ComplaintsforBoucher Volkswagen, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  06/10/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  1) JUNE OF 2018 I PURCHASED A 2015 VW PASSAT TDI AS A CERTIFIED PRE OWNED CAR FROM BOUCHER ******** VW IN ****************** FOR $20799.80 AFTER TAX TITLE AND LICENSE WITH ****** MILES ON THE ODOMETER 2) I HAD IT SERVICED AT BOUCHER ********** EXCLUSIVELY BETWEEN FRANKIN AND RACINE WISCONSIN VW BOUCHER DEALERS.3) WITH 120K MILES APPROCHING THE SERVICE CALENDAR TELLS ME I NEED TO GET THE TIMING BELT REPLACED. UPON KNOWING THIS I MAKE AN APPOITMENT AT ***** BOUCHER IN ****** FOR A CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON WEDNESDAY MAY/8/2024. TO GET MY QUOTE FOR THE ***** ***** AND THE TIMING BELT WORK. CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WAS CLEARED AND I DROVE IT AWAY. .25 MILES DOWN THE **** THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT APPEARS AGIN. I CALL SERVICE **** AND THEY STATE DRIVE IT FOR A WHILE AND SEE IF IT GOES OFF. I CALLED NEXT MORNING AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT FOR MON MAY 13 2024 TO GET SOME SENSOR REPLACED AND I DECIDE TO HAVE THEM DO THE ***** OF THE ***** WHILE I SAVED MONEY FOR THE TIMING BELT. 4) LATER THAT DAY I GET A CALL THAT SAID THE ENGINE WAS MAKING NOISE AND IT WAS OUT OF TIME. WAS NOT DOING THAT AT TIME OF DROP OFF.5) SERVICE STATES THAT THE TIMINING BELT COVER BOLTS WERE STRIPPED AND THE TENSIONER WAS ON BACKWARDS. THE CAR HAD JUMPED TIME AND THEY RESET THE TIME TO SPEC AND IT IS MAKING A BUNCH OF NOISE FROM INTERFERENCE, AGAIN NOT HOW I DROPPED IT OFF. 6) I PURCHASED THIS FROM ******** BOUCHER VW , HAD IT SERVICED EXCLUSIVELY AT RACINE BOUCHER VW. ELPLAIN TO ME HOW THE TIMING BELT COVER SCREWS AND THE TENSIONER WAS INSTALLED BACKWARDS.. 3 WAYS THAT THIS HAPPENS. FACTORY VW, ******** VW OR RACINE VW. 7) YET I AM TOLD THEY HAVE NO CLUE HPOW THIS COULD HAPPEN. I TAKE PPRIDE IN THE VEHICLES I OWN AS I CANT AFFORD TO BUY THEM OVER N OVER AGAIN. 8) I FEEL THAT THE TIMING ISSUE IS SOMETHING THAT IS ON THEM. I WAS FULLY EXPECTING TO CHANGE THE BELT BUT AS FOR THE INCORRECTLY INSTALLED TENSIONER AND STRIPPED BOLTS THAT CAUSED THE DAMAGE THEY SHOULD BE LIABLE FOR THAT REPAIR. I HAVE RECEIPTS

  

  Business response

  07/11/2024

  Please know that we have reviewed the customer's complaint, have interviewed the service manager and the technician that worked on the customer's vehicle, and would like to respond as follows:

  On May 8, 2024, Mr Dutze brought his car in for an oil change and engine light.  118,579 miles
  

  We changed the oil and recommended a timing belt.  Mr Dutze declined the timing belt.  We cleared the check engine light as a courtesy to him.  He signed our RO with the declined services.
  
  On May 13, 2024 Mr Dutze brought the car back with the check engine light on again.  118,782 miles.  We ran diagnostics and found a bulletin for a warrantable repair on his car- to replace a VVT Actuator.  During this repair, we found the timing marks off on his high pressure fuel pump hub, making it appear that the engine was out of time.  This is caused by the hub slipping on the fuel pump over thousands of miles of use. During investigation of that, we found the timing belt tensioner positioned improperly (tensioned counter-clockwise instead of clockwise)  The noise the customer is referring to is "diesel fuel system knock" due to improper timing of the fuel pump when the hub marks were aligned during the warranty repair.
  
  We saw in VW repair history, that this timing belt tensioner had been removed and reinstalled during replacement of the high pressure fuel pump at VW dealer # 425435 in 2015.  This was before Mr. Dutze owned it. WE obviously did not perform the subject repair back in 2015 and this is not something that would be discoverable on a used vehicle safety inspection. 
  
  We again recommended timing belt service to the car, this time replacing the tensioner also.  The customer declined and asked us to put the car back the way we found it.  We did as requested, road tested  8 miles, and the car left without any noise.  The customer acknowledged there were no noises and no faults when he picked up.
  
  The car was not timed improperly.  It only appeared that way because the timing marks on the hub were off.
  
  As of May 13th, the repairs we know it needed are still timing belt and tensioner.  $2250.00+tax

  We stand ready, willing and able to assist Mr. Dutze should he allow us to do so. We appreciate his business and understand his concerns. Hopefully, this explains what happened from our perspective. 

   

  Customer response

  07/12/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 21828214, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  
  1) may 8th asked for quote for upcoming maintenance of timing belt and trans filter and fluid change during oil change being performed. quote received oil changes and CEL cleared. (agreed)

  2) Morning of may 13th did not complain of noise being called "diesel fuel knock" this was told to me by service writer stating the tech heard something "off" by sound. Brought it in for the CEL that appeared .25 miles down the road after picking up car on May 8th and to perform the trans fluid and filter change per quote received on may 8th. Was saving for timing belt kit/replacement at the recommended interval of 120,000 miles which was still approx 2k miles away at this point.

  3) Received call from service writer stating that the car had jumped time by 3 teeth and the timing belt cover fasteners were stripped and tensioner installed backwards. He said that it would need at the very least the head replaced. Upon telling me this he said that it wasn't drivable, and that he had gotten as far as installing the trans filter but not change the fluid not sure if they got to replacing the VVT actuator.

  4) Upon my arrival the shop had "reset the timing" to what they thought was factory settings. (Which is stated from the last response from them here :"The car was not timed improperly.  It only appeared that way because the timing marks on the hub were off.") when I started the car very loud engine interference noises. I immediately shut off the car (NOT KNOWING DAMAGE CAUSED HERE DUE TO MIS DIAGNOSIS) and stated it did not sound like that when I dropped it off. they put it back to said "3 teeth off timing" and upon picking it up was told no charge for the half the transmission fluid as the car was inoperable. with notes stating suggest not driving car noted on the paperwork as it was "3 teeth off".

  This was not the proper way of handling this as I stated that they were the only people to touch my car since purchase. They acted like no one knew what happened, all a mystery. Now you dig into it find the true history. well for the past 2 months I have been afraid to drive any distance for a fear that there was going to be catastrophic failure, causing me undo stress and worry due to inaccurate statements and diagnosis by the dealer. i feel that they should help out financially with the timing belt replacement and fixing the high pressure fuel pump improper install, furthermore what damaged was done when they adjusted the timing improperly, and how about the service that they half installed because my car had catastrophic timing teeth jump? 

  I feel that causing stress, fear, and worry and undo inconveniences in my everyday life due to inaccurate diagnosis and inaccurate work performed on a perfectly good car. The dealer should do a lot better to make this right not just "bring it back to our shop to do work that i asked for a quote in the first place." I was given the complete run around and false information. I seriously thought they had my car mixed up with a different customers. 

  Please do the right thing and make good on your mistakes and faults.
  
  Regards,
  
  Anthony Dutze

  Customer response

  08/13/2024

  1) The 8th went in for oil change, check engine light, quote for trans flush and filter, and with the timing belt replacement coming up in 2000 miles needed that quoted also.

  2) Oil changed, check engine lights off for all of a qtr mile then returned, told to drive it so that it might reset the check engine light. drove it for the night and back to work in the morning.

  3) Called in the morning on the 9th he said to bring it in the 13th in the morning. I scheduled to do the trans flush n fill while it was in for the CEL.(Still needing to save for timing belt)

  4) Got a call on the afternoon of the 13th telling me my car had jumped time by 3 teeth and could not be driven (misdiagnosed per their rebuttal to initial complaint). They just changed the filter and not the trans fluid as it wasn't worth it for a car that was now done operating and needed an engine or head because of their misdiagnosis.

  5) They "reset" the timing back the 3 teeth that it had supposedly jumped (misdiagnosed). putting my engine in interference as they mistimed my car by 3 teeth. Which when i arrived started and made interference metal on metal noises causing who knows what damage.

  6) I would like them to check out the damage that this may have caused internally in my engine.by their misdiagnosis and improper repairs. also make this right with a heavy discount on the repairs needed.

  7) For my time and energy and stress spent on this I feel like they could do a lot better than come in and pay full price for a service after they completely misdiagnosed and caused who knows what damage to a perfectly fine car, not to mention have faith in a shop that completely lied about what was wrong with the car

  8) check engine lights have been on since the 13th.. 

  Customer response

  09/20/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 21828214, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  They have nothing regarding this matter to make it right to the wrong diagnosis and possible internal engine damage caused buy the wrongly diagnosed actions they took and did to my car. I have spelled it out in detail and have gotten no progress from Boucher to make this right form that days actions. Not responding should not be a clause to close a complaint. Bring your car in for full price repair is not sufficient.
  
  Regards,
  
  Anthony Dutze

• Initial Complaint

  12/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased a **** Taos vw. We came to an agreement with salesman **** and sales mgr **** to give ****** for remote start to be put in our new suv. If they could not provide the vw remote **** told us it would be put in 3rd party and our only cost would be the ****** they had in their possession. Its been 2 months without anyone from the dealership contacting us on their own. We reached out to **** and said its winter so as per our agreement since vw cannot provide the remote start we want to move forward with a 3rd party. **** told us that is not an option to do 3rd party. We were not going to take the vehicle except that **** promised the remote start would be put in the vehicle in a timely matter no matter how it had to be done. I am told by vw corporate that there is no **** remote available, there was an issue with the production. We have called **** multiple times and texted with **** but we havent received the deal we were promised. All they agree is to return our ******. This is very unprofessional. We only asked at the early stages to keep in touch with us and this has not happened unless we call the dealership. We were promised a remote start installed for our ****** they have in their possession and we expect them to honor the agreement.

  

  Business response

  01/10/2024

  Dear BBB/****************,

  Apologize for the delay in responding to the complaint but we have contacted our customer right away.. We have contacted ******************** of North America and are waiting on the software upgrade that would allow ** to program the remote.

  Best

  GFB

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩