I've had my V40 for about 18 months now, it's a great car, really nice to drive. Before this I had about 10 years worth of Volkswagen ownership.
I'm really finding the main dealers to be very poor. It took my local dealer (Marshall in Welwyn) 3 visits to get the satnav activated on my car, each time I was told it was impossible until I got volvo UK involved. I've had them forget to wash my car and do the health checks when it has been in for work. I've have them park it in a Bush scratching the side, they never call back to say the car is ready and if they have any questions about the car they always leave it until about an hour before I'm due to collect it.
I've just tried booking with the Bishops Stortford dealer, it took 3 calls to even get a quote and even then they couldn't quote me for the gearbox service (Power shift), as they said it has no set service plan (the same box in other cars requires a service every 40k). I'm still waiting on a call back from them about the gearbox.
Volkswagen were never this bad, they only ever made one error leaving a bolt loose on my engine mount after a service and they were extremely apologetic and gave me my next service for free.
Needless to say I've booked my car in with a Volvo specialist who gave me a lot of confidence on the phone, they knew exactly what gearbox my car has and said it needs oil and a filter. The total cost came out less than volvo too and its with genuine parts.
Does anyone else have these issues or is it just me?
You feel better versed than them (the perils of a little knowledge!) with what needs doing when explaining the situation and booking the car in. Have to fight to get your point across when something goes wrong it seems.
Sadly I don’t feel as inclined to buy from a main dealer again, least not Volvo. Very little professionalism or premium with the service once the cash has been handed over.
It's not specifically a Volvo problem. If you check any marque forum you will find the same complaints. Try looking at some forums for prestige marques such as BMW/Audi/JLR etc.
Reality is that they are only interested in what Volvo tech say is required and that is usually no fault code logged =no problem Sir.
The best way for getting the sort of attention you are looking for is, as you have outlined, to use an approved Independent. Why? They are usually small, often family owned, businesses with an interest in motor mechanics. They are not restricted by corporate systems and cost controls. The other point is that main dealers know that their charges for non standard work would make the costs unacceptable to most of their customers so they dont go there. Many main dealers are now charging over £150 per hour labour!!
Nope absolutely agree, have experienced this from many other brands aside from Volvo. I guess it’s just part of the pressure of a large motoring group that customer service is diluted for the the sake of turnover.
For that reason a solid family run independent who I can trust will always get my custom even if the prices aren’t the lowest. I don’t need special service but some of these dealers barely do the minimum compared to other industries in my experience.
Coming from a Seat and now Volvo, I must be lucky in the sense that it only ever took me 1 go to book a warranty repair or service. When I asked what oil they were going to use, right away they knew the answer (even the receptionist knew). Perhaps I've been lucky thus far...
I have never experienced any issuses, having had both my V40 and previously my C30 serviced by Waterhouse Volvo in Chelmsford, Essex.
Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones ..
My local dealer is Stoneacre. They like to tell you they have maintained your car "to Volvo standard". Sounded super until I eventually realised that what that means is that they have exactly followed a protocol. If the Volvo procedure does not show an error then, no matter what I have told them, the car is to Volvo standard. I was getting batches of error messages once or twice a week (brakes, alarm, engine would all appear to need urgent attention), but on the day I took the car to the dealer it behaved. So they deleted the error message history and told me there was nothing wrong (and charged me for the privilege) I eventually found a garage with a man with a super power - curiosity. He had no idea what the problem was, no set procedure, but did believe a problem existed. He found a connection was loose and soldered the connection. Bingo, problem solved.
^^^^ Exactly my point, a true motor mechanic not restricted by corporate practice and procedure. I have nothing against the guys who work in the franchise workshops; it is the system they have to folllow that is mostly the problem. Individual experience will vary of course which is why some will say fine and some will say rubbish but the experiences are in the same range regardless of marque. So far I have to say that my local dealer has been very good with both our V40 and S60 both bought new from them. However, now the V40 is out of pre-paid service routine it will be going to our local independent for all future work.
I've had my V40 for about 18 months now, it's a great car, really nice to drive. Before this I had about 10 years worth of Volkswagen ownership.
Volkswagen were never this bad, they only ever made one error leaving a bolt loose on my engine mount after a service and they were extremely apologetic and gave me my next service for free.
Does anyone else have these issues or is it just me?
ill tell you something about vw, treat any used vw as having NO history, and you wont go far wrong. Im sure others are the same, the lease firms more often than not refuse authority for fuel and pollen filters at the manufacture interval, and also refuse brakes, blades, noisy wheel bearings etc.... Or, the tech is lazy, simply doesn't fit half the parts invoiced, especially on warranty jobs.
Oh, in my opinion.... 40 minuets of workshop time, a three quid filter and 20 quids worth of oil does not forgive a vw tech for being totally inept and leaving a mount insecure. id expect the dealer to email a copy of the recruitment advert for their replacement.....
ill tell you something about vw, treat any used vw as having NO history, and you wont go far wrong. Im sure others are the same, the lease firms more often than not refuse authority for fuel and pollen filters at the manufacture interval, and also refuse brakes, blades, noisy wheel bearings etc.... Or, the tech is lazy, simply doesn't fit half the parts invoiced, especially on warranty jobs.
Oh, in my opinion.... 40 minuets of workshop time, a three quid filter and 20 quids worth of oil does not forgive a vw tech for being totally inept and leaving a mount insecure. id expect the dealer to email a copy of the recruitment advert for their replacement.....
My last golf wasn't a lease car so I was a normal paying customer. I've taken plenty of non approved used cars to them and never had issues. It's more the knowledge of the cars that impressed me and the calling back the customer to provide updates.
I'm not saying Volkswagen is better at everything though. Handling wise my V40 runs rings around my mk6 golf and it's so much easier to find a well specced volvo than it is a golf.
And there was no excuse for the engine mount, it wasn't completely loose when I got it back, the bolt backed out over three months or so, its a common issue with that platform of cars after timing belt changes. I personally wouldn't want to see a technician at any garage fired personally as that kind of thing can have a big impact on someone's life. I do however expect them to pick up the blame and learn from it.
Hi all, It's time to service my V40 2015 with 23600 on the clock. Considering that the car is no longer in warranty, I prefer to service it with a specialist and not with Volvo dealership which asks £386-485 for servicing. Can anyone recommend on a Volvo specialist (Manchester area) to service...
Well sounds like it's Marshalls at welwyn then. They've had their chances with me. The whole satnav activation issue only went on as long as it did because the techs didn't want to raise a technical report to Sweden when they had no luck themselves but rather decided to try and convince me it was no possible to activate. I'm booked in with a specialist near Aylesbury on Thursday so I'll let you all know how it goes.
Well I got my car back from the specialist, they were very good and the car came back driving perfectly. Obviously the courtesy car was a little older (old V70 diesel with over 200k miles the guy there described it as "as old as the hills") but it did me perfectly for getting about. They certainly knew their volvos though and were happy to discuss things without charging money. For anyone interested it was Horton Cars in Thame. It's just a few sheds in the middle of nowhere but don't let that put you off.
Great you have found a competent Volvo specialist, I wonder whether they do reasonable cost fixes for the regular issues we are seeing on here all the time., Door locks, D2 1.6 heads and blocks etc etc.
well don't look in so much now but the old problems still seem to come to the fore, I we will be having our last main dealer service around the 20 th if we still have the car, and I agree with some of the things said about corporate main dealers, up until last service our local dealer was family run, its been taken over by one of these multi garage companies and boy does it show all day on the phone trying to talk to service which now is just an message taker. when I was rung back remembering we are on motability no car no pick up and we are just 1 ml away so I have to leave my wife who needs 24/7 care to go sit there for 2 hrs, I hope our new bmw 2 series coup will be here before then as we have trouble transferring mrs b who suffered a fall a broken leg and then a stroke on the operating table so sadly the v40 which has been faultless for 5 years is due to be returned, not like our first v40 which was sent back as unfit for purpose at 8 months by our lease comp. we would have liked to keep to volvo but have had to search for a car with a large door so transfer is easy, then we run in to a problem that most manufactures don't do 3 door cars any more well not on our lease list that is hence the bmw and a whooping great advance payment !!! , just hope its worth it.
I'm expecting an interesting test of my local dealer this coming Friday when our V40 has it's 4-year service and MOT. It also has a couple of problems, one of which is so unusual that I've been in contact with Volvo Support (multiple emails) about what the problem is and how it might be solved; they've also been in touch with Head Office in Sweden about some aspects of it. Volvo UK are currently suggesting a software update (which as an IT person I'm not at all confident will work) but have also offered to contact the dealer in advance of my arrival to go through it all. That last point is actually positive as I think if I tried to explain the problem to the service desk person I'd get a very blank stare......
So when I dropped the car off they had no record of any communication from Volvo...…..
(And despite requesting an XC40 as a loan car I got an XC60 instead. Fine but of no interest to me)
I know this is an old thread but I can't resist posting about my experience.
Bought a 2018 T3 CC from Marshall's in Grantham used as part of Volvo select scheme. Paid a premium for some bells and whistles and a car "with no visible marks whatsoever", which wasn't 100% true. Car arrived pretty grubby inside and out, with a flat battery, a few paint chips and strange discolouration around the rear view mirror. Grantham agreed to arrange for Marshall's in Welwyn, which is more local to me, to do a full valet and change battery. Bit of a pain but no problem I thought. After collecting my wife noticed approx 7" crack in the (heated) windscreen. I suspect I simply didn't notice when I checked it over but Welwyn might of done this. They gave the car a bit of a clean but still left some mud engrained in the pedals and told me that it didn't really need a full valet so they didn't do it. Marshall in Grantham refused to accept responsibility for sending it out with a crack that wouldn't have got it through an MOT and tried to get out of arranging replacement. I told them to fix or collect so they did finally arrange for Welwyn to fix. Bit of a pain again as this time it was an overnight job, so 2 long walks home. I later found out that they pinned the windscreen cost on the delivery guy/company.
You might ask why I didn't just send it back. I was on the verge but I like the car and all issues are now sorted.....apart from the discolouration on the edges of rear view mirror, which I don't dare trying to get sorted.
I've paid the extra for a 3 year warranty and will stick to the service schedule, but aside from warranty work there is no way I'm using a main dealer.
I have absolutely no confidence in their "extensive checks" prior to sale and if in the market again would probably not bother paying the premium to buy from the main dealer. Having some protection is nice but having to deal with these people is hard bloody work.
Almost forgot to add that while Grantham were trying to decide whether to collect or fix the vehicle I wanted assurance that I was insured by them. The manager assured me that I was for one week. I didn't trust this so checked with Volvo directly. I was not, until they extended it for me due to my phone call. Dread to think what kind of legal battle there would've been had I had an accident with no insurance on the car having only been told verbally that it was in place.
this seems to be the industry standard. to be fair, the dealer that sold the car was really good. and the more local branch (same group) were good at keeping me on the road, but had the on the ramp car for the same issue countless times. Still not right, nearing 2 years later. STILL waiting for call regarding wheels, and interior mirror. I cant be bothered anymore!
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