Compensation from VW

[Brian’s Dad]

Many of you will be aware of the WLTP delays currently affecting delivery of new Calis. What frustrates me is that both myself and my dealer were given a definite delivery date, so we made plans, sold the car, booked a holiday etc and now it has all been delayed till around Christmas. This frustrates me as its poor communication and not managing the customers expectations. Plus WLTP didn't surface from no where they've had time to prepare for this.

My question is. Has anyone been offered compensation, if so what? VWCS are inferring there should be some, but currently unsure what that should be.

Also I gather they've had some disasters in the past and people have received compensation in the form of gift vouchers etc. It would be good to know what to push them for.

Thanks in advance!

 

[RetroRed5]

I feel your frustrations as we are in the same boat give or take; although we've not sold a car to make way for the Cali but we did have some trips planned in the diary for November which we've had to cancel.

We've not been offered any compensation; the dealer offered his apologies and a VW customer care telephone number I could call if I wanted to gripe about it; he also offered the opportunity to cancel; the only one I accepted was the apology.

If compensation was on the cards, I wouldn't expect it to come from the dealer but rather direct from VW in the form of a little extra discount perhaps, this would be a nice gesture and warranted in my opinion; I appreciate it is somewhat beyond VW's control but as you say, it's not like WLTP is a bolt out of the blue so they should have been better prepared for it but moreover it is the feeling of being messed around that bugs me the most; we were told our Cali is being built in week 34 and shipping to dealer is week 40, then week 44 and now week 52; if we were told week 52 on or around the time we ordered I'd be far less annoyed about it now.

 

[Brian’s Dad]

I feel your frustrations as we are in the same boat give or take; although we've not sold a car to make way for the Cali but we did have some trips planned in the diary for November which we've had to cancel.

We've not been offered any compensation; the dealer offered his apologies and a VW customer care telephone number I could call if I wanted to gripe about it; he also offered the opportunity to cancel; the only one I accepted was the apology.

If compensation was on the cards, I wouldn't expect it to come from the dealer but rather direct from VW in the form of a little extra discount perhaps, this would be a nice gesture and warranted in my opinion; I appreciate it is somewhat beyond VW's control but as you say, it's not like WLTP is a bolt out of the blue so they should have been better prepared for it but moreover it is the feeling of being messed around that bugs me the most; we were told our Cali is being built in week 34 and shipping to dealer is week 40, then week 44 and now week 52; if we were told week 52 on or around the time we ordered I'd be far less annoyed about it now.

Yes, my gripe is with VW, the dealers have been left in the dark as much as the customer.

 

[GillianC]

Many of you will be aware of the WLTP delays currently affecting delivery of new Calis. What frustrates me is that both myself and my dealer were given a definite delivery date, so we made plans, sold the car, booked a holiday etc and now it has all been delayed till around Christmas. This frustrates me as its poor communication and not managing the customers expectations. Plus WLTP didn't surface from no where they've had time to prepare for this.

My question is. Has anyone been offered compensation, if so what? VWCS are inferring there should be some, but currently unsure what that should be.

Also I gather they've had some disasters in the past and people have received compensation in the form of gift vouchers etc. It would be good to know what to push them for.

Thanks in advance!

I was actually on my way to collect my Ocean when I received a call saying that the dealer had been unable to register it as VW had not loaded the vehicle numbers onto the system.
Had to turn round and go home then go back a week later to get it.
I was given some vouchers (think it was £200) which I used towards a service plan. You could also probably use them for an extended warranty or get that thrown in if you haven’t already.

 

[Sarah Legge]

We were caught up in the delays earlier this year explained as an 'vehicle registration issue' (i.e. emissions weren't accurate). We expected to receive our Cali in January and actually took delivery at the end of March - it sat in the factory carpark for weeks on end whilst they came up with a software fix which had to go through the German Authorities. There's a very long thread somewhere on the forum about it which you can look through, the final comments were around April time.

In terms of compensation, we were given a brand new 204 petrol Cali for approx 6 weeks for free, sourced by VW UK (it was only petrols that they could register at the time - all the hold ups were diesels). We also received (I think) £400 of high street vouchers from VW Customer Services a couple of months after we took delivery (I think this was offered to everyone who was caught up in the issue). Not everyone got a Cali as there weren't loads of them, but we were lucky. We told them we had sold our car, and had holidays booked. The contact there was a chap called Jay, but I believe he left not long after as he wasn't impressed with how VW handled the situation. He did post some things on the forum in that long thread.

There were also issues about VED as the new CO2 bands were different than when people ordered their Cali's, including the first year registration fee. VW (I believe) passed this issue onto the dealers, who weren't impressed! I believe order forms have now been changed to remove VW's responsibility for any changes in VED between vehicles being ordered and received.

Keep pestering VW customer services for an answer, they do have ways to sort these things out!

 

[rod_vw]

https://www.reuters.com/article/vol...odels-now-conform-to-wltp-rules-idUSL8N1WL1Q8

But maybe not a Cali???

 

[Blue Yonder]

Your contract is with the dealership not VW. Your dealership contract terms and condition will most likely contain the term “time is not of the essence” which means that they are not liable for any costs you incur due to the vehicle not being delivered on the date they gave you.

You may try and appeal to the dealership’s goodwill, but given the circumstances are beyond their control don’t expect anything but their sympathy. VW are under no obligation to compensate you.

VW offered £250 ‘goodwill gesture’ in gift vouchers when the mpg numbers were revised down after orders were place last year.

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

Many of you will be aware of the WLTP delays currently affecting delivery of new Calis. What frustrates me is that both myself and my dealer were given a definite delivery date, so we made plans, sold the car, booked a holiday etc and now it has all been delayed till around Christmas. This frustrates me as its poor communication and not managing the customers expectations. Plus WLTP didn't surface from no where they've had time to prepare for this.

My question is. Has anyone been offered compensation, if so what? VWCS are inferring there should be some, but currently unsure what that should be.

Also I gather they've had some disasters in the past and people have received compensation in the form of gift vouchers etc. It would be good to know what to push them for.

Thanks in advance!

Jeeeez, if you can buy a brand new Cali, you don’t need peanuts in compensation!!
Relax mate !

 

[Jay586]

If you have sold your car on a reasonable expectation of delivery, I would expect someone to give you a courtesy vehicle.

Will be a bit of a battle...

 

[Brian’s Dad]

Jeeeez, if you can buy a brand new Cali, you don’t need peanuts in compensation!!
Relax mate !

I'm not looking for peanuts... looking for recognition that VW got it wrong. But offering a bike rack or extending the warranty would be a sweetener!

 

[Brian’s Dad]

I got a call from my dealer the other day to say VW are offering £200 in the form of vouchers off a VW accessory - it will make the Ext Warranty a lot cheaper.

I've been battling VWCS for quite a while, mainly trying to get them to acknowledge their appauling communication and inconsistent facts. Fair play to my dealer Ian Flood at Loughton VW who has battled on my behalf!