Shambles!

[Gryzor]

You're right Bear, slight mis-read - too much stuff on the Mk7 GTI/D shambles going on too! 

[monkeyhanger]

Golf7: My Dad might be having a build error on his car right now, but it'll be an error he won't mind as he'll end up with free pearlescent paint. I ordered a Pearl black GTD which has since been changed to Tornado Red. Order acceptance form and VW website tracking have been correct throughout and now my colour change is acknowledged on the tracker. My dad ordered a Tornado Red GTD DSG a few days later. Order acceptance form states Tornado Red (I think this means that the dealership are exonerated for any errors), but his online tracking info has always stated black pearl for colour and he has now been in "build confirmed" status for a week. He fancied the black pearl but didn't want to pay £500, settling for Tornado Red instead (the colour of his current MK5 Golf). If it turns up black he won't be paying for the paint.

VW UK are sh!te as mediators when a dealer cocks up, I can imagine they'll be a whole lot worse when they cock up, trying to avoid paying out. On a car like a GTD, what would they do to stop you rejecting a car when they cock up? I doubt they'd offer you much as someone else would probably snap their hands off for it (imagine walking into a dealership and being told there's a GTD built without order allocation you can have it within a week! ).

If his car does turn up in a colour he didn't order, he'll take it as a given he won't be paying for paint he didn't order. If it proves to be VWs cock-up and not the dealer he'd be pushing for something else like maybe the cost of his extended warranty (I think they'd be getting off lightly, personally).

[Jules Winfield]

When VW "lost" my order for my GTD, I was getting nowhere, so I ended up writing letters to the dealer principal, the sales manager, the company secretary for the chain of dealerships and someone high up at VW UK whose name escapes me.  That finally got things moving and because they'd messed up so badly, I ended up getting the three year servicing deal for free, plus some other odds and ends from the accessories catalogue like rubber mats.  My experience showed pretty early on that the customer service side of VW UK are utterly clueless - it took weeks for them to find out what happened to my order.  I was ringing up time and time again and they kept telling me they had no idea what has happening to it.

If the car isn't as ordered and the specification states that it has anthracite wheels, then it's a breach of contract (goods not as described) and you're entitled to reject or get compensation.  They should at least make some sort of gesture of goodwill.

If Golf7's company does a lot of business with VW.de and VW UK, then surely that's an incentive for them to get their fingers out and sort out the problem?  I'd be using that as an angle to get things sorted out.

[Golf7]

Update....

apparently the wheels are in fact Anthracite, but it is so subtle that unless you put a standard wheel next to it you wouldn't tell! They are nowhere near as dark as the Edition30 GTI alloys.

They are much lighter than the images in the brochure show which is representation (as they are definitely nowhere near the same colour, even accounting for printing etc) and as a gesture of goodwill VWUK are supplying the rubber mats, rear bumper protection and boot load liner free of charge (as my boss had ordered them seperatley and was going to pay for them himself).