I have had this car from new and its caused me a helluva lot of problems.
It was a 21st birthday present and i can't really afford to swap it as i am saving for a house and being only 2 years old it should be fine surely for them to get it sorted? I need the car for work and after the steering rack going november 2008, suspension right gone in march 2010, rear washer not working charged £40 and key barrell broken around the same time I really don't know what to do with this present problem!
Right the story begins November 2010 so i went to an authorized dealer as i was getting a buzzing sound when the car was idle. This disappeared when i pulled the clutch up although i did start to get a squeaking noise when biting the clutch. Turned radio and heater off to make sure it wasn't anything to do with them still got it.
So i took it in and they replaced the clutch. £800
Same garage charged me £40 for the rear windscreen washer not working. Surely this was under warranty shortly after.
Since I have been getting a scraping noise (cracking) most prominent when i get the car to bite at low speeds in traffic or in second where i feather the accelerator whilst driving or flick the accelerator on slightly and off.
I have been to the original garage they have found no fault several times until i jumped in the car and showed them from cold the problem of the scraping. Gave up with the garage as it was so frustrating that they constantly found "no fault"!
Spoken to seat customer care pleading for some help.
After being told "it was up to the discretion of other dealerships to charge to look at it " i was given after a long chat that any vehicle reports by non seat people would not be considered I finally got a free diagnostic check from my more local seat dealer.
Got up drove to the garage with the awful buzzing sound all the way there got there after about 3- 4 miles of creeping in rush hour traffic noise stopped so did the clutch noise only happens when its cold.
They had the car overnight to test it when cold but tbh sounded just like the last garage that just took it for several test drives.
Again picked the car up and showed him the scrapping noise noise thats normally what it does sir, buzzing sound is completely random mostly when started from cold.
Spoken to seat customer care who said to me garage found no fault!
Both noises weren't there when i bought the car new the buzzing was there before i had the clutch done which was the reason for taking it into the dealer in the first place. The scraping noise is far worse that the squeaking noise.
The car is due its third service 7th March 2011 and is a 08 tsi leon 20k.
What would you do?
I could do videos and send them to the ceo of seat?
I even got a letter from seat asking for more money for a new warranty extension which so far hasn't covered diddly all!
Thanks for your help!
I hope you didn't pay for the steering rack and clutch problem, although their argument is 'wear and tear' I wouldn't expect that to happen in under 20K miles (unless you ride the clutch ahellofalot)
Rear windscreen washer seems like a fault unless they explained why? This too should be coved by warranty
What date did you buy it? What date were the faults.
QuoteAll new SEAT vehicles purchased from an authorised SEAT dealer in the United Kingdom qualify for a three-year vehicle warranty consisting of a two-year unlimited mileage manufacturer's warranty and a third year warranty with a 60,000 miles limitation.
Should a defect in manufacture or workmanship occur with your vehicle during the warranty period, a member of the SEAT authorised service network (whether or not they were the original supplying dealer) will carry out any remedial work that is required under the warranty free of charge.
The only preconditions are:
Any part that is replaced becomes the property of SEAT. The replaced parts are covered for the unexpired period of the warranty.
Normal wear and tear service items are excluded from the warranty cover.
Routine maintenance and servicing is not covered by the warranty. Incidental or consequential losses such as hotel charges, car hire, and loss of personal effects or income are not recoverable under the terms of the warranty.
Tyres are subject to the warranty applied by the tyre manufacturer and claims for these should be addressed through an authorised agent of the relevant manufacturer.
If you have modified the vehicle by the addition of accessories or other equipment, you may be charged for the removal of such equipment if so required to affect a repair.
The warranty is not affected by any change of ownership of the vehicle.
steering rack was covered clutch i paid £800 by card and £40 for the rear washer by card.
The car was bought march 2008 and all within the warranty period.
Apparantly the clutch was burnt out and this was reportred to seat.
I had booked the car in several times to many dealers previously even soon after purchasing saying the gearbox wouldn't engage first or reverse very easily only to be told there was again no fault.
Ghost - subscribe to Which magazine and then get their wealth of lawyers to look into it - they'll be able to advise you on the best course of action.
What milage did you have the clutch problems?
Quote from: Snokio;320107What milage did you have the clutch problems?
19k reported the fault soon after installation.
The problem i have is all they will do is drive it as labour is too much money to actually take the parts apart and look at what is wrong.
What shall i do?
Take it to a local independent garage and ask them to diagnose the problems, only 19k on a clutch is bad, get a written report and take it along with all your car docs to your solicitor, they should be able to advise what to do.
There is a reason they are widely referd to as stealers and not dealers m8, I should know I used to work in one!
You should never have paid a penny for the clutch problem, at 20k it is definatly not aceptable wer and tear that and all of your problems are flat out warrenty issues and if they are failing to look at them you need to address it further; ie talking to trading standards etc as i believe that 20k on a clutch is not an acceptable life of a product.
maybe have a look on the owners club forums see if anyothers have ha problems like yours.
All sound advice.
You need to document your calls, times, who you speak to etc.
Put your complaint in writing, concisely and without emotion and pass it to Seat asking for a written response within a reasonable period. 10 days?
Recorded delivery would be nice.
Do the same with the garage that did the work, let both Seat and the dealer know you are holding both responsible in the letter.
I wouldn't have paid for the clutch originally, having paid once I'm not sure the standing that puts you in for follow up work. I think your only option is what other have said. Get a report done by an independent garage (preferably with a quote to fix it) and then seek professional advice.
If it's not covered by the warranty you can get a new clutch for significantly less than £800. I don't know the specific car but to me that sounds like twice what it would cost at a regular garage, so if they won't fix it under warranty at the very least shop around for someone to do any work at a sensible price..
£800 for a clutch is a bit insane.
Honda aren't the cheapest dealership, but I know (because they offer fixed price repairs) that a new Honda clutch would cost me £585. From a 3rd party garage, it would probably be considerably less.
Perhaps they've had to charge you for good amount of labour or something, but given the mileage of your car I would start kicking up a pretty serious fuss - get a solicitor involved if you know a good one.
Do as they suggest Ghosty.
An ESP light came up on our VW - 6 months out of warranty. The (best) quote was £1,400 to repair. One long phone call to VW Central customer services and although out of warranty they agreed to pay for the part in full and for half the labour cost of fitting. Result - I got a bill for £130 :) . They would have paid for all the fitting but the car was an ex-dem so I was the 2nd owner.
Customer loyalty and not having you badmouth Seat is worth more to them that the monies in from repair. The fact that you had the car from new - doubly so. Even if you've forked out the cash it's still worth pursuing. At least you may get some compensation cash back.
Whatever you do, don't let them get away with it. It's a new car and you've been pretty much (for lack of a better word) scammed.
You shouldn't have wear and tear issues whilst still under warranty anyway. The car sounds defective. If a clutch problem popped up after 1-2 years I would have asked for a new car; not to mention weird intermittent noises.
If you can't sort it out the good and gentle way, get the law and/or customer rights involved. Most companies give in once you show them that you're dead serious. Badmouthing will cost them a lot more then fixing/replacing whatever.
If you can write an article on a magazine/newspaper; do so as well. You'll receive a phone call soon enough.
One extremely important detail: Proof. You need that, and without it you'll get nothing.
Thanks for all your help.
I have sent them a polite letter documenting all the problems i have had since new.
Asking both for compensation for my time and for the repairs that I have had to pay for.
I have sent this by mail and by email and got a proof of posting.
Will leave it a while and see what happens.
Just feel pretty gutted that noone seems to want to fix the problem and its easier to report it back to Seat as no fault.
Thanks again for all your help chaps!