Automobile Servicing

Approximately a year ago I took my wife’s VW Polo to Lacroix sprl, the Volkswagen dealer in Genval. The original posting in The Bulletin can be seen at the address below. The purpose of this posting is to give you an update.
http://www.xpats.com/volkswagen-servicing

To save you a long read the essential information is that the car went in for minor paint repair. I commented at the time that the gearbox seemed to shift slowly on cold days. They put the car on their computer and the analysis was that it needed four (later reduced to three) new fuel injectors. Having a basic knowledge of cars I had some doubt about the validity of this analysis but I did go ahead and make an appointment for several days later to have the work done. The cost of this was to be +/- €1100 plus TVA. In the meantime I went to an independent VW dealer who confirmed my suspicion that fuel injectors have little to do with a gearbox (automatic) shifting. I cancelled the appointment the day before it was to take place but the dealer said that there would be a 10% restocking fee plus a fee for the computer analysis. I disputed these fees. A few days later I received a bill which totaled €454.57. I was going to be doing extensive travelling shortly after this so I paid the bill (a mistake). I then contacted a lawyer as well as Test Achats and Volkswagen Belgium (D’Ieteren) to see what could be done to challenge this bill. The dealer’s point of view was that since I had paid the bill I must have agreed with it. The head office of Volkswagen did not seem at all interested.
During the past year we have had a few long trips and many short ones for a total of about 12,000 kilometers. A few days ago I took the car to a different Volkswagen dealer for the usual annual service. They checked everything they usually check when servicing a car including changing all the fluids (engine oil, brakes etc.) I didn’t mention the previous visit to LaCroix sprl in Genval. The new garage apparently didn’t find any problem with the fuel injectors, which wasn’t a surprise since the car has been running perfectly for the past year.
The price for this experience was an expensive €454.57. There are a number of conclusions one can draw from this experience and questions that can be asked, but I will let the reader draw his/her own conclusions about the integrity of Volkswagen Belgium and the integrity of LaCroix sprl.