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VW sound system woes. What should I do ?

 
 
mwertz
 
Reply Tue 18 Nov, 2003 05:23 pm
have a 2003 new beetle convertible which came with a cassette deck sound system. I just purchased an 800.00 phat noise MP3 player which I had to purchase and install through the VW service. When I picked it up last friday I noticed on the way home that I have an electrical interference slight whistling noise coming through the speakers of my sound system that gets higher and lower as you accelerate and slow down.

I am familiar with this problem as my friend recently went through and ordeal trying to get this problem remedied with his 1998 Mercedes... he finally did after they changed the wiring.

I immediately called service and brought the car in. Today they called to let me know that they looked at the car and they do hear the noise, but it is standard interference which occurs on all VWs which have the antenna built in to the windshield instead of mounted on the roof. I feel that they should either fix this problem or refund the cost of my sound system and 3 hours labor I payed for them to install it. I did not have big expectations for the sound quality of the portable cd player I used to play through my casette adapter or radio stations, but I do after spending so much money for this deluxe system. What should I do? -Monica


Shocked Update 11/19
Well, I really appreciated the feedback from fishin. In the end I went back to the dealership and test drove the new 2004 beetle convertible and guess what?...even with out the phatnoise system it still had the annoying audio interference issue. ..they haven't resolved it and when I escalated the issue to VW of North America as a "who cares about the phat noise, why does my sound system stink?" issue, they wrote it up as an incident and I pressed the customer service advocate at the 1-800 number for his "off the record" opinion. If I told you exactly what he said then I would be a big liar about my off the record spiel I pitched to him, but I will say that I felt like there were good people in bad situations due to my circumstances. I made the service department document the extent of my problem and acknowledge the noise exists on my service report. The worst part is that the noise is still there and when I offered up the idea of taking it to an outside sound professional and having it rewired and sending them the bill, they offered up that it could void my whole electrical warranty on my new car. OUCH. Now what? What a saga! All becauase I thought I should treat myself to deluxe expensive sound system. I so wish I would have bought the new Neuros Mp3 player that records the radio, your voice or any Mp3 and plays it through any radios speakers ... wirelessly (?) > I was concerned that the $220.00 device would compromise my sound quality...I am a fool.
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fishin
 
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Reply Tue 18 Nov, 2003 07:18 pm
I think they're blowing smoke. The antenna only receives signals, it doesn't transmit any and any interference problems that might involve the antenna would only be noticed when listening to a radio station. It just isn't a player at any other time.

You say the whine correlates with when you accelerate or decelerate so it's picking up electrical interference from the engine (mostly likely the high voltage plug wires or coil..).

You could play hard ball with the dealer and try to get them to play with it and fix it I suppose.

I suspect that if you really want this system and don't want the whine I'd take it to a car audio shop that knows how to deal with this stuff.

You can always call the dealer and tell them they have one more chance to fix or you'll be taking it elsewhere to have it fixed. You could try to sue the dealer in small claims court for any additional fees if you take it somewhere else and they manage to fix it properly. You'd want the other shop to document everything they did to fix it though!
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