Volkswagen India — VW Passat deceitful sale and poor after sales

I am a long time and loyal Volkswagen customer, having a diesel Passat, a diesel Polo & petrol Polo. Bought the VW Passat on 27th December 2017 from the same VW dealer in Allahabad as the one I bought both my previous Polo from.

At the time of finalizing the Passat, the dealer informed me that it was a demo vehicle and as such offered me some discount, extended warranty(EW) and Road Side Assistance(RSA) for 2 years to the standard 2 EW + RSA, i.e., 2+2=4 years of EW+RSA. In my previous 2 VW vehicles also I bought additional warranties, and the same can be verified in VW records.

8-9 months after buying the Passat, the VW dealer closed, and I was left with no other option than to take my car to service stations outside Allahabad for servicing and repairs.

Lucknow service center (Viraj Distributors) is THE MOST pathetic, deceitful, unreliable and incapable auto service station I have come across. Once my car was delivered with a dead battery. On another occasion I had given the car repainting and they returned the car with visible scratches all over the screen (which a staff from the service station itself later told on the condition of anonymity that the scratches occurred while trying to remove paint particles from the windscreen as the paint-booth guys forgot to check is windscreen was covered properly at the time of painting. This even lead to an accident, where I merely missed hitting a stationary truck due to poor visibility at night.

On 30th September, 2020 whilst driving from Agra to Allahabad, all of a sudden the car showed a warning sign of coolant leak and engine overheat. I parked the car immediately and contacted VW RSA upon which I was informed that my EW and RSA had expired 9 months back on 27th December 2019, and that RSA services would be chargeable and that it would take at least 3-4 hours to reach. VW RSA couldn't arrange an onwards transport for me and I have to arrange my own taxi which would be reimbursable.

Upon reaching Allahabad, I took the car to the newly opened workshop, where the service technician seemed to have no clue about the vehicle. Still after diagnosing it for some time I was informed that there is leakage in the "water-pump" of the car and that it would take 10-20 days for the part to arrive, during which I can use the vehicle within city limits as the temporary fix on the water hose pipe is working. Once again inquiring about the extended warranty (2+2 years) that I was promised at the time of selling the vehicle, I was given contact details of the previous dealer, who initially agreed that I was promised 4 years warranty & RSA and that he'll get it corrected in a few days. After following for more than a week, he simply denied anything about EW and said that vehicle has warranty only for 2 years, and that if I was promised extended warranty, I should have taken it in writing. The kind of amazing experience I had with my previous Polo vehicles both with VW India and the erstwhile dealer, I decided not to insist for written warranty certificate as I was told that additional warranty certificate was issued only if you are buying additional warranty on old cars, with new cars it is by default added in your vehicle database. I went with the promise of dealership as I had no reason to believe otherwise and the overall experience had been good till then.

Then I tried contacting VW customer care toll free number, regarding warranty complaints. Every single time I was given lame promises that they will look into it or they will call back. Till date I haven't received any call back in this regard. On one particular incident I requested to speak to a company person or a personnel higher up in the hierarchy, to which I was told that my request has been registered and that I will get a call back within 48-hours. Later when I called after 2 days, saying it's been over 48 hours and I haven't received a call back, i was told that I am supposed to get a call back after "48 working hours" which according to an 8-hour work shift from Monday to Friday, meant I'll get a call back after almost 8-10 days. This clearly seemed evasive and deceitful, that you require 8-10 days just to call back to update on a customer complaint. Still I waited, and never received any call even till date.

Eventually I was forced to get the vehicle repaired out of my own pocket on 9th December 2020 at the VWL Allahabad Service center, to a charge amounting to Rs.20500. After which I was assured that there is no issue with the vehicle, that the technicians have checked it thoroughly for any other faults relating to engine over-heating and coolant leakage. Upon assurance by the service center advisor and workshop manager at Allahabad, we again started using the vehicle and took it outstation the next day to Noida. Whilst returning from Noida to Allahabad, the vehicle again showed warning light for coolant leakage and engine overheat near Mathura. We immediately stopped the car and arranged for a flat-bed crane and sent the vehicle to Volkswagen Service center at Noida Sector-6 (Viraj Automobiles) as it was the nearest service station.

At the Noida service station the vehicle was diagnosed and I was informed that the water-hose pipe had burst, for which I was repeatedly assured by Allahabad service station that there is nothing wrong with said water-hose pipe and that the only part malfunctioning was the water-pump. This clearly means that firstly Allahabad service station technicians did not diagnose the vehicle properly, and secondly that the water pump for which I paid a hefty Rs.20500 might have not been faulty in the first place. Still, the part arrived after a week, and the vehicle was parked at the service station all this while. The vehicle was delivered to us on the 23rd December, 2020. I was once again reassured that all diagnosis had been done and the problem will not arise again. As soon as I sat down in the vehicle and opened the small compartment below the steering I find a dead rat inside it, who seemingly entered the vehicle while being parked at the service station and ate up some wire/components. Now this never happened in the nearly 3 years we had this vehicle and at Allahabad or Lucknow service stations. Speaks volumes for pest control and handling at Noida service station.

We left for Allahabad on 26th December, 2020, the vehicle was mostly parked at the Hotel through our stay in Delhi. Once again the engine overheat and coolant warning light came up as soon as we entered Agra. This was after water pump and water hose pipe had been replaced and the vehicle inspected and repaired by 2 different service stations. This time again we had to send the vehicle back to Noida service station (as Agra service station has shut down). Over there they are now claiming that there is internal damage within the engine and seemingly there is internal leakage of coolant from the engine gasket, that the engine head needs to be opened and estimated repair cost could be between Rs.200000-Rs.250000 or even more. Upon asking how is it possible that they did not check it before delivering the vehicle, I am told that "it is not possible for us to thoroughly check the vehicle and do a comprehensive test drive, as it is an internal component". So does this not imply that Volkswagen India is incapable of diagnosing problems in a car they are manufacturing and selling in the country, that the safety and wellbeing of the passengers are solely dependent on "speculation" and "guess-work" of service advisors and technicians, where no attempt is made to even find out the actual cause of the problem. Once again upon pushing the service advisor and workshop manager, they are not sure whether the problem really is leakage in engine gasket, and requires opening of engine head. If not, then I would have spent Rs.250000 all for nothing, and also have my engine head opened just because a service technician "thinks that there is internal leakage of coolant".

As of now I still haven't heard from any Volkswagen company person either on mail or call. The service center people are not ready to even take up my case for the warranty fraud done with me.