Can we reject this car? Bad dealer experience.
Discussion
Mastiff said:
Stick with it and find the right person to speak to - even if you wind up with VW Customer Services.
Hmmm...we had an issue with our Golf and the dealer lied about VW extending the warranty. Took it up with VW UK customer service who said the dealer's handing was totally unacceptable. They rang me every few days for 2 weeks to apologise that the dealer wouldn't talk to them. When they eventually connected they said visit the dealer and they'll sort it out. Visited the dealer and they said hard luck. Went back to VW and they said, "yeah, that was the dealer sorting it out. Bye."
Sheepshanks said:
Hmmm...we had an issue with our Golf and the dealer lied about VW extending the warranty. Took it up with VW UK customer service who said the dealer's handing was totally unacceptable. They rang me every few days for 2 weeks to apologise that the dealer wouldn't talk to them.
When they eventually connected they said visit the dealer and they'll sort it out. Visited the dealer and they said hard luck. Went back to VW and they said, "yeah, that was the dealer sorting it out. Bye."
The customer services is utter crap, twice i've had to raise issue with Audi/VAG customer service and their bottom line is 'it's a dealer issue, it happened at the dealer which is an independant business therefore we can't get involved'. I asked them then what exactly their job was and got some reply about sorting out 'issues' like spec confirmation and replacement cars for blah blah.When they eventually connected they said visit the dealer and they'll sort it out. Visited the dealer and they said hard luck. Went back to VW and they said, "yeah, that was the dealer sorting it out. Bye."
I can't understand it, the salesmen on PH have commented that failing a mystery shopper results in training costs/sanctions/bonus clawbacks etc but if an actual paying customer gets upset from appalling service then the head office don't take a big issue with that.
Anyway OP what helped me in both instances was contacting the UK chairman directly as advised by a PH salesman, outlining exactly what was said and happened. Both times then the issue was resolved as much as it could be - by the SAME DEPARTMENT who previously told me multiple times it was a dealer issue and they couldn't get involved.
Thanks again for the replies and comments.
My Mum has decided she just wants a car that is as described and overnight has decided to take the "upgraded" car and pay the extra £500. Interestingly, she told me last night that the salesman asked her to sign the paperwork yesterday before she had even seen the car (this is the one he described as immaculate but was anything but). She had to ask if she could look at it first!
The General Manager of the dealership (who is also the sales manager...) finally emailed me last night to say that he'd call me this morning.
He's been tangentially involved during the process so it wasn't a huge surprise when he didn't call. I phoned about 15 mins ago and just said I'd wait until he was available (when I've tried to speak to him previously the receptionist has made a point of telling me how very busy he is).
When he came to the phone he told me he hasn't got time to speak to everyone he should and asked me what the latest was. He'd had a bit of a brief from his sales guy but clearly wasn't fully up to speed. As my Mum just wants this done with and this guy has the same attitude to professionalism as his sales team I didn't bother with details, I just politely explained that we would take the upgraded car and could he please let me know when they could deliver (as my Mum isn't going on another round trip).
He said it needs to go through the workshop and he doesn't know when that can be done, or when he can arrange a driver (he's the head of the dealership) but that the salesman will call me "in the next few days" with an update. I suppose that means I'll be calling them on Friday.
It doesn't actually feel like we're any closer to getting a car as there are so many things that can go wrong between now and delivery and I know I will have to carefully manage every stage. I won't be making any formal complaints now until we have the car and Mum is happy with it, at which point I'll be writing in detail to the CEO of VW UK.
I won't be asking for anything and this is really a first world problem. I accept that stuff happens, things aren't always as we would like them and that there are good and bad businesses everywhere but I strongly feel that this dealership has tried to take advantage of a person in a relatively vulnerable position, they have often been economical with the truth, blamed everyone but themselves, their communication has been appalling, they have acted unprofessionally and wasted a lot of our time. The people at the top deserve to know what type of people are representing their brand, and the type of experience they are delivering to customers.
Interestingly, after three abortive visits totalling around 500 miles, ten emails and fifteen phone calls, neither myself nor my Mum have received the slightest hint of an apology. The closest was on my call with the GM earlier when he said "it all went pear-shaped yesterday".
I'll keep you informed, thanks again for support.
My Mum has decided she just wants a car that is as described and overnight has decided to take the "upgraded" car and pay the extra £500. Interestingly, she told me last night that the salesman asked her to sign the paperwork yesterday before she had even seen the car (this is the one he described as immaculate but was anything but). She had to ask if she could look at it first!
The General Manager of the dealership (who is also the sales manager...) finally emailed me last night to say that he'd call me this morning.
He's been tangentially involved during the process so it wasn't a huge surprise when he didn't call. I phoned about 15 mins ago and just said I'd wait until he was available (when I've tried to speak to him previously the receptionist has made a point of telling me how very busy he is).
When he came to the phone he told me he hasn't got time to speak to everyone he should and asked me what the latest was. He'd had a bit of a brief from his sales guy but clearly wasn't fully up to speed. As my Mum just wants this done with and this guy has the same attitude to professionalism as his sales team I didn't bother with details, I just politely explained that we would take the upgraded car and could he please let me know when they could deliver (as my Mum isn't going on another round trip).
He said it needs to go through the workshop and he doesn't know when that can be done, or when he can arrange a driver (he's the head of the dealership) but that the salesman will call me "in the next few days" with an update. I suppose that means I'll be calling them on Friday.
It doesn't actually feel like we're any closer to getting a car as there are so many things that can go wrong between now and delivery and I know I will have to carefully manage every stage. I won't be making any formal complaints now until we have the car and Mum is happy with it, at which point I'll be writing in detail to the CEO of VW UK.
I won't be asking for anything and this is really a first world problem. I accept that stuff happens, things aren't always as we would like them and that there are good and bad businesses everywhere but I strongly feel that this dealership has tried to take advantage of a person in a relatively vulnerable position, they have often been economical with the truth, blamed everyone but themselves, their communication has been appalling, they have acted unprofessionally and wasted a lot of our time. The people at the top deserve to know what type of people are representing their brand, and the type of experience they are delivering to customers.
Interestingly, after three abortive visits totalling around 500 miles, ten emails and fifteen phone calls, neither myself nor my Mum have received the slightest hint of an apology. The closest was on my call with the GM earlier when he said "it all went pear-shaped yesterday".
I'll keep you informed, thanks again for support.
IntriguedUser said:
Who buys a car without going to see it, ridiculously stupid. Immaculate don't mean crap to me, people selling ten year old cars say their immaculate!
This!! Whilst it's not much help now but when spending a decent amount of money it is worth spending the few quid in fuel and the time of a 100mile round trip (which is nothing) to inspect what your buying. My car I found online at a Honda main dealer I went to see it twice prior to purchase and that was a 250mile round trip.
Ive sold tonnes of cars over the phone, or via email. Not EVERYONE beleives every single salesperson on the planet is an arse you know!
I've sold a 50k camper on the strength of a number of calls before. Properly describing everything, including any marks or damage. The customer arrived and was happy with everything, in fact he told me off for pointing out things he would never have noticed himself.
Sadly it seems the OP has come up against a dealership run by a idiot, staffed by at least one idiot aswell. If this dealership was a ship it would be the Costa Concordia lying on its side after running aground
To the OP, I would get onto VW. If the dealership is a proper VW agent they will have certain standards to adhere to, they clearly havent stuck to those on several attempts.
I mean who on earth lets a car go with dirty seats? Or describes a car as immaculate and then sticks it into a paintshop for a week?
Let the dealership sort the car out, but get onto VW now!
I've sold a 50k camper on the strength of a number of calls before. Properly describing everything, including any marks or damage. The customer arrived and was happy with everything, in fact he told me off for pointing out things he would never have noticed himself.
Sadly it seems the OP has come up against a dealership run by a idiot, staffed by at least one idiot aswell. If this dealership was a ship it would be the Costa Concordia lying on its side after running aground
To the OP, I would get onto VW. If the dealership is a proper VW agent they will have certain standards to adhere to, they clearly havent stuck to those on several attempts.
I mean who on earth lets a car go with dirty seats? Or describes a car as immaculate and then sticks it into a paintshop for a week?
Let the dealership sort the car out, but get onto VW now!
Tidybeard said:
at which point I'll be writing in detail to the CEO of VW UK.
He won't give a toss - his job is to sell the new cars that VW factories churn out, he won't care about used ones.I'd have thought there would be any number of any kind of Golf around - what is it about the spec your Mum is after that has made finding the right one so awkward?
I appreciate this doesn't help you now but this is a problem with not buying a car in your immediate area.
Two things occur, the garage can opperate with an out of sight, out of mind mentality when it comes to thinking of the customer and secondly it is a lot harder for the customer to vent their feelings in person which is something that always has a much greater effect.
You can't beat, where possible, dealing with local business.
Two things occur, the garage can opperate with an out of sight, out of mind mentality when it comes to thinking of the customer and secondly it is a lot harder for the customer to vent their feelings in person which is something that always has a much greater effect.
You can't beat, where possible, dealing with local business.
berlintaxi said:
If your mum is paying an additional £500 and hasn't seen the car, will she be covered by the distance selling regulations if she doesn't like the look of it when it arrives?
She has seen this one, they showed it to her yesterday and although it's not her first choice of colour it is in ideal condition.ecsrobin said:
IntriguedUser said:
Who buys a car without going to see it, ridiculously stupid. Immaculate don't mean crap to me, people selling ten year old cars say their immaculate!
This!! Whilst it's not much help now but when spending a decent amount of money it is worth spending the few quid in fuel and the time of a 100mile round trip (which is nothing) to inspect what your buying. My car I found online at a Honda main dealer I went to see it twice prior to purchase and that was a 250mile round trip.
To clarify, the first car was about the only one available of the spec she was looking for and she found it online. She went to view (150 miles) and pointed out the issues with the car, all of which the garage agreed to fix before she collected it. When she went to collect (another 150 miles), they weren't done but she felt under pressure to collect anyway on promises of "sort it later or swap in 30 days" (this was a month after the first viewing, during which time they had been "attending to the issues"), particularly as she had sold her old car in the meantime.
She realised in a day or so that she couldn't live with the state of the car and spoke to the dealer to ask about returning it. They advised that she couldn't return it and that they didn't have anything similar but she could upgrade to a "delivery miles" car of the next model up. This is the point at which I got involved as they were messing her around. She actually liked the model offered and decided to stretch the budget to buy it.
This car was described to both of us as "as new with delivery miles, certainly less than 100" and was delivered from another branch of the same group. When it arrived several days later I called to confirm collection and the salesman told me that it actually had 2,500 miles on but was absolutely immaculate. They refused to move on the price and there were only a couple of days left on the 30 day exchange option so Mum decided to go for it anyway. This was the car she went to collect yesterday (another 150 mile round trip) which as previously explained was far from immaculate.
In summary: she's 65. She viewed the first car and agreed to have issues fixed. They weren't. The dealer then offered a delivery miles car (described as "immaculate" by main dealer) which shouldn't have needed viewing. It actually had 2500 miles and was peppered with stone chips and dirty inside. She has physically seen the third car and agreed to buy it.
I'm not really sure what else she could have done to protect herself here. The more I type this out, the more disgusted I am with the dealer. I always try to use local business wherever I can but this process was underway before I got involved. Lesson learned I think!
I don't really want to get into the model specifics as it may identify the dealer but it wasn't that out of the ordinary - it just happened that there was only one car of the model, colour and options (again, not exotic) she wanted available online within 100 miles when she was looking.
She wasn't "happy" to upgrade at all (the upgrade is not the equivalent of going from an "L" to a "GL", of the same model - it's like going from a Focus to a Mondeo) and it means spending money she really didn't want to spend, but with a short time left to exchange it was the only option she felt she had. She does like the "Mondeo" (as she should given that it's a substantially more expensive car), but didn't originally set out with the intention (or the budget) to buy it.
I reiterate, she would have been very happy to buy the "Focus" (it was the model she really wanted) either
a) as it was originally described when advertised
or
b) when the agreed issues were resolved
Hope that makes more sense.
She wasn't "happy" to upgrade at all (the upgrade is not the equivalent of going from an "L" to a "GL", of the same model - it's like going from a Focus to a Mondeo) and it means spending money she really didn't want to spend, but with a short time left to exchange it was the only option she felt she had. She does like the "Mondeo" (as she should given that it's a substantially more expensive car), but didn't originally set out with the intention (or the budget) to buy it.
I reiterate, she would have been very happy to buy the "Focus" (it was the model she really wanted) either
a) as it was originally described when advertised
or
b) when the agreed issues were resolved
Hope that makes more sense.
Sheepshanks said:
Tidybeard said:
at which point I'll be writing in detail to the CEO of VW UK.
He won't give a toss - his job is to sell the new cars that VW factories churn out, he won't care about used ones.I'd have thought there would be any number of any kind of Golf around - what is it about the spec your Mum is after that has made finding the right one so awkward?
Sheepshanks said:
Not really, it's a VW, what's the deal with all the subterfuge?
The only thing I haven't done is named the dealer or the specific make and model of the car - in this case because if it is the only one, it will be easy to establish who the dealer is. This is against the PH rules.Can I ask why it matters, and why you are so insistent on knowing? You appear to have assumed it is a Golf, but I don't think I've mentioned the model?
Edited by Tidybeard on Wednesday 30th July 19:13
Edited by Tidybeard on Wednesday 30th July 19:25
TooMany2cvs said:
Sheepshanks said:
Which model is it, and what's so unique about the spec that it's narrowing down the choice to just one car?
...and how come she was then immediately happy to "trade up" to the next model?Tidybeard said:
Sheepshanks said:
Not really, it's a VW, what's the deal with all the subterfuge?
The only thing I haven't done is named the dealer or the specific make and model of the car - in this case because if it is the only one, it will be easy to establish who the dealer is. This is against the PH rules.Can I ask why it matters, and why you are so insistent on knowing? You appear to have assumed it is a Golf, but I don't think I've mentioned the model?
I'm just intrigued that there wouldn't be dozens, if not hundreds, of examples of any VW model kicking around and wondered what unique combination of spec your Mum was looking for.
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