Volkswagen Reviews 

Mark, Service Manager, Cowfold Southern Motors Group West Sussex UK

Mark. The service guy at Cowfold, Southern Motors Group VW dealership.

I can't swear here I know.
But he is ace.

Fact.

Despite the challenges we have jointly faced with warranties and extended warranties and bits going wrong.

Mark is the best. Ever.

Fact.

Date of experience: 19 February 2025 and many other dates of experience during the last 2 years.

Dear Volkswagen Customer Service,

As acknowledged in your recent response to my complaint online, I am writing to formally outline my concerns regarding the app functionality associated with my vehicle. Despite my previous attempts to seek assistance, I have received unhelpful and inadequate responses from multiple departments, all included in this email. Nevertheless, I have decided to accept the invitation extended by your representative in the Apple review response.

I wish to highlight three key issues:

1. Lack of Clear Communication at Point of Sale

When I purchased my vehicle from West London VW in February 2022, the sales assistant failed to inform me that the app’s functionality would be subject to a subscription model and that access would be terminated after three years.

2. App Functionality and Ethical Concerns

The app provides basic functionality that is essential for day-to-day vehicle use. Many of its features—such as integration with home energy providers like Octopus to schedule off-peak charging should not be locked behind a paywall. This is particularly concerning as it directly impacts energy efficiency and cost savings for users.

3. Safety Concerns

The inability to manually adjust the vehicle’s charging current presents a serious safety risk. Previously, users could modify this setting, but now, without that option, the car may draw excessive power from a household electrical system, potentially leading to electrical faults. Restricting such a critical safety feature is unacceptable.

Additional Concerns

No other car manufacturer imposes a subscription fee for access to an app that controls basic vehicle functions. It is unclear why Volkswagen considers a charge of £90 per year reasonable for such fundamental features.

Furthermore, I am deeply dissatisfied with the handling of my complaint. My concerns were passed between departments, with customer services merely redirecting me to the app team, who then failed to respond appropriately. This lack of accountability has only exacerbated my frustration.

I feel completely let down by Volkswagen since purchasing my vehicle, and I intend to escalate this matter to the Motor Ombudsman. However, I am giving Volkswagen one final opportunity to address my concerns—without resorting to generic, templated responses.

I look forward to your prompt and meaningful resolution to this issue.

DISGUSTING AND INHUMANE

We had an agreement with volkswagen spread out for 4 years. After the first year of paying monthly our agreement was TERMINATED because of 1 MISSED PAYMENT.

WE WERE NOT INFORMED OF THIS!!!

The missed payment was no fault of our own! We had made a payment earlier than the usual payment date and they still took the payment on the usual date, and REFUSED to return it or amend our pay date! (After multiple phone calls asking them to do this due to getting paid 4 weekly!!!)

Letters were supposedly sent to our address along with phone calls dialed? I made a formal complaint and requested that they send proof of these so called "phone calls being attempted", no trace of emails or letters!!!

They are now taking the car back and selling it on auction and WE HAVE TO PAY THE DIFFERENCE???

Absolutely mortified with how much stress this has caused us. Driving a car without knowing your agreement has been terminated?

DO NOT GO WITH VOLKSWAGEN

READ THE FINE PRINT ON THE CONTRACT THAT STATES THEY CAN END THE AGREEMENT WHENEVER THEY WANT!!!

Appalled with this service. NEVER will I be going directly with volkswagen again.

Volkswagen Assist is rubbish.

Bought a Motablity car and oil sensor went off after 350 miles.

Got fobbed by Western Volkswagen.

Phoned up VW Assist (AA) and got fobbed off by them.

Volkswagen . Reading.

Purchased a touchup paint for my car at this dealership and I wanted to say how polite and helpful the salesman John was.

This Is what keeps the customers going back. 🙂

Brand new faulty Tiguan!

Case - 05494560

The car is currently in its 5th week this calendar year in the service centre trying to rectify multiple faults. These problems started within the first week of purchasing the car. This is the 5th time I’ve had to take it to the VW dealership and they still haven’t offered the car rejection or full refund. The car battery died overnight. SOS is a daily fault. Emergency stop happened on motorway causing a near death.

Sadly if I could give a 0 star I would.

I have been a customer of VW leasing for the past 7 years. My first car was returned with over 10,000 still left on the clock, was I offered a refund - No.

My most recent car was unfortunately 400 miles over, why? because I was a doctor working during the pandemic, covering sickness at many sites across London which unfortunately increased my mileage more than expected.

VW couldnt care less. I would imagine most would have been sat in offices or at home whilst many NHS healthcare staff were continualy putting their lives at risk to keep others safe.

I will add I was heavily pregnant at the time.

When I asked for some consideration due to these extenuating circumstances I have been told no, I should have checked my contract.

Sorry If I was a little busy at the time.

Terrible response VW.

I will definately avoid leasing from you again.

Volkswagen in Ruislip has excellent customer service especially from the receptionist, Marc and Richard amazing customer service from them they deserve a pay rise. Marc is very consistent and concise really tries to deal with the issue best way possible.

I thought I would update my previous VW. 1 star too many reviews from a few months ago.The" new" tiguian I bought was faulty from the first few weeks of delivery, not to bore you to tears with the details I had eventually to go to the ombudsman after the car was in local dealership for 10 weeks ,returned still faulty which they refused to accept, I had to get further diagnostic report via the AA and pass this via the ombudsman because once you get the ombudsman involved they will no longer speak to you !!!. The best of luck to anyone who has problems with VW ,Customer care,(based in South Africa Cape town to be precise) VW FINANCE and the VW dealership in Kirkcaldy who should been know as WE ONLY SELL CARS please don't trouble us.The whole event yes wait for it, 31st July take to dealership ,returned to me 16th October, car eventually taken back still faulty 8th of January as the ombudsman agreed with me and the car was "rejected" .VW you should think shame of yourselves.

Horrendous service from Volkswagen Newbridge. I don’t even think they deserve 1star. I’ve had my car in 4 times since October and something has went wrong every time. Absolutely no communication within the branch and also with myself. You can tell they are short staffed however this should not affect the quality of work or customer service. Even the service manager, Mark has no idea what is going on in his own workshop. After the last issue with my car I spoke with him and he gave me the wrong information about my car and his response was “oh, well that’s the last I’d heard and I’ve been busy the last hour” If you have an unhappy customer, I would expect the service manager to gather all information prior to speaking to me. I asked for the complaints procedure which he refused to give me and said he would send me an email before he left that evening…still waiting 2 days later.

I think it's not all about the dealership , this is my 2nd golf . Have the new 8.5 from Breeze Poole . Great service and nice people 10 out of 10 . Think they have out grown the site and need a proper hand over area . Mine was sat out in the car park in the rain . However not the end of the road . But the reason only 4 stars is simple if you get your car serviced at the dealer each year , VW should give you free media services instead of paying . You get 2 years free but as an incentive to use main dealer it would be a nice reward to staying loyal . These things make me think of staying loyal to the brand .

1 is too good for this shower. I have had 2 VW Passats brand new now. Both have broken down within the first couple of months of ownership. Tied with awful "support" or lack of! From both the brand and dealer, I will never get another!

Wrexham branch: I put a reserve on a car whilst waiting for insurance to pay out and they sold the car without informing me and have left me without a car and I’m going to lose my job as I cannot get to work. Apparently the reserve only holds a car for 24 hours but they do not tell you this when you reserve it. DO NOT fall for the reserve trick. They didn’t even send me my reserve money back until I requested it after they told me they sold the car. It happened over Christmas when they were closed and I was busy with my family. I now have no way of getting to work or taking my children to school. Iam up poo creak without a paddle. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Outstanding customer care and service. Altrincham Volkswagen are the gems of car dealers! I’m absolutely thrilled with my recent and first experience of buying a car with them. After having a horrendous experience with Vauxhall, I was finally being treated like a valued person with feelings and not an undervalued number. From the moment I received a phone call from Tony, then walking into the dealership, to the way I was approached by an amazing team whilst I was there, to literally just receiving a phone call to tell me my new car is ready, has been perfect, I’ve been so happy with the whole experience! Gareth the manager and the other team members were just so welcoming and understanding of my traumatised state from how I’d been treated by Vauxhall previously. Honestly they were so assuring, took time to listen and really did look after me. I will never go anywhere else! I’m truly grateful to them for finding me a car that suits my needs and lifestyle that was also affordable and I even get to keep the rubber ducks on the bonnet of my rubber duck yellow VW! :) I’m so excited to be apart of this new dealership, and a strong, caring team. They’ve gone beyond my expectations and I can’t recommend them enough! Thank you!

Bought an ID4 with the offer of a free Ohme Charger and installation. I had problems with the installation, despite Ohme approving it as a standard installation with no additional cost. The installer turned up late (19:00), could not fit charger as given wrong details about property, then company employing installer then said I had to employ a carpenter to lift floor boards if I wanted the charger installed.
Complained to Ohme, no response to date.
Contacted VW Customer Services to see if they could help. They are TOTALY DISINTERESTED and just referred me back to Ohme customer services. VW have presumably paid Ohme for the charger and installation. But it's my problem as far a VW are concerned.

Sold me a brand new 24 plate R line Tiguan when they were aware of issues with the model. I reported my issues after 2 months of having the car. They told me there is no update yet and to continue driving a dangerous car. Fobbed off every month. Told I was on a waiting list that didn’t exist. I asked to change my car to something else due to no update. Told no, I am in a contract and they are legally entitled to try to fix it once. Collected my car knowing there was no update but telling me there was. No update is available for Tiguan r line. It has been confirmed by another manager. They knew this and still lied to me and took my car in.. Gave me a manual courtesy car of much less value but continued to take my £530pm payments for a faulty, unsafe car and have done this knowingly for 5 months. I have complained to finance who said they would call in 2 days. 3 weeks later I am no further on. Disgraceful company who will not help me but continue to take my money for a dangerous car that was sold to me faulty. I have written to the FCA and will take legal action. Do not purchase anything from Volkswagen and certainly not the inchcape Manchester branch
where they have caused this much personal, financial and emotional stress. It has been 5 months and I am no further on and still taking money!

I don’t usually post on things like this, but I thought it was important to share to hopefully help others avoid making the same mistake I did.
In August 2023 I purchased an approved used VW Tiguan from Marshalls VW in Aylesbury. Since purchasing the car, it has been the bane of my life……
VW approved used state on their website ‘We treat our Approved Used car buying experience with the same love and attention as buying a new car’. Unfortunately, in my case this simply wasn’t true.
To give you an idea of the level of hassle this car has caused in the last 12 months, so far I have replaced: The start / stop button, the rear window (demister not working), the centre console (cup holders not deploying), NSF wheel bearing, OSF wheel bearing, speed sensors and control unit on both front wheels.
Thankfully up until now this has been covered under warranty, however in October the vehicle developed yet another fault, a coolant leak coming from the Steel pipes connected to the engine block due to corrosion.
The pipes are in a terrible state, and they haven’t suddenly deteriorated over a 12-month period, this has been years in the making, it was missed on the ‘approved used’ check and missed in 2 separate services at the dealership (one as recent as August 24).
The cost to fix this issue £2.5k and the best bit is that VW are refusing to cover it under warranty as it falls foul of the terms and conditions.
To their credit Marshalls have offered a goodwill to reduce the price to £1.6k. However if I was told after buying a £20k car that you will need to spend another £2k in 12 months time to fix it, I definitely wouldn't have bought it!
If I had my time again, I would never have bought the car. I implore you don’t buy a used VW, you will spend more time repairing it than you will driving it.

When you are pulling your hair out because you can't find a honest and reliable car mechanic to fix your sensor mad vehicle. "There is a one stop answer"
Volks. I turned up with Audi A3 12 reg the dash lighting up like a firework display and a misfire. Went to another garage first, but was met with man dressed in oil stained trousers and t-shirt. I explained my problem, he said, " that is a massive issue could be a complete engine rebuild" shocked I asked for a cost, he said difficult to cost leave it with me, see what I can do. Then a mate said go to Volks they are the experts for Audi they will give you a price. The best advice I ever received in my life. I turned up, met Pete he was totally professional and very knowledgeable to my inquiries, he booked my car in for a diagnostic saying let's find out what is wrong then we can phone you with a price. The price was fair for the work involved. The car fixed the day, the service was exceptional, they even repaired an item that they found to be on its way out which would have failed at a later date, they didn't add this to the bill. They just repaired it I was so impressed.

I can highly recommend Volks they go the extra mile to ensure you car is repaired to the highest standards. Don't waste time looking for any other garage, go to Volks, you will not disappointed. GUARANTEED

I was so impressed

So in September I took delivery of a brand new 74 plate Golf 8.5 - dealership are amazing and everything good
3 days later I can’t get into the car as the car refuses to unlock
Eventually after VW roadside assistance attend we get in - close the drivers door and the back windows open on their own and car says “do not drive”
Leave it a few hours and all is fine
2 weeks later same thing happens in a supermarket car park !!! This time the car is towed back to my dealer
VW technical Milton Keynes advise my dealer to drive the car to try to replicate the fault - no fault happens
2 weeks later and the same thing happens again this time in a hospital car park!!! - on this occasion I had to climb through the rear doors to get into the front seat to open the door at the front for my passenger and me close drivers door and windows open on their own - press start and no do not drive so my dealer said to drive it - alarm light flashes the entire way home / heated seats and steering wheel on but not turned on by me / windows motors sound but not pressed/ start stop system does not work - car goes to the dealer again
Car is currently waiting a software update which is coming in Quarter 4 (so now) the factory in Germany closes for 2 weeks for Christmas so no hope of it being soon
In the time I’ve had the car I’ve actually had it 23 days !!!
VW Germany need to sort this bug fast - nobody in the factory cares and my car is not the only one apparently but still no fix time
Topping it all off I have to keep my payments up for a car I don’t have
The only people who care are the dealer but they can’t do anything without VW Germany releasing the software update and VW Executive office but again they need the fix from Germany
Germany are putting cars out there they know there is an issue with !!! Avoid the 8.5 Golf !!!

Messaged the new MD of VWUK on LinkedIn and again no response
Seems nobody actually cares about a £30,000 car that you can’t actually get into
So the January update is - should be before end of Q1 2025 (upto end of March) car is still with dealer so doesn’t feel like I own a brand new car at all but I’m still paying for the privilege- I have now given the brand until end of Jan then the car is being rejected
So end of January 2025 update (almost) car will be rejected finally this weekend
VW Finance are offering 50% off my 5 monthly payments back despite me paying each month in full for 5 months and me actually only having the car for 23 days in total since September whilst it awaits the software update
I’ve spoken to other VW dealers and they haven’t heard of this fault or know anything about it (no campaign I’m told by multiple dealers) meaning I’ve probably got unlucky with my car

Paint on new £60k VW California had pin head size bumps under the paint. VW Peterborough and VW CC said it was corrosion caused by a stone chip. Although not visible, VW said they took a microscopic photo, but were unable to show this to me and refused to cover under warranty. I had a paint shop remove the paint and no corrosion was present, a foreign object was under the paint causing the defect. VW have been totally unprofessional basing their theory on no evidence and speculation. In light of the new evidence and the lack of evidence on VW’s part, VW have been unwilling to engage or take any responsibility under a meaningless 12year paint warranty. As a devoted VW fan having been loyal to this brand for years, I’m am beyond disappointed.