Dealerships (of any kind) are high-overhead corporations with an obligation to protect their bottom line. Service is a cost that negatively impacts that bottom line, so in many instances service is dispensed grudgingly or rationed according to some formula that only management can know. To complicate the picture, dealership techs are work-for-hire (punchclock) types with little or no passion for your car. Individual dealership management determines the personality of their particular dealerships and some will be better (in some cases, much better) than others...but keep in mind a corporation has an obligation to make a profit.

My experience has always been that independents are more likely to give you better service because they actually need your business - and word-of-mouth advertising. This is especially true if they're qualified and have a good attitude. Presently, my indy tech is Volvo certified, IPD licensed, and a former pit crew mechanic. It's a Volvo-only shop, his workmanship is top rate, and he sells me the oem parts at a fair price (and lower than Volvo retail).

I use both, depending. I've been scared enough by the posts here that I bought the extrended warranty out to 100,000 miles. Which I need to use the dealer for.

In my geographic area there are an exclusive Volvo indy, a Volvo-SAAB indy and a Volvo-performance shop. I also use a non-Volvo shop that specializes in Porsches and race cars for alignment and wheel balancing. I remarked that my dealer techs include at least one moron who reversed my directional tires - apparently not knowing what the arrows meant - and have mounted two balancing weights 180-degrees apart - and my Porsche technician there said he had 4 or 5 customers who are refugees from the same dealer who had come to him.

I'm pretty sure my Volvo dealer once forgot to change the oil in my car when I brought it in for an oil change.

So, yes, if you have an indy VOLVO shop in your area do check it out. But there are enough unique tools and techniques involved that you probably need a shop that specializes in the marque. As has been noted, the indies are more likely to innovate, to FIX the problem rather than just throwing on a new part.

-Bill the Cat

I'd say that it's possible you're dealing with an inexperienced or just "no good" service writer who's failing to do his job by keeping you in contact and telling you what you want to know. Although the service writer is the guy you normally talk to, it's possible that the techs there know what they're doing.
I'll admit that from your point of view, it'd be hard to know if this writer or their techs are the problem as either/or both may not be good too. If it's a dealer that's been around for a while and keeps their help, they should have at least one or more experienced techs who should be capable of proper diagnostics/repairs. You can request that you want their best tech to work on your car if you're having doubts, sometimes talking to the tech directly might be a good idea as well.

Now, I've worked in both indy's and dealers so I've seen both from the inside (several of each over my many years). With dealers, the "experienced" Volvo techs are factory trained and most likely only work on Volvos whereas with indy's, unless they have EX-Volvo dealer techs now working for them there's no way any of them have any formal training or alot of real experience with your FWD Volvo (maybe know some things about older RWDs though). Most Indy's will work on anything, doing minor repairs and basic maintenance (the easy stuff) but aren't likely to know how to correctly do more detailed work that requires actual product knowledge. In my area (a semi-large major city), there's no Indy's that have any techs with FWD factory schooling or dealer experience so although they'll tell you that they can fix it, it might not be fixed right. The techs I see dealers hire from Indys (out of desperation to hire "a body") are typically "butchers" in my book and usually fail to do repairs correctly and have many comebacks. Guys like that are everywhere but usually don't last long in a good dealership where Volvo grades their CSI scores and isn't happy if the scores drop. Most dealership management people don't want unhappy customers either because they simply won't return.

I think you'ld be more likely to have the car fixed right the first time if serviced by a GOOD dealership but not all dealers are good and most also have a few people there who are less than perfect (like everywhere really). If you're having probs with a particular writer, most dealers have a customer relations person who you can discuss this with too but be carefull as everything said definately gets back to the individual writer (they're human and can carry a grudge if you were say something real bad).

Sounds like you have an issue with this particular dealership. Just like with everything, there are good ones and there are bad ones. I use an independent for the items I can't do myself (pretty much everything). While the labor rates are within $5 an hour of each other, I find that my indie tries to look for ways to reduce the cost of the repair by not replacing as many items as the dealer would tend to do. Just my experience.