You nailed it. I've had similar experiences as you when I've spoken to representatives of CarNet on the phone. I would love to know which company actually services CarNet, since I believe it's nothing more than some low-end service provider that VW hired to manage their US car connectivity services. It's a complete embarrassment for VW. I'm thinking it won't improve, if ever, until the next time their contract is up with the provider.
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Car-Net support experience
I’ve noticed recently that my Internet Radio hasn’t been available. It’s not super critical to me, as I’m usually streaming via CarPlay or listening to the radio, but by golly I spent my $8/year on it and I want it to work.
I double checked the app and it shows my IR subscription plus my Verizon hot spot being current, so I called CarNet customer support. I got a fairly unhelpful rep who, besides asking me for my name four times, including addressing me by my name while asking me for my name, told me that CarNet has nothing to do with Internet Radio, and I would have to speak with VW Customer Service. She’s clearly in a rush to end the call.
I called VW, got a recording that wait times were running 36-48 minutes, and would I like to schedule a callback for the next day. Sure, why not.
Next day, I get the callback from VW, on hold for a few minutes and then I get a VW rep. The rep was well informed and very articulate, and said that, as I suspected, CarNet manages Internet Radio, not VW. He also said that CarNet is making a lot of back end changes and that might be disrupting some of their services. He also offered to call through to CarNet, explain the situation, and get me set up with a CarNet rep. Which we did.
So I’m now speaking with a CarNet rep, and am about 25 minutes into the call, I’m sitting in the car, and for a while she says the problem is that my VIN isn’t in their system. Then she finds the VIN, and says the problem is that I don’t have a “WiFi “ plan. I explain that I do have the Verizon cellular hot spot plan, and she says no you don’t, it’s not in their system. I point out that I’m looking at the CarNet app, and that the app shows both a hot spot plan and the IR plan, and that my hot spot is actually working even as we’re speaking. No, she says, I don’t have a plan, and CarNet has nothing to do with the hot spot, I have to talk with Verizon, that’s not their problem, talk to Verizon, good bye.
To make matters more absurd, the Internet Radio started working during my call with her.
I was actually fairly impressed with the VW rep, he seemed to be honest and well informed.
CarNet impresses me as a boiler room operation, which offers little value to customers, and whose reps do nothing but pass the buck. I can’t see myself purchasing any services from them. I had OnStar for several years, and it was actually quite functional and useful (e.g., remote start, remote lock/unlock, remote diagnostic, vehicle location). CarNet is a f**king joke.
I double checked the app and it shows my IR subscription plus my Verizon hot spot being current, so I called CarNet customer support. I got a fairly unhelpful rep who, besides asking me for my name four times, including addressing me by my name while asking me for my name, told me that CarNet has nothing to do with Internet Radio, and I would have to speak with VW Customer Service. She’s clearly in a rush to end the call.
I called VW, got a recording that wait times were running 36-48 minutes, and would I like to schedule a callback for the next day. Sure, why not.
Next day, I get the callback from VW, on hold for a few minutes and then I get a VW rep. The rep was well informed and very articulate, and said that, as I suspected, CarNet manages Internet Radio, not VW. He also said that CarNet is making a lot of back end changes and that might be disrupting some of their services. He also offered to call through to CarNet, explain the situation, and get me set up with a CarNet rep. Which we did.
So I’m now speaking with a CarNet rep, and am about 25 minutes into the call, I’m sitting in the car, and for a while she says the problem is that my VIN isn’t in their system. Then she finds the VIN, and says the problem is that I don’t have a “WiFi “ plan. I explain that I do have the Verizon cellular hot spot plan, and she says no you don’t, it’s not in their system. I point out that I’m looking at the CarNet app, and that the app shows both a hot spot plan and the IR plan, and that my hot spot is actually working even as we’re speaking. No, she says, I don’t have a plan, and CarNet has nothing to do with the hot spot, I have to talk with Verizon, that’s not their problem, talk to Verizon, good bye.
To make matters more absurd, the Internet Radio started working during my call with her.
I was actually fairly impressed with the VW rep, he seemed to be honest and well informed.
CarNet impresses me as a boiler room operation, which offers little value to customers, and whose reps do nothing but pass the buck. I can’t see myself purchasing any services from them. I had OnStar for several years, and it was actually quite functional and useful (e.g., remote start, remote lock/unlock, remote diagnostic, vehicle location). CarNet is a f**king joke.
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“Complete embarrassment for VW” is an excellent summary
Since 2020, car-net is managed by Bosch… certainly not low-end. But in this case probably too big to care about the details with mountains of bureaucracy to get anything meaningful done, with too many stake-holders to appease.You nailed it. I've had similar experiences as you when I've spoken to representatives of CarNet on the phone. I would love to know which company actually services CarNet, since I believe it's nothing more than some low-end service provider that VW hired to manage their US car connectivity services. It's a complete embarrassment for VW. I'm thinking it won't improve, if ever, until the next time their contract is up with the provider.
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Thanks for confirming it's Bosch. The other CarNet thread from yesterday that I read after I posted also mentioned Bosch. I agree, I would not classify Bosch as a "low end" company, but the service (and the poor support when you call them) still speaks for itself. It's sad.Since 2020, car-net is managed by Bosch… certainly not low-end.
I now wonder who services We Connect in Europe. Have any idea?
Just because Bosch is involved doesn’t mean that they haven’t subcontracted out the call center aspect to some low end operation.
When I remodeled my house I had a suite of Bosch appliances. The refrigerator was internet connected and I set it up just because I could. Never did get the frig to “talk” to me. On line buying maintainance supplies worked great. This CarNet might be new territory for Bosch and require a lot of calls to VW for them to put pressure to get CarNet into better shape. My ID4 has left the factory and replaces a GM car with OnStar that has worked without problems for nine years. I will not be pleased if I grab my phone and get an error message…!Since 2020, car-net is managed by Bosch… certainly not low-end. But in this case probably too big to care about the details with mountains of bureaucracy to get anything meaningful done, with too many stake-holders to appease.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah... I'm not impressed with Car-Net. Was great for my Tiguan... the things I used the most were remote unlocking, vehicle status (windows down, car unlocked with notifications even on my watch). Now...
Where are...
I don't really need the mobile data but having it in the car accessible by wifi can be handy at times but like I said, I despise Verizon. We should be able to toss in a Nano SIM and use our own carrier. I was paying just shy of $18 for car net with my Tiguan and got all the remote features, plus it enabled traffic and some other data via SiriusXM. Sometimes I don't understand the decisions some companies make that are clearly not in the customers interests. I am reluctant to pay extra for anything at this point.
- 1 month trial of Verizon data (I detest Verizon... why can't we pick our own carrier for this?)
- 3 years of Plus Nav and Plus Speech (Software as a Service here)
- 5 years of Remote Access for just 3 things... state of charge, climate control and EV charging lookup.
Where are...
- Remote features like lock or unlock
- Windows status
- Send address to Nav
I don't really need the mobile data but having it in the car accessible by wifi can be handy at times but like I said, I despise Verizon. We should be able to toss in a Nano SIM and use our own carrier. I was paying just shy of $18 for car net with my Tiguan and got all the remote features, plus it enabled traffic and some other data via SiriusXM. Sometimes I don't understand the decisions some companies make that are clearly not in the customers interests. I am reluctant to pay extra for anything at this point.
I’m disappointed by how poor the Verizon coverage is. I have a TMobile phone, was hoping Verizon would fill in the coverage gaps, but Verizon coverage is actually worse than TMobile. Verizon has coverage gaps on Interstate 5.
I live outside Tracy and the Verizon coverage is OK at best. I would just like to use my own carrier. Also not having 5G level service does not make sense for such a new and tech laden vehicle.I’m disappointed by how poor the Verizon coverage is. I have a TMobile phone, was hoping Verizon would fill in the coverage gaps, but Verizon coverage is actually worse than TMobile. Verizon has coverage gaps on Interstate 5.
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