Cancelling my order...

[TH91]

This might be worth a read GeordieSPG

http://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/bought-a-car-and-changed-my-mind/

[Diehammer]

I didn't cancel due to build week.

I've asked for evidence that it's cost them the £400. If they can provide it, I'll write it off. If not, I'll continue to chase.

They are at it. I am leasing mine and had to put £100 down for the dealer to order it. This will be returned to me when i pickup the car.

[Golf-Ball]

Read the order form / contract you've signed. It's what's in there that counts, not what strangers on the internet tell you!

[monkeyhanger]

If VW AG haven't locked the order for build (stage 3), then the order is fully reversible and the dealership can cancel the order without penalty to themselves, and so should not be penalising you. If you paid the deposit on a credit card then I suggest you contact them for advice. Explain that this was an order that is not even confirmed for build week yet, that they haven't provided a firm build week. They will be able to make a charge back for you within 2 months of payment (this should be a last resort).

Speak to VW UK on twitter or their facebook page - they don't like their dirty linen aired publicly.

At this stage you've cost a salesman perhaps an hour of their time and nothing more.

Sliverlink Benfield...unsurprising. They damaged my car once when it was in for service and someone at Scotswood Road branch took my new GTD out for a 29 mile thrashing on their lunchbreak where they achieved 20mpg for the trip. Sheisters.

[itavaltalainen]

Not sure what you're trying to discuss here, you have signed a contract and if you have done that in person (i.e. not distance selling) you have no cooling off period.

If you then cancel you are in breach of contract in theory and I'm sure the contract you signed will say that the deposit is not refundable. Legally speaking it does not matter what costs the dealer has (not) incurred, even if they have only taken your name off order (they will still have cost attached to your order even if they manage to sell to someone else - usually at a just marginally reduced price).

Where this may not seem fair to you if you went to court I am unsure of your chances; if the dealer does refund you money outside court it's to do with good will and not what they legally might be entitled to.

I would suggest that you carefully read the wording in your contract, though I suspect this to be fairly water tight unless it states something along the lines that it will only come to conclusion if or once build week is confirmed, though it may possibly still be worded in a way that deposit is not refundable but you don't have to buy car.

I think TH91's link sums it up pretty well.   

[monkeyhanger]

It could be argued that before VW AG has locked in a build date, the contract isn't rock solid, especially if the contract as drawn up has a date of fulfillment (delivery) that cannot be assured. Unlike most car manufacturers that have a short lead time before building (typically 6 to 8 weeks), the dealership will be waiting an age for VW AG to finally confirm your build week. My contract states fulfillment by the end of March 15, so mine's been breached, but what are you going to do when you know the car will come (eventually) and your p/x is fixed?

Whatever the legal fine details are (a contract for something you ordered face to face, that is available almost immediately, or at least with a reliable fulfillment date is solid), i've never known anyone here on the other forum duck out of their order because of the extended lead times and not get their deposit back.

They don't seem to be going out of their way to encourage return business by screwing you when they've not lost out at this point. Always be polite when asking (it always helps keep things smooth and stops them going out of their way to inconvenience you), but it might be time to publicly ask VWUK via their facebook page if they can intervene as you cancelled your order due to lack of faith that they could deliver within your expected timeframe. Be polite, but make it clear that the order hasn't progressed past stage 2.

So why are you cancelling (just asking to understand your situation better)?

You realised that you could get more off the car elsewhere?
Lack of info from the dealership or lack of faith for lead times?
Change of mind for the car, either you don't want a new one or you don't want a VW any more?
Something else?

[GeordieSPG]

People on forums seem to get very shirty (nature of the beast, I suppose).

I did sign a contract. I walked away due to multiple reasons (
Personal - change of circumstances
Spec - VW UK couldn't confirm the spec of the car I'd be getting due to various SNAFU with the configurator and late released pricing update
Delivery - I didn't believe that VW could deliver within the prescribed 13 week suggested by the dealer - this was from research elsewhere)

I've made it clear that the £400 isn't the end of the world. I'm not going to camp outside Benfield Silverlink and burn the sales manager in effigy. But it is a little frustrating that they can't/won't, issue a refund as an act of good will.

Unless they have a change of mind on the deposit, it's highly unlikely that I'll use Benfield again in the future for any purchases or servicing. I'm sure they won't lose any sleep over it.

I asked how I should respond to the email.
- Swallow it and move on
- Ask again for an act of good will
- Kick up a stink - It appears that I have no legal footing, so probably won't achieve much.

[matchboy]

Read the order form / contract you've signed. It's what's in there that counts, not what strangers on the internet tell you!

Surely that's the whole point of a forum - to get information from others that have had the same experience??

And therefore (having been through it multiple times) I can tell you, and the OP, that he is 100% entitled to his deposit.  It's as simple as that.

[evo1986]

From a dealers perspective we have a limited number of orders we can cancel/de tag. Once we reach that limit we then get charged £500 for every de-tag / cancellation.

This is to basically stop dealers stealing what's called mandatory stock. Mandatory stock are cars that are just freely available but you must tag it up to a customer for it to make its way to you. This stops dealers hoarding stock and free's cars up for customers nationally. It also stops dealers spoof ordering cars in customers names and then de-tagging them and then selling them to someone else.

Like what was said earlier it sounds like you have broken your part of the contract so you will have to surrender the deposit placed. I guess if you continued and the car did not arrive on time then they have equally broke there part of the contract and you would be free to cancel and get your deposit back?

From my perspective keeping a customers deposit rarely achieves anything. Of course there are exceptions such as when something especially hard to sell has been ordered such as a viper green scirocco / red Eos / petrol Tiguan etc. You know you are going to be stuck with that in your stock for months and months and then forced to register it as a demo which you will loose money on. So keeping that deposit will help with the loss you will incur.

Lee

[Golf-Ball]

In any situation when you order a car and then cancel the dealer will have the option of refunding your deposit; it probably won't state this in the contract but it's something they can choose to do.

Whether or not you are entitled to a refund will, as I've already said, be dependent on what is in the contract. There will normally be wriggle room in the contract for the dealer about delivery dates (which are often outside of the dealer's control) but less room for the customer to back out. If I was a dealer then this is exactly how I'd want my contracts to be worded.

In terms of a way forward I'd be explaining very clearly why you've cancelled your order and asking for the deposit back as a gesture of goodwill. I'd be stressing that you're keen to maintain a good relationship with them and that providing you with a refund increases the likelihood of you purchasing a car from them in the future.

If the above doesn't work then you can try escalating it to VW, via social media etc but I'm not sure how successful you'll be. Fingers crossed though that you won't need to find out.