Customer Service in Brisbane...?? where?

[T&M]

OK. Look away now... I'm going to name names!

About 4 weeks ago we called the dealer we bought the Tiguan from in order to book in for the 15,000km service. This was Austral VW at Newstead in Brisbane.
Made the call about 0930 as we wanted to avoid their "morning rush". We were put thru to their service dept and gave all our details, asked for a date well in advance so my wife could get a loan car so she could still do her work. Then asked if we could just simply show up on the day with a small list of things to check or would he prefer I give him the list over the phone now.
The response was "we don't do lists". Not really knowing what he meant, I asked about how are we meant to communicate what needs attention...? This all took approx 1-2 mins. He then cut me off and said he had other customers waiting! Absolutley stunned, I reminded him that we too, were customers. He hung up! Hmmmmm...... WTF.

I called back and asked for their service manager - Gary.

No he said, out staff wouldn't do that.

Next call was to Norris Motor Group VW at Windsor. Asked if we could book in for the service, gave the details, got the loan car booked, he noted down what needed attention etc etc... My wife went in on the day, brand new Golf loan car was waiting.... absolutley nothing was a problem.

One of the problems on our list was the radio reception cut out every now and then with no general pattern. When NMG investigated they found that when Austral did some pre-delivery installtions, they had cut a wire around the back and never bothered to fix it, just left it dangling there. Imagine being told that after what has happened so far.

Well in summary...... WE WILL NEVER EVER DEAL WITH OR RECOMMEND AUSTRAL TO ANYBODY.

This may have been a one off - don't care they have burnt their business with us for ever.

That's our rant.

[Sanman]

VW Australia spend a lot of time and money training up the dealers to give the customer that 'special' feel. Of course Service is different from new car, but it still applies. Its disappointing that one clown dealer is ruining all that work.
Hopefully now when someone Googles "Austral" and "bad service" your post will come up. If VWA can't get them to operate responsibly then perhaps a sharp drop off in sales and service will.
Thanks for the post.

[Transporter]

That's for sure a bad business. You should contact VW Australia, if you already didn't.

[T&M]

I have forgotten to mention that I also sent a complaint message thru to VW Australia and am yet to hear back from them.

Not sure if they have thousands of complaints from this dealer and are working thru them as fast as they can and will eventually get to mine - or whether they are just slow to respond?

[donl]

I'm not really that surprised that it was Austral at Newstead. I tried to get pricing and a test drive from them when I was looking but they never returned my calls. They also stuffed around my brother in-law when he was shopping around for his golf GTI.

[Swallowtail]

Can I make a suggestion...

If you have issues, talk to the Service Manager first (which you have done) and if that doesn't work, talk to the dealer principal. If that doesn't work, talk to the MD of the business. I can help with contacts if you require.

Then if you still have no luck, talk to VW Australia. Again, I have contacts if you need.

[T&M]

Can I make a suggestion...

If you have issues, talk to the Service Manager first (which you have done) and if that doesn't work, talk to the dealer principal. If that doesn't work, talk to the MD of the business. I can help with contacts if you require.

Then if you still have no luck, talk to VW Australia. Again, I have contacts if you need.

Yes please regarding all contacts.

Now I can understand what you're saying as far as protocol is concerned, but why would the customer in this case have to do all the stuffing about and chasing the "right person" instead of good customer service just being offered - you now - like we all expect AND should receive!

[Transporter]

Yes please regarding all contacts.

Now I can understand what you're saying as far as protocol is concerned, but why would the customer in this case have to do all the stuffing about and chasing the "right person" instead of good customer service just being offered - you now - like we all expect AND should receive!

Ok, you had a bad experience with the dealer and lodged the complaint with VW Australia, now allow some time for them to come back to you.

It's good that you've moved on.

We have some dealers in our forum for sure you can PM one/some of them and ask a question or few.

[clip]

I seem to remember another forum member here not having very good things to say about these guys, so doesn't sound like a one off.

Fortunaltely, my dealer has been excellent from the inital purchase thru to servicing and warrantee work. But then it's a two way relationship. I think too often owners can get very unreasonable and over-demanding with things that are often outside the dealers control (not saying that's your case in any way or form T&M - you sound very reasonable and have every right to be annoyed at that treatment ).

[donweather]

I'm not really that surprised that it was Austral at Newstead. I tried to get pricing and a test drive from them when I was looking but they never returned my calls. They also stuffed around my brother in-law when he was shopping around for his golf GTI.

We also had two occasions from Newstead sales where our calls were not returned when inquiring about pricing and test drives. But alas, we then discovered Trent (at Newstead). He's the gem within the pigeons and anyone wanting to test drive or inquire about vehicles at Newstead I would highly recommend they only ask and speak with Trent.

As for servicing, I have yet to encounter the servicing department at Newstead (apart from the 1000km check up, but that's not a real service). But having seen the amount of vehicles queued up at that place for servicing on anyone given day, I'm keen to avoid the place like the plague. So Norris Group may also be getting my business particularly after reading the above thread.

[T&M]

Yep, we too bought our vehicle thru Trent and were happy all the way thru the process.

Servicing at Austral however is very different to the glossy shine we got thru the sales process.

Anyway, I'll wait till I hear back from VW Aust with what they have to say.

BTW. Norris' Sales office is at Kedron and for a few more months their serving is done at Eton St, Nundah (Mitsubishi, Suzuki etc...) until their brand new VW service location opens near their new Sales office.

For the in-between services I would highly recommend Jimmy Mac from this forum as he has helped us with ours and is very very good.

[team_v]

I will be getting JMac on the forums here to have a look at mine, or going througha euro specialist like Mike Webber Prestige and Performance (they do log book servicing).

Definitely not going to Austral.
Will only go to Highway auto if its a warranty issue or if it will be in for a few days and i will need a hire car.

[T&M]

Yep we have used Jmac to do a "7,500" service as we felt that waiting until the 15,000 service was a bit much. He was excellent and even followed up with us to see if we were happy. I also like the look of Michael Weber's setup.

But the latest news in this saga is that Austral have contacted me direct yesterday and asked if they can book the car in to get it's radio repaired ASAP. I must say that I'm pretty happy with the response time. Car is booked in for next week so all is on track.

[147Tig]

... to do a "7,500" service as we felt that waiting until the 15,000 service was a bit much...

How musch is the 7500km service?

[T&M]

How musch is the 7500km service?

I think it was around the $160 mark with all filters, oil etc plus does a system scan and pretty much checks everything out.