Seat Official Servicing with "inclusive" Roadside Assistance - a warning

[facelikeanrss]

I'm sure like a lot of people, I took the easy option in May last year and booked a service for my 2 year old Leon Cupra via the link in the Seat emails promising a 12month extension to my Seat Roadside Assistance cover. I was never given any confirmation of the extension but - in view of the fact that I didn't get anything more than a generic, non-personalised Roadside Assistance booklet when I took delivery of the car - I thought nothing of this.

A couple of hundred yards from my house last night, the engine warning and the EPC lights came on and the car lost power. On exiting the car (and on trying to start it again an hour or 2 later) there was a thick smell of unburned fuel.

I presume the car will need "towed" and so left off calling Seat Roadside Assistance until the dealer was open today. They have told me that I don't have Roadside Assistance cover. They can apparently "see" the official service in May last year on their computer system. Given that this service took place before the car was 2 years old/within mileage limits, they agree that it is 100% clear that I should indeed have valid Seat Roadside Assistance. However, they tell me there is nothing they can do and I should ask the dealer to phone them. I've decided to wait until the servicing department at the dealer is open tomorrow as I suspect the sales staff will be unable to help.

Thought this was worth posting as this would have been a total nightmare if the breakdown had happened further away from home.

 

[RobM]

Sounds very simple really - the dealer didn't register it for you when you had your car serviced. If they did, you would have received an email confirming the registration and confirming the expiry date of it.

 

[noonoo63]

Had my car serviced last week and it states on my invoice
Requirement A
online booking- register roadside assistance
Operations
1.Roadside assistance registered today
Can take up to 10 days for assistance to become active

This is what I would expect from a competant dealer and would demand something in writing, go and read the riot act to them my friend it is the only way to deal with incompetance imo or you will just get

 

[lil3520]

Bought my car second hand from Seat dealership. Free road side assistance for 12 months.
Called them out twice.
First time no problem. Great service.
Second time girl on phone said it had run out. I told her I have not had it for 12 months yet.
She said sorry she was on wrong system on computer. I am covered.
On both occasions the chaps were great.
Just had a service and had a email from seat saying I have another 12 months road side assistance.

Andy

 

[chrisRibiza]

When I got my serviced last year I got an email a week or so later confirming my Roadside assistance cover was active. I used it last summer, had the car recovered and a hire car delivered all with no cost.

I got my car serviced last week and I got paperwork about the roadside assistance and also a keyfob with the details on it too.

Sounds like the dealer is at fault here.

 

[facelikeanrss]

Yeah, absolutely agree that dealer is likely to be to blame.

Posted this solely as a warning to anyone as lackadasical as myself that presuming things this simple will go smoothly/can be corrected easily can end up causing you trouble.

I've been very lucky that this breakdown didn't occur in the middle of nowhere.

 

[DEAN0]

I got my car serviced last week and I got paperwork about the roadside assistance and also a keyfob with the details on it too.

Same here - paperwork and keyfob supplied when I picked car up after service.

 

[Seastormer]

Same here - paperwork and keyfob supplied when I picked car up after service.

And me too.

 

[Briant566]

2 Year Cover

Hi
I had my 2nd year service and booked on line for the 2nd year breakdown cover after service I did not receive any paper work . So I then phoned Seat and they said dealer had informed them of service and I am covered But still no paperwork
After reading this ringing again

 

[ERIC3451]

A lot of different experiences quoted here :-( This was my experience:-

After my second and third services (both booked online), I waited at least 2 weeks and then rang Seat Assistance to check if my dealer had informed them that my Roadside assistance was be renewed for another year.

On both occasions Seat Assistance had no record of being informed. When I contacted my dealer they said that they had progressed the cover on the days of each of the services. On each occasion I asked my dealer to try again.

It took 5 1/2 weeks after the second service before I received an e-mail from Seat confirming my cover and 10 weeks after the third service before I received a confirmation e-mail.

My service invoices did not include any reference to Roadside Assistance renewal, I wasn't given a Roadside Assistance Window sticker (and never have been), nor was I ever offered a key fob but had to ask for one.

All our different experiences do appear to be down to different dealerships practices.

My approach is to always chase up policy cover with Seat Assistance shortly after an on line booked service has been done, and to contact the dealership if necessary. Always ask for new Roadside Assistance key fob after each service.

As for mentioning it on the invoice it is all I can do to get the dealership to record the right mileage and date, never mind getting them to tick the right boxes in the service booklet.

Dealerships, what are they like !

 

[chrisRibiza]

A lot of different experiences quoted here :-( This was my experience:-

After my second and third services (both booked online), I waited at least 2 weeks and then rang Seat Assistance to check if my dealer had informed them that my Roadside assistance was be renewed for another year.

On both occasions Seat Assistance had no record of being informed. When I contacted my dealer they said that they had progressed the cover on the days of each of the services. On each occasion I asked my dealer to try again.

It took 5 1/2 weeks after the second service before I received an e-mail from Seat confirming my cover and 10 weeks after the third service before I received a confirmation e-mail.

My service invoices did not include any reference to Roadside Assistance renewal, I wasn't given a Roadside Assistance Window sticker (and never have been), nor was I ever offered a key fob but had to ask for one.

All our different experiences do appear to be down to different dealerships practices.

My approach is to always chase up policy cover with Seat Assistance shortly after an on line booked service has been done, and to contact the dealership if necessary. Always ask for new Roadside Assistance key fob after each service.

As for mentioning it on the invoice it is all I can do to get the dealership to record the right mileage and date, never mind getting them to tick the right boxes in the service booklet.

Dealerships, what are they like !

Agnews?

 

[Briant566]

Hi
I had my 2nd year service and booked on line for the 2nd year breakdown cover after service I did not receive any paper work . So I then phoned Seat and they said dealer had informed them of service and I am covered But still no paperwork
After reading this ringing again

Just rang Dealer and Seat assistance I am covered confirmation from both But no e mail or letter so it seems hit and miss whether you get it in writing

 

[page3]

Has anyone managed to get the breakdown cover when booking online is not given as an option? I've just booked the first service and as it's long-life/variable the Seat online form said it couldn't be booked online and I had to call my dealer to arrange.

Not too fussed as I have other cover anyway. But still...

 

[chrisRibiza]

I didn't book online but still got it.

 

[noonoo63]

I didn't book online but still got it.

This is mentioned on another thread but last year when I booked directly with dealer I was told had to be booked online to get roadside assistance so depends on dealer which is extremely unfair. I think it should be offered whether or not it is done online. Come on Seat step up to the mark and do itif we book it with your dealer network.

 

[lil3520]

I didn't book on line.
Booked direct at seat garage.
Week later seat email, thanking me for having my car serviced at seat Worcester.
As a thank you, you have 12 months free roadside assistance dated day of my service.
Shame its not dated from the end of my free cover when I bought the car.just lost out on 2 months free.
Not going to cry about it.

Andy

 

[Rob McCool]

After reading this thread i rang the roadside assistance number on my key fob and they will tell you straight away if your covered

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[Ashworth]

Yeah, absolutely agree that dealer is likely to be to blame.

Posted this solely as a warning to anyone as lackadasical as myself that presuming things this simple will go smoothly/can be corrected easily can end up causing you trouble.

I've been very lucky that this breakdown didn't occur in the middle of nowhere.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me, but unfortunately i was quite some distance from home and I was, although on a main road, out in the middle of nowhere in Lincolnshire. I was on my way from Nottinghamshire to Norfolk for a few days and this was on the Sunday of last years Easter Bank Holiday weekend. Even more worryingly this happened 9 months after my service and I had been driving around, including up in the Highlands of Scotland, all of this time unknowingly without SEAT Assistance.

The previous July I had been unable to book my service online because I had a service plan at my local SEAT dealer. I rang them to ask what I do about getting the free Breakdown cover and they said no ploblems we set it up for you manually. When I collected my car I reminded them of this and they assured me that it had been done.

You can imaging my shock and horror when I rang SEAT Assistance 9 months later and they had no record of this and couldn't come out to me. Fortunately, and quite amazingly, it all worked out OK in the end. They put me through to the AA and I thought that in the situation that I was in I would have to pay a high fee to join to get me out of this situation. The AA took my details and agreed to come out but they didn't mention any charge! The man quickly sorted the problem, I signed a form and I was on the road again.

I rang my dealer after the holiday weekend and explained what had happened and they were very apologetic as you can imagine. I did mention are they going to pay the bill if the AA do charge me and I didn't really get a definite answer. They did immediately activate my SEAT Assistance! I never got charged by the AA, but it turned out that they had re activated an old account I had with them which I had suspended before I had my new car. I'd totally forgotten about this as there was only a few weeks left on it.

When I next went into my dealers, I explained again what had happened and once more they were very apologetic and concerned at what had happened to me. However, it was theirr fault, and I still wonder if I would have got any money from them to pay the bill. I somewhat doubt it.

 

[noonoo63]

I had exactly the same thing happen to me, but unfortunately i was quite some distance from home and I was, although on a main road, out in the middle of nowhere in Lincolnshire. I was on my way from Nottinghamshire to Norfolk for a few days and this was on the Sunday of last years Easter Bank Holiday weekend. Even more worryingly this happened 9 months after my service and I had been driving around, including up in the Highlands of Scotland, all of this time unknowingly without SEAT Assistance.

The previous July I had been unable to book my service online because I had a service plan at my local SEAT dealer. I rang them to ask what I do about getting the free Breakdown cover and they said no ploblems we set it up for you manually. When I collected my car I reminded them of this and they assured me that it had been done.

You can imaging my shock and horror when I rang SEAT Assistance 9 months later and they had no record of this and couldn't come out to me. Fortunately, and quite amazingly, it all worked out OK in the end. They put me through to the AA and I thought that in the situation that I was in I would have to pay a high fee to join to get me out of this situation. The AA took my details and agreed to come out but they didn't mention any charge! The man quickly sorted the problem, I signed a form and I was on the road again.

I rang my dealer after the holiday weekend and explained what had happened and they were very apologetic as you can imagine. I did mention are they going to pay the bill if the AA do charge me and I didn't really get a definite answer. They did immediately activate my SEAT Assistance! I never got charged by the AA, but it turned out that they had re activated an old account I had with them which I had suspended before I had my new car. I'd totally forgotten about this as there was only a few weeks left on it.

When I next went into my dealers, I explained again what had happened and once more they were very apologetic and concerned at what had happened to me. However, it was theirr fault, and I still wonder if I would have got any money from them to pay the bill. I somewhat doubt it.

I have just had my car serviced and took out the dealerships service contract and was assured in writing, i.e. an email which I have printed off and filed for future reference, that provided it was still on offer next year and I booked my service online I would get the roadside assistance. It did say on my invoice see above it could take up to ten days to become active but will definately phone Seat assistance next week if I have not received confirmation from them via email or in writing to confirm.

 

[chrisRibiza]

My email has just arrived, exactly 2 weeks after my service. Its dated as active from 22/2/17.