I check the car in at 7:45AM with Bill Barnickel. He tells me that my warranty is up at the end of the month. I said that can't be, I have a 2 yr VW Pre-Owned Certified Warranty on this car. He recommends that I call the dealership where I purchased it. He said that he would call me before they did work on the car.

 

I stand outside of Libertyville VW waiting for my ride and call Gurnee VW.  I speak with Regina, she said that they can't find my paperwork to call back when Dan Bundalo arrives at 9:30PM. 

 

I call Dan Bundalo at 9:35AM.  He states that he can't find the paperwork either but he will have the service manager handle it and they will take care of me.

 

Bill Barnickel calls me and tells me that they cannot work on my car.  It is a fire hazard.  Someone installed an Auto Start on the car and it was a "hack job".  He explains that my car is 80% Computer / 20% Car.  They hacked the wires on the main wiring harness to the engine (heart of the computer of the car).  He said that they cannot fix it because the problems will reoccur until the Auto Start is taken out.  I told him that I never even knew the car had an auto start or this was installed.  I am now terrified to drive my car b/c of my last Jetta burning in my driveway.  My son was so hysterical he cried on and off with nightmares for a week and kept talking about our Jetta starting on fire.  I am so fearful to drive this car now.  Bill tells me to come pick it up, get the auto start taken out of there and try to get it fixed before my warranty is up at the end of the week.

I call Jim Kennedy, General Manager, of Gurnee Volkswagen. I explain the situation with the warranty. He tells me that they are looking into it and discussing it with the service manager. I then explain that my car is a fire hazard and they've sold me an unsafe car. I beg him to fix my car and make it safe for my family to be in. He says that he'll get back to me.

 

Meanwhile, I explain to my 3.5yr old son that if our car starts on fire that Mommy will reach back unbuckle his car seat and that he needs to jump in my lap so that we can get out as soon as possible.  I get teary eyed trying to explain this to him but would rather that we had a plan to get out of the vehicle if it does start on fire.  He says to me, "Mommy our Jetta's gonna burn up again.  Will the fire trucks come?"  I tell him that I don't know, but we need to have a plan if something does happen.

 

Jim Kennedy calls me back.  He tells me that the car was never even given the pre-owned VW Certification prior to me purchasing this car.  I said that can't be, I have the tag that sat in the window.  He then says that he's sorry but there's nothing further that they can do for me.  I beg him to fix my car and make it safe.  I beg him to fix it before the warranty that they claim I have on the car is supposedly up in a few days.  He again says, "I'm sorry, there's nothing that I can do for you, I really am sorry."  I ask him, "Seeing as you are not honoring my VW Pre-Owned Certified Warranty, can you sell me an extended warranty?"  I did this to see what he'd say, I wouldn't have purchased it from him, trust was broken at this point.  He said that they couldn't sell me an extended warranty and he was again sorry.  At this point I'm hysterically crying and sick to my stomach, I thank him for his time.  Did he think I was stupid?  Two other dealerships offered for me to purchase an extended warranty from them.  Why wouldn't Gurnee VW offer for me to purchase an extended warranty?  In my opinion, SUSPICIOUS! 

 

I call Bill Barnickel and ask him how I get the auto start uninstalled.  He says try Best Buy, Circuit City, and names off some other stores.  He said that they will uninstall it if it was installed there.  Great, too bad I have no clue where it was installed. I don't even have a remote idea of where to find out who installed it or what type of system it was.

I woke up early and as I was surfing the internet realized that an old family friend worked for Bob Rohrman Auto Group.  I paged her.  She called me back and I explained the situation to her.  By the end of the conversation I was hysterically crying.  She said, let me call them and I'll look over your paperwork.

 

I call all over to try to have the auto start removed and each place says that they are booked and that they need to look at it. If they didn't install it then they won't remove it. I explain that I will pay any amount of money to get it uninstalled that my car is unsafe. No one can do anything.

 

The old family friend calls me and says to bring the car over and they will look at it.  I ask if they will cover it under warranty and she says no, I'll need to pay for it.  She tells me that you can't get things for free.  I explain that's not what I'm trying to do, I want my car to be safe, the Gurnee VW dealership sold me an unsafe car.  I tell her that I'm bringing it to Libertyville VW that they are willing to fix it under warranty at no charge to me.  This is why I brought it to Libertyville VW, they were going to fix it under warranty and Gurnee VW was not.

 

Later that day, she told me that she couldn't see a warranty in my paperwork.  She also said that the car was not even certified.  They couldn't find any inspection records on the car. The car was brought in on a trade-in. I asked how could that be when I have the hang tag from the window showing it was certified and inspected.  She said she didn't know at this point but to let her know what was going on and she'd get back to me.

Speak with Mark Stege at Gurnee VW Service Center.  He says that they cannot fix the car under warranty.  I tell him I want the Auto Start taken out and then the car fixed.  He says that they can't take it out, but he knows of someone that might be able to.  He tells me to call him in ten minutes.  I am desperate.  He says that the company he knows can get it done today but I have to leave the car there all day.  He says that they can not look it over at the Gurnee Service Center, and if they could the repairs would not be covered under warranty.  I called him back and told him forget it, I'll bring the car to Libertyville VW, they'll fix it under warranty.  He says, that's probably better for me to go there if they'll do it under warranty.

 

I call my Dad who refers me to a friend of his that works on electrical wiring on cars. He said call him tell him its an emergency and see if he can help. He says bring the car over now. I tell my boss I'm taking the rest of the day off, I need to fix my car before the warranty is up on Sunday. She says no problem. I go to this man and he gets it disengaged but does not know where all the wiring has been hacked that there are almost 75 wires in there. I pay him $50 and thank him for his time. While under the hood, he shows me a sticker on the engine showing that an Auto Start was installed on the car. I take note of the manufacturers name.

 

I drive home, not feeling comfortable b/c it has not been removed, just disengaged.  I look up the manufacturer on the internet.  I find locations in the area that install it.  Call 7 of them and they don't have time to uninstall it.  I call Cars and Toys in Mundelien, IL and he says bring the car over now, I have downtime.  I said I'm on my way.  I get over there, he takes the whole thing out.  Tells me that it was a sloppy job and they messed up the wires pretty bad.  I pay him $65 for the job.

 

I call Bill Barnickel and explain that I got it out and I want him to take the car in before the warranty is up.  He says they have a skeleton crew on Saturday but be there when they open up.  I thank him up and down.

He says that they will fix it under warranty.

I get into my Jetta to bring it to Liberty Auto Imports, the check engine light is off, AMAZING!!!!!

 

I get there when they open, talk to Bill.  Thank him up and down for helping me and really caring about the customer.  He tells me that it might be awhile, they want to check everything over for me.  I said go for it, I'll wait.  I sit for 3 hours while they inspect and re-look over everything on the car.  Problems with the air flow sensor so they fix it.  They reset the cars computer.  He tells me that there is no guarantee that the car will be fine due to the hack job on the wiring.  He said I can't guarantee that the car will have problems either, he said you never know.  It could be fine for the next five years.  I explain to him that I want to get out of the car as soon as possible.  He tells me that he's in until 1:30 if I want to get an extended warranty on the car.

 

I call him back at 1PM and tell him that I want out of this car as soon as possible so I'm not going to purchase an extended warranty.  I again thank him for putting my family first.  I said that his work and effort really changed the way that I view service shops.

I had eight phone calls to my work phone number and my cell phone number from an employee of Bob Rohrman's cell phone between 2:15PM to 2:29PM. She left one message on my phone saying that they want to work something out.

 

I call my lawyer and he asks what I want out of this.  I responded, that they stop trying to mislead consumers.  I want them to buy my car back at the price that I purchased it for and I want to be reimbursed for time and harassment that they have put me through.  He told me to call them, offer it to them and if they say no, tell them we'll see you in court.  He then told me to call him immediately and we would pursuit a law suit.  I explained to him that this has nothing to do with money, but everything to do with principal.  What happens to other consumers out there that get screwed and can do nothing about it.  I want the record set straight, they misled me into purchasing this car with a card in the window stating that the vehicle was certified and inspected and that my deal came with a VW Pre-Owned Certified 2 yr warranty.  Not to mention the car with this tag in the window was a fire hazard and unsafe for my family to be in.  There is no way that it would have passed inspection if the car was deemed unsafe.  They had no authority to hang this tag in the window and mislead me into purchasing it.  I WANT OUT OF THE DEAL AND I NEVER WANT TO DEAL WITH ANOTHER ROHRMAN DEALERSHIP AGAIN. 

I call and speak with the General Manager at the Gurnee VW. I said, I was looking for "My Old Family Friend" to return her call and wondering what you guys came up with. He stated that they wanted to try to get me the manufacturers warranty and help me out now. He said that I needed to bring the car to their dealership to have it inspected. I told him I was not interested in EVER bringing my car to their service center. I also told him that I wanted them to purchase the car back. I was terrified to drive my family in this Jetta. He told me that I'd have to speak to "My Old Family Friend".

 

"The Old Family Friend" calls me, tells me to stop making waves in the water.  She tells me to stop calling the Rohrmans and the Gurnee Dealership.  That they are trying to help me now.  She tells me that she believes me that I had the warranty.  She doesn't know what happened with the paperwork.  She re-inforces it by saying, "Tiffany I know you and if you say that you had that warranty then I know that you had it when you walked out the door honey.  I'm trying to help you get it.  All we need to do is re-inspect the car and if it passes we'll get the warranty for you at no extra charge.  If you say you had it, then I know you had it."  She's right, you see I've known her husband for 26 years now and I've known her for about half of that.  Her and her husband were at one point good family friends until my parents divorced and they stopped speaking with my mother.  To my knowledge they are still good friends with my father. Its not her that I don't trust, its the dealership.  This has nothing to do with personal issues. I never even knew that this "Old Family Friend" worked for Bob Rohrman until I realized that Waukegan Saturn was a Bob Rohrman dealership and I knew that she worked there at one point in time. Amazing how the tables turned and the attitudes changed.  I told her that I've consulted with my lawyer.  I don't trust the Gurnee VW Service center and I don't want to bring my car there.  I offer an alternative.  I will bring it to the Libertyville VW for inspection and they can pay for it.  Once its certified, I never want to deal with their dealership again.  At this point I do not trust them, especially the service center. She said that they can't do that.  I say, okay then, I want out of the deal, I want you to buy the car back from me.  I've been screwed and harassed and I just want out and I never want to deal with another Rohrman dealership again.  She states that they can't do that.  I said that I want to take them to court on this.  She tells me if I plan on doing that then our calls stop here.  She explains that they are really trying to help me here.  She now tells me that they found paperwork showing that the car passed inspection prior to me purchasing it.  How shady is this?  How could it have passed inspection if another VW Service Center deemed the car a fire hazard due to the main computer wires being hacked by an auto start system?  Hmmm...Something to think about.  She tells me to bring the car in, in her words, "We are being nice enough that we'll even give you a loaner car while we're inspecting it.  I can't guarantee that it will pass inspection, but its worth a try."  I told her that I would think about it.  I thought about it.  Somethings not right here.  How many other people have this happen and get screwed?  How many other people don't have the knowledge that I do to voice my concern?  I want justice for consumers.  Not a band-aid to the problem or a quick fix to shut me up. It's not ethical in my opinion.