Complaint

Dear Martini Biene,

I trust you are well. This complaint is loaded on Hello Peter as no one can give your information. I would like to bring to your attention the atrocious service from your company and subsidiaries thereof. I had a funeral to attend in Durban on the 01st July 2023. My family and myself drove my vehicle down to Durban. We were ready to return home on the 05th July 2023, we had filled the tank up and had just passed the Marianhill toll plaza, when the vehicle went into Lymph mode. It thereafter did not select gears 2,4,6. It did state to continue driving, we then drove the vehicle to the nearest dealership which was in Pinetown. Alpine Motors. From then all I say is WOW on the service I received. It was nothing short of distasteful. My luggage and children sat in the vehicle. Whilst my husband and myself tried to get help. They couldn’t assist with a diagnostic on the vehicle that day as they were fully booked. We had to call VWSA for help, whilst the dealership had no clue what to do with us. My children sat in the vehicle for almost 2 hours with nothing being done from the dealerships side and we had to sit around and wait for VWSA to get back to us. I must say that your staff are so well trained in being robots and following a script and not having any empathy towards clients. I had to get a manager to assist me from your roadside assist line, cause the consultant was robotic and kept asking me the same questions over again. Your manager was helpful and after 6 hours arranged for us to get a courtesy vehicle to drive back home to Johannesburg. All we heard during this entire process is VW does not guarantee mobility. A vehicle was then arranged for us to collect at King Shaka Internal airport, once again no consultant thought about how we would get to the airport, until we brought this to their attention. They then booked an Uber for us which was an hour’s drive to the airport and back to Pinetown for us to collect our luggage, by this time my children are exhausted and hungry. We then finally after much frustration only leave Durban at 4 that afternoon, when we got to the dealership at around 09h30 that morning. Getting to Johannes at 10h00 that night. An entire days ordeal. We return the rental vehicle on Friday and had no vehicle for the weekend, as no one thought about the client and how they will get around the entire weekend. Eventually due to the parts being ordered from Germany(back order as you call it), we were offered a rental vehicle, after numerous calls and vented frustration from me. Yolani (case Manager) calls me at 15h00 to arrange for me to collect a rental vehicle from Isando at 16h00, not looking at the distance and Johannesburg traffic taken into consideration. By the way your entire company is doing me favors and I am not paying for a service. I get a call on Friday afternoon21st July 2023 to confirm that my vehicle has been repaired and do I want to arrange the repatriation. I agreed. Not knowing it will take 7 to 10 days. Then a lady from VWSA calls me to arrange the repatriation, then tells me it takes 7 – 10 days, because of the route the driver has to take. I agreed not knowing that today, 25th July I will get an sms to return the rental vehicle on the 27th July 2023, leaving me stranded once again until I can eventually get my vehicle back. I called in, spoke to another rude woman, I find it strange that no one at VW actually listens to a client and finds it acceptable to always speak over me whilst I am speaking. I asked for Yolani to call me back in an hour. And so she does, and I am at my wits end dealing with robots and rude consultants. I find it strange that such a big corporate has no contact info for yourself. And I must just follow the process. I explained that I cannot be without a vehicle, my kids need to be taken to school and fetched. My husband had an operation on his hand so we are unable to drive to Durban to fetch my vehicle and all I am asking is for the rental to be extended until my vehicle gets here. However once again, the robot kicks in, that’s our process, my manager will tell you the same thing, when asked to speak to her. She works remotely so there is no landline or contact info for her, you only work Via the system. My goodness, I am utterly appalled at the lack of empathy, just return the rental vehicle or you will be charged for it at your own cost. I am sure that the media will gladly have a field day with this story, the lack of empathy and concern for your clients. My request : repatriate my vehicle, as I cannot drive to Durban to collect it. Extend the rental vehicle until my vehicle is delivered to Johannesburg. I am a manager and I can sure as hell bend over backwards for my clients, so I am sure that you can as well. I await further outcome on this matter urgently.