VW roadside assist not actaully VW roadside assist.??

[neil]

Just found this post from a disgruntled Tiguan owner on Not good enough website.

http://www.notgoodenough.org/viewtopic.php?t=36511

bought a brand new VW Tiguan four months ago and received complimentary "roadside assistance" membership. The membership card has the Volkswagen name and logo, the letter I received with the card was printed on Volkswagen Australia letterhead.

Few weeks back, I had a flat tyre on my vehicle and called VW Roadside Assistance to help me replace the tyre. Their "technician" came and lifted the car with a faulty jack which almost caused a disaster. The car rolled back, moved sideways towards me hitting me in the knee and fell on the ground. Luckily I wasn't hurt but my car was damaged and the "technician" quickly lifted the car back, replaced the tyre and took off leaving me there to deal with the damage. I called Roadside Assistance again, reported the incident, had a number of discussions with them but they kept denying that this was their fault.

I contacted VW Australia Customer Service asking for help but they kept referring me back to VW Roadside Assistance. I finally wrote a letter to VW Australia Managing Director, Ms Anke Koeckler and expressed my disappointment with their customer service but she gave my letter back to her Customer Service team to deal with it. The same team I complained about in the first place. They called me and told me how this was not their problem and that their Roadside Assistance was actually provided by a company called Mondial Assist and that I had to deal with them directly.

As I mentioned before, my Roadside Assist Membership card, the letter that came with it had the Volkswagen name and VW logo written all over. I am extremely disappointed, not only by this shonky service and cowardly behaviour of the technician but also by Volkswagen's inappropriate use of their trademarks and providing misleading information to customers.

I am planning to report this matter to the Department of Fair Trading.

[Tim]

its common knowledge that services such as these and and even in some industries warranty services are outsourced to certain companies. It is not viable for every company to have their own fleet of roadside assistance vehicles. I dont think its fair for you to crucify VW for offering a service and attaching their logo to it.

Whilst I agree something needs to be done as you were not treated properly. There are two issues at play here.

1. The supplied VW jacks are just dangerous. This is not a new concern. They have been dangerous for many many years. I wonder if someone were to sell them as a separate product on the Australian market would they comply with relevant ADRs? If used to the letter of the directions then perhaps yes they do work. But there is just no room for error.

2. In regards to your gripe with the installer as this is outsourced you really need to direct your anger towards them. How did the car roll? was the handbrake on? did he chock the wheels? If not then I would suggest that he/his company are the ones that should be held accountable.

Having a chat with dept of fair trading may be a good idea as they should be able to tell you where to direct your claim. But yes if you car is damaged then someone needs to fix it.

[Manaz]

This is a problem for VW to fix.

The service is branded as a VW product, and sold to you as a VW product. You do not have a contract with Mondial Assist, you have a contract with VW Assist, and it through them that all your complaints should be directed.

I totally understand how outsourcing works - but when the end product is sold as brand XYZ, it's their responsibility to deal with the customers in all situations, good and bad.

The same goes for airline code sharing. I had a Qantas flight booked from Rome to Sydney via Hong Kong, but the flight was operated by Cathay Pacific. I had troubles on the flight (severely broken seat ended up putting my back out), Qantas tried to absolve themselves of the problem by blaming Cathay Pacific, but in the end, my contract was with Qantas, the the problem was theirs to deal with where I was concerned.

[Tim]

The service is branded as a VW product, and sold to you as a VW product. You do not have a contract with Mondial Assist, you have a contract with VW Assist, and it through them that all your complaints should be directed.

This is true. But whilst your contact would be with VW. The other company will be ultimately liable. Why mess about with the middle man if you want results?

As mentioned though.. A chat to consumer affairs would see the OP on the right track. At least then it can be formalised and ultimately end up in a hearing if there is no satisfactory outcome.

[neil]

I first imagined it would have been contracted out to maybe NRMA.
I have never heard of the company quoted in the statement I copied.
It would be interesting to know what contractors do certain area's or states.

Someone correct me if Im wrong but I believe we do have the option to continue
our VW assist when our warranty finishes???

If this is the service you get from VW I think I will go with NRMA when its time.

[Maverick]

I first imagined it would have been contracted out to maybe NRMA.
I have never heard of the company quoted in the statement I copied.
It would be interesting to know what contractors do certain area's or states.

Someone correct me if Im wrong but I believe we do have the option to continue
our VW assist when our warranty finishes???

If this is the service you get from VW I think I will go with NRMA when its time.

They do use NRMA/RACQ/RACV etc in certain areas.

Mondial Assist are based in Brisbane and are an international company, they also handle Volkswagen customer service.

http://www.mondial-assistance.com.au/en/aboutus/homepage.htm

Terms and Conditions of the roadside service - https://www.mondial-roadside.com.au/...rd_Wording.pdf

Roadside service page - https://www.mondial-roadside.com.au

I'm pretty sure that there are details about this in the booklet that arrives with the card.

[brad]

I have never heard of the company quoted in the statement I copied.
.

By coincidence, I took out travel insurance the other day & the emergency contact is Mondial Assist.

[Maverick]

Thanks for the input lads, we have all made our points..

Has the OP had any progress with the issue?

The OP doesn't have a problem!

Just found this post from a disgruntled Tiguan owner on Not good enough website.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Ah, right you are..

[Ron K]

I have a question about VW roadside service. I am a Gold Member of NRMA and, as I said in my first post, I am now the owner of a Polo. My NRMA service has just come up for renewal and I was wondering whether or not to bother in view of my NRMA situation. From what I have learned from comments on this site, I think I have already the answer. I did send a message to VW on their site blog asking for details on what their service covered but I have heard nothing.

[woofy]

In a surprise twist our Skoda has just come out of the free period so went straight into coverage by RACV that we have for our out of warranty cars. I bought a Hyundai Santa Fe, and was the twist was that they come with not only genuine RACV/RAVC?NRMA etc coverage, but the premium coverage. They don't even tout it, it just is something you find out. And its covered free as long as you use their service centres for years.

[BrianS]

This is a problem for VW to fix.

The service is branded as a VW product, and sold to you as a VW product. You do not have a contract with Mondial Assist, you have a contract with VW Assist, and it through them that all your complaints should be directed.

I totally understand how outsourcing works - but when the end product is sold as brand XYZ, it's their responsibility to deal with the customers in all situations, good and bad.

The same goes for airline code sharing. I had a Qantas flight booked from Rome to Sydney via Hong Kong, but the flight was operated by Cathay Pacific. I had troubles on the flight (severely broken seat ended up putting my back out), Qantas tried to absolve themselves of the problem by blaming Cathay Pacific, but in the end, my contract was with Qantas, the the problem was theirs to deal with where I was concerned.

Code share is the biggest pile of s**t ever, had a big problem travelling back from the uk last year with virgin and their apparent code share with virgin Australia, booked and paid for extra baggage but they almost wanted to charge me 4 times over for the domestic flight even though it was all booked with virgin, took the shine off the holiday I will admit

[woofy]

We had that issue at Christmas, booked a QANTAS flight from melb to Brisbane and when the time came, it changed to a Jetstar flight te week before. My wife was traveling with our 3 yr old and our 10 mth old. Jetstar count every item in your hands now and allow 2, babies get nothing. So with the nappy bag and her handbag and my daughters bag of toys etc for the flight she had to check in her only tiny carrying bag full of breakable presents we were bringing up. No ifs nor buts. Better still her checked in bag with other presents suddenly was overweight, but well under the QANTAS allowance. We were really pissed....no meals either, so we didn't get anything we paid or and may as well have booked the Jetstar flight and saved the difference....theiving bastards.

[Keep On Rocc'in]

Do not cancel your NRMA membership or you lose your time accrued and status and go back to a newbie if you decide to rejoin. However what you can do, should you choose to use the VW roadside, is hibernate your NRMA membership. You still pay a reduced fee but can fully reactivate at any time. My current car when bought came with 12 months free roadside so I used that and hibernated NRMA for that period.