Author Topic: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)  (Read 13484 times)

Offline Hawaii-Five-O

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VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« on: 05 June 2013, 09:37 »
As some of you may know my order has not been progressing that smoothly.

I ordered my car on 9 April 2013 and only yesterday did it appear on the VW Track My Order website and I still don't have an estimated build week.

Well I lodged a complaint with VW UK last week about the above to try and force them to give me a build week.

Anyway, this morning a received and email from my supplying dealer which reads:


Hi Mr Xxxxxxx
 
Sorry not got back to you sooner but I have been on off for a few days
 
I understand you have been onto Volkswagen with regards to a build week on your vehicle? Before I went off I was emailed from VW that the order number I gave you 2321XXXX had errors on within their system and was advised to re-order to and a build week will be allocated to your vehicle
 
Therefore you do have a new order number which is 2328XXXX and currently has a build week of 39
 
If you need any further information and you can track your car on the new number given, please do not hesitate to contact me
 
Once again Mr Xxxxxxx I do apologise for not replying to your email sooner, but I was only back in yesterday and catching up
 
Kindest regards



Now I was given an estimate delivery time of 12-14 weeks on 9 April which I accepted. However this re-order shenanigans, through no fault on my part, will put my order at a delivery estimate of 28 weeks!!! Surely they have broken their contract with me?

Do you think this is acceptable and what can I do to bollock them for compensation?

Your advice will help BEFORE a blow my top with my dealer on the phone.

Cheers
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Offline matchboy

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #1 on: 05 June 2013, 09:47 »
This is the number for the VW Executive Office: 0844 375 4625.  They deal with complaints and will take things a bit more seriously than your dealer.  This is as "high up" as I've been able to get thus far, so its worth a shot.  I am at a loss to explain how their c8ck up results in you getting a re-order and therefore a later build date, that is highly unfair.  You should be allocated a stock car that is within the original estimates.

(As long as its not mine  :laugh:)
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Offline SF-GTD

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #2 on: 05 June 2013, 09:58 »
I totally agree with Matchboy.  They need to get you a car with a build week that corresponds to when you originally ordered.  Your dealer will probably not be able to make that happen, so taking the issue to VW would be your best bet.  I'd probably let my dealer know that I've complained to VW so not to sour relations with them.

Offline monkeyhanger

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #3 on: 05 June 2013, 10:09 »
I totally agree with Matchboy.  They need to get you a car with a build week that corresponds to when you originally ordered.  Your dealer will probably not be able to make that happen, so taking the issue to VW would be your best bet.  I'd probably let my dealer know that I've complained to VW so not to sour relations with them.

Soured relations might depend on whether VW UK is really at fault (as the dealer implied) or whether the dealership cocked up and are trying not to cop for the blame. Always worth a punt with the complaint, just don't get your expectations too high, VW UK are sh!te mediators when a dealer has massively cocked up (shoddy repair from an approved garage in my past experience) and seem to be even worse at copping blame themselves and compensating you as a result.

Even so, my Dad's DSG GTD order cock-up (paint colour) has resulting in him getting a new "special" wk30 slot for an entirely new order placed between mine and mcmaddy's order. It seems that is certain circumstances VW can bend the rules to right a wrong (even a dealership wrong).

How they put my dad's replacement order before mcmaddy's (unless options are more of a reason for mcmaddy's delays than allocation) when my dad was 3rd in the queue for Pulman is beyond me.

VW Germany is a completely different entity, they will bend over backwards for their customers. VW UK seems to me to be like a franchise operation with it's own overheads and profit margins (much like the dealerships) and as a result seems to be very detatched from VW Germany's ways of working.
« Last Edit: 05 June 2013, 10:13 by monkeyhanger »
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Offline Bill_the_Bear

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #4 on: 05 June 2013, 10:17 »
As you know I've been looking at as many orders as possible to try to determine the cause of delays and the only cause I can reliably see is the position you are at in the queue with your particular dealer.  In fact I would go so far as to say I am 99% sure that no other factor results in a significant delay (I'm still not 100% sure about the sunroof).

So, if when they ‘re-ordered’ you kept your slot and only the number changed then you are ok (apart from the problem affecting everyone which is VW appear not to have allocated enough slots to cover the number of orders they have received and thus far do not appear to be doing anything to increase the number of slots).

On the other hand, if when they ‘re-ordered’ they basically cancelled your order and placed a new one at the back of the queue then I would consider it appropriate for them to assign you an equivalent slot to the one you lost.  Experience with others on here suggests they don’t do that, and you’d probably have to (politely) write to someone high up to even get a discussion going.  Part of the problem is since the estimated wait is so unclear it’s not like we can easily work out what you “should” have had and therefore if they just say you have not been penalised we have no way to verify that.  As an example, I’m on BW37.  Does that mean your BW39 is actually not bad, or did I order from a dealer who already taken more order than yours had and you should really be less than BW39?

There is a third possibility.  Your original order could have been so screwed that it didn’t even have a slot assigned.  If that is the case then even if it was possible to show somehow what you “should” have been at it won’t work because there will be no original order to benchmark against.  If you had access to the orders immediately before and after yours at your dealer you could narrow it down to a range, but they’re not going to tell you that due to data protection blah blah….

Offline CraigW

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #5 on: 05 June 2013, 10:33 »
I think your sales manager response is very poor. They have effectively messed up your order, they have cancelled the original order and then re-ordered which has bumped you to the back of the queue. So you can basically forget your original order date because that no longer applies.

That response offers no sympathy for your situation. If he had stated in the response that they would do their utmost to bring your order forward or that they would offer you compensation ast least that would be something. He has basically just fobbed you off with a response he has taken all of 5mins to think about.

I would take the letter and go into the dealership and speak to him face to face to let him know the situation is completely unacceptable  :angry: :angry:

Offline Sootchucker

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #6 on: 05 June 2013, 10:43 »
Mike, I know this won't make you feel any better at all, but at least it's not just me they are screwing over. Mines even a week later then yours at Week 40 !!! And like yours, this was because of a configuration error at VW (not my fault), although I (and now you) seem to be paying the price for their incompetence.

This really is getting well beyond a joke now.
« Last Edit: 05 June 2013, 10:51 by Norbreck21a »
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Offline Bill_the_Bear

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #7 on: 05 June 2013, 10:45 »
They have effectively messed up your order, they have cancelled the original order and then re-ordered which has bumped you to the back of the queue. So you can basically forget your original order date because that no longer applies.

I'm not sure we can conclude that with 100% certainty.  I was originally quoted a delivery of end July/early August (lets call it delivery wk30 for arguments sake), that is about 2 weeks after 5-0's originally estimated delivery.  I've now got a BW of 37, he is on 39... we're both looking at 2-3 months on top of what our dealers said when we ordered.  To me it is hard to say from that alone if 5-0 would have had a better BW than he currently has if his order had not been messed up.

What I'm saying is, none of the original dates apply any more, so we can't know (i.e. can't prove) what 5-0 "should" have had.  Having said all that I think you are probably right, they have caused a further delay by re-ordering.  But without proof of this its hard to complain.

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #8 on: 05 June 2013, 11:39 »
Whether they have broken their contract depends on when they told you the delivery estimate.  If it was before you signed and you signed on the basis that you were expecting delivery within the time given, then it might be a misrepresentation (false statement of fact that induces you to enter into the contract).

The problem is that it's only an estimate, so is liable to some slippage (but not as much as you're seeing).  IANAL, but I don't think there is a breach of contract here.  The only thing you can do is lean on your dealer and/or VW UK and try and wheedle something out of them - compensation, freebies, etc.

I wouldn't phone them.  I would go in and talk to the sales manager face to face.  Take a printout of the email with you so you can wave it in their face.

That's a very bad message (generally, and from a spelling/grammar/punctuation point of view).  Is the huge blue font from the original?  He apologizes for being late in getting back to you but doesn't say sorry for the order being messed up or provide any reason why it happened in the first place.  He also says he heard "before" he went off.  How long before?  The same day?  A week?  If it's anything other than the last day he was in, then it's pretty poor on his part.

Re-ordering puts you to the back of the queue.  My Mark 6 order was placed in mid-March, a couple of weeks after I visited the dealer.  Delivery was slated for July.  It went missing in June.  The dealership re-ordered the car around that time and I finally took delivery at the end of October.  My total wait was twice the original estimate.  When they re-order it's as if you'd gone into the dealer on that day and placed the order yourself.  They just do it without you being there.

Offline Lagerlout

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Re: VW Cock-up (advice needed please)
« Reply #9 on: 05 June 2013, 13:02 »
Why not ask them if they have any spec ammendable cancelled orders in the system. You might be able to queue jump?