Serra VW of Birmingham took over three and a half months to complete a repair they quoted to me as 5-7 days once the parts came in- a total repair time of no longer than three weeks. I called the dealership every week to ask about my car and the person(s) who answered in service would always tell me they didn't know anything and would have someone call me back.
I had asked on numerous occasions if the work had started yet, as I wanted to have my car towed to another dealership and get it repaired there instead after a month and a half of this, but the folks at Serra VW wouldn't even tell me if the work had started. Once I asked if my car was even still there and was told "I don't know". I would never have kept my car there if I had been able to speak to someone about removing it and taking it elsewhere. I had thought about calling the police and in retrospect I should have but at the time I didn't think it was the best way to proceed.
Unfortunately for me my husband works full time, we only have one car now and the dealership is located an hour away from where we live. Our car had to be towed there by VW road assistance as it was the nearest dealership to us in Alabama. If I had had the opportunity I would have gone to the dealership to try to see my car and speak to someone, but with the dealership located an hour away and my husband having our other car there was no way for me to do so, and we aren't in a financial position to rent a car. A rental car for a month would have been over $700 and we would have needed one for 3 and a half months. I had asked Serra VW for a loaner but they said no.
The dealership had given me a few dates when I called them when they said my car would be ready and when I called in to see what was a good time to pick up my car I was told it isn't ready yet, try again next week... and of course the same thing would happen the next week. The dealership did the same thing with VW of America customer service group when they got involved, giving false dates when I could pick up the car and then telling me the car wasn't ready. All in all I think I was given about eight dates when Serra said I could come pick up the car, and since I lived an hour away I would call on the day of or the day beforehand to double check and get a good pick up time, and each time I was told no, it isn't ready, it will be ready next week. VW of America's involvement had no effect on the dealership when they got involved and I have an open complaint with the BBB that also is not having any helpful effect.
The dealership not only wants me to pay full price for the repair (they had originally quoted $7056) but now they have upped it to $7300 for some parts they supposedly had to order along the way and the general manager Randy Visser said he is going to auction off my car to pay for the bill- he said my credit will be ruined and that even though it is a lease he will sell it, auction it, whatever and then whoever owns the car will come after me for the price of the whole car. I find it interesting that while they refused to communicate at all with me the entire time my car was in their possession before they completed the repairs, now that they have finally finished they have no problem calling me, demanding money from me and threatening me.
The car is a lease and I have been paying for it the whole time the dealership had it. I understand I would be paying for my lease for the original time the dealership was supposed to have my car (three weeks MAXIMUM, that being the time for parts to be delivered and the repair to be completed if it even took that long), but now I have been paying on a lease for a car that I was supposed to have back three months ago! The credit agency who owns the lease, VW Credit, says that in their opinion, the dealership should pay for my lease payments for the time over which was agreed for repairs that they kept my car.
I refuse to pay full price for a repair that should have been finished months ago and the dealership not once would speak to me telling me anything about my car or whether or not service had even been started on it- and of course the one time when I was told they didn't know if my car was there or not. So I'm looking for a lawyer, I still don't have a car and I am being threatened by this dealership's general manager. Also, from a personal standpoint, I lost my mom and dad both to cancer within the past two years, I am 8 months pregnant as well- honestly- I really don't need this! What companies can get away with doing to consumers is amazing.