VW, good cars and ratings but bad service and managers.

<p>I bought a brand new second-hand Polo TSI from Rivonia VW about a year ago, took it in for its first service about 6 months ago with no issues. This November the vehicle was taken in for its second service, VW offered “valued added services” like replacing the air in the tires with nitros and rotating of the wheels. I figured that because of my great experiences, buying the vehicle and first service with them, supporting them with the additional extras would be a good idea, how wrong was I.</p> <p>When I arrived at the dealership I explained that the car made very faint vibrations when driving on the highway and asked them to have a look at it. When I returned after the service and paid for the additional extras I left with a nicely cleaned vehicle.</p> <p>About 1km away from the dealership I noticed a loud humming sound coming from the front wheels. I immediately called the service technician responsible for my service once I returned home and explained that I could see the front wheels were not perfectly aligned. He informed me that my wheels were buckled and thus explaining the noise. I advised that the faint vibration was nothing compared to the loud noise coming from the wheels now and that they needed to rectify it as soon as possible. He arranged for the car to be looked at on the following Monday.</p> <p>I returned my vehicle and they worked on it, I even told him that my wheels needed alignment and he said it will be done, when I picked it up the service technician said that the wheels were buckled and I needed to fix them first even though I explained that the noise was not there before the service. About a week later VW’s service department called me and I explained my situation to them, they said that they’ll come back to me but a month later I had to book my car in again as no one did.</p> <p>The 3rd time I took my car in I explained to the service technician that they need to undo the rotation of the wheels so I can have my car back the way it was before the loud humming noise. I returned 2 hours later and was told that they could not detect the issue after putting the vehicle on their state of the art (new) wheel alignment device, supposed to be the best of all their branches.</p> <p>I told him that this was unacceptable and that I needed to speak to his manager. His manager (Niel) told me that the wheels were buckled and that the noise has always been there. I told him that it was not as the car was very quiet before the service and now was not. He confirmed that they undid the rotation of the wheels, I found this to be false as my mags indicated otherwise. He told me that he doesn’t believe me, I asked him in front of everyone if he is calling me **** and he said yes. I took my keys and left.</p> <p>Today I took my car to Tiger Wheel and Tire to see what exactly the problem was. After 3 and a half hours, peak season for them, I received my vehicle back. They confirmed the buckled wheels but also pointed out that the wheels where not balanced or aligned. I drove my car home to find that the humming noise was gone.</p> <p>This confirmed that the service team at VW did nothing after my first complaint, charged me to rotate the wheels, **** about changing them back and not giving a damn about fixing an issue that came up after I handed the vehicle to them. Calling me **** was also not acceptable.</p> <p>All in all, VW is a very good place to buy or service your vehicle but with arrogant, full of themselves managers like Niel they would never become one of the best. I feel that a great purchase ended up being a faulty one just because of their lack of customer service.</p> <p>The service technician, Eugene Krige, only did his job so I don’t blame him for anything, the useless customer service and impolite manager are to blame.</p>