Wear and Tear OR Negligence?

I bought a brand new Volkswagen T-Cross from Barons in October 2019. All services were done at the indicated intervals of 15 000km. All work on the vehicle was done by Barons and the vehicle wasn't in any accident. In fact, I get a big discount on my insurance because of Driving Style (99/100).

BUT, on Sunday, 10 March the vehicle unexpectedly broke down, about 4 000km after its last service, as I was driving back from Herm**** to Cape Town. The message on the car's dashboard screen read that the 12V battery wasn't charging. I stopped the vehicle and phone my insurance. The vehicle was loaded on a flatback and taken to Barons the next day.

The vehicle underwent an expensive diagnosis of the problem. I was told that the problem was the Voltage Regulator and that the Battery and Alternator were fully functional. The Voltage Regulator was replaced = R5 242.29. I got the car on 13 March and drove to work on 14 March. The car broke down in town and had to be fetched for further repairs.

End of story: the entire Alternator and Battery had to be replaced, because of "wear and tear"! That on a car with about 80 000 km on the clock, four years old! Another R17 500!

I appealed to Barons and escalated it to Volkswagen SA. A four year old car, driven by an older lady, with 80 000 on the clock, that had all its services done on time - should not have that kind of wear and tear! Except if the service wasn't properly done??

I am VERY disappointed, in fact I find it unacceptable that not Barons, nor VW South Africa, own up to this. They indicated that it is highly unusual that a relatively new, well-cared for vehicle's alternator has to be replaced due to "wear and tear". But they do not want to assist me in any way in this regard. I had to pay the full amount to replace the Alternator.