Ok own up..

[KyleB]

Buying a gtd and still haven't driven one!!

Same here.

I'm not far from Pulman although when I went in to discuss buying a GTD the salesman couldn't of been less interested in selling me one. Might go and see if they'll let me drive one.

[physio]

I have been into my local dealer every 2 weeks since mid may they keep saying they will not have a demo GTi in before early aug
and no GTD before end of aug .
So I went to the dealer 16 miles away  on 1st june and had a run in a GTi  which they had for  2 weeks  and placed my order with them ,   :smiley
:They took delivery of a GTd  last week .
, it seems like VW have there favourite  dealers

[JellyB]

Similar patchy experience here, booked a test drive with a dealership one saturday afternoon. 10 mins later I get a phone call saying the car was not available as one of the sales manager's family was going to be using it for the rest of the day and then he was off on holiday for a week with the car.

Dealership two didn't have one available as it had to come in from another "place" (where I don't know)

Dealership three rang me and offered a test drive in the pouring rain last thing on that saturday afternoon (full marks to them) and eventually placed an order with them after the other two dealerships were silent for 3 weeks.

[monkeyhanger]

Buying a gtd and still haven't driven one!!

Same here.

I'm not far from Pulman although when I went in to discuss buying a GTD the salesman couldn't of been less interested in selling me one. Might go and see if they'll let me drive one.

Did you order from one of the Lookers branches in Teesside?

[Bill_the_Bear]

booked a test drive with a dealership one saturday afternoon. 10 mins later I get a phone call saying the car was not available as one of the sales manager's family was going to be using it for the rest of the day and then he was off on holiday for a week with the car.

Such assholes.  If I ran that dealer the "sales manager" would be told to clear his desk and get out.

[monkeyhanger]

booked a test drive with a dealership one saturday afternoon. 10 mins later I get a phone call saying the car was not available as one of the sales manager's family was going to be using it for the rest of the day and then he was off on holiday for a week with the car.

Such assholes.  If I ran that dealer the "sales manager" would be told to clear his desk and get out.

If you ran that dealer, you'd have your GTI! Hopefully it would be your own and not the branch demo. 

[CraigW]

booked a test drive with a dealership one saturday afternoon. 10 mins later I get a phone call saying the car was not available as one of the sales manager's family was going to be using it for the rest of the day and then he was off on holiday for a week with the car.

Such assholes.  If I ran that dealer the "sales manager" would be told to clear his desk and get out.

I remember being told by my dealership at the time when they received their Demo that I wouldn't be able to test drive it for at least a month as it was a showroom car. Well a few days later I popped in unannounced to take a look and low and behold it wasn't in the showroom. I'm sure the manager had been taking it home with him. Anyway, ten mins later and the dealer pulls up outside and takes me for a test drive  .

After the test drive, the sales manager then jumps back in the car and disappears out of the dealership with it. It was a bank holiday that weekend and I wouldn't have been surprised if he had buggered off home with it. You would have thought that just having received the car and being one of the first to get hold of a demo they would have been desperate to show it off and to try and get as many orders as possible. Well it would appear not.

They are full of sh1t

[monkeyhanger]

booked a test drive with a dealership one saturday afternoon. 10 mins later I get a phone call saying the car was not available as one of the sales manager's family was going to be using it for the rest of the day and then he was off on holiday for a week with the car.

Such assholes.  If I ran that dealer the "sales manager" would be told to clear his desk and get out.

I remember being told by my dealership at the time when they received their Demo that I wouldn't be able to test drive it for at least a month as it was a showroom car. Well a few days later I popped in unannounced to take a look and low and behold it wasn't in the showroom. I'm sure the manager had been taking it home with him. Anyway, ten mins later and the dealer pulls up outside and takes me for a test drive  .

After the test drive, the sales manager then jumps back in the car and disappears out of the dealership with it. It was a bank holiday that weekend and I wouldn't have been surprised if he had buggered off home with it. You would have thought that just having received the car and being one of the first to get hold of a demo they would have been desperate to show it off and to try and get as many orders as possible. Well it would appear not.

They are full of sh1t

VW sales do seem to be bucking the trend here in the North East right now - the dealerships are always busy even when plenty of other dealerships are literally begging you to pay them a visit (i'm being stalked by the local Nissan garage right now). When I was in Benfield Scotswood Road a few weeks before my dad got his car, curious to see what deals they were offering with their "VIP weekend event" (a measly 3% off a GTD/GTI and a sh!te part ex value), the 2 salespeople within earshot were both looking to wrap up GTD enquiries with a positive sale. They were trying it on pretty hard with me too (even though I was just in out of curiosity, long after setting up my order with Pulman).

I suppose that constant level of business even in the bad times does breed complacency towards the customer.

[CraigW]

booked a test drive with a dealership one saturday afternoon. 10 mins later I get a phone call saying the car was not available as one of the sales manager's family was going to be using it for the rest of the day and then he was off on holiday for a week with the car.

Such assholes.  If I ran that dealer the "sales manager" would be told to clear his desk and get out.

I remember being told by my dealership at the time when they received their Demo that I wouldn't be able to test drive it for at least a month as it was a showroom car. Well a few days later I popped in unannounced to take a look and low and behold it wasn't in the showroom. I'm sure the manager had been taking it home with him. Anyway, ten mins later and the dealer pulls up outside and takes me for a test drive  .

After the test drive, the sales manager then jumps back in the car and disappears out of the dealership with it. It was a bank holiday that weekend and I wouldn't have been surprised if he had buggered off home with it. You would have thought that just having received the car and being one of the first to get hold of a demo they would have been desperate to show it off and to try and get as many orders as possible. Well it would appear not.

They are full of sh1t

VW sales do seem to be bucking the trend here in the North East right now - the dealerships are always busy even when plenty of other dealerships are literally begging you to pay them a visit (i'm being stalked by the local Nissan garage right now). When I was in Benfield Scotswood Road a few weeks before my dad got his car, curious to see what deals they were offering with their "VIP weekend event" (a measly 3% off a GTD/GTI and a sh!te part ex value), the 2 salespeople within earshot were both looking to wrap up GTD enquiries with a positive sale. They were trying it on pretty hard with me too (even though I was just in out of curiosity, long after setting up my order with Pulman).

I suppose that constant level of business even in the bad times does breed complacency towards the customer.

I don't think its just VW to be honest. Quite a few of the premium brands don't ever appear to be affected, whether it's Audi, BMW, Porsche etc, these companies always seem to do well regardless on the economic situation.

[JellyB]

I would agree with that based on my recent experiences. Audi weren't that great (and their A3 saloon isnt really going to appear until 2014 with any fun engines so I guess that was why) and I didn't even get a look in at BMW nor Merc when I popped over. Jaguar dealership was really good, surprisingly.

Just glad I have a vehicle on order now, and even though it will be the December before it arrives, I am pretty happy