SEAT UK: for gods sake, where do I go next???

[Bunglebonce]

What’s my next move here???

September 2005 I took my car in to the dealers to get the brakes checked. They’d gone soft at the top of the pedal – this getting progressively worse over time.

Dealer couldn’t find a problem, but bleeding them firmed them up to the point where they were the same as when I had the car 11k before.

Rang SEAT UK to register the work and leave a comment on their file that it had been remedied but may come back over a period of time.

Over the next 18 months it did very gradually came back, to the point of annoyance and then the other day whilst on the M6, I stood on the brakes and they went very “vague” and pulled me towards the central reservation!

Not good I thought and a similar thing happened a few days later at lower speed when I approached some red lights and the wheel spun to the right in my hand.

Rang SEAT UK and they said take it in to the dealers.

Took it in to a different dealer and the foreman tech guy said they did feel soft etc and to leave it with them.

Got the car back, brakes bled, firm pedal again.

SEAT UK rang for follow up call and said was everything OK and I said “yes” as in the brakes were firm again and “no” as this clearly underlined there was a cause to this that manifested itself in soft brakes over a period of 10k or so.



They said there was no problem reported by the dealer.

I said there must be a problem otherwise the bleeding of them twice, would not have alleviated symptoms.

They said there wasn’t a problem.

I said there must be otherwise bleeding them wouldn’t have made any difference.

They said there was not problem etc etc etc.

So I said ok, when it appears again outside the warranty period, will you put it in writing that you will treat the issue as pr-existing and cover me.

SEAT UK will look favourably but will not guarantee that any corrective work will be non-chargeable outside the warranty period etc etc.




For god’s sake!

The mere fact that not once but twice, having had them bled resulted in the symptoms going away temporarily, must show that there is an underlying cause to this and further investigation is required!


Again. Where can I go from here???

 

[andycupra]

seat did a similair thing to me, car booked in under warranty, dealer orders parts, then goes bust.
dealer opens couple of weeks later.
seat warranty expires in the interim period. (buts thats ok theres another 12 month dealer warranty).
Dealer warrantywas then not honoured even though i have a receipt for it. ( and paid for it)
never mind, it was originally reported while in the full seat warranty...
do seat agree to repair? no.
they even said to me "why are you calling us? what do you want us to do about it?"
after much moaning and more phone calls they say ok get it done and we can talk about getting a good will gesture paid out.
do they make any payment? of course not, they even deny suggesting it.

however, there have been some on here who have had things done on good will.
so dont let my bitterness sway you...

 

[Bunglebonce]

That's exactly why I asked for some gesture of confidence in writing, but are they going to give it me?

Are they bol#*%ks

I realy sypathise.

I just want to know what the hell's causing it and then tell em to shove it!

 

[DeusEx]

Give them the oportunity to do the right thing then take them to court.

Hi,

I've been though a similar thing myself and to be frank it's a pain in the bum as it involves a lot of work.

• First of all, make sure you document everything - dates times and who said what.

• Next, always back things up in writing.

• Then, if the problem re-occurs, write to them again and give them the opportunity to do the right thing.

• If this doesn't work, find out who the UK CEO is and write directly to them (most companies have procedures to deal with high level complaints and this will very often do the trick).

If you still have no joy you have a few alternatives:

• First we have the press - try some of the motoring magazines as no one likes bad publicity + your fault is dangerous and they would love it (provided you survive).

• Another alternative is to take them to court.

• Also don’t forget Citizens’ advice + trading standards, they will let you know where you stand and may take the case on for you.

The key things to remember are: As I said above, write everything down, back everything up in writing + one more thing, know more about your rights than they do.

(The following link is a good start with regard to your rights:
http://www.compactlaw.co.uk/free_legal_information/consumer_law/consumer.html)


Finally, you can always sell the car.

As I said, a pain in the bum and takes a lot of time.

 

[Bunglebonce]

Thanks for your advise there Deus.

I'm on the right lines by the sounds of it - got trading standards lined up as a place to call, as will the citizens advice.

Will check the link out at lunch time - cheers


Incidentally, having said they'd phone back either Monday or Tuesday, guess what...

No phone call


Like I couldn't have guessed!

They'll regret this, I have an excellent track record of formal complains being upheld

 

[J500ANT]

Incidentally, having said they'd phone back either Monday or Tuesday, guess what...

No phone call

Did they say which Monday or Tuesday?


While our Leon was in bits at the dealer, SEAT UK closed its case as they assumed it'd been fixed......

By the weekend we're both going to be SEAT free and i'm looking forward to it! I thought smart dealers were bad (they are, some of them) but at least you dont have to book in 4 weeks ahead and when you have a breakdown they sort you out a car.

 

[Ant FR]

would it not make sense to cange the fluid completely with new fluid, and also check the full system for leaks.

 

[Bunglebonce]

Did they say which Monday or Tuesday?

No. They said it would either be Today (meaning Monday) or tommorrow (meaning Tuesday).

would it not make sense to cange the fluid completely with new fluid, and also check the full system for leaks.

As far as I'm aware, this has been done on both occassions as it's been put on the ABS machine whatever that is and the first dealer revised my brake fluid replacment schedule on that basis.


I dont get it.
If there was air getting in, then as you say fluid should be getting out shouldnt it

The only other thing I can think of is that the fluid's absorbing moisture from somwhere over a period of time, like say from a non airtight resovoir cap and thats causing the problems

 

[Bunglebonce]

Stop Press!!!

SEAT UK have just called me back and said they'll have the car in for further inspection of the brake components and sort out a courtesy car whilst its away!

What's going on here

 

[Tom B]

Maybe they read this thread!

 

[andycupra]

thing is they missed a trick when they re-bled the system. its hard to find a fault when it not currently faulty!
if they inspected it when it was soft they could have worked it out in no time.

 

[ZBOYD]

Maybe they read this thread!

They do, so very likely.

 

[DeusEx]

It's a nice thought that they would read the forums. Who knows with large corporates losing our attention with advertising and trying to get involved with "web 2.0"?

Is there anyone out there????………



Keep us posted Bungle mate I'd be very interested to see how it all works out.

 

[goble]

sounds to me like your master cylinder seals are faulty..
is it progerssively loosing fluid?
has the master been removed and checked for a leak into the servo??

 

[Bunglebonce]

Hi folks,

haven't had call back to book it in yet but I'll be patient


No it's not loosing fluid and as for them having checked any of the seals I'm not sure - but I doubt it.

I've read else where of seals causing similar problems but I still cant quite work out why it (the pedal) goes soft over a period of time

The way I see, there can only be two things causing it on the basis that bleeding them firms them up:

1. Air. This I assume must be displacing brake fluid to get in, so there should be a leak somewhere

2. Moisture. I believe brake fluid is hygroscopic i.e. it absorbs moisture in the air so if a small amount of water builds up in the system, when you brake hard, the water under immense pressure boils, turns to steam and then sh1ty pedal.

Point 2 doesn't however explain why its spongy generally.


Ah well, I'll keep everyone posted on this soap opera

 

[Poverty]

all the best mate, I love my SEAT and my dealers are good, but im not too sure about SEAT UK.

 

[Mr Cellotape]

If you sitll get no joy with this, speak to the dealer principle explain that you have had enough of this as they are not resolving the problem just sticking a band aid on it.

Then tell him that you are going to the motoring press with it and ask him for his email address so that you can copy him in.

Send an email to the what-car helpdesk [email protected] and copy the dealer principle in.

If that doesn't get them sorting this out double quick then nothing will.

 

[AwesomeSarah]

Hi
I worked at a Skoda dealer and I must admit SkodaUK was great with the customer care claims and goodwill gestures
I do know that SkodaUk do read the Briskoda forum
Also that means they get to see who has done what mods
To the extent that one guy I know got a call out of the blue from his local dealer saying his car is now not covered under warranty because of the mods he had done to it mmm steaming he was
So be carefull as I know that they do look
Hi SeatUK
Sarah

 

[lsw]

hi folks

i too have had a bad experience with my local dealer .....(coupers of st albans) pick car up waith paint defect ,which inspector said " must have left factory with" got repaired under warranty but i wasnt happy with ,in certain lights you can see the difference between the panels !!!!!,told seat uk ,then back & forth several times to dealer who are saying they are doing no more...........GREAT EH FLAGSHIP CAR AND ONE VERY UNHAPPY CUSTOMER................

fully understand why people are ppp....off with seat uk and the dealership network.

 

[flying custard]

Seat

Same here!

My Cupra R (54 Plate,which is much cherished and covered only19,000) had the clutch go in a big way whilst accelerating in first onto a dual carriageway,on Saturday the 12th of May, had the car recovered to my nearest dealer in Southend on the Monday, (won't mention the name, but if you live in Essex you will know who!)
They left it out in the street overnight until they could look at it on Wednesday,I rang them at 4pm to find out what was happening, Spoke to the guy in service and was told that the clutch had exploded and damaged the flywheel etc etc,
he stated that they would cover the cost of the flywheel under the warranty but nothing else! apparantly it was driver abuse! I've been driving for 20 plus years and never had a clutch fail. I said that there was no way I was paying for any of it due to the age mileage etc, he said he'd see what he could due.

Then about 5 mins later the service manager rang my wife (who I'd spoke to in the meantime) and told her that they were not paying for anything! I rang Seat cust services who said they would look into it for me.

After taking advice, I paid for the repair (to get my car back) £1100!!!!
and received a copy of the E-mail sent to Seat technical, which wasn't sent until 4.38pm which stated quote"the centre of the disc has been ripped out and I have told the customer that it is due to driver misuse of the clutch. is there any other reason this could have happened"
They replied, quote"We have reviewed the photos(VERY POOR QUALITY)and agree with your inital diagnosis assuming that a mechnical defect cannot be identified."
As far as Seat UK were concerned that was the end of it, they said that the technicans were trained and therfore no further inspection was needed!
They would not recognise a independent report or inspect it themselves. They said that it was a wear and tear part.

I have tried trading standards, Auto Express etc and got nowhere,
The car's now up for sale, a good car ruined by poor dealers/Seat UK