I've recently written these two letters to Vx, I hope you can all take the time to read them and give me your comments, advice and guidence on where to take it from here.
General Motors UK Ltd.
Griffin House
Osborne Rd
Luton
LU1 3YT
18.10.10
Dear Sirs,
Re: Vauxhall Vectra 2.2 SRI
I am currently a massively perturbed, anxious and disheartened owner of a Vauxhall Vectra 2.2 SRI, with Z22YH engine, I purchased this from Niddvale motors near Harrogate on 30.08.05 with only 15 miles on the clock. Now Vauxhall to me have always been a great manufacturer of motor vehicles, as a boy/young man I aspired to own a Vauxhall and did so when I could. I first owned a Vauxhall Corsa and after a year I traded up and got my lovely 2.2 Vectra, my wife and I love this car. Being a member of the armed forces and my trade a driver, I pride myself on looking after the car. I get it serviced at regular intervals and maintain high standards with the appearance and all lubrication levels. My wife and I really can’t see ourselves in another car. You were a trusted and respected manufacturer.
I managed to get two years worry free motoring from this purchase. Call me cynical but isn’t it funny that the problems started occurring towards the end of the warranty. The manufacturer/parts related problems to date are:
11.05.07: Sherwoods, Darlington, DL1 1RJ. The vehicle was taken in with power fault, engine warning light, loss of power at 60 mph and once stopped for a short time would restart. High pressure pump 93174538 & Sensor 24404015. Also carried out recall on exhaust clamp, I was not informed by post. Reason for replacing parts EML?? Job No 601004 carried out under warranty.
14.09.07: Sherwoods, Darlington, DL1 1RJ. The vehicle taken back with further power fault, suspect it is still the previous fault not correctly rectified. FRTP 55352870, CCN 24454037, TRIP 13156933 & 13156926. Job No 608521 carried out under warranty.
I appreciate that to this point it has cost nothing but time and fuel, but there are still underlying problems which I believe are linked, and had the Vauxhall franchise garages used been more competent these issues could have been resolved earlier.
October 2008: Recall for handbrake adjustment. During this year, being the conscientious (and no longer fully trusting Vauxhall due to previous issues) vehicle owner I am I took out my own warranty.
05.08.2009: Perrys, Aylesbury, HP19 8BY. The vehicle taken in (on 25.06.09) due to drastic power loss, the engine warning light coming on and not restarting. P1191 fuel rail pressure, High and Low pressure fuel pumps, injector and coil pack, fuel pressure regulator, fuel treatment x2 and regulator pressure V0024404015. Invoice No 70520254.
After a lengthy negotiation between Perrys, my warranty company (Warranty Direct) and myself, the repairs totalled in excess of £1700, I ended up £499.50 out of pocket not to mention the warranty company increasing my premium.
When researched on the internet was found to be quite a common fault, why no recall!?
26.07.10: Perrys, Aylesbury, HP19 8BY. Whilst I was away in Afghanistan my father took the car out, and the car once again started suffering drastic power loss. This was apparently once again was due to the previously replaced fuel pressure regulator. This also ended up costing me £47.00 for a diagnostics check which also showed up P1112, P303 & P302 as potential issues. What angers me most in the case of this repair is that a) the regulator had been (supposedly) replaced less than a year ago and therefore the part must have been substandard and b) this repair was done for free (invoice no. 70541082) due to it being a recalled part – if this part had been recalled, why was I not informed? The loss of power which occurs in the vehicle when this part is faulty is, I believe potentially lethal and had someone of lesser experience been driving you may have been facing a court case.
11.10.10 Ian Hudson & Co, Haverigg, LA18 4NG. After returning from Afghanistan and my father-in-law passing away, I find my family and I travelling north to Cumbria more often than usual. This is out in the sticks, where a car is relied on heavily, also during my leave period for me to spend time with my family after a stressful time away (on both my wife and I). Surprise the car has broken down again! This time due to cam chain auto tension failure, causing a misfire. The car is currently still in for repairs and instead of my family and I being free to get out and about and visit my two children, parents, other relatives and friends we are stranded waiting for the car to be repaired. I have again been on the internet and looked up the faults, what a surprise lots of people have experienced the same fault. So again why no recall?
For all the faults above you will find many disgruntled Vauxhall owners on the internet, people who once respected your company and were proud of owning a Vauxhall. I’m sure there will be many more like me who have only read up on faults but not left any comments.
I feel that the major fault lies with you as the manufacturer, although your garage franchise staff and mechanics could possibly do with more training and communication skills. Your company could do much more to ease the burden on your loyal consumer; you were well aware of these faults and did nothing. The only recall letter I ever received was in reference to the handbrake.
But hey, congratulations to you Vauxhall you’ve got warranties now that cover up to 100,000 miles; I feel that I and many other Vauxhall owners have been your guinea pigs for working out the little gremlins on your cars. I could stomach this if you’d recalled the cars for the repairs that are blatantly manufacturer/parts faults.
General Motors UK Ltd.
Griffin House
Osborne Rd
Luton
LU1 3YT
05.11.10
Dear Sirs,
Re: Vauxhall Vectra 2.2 SRI
Further more to the letter dated 18.10.10 attached:
Today I received back my lovely car, lovely due to the engine having to have been stripped down and re-built at a cost of £782.62 (remove head, strip down and carry out decoke, fit two valves, refit head using new gaskets and seals, fit complete timing chain kit, change engine oil and filter, top up antifreeze). Also to my disgust the unit operating arm (part number 24437715, a part that enables the manifold to work at its optimum efficiency) was found to be incorrectly fitted and in ill working order, adding to the frustration and anger I have for your company. This part will most definitely have had to of been removed during previous works in your franchised workshops as listed below. I believe that there are two scenarios as to what has occurred in relation to this part a) it was substandard and your workshops chose to ignore this when removing it and refitting it during engine work or b) your garages refitted the part incorrectly. I believe that had your franchises done their jobs efficiently and this part had been replaced or correctly re-fitted, I would not have to write you this letter or my letter dated 18.10.10 (copy enclosed, awaiting response).
I will not let this matter rest until I have answers as to why you would release such shoddy workmanship into the public domain when as a company you have a reputation of being a trusted and well respected brand name.
Thanks for reading, I look forward to your comments.
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