Without mentioning any names besides being a prominent VW Business west of Melbourne, i believe I have received a terrible degree of service.

I ordered a Golde Ragtop Clip from them in early December, and with that ordered a new replacement Ragtop as "The other one with the clip is badly damaged." I forked out close to $1500 for this.

The owner claimed that he will order the new canvas roof, that i paid $300 for, however later he rang back and said the colour I requested was not available in canvas, and he would order the one i wanted in vinyl. (Which would be half price)

So after a few phone calls and that over the summer break, January rolled around and still the ragtop roof had not been shipped from the states (Waiting on some stuff to be custom made and would be sent over in one big shipment), so I asked the roof to be sent earlier so i would be able to get it in earlier.

Upon arriving, the roof section was not too bad, and the vinyl top was in very good condition and didn’t need replacing at all.

I proceeded to get the clip welded in, knowing that it would only be out of action for a week as i could get away with the original ragtop.

Upon fitting it into the car, it was discovered that a piece was missing, the front bow which the ragtop wraps around at the front. I contact the business and said i need it by the end of the week. four days later I hadn't heard back so I contacted again to no avail, and instead a "I’ll have a look for it."

Three weeks passed and many phone calls, it got to Monday this week. I contacted said business again to be told "We are just getting ready to finish it, should be finished by Wednesday."

Wednesday rolls around only to be woken by a phone call stating "What piece did you want again?"

They faxed through a exploded view of the ragtop clip, i pointed out what was missing, faxed it back only to be met by two people at the business stating it was with the roof when it was shipped, the followed by "I think i told you that piece was missing."

After two more phone calls they admitted it was missing, and they removed it from a car at the business (maybe a customer’s car?) and i was contacted saying that the new ragtop had arrived. We organised it to be couried overnight to my address so that the car could be completed today for a car show tomorrow.

Turns out, the business told me it was couried overnight but upon contacting the company it was sent on normal road freight and i will not get it until Tuesday next week.

Meanwhile, my main car has been out of action for five weeks, and i have not been happy with the service from this business at all. The car is at the upholsterer and will be until next week, and I am still out of pocked $150 as they will not admit to the vinyl roof being half the price and by stating that it is the same price as the canvas roof.

This is not my only issue I have had with the business, I bought a popes nose rubber off them with the claim that they were “The best place to source NOS rubber seals”, however it was too small in one corner and didn’t fit correctly. I was told that it was too bad as some don’t fit correctly.

I will not be shopping at this business again.


And as an endnote, for legal reasons, the name of the business should not be mentioned in any replies.

That sucks. Its a small scene in Australia (somewhat) and to have that shit happening is outrageous. Good money paid should equal good quality service and supplies.

VW ombusman?? =)

id be going through small claims and complaining big time, and although i dont know the company your talking about (really i dont) i cant see how its illegal to mention there name, freedom of speech outweighs slander (ive been through all that before)

It's a real shame that now days its such an awful experience spending hard earned money.

It's a real shame it has taken so long because I've been hanging out for the finished Herbie pics

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike That's the sort of service you would expect from a Tasmanian business

"too bad some don't fit properly....."

doesn't that mean they DON"T FIT ....??????

and please return it for Your refund.....

I don't think that the remark about buying from Tasmania was funny!!!! either...

Lee

can you pm me the details of that particular business? is that acceptable on the forum? I plan to buy heaps of parts in the future and don't want to get f%$k'd

Quote:

Originally posted by vwmad Quote: Originally posted by mackaymanx Quote: Originally posted by pickstock VW ombusman?? =) i cant see how its illegal to mention there name, freedom of speech outweighs slander (ive been through all that before) It's basically to protect the Forum admin,etc from legal bullshit that could arise Thats fair enough,Will when your car is finally finished put signs on it naming the perfetic company and drive it around and take it to shows,dont let crappy shops get away with it

i had another famous vw business in brisbane change over the non syncro box for a syncro in my 60 beetle, when it was finnished the clutch pedal never felt right, three clutch cables later and numerious visits to the experts lair i was told by the owner in front of his wife it was my problem and that is the way it is, i had it done there because i work overseas and did not have the time to do it myself, when i removed the clutch cable the outer bowden tube had broken , the clutch tube in the tunnel was to long and had just been thrown together with no care for even setting up the correct bend in the bowden tube, you know the old saying, do the right thing and the customer will tell two people, do the wrong thing and they will tell everyone. and that is what i do to this very day.

I had a client recently with exactly the same problem as you VW060 after a trip to the "reputable" shop. This one was a 356 and he had just had the engine out for clutch repairs and among other mechanical repairs the job was to 'sort out any and all mechanicals'. Worst part was he parted with something in the order of $18 000. And no new engines or trannys !!!!

Find a reputable company to deal with, and support them. These days, you just cant go to any Tom Dick or Gary.

Its just the wait, ive missed out on driving my beetle for well over five weeks. It was expected to be finished a long time ago. Ill just be glad once its all over!

I feel your pain.

I got 3x2 trailing arms with ford brakes from SEQ and the brake discs dragged on the caliper brackets(should have had 3-4 mm clearance) and got the run around from the vendor, had to sort out the problems myself.

Got type 4 CV's from SEQ and ended up sending them back as they were unuseable and I got stuck with the postage both ways.

Ordered and paid for 2 sets of 181 spindles from SEQ and got a big run around and an eventual refund.

Purchased a buggy bonnet and dash from SEQ and the inner surface of the fiberglass is still slightly tacky to the touch after 6 months.

Rapidly wondering if having a buggy is worth it.

I have had some good purchase experiences from SEQ but it's the bad ones that stick in your mind.

i here you wil"l got stuff from same place i think and didnt fit after hours of stufing around got them to fit but still not happy and there comeing out" there were parts missing out of the box id say and i had to get shims made to fix it i just will never deal with them again im going to go to melbourne soon and sus a few places out to deal with "

I think we need to be careful with "only heard one side" factor going on here. I'm not saying you are lying Bill, but in my experience, there is always more than one side to a story. Could it also be that in the case of the bow being missing it was a simple mistake and the rubber not fitting being a one off problem the business has not encountered before? I find it's better to keep on talking to the business and try and sort out the problem with them rather than having a spray to everyone else. We've just finished building a new house and I've had issues with the builder (coz everyone does) but I'm just gonna keep talking to them till they sort it out. After all, most business owners want to please their customers, you've just got to give them chance to do it.

With the Aussie dollar doing well I have been purchasing parts from the US. After all this is where the Parts Suppliers are getting most of them. I can pay for items online have them shipped here and delivered to my door in under 2 weeks. So far everything has been much cheaper than any local supplier. Any of my email questions are answered within next 24 hrs. The after sales service is excellent. I am very loyal and would love to give the local businesses my money. But as many above have mentioned this is why I wont anymore.

again with my rant of naming and shaming, m,y ex girlfried tried to get her own back after i found her cheating and 'broke her heart' by doing it in front of the school anyway apparently it is legal to tell everyone about whats going on and whos doing it and the board wont get in trouble
if you and others feel that it would be wrong to have a go at people for not being 'good' then perhaps we should make a part of a board where we say good stories about the companies and as such we should support these people
Pete while i agree with you about these one off poblems i would also like to think that companies have strict quality control and ways to make it up to the customer.
as for companies saying work is not there problem i can understand that, i used to do some work for a place that mostly builds race cars and that sort of stuff they do the full not our problem thing as well, before even doing the work they ask to see whos worked on the car before and will somtimes just say nope not working on it.

tell me why you can't name and shame, today tonight and the like do it, no matter what business it is.
correct me if i'm wrong.
best interest for the consumer at the end of the day.

yes but it goes against the forum rules. any naming and ill just ether edit the post or remove it completely as im sure the other mods would do as well.
if you really want to know why not pm him and ask.

WHY the bloody hell cant we simply have a feedback forum,simple.you have a problem ,post it you have a good experience ,post it .all the other sites do it so why cant the net nannies here in oz give us the same courtesy--- at least the business has the opportunity to respond--but wait that might detract from the fun police power

topless, if you feel so strongly about rather than complaining about how the rules are, why not post in the feed back section and ask a section thats will cover what you want. dont see it happening though but if you dont ask, you dont get.

Iim a firm believer of the two sides to every story also and not saying this didnt happen bill but in some cases it only takes 1 person who thinks they have been hard done by to absolutely destroy someones business so thats why there should be rules to cover this.

But there was 2 people here who had problems with them

im from two sides here

Im looking for consumer rights but i kniw how bad it can be for somone to go and say somthing whether its true or not

If this had been a member on the board then i honestly doubt the moderators would have complained you would be protecting other board members and then id think you could be accountable for a dodgy deal

BUT in response to everyones fights i have a suggestions (it should be in feedback) other than changing the rules how about a section to rate companies, like a questionare, just numbers no comments