and having intimate knowledge of 3, 4, 5 different makes was impossible. This was the case before all the EV, Hybrid, DPF, Fly by wire etc etc stuff came to pass. It must be even worse now, glad I`m done with it.
Anyway good luck with shoving that piece of info up Dicksplashs chuffer.
Well that was dealer number 2 and another big dose of Nope !
Walked into next main dealer making light chat and ensuring I passed the attitude test with flying colours. Explained the cover dropped off on the motorway at speed and that all the clips were only on by two turns of my fingers and the foremost one was totally missing with no signs of being there for some time. Nope, you must hit something really hard to have ripped it off came the reply.
I then said ok, say I did hit something so hard it ripped the fixings out the tank as you suggest, can you explain the lack of impact marks on the cover, No was the reply. When I asked about the clear lack of witness marks on the foremost fitting point showing that’s been missing for a while, he couldn’t explain that . He then said look at the state of it, it’s been hanging down and dragging for ages, well 80mph of downforce on a rough motorway surface was bound to wear the corner away.
So it seems Renault put the onus on you to prove you haven’t damaged something rather than them prove you have ! There is 30cm ground clearance from floor to the cover , yet the from bumper and chin spoiler is only 18cm max off the floor. According to them I have managed to drive over something at least 30cm tall, without hitting the bumper or sills first, without leaving a single scratch or mark at all anywhere, and then impact the cover hard enough to rip the cover fixings off the tank and yet still not leave the slightest tell tale of doing so.
There is this really wild conspiracy I have that perhaps makes more sense to logical people. The foremost fixing vibrated lose, 80mph wind got under the leading edge of the cover and the resultant air brake effect ripped the last two fixings out. I don’t know, maybe I’m just over thinking this
No sign of that fixing holding cover against the tank securely for some time I would guess. Being the main front one that’s where the wind would get under it and rip it down
Walked into next main dealer making light chat and ensuring I passed the attitude test with flying colours. Explained the cover dropped off on the motorway at speed and that all the clips were only on by two turns of my fingers and the foremost one was totally missing with no signs of being there for some time. Nope, you must hit something really hard to have ripped it off came the reply.
I then said ok, say I did hit something so hard it ripped the fixings out the tank as you suggest, can you explain the lack of impact marks on the cover, No was the reply. When I asked about the clear lack of witness marks on the foremost fitting point showing that’s been missing for a while, he couldn’t explain that . He then said look at the state of it, it’s been hanging down and dragging for ages, well 80mph of downforce on a rough motorway surface was bound to wear the corner away.
So it seems Renault put the onus on you to prove you haven’t damaged something rather than them prove you have ! There is 30cm ground clearance from floor to the cover , yet the from bumper and chin spoiler is only 18cm max off the floor. According to them I have managed to drive over something at least 30cm tall, without hitting the bumper or sills first, without leaving a single scratch or mark at all anywhere, and then impact the cover hard enough to rip the cover fixings off the tank and yet still not leave the slightest tell tale of doing so.
There is this really wild conspiracy I have that perhaps makes more sense to logical people. The foremost fixing vibrated lose, 80mph wind got under the leading edge of the cover and the resultant air brake effect ripped the last two fixings out. I don’t know, maybe I’m just over thinking this
No sign of that fixing holding cover against the tank securely for some time I would guess. Being the main front one that’s where the wind would get under it and rip it down
fastbikes76 said:
Well that was dealer number 2 and another big dose of Nope !
Walked into next main dealer making light chat and ensuring I passed the attitude test with flying colours. Explained the cover dropped off on the motorway at speed and that all the clips were only on by two turns of my fingers and the foremost one was totally missing with no signs of being there for some time. Nope, you must hit something really hard to have ripped it off came the reply.
I then said ok, say I did hit something so hard it ripped the fixings out the tank as you suggest, can you explain the lack of impact marks on the cover, No was the reply. When I asked about the clear lack of witness marks on the foremost fitting point showing that’s been missing for a while, he couldn’t explain that . He then said look at the state of it, it’s been hanging down and dragging for ages, well 80mph of downforce on a rough motorway surface was bound to wear the corner away.
So it seems Renault put the onus on you to prove you haven’t damaged something rather than them prove you have ! There is 30cm ground clearance from floor to the cover , yet the from bumper and chin spoiler is only 18cm max off the floor. According to them I have managed to drive over something at least 30cm tall, without hitting the bumper or sills first, without leaving a single scratch or mark at all anywhere, and then impact the cover hard enough to rip the cover fixings off the tank and yet still not leave the slightest tell tale of doing so.
There is this really wild conspiracy I have that perhaps makes more sense to logical people. The foremost fixing vibrated lose, 80mph wind got under the leading edge of the cover and the resultant air brake effect ripped the last two fixings out. I don’t know, maybe I’m just over thinking this
No sign of that fixing holding cover against the tank securely for some time I would guess. Being the main front one that’s where the wind would get under it and rip it down
I feel your pain. Why cant they supply a replacement cover without a whole new fuel tank, that looks like about a tenner's worth?Walked into next main dealer making light chat and ensuring I passed the attitude test with flying colours. Explained the cover dropped off on the motorway at speed and that all the clips were only on by two turns of my fingers and the foremost one was totally missing with no signs of being there for some time. Nope, you must hit something really hard to have ripped it off came the reply.
I then said ok, say I did hit something so hard it ripped the fixings out the tank as you suggest, can you explain the lack of impact marks on the cover, No was the reply. When I asked about the clear lack of witness marks on the foremost fitting point showing that’s been missing for a while, he couldn’t explain that . He then said look at the state of it, it’s been hanging down and dragging for ages, well 80mph of downforce on a rough motorway surface was bound to wear the corner away.
So it seems Renault put the onus on you to prove you haven’t damaged something rather than them prove you have ! There is 30cm ground clearance from floor to the cover , yet the from bumper and chin spoiler is only 18cm max off the floor. According to them I have managed to drive over something at least 30cm tall, without hitting the bumper or sills first, without leaving a single scratch or mark at all anywhere, and then impact the cover hard enough to rip the cover fixings off the tank and yet still not leave the slightest tell tale of doing so.
There is this really wild conspiracy I have that perhaps makes more sense to logical people. The foremost fixing vibrated lose, 80mph wind got under the leading edge of the cover and the resultant air brake effect ripped the last two fixings out. I don’t know, maybe I’m just over thinking this
No sign of that fixing holding cover against the tank securely for some time I would guess. Being the main front one that’s where the wind would get under it and rip it down
ghost83 said:
rscott said:
The fixing point on the tank is damaged.
New cover and bond it on wouldn’t make such a big deal about it tbheltax91 said:
Question: Does the car need the cover?
It'll mainly be an acoustic cover for drive-by noise regs, but if you have issues with anything in the engine bay getting grotted up, warranty might mutter about that.TooMany2cvs said:
ghost83 said:
rscott said:
The fixing point on the tank is damaged.
New cover and bond it on wouldn’t make such a big deal about it tbheltax91 said:
Question: Does the car need the cover?
It'll mainly be an acoustic cover for drive-by noise regs, but if you have issues with anything in the engine bay getting grotted up, warranty might mutter about that.That and the fact they will then turn around and say I’ve been messing with it so not warranty. Can’t win really .
May just stump up for an independent engineer’s report and then whack in a small claims for the repairs and report against Renault UK.
What a load of old conkers.
Short of trawling round every Renault dealer in the world trying to find a proper one, your proposed course of action is probably the only way to get Renault to play ball.
If all else fails could you bond some bolts or studs to the tank and with some nuts and washers refit the cover so it would be removable if need be?
Short of trawling round every Renault dealer in the world trying to find a proper one, your proposed course of action is probably the only way to get Renault to play ball.
If all else fails could you bond some bolts or studs to the tank and with some nuts and washers refit the cover so it would be removable if need be?
Hammer67 said:
What a load of old conkers.
Short of trawling round every Renault dealer in the world trying to find a proper one, your proposed course of action is probably the only way to get Renault to play ball.
If all else fails could you bond some bolts or studs to the tank and with some nuts and washers refit the cover so it would be removable if need be?
Well I've tried two, and if the standard of 'Master Techs' at those two branches are used as a measure, there isn't a snowballs hope in hell of me finding a sensible dealer. The daft thing is their say is pretty much final, When you escalate to Renault UK, the first thing they do is phone the dealership and speak to the tech for his opinion. They come back and say whatever nonsense the tech told me, and then that's it because they 'have to trust our dealer network'. Short of trawling round every Renault dealer in the world trying to find a proper one, your proposed course of action is probably the only way to get Renault to play ball.
If all else fails could you bond some bolts or studs to the tank and with some nuts and washers refit the cover so it would be removable if need be?
Cant be arsed now, will get a price to fix van, have an engineers report done and then throw in a MCOL against Renault UK directly. They can then fight it at their expense.
I can make some sort of repair if I tried, don't really see why I should have to bodge a 3 month old 30k list van because they cant see reason behind a fixing vibrating loose and causing xyz damage. Instead they would rather run with a 1000 different scenario's each as ludicrous and the next as to how I MUST have hit something bloody hard to rip it off, and not mark the cover, van or anything around it. Go figure
TooMany2cvs said:
Hmmm. You have no contract with Renault UK. You bought the van through the dealer, and your legal remedies are against them.
The dealers are denying the warranty claim on Renault UK's behalf as they don't feel Renault would cover the repair cost if they sent the parts back, well that's the way they have put it to me. Starting a claim will cost me £25 and if nothing else, it will get someone's attention.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff