Dylan Willsey
8 years ago
ANYONE CONSIDERING PURCHASING A VEHICLE OR SERVICING THEIR VEHICLE FROM THIS DEALERSHIP TAKE WARNING.
I purchased a new, 2013 TDI sportwagen from Capital Cities VW in Glenmont and was very impressed with their customer service and how sm ... Read More
ANYONE CONSIDERING PURCHASING A VEHICLE OR SERVICING THEIR VEHICLE FROM THIS DEALERSHIP TAKE WARNING.
I purchased a new, 2013 TDI sportwagen from Capital Cities VW in Glenmont and was very impressed with their customer service and how smoothly the entire transaction went. Unfortunately, Capital Cities has since stopped selling Volkswagens, forcing me to deal with warranty related services through the next closest VW dealership to home and work in the Albany area: Nemer. Although my warranty has elapsed, I have returned to Nemer several times for yearly inspections and other minor services thanks to the $500 service card given to all TDI owners as part of the settlement package for owners affected by the diesel emissions scandal.
Since I began bringing my car to Nemer, I noticed a sharp decline in the quality of service compared to Capital Cities, and below I have compiled a few of the major issues I have had to deal with that anyone considering doing business with this group should take the time to read.
Aside from scheduled oil changes taking over an hour to perform, technicians in the service department have actually damaged my vehicle. After bringing my vehicle to Nemer for an annual NYS inspection last year, I noticed that the service personnel had actually gouged several of my alloy wheels when they torqued them down with an air wrench. After pointing this out, they offered to fix the damage but never followed through.
I should also point out that they performed a computer up grade on my vehicle before connecting it to the NYVIP2 (New York state vehicle inspection program 2) because they wiped out all the memory on the vehicle performing the upgrade the two year old vehicle could not pass inspection. Forcing me to drive around for a week with a new vehicle that failed inspection.
A year or so later December 20th I returned to Nemer for yet another state inspection. After waiting well over an hour, a sales associate came over and informed me that my rear caliper was locked up and they removed my inspection sticker because of it. I told this employee that I found this surprising since my TDI has less than 70,000 miles on it, to which he responded that it was normal wear on a Volkswagen and they commonly replace calipers at that mileage.
I've owned numerous American and Japanese vehicles in the past that where of much cheaper build quality and have never had to replace a caliper at such a low mileage. More importantly, I have been actively performing the maintenance on every vehicle that my family has owned since I was 16 years old, and my car did not show any of the obvious signs of a failed caliper, such as dragging, the vehicle pulling to one side when braking, or an accumulation of brake dust on an afflicted wheel.
Because of this, I asked to speak to the manager and while waiting I overheard that another gentlemen sitting next to me had the same problem with is car. Curious, I asked if I could see my vehicle. They lifted the car up and I was surprised to see that my wheel could spin freely, indicating that caliper wasn’t “locked up.” To which the technician responded that “the piston in the caliper was seized open”. The technician also stated the parking brake cable was broken which I had previously known to be out of adjustment. Having no way of checking the vehicle there I paid the “labor” for them to scape my sticker off and fail my vehicle and drove it home. It was very easy for me to jack my car up with a floor jack and with the assistance of my father, whom was a mechanic at universal auto in Albany for many years, I spun the wheel with the seized caliper and had him press the brake pedal. After which the wheel stopped dead. I tried rotating the wheel while he held his foot on the brake and could not. I took the wheel off put the lug bolts back on the wheel and tried rotating it with the mechanical advantage of a wrench and could not. Determining that the caliper was function as it was designed. Next I inspected the apparent broken parking brake cable that required replacement. I had my father pull up on the hand brake while I inspected the cable and brake arm that actuates the caliper. The cable moved and pulled the lever but not enough to activate the caliper. Indicating it was out of adjustment not broken as I was told.
It was very obvious that NEMER VW WAS BLATENTLY TRYING TO RIP ME OFF, by turning a 20 dollar parking brake adjustment into an unnecessary service that would have easily cost me several hundred dollars. To make matters worse, these “professionals” had the audacity to charge me time for the labor for incorrectly diagnosing this problem!
These experiences are not unique to me.
My brother-in-law purchased a used TDI from Nemer last spring, and when he took me for a ride in it, we noticed that the brakes pulsed when applied-suggesting that the rotors were warped. Like the rims on my vehicle, this damage was likely the result of novice hands using an air ratchet.
Amazingly, when my brother-in-law brought the car back to complain about the warped rotors on his recent purchase from Nemer, he found that the technicians KNEW the brakes were damaged when they sold the car, and said something along the lines of “We were wondering when you were going to bring it back in.”