I was wondering whether anyone here has ever experienced a factory order arrive at the dealers that's not what you originally ordered due to a mistake at the factory? I ordered a GTD back in May with plenty of extras, including rear side airbags. The car was built at the end of July and arrived at the dealership in mid-August. I arranged to pick it up on 01/09, but two days beforehand, the dealer rang to tell me that the rear side airbags had not been fitted to the car, due to a mistake at the factory. This was after I'd changed my insurance (so I had to phone up and change it back) and booked a few days off work to give the thing a thorough detailing. All very inconvenient.
After a bit of to and fro (they did try to persuade me to accept the car, with a refund for the missing option, but I refused, as I don't see why I should accept something that's not what I ordered, even if it's a fairly insignificant thing that's missing), they offered to reduce the price by £500, which I accepted. The other option was to cancel, but that would mean losing out due to depreciation (and I couldn't find another car I wanted instead, though I toyed with the idea of a fully-loaded 330d). Whilst all that was going on, I got in contact with VW UK, who promised to investigate.
VW got back to me this morning, confirming that it was indeed a mistake on the part of someone at the factory, though they didn't explain exactly how it happened in the first place. I was asked whether the dealer had made a goodwill gesture and confirmed that they had. The VW operative said he'd speak to the dealer (not sure why - he mentioned that there was a maximum compensation figure, but didn't say what this was).
So, has anyone else suffered a messed up order? Did you get any compensation, and if so, what? I'm interested in comparing with my experiences. I'm happy with £500, as this will cover the tax and MOT that I need to pay at the end of October.
