Luther West Side VW

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Luther West Side VW:
PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU CONSIDER HAVING WORK DONE WITH LUTHER WESTSIDE VW. I have been to Luther Westside several times to service my 2001 Passat and always felt like the repairs were a little pricey. This past time (which will be my last), I brought my car in because the engine light was on. According to them, I needed a new alternator, some timing belt, and a cap for something that needed to be replaced. Estimate: $1,345...$695 for just the alternator to be repaired! I picked up the car, brought it to a smaller shop and they took care of EVERYTHING (keep in mind they had the work order from Luther, so they made the same repairs) for $645. THAT'S HALF THE PRICE...and less than Luther was going to charge me for just the alternator. Take your car to the Volkswagen Man in north Minneapolis (www.vwman.org) unless you have money to burn on those Luther idiots.

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Luther West Side VW:
Eighteen months ago, I had warranty work done because I noticed that after driving on the highway for extended periods, my rear wheels were getting super hot & had the smell of burning steel. They replaced the calipers and had to adjust the parking brakes. No one told me what condition the rotors and pads were and I assumed everything was fine. Well, here we are at the 30k service, and I already need new rear brakes; as expected, the front brakes are doing just fine. Not surprisingly, the rear brakes that need replacing are the same ones that had the warranty work done.

When I explained this to their customer service manager, I got nothing but excuses from his "excuse bag". First he blamed it on the fact that I only put 5000-6000 miles annually ... "you don't drive often enough so the rotors start to rust and this creates more friction". A complete fabrication since it's not like my car sits unused for 2 weeks at a stretch. Or, it's normal for rear brakes to wear out before the front ... another lie. Then he tried to tell me that it's normal for the wheels to be hot after driving on the highway for 1-2hrs. And so it went.

Then they wanted to charge me $500 for the brake job. I was referred to another VW specialist, and it's going to cost me $270.

Good ridance!

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Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Luther West Side VW:
(I am honestly am not hard to please)
I can’t tell you how disgusted I was as the salesperson talked down to ‘me’ their perspective customer. Recently my wife and I decided to buy new cars. She got an Acura RL. For me I thought it would be appropriate to consider a used vehicle. That’s when I met Kip (sp?). After battling traffic and going out of my way to visit West Side VW, I was immediately asked to make a decision whether I was going to buy or not - on the spot. At this point the opportunity to open the driver’s door hadn’t presented itself – hence I hadn’t even seen the interior of the car. I went out of my way to see a used Phaeton priced around $48,xxx, my landscaping cost more than that. Someone needs to pull their head out of their asphalt and understand why they’ve been asked to stand around and assist customers. Salespeople should be allowed any opportunity to redeem themselves after a stupid comment but the sales-less individual allowed me to walk right off the lot with no further consult. My shopping experience was absolutely disappointing.
I thought it would be appropriate for readers like you to know the kind of sales attitude I encountered at West Side VW. There is obviously a sales perception at this facility that a certain number of customers visit for a joy ride, although many don’t. Specifically because of this I’ll never be back. After reading the other reviews associated with mine I realize Kip did me a favor! THANKS KIP!!

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Luther West Side VW:
I took my Passat to this dealer for all scheduled maintenance. After a period of time I started having an on-going problem with noise from the front-end for about 1.5 years. I suspected CV Boots and told the service advisor, but was told was "normal". Service later did some work, but the noise persisted. FINALLY, the service people replaced CV Joints, an expensive repair that I feel coould have been avoided with proper service/maintenance of the CV boots.

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of Luther West Side VW:
Went in for a motor mount rattling, I was told by the service writer that it's just mud hitting the muffler. Right. When it was still there after they cleaned the mud off the rear torsion beam they told me that it was just the timing being retarded because the knock sensor or o2 sensor were sensing bad gas, the only problem with that pack of lies is my car is a turbo diesel which doesn't have an o2 sensor, or a knock sensor. I don't like being told stories, I decided to replace the failed mount myself even though the car is under warranty. Turning my car that I rely upon for daily transportation over to those story tellers just doesn't sit well with me.

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