First service @ Norris VW - need opinions [Archive]

jaedencook

09-04-2011, 11:57 PM

GTI JOE

10-04-2011, 07:22 AM

IMHO, and from my experience, I would stay away from dealership servicing, unless of course it's something to do with warranty issues. There must be a VW service workshop in your state. Although my Polo GTI is yet to arrive, I made some enquiries around Melbourne, and the general pricing seems to be around the $300 mark, which I think is just about right:) The business's I contacted used Liqui-Moly oil and do the servicing "by the book". I guess it's like trying to find an honest dentist, pretty difficult when you have to use the trust factor with these kinds of services :(

JustCruisn

10-04-2011, 07:55 AM

Try German Autos at Geebung. You wont get messed around there.

jaedencook

10-04-2011, 12:20 PM

The whole process makes me nervous but I'll do some ringing around.. I used to do it all myself with my old cars but you can't write that into the log book :( lol

sVWatt

10-04-2011, 01:06 PM

The whole process makes me nervous but I'll do some ringing around.. I used to do it all myself with my old cars but you can't write that into the log book :( lol

Agree. I'm going with main dealer - Gerald Slaven here in Belconnen, ACT - especially with a 'new' model - I've gotta believe they know more than an independent (at least for the first couple of years).

do you think main dealer stamp in the book ads value to the resale ?

PS jaedencook - you got good taste in colours of cars ;)

GTI JOE

10-04-2011, 03:20 PM

Let me tell you, the more reputable VW workshops around the country will generally do the exact same if not better service to your car for a whole lot less. Dealer stamp doesn't count for anything these days, even if you trade your car in to the same dealer, IMHO. Purchasers want to see regular services (by the book) in the log book, IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE A DEALER STAMP :)

Boon

10-04-2011, 03:29 PM

Went to Norris at kedron a few weeks ago to get a quote to replace my Cruise Control stalk. They told me they needed to book me in to get it checked first so I said ok. Came back next day, waited for 4 hours and got told something I already knew, got quoted $400 for the job and $100 for labour for their time to plug in their comp and check it out?!?!!?!?! WTH. Jmac has quoted me $175 for the cruise control and he had plugged in his computer too and didn't charge me anything for that. Bottom line, I'm never going back there again nor would I recommend anyone to.

YellowLemon

10-04-2011, 03:30 PM

Dealer stamp doesn't count for anything these days, even if you trade your car in to the same dealer, IMHO.

I totally agree. If you end up trading your car in rather than selling it privately (just because it is so much easier) ... it will have been all for nothing.

Who are the best independent VW mechanics in Melbourne? Is there a forum thread with a list perhaps? Ta!

Oops found it: http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f12/

GTI JOE

10-04-2011, 03:36 PM

Not really trying to promote or even name names, but Volkwerke in Greensborough have a great reputation:) Also, there is a thread relating to services at Recommended Repairers and Parts Suppliers (http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f12/)

jaedencook

11-04-2011, 12:34 PM

GTI JOE

11-04-2011, 04:58 PM

Hopefully it will be trouble free after the repairs...fingers crossed. Keep us posted :)

Sword_Dude

11-04-2011, 11:14 PM

Well i decided to keep my appointment with Norris.. remembered this morning that I am also having them look at more rattles, noisy door seals and a whistle in the steering wheel on cold start.
Just for the first service anyway, then it can go elsewhere. Kinda disappointed in the amount of problems I'm having with this though :(

I started trying to buy a car from Norris VW and they rarely returned calls, they weren't even able to tell me when they might have a Polo in for me to look at. I gave up and went to Austral.

Coolio

12-04-2011, 10:59 AM

I started trying to buy a car from Norris VW and they rarely returned calls, they weren't even able to tell me when they might have a Polo in for me to look at. I gave up and went to Austral.

Sword_Dude i also went through Norris via discountnewcars...i think sometimes you can get lucky or unlucky with who you deal with. I spoke to a young guy and he was pretty helpful and definitely keen to make the sale work for me. Jaedencook keep us all informed how you went, i will certainly be interested to know.

jaedencook

12-04-2011, 12:02 PM

I will keep you posted then, its booked in for the 20th so I'll let everyone know on the 21st.

jaedencook

24-04-2011, 12:39 PM

Sorry all, late post... Norris did well on the service, I made sure all filters were changed as well as oil, the noises I heard were apparently because the tinters didn't put my door pieces back on properly :s
The service manager even came out to greet me to explain it all and make sure I was happy that the noises were gone.
Car was even waxed and polished... Probably because I let them take it for the day

Coolio

28-04-2011, 07:20 PM

Excellent mate, that definitely sounds promising. Has the car been all good since then?

craig_the_german

28-04-2011, 08:35 PM

You are luckier with that dealer than I was.

I bought my new Golf from the dealership in question and when I arrived to take delivery of the car, they had forgotten to even wash it after it arrived off the ship (no detailing for me), forgot to fit my personalised plates and then window tinted the wrong car....and expected me to take it as it was....my wife broke down in tears at the state our new car was in....not a very pleasant experience.

Would I take it back to that dealership for the services...not on your life.

Having said that, I am glad it all went well.

chocomui

28-04-2011, 11:50 PM

^Lol! Tinted the wrong car.. brilliant!! As funny as I found that.. I'm sorry that dealer was so horrible to you.

dasrattles

29-04-2011, 01:39 AM

bought my car there. the first lady i spoke to was new to the dealership. gave me the wrong prices on a couple of options... and even the model of the car. tried to sell me a Mk5 polo GTI as a Mk6 one. she dissapeared after a week, so i didnt get any calls and stuff. headed down a couple of times and (surprise!) she wasn't there. they assigned another guy to me and things were MUCH better. bought from them over Austral who i asked for a test drive in a golf and they said that they "didnt have any cars for test drives" wtf?

back to the topic. service at norris is excellent though. people there are friendly. they explain what is going on and they actually LISTEN to what you say. one of the service guys sat with me to see what little problems i had and explained how certain things worked. discussed possible issues, what they will do and if there is anything i needed to know. car was washed and rims were scrubbed clean (scratch free).

Buller_Scott

29-04-2011, 04:21 AM

, forgot to fit my personalised plates and then window tinted the wrong car....and expected me to take it as it was....

^Lol! Tinted the wrong car.. brilliant!! As funny as I found that.. I'm sorry that dealer was so horrible to you.

yeah seriously man, that's pretty f***ing funny.

just be grateful that you're not in the same boat as the poor diesel bastards (on a thread somewhere here) who've taken their cars to dealers for servicing, paying the premium over independent workshops to enjoy VW dealer expertise, only to find out that the dealers arent replacing the oil with VW approved 504.00-507.00 oils like they're supposed to for modern VAG diesel engines, but instead, filling the engine up with 502 or 505 oils intended for pre 2000 tdi's...

gavs

29-04-2011, 07:11 AM

It seems to be a common theme that while the sales service is deplorable at most VW dealerships, the service from the (ironically) service departments is far better and more on par with what we expect as customers....

Funny isn't it, we buy a sub-premium marque expecting a decent level of service, kind of like going to David jones/myer over Kmart, you expect better customer service, yet if you walk into a Mahindra or Great Wall dealership, they will bend over backwards for you.... VW dealers? Couldn't give a rats toss bag.

Buller_Scott

29-04-2011, 08:10 AM

I
kind of like going to David jones/myer over Kmart, you expect better customer service, yet if you walk into a Mahindra or Great Wall dealership, they will bend over backwards for you.... VW dealers? Couldn't give a rats toss bag.

1. big W is where it's at, haha.
2. bending backwards, like their cars in crash tests, boom tish! but for serious, yeah there does seem to be a bit of "these cars are so damn good that they'll sell themselves - we dont need to buy them, douche" ethos going around.

like at essendon VW when i was looking for A car, definitely wanting another VW but unsure as to which path i should take, i took a mk4 2.0 for a test drive down boring, speed-hump riddled back streets thanks to the dealer's directions. afterwards, upon telling him that YES, I WILL BE BUYING A VW AGAIN, but that im still weighing up my options, i was politely told something along the lines of "well, these are excellent cars, to the point that when people come and test drive, a large majority of them will place a deposit directly after the test drive. perhaps next time you might want to think about waiting to do a test drive until you're serious and ready to place a deposit, as it's an unnecessary use of time and resources when people come for 'joy rides'".

thanks, f***head. you're the closest VW to me and you've got the other car i was interested in at the dealership (my current car), but i'll drive all the way out to ferntree gully to see the boys at burwin instead. way to lose a sale, einstein.

gavs

29-04-2011, 08:47 AM

I didn't get served in Burwin VW until I set off an alarm on one of their cars, after being there for 20-30 mins in the dealership with no other customers in there.....

Buller_Scott

29-04-2011, 08:51 AM

I didn't get served in Burwin VW until I set off an alarm on one of their cars, after being there for 20-30 mins in the dealership with no other customers in there.....

damn. mind you, i havent been there for quite a while (last time was around mid last year, test driving a GTD).

how did you set off the alarm? got any tips / tricks / pointers?

gavs

29-04-2011, 09:26 AM

Window was opened when the car was locked, so I reached in and unlocked the door and then "wooop woooop woooop!" :):)

Mike on here had MAJOR issues with burwin too...

Ralfi

29-04-2011, 09:53 AM

perhaps next time you might want to think about waiting to do a test drive until you're serious and ready to place a deposit, as it's an unnecessary use of time and resources when people come for 'joy rides'".

When I called up a dealer for a test drive in a 2011 GTI, I was told that they don't allow anyone to go for test drives, unless they're interested in buying the car, which I may have been, though it's hard to be certain of these things before I test drive the car.......

Didn't want anything more to do with that bloke....

As for servicing, i've taken mine to ABS & Ultratune for the 1st/2nd year service respectively. ABS ended up under-quoting me, & added extra costs for the filter after they'd done the service, which I wasn't happy about, so then went to Ultratune for the next one, which was a much better experience - they ended up taking $20 off for not calling me as soon as they'd finished the service & also gave me the leftover oil (~1lt) they'd used, for nothing.

sVWatt

29-04-2011, 01:39 PM

I didn't get served in Burwin VW until I set off an alarm on one of their cars, after being there for 20-30 mins in the dealership with no other customers in there.....

You got style!

gavs

29-04-2011, 01:53 PM

I swear it was an accident! :)

broxigar1983

29-04-2011, 03:05 PM

You got style!

+1 But that must be in a dodgy place, who will lock the cars on the show room?

sVWatt

29-04-2011, 06:11 PM

+1 But that must be in a dodgy place, who will lock the cars on the show room?

Anyone who knew lite fingers Gavs was enroute :)

gavs

29-04-2011, 11:10 PM

amazeer

08-05-2011, 12:52 AM

I've been to 4 different dealers. They are all useless. 2 of them I got trainee salespeople. The last one I drove 1hr 20 mins to see the "manual" TSI, "which is out on test drive but will be here when you get here"... only to find they were using it as the runner for a pizza order, and then when it did arrive 15 minutes later turns out is a dsg, but they do have manual tdi, or amarok is ALL manual. hmmm. And tried to tell me the boavista wheels were standard. None of the dealers will give you a price unless you commit.

From this dealer though I got service costs.
$395 for 15K/12months
$585 for 30K/24months
$395 for 45K/36months
after that I dont know.

gavs

08-05-2011, 05:10 PM

That's pretty good for servicing costs, 60,000kms for the gti was $830 ish which is replacement of everything bar timing chain...

jaedencook

09-05-2011, 12:58 PM

Well my car has actually gone back since its service, the service itself was as promised; 400 bucks and very well done, they fixed the rattle I had but I got a call a few days down the track to say they thought it would just return and have ordered some new fuel lines or something.
So its back there today getting those fit...

I liked that they proactively tried to continue fixing this problem though, not just give me the car back and hope I don't notice if it the rattle returned.

JaneAusten

09-05-2011, 06:21 PM

Coolio

11-05-2011, 10:19 AM

jaedencook great to hear you are getting a good service from NMG. Nice to hear about a bit of proactive-ness going on on the dealers behalf. Certainly makes me comfortable to have purchased through Norris.

gavs

11-05-2011, 12:47 PM

Ha, I like to think more along the lines of an idiot dealership who leaves windows open on a locked car! :) first thing you do to open a door in that situation, reach in and pull the interior handle:)

Side note to the Burwin incident, went to look at the Polo GTI there to see what's involved in machining a custom set of DSG paddles (trust me, don't ask!) but they have already sold their demo. I found this out after a good 10-15mins of poking around the lot, better than their last response time though:D

Smacca

11-05-2011, 04:59 PM

Side note to the Burwin incident, went to look at the Polo GTI there to see what's involved in machining a custom set of DSG paddles (trust me, don't ask!) but they have already sold their demo. I found this out after a good 10-15mins of poking around the lot, better than their last response time though:D

I had an identical experience only weeks ago at Baloworld VW Mascot. My best mate was looking for a new car so I took him there to show him the new Polo GTI. And after waiting 20 minutes for service I was finally approached and informed they hold sold their demo GTI a few months back.

So my best mate ended up buying a used MkV R32 on the lot then and there. Bastard.

sandyberger243

12-09-2011, 08:13 AM

Hi all, going in for my first service at Norris VW on the 20th, they've quoted me 400 for 14k service... Which I thought was ok?
Has anyone had dealings with them? I've heard horror stories about dealerships in general not changing oil etc to save money.

Maybe I should take pics before it goes in so that I have footing if I think they haven't changed oil (I'm assuming the new oil would be much lighter in colour)

Hi, your in Brisbane, try German Autos at Geebung/Zillmere. I take my 04 Golf there and 10 Skoda. Laurie Svenson is no frills but brilliant service. My 10 Sokda 15k service from Skoda was $400 and $270 from Laurie.