Are they 'stealers' because you believe they charge you too much for servicing, are they stealers simply because they did not fix your problem first time or are they stealers simply because you do not like dealers and you believe joe bloggs backyard mechanic can do a better job? (yes, there are people that simply do not like dealers "because they don't"?!)
Because being a service manager at a VW dealership I deal with all kinds of customers, and quite frankly, I believe more and more the modern customer is an unreasonable ******** (parden the lingo, but I just don't know how else to describe these individuals)....Now don't get me wrong, I give these people the upmost of service and I am always plesant and nice to their face, even when they are talking to me like I am a piece of crap....But really, do you guyz calling dealers 'stealers' go to work everyday and get spoken to like crap? Would you enjoy your job and go out of your way to help the general public if you 'did' get spoken to like crap by at least one of them daily? Do you make mistakes at work? When you make mistakes do you expect to be spoken to like worthless garbage by the general public? I'm quite sure you don't....
You people need to understand that, suprise, suprise, we are actually there to help you....We are not there to delibrately piss you off and we are not there to delibratly cost you a fortune just because we feel like it (however, always remember, we are also not a charity....No more that any of you guyz are in your line of buisness), so why the need to call us names and treat us like utter rubbish when we work on your car? Hell, i've had female service receptionists crying at the counter over the way a customer was speaking to her, and we haden't even worked on the vehicle in question yet?! We've had customers call staff members names for no reason whatsoever, they wern't even serving the customer in question, and when told to leave the service department they went wild....To the point where we were forced to call the police, and even then the customer kept snatching the phone out of the staff members hand!
Yes, we do occationally misdiagnose faults....Contrary to popular belief we cannot simply put our hands on the vehicle and 'feel it's pain' so from time to time we do make mistakes....Sometimes we can even make the same mistake twice [gasp!] - Do you all have any idea just how complex these vehicles are? Do you all know how hard it is to find a decent technician these days?! Not a grease monkey, a technician? You can't, they all left and pumped septic tanks for a living because the pay was better...And that poses a significant problem for the automotive trade in general. Think of that fact next time you think that your service was expensive, are plumbers cheap? Are builders cheap? Because last time I checked they definatly were not....And they're tradesmen just like the technicians working on your car, and i'm sure you'd prefer a technician working on your car over a grease monkey....Also bear in mind that with the costs of training, tooling and numerous other expenses that cost service departments very large sums of money each month, such costs have to be reflected in the cost per hour of servicing....That's how the world works unfortunatlely.
And guyz....The factory determines the pricing of parts, not us....The amount we put on top of the price we purchace the parts for really isn't as much as you would like to believe....
...And it's not our fault the part for your imported european car is on backorder....
....And it's not our fault that [insert fault here] is not covered by warrenty....We are just frontline, the facory determines what is/is not covered by warrenty.
....And your vehicle will not be serviced/repaired any faster or better if you stand there and watch it being done....In fact the techs may make mistakes easier due to the pressure you're putting them under. And if you make your way into the workshop...You 'will' be booted out for saftey reasons.
Please guyz, think of the above points the next time you have an issue with a dealer....Work together with the dealer (yes, we will do that if you are nice about it) and the issue will be resolved a hell of a lot faster and easier.
And remember....We didn't build the car.
Shaneth,
Thank you for the warm welcome. I drive a brand new '07 2.0 TDI Jetta with the factory sports handleing kit and 6 speed DSG that I have modded to 125kw's and added the traditional 'red' TDi badge on the rear....I love the car and as soon as I get a chance I am gonna post pics of it on these forums so everyone can see it!
To anyone interested, I purchaced the VAG-COM software and OBD-II can capable lead off ebay in the USA for about $80.00 shipped....On my laptop it works a treat and is actually better and easier to use in many ways that the VAG supplied VAS 5052. If you're a dub owner and you don't have VAG-COM do yourself a favour and get it.
Cheers guyz and I hope to visit these forums more often....
Because being a service manager at a VW dealership I deal with all kinds of customers, and quite frankly, I believe more and more the modern customer is an unreasonable ******** (parden the lingo, but I just don't know how else to describe these individuals)....Now don't get me wrong, I give these people the upmost of service and I am always plesant and nice to their face, even when they are talking to me like I am a piece of crap....But really, do you guyz calling dealers 'stealers' go to work everyday and get spoken to like crap? Would you enjoy your job and go out of your way to help the general public if you 'did' get spoken to like crap by at least one of them daily? Do you make mistakes at work? When you make mistakes do you expect to be spoken to like worthless garbage by the general public? I'm quite sure you don't....
You people need to understand that, suprise, suprise, we are actually there to help you....We are not there to delibrately piss you off and we are not there to delibratly cost you a fortune just because we feel like it (however, always remember, we are also not a charity....No more that any of you guyz are in your line of buisness), so why the need to call us names and treat us like utter rubbish when we work on your car? Hell, i've had female service receptionists crying at the counter over the way a customer was speaking to her, and we haden't even worked on the vehicle in question yet?! We've had customers call staff members names for no reason whatsoever, they wern't even serving the customer in question, and when told to leave the service department they went wild....To the point where we were forced to call the police, and even then the customer kept snatching the phone out of the staff members hand!
Yes, we do occationally misdiagnose faults....Contrary to popular belief we cannot simply put our hands on the vehicle and 'feel it's pain' so from time to time we do make mistakes....Sometimes we can even make the same mistake twice [gasp!] - Do you all have any idea just how complex these vehicles are? Do you all know how hard it is to find a decent technician these days?! Not a grease monkey, a technician? You can't, they all left and pumped septic tanks for a living because the pay was better...And that poses a significant problem for the automotive trade in general. Think of that fact next time you think that your service was expensive, are plumbers cheap? Are builders cheap? Because last time I checked they definatly were not....And they're tradesmen just like the technicians working on your car, and i'm sure you'd prefer a technician working on your car over a grease monkey....Also bear in mind that with the costs of training, tooling and numerous other expenses that cost service departments very large sums of money each month, such costs have to be reflected in the cost per hour of servicing....That's how the world works unfortunatlely.
And guyz....The factory determines the pricing of parts, not us....The amount we put on top of the price we purchace the parts for really isn't as much as you would like to believe....
...And it's not our fault the part for your imported european car is on backorder....
....And it's not our fault that [insert fault here] is not covered by warrenty....We are just frontline, the facory determines what is/is not covered by warrenty.
....And your vehicle will not be serviced/repaired any faster or better if you stand there and watch it being done....In fact the techs may make mistakes easier due to the pressure you're putting them under. And if you make your way into the workshop...You 'will' be booted out for saftey reasons.
Please guyz, think of the above points the next time you have an issue with a dealer....Work together with the dealer (yes, we will do that if you are nice about it) and the issue will be resolved a hell of a lot faster and easier.
And remember....We didn't build the car.
Shaneth,
Thank you for the warm welcome. I drive a brand new '07 2.0 TDI Jetta with the factory sports handleing kit and 6 speed DSG that I have modded to 125kw's and added the traditional 'red' TDi badge on the rear....I love the car and as soon as I get a chance I am gonna post pics of it on these forums so everyone can see it!

To anyone interested, I purchaced the VAG-COM software and OBD-II can capable lead off ebay in the USA for about $80.00 shipped....On my laptop it works a treat and is actually better and easier to use in many ways that the VAG supplied VAS 5052. If you're a dub owner and you don't have VAG-COM do yourself a favour and get it.
Cheers guyz and I hope to visit these forums more often....
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