No Joy Just Heart Ache

[MORTON2525]

GOT REPILE FROM SEAT DEALER TODAY ABOUT AIRBAGS NOT GOOD THEARE NOT GOING TO HONOR THE WARRANTY,THEY SAY THAT I MUST HAVE HIT A POTHOLE OR A STONE, OR SOME OTHER OBJECT MUST HAVE HIT THE CAR ,BUT THERE IS NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER ON THE CAR AND THE ROAD I WAS TRAVELLING ON WAS GLASS SMOOTH.I FEEL TOTALLY LET DOWN BY BOTH DEALER AND COMPANY
HAS ANY ONE GOT ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO PROCEED
I KNOW THERES THE LEGAL WAY BUT THATS A LAST RESORT

 

[m0rk]

call SEAT UK, and explain (rationally) that you've had no joy with the dealer who's claimed you must be lieing.

Airbags don't go off when you go over a pothole, so they've already admnitted there's a fault.....

 

[MORTON2525]

Seat Uk Are Also Saying This Is The Problem ,its Going To Cost Around £3500 To Fix As Curtain Airbag +seatairbag +seat+seabelt+roofcolth All Have To Be Replaced The Car Is Only 2 1/2 Years Old And I Looked After It Like A Child I Only Bought It 2 1/2 Months Ago ,the Third Month Its Been Lying At A Dealers ,now What?

 

[oliverpe]

Is there any chance you could get your Car insurance company to involved, they may take it up with Seat, but then there is a chance of loosing your no claims I suppose.

I hope you get a resolve.

I have just ordered an Altea XL, this comes with 6 airbags, and I have ordered the extra 2 rear airbags also as an option, so do not want the potential of one or more of the 8 air bags going off, unless for a genuine reason.

 

[MORTON2525]

I Had My Wife And Three Young Children In The Car At The Time ,the Curtain Airbag Went Off Like A Small Explosion Striking My Wife And Second Oldest Girl (5) On The Side Of The Head ,my Wife Said It Was Like Someone Punching You ,so You Can Imagine What It Must Have Felt Like For A 5 Year Old , The Only Good Thing Was It Didnt Happen On My Side Or I Could Have Lost Control I Would Check If There Is Any Faults

 

[mjr600]

Legal action, it's simple, you need to properly understand the conditions which will cause an airbag to trigger and when you do that you will realise that SEAT UK are just bull$%&^^%$£.

An airbag will only trigger if certain conditions are met and if it deployed when these conditions were not present then it is an equipment fault.

SEAT buy the bags in from one of about four worldwide producers who supply the entire motor industry, depending on the bag there may be information which can be read from its memory. You should contact an independent specialist to establish if data can be recovered to support your claim.

Try this guy..........

http://www.elliott-adams.co.uk/our_team.html

 

[muddyboots]

Like m0rk says, time for a firm (but reasonable) letter to Seat UK, explaining exactly what happened, that your wife and girl got injured, your dealer is not interested, and if they don't repair under warranty you WILL be taking legal action.
You might also suggest to Seat that you will be passing the story onto What Car magazine... they take on cases like this where the manufacturers refuse to sort out problems, and manufacturers don't want negative publicity especially where drivers/passengers suffered injury and possibly could have crashed as a result.

 

[FinerDetails]

get trading standards involved, your local citizen advice centre is usually based in your local town hall too

 

[orca]

or watch dog. I seem to hear a few reports of this happening on here. Maybe it's time to find out who has had it happen and take it forward that way too. I'd still persist with SEAT UK at same time though

 

[MORTON2525]

Thanks Got An Unexpected Call From Craig Head Of Seat Uk,he Was Just Going To Confirm What He Had Told Us Yesterday ,when He Got My Wife On The Line She Was Ready For Him.he Quickly Did A U Turn ,now He Is Going To Review The Case ,but I Would Nt Hold My Breath.
Im Still Gathering Info Incase I Have To Go To Court,hope It Does Nt Come To This. But Hey At Least Am A Bit Better Of Than Yesterday

 

[claudefrog]

sorry to hear, but do you need to TYPE IN CAPS all the time?

hope you get it resolved, and as others said, contact some of the motoring magazines

 

[ray bigblue]

i can only imagine how stressfull this must be , but stick firm and you will get a result out of this, we all buy our cars with a 3 year warranty for this reason ,warranty should mean 3 years no iffs or buts. keep posting dont forget companies hate negative press, the more you give the more they hate it . small claims court is cheap and very simple to use , most companies settle before the court date ,good luck!
VERY HELPFULL CLAUDEFROG DOES IT REALLY MATTER:

 

[muddyboots]

VERY HELPFULL CLAUDEFROG DOES IT REALLY MATTER:

It makes posts hard to read, maybe not quite so much as txt spk, I don't see any harm in someone pointing it out, otherwise the OP won't know

On the original subject, it's good to hear that the head of Seat is involved, it's obviously been perceived within Seat as a fairly serious matter for him to get involved.
Hello to anyone from Seat reading this - do the right thing, admit there was a fault and don't abandon one of your customers leaving him several £K out of pocket

 

[MORTON2525]

muddyboots ,i think you were right,got the answer we were waiting for.craig from seat uk has done a u turn and offered us a replacement car like for like .
i suppose alls well that ends well but it still shouldn t have taken nearly 5weeks and alot of stress and false hopes , but thanks for all the support and advice from everyone

 

[m0rk]

that sounds like the right thing to do.....

wonder if they saw it up here

 

[Tell]

In capitals or not .

 

[muddyboots]

That's great news.
Yes you do have to wonder just how much Seat read this site don't you.

Well, if you are reading Mr Seat UK, hows about kicking your dealerships into touch; the single worst aspect of Seat ownership for me any many many others has been the dire service provided by dealerships.

 

[MSV User]

muddyboots ,i think you were right,got the answer we were waiting for.craig from seat uk has done a u turn and offered us a replacement car like for like .
i suppose alls well that ends well but it still shouldn t have taken nearly 5weeks and alot of stress and false hopes , but thanks for all the support and advice from everyone

Good to hear it!!! Sometimes getting local press (Belfast Telegraph, Newsletter, Irish News, etc) involved is worth a bash, coz we are such a smallish market (relative to mainland), bad press can force dealers to be more positive - nothing hurts more than no pennies in the pocket.

On a side note, 5 weeks is pretty fast for SEAT, I had a V5 with door trim problems and it took 20 weeks to get them to sort it - that was about 4 years ago, and the excuse they used was 'we're reorganising the distribution network in VAG' - phooey!!!!


Ade

 

[adt]

Muddyboots is right about the UK dealers, Seat UK, if you are reading this forum - and this includes the one on your doorstep!

I have an Altea, my daughter has a Leon, and we go to 2 separate dealerships. Both are lame....cannot complete work first time, poor diagnosis of faults, and worst of all, the basic crime of not checking the work before giving the car back to the customer. And then no charm or charisma to even get away with it!

Seriously Seat UK, your market perfomance must be held back big time by this. If you got the support network right, you'd probably be the only one in the VW Group to achieve this! You have a great product, support it properly and you'll double you're sales (at the moment, I reckon when customers change a Seat, it's the poor service levels that sends them elsewhere).

Right, off my soapbox now for a cup of tea......

 

[nickfrog]

I am not sure Seat dealers are any worse than other brands'. I think it is an endemic problem in this industry. The only good ones seem to be Honda and Toyota dealers. My Seat dealer (Frosts in Shoreham) is the best dealer I know of, regardless of brand, they are not cheerful but they are b...dy efficient.