Post Falls Volkswagen — Local services in Post Falls

Poor service and lack of support after the sale

We have purchased 10 Volkswagen car’s and SUV’s over the last 4 years. We love the engineering that goes into Volkswagen's vehicles. However, I would not buy again from Post Falls Volkswagen based on their poor vehicle service and lack of support after the sale. My most recent examples include:

• Example 1: Purchased a new Volkswagen Touareg in December of 2016. In late January, the A-Frame trim piece that houses an air bag began pulling away from the headliner (approx. 1") gap. Concerned, we called and made a service appointment at Post Falls Volkswagen. We took our Touareg in for service on Friday February 3rd.

They inspected the trim piece and mounting mechanism, but where not able to fix it. They informed us that they would need to order a replacement trim piece and that it should be in within a week. We waited a week (we received no follow up call). We waited a month (we received no follow up call). My wife was getting more and more concerned with the airbag going off or being compromised as the gap between the trim piece and the headliner kept getting larger.

After waiting for 7 weeks with no follow up and (2) non-returned calls, we called another Volkswagen dealer. They ordered the part, set the expectation that it would take approx. 5 days to receive the part, called on the 4th day stating that the part had come in and they were able to get our Touareg in the shop the next day to replace our A-frame trim piece.

• Example 2: Following the heavy rains, my wife noticed that her Touareg was running rough. I began inspecting the engine compartment and noticed that there was 2" of water in the air cleaner box. I had never seen this before on any vehicle. I replaced the wet air filter and we called Post Falls Volkswagen and made an appointment to have our car inspected for the root cause on why there would be water getting into the air cleaner box.

We brought our Touareg in for the appointment on Saturday (3/25) and their service manager and parts professional where baffled and unable to diagnose the root cause. They asked us to make another appointment. Lesson learned, we called the same Volkswagen dealer that had fixed our Touareg’s A-frame trim piece previously. They were able to diagnose and resolve the issue in under an hour.

Buyer beware. When you buy a car, you are making a major investment. You are going to want to purchase your vehicle from a dealer that will provide service and support after the sale. This is not Post...

Update: see below for my crazy repair story... The update is that called recently after my ac started acting up. Told before I had 12months or 12k mile warranty. I called to confirm. Service guy said correct but he double checked with parts guy.. comes back and says 6months on that part cause it's from Spalding. I'm at 7months from their repair and have issues.

I will try to be objective as possible. We brought our car in with a metallic grinding noise. At drop off I informed them it may be AC related, but not sure. They charged $130ish for diagnostic. They stated it was the alternator. They let me get an aftermarket alternator and they installed it ($800 total without diagnostic, $300ish labor). Drove it home, grinding noise persisted. Returned to shop, they heard the noise as well again. They then proceeded to diagnose it was the AC compressor after using a stethoscope. One would think if customer indicated possible AC they at least would look at that during diagnostic, even with bad alternator. Discussion with the tech advisor, he stated well weather is getting colder you sure you want to look to fix this. Did not call back with price of fix either and when discussed that they missed diagnostic it, he stated and I quote "I don't see we did anything wrong, the alternator needed replacement". I informed him I did not come into shop for battery dying or alternator it was for the noise. He dismissed me and indicated nothing else he can do. After getting off the phone, I called service manager, whom sweet talked me. Very friendly and stating they will make it right. Found a used AC unit to save money and indicated he would discount the labor. ONE POSITIVE, they did give me a loaner car. After getting final bill (another $1100), I noticed they charged me another 600$ in labor cost. I was mad and professionally let the manager know. For them to diagnose my car noise and fix was approx $2000!! I would not recommend this shop for diagnostic. Maybe routine stuff MAYBE. Also, I hope they read this. My wife and I have been saving to purchase ID buzz for 2024 anticipating price tag around 70k and this location will not get that sale. Probably would have if I wasn't charged another profit of 600 labor. Thanks for "making things right" after...

Hope whoever has to read this at your Friday meeting is a quick reader =P

Let me start off by saying that I have never bought a car from a dealership before. I've always had family hand-me-downs from grandparents and parents. I also don't have great credit because I've never had a credit card, nor have I had a loan on something like a car, obviously. So, going into this whole thing not knowing what to expect and hearing peoples horror stories of their experiences at dealerships made me so nervous. Well, let me tell you, those people with horror stories obviously didn't shop for their car at VW Post Falls. I parked my car, got out, and was immediately greeted by Terry and we chatted for a minute before we got to it and he asked me what I was looking for. I told him I had seen a used 2017 VW Jetta online that I really liked, so he showed me to it and took a test drive immediately. When we got back to the dealership, I told him my situation (no experience buying from dealership, bad credit, etc.) and we sat and chatted about my options. He told me how him and many other people that come through there were in similar situations and he assured me he would do everything he could to get me into the vehicle I wanted. Now, I know my situation isn't ideal when it comes to getting me a loan, but regardless, Terry and Robert made it their mission that day to see me leave with that car and a smile on my face, and after a couple hours of Robert making call after call (again, my situation made this thing take a while, it was in no way VW's fault) trying to get me the loan, we got the deal done and I shook their hands and took my beautiful new (to me) ride home. When I started my day of car shopping, I expected to have to go to multiple different dealerships, and possibly having to settle on something I really wasn't that fond of because of my situation, I never expected to walk in, tell them exactly what I wanted, and walk out with it, but that's exactly what happened here. They gained a customer for life with their hard work and diligence. Thank you again...