shirudell
28-08-2003, 14:17
Just had a third very frustrating call with SEAT UK Customer 'Care' about a problem I have with my Leon (Imported January 2001).
Over the past 6 months or so the leather seat cover of my drivers seat has been getting very stretched and also cracked slightly. I am not a 20 stoner or anything! - just normal build and don’t have a particularly strange shaped bum so went to my local dealership - Castlegate in Norwich to get them to have a look, (This is not a complaint against Castlegate - who have been very good and very helpful at times with warranty issues on my car).
Castlegate arranged to replace the seat cover under the two year warranty. Great I thought, very helpful.
The part came in and I was called to arrange the fitting. When I went back to collect the car, immediately when I opened the drivers door I could see the new seat base cover did not match the rest of my interior. I don't mean is was slighlty differently patterned or anything, is was very different. The leather interior of my car is all shiny black leather, and has always been since new. It's always been looked after, and I have used a specialist leather treatment on it every six months which protects it against UV etc.
The replacement cover was a dark grey in colour compared to the rest of my interior, and has a very mat appearance. Clearly, I thought, the wrong part. I returned to the dealership and they checked the database of parts and confirmed it was the correct part listed, and suggested I call SEAT UK Customer ‘Care’.
I did this, and spoke to a chap called Toby. He was very helpful and agreed to call Castlegate to check on the part and investigate if there was an alternative. So far so good, I was impressed at this point with the service.
However, I received a call back from Toby a couple of times to confirm that he was was still looking into the issue, before finally a call came from him, to tell me that the leather seat cover was correct and that the difference in colour was due to ‘normal wear and tear’ on the vehicle interior. To clarify things, I explained that my car was only 15 months old, and that most of the time I was the only occupant and that all of the rest of the leather interior was uniformly the same and quite different from the new seat base, ie. Gloss black, not matt grey. Toby insisted that the difference was down to normal wear and tear. Eventually it was agreed that I should take the car back to the customer service manager at Castlegate for him to look at the seat and report back to SEAT UK. Straight after getting off the phone I did this, and the customer service manager at Castlegate looked at the seat base and agreed with me that it looked different from the rest of the car interior. I left it with him as Toby at SEAT UK had said he would call him to discuss the problem later.
This was early August, and yesterday (27th) I got a message from Toby stating that the seat cover was the correct part and that the rest of my car’s leather interior had worn and so didn’t match the new part. I phoned straight away and again stated that this was not in fact true! How could, in fact, the rest of the leather in my car, and Toby was insistent it would all have worn equally, have worn in such a way that it was all exactly the same, under the seats, the seat backs, the bits hidden behind the parcel shelf, the rear seats (hardly sat on) etc, all exactly the same colour and gloss finish! I don’t know if anyone out there agrees with me but I thought this sounded pretty ridiculous! Toby was insistent and stated that SEAT UK could do nothing about the problem. I said to him that as far as I was concerned it was still a problem to be solved by SEAT under the warranty, and that I would seek to take action in court if SEAT didn’t fix the problem. This seemed to be the only way to get anywhere, and Toby said he would arrange to get a SEAT inspector to look at my car
I don’t want my car to have a mis-matched leather interior due to failure by SEAT UK to replace any faulty parts with similarly finished parts. It is so obvious that when I come to sell the car I would have to explain it to any potential buyer! Why should I lose some of the value of my car because this is SEAT’s problem under the terms of their warranty!
Incidentally, despite clearly agreeing that the seat base was faulty – ie faulty material, and replacing it, and then verbally confirming the SEAT warranty for 2 years against faulty materials or workmanship, SEAT UK Customer ‘Care’ tell me that there is no proper and complete warranty document available, and that none exists within SEAT as a company. I asked them for a copy of the warranty terms and conditions as all that comes with the car is about half a page in the owners manual, and a Customer ‘Care’ manager told me that SEAT did not have such a document, it didn’t exist. Sorry, but this must be complete BS. The dealerships have warranty documents clearly defined, but in the case of Castlegate they say it is all computer based and they are unable to provide me with a copy. Fair enough I thought, and contacted SEAT UK as advised only to get the response outlined above.
When I spoke to a customer ‘care’ manager at SEAT UK today all I got was the same line being spun by Toby, that the new seat cover didn’t match because the rest of my car interior had suffered wear and tear. Eventually the lady I spoke to agreed that she couldn’t comment specifically on my car as she had not seen it, good I thought, we’re getting somewhere, but then the conversation went something like this;
28th August, phone conversation extract 13:45.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Obviously I cannot comment specifically on your vehicle, sir, as I have not seen it, but I’ll tell you what I can do.
Me: Good, thank you.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Leather is a natural product and it always varies.
Me: Yes, I agree, but SEAT should be able to match materials for the period of the warranty, and if this means holding some spare parts for upholstery then this is was SEAT should do.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Leather is a natural product and it always varies.
Me: Yes.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: The interior of your car will have faded due to sunlight.
Me: Erm, including the bits underneath the seats?
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: All the interior will be subject to wear and tear , Mr Berry, and will fade from sunlight, and this is why the new seat cover does not match.
Me: Sorry, but how can the bits of leather interior that are underneath the seats, behind the parcel shelf, in between the rear seats, all out of the sunlight, have faded. The interior has not faded at all. It is a black leather with a gloss finish and the new part is dark grey and mat!
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Mr Berry, please let me finish…The interior of your car will have faded due to normal wear and tear, and…
Me: Can you please accept that this is not the case, and that the customer service manager at Castlegate SEAT has looked again at the seat cover and reported back to SEAT UK that it is different from the rest of the interior
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Mr Berry, please let me finish…I’m trying to help you, if you let me finish. The interior of your car will have faded due to normal wear and tear…
Me: Please stop repeating yourself. The interior has not worn. The new seat cover is different, please tell me what you can do about that without continuing to repeat that my car’s interior has faded due to wear and tear. It hasn’t. You just said yourself you could not comment on my car specifically as you hadn’t seen it.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Mr Berry, please let me finish…The interior of your car will have faded due to normal wear and tear, and…
At this point, I’m afraid to say I cut the connection. I had remained polite and not raised my voice or been abusive but listening to this repeated drivel was really getting on my nerves!
So now I am waiting. In my last conversation with Toby he said he would arrange for a SEAT inspector to look at my car. I have already had three visits to the dealership (24 mile round trip each time) and feel like SEAT are trying to squeeze out of this problem. As far as the warranty goes I don’t think I should accept the repair if it is not as good at the original. Surely SEAT should either come up with the correct part or replace the rest to match – I am not angling for this – there is nothing wrong with the rest of my leather interior and I prefer the glossy finish. I wonder now if I should have just put up with a the creased and cracked drivers seat base cover and not started this process at all!
Over the past 6 months or so the leather seat cover of my drivers seat has been getting very stretched and also cracked slightly. I am not a 20 stoner or anything! - just normal build and don’t have a particularly strange shaped bum so went to my local dealership - Castlegate in Norwich to get them to have a look, (This is not a complaint against Castlegate - who have been very good and very helpful at times with warranty issues on my car).
Castlegate arranged to replace the seat cover under the two year warranty. Great I thought, very helpful.
The part came in and I was called to arrange the fitting. When I went back to collect the car, immediately when I opened the drivers door I could see the new seat base cover did not match the rest of my interior. I don't mean is was slighlty differently patterned or anything, is was very different. The leather interior of my car is all shiny black leather, and has always been since new. It's always been looked after, and I have used a specialist leather treatment on it every six months which protects it against UV etc.
The replacement cover was a dark grey in colour compared to the rest of my interior, and has a very mat appearance. Clearly, I thought, the wrong part. I returned to the dealership and they checked the database of parts and confirmed it was the correct part listed, and suggested I call SEAT UK Customer ‘Care’.
I did this, and spoke to a chap called Toby. He was very helpful and agreed to call Castlegate to check on the part and investigate if there was an alternative. So far so good, I was impressed at this point with the service.
However, I received a call back from Toby a couple of times to confirm that he was was still looking into the issue, before finally a call came from him, to tell me that the leather seat cover was correct and that the difference in colour was due to ‘normal wear and tear’ on the vehicle interior. To clarify things, I explained that my car was only 15 months old, and that most of the time I was the only occupant and that all of the rest of the leather interior was uniformly the same and quite different from the new seat base, ie. Gloss black, not matt grey. Toby insisted that the difference was down to normal wear and tear. Eventually it was agreed that I should take the car back to the customer service manager at Castlegate for him to look at the seat and report back to SEAT UK. Straight after getting off the phone I did this, and the customer service manager at Castlegate looked at the seat base and agreed with me that it looked different from the rest of the car interior. I left it with him as Toby at SEAT UK had said he would call him to discuss the problem later.
This was early August, and yesterday (27th) I got a message from Toby stating that the seat cover was the correct part and that the rest of my car’s leather interior had worn and so didn’t match the new part. I phoned straight away and again stated that this was not in fact true! How could, in fact, the rest of the leather in my car, and Toby was insistent it would all have worn equally, have worn in such a way that it was all exactly the same, under the seats, the seat backs, the bits hidden behind the parcel shelf, the rear seats (hardly sat on) etc, all exactly the same colour and gloss finish! I don’t know if anyone out there agrees with me but I thought this sounded pretty ridiculous! Toby was insistent and stated that SEAT UK could do nothing about the problem. I said to him that as far as I was concerned it was still a problem to be solved by SEAT under the warranty, and that I would seek to take action in court if SEAT didn’t fix the problem. This seemed to be the only way to get anywhere, and Toby said he would arrange to get a SEAT inspector to look at my car
I don’t want my car to have a mis-matched leather interior due to failure by SEAT UK to replace any faulty parts with similarly finished parts. It is so obvious that when I come to sell the car I would have to explain it to any potential buyer! Why should I lose some of the value of my car because this is SEAT’s problem under the terms of their warranty!
Incidentally, despite clearly agreeing that the seat base was faulty – ie faulty material, and replacing it, and then verbally confirming the SEAT warranty for 2 years against faulty materials or workmanship, SEAT UK Customer ‘Care’ tell me that there is no proper and complete warranty document available, and that none exists within SEAT as a company. I asked them for a copy of the warranty terms and conditions as all that comes with the car is about half a page in the owners manual, and a Customer ‘Care’ manager told me that SEAT did not have such a document, it didn’t exist. Sorry, but this must be complete BS. The dealerships have warranty documents clearly defined, but in the case of Castlegate they say it is all computer based and they are unable to provide me with a copy. Fair enough I thought, and contacted SEAT UK as advised only to get the response outlined above.
When I spoke to a customer ‘care’ manager at SEAT UK today all I got was the same line being spun by Toby, that the new seat cover didn’t match because the rest of my car interior had suffered wear and tear. Eventually the lady I spoke to agreed that she couldn’t comment specifically on my car as she had not seen it, good I thought, we’re getting somewhere, but then the conversation went something like this;
28th August, phone conversation extract 13:45.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Obviously I cannot comment specifically on your vehicle, sir, as I have not seen it, but I’ll tell you what I can do.
Me: Good, thank you.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Leather is a natural product and it always varies.
Me: Yes, I agree, but SEAT should be able to match materials for the period of the warranty, and if this means holding some spare parts for upholstery then this is was SEAT should do.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Leather is a natural product and it always varies.
Me: Yes.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: The interior of your car will have faded due to sunlight.
Me: Erm, including the bits underneath the seats?
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: All the interior will be subject to wear and tear , Mr Berry, and will fade from sunlight, and this is why the new seat cover does not match.
Me: Sorry, but how can the bits of leather interior that are underneath the seats, behind the parcel shelf, in between the rear seats, all out of the sunlight, have faded. The interior has not faded at all. It is a black leather with a gloss finish and the new part is dark grey and mat!
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Mr Berry, please let me finish…The interior of your car will have faded due to normal wear and tear, and…
Me: Can you please accept that this is not the case, and that the customer service manager at Castlegate SEAT has looked again at the seat cover and reported back to SEAT UK that it is different from the rest of the interior
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Mr Berry, please let me finish…I’m trying to help you, if you let me finish. The interior of your car will have faded due to normal wear and tear…
Me: Please stop repeating yourself. The interior has not worn. The new seat cover is different, please tell me what you can do about that without continuing to repeat that my car’s interior has faded due to wear and tear. It hasn’t. You just said yourself you could not comment on my car specifically as you hadn’t seen it.
SEAT UK Customer Care Manager: Mr Berry, please let me finish…The interior of your car will have faded due to normal wear and tear, and…
At this point, I’m afraid to say I cut the connection. I had remained polite and not raised my voice or been abusive but listening to this repeated drivel was really getting on my nerves!
So now I am waiting. In my last conversation with Toby he said he would arrange for a SEAT inspector to look at my car. I have already had three visits to the dealership (24 mile round trip each time) and feel like SEAT are trying to squeeze out of this problem. As far as the warranty goes I don’t think I should accept the repair if it is not as good at the original. Surely SEAT should either come up with the correct part or replace the rest to match – I am not angling for this – there is nothing wrong with the rest of my leather interior and I prefer the glossy finish. I wonder now if I should have just put up with a the creased and cracked drivers seat base cover and not started this process at all!