Hmmm, what to do now.

 

Had my Superb serviced four months / 13,000 miles ago. I asked them to change the service indicator from fixed to variable since my service plan expired.

 

It wasn't until a few weeks / thousand miles after that I noticed they hadn't done it. The service indicator was still set to fixed.

 

The lady on the phone said no worries, we can change it to variable when you come in for your MOT in a few months time. She assured me it was possible to take the mileage covered since the service and change to variable whilst still maintaing the correct service interval. 

 

Took in last week for the MOT wth it bleeping at me begging for a (fixed) service.

 

Drove home with the service display showing -- days or --- --- miles. It took a couple of days to appear and I was greeted with this...

 

 

Great, all they had done was reset the service indicator to variable as though the car had just had a service, except it hadn't, it was 13,000 miles since it last had fresh oil.

 

Rang them up, lots of apologies and a promise to send out a technician to make the change at my place of work.

 

A knock at the door and an apologetic technician said it couldn't be done. He'd done it on other VAG cars but my Superb was having none of it.

 

What now? He said variable was up to 20,000 miles so just book it in "in about 5,000 miles".

 

Eh! I don't think so, they have messed up and I want my car servicing when it needs servicing, not when I think it might need servicing.

 

What would be reasonable to ask for? Me to pay for fresh oil and filter at cost price?

Get them to replace the filter and oil...FOC

Wait until its done 18k since the last service then get it serviced, they generally go about 18k ish between long life services. The technician has done what he can - I'd go with what he suggested. The oil used is the same for fixed or long life so you have no worries.

I didn't get a chance to call them back today, will do it first thing in the morning.

 

Given that I made a specific point of asking them to change the service indicator from fixed to variable, even to the point it was written on the job sheet and my invoice / bill they didn't do it properly.

 

A genuine mistake I know, but a mistake that has inconvenienced me.

 

I'm not looking for a free oil change but I'm not prepared to take a guess at when to service it.

 

I think an offer of an early reduced price oil change would be fair here?

How much can an oil change really cost them. I'd be holding out for it for nowt.....

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Had a chat with them today, they now seem to think that the service indicator can be correctly adjusted but only with the diagnostics system in the workshop, not the laptop that the technician brought out to my car when it was parked at work.

 

They initially suggested I bring the car back in to be correctly adjusted. When I mentioned that was more inconvienince for me they suggested a reduced variable / long life service, from £259 to £150.

 

Not happy at this (I never pay £259 for a service anyway - £139 minor service + fuel and air filter @ £80 instead) they then came back with an oil abd filter change for £100 and to reset the indicator back to the start of a variable service interval.

 

Booked in for the end of August, by which time it will have almost covered what it would likely have done had the service indicator been set correctly from the start!

 

Not ideal but essentially I'm getting another 'upto' 20,000 miles motoring / servicing for £100.

I think you are being a pain to be honest.

If only they'd done what I asked them to do, what I paid them to and what they said they'd do when they had the car then they could have avoided this.

 

I don't deny I'm being a pain, the issue I have is having to be a pain to get put right what they did wrong.

The opposite has happened to me. I decided at the last service to change to fixed. The Service Record shows the next service as due in 10,000 miles/1 years but the service interval display is set to variable. I do way under 10,000 miles per annum so I merely have to remember when one year is up. The dealer used VW 504.00 oil so I could wait until the next service is shown as due. However the Extended Warranty I have requires that servicing be carried within 500 miles or 4 weeks or the manufacturer's recommended mileage/time, whichever is the sooner - and the Service Record is evidence of what has been done and when.

Luckily, you can change to fixed yourself.

 

By following the instructions in the manual to reset the service indicator it defaults to fixed intervals.

 

It's the other way (fixed to variable) that needs VCDS or a dealer.

 

The question is how many miles have you done since the service? Is it now too late to reset?

My Octavia will be due service on time rather than mileage. I have put a Dymo tape reminder of the date due on the dash. Ii might be possible to adjust mileage and days to service using VCDS but I can't be bothered to try.