Back from the dealership. Saw the service manager who whipped my car round the back for 15 mins and then brought it back. I had a can of pop from them and then had a walk around the whole site, looking for mcmaddy’s GTD. Doesn’t look like it arrived yet. Lots of pre-PDI’d Golf SEs and UP!s there around the back, no GTIs or GTDs in any colour.
When the car was brought back, the service manager made out that there was nothing in the rears when they opened them up, but apologised for the fronts. I said that I’d felt around the rubber boot at the top of the rear shock and something the same diameter and depth of the transport puck seemed present and slideable. He insisted that there was nowt there and 2 independent people had looked for the pucks. He also added that usually they’re just fitted to the fronts and not the backs (just patter on his part, why would they not be bothered about the back end bouncing about in transit?). He offered to jack my car up and show me (if he’s had it out there will be nowt there to see/feel, and if I feel it and it feels different I will know it is out anyway).
Anyway, I declined, took him at his word and then the sales manager approached me to apologise for the fronts, reiterated there was nothing in the backs (without me even bringing the issue up) and had a small “valet pack” in a black cloth bag by way of apology. I politely refused the bag (wasn’t sure if it was the £12 basic one, or one of the seasonal cleaning bags varying from £20 to £35 as the pictures aren’t all there on the VW accessories website).
I said I had a stack of cleaning stuff from the Autoglym pack. “Something else then perhaps?” he offered. I’d already seen the “luxury” front mats and wasn’t impressed (that white piping will look mucky in no time”. I had my eye on the Volkswagen Motorsport umbrella, so I asked for one. Dark blue outside, white on the inside, nice soft feel rubberised handle. We only have girly umbrellas at home, so it’ll be good to leave this in the car for me. Didn’t hang around to check out price. Can’t find an official price with VW UK for the motorsport one (basic VW Golf umbrella is £20), but on the Spanish site it is 32 Euros. Nice!
On the way out the sales manager had a word about asking me not to hold it against them when VW finally ring for their survey for which bonuses/penalties apply to the dealership. I assured him it was no biggie if they are assured no damage occurred to my shock mountings/shocks and I wouldn’t mention it because if their discretionary income gets shafted then they might not have the margin to give me a decent discount next time. He seemed pleased and assured me I’d get a good discount on my next car.
Back in the car and my suspension noises that remained are completely gone, the handling is a smidge better (which leads me to believe there was occasional gentle contact between the pucks and suspension ends). I’m 99.9% sure there were rear pucks in and they took them out. Not sure why then they felt the need to tell porkies if that is the case. They were caught with their pants down anyway as they fully accepted the fronts, so whether the pants were around the knees or the ankles makes no difference to me.
