Donaldsons

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of Donaldsons:
It seems like most of the internet is biased against dealerships. But there's a simple reason for this: whenever someone has a bad experience, they want to share it and talk about it, but nobody cares when they have a good experience. I've bought new cars on two different coasts and had them serviced in a number of different dealerships and this one is close to the top of my list.

My first service experience with Donaldsons was a troublesome power steering pump in my '03 GTI. I was living in a different area and couldn't get in for service (ended up having it fixed elsewhere in the same state) and explained this to the service writer. Because they couldn't get me in for an appointment, they GAVE me a $10 quart of Pentosin CHF power steering fluid. There was no paperwork, just a courtesy to a VW customer. Mind you, at this point I'd never spent a penny at this dealership. I made sure to come back when I had pennies to spend.

I've spent about $100 in maintenance and upgrade parts. I left my '06 Rabbit in for service when it was due for a routine factory recall. I lived too far away for the shuttle service, so they dropped me off at a local movie theatre instead. Again, no complaints.

My only regret when it comes to my dealings with Donaldson's is that I wasn't able to buy a car there (I'm never in the area when it comes due, it seems.)

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Donaldsons:
I am so glad I found this site and got a chance to steer people clear of this terrible dealership. The last straw from this dealership which solidified my resolve to never return was when I brought my car in for back brake service and when I picked up my car at 6:30pm, couldn't get in the car. I thought they had given me the wrong key. I went back in and the service guy came out and couldn't get in either. Turns out they broke the lock while they had it. The guy said he'd get me in as soon as they could to fix it. "Soonest" was one week later. They fixed it and then came to me with the bill. $120. I said they were the ones who broke it. They claimed that, and I quote, "you could've broken it at McDonalds and are now trying to get us to foot the bill." I said I locked the car when I dropped it in the parking lot to be serviced that morning, and how did the service guy get IN the car if the lock was broken? Surely he would've noted that he had to go in through the passenger side. He said there was no way they were paying for this repair, most of which was an hour of labor. I paid the bill, resolving never to return. When VW called me to see how the service was, I said it was terrible. They said hang on, they'd like to know the details. I figured this was corporate VW calling. Nope. The guy who was suddenly on the line was the service guy I had argued with about the lock. This was just the LOCAL dealership calling. So once again, here I was arguing with the local VW guy when I didn't even really want to ever speak with them again. Nice. This was about four years ago. We went to the local Subaru and Mazda dealerships for our next three new cars. Last week I found out that the local Subaru dealership, who we were mostly happy with, have sold their business to Donaldson's. Guess it's time to remove Subaru from our shopping list as well. The lock thing was the final straw. It seemed every time I brought the car in to get serviced, something else broke within the next couple days, or they didn't even fix what I had asked them to fix. These guys are clueless about customer service, and clueless when it comes to fixing cars they sell in their own dealership. I would stay FAR away from these guys at any cost. I really really miss VWs, but with a local dealership this bad, it's just not worth it.

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Donaldsons:
First time I brought my Passat in for service, I had 5 problems for them to fix. When I picked up the car they had fixed 2, had to order a part on the third, and ignored the last two. Next time I brought it in, they made a mistake on the appointment and made me wait 2 and a half days to get the car back. The fixed the 3rd problem, said they fixed the 4th (they didn't) and ignored th 5th problem. Also made me feel it was my fault that they made a mistake with my problem. <br>I bought the car at this dealership as I was told how good the service department was. They're not.

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Donaldsons:
I think that the initial person that wrote the first review up must work at this dealership. My salesperson would not look me in the eye, the finance person did not want to deal with me until he heard that I would purchase the extended service plan, and their service department is patronizing. Deal with them, and the first problem you have w/your VW, (and you will), then see how they consistantly complete their service sheets by saying &quot;Unable to duplicate problem&quot;!!!!!<br><br>The worst part is dealing w/VWoAmerica. Go to myvwlemon.com.

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