Rick Lorgus

Review of Pugi Volkswagen

Pugi VW service is pretty bad. It appears that th...

Pugi VW service is pretty bad. It appears that there is no communication between service advisers. There is also no way to find out what is wrong with your car, if your service adviser is out of office. I found out first hand; it is not possible for anyone (but your service adviser) to find the status of your car or repair. They also appear to be very reluctant to provide a straight answer on what is wrong with your car. I worry about the honesty of any repair shop or dealership that is reluctant to provide a clear diagnosis for your car. Therefore I would strongly recommend against anyone going there for warranty service. Here is my experience over the last 2 days.

My check engine light went on. I made an appointment at Pugi VW in Downers Grove to have it checked out. At 12:50 pm my car was returned to me. My service adviser Brian was out to lunch, so another service adviser gave me back my keys and said I am all set. I asked what the problem was and he told me it was in the emissions system and covered under warranty. The parts are being ordered. I asked what is the actual issue. He said he did not know and would have Brian call me. At around 5:35pm I called back because I had not yet heard from anyone. I was told by the operator that Brian went home. I could leave a voicemail or talk to another adviser. So I spoke to another service adviser (Tom maybe?) who told me that he does not know what the issue was, only that parts were ordered. I asked if there was any way to find out. He said no, only Brian could tell me. I asked if there was any way to pull up my records and see what the problem was. He said it is not possible, only Brian can do so. I thought that was crazy and asked to speak to a manager. He said Brian was the service manager.

He said I could call back tomorrow to talk to Brian. I said Brian should call me back. With that I let him go. As of 5:30pm today, I still had not heard anything. So I called back to talk to Brian. This time I was able to speak to Brian. He said that they were ordering parts for my car. I asked why he had not contacted me or made any effort to let me know the problem with my car. He said he did not feel he needed to. He said there was no charge and parts were on order. After the parts came in (he had no idea when), someone would contact me about my car.

So we had this back and forth conversation. He cannot understand why I would need to be informed what the problem is with my car. I asked what was being ordered. I know if I did not ask; I would never find out until it arrived. He stated it was a new particulate filter. It was impossible for him to understand the need to let a customer know the problem with his car. He could not even understand why I was concerned. I said a doctor would not let you leave a checkup without letting you know what was found. But he was defiant in his conviction that there was no need to let me know what was wrong with the car. I finally hung up.

If the service manager at Pugi VW is this dense, I am very concerned. Brian is the least customer focused service manager I have met. Until he is gone from Pugi, I will be gone from Pugi.