Schumacher Volkswagen of West Palm Beach

This is from Oct 2006 and I had posted this on 1.8.org which had ratings for US based VW/AUdi dealers. Unfortunately the Website got taken down. Looking at the recent reviews of this dealership, I am gl which had ratings for US based VW/AUdi dealers. Unfortunately the Website got taken down. Looking at the recent reviews of this dealership, I am glad I haven't been back there in almost three years. They suck big time. I still wanted to post this and warn others about servicing your vehicle under warranty (outside warranty would be HELL) at Schumacher VW, West Palm Beach........ The driver side door handle on my passat was peeling off and i took it in. The service advisor mentioned that it would be replaced under warranty. One saturday afternoon, the car went in and when it came out, the job was a mess. There were MORE scratches on the handle than there were before besides the leather was sticking out from under the handle. The handle was not even fitted properly and i could look INTO the DOOR THROUGH the DOOR HANDLE. A very very shoddy job which stood out indicating how bad it was. Anyway the parts were reordered and i went into the wait mode again. In between, One of these days, i decided to clean up the car and here is what i noticed. There was a huge gap on the front passanger side door panel and the door towards the outer edge (where the physical lock is). It was big enough that i could actually look inside. My immediate thought was that this door panel was also removed.Shocked, i sent a email to service advisor expressing my dis-pleasure and the reason for opening it up. Long story short , dealer replaced the entire driver side door panel (took it from an existing car on the lot) as they were not comfortable (or competent) replacing the door handle only. As far as the passanger side door panel was concerned, i was told that the middle interior clip was broken and there was nothing they could do. What pissed me up was that the DAMAGE WAS ATTRIBUTED AS PRE-EXISTING. One of he SA told me that it was probably there when i took delivery of the car and i never noticed it. WTF. I have the car for almost a year and have cleaned/waxed in/out not to mention the delivery inspection i went through. During the time the car first went to this dealer for repair and the second time (4-5 weeks), it was in my garage most of the time and driven not more than 150 miles. Today morning, i checked the passanger side door panel and saw visible scratches on the bottom screws on the door panel. Earlier also on my first visit with this dealer (for creaks/groans), There were grease smudges on the passanger side door handle and the front passanger seat when i got it back. Then also the SA mentioned that it was PRE-EXISTING and they were not responsible. I am appalled at the callousness of the service at this VW dealership and just want to warn anyone in the area that if they ever take their car to this dealership, DO A MICROSCOPIC walk-thru of your car otherwise any mess they make WILL BE ATTRIBUTED TO A PRE-EXISTING condition and at your expense. Or better, take it elsewhere and save yourself a lot of grief. I have also filed a complaint with VWOA. More

Where to start? 1st Contact was Rob in Sales. Test Where to start? 1st Contact was Rob in Sales. Test drove TDI Sedan (amazing car!). Rob was OK, friendly, pretty knowledgeable. Rob knew I was drivin Where to start? 1st Contact was Rob in Sales. Test drove TDI Sedan (amazing car!). Rob was OK, friendly, pretty knowledgeable. Rob knew I was driving a Murano SUV, but he failed to tell me the TDI was available as a Wagon (VW says Wagen! LOL!), so -10 points, it required ANOTHER trip to them the next week (40 min drive each way) to look at it. Next Saturday (we both work) I called Rob and got the machine on both numbers. No dealership number on the Card (DUH!), had to look it up. (-2 Points) No Reply to messages. (-10 Points) Called dealer, got clueless guy who told me Rob was off for the weekend (no name, but was just not very friendly, I got the impression when he heard it was "Rob's Deal" he just wasn't interested). Said I could Test drive the TDI Wagen Sunday. 2nd Visit, not so smooth. Arrived about 2:30 PM. Walked in and NO one greeted us. We wandered for two or three mins, finally William Farmer, Sales Manager, approached us and asked if he could help us. We told him we were Rob's, but needed to test drive the Wagen. He looked around and said he was sorry but they were VERY busy and we'd have to wait. Got us water. (+ 1 Point) He went back to his office and left us sitting. (BTW - VERY busy meant TWO, yes, TWO customers in the Dealership!) I felt SO cared for. After ten mins he got a Sales guy from the HUMMER side to ferry us out to a secondary lot (had to DRIVE to it!) to look at their three wagens (all Black & Grey - we live in FL, that's NOT an option unless you like ovens). This guy didn't even know what the models were, kept taking us to the wrong models, WE had to show HIM the cars. No test drive offered. As soon as we indicated Black wasn't on our list, we were treated like a PROBLEM, not a customer. Back in the dealership, William looked up if he could get Red or Blue with the options we wanted. The whole time he kept telling us with his MOUTH that they'd take care of us, but his BODY language and attitude said we were just a bother. Very unfriendly and standoffish. NEVER did he offer to tell us about the car, offer a Test drive, or find us someone who knew ANYTHING. In the over TWO HOURS we spend in the dealership I saw him smile ONCE , when a joke was told and he HAD to socially. Hummer Guy (didn't get his name) came back with two sheets on cars (Red and White). White had NAV (which I wanted) and Sunroof (NOT wanted), Red was perfect, but no NAV. He kept telling us how HARD these were to get (code for "I sure ain't dealing none on price, ya'll"). Ummm, can you say 10 keystrokes on the computer? LOL! We left to ponder, drove almost home, decided on the Red and went back. 3rd Visit - REALLY not so great! When we came back, William got us Donna. Donna was a very friendly, old school sales person. Nice, but smoooooth. STILL no test drive offered. We sat down to "work the numbers". Took FOREVER. She kept leaving us to do things. While I paced around, I found William (the Sale MANAGER!) slouched on the couch in the waiting area WATCHING TV! This from a guy who is SO busy he can't discuss the car with us. UNBELIEVABLE! My guess is it’s below him to know, that’s what Sales people are for, at least that’s the attitude I got from him. We negotiated a price of $500 off the new, $14K on the trade. She shows us the contract and there's this little $659 Dealer fee (read PROFIT) that was NOT up for discussion. Leaves to check the trade. She came back from the "evail" on my trade (Fully Loaded, clean, NO problems, 52K over 4 yrs) which is selling for $18-20K locally, and offered us $1500 LESS as the best deal they could make. THAT PUT THE PRICE AT, GET THIS: MSRP, PLUS $659, AND MY CAR THEY STEAL FOR $13K !!!! My wife & I rose as one (not planned) and left. OUTRAGEOUS! (4:40 PM, over two hours of my life gone) Oh- and Mr William Farmer? Refused eye contact while we stormed out. Of course, they both called the next day and "apologized”, and "Oh I'm sorry for the misunderstanding" and "Well, talking with the PROPER appraiser, we can probably do a thousand more" and GET THIS - "That's not the way we like to do business ..." RIGHT! Ahhh, that IS the way you do business!!! You DID it that way you idiot! For the record - Called another dealer (Vista Motors - Pompano, FL), spend less than 15 Mins on the phone, got the SAME car for OVER $2000 less, no muss, no fuss, sight unseen. (Yes, I was STILL giving away my trade, but it was MY decision, not some made up fee). David Petrie at Vista is the BEST! Got the car in two days (Farmer told me 5), and was VERY helpful, and as friendly as they come. You go to Schumacher, be ready to be only a number. TERRIBLE customer service, they’re all about the money, you’re a bother. William Farmer would work for me for two days, then he’d BOUNCE as I threw him out my door. He should seek his career far from people, like on an oil platform in the Bering Sea. More