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| Performance | 4/10  |
|---|---|
| Value for Money | 0/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 0/10 |
| Overall Rating | 5/10  |
Full review by
mnix
on 16th Jul 2007
User Rating : 0
Respect :
0
Good Points: The roof has the WOW factor.
Bad Points: Everything else.
General comments: VW EOS review from ex-owner!
Having reserved my EOS prior to release, I was completely in awe of the beautiful design upon collection and the feature of engineering that was the roof in motion. I remained delighted with my £28,000 acquisition for a grand total of 6 weeks. After this short period of time, in December, the airbag fault warning light came on. Following the instructions in the manual I returned the car to the dealership and asked for it to be repaired. They duly did so and cited an error with 'connectivity gel'. I was temporarily placated.
On the 5th January I was forced to write to VW and complain about the vehicle. On this occasion, I was aware of a leak in the roof at the point of the frame on the driver's side of the car. Water was running down the A-Frame on the interior of the vehicle. I received an apology and assurances that this fault can be rectified. I once again returned the vehicle to the dealership (Ventura Park in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham) with the instruction that I would be giving only one opportunity for this fault to be rectified before seeking a refund. They appeared to have rectified the second fault with the car in only 4 months. At this point I was starting to doubt the build quality of the car but decided to give such a reputable manufacturer the benefit of the doubt in repairing the two aforementioned faults.
Within weeks of the latter event, the airbag management warning light once again drew my attention to a fault. I once again returned the car to the dealership and the fault was on this occasion identified as lying under the passenger seat and not the driver's seat as before. The fault was again remedied and I once again wrote to VW complaining about the vehicle. At this point I received a written apology and a £100 voucher for Marks and Spencer.
In April the airbag warning light once again came on and the following day I was aware of yet more leaking at the same point on the roof. I had by this point lost all satisfaction from the most aesthetically pleasing, not to mention most expensive vehicle, I had ever owned.
Having phoned Ventura Park I was instructed to contact VW myself to discuss the problems with the car and a refund on the defective product. I duly did so and VW accepted no responsibility for the faults. I was instead told to contact the dealership and deal with them for any negotiations.
I subsequently wrote to the dealership and was invited to an interview with the 'Customer Service Manager'. At the interview the fault history was relayed to him and recorded. He said that they would be in contact. A letter duly followed from the Managing Director of Ventura Park stating that the faults were of a 'minor' nature and rectifiable and that I had no legal right to a refund. He also stated that my best course of action would be to allow them to repair it under warranty. He stated that if further repairs failed then he would be "obliged to help me further". I rejected this offer and sought legal advice.
Because of the increasing mileage on every subsequent week my solicitor wrote to request a repurchase price to include a compensatory figure. Ventura Park offered me a total of £22,000 to include an unspecified amount of compensation. I referred this to my solicitor who advised me to make a counter offer of £23,000. This was dismissed out of hand, stating that the 11,000 miles made such a repurchase price unreasonable. My argument that the faults had been brought to their attention at 5000 miles was dismissed.
My solicitor advised me that it would be in my interest to sell the car at this huge personal loss as any further negotiations or legal disputes would result in more miles being added to the vehicle and the figure therefore reducing.
I sourced another vehicle, a Saab 93 convertible and so commenced proceedings for the resale of my EOS. If I considered previous customer service to be unsatisfactory, it was but a taste of the service to come.
I took my vehicle to the dealership to be inspected prior to the resale and was met by a member of the Sales team. Things began very well, until he implied that he was 'doing me a favour' with the price that I was receiving and that I should be grateful. At this point I decided to list the issues that I had with the company and the downfalls in what I consider to be the worst customer service that I have ever experienced. He stated that he had received around half a dozen EOS's back to be repaired and that the fault with the leaking was a recognised and known fault with all hard top coupes.
While I agreed that faults with new products can occur, I was not going to concede that I had come out of this whole affair well, being £6,000 poorer. I also stated that as a businessman I cannot appreciate a business ethic that seeks to profit from an unhappy customer more than once, and that in selling this vehicle on to another customer at a figure higher than the repurchase amount, that was exactly what they were doing. At this, the member of staff became irate and suggested that if we were not comfortable doing business we should go elsewhere which he knew would incur added losses to myself. My argument that no-one other than a VW garage would purchase the car with faults and warning lights apparent, and a service history that suggested 6 months of faults, was met with dismissive silence. At this point I simply signed the paperwork and left the office before the relationship became irretrievable.
Having test driven the Saab 93 there really is no comparison with the quality or the finish. I would never deal with Ventura Park or VW again, and would be reluctant to purchase any new models of vehicle in the future before faults have been recognised.
mnix's review and ratings | 1030 words
