Valet key fob scam? Car dies at valet, but he knows a guy!

[shawner123]

Curious if anyone has experienced anything like this, and if not how I can let people know about it. I have a 2015 SE, I've joked about not wanting to valet it because I'm afraid something will happen, of course last night I go to restaurant which requires valet. Five minutes later the valet comes in telling me this is only he second time it's ever happened but he car is not working etc.

The e-golf has power, the lights are on, but there is a red triangle with an exclamation mark on the dash, and the red car icon with an exclamation on it, indicating a "electrical error" according to the manual. All functions of the car seem to be working, except it won't start, and the key fob lock/unlock is not responding. I spend an hour w/ VW's version of on-star which is absolutely useless was super disappointing. Half the reason they sold me this car was they said if anything happens VW just comes and takes care of it and brings you a courtesy car. What did they really offer? The would tow the car to VW at my expense, and arrange a car for me at my expense, which I could then try to get reimbursed.

Having the no choice because my car was not moving and sitting in the middle of the valet parking lot, I told them to do it, in the mean time the valet had "his boss" come and look at the car, this guy took my key fob, pressed lock/then unlock, held if close to the STOP/START button, and depressed the brake, suddenly the car restarts, dials move, he does this a few times and now the car is completely normal. I give him a $40 tip and the valet a $20 tip.

So happy not to have to deal w/ everything and having my car back, it wasn't until 10 minutes later I started to think about the fact that it seemed too easy, and the valet kept telling me to go inside and enjoy my meal over and over while he waited for his "boss" not seeming concerned at all that my car was just sitting dead in the middle of his parking lot.

I wasn't able to find much information online about the e-golf and those dash errors, or what the guy did with the fob, or anything about anyone with a similar experience so I figured I'd post on here to see what people thought.

 

[JoulesThief]

Well, I guess it was no joke. No operators allowed in your vehicle until they RTFM. No more valet service for you, either.

 

[shawner123]

Well, I guess it was no joke. No operators allowed in your vehicle until they RTFM. No more valet service for you, either.

For sure, unfortunately after certain times in LA at certain restaurants they will tow you unless you valet so it was one of those times....but after last night's fiasco I'll just not be going to any restaurant that requires that, I'm just worried if I should still bring my car to a dealer to be checked out which will be a huge inconvenience, or if I should just assume they somehow screwed it up and the guy who came just knew how to unscrew it up and be happy it only cost me $60. It just seems odd since I didn't get the "fob our of range" message or anything, it was the "electrical error" message that was on the screen and after whatever he did the car resumed normal operation.

 

[JoulesThief]

Well, I guess it was no joke. No operators allowed in your vehicle until they RTFM. No more valet service for you, either.

For sure, unfortunately after certain times in LA at certain restaurants they will tow you unless you valet so it was one of those times....but after last night's fiasco I'll just not be going to any restaurant that requires that, I'm just worried if I should still bring my car to a dealer to be checked out which will be a huge inconvenience, or if I should just assume they somehow screwed it up and the guy who came just knew how to unscrew it up and be happy it only cost me $60. It just seems odd since I didn't get the "fob our of range" message or anything, it was the "electrical error" message that was on the screen and after whatever he did the car resumed normal operation.

I recall reading the procedure in the Owners manual about if you have problems with the keyfob being out of range of the reader antenna in the car. Perhaps read up, the routine the restuarant owner did is recommended, do it right next to where the key would go in the steering column to clear everything out., you'll see the cover there on the steering column.

BTW, if they did rig it, tipping both of them encourages bad behavior towards future Porsche, Audi, VW and e-Golf owners, you've set a precedent. What restaurant was this in L.A. so I can avoid the scoundrels.

Forget about seeing the dealership, unless a repeat occurrence happens. Probably operator error on the Valet, or he knew what he was doing to mess things up so everyone gets a tip. I see valets as tip whores, there's very little involved, skill wise, in parking a car, that it's worth a tip, unless your time is so precious, then you should have just gotten room service instead. If your time is that valuable, you'd be in a Tesla, not an e-Golf.

 

[bizzle]

You can read it both ways.

1. The guy parks cars for his job. His boss has to know more about parking those cars. Both of them park way more cars than you do on a daily basis. It's not unreasonable that his boss would know a trick or two to get a car parked, either because he has read a bunch of manuals for various cars or he has enough experience not to have to read a bunch of manuals.

The fact of the matter is the valet told you to go inside and enjoy your meal. It wasn't like he said he knew someone but that someone was going to cost you $60 bucks, which is what I thought the story was going to be based on the thread title.

You voluntarily tipped them money you thought compensated them for their time and what you thought it seemed worth to relieve your stress in the situation (and not have to pay for a tow--that's actually the more interesting part to me...are you saying that our complimentary 3 year roadside assistance is supposedly on our own dime when it comes to tows?). If they had asked or seemed expectant for a large tip then I could see more reason for suspicion, but not simply based on the fact he told you to go inside and enjoy your meal.

2. Maybe they scammed you. But it could have just as easily ended with you becoming angry about him messing up your car and hauling the general manager outside and etc. Also, depending on the restaurant in LA I don't think that $20 bucks is that large a tip.