A group of VW owners meet up with Volkswagen Group Malaysia to voice out their concerns...and more.

.A large group comprising of various Volkswagen vehicle owners had gathered peacefully yesterday afternoon in front of the Volkswagen Group Malaysia headquarters in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. The crowd was large, but well behaved and backed by other Volkswagen owners driving their cars honking their horns as the passed by the Volkswagen Headquarters. The purpose of the group was to voice our their lack of satisfaction towards various warranty, reliability and other grievances relating to their cars.

I had mentioned some of the grievances faced by VW owners here, such as warranty claims handled by an insurance company, engine and transmission issues as well as bad quality of service experienced at VW service centers. And so, this group of unsatisfied VW owners met with members of the VW Group Malaysia management and delivered to them a memorandum requesting among other things, a ten-year warranty on the engine and transmission instead of the current five years, better warranty case management where the the warranty will not be affected even if serviced up to 3,000km later than stipulated by the and Volkswagen to change the Extended Warranty Programme (via a third party insurance company) to a 5 year manufacturer warranty programme.

Further to this, the group has also demanded that VW group Malaysia also provides a long term solution towards the engines using the DSG 6 and 7 transmissions as well as engine parts such as defective coil packs which supposedly suffers from premature failure (up to three times a year). The group also demanded that no additional labour or servicing charges be included upon warranty claim issues. Amazing isn't it. That is a heck of a lot of issues for cars that are still under warranty.

Taken from the VW DSG7 Defects Community on Facebook

What I witnessed today is that there are a whole bunch of dissatisfied VW owners out there. Angry too. I heard many claim issues that said the VW service centers voided their warranty based on being slightly more than 1,000km overdue in their servicing. I heard DSG clutches giving way much earlier than anticipated and shoddy servicing by the service centers. Supposedly leaving stuff under the bonnet which wasn't supposed to be there. There must actually be a whole bunch of stuff that the VW service centers (which are operated by VW dealers themselves and not directly under the purview of VW Group Malaysia - which is actually a big issue as sometimes, maybe most of the times, dealers actually think more about profit margins over any other thing...causing pain and suffering to both principals as well as customers. Oh, do read the previous article regarding this issue here again if you haven't done so, people).

Anyway, this is only one side of the story. There are always two sides to any coin. So here is what VW Group Malaysia has decided to do as a first step. Nothing about extending warranty claims as yet, but they have promised to ensure better service quality at the dealer service centers as well as extending opening hours to handle customers requests. We would have to wait and see then.

Now after a bit of research, do note the following folks:
1. VW Malaysia currently offers a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty - 2 years manufacturer, 3 years with an insurance company covering it for them. See this here.

2. VW Singapore offers a 3 year/100,000km manufacturer warranty. See this here.

3. VW China offers a 10 year / 160,000km warranty on the DSG. The rest of the car is on the standard 2 year warranty. See this here

4. The UK gets a 2 year unlimited mileage manufacturer's warranty and an additional 1 year or 60,000mile (96,560km) warranty (if the car hasn't travelled more than that figure). But there are options to extend manufacturer's warranty to 5 years of 90,000miles if you pay more. See this here.

So folks, it depends on where you are. And an average of 100,000km isn't all that great a figure. Or it could be if things break after 30,000km. Go figure.

VGM PRESS RELEASE

VOLKSWAGEN GROUP MALAYSIA –

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AS A STRATEGIC FOCUS

KUALA LUMPUR, 12 March 2014 – Volkswagen Group Malaysia today shared their plans in collaboration with their authorised dealer network and service centres to improve after-sales and customer satisfaction levels in line with the leading European automotive brand’s development plan in the country.

As one of the first steps, Volkswagen Group Malaysia is pleased to inform that 20 authorised Volkswagen service centres in Peninsular Malaysia will open on Sundays from 9.00am to 5.00pm for maintenance service starting from 16 March 2014, providing Volkswagen owners with greater flexibility and convenience in maintaining their vehicles.

Volkswagen owners only need to make an appointment a few working days before their desired service on Sundays in order to secure an appointment with their preferred service centre. This operating hour extension for participating dealers service centres in the country is in line with Volkswagen’s commitment to further increase customer satisfaction.

Managing Director, Volkswagen Group Malaysia, Christoph Aringer mentions, “Customer satisfaction is an integral component of Volkswagen Group Malaysia, as it contributes directly to the growth and development of our brand locally. Based on the feedback we have garnered from our customers, we are taking steps to increase the levels of service quality and customer satisfaction in order to meet the needs and expectations of discerning Malaysian drivers.”

Volkswagen Group Malaysia also announced that they are in the midst of intensifying the professional training programmes for sales as well as after-sales staff throughout all dealers and service centre network. This is a joint approach with Volkswagen Group Malaysia’s dealer partners, encompassing various sales and service areas as part of Volkswagen growth strategy in Malaysia.

“Whether it’s ensuring that our sales consultants have access to the latest product knowledge and after-sales support in order to engage and address our customers’ needs at the level expected of a leading global brand or equipping our after-sales teams with the skills in order to consistently and accurately diagnose and address technical issues, we at Volkswagen Group Malaysia are committed to continually raising our standards to set the industry benchmark right here in Malaysia for Malaysians,” added Mr. Christoph Aringer.

The authorised Volkswagen service centres which will be open on Sundays as part of the after-sales campaign are as follows: -

No	Service Center	Contact No.
1	Volkswagen Georgetown	04 2826 333
2	Volkswagen Glenmarie	03 5567 0691
3	Volkswagen Ipoh	05 5063 133
4	Volkswagen Jalan Ipoh	03 6259 6669
5	Volkswagen Juru	04 5022 999
6	Volkswagen PJ	03 7960 0801
7	Volkswagen Sungai Besi	03 9236 2929
8	Volkswagen Skudai	07 237 9301
9	Volkswagen TTDI	03 7725 3303
10	CNB Auto Sdn Bhd (Klang)	03 3318 8526
11	CNB Auto Sdn Bhd (Old Klang Road)	03 7983 3226
12	CNB Auto Sdn Bhd (Tebrau)	07 3617 860
13	F.A Wagen Sdn Bhd (Alor Setar)	04 7301 846
14	F.A Wagen Sdn Bhd (Sg. Petani)	04 4411 006
15	Hicom Auto Sdn Bhd (Bayan Baru)	04 6408 808
16	Hicom Auto Sdn Bhd (Cheras)	03 9074 3702
17	Hicom Auto Sdn Bhd (Seremban)	06 6321 551
18	MHV Autohaus Sdn Bhd	03 4026 9200
19	N3 Auto Sdn Bhd	06 2822 422
20	Swire Motor Sdn Bhd (Puchong)	03 5882 7288