yungpanda
***
This is my first post and this incident has since been resolved. But, after reading a couple of posts, I feel I should share my experience with the vehicle. Bare with me, it's pretty long hence the TL;DR.
TL;DR. Leased an e-Golf for 600.96/mo for 35 months. 2 days later, it's in the shop because of an issue with the charging system. VW Corp gets involved. 2 weeks later, car is fixed and broken into within 12 hours of getting it back.
I leased the e-Golf LE in Pure White on 6/11/15 (Thursday afternoon) from Winn VW in Newark. I commute from San Francisco to San Jose for work 5 days a week. It's 100 miles round trip. I made the mistake of leasing this vehicle was not clearing with my landlord about the whole charging issue. I'm not allowed to park in the driveway/garage and she freaked out when I strung an electrical cord from the garage, through the sidewalk, and to my car. So now, the boyfriend and I take it to a parking garage, swallow the parking fee if there's one, and charge it there.
On 6/12/15 (Friday night), I head down to work. I'm a bit of a speed demon, so I drained the battery with 15 miles left in my trip and was stuck in Los Altos charging my vehicle. I was fortunate to have a friend who lives in San Jose who offered to come up and lend me her hybrid Ford Focus so I could get to work, albeit an hour late, while she hung out with her pup and my charging car. At the time, I still had to wait for my job to approve my use of their charging stations so I was taking my lunch breaks at a charging station at a nearby library and I had to make peace with the fact that I was going to have to stop somewhere after work at 7am and charge more.
On 6/13/15 (Saturday night), I was able to charge my car in Oakland at a garage for 2ish hours and just barely made it to San Jose. I was literally crawling the last 2 miles from my exit. I had the turtle and everything show up. My speed had reduced from 65mph to 50mph while I was in the middle of the freeway and I had turned off every other function I could think of, eg air conditioning, radio, etc. I went ahead and tried to charge during my lunch break and noticed that the green light wasn't flashing and continued to show me yellow. Panicked, a called ChargePoint and they informed me that there was nothing wrong on their end and that it could be my car. I took the vehicle to another station and the same yellow light glowed.
After work, 6/14/15 (Sunday morning), with the car showing me that it had an 18 mile range, I called Roadside Assistance and asked if they could tow me home. With it being 7am on a Sunday morning, the dealers weren't open until 10am, so I really didn't feel like sitting in a lot for 3 hours all by my lonesome self. I was told that since my destination was out of the towing company's range, I would be charged $45. I hung up and woke up the boyfriend frustrated as hell. He ends up renting a car and driving down to pick me up. By the time he arrives, it's 9am and the dealer opens in an hour. So we decided to wait it out and head over there. We head over to Stevens Creek VW and test out the ChargePoint station there, no such luck. The salesperson walks over and we explain to him our situation. He suggests that since Service won't be open until Monday we can just drop it off in their mailbox and they will test it out. We agree that it's a pretty good idea and head home. We failed to realize that we would have to return the rental car we had and forgot to ask for a loaner.
6/15/15 (Monday morning). Stevens Creek calls me to let me know that there is definitely an issue with the car but their High Voltage technician won't be on site until Tuesday. I call up Winn to give them a heads up with what's happening with my car and ask for a loaner. They're more than happy to lend one to me and suggest that I ask Stevens Creek to release the vehicle to them so they can work on it themselves. I agreed. It made sense to have everything under one roof and I wouldn't have to bounce between picking up my golf and arranging with someone to ride with me so I can drop of the loaner. I call up Stevens Creek and they agree to release the vehicle and cancel my service ticket. At this point, I wish I could have just had everyone on a conference call so I wouldn't have to go back and forth between the two dealers. I confirm with Winn that Stevens Creek will release the vehicle to them and attempt to go about my day. WRONG. 30 minutes later, Winn calls to inform me that the towing company wants to charge me to bring the car to them. I called Stevens Creek back to ask if they can re-open my ticket and had to leave a message. 5 hours and no confirmation call from the guys at Stevens Creek, I call up Customer Care. They were great and said that they would deal with the dealers and make sure that my car gets looked at.
Fast forward a week later (6/22/15), the high voltage technician has confirmed that there is an issue with the charging system and that they're going to have to replace the whole system. Uhm, what? I'm reassured that it's covered by warranty and that they are ordering the part and that it should take 7-10 days for the part to arrive. I relay to Customer Care something around the lines of "I'm kind of over this whole electric car thing already and I don't want it because I have zero confidence in the vehicle." and they send my case to the arbitration team.
At the end of the week (6/26/15), my car is fixed and ready for pick up. I can't find anyone to ride down with me (the bf had to close at his job) so I ask to pick it up the following Monday, they said it was fine so I left it at that. Customer Care says that the arbitration team will give me an answer by Tuesday (6/30/15.)
Picked up the vehicle on Monday (6/29/15) at 10am and dropped off the loaner. Everything was feeling fine and dandy. The bf takes it to work to charge at the garage and takes it out and moves it closer to work to save a few bucks and so he wouldn't have to walk so far when he's off at midnight. Lo and behold, I feel like the car gods hate me, because someone broke into my car. Brand spanking new and so unused that the new car smell still lingers.
We end up taking the car to the dealer in Serramonte, the bf feels bad so he drops the $600 and change it cost to get the window fixed. Customer Care calls back with the arbitration team's ruling. No go. They can't take the car back but they're willing to compensate me for my inconvenience via my monthly rate. I agree, since I'm paying up the wazoo for the monthly rate. Don't even get me started on insurance. My wallet is like California, dry and bare.
Customer Care hasn't confirmed with me how many months I am being comp'd but I guess that's what happens when something like this continues into a holiday weekend. I probably should ask if they can comp me for the gas I purchased for the loaner I used for two weeks.
So in the end, this is what I learned. I need to really need to think hard and look at my options before I jump into a new vehicle. This is technically the first car where I made the big girl choices, which in hindsight was immature and stupid of me. I really should have asked for some advice and been firm with the salesman and tell him that I didn't want the vehicle yet rather than seceding and signing 35 months of my life away for 600.96 a month. Part of me regrets that this whole thing happened and makes me wish I still had my Jetta. There's probably a lot more that I can list but that's for another post.
Hopefully, this is the end of my troubles with my vehicle. Although, after reading a couple of post of the car just stopping on the freeway, I am slightly paranoid about that happening. I'm thinking this will be my last electric car for a while. I have been gaining confidence with the car the past work week and I'm starting to get the hang of the different regen modes. I do like the car as a whole. It feels better than my Jetta so the TDI is an option for the future.
TL;DR. Leased an e-Golf for 600.96/mo for 35 months. 2 days later, it's in the shop because of an issue with the charging system. VW Corp gets involved. 2 weeks later, car is fixed and broken into within 12 hours of getting it back.
I leased the e-Golf LE in Pure White on 6/11/15 (Thursday afternoon) from Winn VW in Newark. I commute from San Francisco to San Jose for work 5 days a week. It's 100 miles round trip. I made the mistake of leasing this vehicle was not clearing with my landlord about the whole charging issue. I'm not allowed to park in the driveway/garage and she freaked out when I strung an electrical cord from the garage, through the sidewalk, and to my car. So now, the boyfriend and I take it to a parking garage, swallow the parking fee if there's one, and charge it there.
On 6/12/15 (Friday night), I head down to work. I'm a bit of a speed demon, so I drained the battery with 15 miles left in my trip and was stuck in Los Altos charging my vehicle. I was fortunate to have a friend who lives in San Jose who offered to come up and lend me her hybrid Ford Focus so I could get to work, albeit an hour late, while she hung out with her pup and my charging car. At the time, I still had to wait for my job to approve my use of their charging stations so I was taking my lunch breaks at a charging station at a nearby library and I had to make peace with the fact that I was going to have to stop somewhere after work at 7am and charge more.
On 6/13/15 (Saturday night), I was able to charge my car in Oakland at a garage for 2ish hours and just barely made it to San Jose. I was literally crawling the last 2 miles from my exit. I had the turtle and everything show up. My speed had reduced from 65mph to 50mph while I was in the middle of the freeway and I had turned off every other function I could think of, eg air conditioning, radio, etc. I went ahead and tried to charge during my lunch break and noticed that the green light wasn't flashing and continued to show me yellow. Panicked, a called ChargePoint and they informed me that there was nothing wrong on their end and that it could be my car. I took the vehicle to another station and the same yellow light glowed.
After work, 6/14/15 (Sunday morning), with the car showing me that it had an 18 mile range, I called Roadside Assistance and asked if they could tow me home. With it being 7am on a Sunday morning, the dealers weren't open until 10am, so I really didn't feel like sitting in a lot for 3 hours all by my lonesome self. I was told that since my destination was out of the towing company's range, I would be charged $45. I hung up and woke up the boyfriend frustrated as hell. He ends up renting a car and driving down to pick me up. By the time he arrives, it's 9am and the dealer opens in an hour. So we decided to wait it out and head over there. We head over to Stevens Creek VW and test out the ChargePoint station there, no such luck. The salesperson walks over and we explain to him our situation. He suggests that since Service won't be open until Monday we can just drop it off in their mailbox and they will test it out. We agree that it's a pretty good idea and head home. We failed to realize that we would have to return the rental car we had and forgot to ask for a loaner.
6/15/15 (Monday morning). Stevens Creek calls me to let me know that there is definitely an issue with the car but their High Voltage technician won't be on site until Tuesday. I call up Winn to give them a heads up with what's happening with my car and ask for a loaner. They're more than happy to lend one to me and suggest that I ask Stevens Creek to release the vehicle to them so they can work on it themselves. I agreed. It made sense to have everything under one roof and I wouldn't have to bounce between picking up my golf and arranging with someone to ride with me so I can drop of the loaner. I call up Stevens Creek and they agree to release the vehicle and cancel my service ticket. At this point, I wish I could have just had everyone on a conference call so I wouldn't have to go back and forth between the two dealers. I confirm with Winn that Stevens Creek will release the vehicle to them and attempt to go about my day. WRONG. 30 minutes later, Winn calls to inform me that the towing company wants to charge me to bring the car to them. I called Stevens Creek back to ask if they can re-open my ticket and had to leave a message. 5 hours and no confirmation call from the guys at Stevens Creek, I call up Customer Care. They were great and said that they would deal with the dealers and make sure that my car gets looked at.
Fast forward a week later (6/22/15), the high voltage technician has confirmed that there is an issue with the charging system and that they're going to have to replace the whole system. Uhm, what? I'm reassured that it's covered by warranty and that they are ordering the part and that it should take 7-10 days for the part to arrive. I relay to Customer Care something around the lines of "I'm kind of over this whole electric car thing already and I don't want it because I have zero confidence in the vehicle." and they send my case to the arbitration team.
At the end of the week (6/26/15), my car is fixed and ready for pick up. I can't find anyone to ride down with me (the bf had to close at his job) so I ask to pick it up the following Monday, they said it was fine so I left it at that. Customer Care says that the arbitration team will give me an answer by Tuesday (6/30/15.)
Picked up the vehicle on Monday (6/29/15) at 10am and dropped off the loaner. Everything was feeling fine and dandy. The bf takes it to work to charge at the garage and takes it out and moves it closer to work to save a few bucks and so he wouldn't have to walk so far when he's off at midnight. Lo and behold, I feel like the car gods hate me, because someone broke into my car. Brand spanking new and so unused that the new car smell still lingers.
We end up taking the car to the dealer in Serramonte, the bf feels bad so he drops the $600 and change it cost to get the window fixed. Customer Care calls back with the arbitration team's ruling. No go. They can't take the car back but they're willing to compensate me for my inconvenience via my monthly rate. I agree, since I'm paying up the wazoo for the monthly rate. Don't even get me started on insurance. My wallet is like California, dry and bare.
Customer Care hasn't confirmed with me how many months I am being comp'd but I guess that's what happens when something like this continues into a holiday weekend. I probably should ask if they can comp me for the gas I purchased for the loaner I used for two weeks.
So in the end, this is what I learned. I need to really need to think hard and look at my options before I jump into a new vehicle. This is technically the first car where I made the big girl choices, which in hindsight was immature and stupid of me. I really should have asked for some advice and been firm with the salesman and tell him that I didn't want the vehicle yet rather than seceding and signing 35 months of my life away for 600.96 a month. Part of me regrets that this whole thing happened and makes me wish I still had my Jetta. There's probably a lot more that I can list but that's for another post.
Hopefully, this is the end of my troubles with my vehicle. Although, after reading a couple of post of the car just stopping on the freeway, I am slightly paranoid about that happening. I'm thinking this will be my last electric car for a while. I have been gaining confidence with the car the past work week and I'm starting to get the hang of the different regen modes. I do like the car as a whole. It feels better than my Jetta so the TDI is an option for the future.
