Rant #1: I Hate Ganley Volkswagen

I hate Ganley Volkswagen of Bedford. More specifically, I hate the service department at Ganley Volkswagen of Bedford. The fact that such a large Confederacy of dunces inhabit such a small space is nothing short of impressive.

This is a LONG story, so I am going to shorten it as much as possible so that you can understand why I hate them so much. On Jan 24th, I was driving along in my 2004 VW Passat when all of a sudden the car cut off in the middle of the street. On Jan. 26th, I had the car towed to Ganley VW and thus begins my 5 week nightmare with the Ganley Service dept.

Week 1: My husband and I were informed that my car needed a new engine because of an excessive amount oil sludge. Also they told us it was our fault because we didn't get all of our oil changes and we would have to pay (a $6000 to $8000 repair). We told them of course we had all of our oil changes and there was no way a 4.5 year old car should need a new engine. Their response was that there was nothing they could do. This is lie no. 1.

Week 2: My husband, who drive an Audi A4 had this exact same problem, but less severe. If you don't know, the Passat and the A4 are EXACTLY the same car. Same parts, same engine, just a different body. (We took the car into Fred Baker Audi for service, and as soon as they saw the problem, they fixed it right away, no cost to us. One week, start to finish). Armed with this knowledge, we contacted Volkswagen USA customer service who promptly informed us that the 1998 thru 2004 models have well known oil sludge problems and that there is an extended warranty just for this, and as long as we have our receipts proving we had regular oil changes, then VW will pay for the repair. Ganely was fully aware of this warranty and purposely did not inform us even after we told them how the same thing happened with our Audi. So VW USA contacted Ganley and suddenly they remembered.

Now the Chief Idiot at Ganley, let's call him Pete, (mostly because that is his name) said he looked in my glove compartment and he could not find any receipts for oil changes. This is lie #2. Believing him, I ran around town in a snow storm getting duplicate receipts and paperwork showing that the car had regular oil changes.

Week 3: I submitted the paperwork, and then, nothing. I call Ganley over and over again, but no one ever answers the phone. Finally after 3 days of calling, I reach Chief Idiot Pete, who puts me on hold, which somehow goes to speaker phone, and I listen to him and another idiot talk for 12 minutes about buying new furniture. No kidding. When he returns to the phone, he tells me that they need my proof of purchase to verify the number of miles on the car when I purchased it. I told him its in the glove compartment. He said he would take a look. This is lie #3. Two days later, I call and he tells me he could not find it. This is lie #4. In disbelief, I go up there to look for myself. Now if you remember in the above paragraph I mentioned we had a big snow storm. When I get to the dealership, my car is surrounded by 2.5 feet of virgin snow. Now, unless he was airlifted through the sunroof, there was no way Chief Idiot Pete looked in my glove compartment. So one of the technicians was nice enough to get a shovel and remove enough snow so I could open the door, and lo and behold there were my oil receipts and my proof of purchase.

Of course I hear nothing. I call VW USA who tells us that all is a go on their end. I call and call Ganley. No answer. Finally, a couple of days later, we get a call saying that the repair was approved and they were ordering an engine. this was on a Thursday. They told us that the engine would be here the following Wednesday and I should have my car by Fri. or Monday. Another lie. Incidentally, I asked about a rental car or a loaner, and Ganley told me that they could not give me either because........well, they actually didn't have a reason, but they said it was not covered under the warranty. Do you think that is a lie?

Week 4: The engine arrives that Wednesday. I call on Friday. I get Chief Idiot Pete on the phone, who again, puts me on hold with the speaker phone for 18 minutes. I listen to him talk with someone in the background about everything except my car. The person he is talking to asks if the speaker is on, then he hangs up on me! I am so furious I had to invent new curse words because the ones currently in existence are not enough. Needless to say I go up there and go off. Chief Idiot Pete could not even look me in the face. They tell me that the work has started on my car ( a lie) but the technician who is working on my car is out sick and should be back the following week (he really was sick). I asked them why they thought I gave a damn about a sick technician? I was sorry that he was sick, but what was your contingency plan? They had no plan. The plan was to let my car sit in perpetuity until the guy came back or died. In actually, no one had begun work on my car. It was still sitting and waiting. I call VW USA screaming at the top of my lungs and even they couldn't believe what was (or wasn't) happening. My car has been there a month and no one has offered a rental car. Well, VW USA sent out a regional manger to find out was the hell was going on and to get to the bottom of things. Also VW USA agreed to reimburse me for my rental car expenses, but this is bullshit. Who has $25 a day for 4 weeks to pay for a car upfront? And moreover, VW USA should not be paying for it, Ganley should pay for it or give me a loaner.

Week 5: The following Monday (after the visit from the regional manager), I get a call from VW USA who tells me that they just discovered my turbo was also damaged and they were ordering a new one, and my car should be ready by Friday. Ganley told me they had been working on my car since the engine came in, so you mean to tell me that you have been working on my engine for a week and just discovered the turbo was bad. That's a lie, no one even touched my car until they sent out the regional manager. That Friday, March 6th, I get a call from Chief Idiot Pete at 7:45am telling me my car would be ready that afternoon and he would call me when it was. He never called again. At 2:00pm, I get a call from VW USA. They tell me that they spoke with Ganley and Chief Idiot Pete said he called me to pick up my car. A lie. If VW USA had not called, I would have never known it was ready. So I go to pick up my car finally, and this idiot tells me I need a new battery. Are you kidding me? My car has been sitting for more than 5 weeks because of you assholes, of course the battery doesn't work.

So I ask Chief Idiot about the warranty on the repair. He fumbles and stumbles because he doesn't know the answer. He goes to some VW guide book for extended warranties and tells me that the warranty is for 8 years. I ask him could I have a copy for my records. He gives me a copy and it is the guidelines from VW USA detailing the oil sludge problems and the extended warranty associated with it. But if you remember, when I originally spoke with them they claimed to know nothing about it oil sludge problems. Yet they were stupid enough to actually give me a copy of the guidelines they never heard of.

Let me say that VW USA was great. Anne, who is the regional customer service manager, did everything she could to solve these problems. She was thoughtful, polite, did excactly what she said she would do when she said she would do it, and always followed up. It is only becuase of her that I would even condsider buying another VW. If I do buy another VW, you can make book on the fact that it will not be from Ganley. I don't have any experience with their sales department, but on the slightest chance that the same people who hires the sales team hires the service team, I wouldn't go near them on a bet--even if it is the dreaded Double Dog Dare!

As long as this story is, I have only written half of it here. The moral of the story is DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR TO GANLEY VOLKSWAGEN OF BEDFORD.