Grievance with VW

Coco52

My daughter brought a car from VW back in June after 2 months the panoramic roof wouldn’t close so she took it back to VW and they tried to say that she had damaged it . She stated it’s a button that opens and closes it but they still said she had damaged it and it would cost her £1800 to repair it , as you would imagine she was very angry as she had paid £17,000 for the car. She kept going back and they finally tried to manually close it but it wouldn’t close fully and it left a small gap. In the meantime she has been dealing with head office because she was angry with the way they had treated her as you wouldn’t expect this from a main dealer she warned other customers not to buy any cars from them because their warranty wasn’t worth anything and they told her not to go back otherwise they would phone the police. What did they expect her to do she had got herself into a lot of dealt buying this car. Now after all these months still ongoing with VW 2 weeks ago when we had the heavy winds because there was still the gap the wind got underneath the roof and took the whole roof off while she was driving, so now she is left with a car she hasn’t been able to drive for the last 2 weeks as it’s been in our garage. They have come back today insinuating that they can’t believe this would happen and say she has unbolted the roof herself, I’m disgusted with VW , please help what can she do as you are dealing with a big company and now because she has no roof now what was £1800 at the start is going to cost her thousands 

Aylesbury_Duck

Coco52 said:

My daughter brought a car from VW back in June after 2 months the panoramic roof wouldn’t close so she took it back to VW and they tried to say that she had damaged it . She stated it’s a button that opens and closes it but they still said she had damaged it and it would cost her £1800 to repair it , as you would imagine she was very angry as she had paid £17,000 for the car. She kept going back and they finally tried to manually close it but it wouldn’t close fully and it left a small gap. In the meantime she has been dealing with head office because she was angry with the way they had treated her as you wouldn’t expect this from a main dealer she warned other customers not to buy any cars from them because their warranty wasn’t worth anything and they told her not to go back otherwise they would phone the police. What did they expect her to do she had got herself into a lot of dealt buying this car. Now after all these months still ongoing with VW 2 weeks ago when we had the heavy winds because there was still the gap the wind got underneath the roof and took the whole roof off while she was driving, so now she is left with a car she hasn’t been able to drive for the last 2 weeks as it’s been in our garage. They have come back today insinuating that they can’t believe this would happen and say she has unbolted the roof herself, I’m disgusted with VW , please help what can she do as you are dealing with a big company and now because she has no roof now what was £1800 at the start is going to cost her thousands 

Can you break up the wall of text into paragraphs, or list the key points?  Some people won't bother to read through all that and you may miss out on good advice. 

What she should have done back in the summer was to get a second opinion as to what the underlying fault was.

I think she'll struggle with the whole roof off because she shouldn't have driven it in the state it was in.  Presumably it leaked in rain as well?

On a broader point, why has she bought a car she can't afford?  Getting into a lot of debt on a £17k car is very foolish.  It's not as if a perfectly decent car can't be bought for much, much less.

Coco52

She did go back but they said she had damaged the mechanism it’s a button that opens and closes it, they tried to close it manually but they couldn’t do it fully they left it with a gap and said it was going to cost her £1800 for a new mechanism. She has been arguing with head office ever since . Because of the winds 2 weeks ago she was going to see friends when the wind got underneath the roof and blew the whole thing off , she contacted Hertfordshire police who came out as she was in tears they said they would try and locate it , but as of yet they haven’t 

Aylesbury_Duck

I can't see how she's going to get anything when the roof is missing.  Without it, there's no way of showing who's at fault.  I'm afraid this is looking like a lost cause. Insurance would ask questions about why it was driven with an insecure retractable roof in high winds, so I don't even see that as a way forward. 

I'm afraid your daughter has handled this badly from the start and now she's out of options. 

Coco52

Well thank you for your support I would let your colleagues know at VW that we will see them in court 

KatrinaWaves

Coco52 said:

Well thank you for your support I would let your colleagues know at VW that we will see them in court 

Oh wow that has to be one for the record of ‘quickest to assume everyone here is employed by every company everyone has ever had an issue with!’ 

Fosterdog

Coco52 said:

Well thank you for your support I would let your colleagues know at VW that we will see them in court 

Yes the poster with several thousand posts providing help and advice in several of the boards covering a whole range of subjects must work for VW just because you didn't like what they told you.

I get that you want to be on your daughters side with this but try looking at it as an outsider she has been negligent, if you had come on here asking for help before she drove the car in high winds and causing the roof to come off then we would have all advised that she gets an independent report to prove one way or the other whether the mechanism problem was an actual fault or user damage. If the former we would have helped with how to take it further to get a resolution. Unfortunately you didn't do that at the time and it's too late, nobody would be able to prove anything either way now that she has lost the roof.

Coco52

wow I was right then Katrina , because I thought do you not what any decent person would fill my daughters pain obviously I was wrong 

pinkshoes

Coco52 said:

wow I was right then Katrina , because I thought do you not what any decent person would fill my daughters pain obviously I was wrong 

If you want help, drop the attitude and stop being rude to people trying to help.

With hindsight, your daughter should have got a second opinion once VW started talking rubbish about it being her own fault, as clearly it wasn’t. The second opinion would have no doubt stated this, and it would have been a clear cut court case. 

But... as this didn’t happen, things are much more complicated. 

She he needs to get a reliable garage with a good reputation to take a look at it, and get a quote to get everything repaired. Court works on a balance of probabilities. Given it is highly unlikely she would damage it herself, then this might work in her favour, but she will need written evidence.

did VW say it was ok to drive with the roof not fully closed? If yes, this will work in your favour...

Coco52

Sorry but she went back to VW after 2 months they told her it was the mechanism and blamed her In damaging it , like I said a button to open and to close the roof that’s why she got upset because how else do you use the roof . They tried to manually close the roof but couldn’t fully do it , so that’s why for months she had been dealing with head office. I’m upset because yes I’m on my daughters side she had paid a lot of money for the car and has been treated badly by VW and also I forgot to add she also took it to an independent garage last year and has got a written report thank god 

Aylesbury_Duck

Here we go, all the hallmarks of the classic post:

- Rants and raves in a barely coherent rambling post.
- Gets advice that isn't what they wanted to hear.
- Slings around accusations of vested interests.
- Reasonable people try to provide further help, including telling the OP to wind it in.
- Drip-feeding of potentially relevant, previously undisclosed information.

Textbook.

I don't owe you any support, neither do I work for VW.  I repeat: your daughter was foolish to spend £17k on a car she cannot afford, foolish to pursue the original problem in the manner she did (which resulted in the dealer threatening to call the police), foolish to drive the car with an open sunroof in wet and windy weather and foolish not to seek proper advice well before the problem escalated to where it is now.

After your efforts on this thread, it's clearly hereditary.