<<<<"How on earth do dealerships think they can treat customers this
way, and still stay in business?">>>>

I really think they count on ripped-off customers to just give up
because they have to jump through so many hoops and get the runaround
from all these agencies that are supposed to help consumers. I basically
gave up on the the whole pop spill thing because these agencies required
me to take my car to three mechanics and pay for them to take the
console out and check the solenoid to see if it needed to be replaced or
was cleanable at $250 + a shot! It didn't even matter that the service
manager admitted to me! But now with this latest thing, it fired me all
up again.

This dealer (Osborn VW in Lakewood CO.) is the worst dealer I have ever
dealt with. When I bought my Beetle there they had different owners and
were pretty good. But when the Osborn's took over, things really went
down hill fast. The only reason I kept going to them is because they
were the only close dealer to where I live. The other one's are over 2
hours or more away. The list of things they've done is so long but I
will tell about a couple of the more egregious things they've done,
besides the 2 just mentioned: When changing my oil, I watched them take
the belly pan off my car. When I went to pay they told me I must have
lost the pan while driving and they tried to charge me for a new one!
When I told them that I saw them take it off, they blamed it on a "new
mechanic" who I've seen there for at least 2 years! When my Dad and me
went to test drive the new 2006 GTI last year we were told that they
were required by "homeland security" for us to give them our social
security numbers to make sure we weren't terrorists! When we refused,
they tried to forcibly keep us there and said they would call the FBI!
When my 74 year old Dad threatened to punch the salesman, they let us
go.

One thing I forgot to mention is; You can tell VOA about this stuff
until you are blue in the face and they won't do a thing about it!

did you rate the dealers here?
http://1.8t.org/dealers/


"Gary D" <lolajoker (AT) webtv (DOT) net> wrote

"Gary D" <lolajoker (AT) webtv (DOT) net> wrote

Perhaps you could hire an attorney. Even then you will probably lose because
they usually charge a whopping fee of 33 percent or more. Have you
considered small claims court? I think that can be handled without an
attorney.

And you are correct about the BBB. Not only does it have no teeth, it is a
business advocate, not a consumer advocate.

try to see if you have a consumer protection agency in your state ,they
have alot more teeth and if they get too many complaints about a dealer
like that they take it to the attorney general themselves ,another thing
to do is find out if other people is having trouble ,too ,then contact
your local network affiliated stations and find out if they do those
kind of stories and let me tell you something, dealers hate that kind of
attention .
good luck