ZERO - GROSSLY NEGLIGENT!

ZERO RATING – GROSSLY NEGLIGENT! Volkswagen Silver Oaks sold me a brand-new Amarok with a passenger seat airbag that was NOT WORKING, and I drove it like that for MORE THAN A YEAR without knowing. This comes on top of the appalling sales experience in my earlier review, which became their most-liked review and is reproduced below. In a crash, the passenger seat airbag would not have deployed. The person in that seat could have been my spouse, a child or a colleague. Silver Oaks put them at risk of serious injury, and put me at risk of an insurer refusing to pay out. What happened: Silver Oaks fitted aftermarket leather seats and never reconnected the passenger seat airbag. They then handed over the vehicle without running a basic diagnostic check, which takes about four minutes and would have shown the fault straight away. I only found out when a different dealership picked it up at the vehicle's first service. Silver Oaks has admitted that the passenger seat airbag was never reconnected. Their sales manager first offered to compensate me. Top management then reversed that and told me there was "nothing they can do". I paid full price (for not full value) and carried all the risk, and their response to a safety failure they admitted is to shrug it off. Volkswagen is a brand people trust, and this dealership's conduct damages that trust. I am reporting the matter to the Volkswagen Group, the National Consumer Commission, and the Motor Industry Ombudsman of South Africa, so that there are real consequences. Before you buy here, ask yourself: would you trust them with your family's safety? I would not.

(They have since reconnected the passenger seat airbag, but only after another dealership found the problem.)

MY PREVIOUS REVIEW (still their most-liked review):

"Absolutely terrible experience – and I just bought a brand new Amarok! As soon as the sale was done, the dealership clearly stopped caring. Would give a zero rating if possible. Late delivery on the day I was supposed to receive my vehicle. Never gave a delivery gift. Couldn't even do a proper handover presentation of my brand new vehicle – rushed and careless. I paid for full service and delivery (R9,200) but got half a tank of diesel. Only to raise my concern a week later, for them to realise the apparent mistake. They fitted new tyres and rims, only to give me a different size spare wheel and rim – completely unacceptable. When I took this up with the manager and asked what exactly the "service and delivery" fee was for, he couldn't even explain it and just babbled on saying it is administration. Later, he said they "took from the service and delivery fee" because they apparently "made a loss" on the deal but undertook, at the time of negotiating, that all of the extras will be at cost. That is not only disingenuous but constitutes a misrepresentation. I paid for a service I did not receive, and their excuse is that they needed to make up their margin? Absolutely unacceptable. If this is how they treat someone buying a brand new vehicle, I can't imagine what their aftersales service is like. Avoid at all costs unless you enjoy paying for things you don't get."