Never-ending DSG issues in my Vento and VW's awful aftersales support

I paid Rs 1.25 lakh out of my pocket for a new gearbox but even after the replacement, there was some sort of revving / gear lagging issue, which I reported promptly to the service centre.

BHPian fedexp recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I own a 9-year-old Vento - was always serviced from the official service center in Hyderabad. In the first 4 years, within warranty, the mechatronics and gearbox was replaced in the third/4th year. This was covered under warranty. Then in the 6th year, the gearbox failed on me and I paid 1.25 lacs out of my pocket for a replacement as the vehicle was out of warranty. This was done on 21 Aug '21.

After this replacement, every few months, there would be some sort of revving issue/gear lagging issue, which I reported promptly and every time the dealership said it fixed it but it kept coming back every few months.

Now, 2 weeks ago, the vehicle was getting stuck in the first gear and wasn't drive-worthy, so I sent it for repair. The service center does some checks, they say it is all fine, they also do regular servicing, and send the vehicle back. The next day, the gear gets stuck again! I reported it back to the service advisor and he suggested that I should get the replacement done for the mechatronics/gearbox. I wrote to the customer care of Volkswagen India on their website for help as I was not ready to bear such a huge expense out of pocket - The service manager from the Hyderabad dealership called me and tried to understand the issue and then I was sent this email -

So they offered me an amazing 10% discount out of some great goodwill they have. I responded back to them asking for invoices from all the service/repair work done in the last 3 years. They responded back with the invoices after one week! (this too after copying dealer principal only). So, I sent this email two days ago and there hasn't been any response to it yet:

After receiving no acknowledgement or response from them. I wrote to VW India's Twitter handle, a DM copying the content of this email and they sent a response back saying Customer Care will contact me. I clearly said I was looking for escalation contact, but they did not provide one. So, I tweeted to the CEO of Volks India, Piyush Arora, copying VW India.

So, this is where I am right now. I would like to hear from this forum on what would be a good way to proceed from here. Should I take legal recourse? Should I tweet to VW Global, will that help? What are the chances that the dealership will replace the part without any cost considering this as a special case? Appreciate any advice in this context. Thanks!

Update

Heard back from the dealership. I received a call back from their CRM. She told me that the dealership was notified by VW's social media desk. She then asked me if I would be ok with the offer they gave me (10% discount for repair). I asked her why should I be ok with it, esp after the failure to make it right every time they had an opportunity to do so. To this question, she mentioned that they had delivered the vehicle to my satisfaction on every instance of repair and I accepted the vehicle post-repair.

To this, I said that if the said fix was done to my satisfaction, why was I sending the vehicle back within a few months again with the same issue? She then says that she doesn't have the technical background to answer that question. So, I said, as a customer I wouldn't also know if the issue was technically fixed or not except for evaluating it in working and if it didn't work within a few weeks or months, then it hasn't been fixed correctly - that's my evaluation.

I also mentioned how the invoices contain my concerns, but they don't go to the technical details or commentary of what was done by the service advisor clearly, except line item billing, so there is no way to tell what has been fixed, other than taking their word for it.

I added that in this whole process, the dealership seems to be thinking that this is some sort of money problem and thinking it can be solved by offering a discount. The real issue is that the dealership is not able to come back to me with the root cause of why such lapses happened over the years. And this is what, I have an issue with. I would expect answers like .. 'the part is known to failure - it is VW's fault', OR 'the dealership was at fault for not fixing it right', OR maybe 'you didn't drive the car right'. If all I get offered is some sort of discount, I am not interested in it.

So, she asked me what was I willing to pay - I said I will not pay for a part that has such a high failure rate/reliability issues and VW/dealership has to account for it. If it is a VW quality issue, I expect the dealer to stand by my side and take this up with higher authorities on the VW side and make it case for an exception to get a new part without my burden.

I have always gotten it serviced from their workshop and I spent probably 4-5 lacs in all these years on the car, so they owe me that much. If it is their issue, not VW's issue then they have to fix it on their own. If neither is going to happen, I will settle this in the court of law and I've already discussed this with my lawyer.

After this discussion, she said she would arrange a call with somebody from VW on Monday. I will update this thread on how it goes after this call happens.

Here's what BHPian Rajeevraj had to say about the matter:

It seems from the info shared that the 6th-year replacement they did, had issues and in spite of you highlighting it multiple times, it was not properly looked at and the dealership was doing some temp fixes or workarounds to cover till the end of the warranty period.

But they can also claim that issues were fixed as and when you highlighted and you took delivery of the car post repairs each time (Probably signed their bill/gate pass which has a fine print that you are satisfied with the repairs and taking delivery).

So while you are in the right here and the claim for a replacement is a rightful request, a free replacement can happen only if the dealership or VW decide to do it out of goodwill. Not sure if a court case can help. Other escalations you seem to have done. One option is to directly email higher-ups in the organization if someone can share contacts. Another hope is that since you have put up this thread, it will have visibility into Volkswagen and you may get some relief due to that.

Keep that aside, have you taken the car to any good FNG to get it checked? While the DQ200 is prone to failure, one failure in the 4th year, then again in the 6th year and then again failing seems to also point to something else wrong.

Here's what BHPian steadfast had to say about the matter:

In India 2.0 these issues have been resolved however in the pre-India 2.0 era as well the expectation was to have on average 1 DQ200 failure in a lifetime. Failing thrice is too much the RCA of which needs to be done:

• Other problems with car?
• Is the car chauffeur driven?
• Own driving style - For e.g - holding the gear in D for long on standstill or changing to D with high acceleration etc.
• Service centre problem

Here's what BHPian AKSarkar1 had to say about the matter:

VW’s DQ200 gearbox is arguably one of the biggest lemons in the global automotive space. One of my friends had his gearbox fail on him in the 14th Month of ownership and decided to never buy a VW automatic again.

Given the fact that you have carried out multiple repairs on your car, VW should ideally cover this one. However, this is easier said than done. I think you should retry contacting the top management and if that fails then legal counsel should be taken.

However, my personal advice would be to either sell this car or if you intend on hanging onto it then install it with a more robust gearbox like the DQ250 that should keep you good for at least the next 3-4 years.

It is even more shameful that VW continues selling this gearbox in their supposedly “designed for India cars” knowing very well that these gearboxes are a lemon. Actions speak louder than words, VW India can give all the ethics presentations that they want but their actions speak very loudly otherwise!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.