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Exploding window covered under warranty?

Deleted member 11127

Guest
Its a potatoe by the way.. cut in half and rub round the edges of window....just to clear it up lol
 

MrMischief

Full Member
It's happened twice now so you can't put it down to faulty glass - is your tailgate in good shape, (i.e. no kinks at all in it - someone hasn't tapped it while they were parking in Tesco's?) to put the glass under pressure.

Also definitely get your heater checked out - sounds like a possible fault there...

If Seat doesn't come up with anything - start complaining to your window tinting company...

Steve
 

muddyboots

Still hanging around
Oct 16, 2002
5,739
1
MrMischief said:
If Seat doesn't come up with anything - start complaining to your window tinting company...
It's happened to several Mk4 owners now, I'd be gathering evidence and pressing Seat to fund the replacements.
 

muddyboots

Still hanging around
Oct 16, 2002
5,739
1
I mean getting details (eg supporting letters, photos) from the others on here who've had the same problem, and crafting a careful letter to Seat.

This approach worked when my windscreen cracked for no reason. Posted about it on here, found 2 or 3 other had exactly the same crack in the same place; they emailed me photos, I put them all in a letter to Seat who'd previously said "nowt to do with us", and as if by magic - Seat instructed my dealer to replace it under warranty.

I know it would only have cost me £50 excess, but it was the principle of the matter; I wasn't going to be fobbed off when this crack appeared while the car was stationary in our works car park and there was no chips or damage anywhere near it.

Don't let 'em fob you off !
 

djrichard

DJRICHARD
Mar 11, 2004
301
0
glasgow
My car was in Arnold Clarks in Paisley today to have the rear window looked at to see if they could find out any reason for it exploding.

At the same time I had them look at why my lights were steaming up when washed, my front cup holder was not coming out when pressed and to get them to activate the auto locking feature when the car gets to a certain speed.

So in I went, collected my courtesy car and left my keys with them.

Phone call about 4:30pm today from manager at the garage. They are unable to look at my new rear window as that is also tinted. Could not look at cup holder as i have replaced my headunit from standard Alana. They sprayed my front lights and could not see any misting at all.

As nothing could be covered under warranty they are wanting to charge me £40 roughly for taking the time to examine it. I said after much arguing that I understand why they are saying they wont fix cup holder and look at window as it has been modified. However I asked them how it could be possible that the lights never steamed up when they steam up every single time I wash my car. He said they didnt and that was that. I then enquired how they examined the lights and asked if they found anything unusual about them. Nothing unusual they said. When i informed him that the rear of the lights in the engine bay are held together by two metal clips and that one clip was missing from each unit which was causing the unti to basically flap open possibly allowing water in. He said literally shouting at me "they are a sealed unit and if you were a SEAT technician you would know that" WHAT??!!! I then asked if that was the case how would they change the bulbs if required........silence......I then said so the lights should be fixed for me and as that was under warranty why should I pay £40 for it.

Getting nowhere he said I had to pay it at which point I told him there was no chance he was getting a single penny off me. He replied "well we will keep your car until you pay us" I actually started laughing at this point! I said "listen mate, shut up Im not interested in speaking to you anymore, can i speak to whoever is in charge" and he then told me he was the manager. I said i will come in and i will simply take my car and there is no way Im going to leave without it. He insisted I was not going to get it without paying up. I then replied "oh well you aint getting your courtesy car back until I get mine" he said "We will just phone the Police then about you stealing our car"

I then hung up the phone on him and phoned SEAT UK who are going to contact them in the morning.

What a shocker that is! Im so hoping that SEAT UK can sort it out before I go in cos there is absolutely not a hope in hell Im leaving there without my car and there is also no way Im going to pay them £40 for nothing.

Im having visions of a very unpleasent scene tomorrow. Might just have to go with a few friends and make sure I get my car.

I wonder if they have thought about the fact my car has a spare key.......could go and get it right now..........LOL!
 

djrichard

DJRICHARD
Mar 11, 2004
301
0
glasgow
SEAT UK just called. As dealer said no items are covered under warranty there is nothing they can do. Dealer is reporting the car missing to the Police if the courtesy car is not back by 4pm today.

Oh well nice visit is going to be happening later on today.........I can feel rage building up. DEREK @ Arnold Clark in Paisley youre an arsehole!
 

mrcoyote

See no evil...
Jul 26, 2004
2,624
0
Surely the lights are covered under warranty? And wouldn't it be in Seat UK's interests to speak to them seeing as they're one of their dealers?

Good luck anyway!
 

jonathanp

Full Member
Jan 5, 2005
736
0
Coventry
so how many members of this forum could get to this dealership later on today with some nice big signs for passing motorists to see?

How can they charge you out of the blue with not evening mentioning it beforehand?
 

djrichard

DJRICHARD
Mar 11, 2004
301
0
glasgow
UPDATE:

Spent what seemed like forever in Paisley Arnold Clark discussing the situation with my car. The actual bill cost £47.

After going around in circles over and over and getting very bored we eventually went outside and sprayed my car with the pressure washer. As you would expect for the first time since Ive bought my car the damned things would not steam up. I wasnt surprised as it would just be typical! It honestly has steamed up badly every time Ive washed my car since the day I bought it 2 years ago.

Derek the manager was not interested in giving me my car back unless I paid the £47. Nothing I could say was going to change that at all and I could see that this had become a personal thing for him and there was not really any point in talking anymore. Fortunately in Dereks small office was another guy, Paul I think his name was but I cant be sure, he was the regional manager and he intervened when it became very apparent that Derek and I were losing the cool rather quickly.

He explained his companies viewpoint and that they were not a charity and would expect to be paid for the work. A lot of his points were valid and whether I agreed with them all or not, he was at least making a considerable effort to try and resolve the matter.

None of the items were going to be covered under warranty at all no matter what way it was presented to them. I had an issue with my passenger door in that it had to be slammed pretty hard to get it to shut properly. It was sagging slightly. I had that problem a good while ago and it was adjusted by another dealership without any mention about warranty. Ive been informed by the dealer and SEAT UK that ANY adjustments are not covered under warranty and therefore would ned to be paid for by myself. SEAT UK would not even pay for that particular complaint as a goodwill gesture. So its had to be adjusted twice already.......must be something causing it to malfunction! Not interested at all.

When I repeatedly went on about the two metal clips being missing on my lights they (SEAT UK) insisted that the vehicle would have had a Pre Delivery Inspection and it would have been noted then, so how were they to know that it had not been lost by me since the car was bought 2 years ago. I explained that Im a car enthusiast and that Ive spent quite a bit of money on my vehicle improving it, so why would I be so careless and lose two metal clips! Even when i questioned the quality of the PDI by asking them why it was possible for my car to have a missing engine cover (you know the huge black plastic engine cover with TDi written on it!) and for it to have only been replaced when I happened to stumble across a photo of an engine bay on this site and notice that mine was missing. Nope they were once again not interested.

To cut a VERY long story short I got fed up going around in circles and finally stood up and asked for my car keys and refused to pay the £47 Derek simply said I was not getting it. I then said to Paul "So is that it then? Youre not going to give me my car for the sake of £47....Im not making a threat here but that £47 is going to seem like very small change if I dont get my car back today" he then asked me what I thought would be a reasonable amount to pay for the work (door adjustment) they had carried out. I eventually said £10 and informed them that I would bring it into their shop tomorrow. Paul agreed to this and took my word for it that I would bring it in.

Derek was extremely angry about it all to be honest, and I suppose I can understand why considering he thought that he was in the right all along and his boss had just overruled him and gave me my keys back.

Paul also thanked me for my "email" and when I asked about this "email" Derek produced a file and pulled out a full colour print out of this very thread and stated that he didnt like being called an "arsehole".

So Derek as you will no doubt be having a check on here soon I would just like to say that maybe I shouldnt have called you an arsehole, but when you are cheeky to a customer and are threatening to 'steal' their precious possessions which they rely upon for getting to work and for personal pleasure over a £47 bill, I suggest you take a leaf out of Pauls book and learn how to deal with difficult situations tactfully. Im not an unreasonable person and have to deal with irrate people everyday, so I understand your view.

Still got crap lights, broken cup holder, potentially exploding rear window and of course its costing me £10 and lost earnings!

Oh well on the bright side of things my car has been washed and vacuumed and it felt great having all that torque again after driving the 1.4 petrol Beeza courtesy car!

Think Ive set a record for the longest post here! Cheers
 
Last edited:

muddyboots

Still hanging around
Oct 16, 2002
5,739
1
djrichard said:
Paul also thanked me for my "email" and when I asked about this "email" Derek produced a file and pulled out a full colour print out of this very thread and stated that he didnt like being called an "arsehole".

Two points to note there:

1) Always remember that your posts on here are in the public domain, and it would daft to assume dealers & SEAT themselves don't read them.

2) Maybe he should ask himself why you felt the need to call him an arsehole in the first place. I have first hand experience of dealers who refuse to acknowledge blatant mistakes and damage they've caused to customers cars, there's nothing more infuriating. In fact the poor standards and attitude of the dealer near me (and being Seat there's not others to choose from without travelling many miles) would be a major reason for me not to buy another Seat.

As an example, when my HID bulbs started flickering and cutting out intermittently (a pretty dangerous problem when driving at speed at night!), the dealer simply refused to change them as "bulbs aren't covered under warranty", no matter how I explained "yes but these aren't normal bulbs, they are HID bulbs supposed to last the life of the car". Even the manual stated the bulbs should never need to be changed unless there is a fault. I had to write to Seat and complain before the dealers would budge. Otherwise they wanted to charge me £140 per bulb.
Then after the cambelt change service, the dealer phoned me up to say I needed an new boost pipe section at around £70-80 as it kept popping apart. I refused to pay because it had never popped apart before, in fact had never even been dismantled from new. They said it was "worn". They spotted a bit of duct tape a few inches away from the pipe and suggested I must have had the pipe apart and broken it, and even though I took the service manager out to show the duct tape was actually on the fuel filter housing to stop a rattle and nothing to do with the boost pipe, they still refused to acknowledge facts staring them in the face. After much arguing I told them to leave it alone. I drove the car home gently, put the pipes back together properly, covered nearly 20k miles without a single problem. The ham-fisted mechanic just didn't know how to assemble the pipe joints correctly. The same ham-fisted mechanic that broke my headlamp protectors, various plastic clips etc etc :censored:

If I didn't have a good technical knowledge and just trusted everything they said, I'd have been around £300 out of pocket just for those two problems above, purely through the dealer's ignorance, poor technical knowledge and heavy handed mechanics.

If the roles were reversed I'm sure the dealers would understand why they were referred to as "arseholes".
 

djrichard

DJRICHARD
Mar 11, 2004
301
0
glasgow
andy3127 said:
ohhh DEREK....i remember him...weedy idiot of a guy!!! hope your reading this!!!

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showpost.php?p=829045&postcount=20


Hey Andy, long time no hear mate!

If only I had seen that post of yours before I had went in.....would have saved a whole load of hassle.

Went in today and paid the £10 but only because i had given my word.

It truly brings the broadest smile to my face to hear about your dad cancelling his order of 100 fleet cars. You dont happen to have a copy of the grovelling letters that you could scan and post up for all to laugh at? :happy:

I was thinking about trading my car in for a TDi Leon or waiting and seeing what the new Leon Cupra is going to be like, but Im serious when I say that SEAT UK not even covering my door adjustment has really made me think twice. The new LC would have to be amazing to overcome the shortfalls in SEAT care.
 

Nath.

The Gentlemans Express
Jan 1, 2006
8,620
16
EASTLEIGH, HAMPSHIRE
I had my old mk3 go to the local "stealers" [:@] hope they are reading, to replace the rear tailgate lifers cos they didn't work too well when it was cold and frosty

When I got the car back there was a tailgate lifter shape dent on the edge of the tailgate because the d1ck splash mechanic removed one lifter then removed the top cupling from the other one without any sort of prop to keep the thing up :confused: so the tailgate came crashing down and sandwiched the lifter

After loads of hassle and no less than 4 people looking at it they eventually agreed to send it to the bobyshop as a "good will gesture":think:

Good will my arse kings seat of southampton
 
Last edited:

Slyman

Guest
Window Smashed

I normally hate doing a hit and run topic on a forum, but in times of desperation...

The car was due for service today and went out to an awesome early christmas present. The rear window looks like it has exploded out, theres a massive hole and a large crack right across it thats caved out a bit, the edges of the window, with the black seal behind it have cracked away quite badly and the whole window is shattered and ready for falling through. Theres no signs of vandalism about the car and the alarm didnt go off as I would of heard it. None of that stuff hardly happens in my town and there was nothing of value that was lying in the car or in the rear window. The car was also parked in my back garden as I usually park it there to keep it safe (how ironic).

Do windows normally do this bollox on their own? The way the glass is own the back of the car and a good bit away from the car makes it look like someone got in the car and punched it out from the inside

The car isnt even a year old yet, the seat dealer and the insurance company are fobbing me off unfortunately.

Cheers for your time chaps.
 
Jul 23, 2008
720
0
Manchester - UNITED
Thats strange to say the least!
Glass can explode, ive seen it happen several times but not glass used in vehicles :confused:
I have been in a car though where the back window was SHOT out with an air rifle :doh:
And not much of the glass went in the car but the window did shatter.
Probably not much help but may shed some light ??? :whistle:
 

Slyman

Guest
Yea, I took that into consideration already, and checked for signs of vandalism. Been searching through some threads and found people had similar problems.

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=112039&highlight=window+exploded

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=66671&highlight=window+exploded

There is more threads than that, I am making my way through them at the minute.

But the dealer is fobbing me off saying that they'd need to see it in their garage, and I can't get it over there without paying £70 for transportation.

Should of known better to buy a car out of lurgan lol. Oh well, live and learn.
 
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