Volkswagen of Downtown L.A. - Service Center

★☆☆☆☆ – Worst Service Experience at VW DTLA I brought my car in for a routine 20K mile service and left feeling frustrated, disappointed, and taken advantage of. I’ve been a loyal VW customer for years a my car in for a routine 20K mile service and left feeling frustrated, disappointed, and taken advantage of. I’ve been a loyal VW customer for years and previously appreciated the dealership’s professionalism — but this was by far the worst service experience I’ve had. Poor communication: I dropped the car off at 10am and was told it would be ready in about 4 hours. After more than 5 hours of waiting nearby, I couldn’t get anyone on the phone. I finally reached a rep just before 6pm — right as the shop was closing. If he hadn’t agreed to stay an extra 30 minutes, I would’ve been stranded in DTLA. Not a single update throughout the day. Sloppy work: During AC service, they failed to reinstall the media system properly. There’s now a visible gap in the center console — about the thickness of two stacked credit cards. It wasn’t like that before. Tire upsell pressure: I came in with a nail in one tire. Instead of offering to repair or replace that tire, they insisted I replace all four due to age — claiming they were 5 years old. I bought the car new in mid-2020. A local garage repaired the tire for $25 and confirmed the others were in excellent shape. Questionable battery replacement: I was told the battery “failed their tests,” yet no one could explain what that meant. I’ve never had any battery issues whatsoever. Overpriced AC diagnostic: I paid nearly $300 just for a diagnosis, and was told the condenser was leaking and needed replacement. A trusted local mechanic diagnosed it for free and quoted $400 less for the exact same job. Unnecessary part replacements: As part of the standard service, they replaced perfectly functional parts like the windshield wipers — without consulting me. Software update ignored: I specifically requested the latest over-the-air software update to be installed. It was completely overlooked. In total, they attempted to upsell me on nearly $4,000 in service — for a car with just 20,000 miles and no accident history. That’s about 1/7th of the car’s total value, which is completely unreasonable. Bottom line: My car is now in worse shape than before I brought it in. I wasted an entire day and left with zero trust in VW DTLA. I will not be returning. I still believe Volkswagen makes amazing cars for the value. That said, I strongly recommend finding a trusted local garage — one that relies on word of mouth and long-term relationships. They won’t try to maximize short-term profit at your expense, and they’ll only recommend the repairs you actually need. More