6 ms·

After the terrible treatment I received as a Volkswagen TDI customer, I will never buy another VW. Period. They fraudulently sold me a car, then managed to fina

by bdamm 7y ago

After the terrible treatment I received as a Volkswagen TDI customer, I will never buy another VW. Period. They fraudulently sold me a car, then managed to finangle their way out of any financial restitution by putting up not only extensive hurdles for customers who wanted to opt for restitution instead of return, they then penalized customers who experienced delays due to their internal system faults by simply rejecting applications for restitution that were even a little bit out of spec. Never. Again.

ilamont 7y ago
Could you give more details? Was this related to the emissions scandal?
- thedaemon 7y ago
  Yes. They didn't want to return their car and VW wanted everyone to return their car. So if you waited too long to return it.. you didn't get any money back. So this customer is butt hurt over getting better gas mileage and not getting a check. Entitlement.
  - urda 7y ago
    Buying a product when told it has X features and specifications then receiving said product with Y features and specifications and then becoming upset over it as a consumer isn't "entitlement".
    - philjohn 7y ago
      And when VW offered to buy back the defective product they declined.
      - mikestew 7y ago
        Yes, because as I understand it there was a second option offered: restitution, which the owner/OP selected. If you have a point, it is not clear to me.
    - thedaemon 7y ago
      You are giving people way too much credit here. No-one is going through all of the specifications of their car and buying it for those reasons. Plus, you don't buy a diesel vehicle to be eco-friendly, you buy it to get better gas mileage. Car came with X features, which is high MPG. VW got in trouble for X features so they had to flash the computer with Y features, which is lower MPG. This particular customer didn't want to give his vehicle up, but wanted a check. For what reason? To receive money. There is no other reason, if this person was upset about the scandal, they would get rid of the VW fast. Do you not see how this is entitlement? They didn't care about the fact that their car is polluting the planet, they just want money.
      - bdamm 7y ago
        It's still more efficient than equivalent gasoline cars. I don't see why throwing out the car would help anything.
  - bdamm 7y ago
    In addition to the fine reply by another commentator, I'd like to point out that the amount of paperwork I had to do was enormous. I spent several days in aggregate working to get it done. It was more complex than most, since I had moved states with the car. That's time out of my life, time stolen from work and from my family. And due to internal faults in their system their acceptance of my work was delayed and I ended up getting the car to the dealer 2 days after the deadline. Butthurt? Call it that if you want. But after that, I'm voting with my wallet and never buying another one.
razster 7y ago
Owned a 2001 Jetta. The number of parts I had to replace became more than the cars worth. I will never own a VW anything because of the terrible reliability.
- milkytron 7y ago
  When did these issues start happening? I own a 2009 rabbit and have no faced any issues beyond routine maintenance. Guess I should knock on wood.
  - jvagner 7y ago
    I've owned many VWs and Audis, and the 2008 Jetta I bought (albeit with a manual transmission) is still going strong. Not a single service issue, to date. It must have almost 200K miles.
    - westmeal 7y ago
      Any tips on how to heel toe in this gen jetta? The pedals are so awkwardly placed...
      - jvagner 7y ago
        Tough... I agree with pedal placement. I was probably more prone to occasionally stalling in intersections, but then I took the car to SF and drove there and got the feel dialed-in real quick. I've since bought newer cars and gave this one to a relative. It's still on the original clutch/transmission, so I guess I didn't do too bad.
  - colechristensen 7y ago
    Ditto for an 09 Jetta, I love it. I vaguely remember reading about VW going through significant quality improvements in the mid '00s.
  - stuntkite 7y ago
    90s to early 00s VWs had some big issues. I remember when 90s Jettas were basically free because they all had blown head gaskets.
mach5 7y ago
not sure what your problem was, i had two TDI's and did buybacks for both and, though it took a while, the experience was pleasant and the offer was generous.
- bdamm 7y ago
  The problem was I couldn't do a buyback due to my life situation - I was not in a place, at the time, where I could just give up the car and go get another one without major disruption. Think days off work. So I opted for restitution.
  - fivefive55 7y ago
    Yeah, they really screwed you if you opted to keep the car. My dad has a TDI and wanted to keep it but the number of hoops to jump through was ridiculous. Plus they wouldn't have the fix for a year and he couldn't get a sticker for the car without it. Ended up doing the buyback instead.
hndamien 7y ago
I wouldn't do it because for some reason they thought it was ok to experiment gassing humans and monkeys. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/29/vw-condemned-for-testing-diesel-fumes-on-humans-and-monkeys https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/29/vw-condemne...
biaachmonkie 7y ago
What issue did you have? I have a 2015 Jetta TDI and opted to keep it and get the payout and modifications. I had no issues at all, I got paid the specified amount at the specified milestones and got a rental paid for by VW for the days the car was at the dealer. I've currently got ~110,000 miles on the car and other than a few minor cosmetic interior issues its been good car. I expect to keep it for another 100K at least and my next car I expect will be electric. For context my previous car was 2002 Subaru WRX that I put 340,000 miles on, with a top end engine rebuild at ~180k, after a "friend" who borrowed it continued to drive it after the radiator return hose burst and it overheated.
- bdamm 7y ago
  I sent my initial reply in fairly quickly, and got a restitution offer letter back. However, that was only the beginning. First, they offered to pay half before the modification, then half after the modification. After I got the final final approved offer, it was only all after the modification. The modification wasn't possible right away, because they hadn't decided what to do yet. Eventually they decided to offer a fix for these engines, and the EPA eventually agreed to allow that fix for my engine. But that was the better part of a year. When the fixes were begun to be rolled out, the initial reports were dismal, with reports of engines running rough and bad performance. The message began to be "don't let them touch your car." I decided to wait until at least the second half of the window for modifications to be performed so that the bugs could get thoroughly worked out. Meanwhile, life got more complicated. I started moving from one state to another, and that meant three homes in two years. Since I couldn't register the car in the new state until after the repair was done, I needed to extend my registration in the old state. After the second move, I was able to complete the process, and the approved modification was available. I went to complete the process, but due to moving to the new state I needed to re-do all of the original paperwork, and I needed to send a letter stating what I had done. They restarted my application process twice. There was a fault in their system that left my application in an inconsistent state, resulting in errors in the court settlement web site. I spent time on the phone working through that, with multiple people. At one point I needed to print out a dozen sheets and mail them in. While not a big deal, I don't normally print stuff, so getting a printer located and working is just another hurdle. After another set of failures in getting the system sorted, they actually requested that I fax in documents. FAX. And after all that, I missed the deadline for the dealer work by 2 days. My appeal to their 3-member appeal review board was filed within the 15-day window, but it was denied.

by bdamm 7y ago

ilamont 7y ago

Could you give more details? Was this related to the emissions scandal?

thedaemon 7y ago
Yes. They didn't want to return their car and VW wanted everyone to return their car. So if you waited too long to return it.. you didn't get any money back. So this customer is butt hurt over getting better gas mileage and not getting a check. Entitlement.
- urda 7y ago
  Buying a product when told it has X features and specifications then receiving said product with Y features and specifications and then becoming upset over it as a consumer isn't "entitlement".
  - philjohn 7y ago
    And when VW offered to buy back the defective product they declined.
    - mikestew 7y ago
      Yes, because as I understand it there was a second option offered: restitution, which the owner/OP selected. If you have a point, it is not clear to me.
  - thedaemon 7y ago
    You are giving people way too much credit here. No-one is going through all of the specifications of their car and buying it for those reasons. Plus, you don't buy a diesel vehicle to be eco-friendly, you buy it to get better gas mileage. Car came with X features, which is high MPG. VW got in trouble for X features so they had to flash the computer with Y features, which is lower MPG. This particular customer didn't want to give his vehicle up, but wanted a check. For what reason? To receive money. There is no other reason, if this person was upset about the scandal, they would get rid of the VW fast. Do you not see how this is entitlement? They didn't care about the fact that their car is polluting the planet, they just want money.
    - bdamm 7y ago
      It's still more efficient than equivalent gasoline cars. I don't see why throwing out the car would help anything.
- bdamm 7y ago
  In addition to the fine reply by another commentator, I'd like to point out that the amount of paperwork I had to do was enormous. I spent several days in aggregate working to get it done. It was more complex than most, since I had moved states with the car. That's time out of my life, time stolen from work and from my family. And due to internal faults in their system their acceptance of my work was delayed and I ended up getting the car to the dealer 2 days after the deadline. Butthurt? Call it that if you want. But after that, I'm voting with my wallet and never buying another one.

razster 7y ago

Owned a 2001 Jetta. The number of parts I had to replace became more than the cars worth. I will never own a VW anything because of the terrible reliability.

milkytron 7y ago
When did these issues start happening? I own a 2009 rabbit and have no faced any issues beyond routine maintenance. Guess I should knock on wood.
- jvagner 7y ago
  I've owned many VWs and Audis, and the 2008 Jetta I bought (albeit with a manual transmission) is still going strong. Not a single service issue, to date. It must have almost 200K miles.
  - westmeal 7y ago
    Any tips on how to heel toe in this gen jetta? The pedals are so awkwardly placed...
    - jvagner 7y ago
      Tough... I agree with pedal placement. I was probably more prone to occasionally stalling in intersections, but then I took the car to SF and drove there and got the feel dialed-in real quick. I've since bought newer cars and gave this one to a relative. It's still on the original clutch/transmission, so I guess I didn't do too bad.
- colechristensen 7y ago
  Ditto for an 09 Jetta, I love it. I vaguely remember reading about VW going through significant quality improvements in the mid '00s.
- stuntkite 7y ago
  90s to early 00s VWs had some big issues. I remember when 90s Jettas were basically free because they all had blown head gaskets.

mach5 7y ago

not sure what your problem was, i had two TDI's and did buybacks for both and, though it took a while, the experience was pleasant and the offer was generous.

bdamm 7y ago
The problem was I couldn't do a buyback due to my life situation - I was not in a place, at the time, where I could just give up the car and go get another one without major disruption. Think days off work. So I opted for restitution.
- fivefive55 7y ago
  Yeah, they really screwed you if you opted to keep the car. My dad has a TDI and wanted to keep it but the number of hoops to jump through was ridiculous. Plus they wouldn't have the fix for a year and he couldn't get a sticker for the car without it. Ended up doing the buyback instead.

hndamien 7y ago

I wouldn't do it because for some reason they thought it was ok to experiment gassing humans and monkeys. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/29/vw-condemned-for-testing-diesel-fumes-on-humans-and-monkeys https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/29/vw-condemne...

biaachmonkie 7y ago

What issue did you have? I have a 2015 Jetta TDI and opted to keep it and get the payout and modifications. I had no issues at all, I got paid the specified amount at the specified milestones and got a rental paid for by VW for the days the car was at the dealer. I've currently got ~110,000 miles on the car and other than a few minor cosmetic interior issues its been good car. I expect to keep it for another 100K at least and my next car I expect will be electric. For context my previous car was 2002 Subaru WRX that I put 340,000 miles on, with a top end engine rebuild at ~180k, after a "friend" who borrowed it continued to drive it after the radiator return hose burst and it overheated.

bdamm 7y ago
I sent my initial reply in fairly quickly, and got a restitution offer letter back. However, that was only the beginning. First, they offered to pay half before the modification, then half after the modification. After I got the final final approved offer, it was only all after the modification. The modification wasn't possible right away, because they hadn't decided what to do yet. Eventually they decided to offer a fix for these engines, and the EPA eventually agreed to allow that fix for my engine. But that was the better part of a year. When the fixes were begun to be rolled out, the initial reports were dismal, with reports of engines running rough and bad performance. The message began to be "don't let them touch your car." I decided to wait until at least the second half of the window for modifications to be performed so that the bugs could get thoroughly worked out. Meanwhile, life got more complicated. I started moving from one state to another, and that meant three homes in two years. Since I couldn't register the car in the new state until after the repair was done, I needed to extend my registration in the old state. After the second move, I was able to complete the process, and the approved modification was available. I went to complete the process, but due to moving to the new state I needed to re-do all of the original paperwork, and I needed to send a letter stating what I had done. They restarted my application process twice. There was a fault in their system that left my application in an inconsistent state, resulting in errors in the court settlement web site. I spent time on the phone working through that, with multiple people. At one point I needed to print out a dozen sheets and mail them in. While not a big deal, I don't normally print stuff, so getting a printer located and working is just another hurdle. After another set of failures in getting the system sorted, they actually requested that I fax in documents. FAX. And after all that, I missed the deadline for the dealer work by 2 days. My appeal to their 3-member appeal review board was filed within the 15-day window, but it was denied.