S
stephen A
Lifetime VIP Member
I realise that I am not alone but.............
I ordered a very high spec VW California Ocean on 24th of September 2020 and was given an estimated delivery date of February 2021. In order to finance the Ocean I intend to sell my car. Having been given approximate delivery dates of February, then March, then April 20th, I have now been told that although my vehicle has been built it cannot be delivered due to the shortage of silicon chips required for my tow bar fitting. The dealer from whom I ordered the vehicle is now unable to give me a delivery date or even an estimated time for the delivery.
Whilst VW may argue that this is something outside its control I would contend the reason in this specific case is because of the inefficiency of VW in not ordering sufficient chips to build the vehicles that they had on order. The (almost universal) excuse of the current pandemic is no excuse whatsoever because if VW had not the parts to build vehicles then they should not have accepted the orders. This seems to me to be the current situation leading to the long lead periods. VW gave me a lead period of 5 months and I am still waiting after 8 months with an indefinite delivery date.
I therefore contacted VW customer care (which quite clearly is a misnomer) with the following point:
Delays in delivery of vehicles can cause actual financial loss for customers of VW. in my case had the Company delivered the van on time value of my vehicle (equivalent to a part exchange price in normal circumstances) would have been approximately £27000 whereas currently the price is £25,000. As time continues this price will decrease whilst the price that VW expect for the California remains altered. As they are, at least in part responsible for the delay, my contention is that VW should compensate me – at least in part– for this loss by adjusting the price of the California. I am quite prepared to forward the email valuation I have from ‘we buy any car’ valuing my vehicle at this present time.
As VW is still unable to provide a delivery date for the vehicle am I expected to continue to pay for then going inefficiency of this multinational Company?
Their answer from VW appears to be yes!
By way of compromise I said that I am prepared meet the loss between February and now but that any further loss should be met by a reduction in the price of the California (purchased for just south of £70,000). In this, I think I was being reasonable but I am told by customer services that VW will not agree to this and that I should do nothing until the van is delivered which on an extreme analysis could be 2022 or even 2023. Of course as I was not born yesterday I realise that once I accept delivery my option can only be to rely on the goodwill of VW which from this scenario appears to me to be non-existent.
As I know that the van has now been built I offered to accept it without the tow bar which I could have retrofitted (at my own cost of course) once the van had been delivered and enjoy some of the summer. Of course, that’s not possible because it doesn’t fit in with VW’s building schedules where specifications cannot be altered once the build has started
Customers wanting a California (or any other VW product for that matter) have no option but to put up with a company that could not give a damn about their customers and are purely motivated by profit regardless of service.
I ordered a very high spec VW California Ocean on 24th of September 2020 and was given an estimated delivery date of February 2021. In order to finance the Ocean I intend to sell my car. Having been given approximate delivery dates of February, then March, then April 20th, I have now been told that although my vehicle has been built it cannot be delivered due to the shortage of silicon chips required for my tow bar fitting. The dealer from whom I ordered the vehicle is now unable to give me a delivery date or even an estimated time for the delivery.
Whilst VW may argue that this is something outside its control I would contend the reason in this specific case is because of the inefficiency of VW in not ordering sufficient chips to build the vehicles that they had on order. The (almost universal) excuse of the current pandemic is no excuse whatsoever because if VW had not the parts to build vehicles then they should not have accepted the orders. This seems to me to be the current situation leading to the long lead periods. VW gave me a lead period of 5 months and I am still waiting after 8 months with an indefinite delivery date.
I therefore contacted VW customer care (which quite clearly is a misnomer) with the following point:
Delays in delivery of vehicles can cause actual financial loss for customers of VW. in my case had the Company delivered the van on time value of my vehicle (equivalent to a part exchange price in normal circumstances) would have been approximately £27000 whereas currently the price is £25,000. As time continues this price will decrease whilst the price that VW expect for the California remains altered. As they are, at least in part responsible for the delay, my contention is that VW should compensate me – at least in part– for this loss by adjusting the price of the California. I am quite prepared to forward the email valuation I have from ‘we buy any car’ valuing my vehicle at this present time.
As VW is still unable to provide a delivery date for the vehicle am I expected to continue to pay for then going inefficiency of this multinational Company?
Their answer from VW appears to be yes!
By way of compromise I said that I am prepared meet the loss between February and now but that any further loss should be met by a reduction in the price of the California (purchased for just south of £70,000). In this, I think I was being reasonable but I am told by customer services that VW will not agree to this and that I should do nothing until the van is delivered which on an extreme analysis could be 2022 or even 2023. Of course as I was not born yesterday I realise that once I accept delivery my option can only be to rely on the goodwill of VW which from this scenario appears to me to be non-existent.
As I know that the van has now been built I offered to accept it without the tow bar which I could have retrofitted (at my own cost of course) once the van had been delivered and enjoy some of the summer. Of course, that’s not possible because it doesn’t fit in with VW’s building schedules where specifications cannot be altered once the build has started
Customers wanting a California (or any other VW product for that matter) have no option but to put up with a company that could not give a damn about their customers and are purely motivated by profit regardless of service.