Joe Holland

                                                                                    P.O. Box 8536

                                                                                    South Charleston, WV  25303

 

 

5/9/03

 

On Thursday the 8th, yesterday, I dropped my 2001 TDI Jetta, off to get the oil change.  I change the oil every 7,500 miles and each time Star Motor in Clarksburg has done it.  I expect this car to last at least 10 years or 250,000 miles which ever comes later.  Whenever I need work done on the car, I always take it to a VW dealer because who else knows the car better then a VW dealership?

 

I picked up my car at 5:00 and before I left the lot, I checked the oil.  It was really high on the dip stick but I could not believe that a VW dealer will overfill the oil.  I just thought it was because the oil has yet to completely flow through the oil filter.  I decided to drive it to Circuit City and check it before leaving there.  I checked it, and I checked it again, then I checked it again because I couldn’t believe that a VW dealership did a sin regarding changing the oil – they overfilled it.  Now I could see a half a quart high, but this to me looked like a quart and a half to two quarts.  I went back inside of Circuit city and got a black piece of paper from a display printer and traced the oil dipstick and the level of oil.  This is actually the level of oil, not an exaggeration – however I wish it was.

 

By now it is 5:20 pm and I called Joe Holland.  The operator transferred me to your Lube place next to the stoplight.  They told me to come on down, and that they will fix it before they closed.

 

I pulled right into the left side stall and before the engine was off, the hood was up and Chris J. was looking under the hood.  By the time I got out of the car, Chris J. was checking the oil and said, “We did overfill you.”  He knew this because it was showing full oil before the oil even had a chance to drain into the oil pan.  It took a few minutes for Chris to get ready and in the mean time the other guy working whose name I did not get said, “Ya they overfilled you by at least a quart”.  If you have any questions, please talk to these individuals so that you will know that I am not pulling your chain.

 

They asked me if I had an invoice, which my reply was, “they usually mail that to me”.  The guys name who I did not get checked my windshield and noticed that there was no sticker saying when the oil was changed last.  We later figured that the VW Import Service Center changed the oil.  In addition to getting my oil changed, I wanted to get the fuel filter replaced, which is probably why it went over to the VW Import Service Center instead.

 

In the end, one thing that I can’t believe that I said was:  “I can’t believe I wasn’t there to watch them change the oil.”  This is the first time that I have gotten the oil changed and I was not there to watch them do it.  I turn my back one time by not being there and this happens.  People say I am an ass regarding this car, and I have to agree with them, however what should I do when a VW dealer cannot even do it right?  I expect something like this to happen if I took the car to a fast lube place or Wal-Mart, however I took the car to the dealer where professionals are trained and considerer themselves to a high standard then other mechanics.  For them to do something like this, at their professional level, I have to say this was gross negligence.

 

If someone did not check the oil, thus catching your mistake, and they drove the car 7,500 miles, I am sure the engine would have blown.  Then when the customer said to you, “I think you overfilled my oil”, I am sure that you would have said, “Surely not our people.”

 

 

Could I get these questions answered:

·         What the heck happened to get the oil overfilled by AT LEAST 1.5 quarts.

·         Did the mechanic who worked on the car think it was a gasoline version and placed regular oil in it? – that really scares me if he did.

·         Did I damage my Turbo Charger, Catalytic converter, engine seal, blow gaskets or anything else?  I drove the car 20 miles like this.  If this would have happened with a gasoline engine, then I would not be that worried about it but with the higher compression rate of the TDI engine, I just do not know.

·         Did the mechanic check the oil level after filling it back up and notice his error and say, “Who cares”?

 

I need to get the timing belt changed in 25,000 miles.  Could I be sure that you are competent and qualified to do this?  I now have my doubts since you messed up on such a thing as changing the oil.  I am planning to have a VW dealer do this because who else knows the car better then anyone else?  I do not mind paying more to have the dealership do something to my car then someone else because I live a better life by knowing it was done right, not halfassed.  Since leaving your shop, I have listened extensively to the way car sounds, is the engine rattling, running louder, does the turbo charger sound right, is it handling right, is it burning oil, is the acceleration still there?  I even checked to see if there was oil in my radiator fluid.  The car has never burned oil except doing the first 5,000 miles.  I will be checking every weekend to see if it is burning any oil.

 

I have to thanks Chris and his coworker for staying after closing to fix this.  I am lucky that I picked the car up when I did because I was planning to pick it up at 6:30 pm and I ponder what I would have done with no one else around to fix this blunder.  They never did see how high it was because they never allowed the oil to drain all the way.  Instead they were draining the oil.  I can not argue with what they did because it was 5:45 and they should have closed 15 minutes earlier.

 

Please get back to me regarding these issues.