Vauxhall Customer Service - Saying Hello to CAG!

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi Aradam

 

I'm sure you'll get loads of feedback from posters on here Aradam. From our end we had so much positive feedback in the past about the Signum, but modern Diesel engines definately perform most efficiently and at their best for drivers who do a lot of mileage, just by means of how the engine and exhaust system are set up to reduce emissions. So if your doing the mileage and want the economy, definately go for the diesel!

 

Thanks

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[Winnie Wotsit]

If only Hyundai would have a forum rep ( if only ! ).

[Paulco62]

Max

 

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate the positive response. Not sure how to PM (Newbie) so reg is AT57dwc

 

Regards

 

Paulco62

[heliosuk]

Max

 

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate the positive response. Not sure how to PM (Newbie) so reg is AT57dwc

 

Regards

 

Paulco62

 

 

Well this is a very welcome post and so far Max is living upto his word. From conversations I've had with him under PM he seems like a breath of fresh air as regards to manufacuters interest and responses. Let's hope his budget doesn't run out!!

 

For info Paul, gearboxes are generally tested to 150,000 miles and this is also the suppliers liability so at the very minimum you should expect a 50% contribution if it has a good service history. It's a bit of a tenuous point this with the introduction of block exemption as regards servicing as there are still things all manufactuers can hide behind.If you should get a negative response, which I doubt from the gist of the post, then just check the service schedule to see if a gearbox oil change is required. I doubt it very much!!

 

So on balance, Max and Vauxhall are performing very well it seems but we don't seem to have got anywhere to the best of my knowledge, with the original complaint of broken springs failing in the way they do on Vectras.

 

Perhaps Max might like to enlighten us as to what has happened so far?????

[Paulco62]

Heliosuk

 

Thanks for the reply.Not heard anything from MAX yet but I have recently had a response back from Vauxhall customer services after emailing them. There reply was that i was not entitled to any contribution because the car was out warranty due to the mileage. Also because I have had the car serviced at Unipart garages, Vauxhall do not accept this as a valid service record? (According to the customer service rep) Ultimately, I have had to have the car repaired at my own expense (£1000+ and rising).

I have sent a letter to Vauxhall to clarify this but received no reply as yet.

I am not sure I have sent it to the right address so if anyone as got vauxhalls customer service address, I would appreciate it.

 

Regards

Paulco62

[Conniff]

Vauxhall Motors Ltd.

Griffin House

Osborne Road

Luton

Bedfordshire, LU1 3YT

 

The regulations changed in 2003 and they cannot insist that you use THEM for servicing. Unipart parts are at least as good as the original and usually better.

They only use properly trained mechanics.

 

I think if you were to contact Unipart, they might get upset with Vauxhall for condemning them as a second rate garage.

Edited August 22, 2010 by Conniff

[heliosuk]

Hi Paulco62,

 

This is a standard response from a third rate company that relies on at the moment the American publics goodwill to keep going. In this transition it managed to sink countless little companies and put countless people out of jobs world wide.

So essentially and given the response to the Vectra spring issue with Max....... you are up against it.

 

You need to challenge the issue by pointing out that the service schedules do not require any aspect of the gearbox to be serviced ( need to check this) and if this is the case the fact that it has been serviced by or using Unipart parts is frankly irrelevant.

 

That gearbox should have done 150K miles minimum. It's not rocket science and this needs to be pointed out.

 

Personally I think Max is another hot air charachter who has little or no power and is a butterfly. I.e. someone who flits around looking nice but can't do anything.

 

If he had any sense he would be a bit more proactive and be a bit more carefull in his responses.

 

My personal correspondance with him was quite positive until I asked for a trial in a press fleet car to find out why the latest Insignia seemed to be running on rocket fuel.

 

Perhaps he got scared!!!

 

Keep on at them with fact.

[stuggling]

me and my partner own a vectra 04plate sxi and love her to bits, is running and looked after very well.

My partner is a massive vauxhall fan along with my 5 and 3 year old children, we have models of the cars and old history of the cars too. I recomended vauxhall to my family and my dad got the corsa and loves it loads that he lookin at gettin my mum one.

[Conniff]

Like everything and all cars stuggling, as long as they are going well then they are great, it's when they go wrong and you get no help even though that problem is due to bad design and/or workmanship, then problems start.

[stuggling]

true, but with our car, when we got it the handbrake was one of the recalls, and the suspension was knockin so we took it to a vauxhall garage (and we have not had our car from new) they did the handbrake n the suspension n gave us a half price full service for the trouble.

We knw the new insiginas have loads of problems but what car is perfect!

If the car is looked after well, then you will get your moneys worth, our only problem is the clip on the bottom of te exhaust keeps brakeing due to a desgin fault but it cheap to repair, we use a garage that is part of the 'good garage scheme'. Thoe vauxhall are not, but they are always more expensive so the garage we use only uses vauxhall parts so we know it good!

[Conniff]

Mmm, I don't think I would brag about using a garage on the 'good garage scheme'. This is a big con and you only get on the scheme if you buy Forte oil additives. Try entering a bad report on the website and see what happens to it, it disappears quicker than any magician can make a coin disappear.

 

A bit of an oxymoron there saying that Vauxhall parts are good and they keep breaking.

 

Instead of continually having to replace the bracket which breaks because of bad design, Vauxhall should put it right at no cost so you don't have to keep paying out money to replace it.

[aradam]

I wonder what is not a con in the garage world, I have good experience with a good garage sceme garage, but I feel that mainly because they don't hide anything, I always stay around to see with my own eyes what is happening and they allow me.

This way at least I know that the repair or maintenance is done, and what parts they used, Not like the official VW dealer in MK I asked them to do a quick check they offered, of the car because I my abs light was lighting up I payed £40 they drove the car around and hid it behind closed door and they said they checked the car but they were not able to check it with the computer what was wrong with it.

After that I was kindly advised to buy a new car, they would be able to help but then they had to measure the wiring through for £250

By coincidence I met an old meganic of that same garage who was starting for himself and he was able to messure it through within 10 minutes no problem and told me he left that garage for the issues I had with them

I was able to fix the car for less than I payed for their test thank you official dealer Wayside

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi CAGGERS!

 

Sorry about my absence from the forum. I did have to send you a couple of private messages Paulco62 strictly for DPA reasons. You can read them by looking at the 'Notifications' bar top right of the page.

 

Although we can't guarantee a contribution before inspection, we're always willing to investigate into a gesture of goodwill outside of the warranty period, however I had a look at the original case you had logged with our Customer Service Team and it does say that when you contacted us originally, the gearbox was already with an independant garage being repaired.

 

The one thing we do need to take place if we're reviewing a contribution is that the vehicle is inspected, in it's failed state by a Vauxhall dealership so we can put together all the facts to investigate.

 

In regards to servicing, you can have your vehicle serviced where ever you choose as long as it's per Vauxhall guidelines and genuine Vauxhall parts are used and this is just one criteria when we're reviewing a contribution.

 

Thanks

 

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

Edited August 23, 2010 by VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep
incorrect spelling

[Paulco62]

Max

 

Thanks for the reply. However I would like to point out that the car was actually at the garage it was picked up by. They had investigated the problem and advised of the fault. I then contacted my local vauxhall dealership who basically told me there was nothing they could do and i would have to contact Vauxhall. The only way I could find to contact vauxhall was via email on the website.I sent an email but because of the lack of space in the text box , i could not explain the details fully. I received a reply a couple of days later and it was explain quite plainly that because it was out of warranty and I DID NOT USE MASTERCARE FOR THE SERVICING, they would not consider a contribution. At this point I said that I could not do without the car I would need to get it repaired. I also pointed out that I would be taking this further. Unfortunately I was not given any opportunities to further explain the situation.

One of the key point to my having the car repaired as soon as possible is that I travel 80 miles a day to work (round trip) and there was no possibility of getting to work . Luckly I was on Holiday when tis happened so had a couple of days to sort this. Due to the time taken to get a response and it being negative, I had to take further holidays. The car was in a manchester garage and I live in Warrington. The Warrington Vauxhall dealer offered to look at the car but I would have to pay to get it back to them. Then the estimated cost would be in the region of £1800. At no point did the Vauxhall service rep offer to have the car inspected so no matter what, I was faced with an hefty bill. I had no other opportunity but to have the car repaired. This as now been done, but I have full engineer reports (from a UNIPART garage), quotes and final cost which i will now be presenting to Warrington trading standards.

Obviously if you know that I had stated that the car was going to be repaired, you must know that it was stated that UNIPART were not recognized as a viable service station. This also will be passed onto the garage that completed the repair.

There is one thing you could chase MAX , is a reply to the letter I sent customer services but as yet received no reply?

One other thing , a couple days after the first call from Vauxhall I received a call asking how I rated customer service. The response from myself was very negative and when I tried to explain why instead of giving scores out of 10, the call was terminated?? Did I upset them or can't they take criticism?

 

Sorry this as gone on but can i thank everyone who has replied to this thread. This as provided some valuable information and advice I will keep you informed of any outcome.

 

Regards

Paulco62

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi Again Paul

 

The letter was sent out on 17/08 but if you could give me your e-mail address I can e-mail it to you straight away.

 

I've looked into the case the best I can, and essentially when the vehicle is out of warranty, we can't guarantee a contribution towards repairs. The things we take into consideration upon review are age, mileage, ownership history, service history, loyalty to Vauxhall and the nature of the fault.

 

On first contact, we'll always try to give the most accurate advice, so for example the agent you spoke to in your case would of advised 'you don't have a full Vauxhall Service History so this may mean we cannot contribute'. However, then there's the other elements to consider such as the age and mileage and we review those facts along with the Vauxhall dealership to make a decision on a gesture of goodwill.

 

Aside from that I can totally understand that you needed your vehicle back asap but a Vauxhall dealership seeing the vehicle in its failed state is an important part of our investigations.

 

Service history is an important factor when we're considering good will.

 

Speak to you soon Paul

 

Thanks

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[heliosuk]

In regards to servicing, you can have your vehicle serviced where ever you choose as long as it's per Vauxhall guidelines and genuine Vauxhall parts are used and this is just one criteria when we're reviewing a contribution.

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

Bit of a faux pax there Max. Block exemption regulations only require parts as good as or of equivalent quality and in the case of oils, meet manufactuers specifications. So if the oil had been changed for whatever reason, though not usually required on routine servicing for manual boxes with most manufactuers for over ten years now, then unipart oils exceed those said requirements. So not really a valid excuse to reject goodwill on a box that has hardly reached 50% of it's service life is it?

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hey Caggers

 

Again as mentioned Service History is just one criteria, to begin our investigations we need to be able to inspect the vehicle ourselves. Block exemption isn't really related to this situation.

 

We take every case individually and so many different aspects are considered on review of goodwill. There's no obligation by law for Vauxhall to supply goodwill services.

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[crem]

In regards to servicing, you can have your vehicle serviced where ever you choose as long as it's per Vauxhall guidelines and genuine Vauxhall parts are used and this is just one criteria when we're reviewing a contribution.

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

Why?

Does this give VM an easy get out as usual when 9 times out of 10 "other" parts are twice as good and twice as cheap (at least)?

[crem]

Hey Caggers

 

Again as mentioned Service History is just one criteria, [we have 3,000 other criteria and we are always pretty sure we can refuse good will under one of them at least] to begin our investigations we need to be able to inspect the vehicle ourselves [as often, like in the OPs case, the customer cannot wait around while we think about it so has to get it sorted and then we can say tough"] . Block exemption isn't really related to this situation.

 

We take every case individually and so many different aspects are considered on review of goodwill. There's no obligation by law for Vauxhall to supply goodwill services.

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

I've added in a couple of bits there that I think Max forgot to type.

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi People

 

I want to thank you all for your feedback. Like I said from post #1 we're here to take the good and the bad, I come back to this thread atleast 5 times a day just to catch the latest!

 

What we don't want to lose sight of is that we're online to offer a customer service. Offering goodwill and financial assistance is a part of our job as well as offering general help, answers to questions and after sales support.

 

In regards to goodwill, every case is taken on it's own individual merits and some people will receive a gesture of goodwill upon review and in some cases a gesture of goodwill may not be offered for certain reasons.

 

I don't want to take the fun out of the thread, I've loved talking to everyone on here, but please remember that we're here to help and support as many Vauxhall customers or future customers as we can, and not so much to discuss company financial statistics and business discussions. That just takes away what we're trying to do which is offer customer service in a brand new way.

 

Have a great bank holiday all!

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[crem]

and has there been any successes in this thread yet?

[Guest VX_Max Vauxhall Company Rep]

Hi

 

Yes so far we've been really happy with the response on this thread. We've helped one customer in regards to vehicle information, another who currently has a case with our executive team and one who's currently being helped by our customer care dept.

 

Thanks

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

[Paulco62]

Max

 

I have received the letter but this seems to be a bastardisation of the sequence of event to suit Vauxhall. A couple of key points and in particular the timing the comments were made. Let me clarify:-

 

1. The main issue is the fact that a major component as failed within an unacceptable time period.Surely a gearbox should last longer than 65k where ever it is serviced. Also the service schedule do not specify any gearbox maintenance?
   
2. The car as a service history both at lookers and Unipart garages. Why did the Vauxhall rep say that this was not acceptable and NO CONTRIBUTION would be considered. WHAT IS A FULL SERVICE HISTORY? APPLICABLE ONLY IF COMPLETE BY VAUXHALL? Also at no point has it been made clear that only Vauxhall garages must be used for servicing and approved garages?
   
3. At the time of speak to the Rep, I was not asked to take the car to a VAUXHALL DEALER to be inspected. Why was this not requested ? I could have organised this.
   
4. ONLY after the rep had stated that there would NO CONTRIBUTION did i tall her that i would take this further but would have to get the car repaired. This repair was completed two weeks after the telephone conversation. The key statement here is "AFTER BEING INFORMED BY THE REP"
   
5. the car not yet 3yrs old and at the time of the failure was showing 64590K. That's 4590miles over warranty or a couple of months over warranty at average milage.
   

I am really concerned with the lack of correct information provide by the vauxhall dealership and the vauxhall rep. I feel that I have been manipulated into the position by being given the wrong information during the telephone conversation. Clearer explanation of position I was in with vauxhall, the correct procedure to get the car checked/repaired and the options open to me would have helped to resolve the matter.

 

Max, if could you clearly answer these questions in order it would be appreciated

 

Paulco62

[crem]

Hi

 

Yes so far we've been really happy with the response on this thread. We've helped one customer in regards to vehicle information [ah, so provided info that probably could have been got from any Vauxhall garage, or at the least doesn't cost VX any money!], another who currently has a case with our executive team [unresolved then] and one who's currently being helped by our customer care dept [again no doubt heading for "we'd love to help but can't on this occasion" response].

 

Thanks

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

So that would be no successes then so far Max as expected.

[heliosuk]

Hi

 

Yes so far we've been really happy with the response on this thread. We've helped one customer in regards to vehicle information, another who currently has a case with our executive team and one who's currently being helped by our customer care dept.

 

Thanks

 

Max

Social Media Agent, Vauxhall UK

 

Errrrrrrrr............. you're legally obliged to Max and have been for some time. Block exemption didn't just address the servicing requirements, it also forced manufactuers to make freely available service and technical information available to all who wanted it as opposed to restricting it to dealers only.