Bad Dealership Experience

[TOYMAN]

Hi all,

Firstly, appreciate that there are many bad things going on in the world, and I am very lucky enough to have had the opportunity to work hard and be able to buy nice things. I am writing this, as I just want to share my experience and have an idea of what the greater good of this forum think...

I ordered my car (GTI, 5 door, Tornado Red) 22nd Feb with Twickenham VW. Upon ordering, I mentioned I was sensitive to the lead time and if they could not have my car ready by the first week of June or would not order and think of a different option. Thy promised that it would be on the day of sale.

Since the day of order I've not had a single piece of communication from the dealership. I had chased many times for an order number so that I could track my vehicle, and never received an email back or a call returned. Unusual for VW as I had ordered my current car from the West London branch in Brentford where the service was excellent.

Yesterday, whilst traveling home from a family day out, we happened to be close to the dealer so I decided that after 2 whole months of no communication what so ever, I would drop in and find out why. Only a senior manager was available (sales controller) which was good and he explained that he was very disappointed to hear of my experience and that he would have a word with the sales agent to rectify the problem as all the sales team are instructed to inform their clients every 2 weeks on the progress of their new car.He also, told me that I was completely quoted wrongly and that in fact my car won't be built until week 27 and ready for collection in AUGUST!! He mentioned that the GTI currently has a minimum lead time of 4-5 months and that if I was told anything different, it was wrong.

Thats 2 months additional to the painful wait I am suffering! He apologised, but I feel that I have fallen for the type of sales bullish*t that you would expect with a lesser manufacturer or a second hand sales man in the bad end of crapville. I can deal with the additional waiting time, but feel that being lied to is unacceptable.

Any thoughts of how I should deal with this? Sure enough, the original sales man called me promptly this morning with an apology and when I asked him why he hadn't been returning my calls, emails and lied about the lead time, he put it down to not having enough experience and should have thought better. I think they told me anything just to get the sale as it was close to year end on the books...

 

[Mark V1]

Firstly - its very well documented on other forums that lead time for GTI's is now (and has been for several months) very much reduced and more likely to be two to three months maximum - nothing like what you were told. This is of course on the assumption that your order was actually placed with the factory and not forgotten about. I have to say, on the evidence of no contact, no order number and now being quoted BW27, I suspect that this dealer may not have had allocation and has in fact only just ordered the car - or worse still not actually ordered it yet.

If they actually did place the order two months ago and can give you an order number I suspect that a confirmed build week will come up very shortly - but you need to get the all important number off them now and put it in to the tracker.

No disrespect intended but really - you should have not accepted silence in response to your e-mails and calls for anything more than 48 hours let alone two months. Dealers are notorious for this sort of thing (and sadly no exceptions with VW) and often the only way to get things done is to turn up in person.

 

[BlueBullet]

I didn't receive a tracker number or updates every two weeks, I physically turned up as it's the only way to dodge the b.s., I'm afraid salesman will be extremely helpful when ordering but not as good after. He definitely shouldn't have told you that date but even if it was a possibility at time build weeks can change as mine had moved twice. Don't get me wrong my garage has been good but it doesn't mean any of them are perfect no matter how much money spend or what brand you purchase. If you part ex your car with them for the next one atleast you can put a positive spin on things, you have got a better price back for yours the longer your new one takes to arrive.

 

[Mark V1]

I think the OP got the highest discount I have heard of - 13 percent...

Post 12:

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?p=31185#post31185

 

[TOYMAN]

Mark V, no disrespect taken. Unfortunately, I travel very often with my job so its hard to find time to physically go to the dealer. The good news is that I do have my order number and its stating "with the factory". Maybe the bad service is a grudge from dealer with the discount I got. It was fairly easy to get though, once I contacted lots of different VW dealers around the UK. One offered 13% plus the body protection package for free, but after reading the forum on what that entails, I'd rather pay for a pro detailer to get the job done. Instead, I managed to also get them to knock some money off the FPS, even though I wasn't financing.

 

[Mark V1]

Well done on getting such a great deal! I only managed that by ordering the day before the prices went up!

I appreciate your difficulty re the travelling but hopefully now the dealership will re-engage with you and a confirmed build week will be forthcoming shortly.

 

[Melchett]

Toyman,

I can sympathise, I've had equally poor communication with my dealer having also secured a 12% discount.

Having gone through a broker, it took 2 weeks before the dealer got in touch with me after much chasing on my part. Although I was given a tracker number when I finally did get to speak to someone, that was the last I heard from them until I emailed a month later to ask for a quote on deliver times. They couldn't give me one so I had to come on here and ask if anyone had any ideas; I went back to the dealer quoting the rough window that I was suggested was realistic on here only to be told "sounds about right, there are so many variables that can influence things". Erm aren't you the experts that do this day after day? Surely you can give me a window based on best and worst case scenarios??? Or have I got through to the showroom cleaner rather than the Sales Dept?

I checked the tracker again last week and it was in transit. I checked it this evening and it has apparently arrived in the UK. Guess what - I've still heard nothing from the dealer. I'm almost tempted to not chase it and see just how long before the dealer tells me the car has arrived. If they think I am going to jump through their hoops and pick it up at a date convenient to them they have another thing coming. I will collect it at a time convenient to me. They know I have to get rid of my V5 as they have said they aren't interested in p/x, and as i can't afford to keep both cars running simultaneously, I have to get rid of my V5 first.

So don't worry too much - I don't think it's anything personal!

 

[Melchett]

Do the dealers read these forums? Not sure I'd want to make things any harder than they already are. But for now, lets just say it is a Home Counties dealership.

 

[Mark V1]

I know who it is Melchett having read your previous posts - JCB Medway.

I picked my car up from them a few weeks ago and found their communication to be excellent. I presume you are dealing with James Callaway - just drop him an e-mail and you will get a response within 24 hours.

PS - the dealer will not contact you until its reached them (not just 'in the UK').

 

[Chris43]

Smith Knight Fay Bury - Excellent sevice department, After sales care, not great.

After picking my car up I decided against the minor repair protection so I went back within 7 days and requested I would like cancel it as was my right. I was met with a lot of head scratching and comments along the lines of we've never had that before. I even had to show them the sentence in the small print that stated the issuing dealer would refund the premium. At that point it was left that they would find out what to do and call me back. A further 2 weeks passed so I called again. That call ended with the person who arranges that is on holiday today. I am now waiting for the end if the month as the company that arranges the minor scratch protection only debits / credits the dealer at the end of each month and my premium will be refunded at the end of April. I am waiting to see if I get your money is here call. Anybody fancy a wager it doesn't happen and I have to chase them again.

Needless to say I'll revert back to sales at VW Manchester in Trafford Park next time as my wife and I have bought 3 cars from them in the last few years and their after sales service is excellent. We only used SKF Bury this time as they are local to us and thought we should support the local dealer.

 

[Golf_gti1]

mate i would tell them to stick there body protection its a load of bollox that how my new car got scratched and now im back waiting for a replacement according to vw mines due for BW25 due to the changed for the 2015 so ill end up with a 2015 model with less in it eg:seat draw im gutted lol

 

[marvin1]

Firstly - its very well documented on other forums that lead time for GTI's is now (and has been for several months) very much reduced and more likely to be two to three months maximum - nothing like what you were told. This is of course on the assumption that your order was actually placed with the factory and not forgotten about. I have to say, on the evidence of no contact, no order number and now being quoted BW27, I suspect that this dealer may not have had allocation and has in fact only just ordered the car - or worse still not actually ordered it yet.

If they actually did place the order two months ago and can give you an order number I suspect that a confirmed build week will come up very shortly - but you need to get the all important number off them now and put it in to the tracker.

No disrespect intended but really - you should have not accepted silence in response to your e-mails and calls for anything more than 48 hours let alone two months. Dealers are notorious for this sort of thing (and sadly no exceptions with VW) and often the only way to get things done is to turn up in person.

I think that the OP has or is being very naive in this matter allowing so much time to elapse before chasing them up. I my experiences, with VW most of the salespersons always tell you a favourable waiting time to get that signature on the order form (some may be honest, of course).
My current car was ordered in February in 2009 and was told about 10 weeks but then VW then had problems with supply of 1.4 TSI engines and bodies with sunroof etc etc. Five months later I got it. I don't think in those days an online tracking system was available to me but my dealer was never very communicative with me and it was always a one-way conversation of me phoning the dealer for updates.

 

[Krankie]

Must say I've also had different experiences with different VW dealers here in The Netherlands.

Considering I drive a lease car I am very restricted in opting delivery dealer, but had great experience there. Good responses to email enquiries regarding delivery date (sometimes reply within 5 mins!!).

But even when I was enquiring for specs/testdrive I had totally different encounters with the worst one giving me the feeling that only by the grace of [some deity] i was allowed to walk in their greatness' shadow and gasp at the sight of the awesomeness that is VW... and make me wait extremely long for enquiries/testdrive and overall trying their best to get rid of me.. in which they succeeded

Switched to another dealer for information and eventually also maintenance and just love the place. They make plenty of time (even extend their opening hours), pour infinite coffee and really put effort into making you feel a valued customer.

In short; customer friendlyness varies greatly from place to place; if you don't feel valued and are able to change, have a look around.

 

[TOYMAN]

VW done good! As my new GTI is delayed, VW Twickenham delivered a new GTI metallic white mk7 with pp and all the extras you could possibly think of to me this morning to use as a courtesy car until my car arrives. I have faith again! Only problem is that there's so many cool extra toys that I haven't ordered....never mind..
The car is a beast, yet so refined. To anyone who is still waiting, it really is worth the wait. The difference in feel from a mk6 is a big step up, but very familiar. The only negative I could find on my quick drive earlier is that the rotating dials for the climate don't feel as premium as the mk6 dials. Otherwise, it's a beauty. Oh, and the other thing, people really do look when you drive past them....it's a stunner of a car and even better that it's uncommon on the road at the moment.