Armstrong Volkswagen INC

This review is intended only for the Sales Department. When I told you the first three times that we didn't want your in house financing, I thought we had made ourselves clear. After settling on the final price, you came back out with a consumer financing form asking for all of our personal information including our social security numbers. After realizing you were going to pull our credit (in a deceptive manner), which could have negatively hurt our credit scores, along with our home purchase planned for later this year. After refusing to sign the consumer credit form, the sales manager ripped the consumer credit form label off of the top, to which we replied to his actions ""you're acting unprofessional"" which was followed by him calling us ""unprofessional"". He claimed that this information was required for the Patriot Act, however, after further research into this area, a SSN is required to be provided to the lenders taking on the financing (which we took care of elsewhere). Needless to say we had a horrible experience with this dealership. Way to keep up with the typical car dealership ""dirt-bag"" perception. Due to his actions, we will be going elsewhere with our business, and be telling everyone we know not to shop at this location. We did file a complaint with Costco the following morning (went through their auto buying services), and within 5 minutes got an apology from the General Manager which we did appreciate. He stated that his sales manager had acted in an ""inappropriate, unprofessional, and unacceptable manner"", and that it was an isolated incident. more

[EDIT 2012-01-20] I've spent some time on the phone with the Service Department Manager (Lance) and I feel we've gotten to the root of the problem. I no longer believe this was intentional dishonesty. Rather it became obvious that the Service Rep I was dealing with wasn't adequately conveying information from me to the actual Technician doing the service and was also not adequately conveying to me from that Tech. They are giving me credit toward fixing what I now believe to be the actual issue (leaking heater hose allowing air back into the system). The Service Rep in question has been let go. Given the effort they are making to correct the situation, I'm revising my rating and my overall assessment. I'll be returning to Armstrong for the foreseeable future. [Original review follows] Took my '02 B5 Passat to them to have my coolant system ""burped"" as I had just done my timing belt which required draining all the coolant. I knew air was trapped in the system (vapor lock) as I had no heat except under engine load (high RPMs). Went to Armstrong and asked them to burp the system. The mechanic told me that vapor lock never happens in these cars (passatworld forums claim exactly the opposite) and that they would diagnose the real issue. After about an hour he comes back and tells me they agree it's vapor lock and I should bring it back two days later and they'll fix it. Two days later I return, expecting them to do the work discussed. I turn the car over to the same mechanic, who returns two hours later and informs me that the heater core is blocked and will have to be replaced for $1100. I tell him that isn't possible since I had just flushed the heater core myself not three months earlier, and Armstrong had done it as well on a visit a couple months prior. He insists it's plugged, they charge me $90 for the ""diagnosis"" and of course I refuse the work. I bring my car home, hook up my hose to the heater core, watch as water flows through unrestricted for about 15 minutes and decide they'd ripped me off. I have my wife come out and help me burp the system (it's kind of a pain in the butt, which is why I went to Armstrong in the first place) and lo, I have heat. Anyway, I expect they never even looked at my car, probably just had me sit in the lobby for a couple hours, charged me $90 to give the diagnosis they always give for bad heat (which happens to be the most expensive diagnosis: it's a $50 part that requires removing the entire dash to replace). I am going to contact them, provide them with pictures and video of my heater core not being plugged and demand my money back. I think the part that I find most incredulous is the fact that I had told the guy that not only had I done my own timing belt replacement (an involved job that takes about 8 hours and few people will attempt on their own), but that I had already flushed the heater core myself and he somehow thought I would not go home and spend 20 minutes checking his claim before dropping $1100 on this job. He's either amazingly stupid or amazingly arrogant or probably both. I'd definitely shop around before having a car serviced here. more

I promised my service consultant Phil that I would write a review for him if he fixed my strange alarm problem that none of the other shops around the area could figure out. Not only did he fix it, but he made me aware that my engine has a special belt that needs to be replaced at 105,000 miles or I could ruin my whole engine. I found out it waas true from my dad, and at just over 115,000 miles on my car with it never being done made me grateful that Phil mentioned it. It now has the new belt and the alarm doesn't go off in the middle of the night thanks to this awesome VW shop! more

All around the best service for a car that I have ever seen. Go there if you don't like the run around. more

i started servicing my car at armstrong when i broke down about 3 years ago. i tried to have it towed to the closest dealer because i don't trust so-called independent companies for service. the problem was that herzog meier was the closest, but told me they couldn't even look at it for over a week! i did a quick google search and saw armstrong was the highest rated dealer in the entire area, so i called and surprisingly got an appointment that day. my service writer, phil, really made me feel as though my specific needs were the focus. he didn't just try to ""up-sell"" me. phil gave me a list of items the tech found, but prioritzed the the list based on my needs and the importance of the item. i understand that a vw trained tech that works on my model 100 times a day will see a lot of little things that can be fixed or optimized. i think we all get a little aprehensive when we get a big list of recommendations. that's why i really appreciate the service i get there. i have been back to armstrong at least a dozen times since then for all my regular service, and they never let me down. in fact, that list from 3 years ago is virtually gone because phil helped me slowly make my car perfect. if you own a vw i would strongly advise to go to armstrong. no matter where in the portland/vancouver area you live it will be worth it. more

I do not recommend this company ! I had my vehicle serviced there and had a terrible experience. It was a minor issue that turned into a battery change and a 13 item long list of other things that were wrong with it. Some of which were not wrong with it before it was serviced! I was given the run around and our account manager was apathetic at best . Phone calls were not returned AND the original problem was not fixed!! I am out 200 plus dollars and now I have to find another garage. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR TIME!!! more

I had my 04 Passat in their service department for them to replace my ECT sensor. They told me that it would be $100 and only take an hour. It ended up being 4 hours later with a total cost of $300. The next day I was driving and my check engine light came back on so I took it back they told me they probably put in a bad part and they would replace it at no cost to me. another 4 hours go by and they called me and said that it was a completely different part and that it is going to cost and additional $350 to get it fixed right. more

I am a avid VW owner having owned seven of them over the past 30 years. I bought a new 2006 Passat from Armstrong back in 2006. The sales part was good. It was when I had to go in for service when I was eventually ""black balled"" because ""I was not able to be pleased"" (direct quote from person taking appointments). They mis diagnosed problems, did not deliver when promised, had rework, kept information from me, discounted the information I found out and brought to them that ended up being correct. So now I go elsewhere. My reason for writing today is that I now own a 2008 Jetta that I bought from another dealer. They sent it over to Armstrong to get the AUX stereo adapter to work. Armstrong Service ""shook their head like they did not know what I was talking about, said it could not be done to that stereo."". I accepted delivery on the vehicle anyway. I took it to Herzog Meir and they reprogrammed it in less than an hour and had me back on the road with the AUX working. THANK YOU. We all have our own experience. I just wanted to share mine as I have now seen someone else get the ""run around"" from these guys over the course of several years. more

I was looking on Craigslist for a used VW. I was first of all, totally impressed by the classy look of the CL postings - so many posts are just not all that professional. The Armstrong VW posts were way different - they had bylines that were hard to believe about non-closers, dealing with one person, no-pressure etc. Going to a dealership has always been a nightmare for me and very intimidating. Right off the bat I had the feeling that they wanted to match me with the right car - the car for me, that I needed, that would work for me - it was NOT about how much money they could make. I only dealt with one person - John was his name - 30 years in the business. He was personable, kind, empathetic - OMG - NOT what you would expect of a ""used car"" salesperson. I left Armstrong feeling so awesome about my Jetta purchase and saved a ton of money. I recommend them to EVERYONE!! I just wish I knew more people!! Worth the trip SE to Gladstone!! Pros: absolutely NOT intimidating Cons: possibly location?? but worth the drive SE!! more

Called about a used VW diesel, the salesman Bryan gave me all the information including the price and gave clear directions how to get there. I came up the following day, met with Brian and the car was cleaner than I could have hoped for. ( really nice) The price was more than fair and the person who did my paperwork was very kind as I'm a little hard of hearing. I've bought lots a cars over the years and this was my best experience yet and I'll tell my friends for sure. Pros: Helpful salesperson and kind person did paperwork Cons: kinda far from Grants Pass more

Initially I was concerned that we wouldn't find a TDI Sportwagen that didn't have a price marked-up beyond reasonable, since dealers from Corvallis to Portland were asking a LOT for these harder-to-find cars. Then I contacted Armstrong VW with an email. Shannon Ashford is THE MAN when it comes to buying a VW in Oregon. He has knowledge of the cars, doesn't put on the pressure to buy, and was very helpful when we asked for some additional work on the car after we made our purchase (he made all the arrangements). Pros: Honest, helpful, no markup on MSRP more