Although we are pleased with our Cupra Born, shortly after we bought it, a problem arose that annoyed us. Fortunately, it’s not a problem with the car, but with the charging station, and even more with the biggest VW group dealer in our country.
The video story (if you prefer to read the story, please continue below the video):
When choosing a vehicle, all the dealers offered us discounts if we bought the charging station at the same time as the vehicle. The same was also the case with Cupra, and we decided to buy their Moon Power Community advanced charging station, which continuously measures the load on the house power supply network and automatically adjusts the charging power.
The first problems appeared after a month of use. The error “Leakage detected on DC. Connector id: 1:” . At first, here and there, but soon regularly, and after a day or two, charging was no longer possible. We called the car dealer, but as the problems started just before the holidays, it took a whole week before they even sent a technician, who was not able to determine a root cause; therefore, he dismantled the charging station and took it away for repair, and in the meantime, he fitted us with a replacement station. In about a week, we got our station back repaired. Or so we thought.
A few days later, we were unpleasantly surprised by an envelope containing a repair bill. It said that no fault had been found with the charging station, that it was working perfectly and that the warranty does not apply therefore we are expected to pay the repairer’s costs. More than 300 euros. In other words, we were accused of submitting a false claim. What bothered us the most was that no one called us to find out what had happened and why we had called for service. And as misery loves company, the same day, the error started to occur again.
I immediately called the dealer and complained about the invoice, and also expressed my disappointment at their poor attitude towards customers. The nice lady on the other end apologized profusely and assured me they would immediately send a maintenance specialist and cancel the invoice. The next day, the friendly repairman again picked up the charging station away for repair, mentioning in passing that the same fault had occurred with another customer.
Four weeks have passed since then, and we have not yet received any feedback from the repairer regarding how the repair is progressing. Not exactly a high level of customer service. Fortunately, the replacement charger is working properly.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the dealer’s customer service. A couple of days ago, a reminder popped up in our mailbox for an unpaid invoice. It nearly kicked me on my arse. I would have expected something like that from public service, say the tax authorities, but I was shocked that one of the biggest car dealers could afford such poor customer service. After my rather explosive reaction, they admitted the mistake, apologized, and sent me a credit note.
But the bad feeling remains. I am confident that the charger will get successfully repaired, but I believe we will not be seen again at this retailer again.
I hope this will remain our worst experience with Cupra Born and that we have years of good experiences ahead of us.
Stay tuned!