Goodwill Contribution

[scottishcammy]

Folks, my steering rack has an internal failure and I'm going to have to replace it.

 

Unfortunately, the warranty ran out on my VRS in December. I've contacted SKODA, who have offered to pay for 20% as a goodwill contribution, and are awaiting my thoughts. Obviously they would need to carry out their own diagnosis first (so don't know what their price for the job would be)

 

What I'd like to have is some kind of position to bargain from to try and increase their contribution.

To do this, it would be helpful to have some knowledge of other folks experience and what the amount of their contribution was.

Obviously, if others have received more in similar circumstances, then it may increase the chances of me asking / receiving more by using those examples.

 

This is the invoice from the independent VAG specialist:

 

 

 

This is the email from SKODA:

 

"Good afternoon Mr XXX,

 

Sorry to hear you have issues with your steering rack.

 

Having checked the criteria for a goodwill contribution for your vehicle, I can offer 20% towards the repair.

 

We would need to carry out a diagnosis to confirm the fault before we could take this forward.

 

Please advise me of your thoughts.

Regards, 

 

XXX    MIMI  CAE

 

Warranty Executive"

 

Cheers folks.

[baptistsan]

Surely a steering rack shouldn't fail after 4 years?

[scottishcammy]

You'd think so mate, you'd think so, in fact, not even 4 years yet. Only 41,000 miles too. I'm slightly *issed off!

Edited 14 August, 2015 by scottishcammy

[DanGray]

If it was me I would ring skoda customer care and ask for them to pay, I just had all the rust sorted on my 2007 vrs for free, that involved full respect of the car basically

[petrolbloke]

Sale of goods act?

 

I think you could reasonably expect a steering rack to last more than 4 years/40k miles. Most probably last 10 years/100k miles or more.

 

Is there anything else that could have contributed to the failure like damaged tie rod boots or driving on bumpy roads that would put more stress through the rack? Also how has the specialist determined it's definitely the rack? Sounds can travel. Have the inner tie rods/rod ends ever been changed?

 

Did you buy the car new or used?

 

Will Skoda inspect it for free?

 

Good luck

[scottishcammy]

Hi,

 

I bought it second hand, one previous owner, full Skoda service history.

It had 20,000 miles on the clock when I bought it, and I've only ever driven it on A and B class roads, no bumpy roads, never kerbed, never hit a pot hole.

 

In terms of tie rods / boots / the garage said every other part of the suspension was fine. Nothing has ever been changed that I'm aware of.

 

The technician said the sound was definitely coming from the steering rack, and that's the second independent garage I've taken it to that's given the same answer.

 

Not sure about the free inspection, will need to check that.

[meta55b]

So there's a good chance the previous owner could have banged of a kerb, had the tracking done.

[Brimma]

Amazed that you've managed to drive 21000 miles in the UK and never hit a pothole, you must be in a unique position for that claim to fame

[scottishcammy]

Ha! Obviously I'm talking about fairly high speed / large potholes.....Just a combination of being careful and only ever using pretty much the same roads, none of which have potholes.

 

The mechanic reckoned if the previous owner had (ultimately) caused the damage by hitting a kerb or some kind of other trauma sufficient to cause a failure, I would have noticed it before driving over 20,000 miles.

 

I'm no mechanic, so can only go by what they're telling me.

[scottishcammy]

Has anyone here ever had a 100% contribution out of warranty? I'm wondering how that conversation went!

[baptistsan]

If it was me I would ring skoda customer care and ask for them to pay, I just had all the rust sorted on my 2007 vrs for free, that involved full respect of the car basically

This. Tweet Skoda UK, I had no luck with the rust on mine until I did this. Even now I'm still fighting to get panels sorted, but letting the world know about their shoddy treatment of customers certainly made them pay a little more attention.

[scottishcammy]

Good idea mate, I'll give that a go!

[scottishcammy]

Here's the link to the tweet folks, would be really helpful to getting something positive if you guys could comment & share?

 

Thanks in advance, and great idea baptistan!

 

https://twitter.com/TaitCammy/status/632503681787797504

Edited 15 August, 2015 by scottishcammy

[scottishcammy]

Interesting, a chap on another forum just posted this:

 

"More on this...........I don't want to cast aspersions on your Indie, but I just called my parts supplier and a replacement rack is £218 + Vat to me. So I'd sell it at c£450-500. £1340 fitted means £900 in labour with a typical indie charging £70-75 per hour?

The Octavia rack is two parts - the mechanical part (worm gear etc) and the electric motor. If the noise from your is in the rack, it can only be the mechanical part? I wonder if your indie and main delaer are quoting for a replacement motor as well?..............."

[scottishcammy]

I didn't realise the rack came in two parts

[scottishcammy]

Ok, update:

 

The tweets worked well, got loads, and received a phone call from their customer service this morning. She said they'd make a goodwill offer once the fault had been diagnosed by the Skoda garage. Annoyingly, she wouldn't budge of a free diagnosis, even if the diagnosis is a confirmed failure of the rack (it's £95), which means I will have paid three bloody garages for the same diagnosis, all telling me the steering rack is knackered.

The car is booked in for the diagnostic at West End Skoda in Endiburgh on Monday. 

 

While this was all going on, the West End dealers offered me 20% as a goodwill gesture, and have said that's absolutely non-negotiable.

Their reasoning being;

the car has a full Skoda service history.....except for the last service, which I had done at Autohaus Edinburgh (an approved VAG indie garage), who stamped my book accordingly.

Because that service was done at an independent, the chap at West End says he can't go above 20%, and it's non-negotiable.

 

To be honest, I'm a bit ****ed off as all the servicing has been done at Skoda, bar the last one, and it's hardly a cowboy garage that did it! The servicing will have been done properly.

The car is three years old, a few months past it's warranty, has 41K and all, bar one, a skoda main dealer service history. It's not like it's 2 years ou tof warranty with no service history...

 

We'll see what happens once it's been diagnosed at the Skoda garage. I certainly would like, and feel as a customer deserve, more than 20% but I'm not getting the impression they're up for any movement on that.

[scottishcammy]

Autohaus have been excellent in their communication and they seem very decent. This is the breakdown they gave me:

 

"the steering rack comes as a complete unit, with the electric motor attached, it also doesn't come with tie rods or track rod ends so they were also in the quote which ive listed below

 

steering rack                         £852.61

tie rods an dtrack rod ends     £67

labour                                  £270

 

total including vat                 £1427.53

 

its 6 hours labour to do the job, ive confirmed with the trade parts centre that it is a complete unit and ive attached the parts illustration so you can see for yourself, the tie rods and track rod ends are serviceable so we could reuse them if you wanted but not a great saving, I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any other questions at all? the price above is for the original equipment rack"

 

Here's the parts illustration he's talking about

 

[scottishcammy]

Assuming it is the rack, this is what the Skoda garage quoted when I asked them:

 

"...your servicing at Autohaus is irrelevant as regards any goodwill contribution offered by Customer care. 

 

Autohaus are correct, you do not need to have your vehicle serviced with a main dealer to keep your manufacturers warranty valid. 

 

Now your vehicle is out of warranty and we are dealing with goodwill which is different. One of the criteria looked at when offering goodwill is - has the vehicle been serviced in the dealer network, which in your case is no.

 

Costing of this repair is difficult at this stage until we determine exactly what parts are required, (the steering rack comes without the arms and ends etc and if they have not failed then we cannot replace them as part of the goodwill contribution).

 

With that said and the Autohaus diagnosis is correct, ( which I have no reason to disbelieve). I would assume that you will only need the main rack body.  the cost to you with your 20% discount included would be £1041.71 including part, labour and VAT + the diagnosis charge of £90, would bring a grand total of £1131.71. 

 

Without the discount: £1527.37"

[baptistsan]

This treatment of customers by Skoda really ****es me off. What difference does 1 service make re. the failing of your steering rack? FA in my opinion. A steering rack shouldn't be failing in this sort of time frame.

Love how Skoda want to be viewed as a more premium brand yet aren't willing to treat their customers in a premium manner.

[Simon TDI Sport]

At the Op have you tried getting autoexpress magazine involved? Worth a try.

[scottishcammy]

I haven't mate, will give that go though. Pretty hacked off with their manner / 'this is non-negotiable' stance before we've even started talking. Looking like I'm going to have to shell out over a grand :-(

[Jevpls]

Probably it's similar in every country. Official dealers want to deal with you but they cost way too much and you try to find some cheaper garages. If something happens then it's "well, sir, but you weren't servicing in our office and we are very sorry to say  - f**k off".

 

I can tell how these things happen in my country (probably it's the same not only with Skoda but with most of the cars). If you wish to have the warranty (most of the people wish that, of course) then you have two ways - the official dealer or some independent garage. The 2nd choice is cheaper but in case something goes wrong, warranty things might go not the easiest way. For example, if there's something wrong with engine (or other rather expensive repair) they can start finding excuses to do the work. They might blame the other service for filling a wrong oil or stuff like that. Sure, you can go to the court but it takes time but you can't wait with a broken car for years. Larger companies often choose independent services because they have a lot of cars and: 1) their savings on maintenance are large enough; 2) they are serious enough to withstand the car dealer.

Such bad things happen not always but I've heard some bad stories.

 

Do you get any benefits from servicing at the dealer? Well, they say that in such case you got some discount for labour and parts in future (by the way, most of the people choose different garage after warranty expires - simply because of lower prices). They said that this discount is up to 30% or so (see the highlight ). When I changed my flywheel then it (the most expensive thing) had only 10% discount but the bolts or bolt nuts had a nice 30% discount...

 

Haven't heard about such thing about a goodwill here.

Edited 18 August, 2015 by Jevpls

[dunc69]

scottishcammy,

I had the exact same thing on a 2005 Golf GTI when it was 5 years' old with about 50k on the clock. Probably the same rack too.

I was the second owner. It was the second new rack the car had required - i.e. it needed its third rack.

The cost was £1400. I fought hard for several weeks with dealer, VW UK and VW. They started off saying 10% goodwill. This quickly became 20%.

I eventually managed to get a 90% contribution, leaving me with £140 to pay. This was, as far as I remember, 50% from the factory, 20% from VW UK and 20% from the dealer. The dealer contribution was a surprise because they had only serviced the car once, it having been serviced at another VW dealer up to that point.

I guess my message would be keep fighting, but remain fair and polite at all times. As soon as you start threatening this or that, you may get their backs up and make your fight harder than it needs to be.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Dunc

[Sarge]

Interesting re. the steering rack - a mate of mine with a Q7 had to replace his a couple of years ago and he's recently sold the car because the second was beginning to go the same way.

[scottishcammy]

It's quite handy, there's this steering rack issue, the road tax is now due, I need three new tyres and it's just due it's first major service.

Knocking on 2 grand as it stands....Well chuffed!