Volkswagen India — Volkswagen osl exclusive service centre harassment

Dear Sir/Madam,

At the very beginning I would like to mention that I have been a loyal Volkswagen customer since 2012. In that year I had bought a Polo petrol and later in the year 2018 I had bought an Ameo petrol in the name of our firm ENGINEERS SERVICE STATION. After that being fully satisfied with both of the cars, I decided to buy a VW Ameo Dsg diesel in my personal name.

This is to inform you with deep regret, that I Mr. Shaunak Nandi, owner of vehicle Volkswagen Ameo Diesel, Dsg bearing registration no WB02AN4993 had initially sent my car to VW OSL EXCLUSIVE SERVICE CENTRE located at 36A, Ghulam Jilani Khan Road, Kolkata 700039 on 26th of July, 2021.

The main reason for sending my car to the service centre was an ABNORMAL NOISE COMING FROM THE CAR, which I initially suspected as noise coming from the fan belt and also a noise coming from the steering rack.

After the inspection the service advisor assigned to me, Mr. Prithwish, told me that they thoroughly checked the car and found that there was no abnormal noise coming from the car, but there was a sound coming from the steering rack. He told me that if the noise comes again, to let him know and send the car to the workshop.

The same day in the evening when the car came back from the workshop, that sound again started coming. I video recorded the sound, and send it to Mr. Prithwish Ghosh. After 2 days he told me to send the car to the workshop, which I did on 29th of August, 2021.

After that Mr. Prithwish Ghosh told me that they need to open the gearbox and for that they need to send an email to Volkswagen India for getting the permission. He said that it will at least take 3 to 4 working days for Volkswagen India to revert back as this was an automatic gearbox. According to Mr. Prithwish Ghosh in a manual gearbox the permission comes in 1 working day.

Therefore, I requested him to get permission from Volkswagen India at the earliest, as I did not have any other car to commute to my workplace.

Then after 3 days, he said that they after the diagnostics, they found that there was a problem with the flywheel and also the steering rack (which he had also earlier acknowledged when I sent my car on 26th of July, 2021) .

He said that I did not need to worry as these defective parts were covered under extended warranty. He told there would be a physical inspection of the damaged parts and that the concerned person would come on 03.08.2021 for the inspection of the parts.

Then later that evening (03.08.2021) Ms. Surupa Dey (Customer Relationship Manager) called me up and said that the inspector could not come that day and the service centre will try to schedule a video call with the inspector the very same day.

Then yesterday, (04.08.2021), I called up Ms. Surupa Dey and she told me that the extended warranty claim was rejected by Volkswagen India as I did not have a proper service history.

Just to let you know that both Mr. Prithwish Ghosh and Ms. Surupa Dey told me on earlier occasions that the extended warranty claim might get rejected, as I did not have a proper service history.

Yesterday she sent me a warranty or claim rejection letter via email and told me to reply on that mail stating that why I could not send my car as per my service period schedule and after that they could fight on behalf of me for getting the extended warranty claim.

Now, in between all these incidents, I got a call on two consecutive days i.e on on Saturday (31.07.2021) & Sunday (01.08.2021) from their workshop regarding my car's servicing which they said was due.

To make myself very clear I want to state that in this last two and a half years i.e from December 2018 to 30.07.2021, I have never ever received a call from their workshop, so why did they suddenly call on both these days. Is this a part of a cover -up for their failure ?
I really do not know, but it seems so. I had sent my car for servicing after calling their workshop. They never called me up. And now, when there is a question of an extended warranty claim they are trying to play it safe and squarely putting the blame on the customer.

Isn'it the duty of the service workshop to inform the customer that a service is due in ten days or five days or a month ??

Its not the customer's duty, but I, in spite of my busy schedule I tried to send the car for periodic service.

The entire service workshop team from day1 has kept me in the dark. There has been absolutely no communication from either Mr. Prithwish Ghosh or Ms. Surupa Dey from Day 1. It was me who was always initiating a discussion. Most of the time Mr. Prithwish Ghosh does not even care to pick up my phone.

Thus, it is with deep regret that I am writing this letter and it pains me as a customer as to how Volkswagen dealer OSL Exclusive Kolkata is handling customers. They treat customers like an animal. This is destroying the image of Volkswagen brand in India, the integrity, values and good corporate and ethical practices that they follow worldwide as well as in India.

I would request the senior management at Volkswagen India to please look into this matter on a very serious note so that no customers in the near future have to go through this ordeal and to please provide me with justice after having gone through all this.

For your reference I am attaching the email from OSL Exclusive Kolkata where they have rejected the extended warranty claim.

Thanking you.

With warm regards,

SHAUNAK NANDI
Mob No : [protected]
CAR MAKE : VOLKSWAGEN AMEO DIESEL DSG HIGHLINE PLUS