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Dear Miss Ryder (from Volvo aftersales),
I'm happy that you recognized in your letter dated November 7th that you're somewhat puzzled by the problems we encountered with our Volvo (and with the Volvo's after sales). It proves the effectiveness of Volvo in not taking care of a simple production default for nearly one year whilst another car producer would solve it in a month. I'll try to explain the history in a historical way so that it will become easier for you to understand.
Date Km Actions
08/01/00 0 Reception vehicle
27/04/00 5953 First maintenance on my request. Abnormal tire use remarked (see invoice). No warranty on tires/geometry after 1000Km.
03/05/00 6150 Appointment with Mr. Aeby for problem with tires and noisy fuel pump. Garage can NOT present him the results of the geometry control that they told me they had done on 27/04/00 (everything was in tolerances).
05/06/00 9650 Still no reaction from garage to change tires, although they were nearly illegal during the visit on 27/04/00
04/07/00 10622 Tires finally changed and geometry regulated in perfection (with printed results kept in garage archive). Invoice for the tires still frozen.
17/07/00 11100 After only 478 Km with the new tires, abnormal use is detectable. An appointment with R. Aeby will be made after I contacted Swiss Volvo After Sales. Noisy fuel pumps changed under warranty a few days later.
27/08/00 14500 Car accident. Vehicle brought to Volvo Dealer in France (Vehicle under "plaques consulaires" in France, insurance obligatory in France, thus repair obligatory in France)
September 2000 Vehicle brought to body workshop by French Volvo Dealer.
13/11/00 Vehicle recovered by us in the bodyworkshop
If we separate the 2 main problems we encountered (like you did in your letter), but without mixing them up too much in the beginning, we have case 1 and case 2.
Case 1: Tire use / fuel pump / after sales
Abnormal wear of the tires was remarked very early (after less than 6000 km). Please note that one normally does not check such things on a new vehicle, and certainly not in wintertime. A small error in steering adjustment would make the symptom appearing later, but this one was rather impressive and indicates a serious default. On my first appointment at the garage, they told me that the geometry was checked and within tolerances. Since no action was token by the garage to solve the problem, I asked to contact the Volvo Warranty responsible. When I showed the car to Mr. Aeby, he was very surprised to see the state of the tires. After he inspected the whole vehicle, he asked for the results of the measurement, which could not be presented to him by the garage. Mr. Aeby told me that a new measurement had to be done. I waited for the garage to re-measure the geometry and to change the tires… for 1 month. Than I started passing phone calls, write emails en send letters to several people at Volvo to get the job done. I got an appointment 2 months after I met Mr. Aeby. Reason? Because Mr. Aeby would not pay twice for the (same) geometry measurement under warranty (and I agree with him), the garage would not redo the measurements on their own expenses… I was simply the victim of an internal Volvo battle. I did expect Volvo to take care of my car's problem, but I had finally to take care of a Volvo problem.
As you noticed, I passed in an official technical control center in Belgium (station 52, situated in Heers), where they are equipped with a laser measurement system and where I can discuss with the technician in my mother tongue. To do these measurements, 4 plates are fixed on the side of the rims; no mounting or dismounting has to be done on the vehicle. Please note also that the installation has to pass severe tests, must be precise and must be calibrated frequently since the result has a legal value. Up to now I kept the results for me since the garage did never give me a copy of their results, but if you or they think a copy will really solve the problem, just ask for one. I asked for this measurement to have a second, independent opinion and because I wanted to understand what was going wrong. I think this is a normal reflex for an engineer even if the subject is not your daily domain.
But I finally got Volvo back on the job on July 4th (and I'm happy to tell you that up to now, I did NOT get the invoice for it; not for the tires, neither for the alignment). And of course I looked to the new tires nearly every kilometer. And after 500 km, I found a reference point on the tire side that could indicate a still existing abnormal tire wear. But the garage didn't have the time to take care of it: I had to wait 3 weeks (on my rate, about 2000 Km) for a new appointment (august 9th). Since I was afraid that once more Volvo would try to keep the consumer responsible because he didn't detect the tire wear during the first 1000 Km, I informed Volvo Switzerland about the affair, and I asked for a efficient solution. They told me Mr. Aeby would contact me after his holidays, but unfortunately, we got involved in an accident before we could meet…
In other words, it took from end of April to end of August (4 months) and the problem was still not solved…
Case 2: The accident
…happened on a Saturday afternoon. A guy with a motorbike tried to overtake while I was already turning to the left. Boot and left side of the car damaged. An accident never comes alone… The night afterwards we get a hailstorm: 150 impacts all over the car. We're happy to pay a good insurance…
I call the insurance on Monday: repair in Switzerland is not authorized. The nearest Volvo garage in the neighborhood advises me a breakdown lorry to bring the car to their workshop (I thought it was Volvo service to take care of everything), and upon delivery of the vehicle, asks me which body workshop I prefer. I've answered that I wanted the job done correctly, and that I didn't want to loose my warranty (which didn't seem to be a problem on that moment). I was very surprised when I got their invoice before the car was repaired. I refused to take up the car after repair on another place than where I brought it, and insisted on a complete Volvo invoice. The only thing I obtained was a loss of time and efforts since Volvo France doesn't deal with TDS cars, certainly not when they're sold somewhere else. And VCC Sweden sends us back to the local market. We're tired of waiting and so we picked the car up in the body workshop last week. We'll see what we can obtain afterwards, but after our experience with Volvo concerning the tires, we're afraid Volvo will not take any responsibility at all for other problems even if they're related with an original Volvo default.
Mixing both cases
So the problems with the front tires were finaly under investigation and I think some progress was already made. But the problem was not solved. After the accident, the French Volvo dealer verified and adjusted the geometry. Due to the accident, I suppose I will have to pay all interventions to get the problem arranged, including an exceptional frequent tire replacement until the problem is completely solved (since I lost my warranty). This situation is unacceptable for me. The tire use is a Volvo factory problem: friends, colleagues as well as professionals from the automobile business who've seen the tires agree with this statement, and all arguments you used in your letter are checked: I check tire pressure once a month on a equilibrated mercury column, there is no default on the tires since the rear tires did NOT show an abnormal use and the four new Michelin tires are wearing in the same way as the original Continentals (apart from a limited progress due to 'perfect' alignment). That uneven tire wear isn't a frequently reported defect at Volvo is very surprising… Our director general at CERN had a S70 until a year ago, and the responsible for the car park told me that they had the same problem (but this is of no importance for me: even if my car was the only Volvo in the world with this default, it merits to be treated correctly). I repeat that Volvo was and still is responsible for the abnormal tire wear and should continue to try to find a solution for it. Volvo should pay all the exceptional expenses until the problem is solved. Nobody else than Volvo has ever done something to the geometry and thus Volvo's responsibility should be engaged. Experts' examinations can easily prove with stress and deformation analyses that no damage on the geometry of the front wheels has resulted from the accident or any other abuse.
The Volvo after sales
I was able to pass through Volvo's complete hierarchy concerning the after sales, and tried to make at least one of the levels reacting like one should expect from I firm with some respect for its product. The latest result was that I'm sent back to my starting point, the local market.
The first level is of course the garage where I bought the car and where I had the intention to bring it for service. Nice people, but they can't take the responsibility to do anything under warranty (must be one of your guidelines and recommendations). It seems they have NO autonomy on decisions for warranty problems, although they notice and understand them. The only thing they can propose is to make an appointment with Mr. Aeby. I think it was the dealer who took the tire replacement for his account although he's not responsible at all for the problem. Volvo Car Corporation is in my point of view the only one who should take responsibility for such problem, and this should be completely transparent for the client.
Level 2 (Volvo representative Mr. Aeby) seems to respect the same guidelines and recommendations: do as less as possible under warranty, try to find out a maximum of possibilities to make the client pay the bill, and NEVER engage the Volvo responsibility. He agreed completely that the tire wear was a serious problem and he couldn't find any reason (tire pressure, tire or rim damage,…) that indicated abuse of the vehicle. He recommended me to have the steering properties of my vehicle checked (he should have recommended the garage to have this checked on my vehicle), but stated immediately that Volvo would never participate in the tire replacement. Since I don't agree to pay for replacement of tires every 6000 Km, and since the affair is blocked due to the higher mentioned internal Volvo dispute, I looked to discuss one level higher.
The Swiss client responsible (level 3) simply sends us back to the previous level. Unfortunately we could not measure his autonomy and his sense of responsibility since we got involved in the accident. His French colleagues proved already their complete lack of interest although the car was brought to a French Volvo dealer for repair. The fact that the dealer where we had to bring the car (obligation from the insurance) was thrown out by Volvo (after the reforms from FORD) is maybe the reason for this complete absence of any support by Volvo France S.A.
The highest level was VCC in Sweden: Mr. Andersen, Miss Mellqvist and yourself. Although I tried to show a serious lack in after sales on all previous levels, I'm sent back to those levels. I observe a problem of responsibility in the Volvo Car Corporation, and no initiative is taken. Each time I contact Volvo After Sales (on every level), their comments are that they want me to be a satisfied customer (except for Volvo France S.A.), but that there isn't anything they can do for me. I suppose that a company with this kind of attitude can survive if its product is that good that after sales in only necessary in very exceptional cases. I nevertheless doubt that this is the case for Volvo, and it's certainly not the case for the car we got.
I do regret that our problem evolved to an escalated issue, but I'm not responsible for it, neither is Volvo for some parts (accident and hailstorm). Volvo should nevertheless take care of a correct and efficient after sales (cf. our experience with Volvo Automobiles France) and a fast and responsible repair of an obvious production default under warranty (if the geometry problem had been solved in Mai or June, after my first remarks…).
Even if this fax is not very efficient in the way that it will solve my problem(s) with the car, I still hope it brought you some ideas to install a real after sales and client satisfaction department at Volvo.
Best regards,
Ing. Kurt Weiss
Remark: I got the bill for the tire replacement but refuse of course to pay it. Which means that I can't bring the car to our initial dealer in Switzerland anymore. Since the garage in France isn't interested in Volvo anymore, I'm obliged to take care of the geometry problem on my expenses in another country. Hope you folks think twice before buying a Volvo. If somebody can me give some comments/tips to solve the problem or encountered the same problem, please let me know...
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