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For those that have been following my "Stumblin' GTi saga" knew that today
(Monday the 6th) was the day where I dropped off my '86 GTi for two reasons
...
1. To pop off the old O2 sensor as I was having a heck of
a time getting it off. And to install my new one.
2. To take a quick look at to the rough idle when cold.
I decided to take my GTi to Bob Baker VW in Carlsbad California. I've
bought some parts from them (mostly tune up parts) and they were close to
work. So, last week Friday, I scheduled an appointment for the services
mentioned above. They told me to bring it on in first thing Monday morning
at 8am.
I show up on time, the service advisor takes my info and all that stuff.
They are going to charge me $48.00 for the sensor R&R and an additional
$48.00 to check out my idle problem.
Sounds fair enough.
Then he reasures me that my car will be done by that afternoon and they
will call. I go as far as to put my pager number down (an 800 number with
voice mail).
Hours go by at work and it's close to 2pm. No call.
I decide to call and find that my O2 sensor is a pain to get out and that
they will have to remove the catalytic converter to reomve said sensor and
that it will an additional hour labor.
Fine. Whatever. I tell them to do it (feeling better that they too were
having problems getting it out ... I don't feel like a wimp) ... and the
servive advisor says "So, you're approving the 2nd hour of labor?", being
somewhat dumbfounded, I say "Yes" and the advisor says that he will inform
the technician to go ahead ... so I ask "... and how long have you been
waiting?" to which his reply was "Well, we were waiting for your approval".
(* confused look on my face *) ... they had *NOT* called me and apparently
my car has been this way for some time. I tell them to yes and go ahead
with it.
About 30 minutes pass and I decided to give them a follow up call.
I now find that they were able to get the sensor out and they noticed that
the exhaust gasket needs to be replaced. They didn't have one in stock so
he went ahead and ordered it and it will take three days to get in.
Did he bother to call me to tell me this? NO! And that I wasn't about to
leave my car there for three days!
I'm getting a bit irrate at this point.
I tell him to reuse the old one and if it starts to leak, then I will deal
with it myself.
It's nearing 3pm and I decide to give them yet another call.
They are now just getting the cat back in the car and I ask if they will
even be able to get around to figuring out the idle problem and they said
"no" and that they would need to keep the car overnight.
I'm very irrate at this point.
I ask why it took so long to get to my car after I had scheduled an
appointment the following week. The response that I get back is, "Oh, that
only guarantees that they will have a tech look at it sometime that day".
So, I'm thinking to myself when I schedule service appointments with the
BMW dealership where I take our BMW to (Brecht BMW), that usually means
that depending on the service, they will get to it within a reasonable time
(usually within an hour or two and not 5-6 hours later). But they tell me
that *NO* dealership service center can GUARANTEE that they will have a
service tech on the car within a couple of hours. I inform them that there
are a few that can and that's usually what "make an appointment" means.
At this point, we were going round and round and there was no way we were
going to see eye to eye on this appointment concept.
I finally decide that it's time to talk to the service manager, Mr.
Douglas. He wasn't much help. He then went to explain in what order they
work on cars.
Sit back in your seats because it blew me away as to what he said ...
" ... with so many cars that needs to be worked on as considering how *old*
and the amount of miles on your car ... " at this point, I replied "what
the hell does the year and milage of my car have to do with anything?!?".
I tell him to wrap it up and I will be down in 15 minutes to pick it up.
If anyone in the San Diego County uses Bob Baker VW for their service and
have been getting good service, then good for you. I'm happy for you.
Since this was the first time I had ever used them, it did not go over
rather well. That first impression thing.
Here's a breakdown as to why I will NOT recommend people go to them for
service:
- There is no reason to make an appointment. Just show up and take your
chances.
- Don't excpect a call back. One of the guy's in the office has his Eagle
Vision there with a tranny problem and it's been there for a week. He has
had to call them everyday to get a status report. You'd think that I
would've seen that as a clue.
- Don't even bother trying to talk with the service manager, Mr. Douglas.
He didn't do much for me. Not even an apology.
Since Mr. Douglas mentioned that the age of the car also determines where
it ranks on the food-chain, it's a good thing I didn't drive my '61 Bug
down. It probably would've been a week before they got to it.
One of the main reasons for me taking my GTi to them in the first place was
because I figured that it would be easier for them to troubleshoot my idle
problem and they would have parts on hand and not have to "guess" what the
problem might be. I would've been more than happy to pay a bit more for
the service/repair, but given the very poor service that I got, I doubt
very much that I will be back even for tune up parts.
People tell me that Brecht BMW is a bit on the pricey side (for those that
know them), and they are a little bit, but the service I get and the way
that I and my car is treated, it's well worth it. Once, when they weren't
sure that they were going to be able to finish up our Bimmer, they called
with a status report and offered a loaner car. Not that I expect Bob Baker
to offer a loaner car, but at least an apology or some sort or some sort of
compensation that would make me want to come back. As an example, when I
the speedo in the Bimmer went out (electronic speedo), Brecht didn't have
one in stock and it would take about 2 days to get one in. Since about an
hour of labor was already invested, I asked would I be charged another hour
of labor if I were to take the car and come back when the speedo was in .
They said "No" because of the "inconvience" of not having the part in stock.
To me, that's service and our BMW is not even a "new" BMW, but a 1988
model. But they treat us and our car like it is a new car. And for that,
I am willing to pay the extra $$$.
OK ... sorry for the long rant.
I think I will take my GTi to a local VW Shoppe that has done some work for
me in the past. He's pretty busy most of the time, but at least when I
schedule and appointment, I know it will be looked at within a reasonable
time.
Robert K. Kuhn (kealoha@isisph.com)
Isis Pharmaceuticals -- Systems Admin/WebSlave
http://www.isip.com/users/kealoha
"Your boss is insane . . .
Your co-workers are insane . . .
Your finally beginning to fit in . . ."
-- Life in Hell