More BS, I got my phonecall shortly after leaving work.
He seemed to remember me as he didn't try to make out that the car being at Emden (still) was progress. Instead he tried to convince me on numerous occasions that 34 weeks for an R was now the norm, and moving from 5b to 5c in 10 working days was the exception rather than the rule - which completely contradicted the last conversation we had. Of course I had to pull him on it and mention that someone on a BW19 had already had their R arrive in the UK via Tyne dock (the same dock mine will be coming via), yet mine built a week earlier had not moved.
I said it seemed either suspicious or completely lacking in organisation that cars built after mine were getting shipped and said "I hope it hasn't had an accident at Emden".
After about the 5th time of him saying that since October, 34 weeks was now normal lead time for an R, I mentioned that plenty of people on an R specific forum were getting their cars in 5 to 6 months, and that my car was ordered prior to October. I pressed him for an explanation as to why my Sept order R still seems to officially be a Dec ordered car (as he said he'd find out last time we spoke), and once again he had no answer. I stated that this was my 8th new VW and i'd never experienced a delay like this (the GTD came closest at 6 months, but there was a mix-up between mine and my dad's GTDs at the dealership - so there's a known reason for that). I asked when the MK8 R was due as I might have to put my order in for it soon.
He said that he was quietly confident that my car would be on the next ship, but had absolutely no info to back taht up, I asked if he knew when the next ship was to Tyne from Emden and he didn't know. I told him it was the "City of Amsterdam", due in Thurs lunchtime, and if it wasn't on that then the next ship was at least a week away - which would mean 4 weeks stuck at Emden. He had no answer.
I said that the main reason I was giving him a hard time was because my GTD's tyres are getting close to the legal limit, and the poor Bridgestone tyres VW seem to insist on fitting to UK bound Golfs were pretty slippery when new. Approaching 3 months beyond expected delivery, I said that I would take great exception to having to stump up for 2 tyres to stay legal right on the verge of getting my new R. Ronald said that if my car doesn't get on the next ship to Tyne, they might stick me in a courtesy car to save my tyres - I asked whether it would be an R and he laughed.
I mentioned that i'd been to Berlin recently and said that had I known how long my car would languish at Emden, i'd have saved myself the cost of the flights home and driven it from Wolfsburg!
We called it a day after 20 mins, he's ringing me again on Friday. Lets see what pearls of wisdom I get there if my car isn't on the City of Amsterdam.
