R 200 000 Touareg breakdown - Disgusted, complete lack/attempt to accept brand responsibility - DISHONEST?

<p>I took my VW Touareg for sheduled 115 000 km service at Lindsay Saker Airport on 22 Sept 2016 (113****m). The service included a scheduled procedure on the auto gearbox, apparently quite tricky with a few consecutive steps to complete the job (and hectic expensive, nearly R 10 000 for a oil service)</p> <p>Just for the record, up to this pont I experienced no problem with the gearbox whatsoever, worked perfectly. Surprise, surprise..., 1500 km further my car broke down, could not select any gears. Towed car in to L/Saker Airport to check and repair. You guessed right, the dealer obviously did not accept any responsibility and quoted R 173 000 excluded for the repair!! Their excuse? They use highly trained technicians who know what they are doing.</p> <p>After weeks of negotiation and numerous discussions with the dealer and VWSA, it was decided by VWSA to be "my bad luck". VWSA adviced me that they inspected the diagnostics reports and that they can't find anything wrong on record with what the dealership did with the gearbox service. VWSA could also not accept any responsibility, car already out of guarantee. Can you believe, a R 800 000 car, 15 000 km out of guarantee with a R 200 000 repair bill after a major service to the specific part done by the dealer! No responsibility or even a thought that this is abnormal by either parties! Bet you Toyota and BMW would see the point that it is very strange for a breakage like this and stand in for their brand!</p> <p>The dealership informed me that (as a gesture of goodwill) all 3 parties will be responsible for about a 1/3 rd of the account. I went through the quote in detail to try to get the cost down but was informed that everything on the list was absolutely necessary and have to be replaced for the job to be guaranteed. The end result of the repair and bill? About a third of the original job was caried out, VWSA supp**** the gearbox at "cost" as their contribution and the dealer contributed a hour or two in labour (would have expected as much because only a third of the quoted work was done in the end). I ended up to pay for the total of my agreed part of the account but only got a third of the agreed work done as well. The balance of the work (which should have been the dealer and factory's contributions) never happened. I thus still paid for nearly everything in any way.</p> <p>I did lodge my complaint at the dealer as well as VWSA that by agreeing to the repair and my part of the bill, I definitely did not accept any wrongdoing or responsibility for the damage. I only agreed to the repair cost to get my car back after nearly 5 weeks! I'm totally convinced this damage was caused by something the dealer did wrong while carrying out the gearbox service.</p> <p>Make sure what brand car you buy and don't bargain on VW South Africa or its dealer network to accept any responsibility for their products (to the point of nearly being dishonest), unless you can proove any queries without any doubts.</p>