Absolute nightmare Volvo assistance experience

[Ulrikas PA]

Originally Posted by kdst5

This is quite an interesting discussion.

So what are peoples experiences or views on this? Am I mistaken and would I be better finding a different provider of breakdown cover?

Free advice incoming:-

Buy the best European Roadside Recovery you can.

Do not rely on a 'recover to the nearest dealer' when abroad.

I managed in Mercedes Benz for 5 years and dealt with hundreds of stranded Brits abroad.

[sandys]

Surprises me that these premium brands are bad, when I turned up the boost a bit too far on my Abarth at the Nordschleife and the turbo let go I used my Fiat assistance to book me a car, a room etc, they even offered, new tickets home but I was with friends, they did car recovery back home to UK, including a car back in the UK for a week whilst I sorted myself out, absolutely no bother at all, I was amazed at how good it was, perhaps because they just use AA and not their own?

Car took weeks to come back though and I was on my own after that week of rental which is fair enough IMO, it was owner malfunction after all

It is perhaps the case that there were no Abarth service in Germany at all.

[Lexman8]

I've used Volvo Assistance once in the UK without any problems and that included getting a hire car from Enterprise.

In Europe I'd contact Volvo in the first place but if the response wasn't satisfactory I'd fall back on the cover provided through my Nationwide current account. I've never had to use it so I've no idea how good or bad that might be.

Having two options, especially when in Europe, just makes me feel more relaxed about solving any problems should it come to the worst.

[safrane]

Originally Posted by piorunz

Can you tell more about your case? What happened? I noticed you did not wrote previously in this thread, so details are unknown to forum members. I am especially interested as I am from Bristol too, driving XC60 under Volvo Selekt 2/60K until next year, and various other insurances and protections, not sure if I should expect a lot if car breaks down.

In brief - Away on holiday in Cumbria, suspension failed, not provided with a temp car, had to pay for own Taxi to collect car, stranded at an isolated farm for 4 days unable to enjoy the holiday.

Repair failed after 2 miles, this time offered a car, but then non available off enterprise. Offered a builders transit van, complained and given a car 24 hours later too small for all the family and told could not put the dog in it either. Warned them we would need a 4x4 at the farm as snow forecast and it was not on a road, but on a 2 mile track. Snowed in for 5 days... so not much of a holiday. Finally sent the family home on the train as there was no guarantee it would be fixed in time for return to work..

Asked Volvo to explain the failings and give them the opportunity to make a offer to cover my costs and what I should have been given... Volvo said I need to take it up with Volvo Assist, who have failed to respond even though it is Volvo UK who are telling them to get in touch.

[Ulrikas PA]

So, the Volvo dealer didn't fix your car, which led to the majority of the issues you had?

Definitely take it up with Volvo, in writing, as they are at least partly culpable. Do not take no for an answer on the phone and if fobbed off, ask who your complaint will be escalated to.

Do some web searching to find out the name of the Customer Service or After sales Director before you call. Copy them in on any correspondence sent to any name you are given to write to.

[kdst5]

So if people aren't relying on Volvo Assistance when abroad what European Roadside Recovery do people use?

[Ulrikas PA]

To be honest just pick one that gives you the best possible onward travel and repatriation benefits. I would want my car recovered back to the UK for repair unless it was a minor fix - check the t&c's.

AA are still part of a European partner network, so the call centre / job allocation is ok. I haven't used GEM abroad, so not sure what their partners are like, but they are normally very good in the UK.

[Steve XC60]

I had to use Volvo Assistance on our Mk 1 XC60 when in France in August several years ago. I called them and they were helpful on the phone. They said they would send someone to collect the car and take it to the nearest Volvo service centre (c.80km away) and would provide a replacement car while they checked to see what was wrong and then repaired it. All sounded good.

I then asked when we would get the car back and was told that the Volvo service centre could not look at the car for 10 days and so they could not provide an estimate for when we would get the car back. They also mentioned that they would only provide the replacement car for 3 days before charging me and that it would be unlikely to be an XC60. (I appreciate that non-manufacturer specific breakdown cover cannot guarantee make and model, but as we frequently have bikes on the roof, I had - perhaps foolishly - thought that having Volvo Assistance might mean we were more likely to get a like-for-like replacement once we explained that we have bikes, roof bars and rack to transfer over. It did not work like that.)

So, I said I would have a think and call them back once I had decided what to do.

I spoke to my then local Volvo garage back in the UK to ask advice. (Back then I could actually get through to the service desk on the phone, now I find it impossible.) Through a mixture of speaking to the service desk in the UK and going to a local French generalist garage for help, we managed to sort things out so that we could keep driving for the rest of our time away. Thankfully it was a pretty minor issue. We then properly sorted the issue once back in the UK.

So, kudos to the Volvo service desk in the UK and the local French garage. The Volvo Assistance proved worthless.

So, if you go to Europe and there is a nearby Volvo garage which has time to look and fix the problem promptly, Volvo Assistance is probably ok. If however there is no local Volvo garage or they don't have time to look (or it is French August holiday!), you can probably forget it.

I might have been able to push Volvo Assistance to repatriate the car to the UK as their Ts & Cs say they will repatriate if the car cannot be repaired within 3 working days. However, I suspect they would argue those 3 days start from when they first look at the car and, to be fair, that would have created more logistical problems for us than it would have solved. Pushing for repatriation might also have got them to look at the car quicker, but I was not in the mood for trying to call their bluff - and to do so I would probably have had to let them take the car away.

So, I agree with Ulrikas and Philip - if you are concerned about breaking down in Europe, don't rely on Volvo Assistance until they change the way they do things.

[Past Master]

This is an interesting thread. I have just come to Volvo from Land Rover (purely because Land Rover are hardly building any cars and still wouldn't take an order after a year of trying!). Land Rover Assistance use the AA, but they have dedicated AA units who know the cars inside out. If they recover your car they provide a replacement vehicle (they have their own fleet scattered around the dealers, or they hire), you keep it until the repair is done, and the dealer is under financial pressure to complete asap (I think they have to pay for the hire car). It does seem that the Volvo system is a bit less helpful! It's also a bit confusing: my car is a year old, so as far as I am aware it has 3 years warranty and assistance. But I've also been given a one year Selekt warranty. Not sure why I appear to have both.

[tspdavish]

OP here - update for those interested.

I complained to the garage, Volvo Assistance, Enterprise and Amex.

Amex turned down by chargeback because the T&Cs on the car hire stated any extra charges beyond 3 days would be charged to the hirer (me). This is my fault in the sense I didn't read the T&Cs but was NOT what I was told my the garage repairing the car (who said they would sort a courtesy car) or on the phone by Volvo assistance who told me they were providing the car (and Enterprise themselves repeatedly told me when picking up the car it was just a £1 charge, leaving out the bit verbally where if you keep it beyond 3 days they charge you an extortionate rate/day for a godawful Kia).

In any case Volvo assistance put me through to complaints, handled by Allianz who insure the assistance operation. Several weeks later they replied having "looked at my case" and said they did everything right and offered a half baked template apology. My next option is ombudsman but I can't be arsed.

So in summary - a Sytner warranty (which by the way paid out for the £1.2k suspension repair - running payout total is now £4k over 2 years and costs £58 a month) does not cover you for Volvo assistance car hire, and Volvo assistance will only pay for 3 days; if the garage does not get you a courtesy car, return the enterprise hire car after 3 days - you will be charged by Enterprise.

Sytner DOES cover you with a hire car but ONLY for the period when the car is being repaired. Since the repair was done in under 12 hours, and they DO NOT cover the time waiting for parts/short staffing wait times (over Christmas in this case it was 3 weeks) I did not get any cash from them either.

In the end a I paid £600 for a hire car for nearly 3 weeks and a £1.2k repair so its not the end of the world - and I should have read the T&Cs from Enterprise, but I DEFINITELY was a victim of crap communication and being fobbed off between 3 different organisations telling me 3 different things.