Worst experience with a professional business

Where to begin. On 31 Mar 2026, I contacted VAG Spec Cape Town to book my vehicle in for cooling system issues that came to a head from the day before on my 2016 Polo 6C GTi. Earliest booking was 16 Apr 2026. They advised the vehicle is not safe to drive with the cooling issue. I requested if I could drop the vehicle off as I had an opportunity that day and couldn't drive it until the issue was resolved. They provided me with a provisional quote and advised if they got an opportunity before 16 Apr 2026, they would look at the issue. On 7 Apr 2026, they called and confirmed the issue was related to a coolant sensor and it needed to be replaced. They then sent a new quote with price increases I was not aware of, claiming cost of parts, yet the price of the part on the new quote was unchanged. Everything else had increased. Although the price was steep for an aftermarket part, I agreed to have the part replaced. After much back and forth, they advised the part was replaced but were unable to clear the fault codes and the issue of the cooling fans was still present. They advised the vehicle has an electrical short and informed me I could collect it on 8 Apr 2026. Upon arriving, I requested to inspect the vehicle and found a Check Left DRL alert that had never been there before in my 5 years of ownership. They informed me they were not aware of the fault. Upon visually inspecting the left DRL, it was indeed, not functioning. I queried what had happened that caused my DRL to fail if they were working on the cooling system and only replaced a temp sensor. They advised the fault was not present when they worked on or moved the vehicle. I left the vehicle in their possession and requested they resolve the issue that was not present when I brought the vehicle in. After a few days of discussion, during which they provided a still image of their CCTV footage claiming my entire headlight was not functioning when they took delivery of the vehicle. This had not been noted in their pre-inspection. They had also provided VCDS fault codes in Notepad of the B12ECF2 error with a date/time stamp that did not correlate with my mileage for that time period. This was confirmed using my service history and tracker records. After several requests for the CCTV footage as well as screenshots of the VCDS report not being fulfilled, I reached out to RMI to assist with mediating this issue. After another week of back and forth, another vehicle inspection by a 3rd-party, a consultation with a VW technical specialist who advised historical codes cannot be read after they have been cleared. VAG Spec were adamant this issue pre-dated their involvement. Along with the fault codes, they also provided photos of LED control modules they claimed was tampered with. After declining my offer to collect my vehicle and settle the bill on 15/16 Apr 2026, I was finally able to collect the vehicle on 18 Apr 2026. In the 10 days my vehicle was at the workshop, my car had been moved in and out of their garage every day. When these multiple 2-3min trips eventually drained my battery, my vehicle was idled for almost 90min in an effort to charge it. After a R3000+ bill, an overcharged, aftermarket temp sensor, a malfunctioning DRL and a host of unsubstantiated evidence from them, I paid the invoice and got my vehicle back. They advised their specialist will be in CT on 1 May 2026 and the vehicle will need to be returned for further inspection. That date was 3 weeks ago. In the end, an expensive lesson, but a lesson learnt.