Just Ordered My First California 180 DSG 4 Motion

Duckling68

Duckling68

VIP Member
Messages
74
Location
Essex
Vehicle
T6 Ocean 204 4Motion
Hi Everyone

Today was the start of something new for us ordering our first ever California, A 180 DSG 4 Motion. So after researching and looking at different models our final decision was made last night that this was the model we was going to buy, you can imagine our excitement on ordering it today but how hard can it be to spend 50k ??

Well if you buy from the same VW Dealer that we have the answer would be very hard, the first phone call was made at 10.15'this morning to leave a message on the sales persons answer phone, two hours later no response, so we try again,answer machine again, Ah maybe the sales person does not work on a Tuesday so I call the dealers main number and speak to the receptionist to ask to speak to my sales person, please hold the line, sorry they are with a customer at the moment, ok could you get them to call me, yes no problem. Two hours later still no response so I call another one of their dealerships to try to buy the same vehicle from them but it does not show on their system so they contact the original dealership and speak with the sales person to let them know that I am trying to buy this vehicle, they then let me know that I would be contacted shortly. You guessed already, another two hours and no call so really really really frustrated I ring to speak to the sales person again ANSWER PHONE :censor so I call the main number again and ask to speak to the sales person again, sorry sir they are not here at the moment but they will be back at 3.30, it's now 3.40 oh yes so it is, I will get them to call you as soon as they return, sorry but is there anyone else that deals with sales, yes I will put you through, have you guessed ? ANSWER PHONE :censor :censor :censor so I call back, sorry but you have just give me another answer phone, I'm very sorry sir I will leave a note on their desk for someone to call you right back, another hour and no call. Your now thinking why don't I just go to another dealer, well the truth is if I could find the same vehicle coming through in the next four weeks I would have, but as you know a 22 week wait for a 4 motion and this is not an option for us at the moment so for the seventh time in one day I call the dealer and ask why I have not been contacted by anyone all day after numerous telephone calls and that I had never had so much trouble in spending 50k, the receptionist was very embarrassed and tried to find someone to deal with me but still no salesperson.

Finally at 16.50 seven hours after my first call I received a call from a sales person, (not the original sale person) asking how they could help, at that point I was beyond help but explained my frustration and I really feel they did not care if I bought this vehicle or not.

As it stand at the moment a deposit has been paid but a very bitter taste has been left in my mouth to how blarsay this VW Dealership operates and treats customers trying to buy a vehicle from them, they must have so many people queuing up for California's that they can take or leave customers as the choose.

Please let me know if anyone else has found similar issues when buying their California & using VW Main Dealerships. :thanks
 
My gut feeling in this type of case is to walk away and find another dealer as if it's this difficult to buy from them what will they be like if there is a problem however in your case I'm guessing it's not local else you'd have have been down there shaking someone gently by the throat and secondly if you are buying a stock Cali then it's probably been tough to find one at the moment, especially DSG 4Mo.

That said if it's in UK stock then it should be available to any dealership, it's when they are either registered or 'tagged' to a customer they become unavailable. Some dealers use 'dirty tricks' by tagging them to fictitious customers to prevent other dealers having access to the stock.

Name and Shame :laugh2
 
Believe me if they were around the corner I wouldn't of needed the phone and I would have been able to show they where their answer phone belonged :crazy

The vehicle in question was a customer order that had been canceled due to a PX issue so it was already tagged to this dealership and was not even available through one of their other dealerships.

I had tried other VW dealerships but could not find such a good spec camper.

:thanks
 
Ooh, thats a shame. It would be nice to name and shame the dealer, but I dont think it would be fair.

We brought ours from Leicester, we went in to look at a blue berghaus to see it had sold on the weekend before, to then be told I have a grey one out back, do you want to see it, yes please. We left the dealer saying we will have a talk on the journey home and phone you when we get in with a yes or no. We only got as far as the car in the car park.

To be fair to James & Stuart they were really good and they openly admit that some people would view there attitude as arrogant, but it simply is not the case, its simply a case of we are all playing poker with the dealer and he has the better hand as demand is currently outstripping supplies.

Roll on 14th Aug :barmy :barmy :barmy . this is when we get ours, it has been sat there at the dealers, registered, taxed waiting until the time we can have it.

We did have a joke with them about maybe camping in it at the weekend in the yard or them sending us a different photo of it in a different position int he yard every weekend.
 
I had a similar but not quite so severe experience with SMG of Tonbridge, I didn't buy from them on that basis.
 
Was it an Olympic Blue Van from VW Leicester that sold recently?

If so I could be the culprit as I picked one up last week from James & Stu.
 
Another grey berg.....jesus ....we need to find the silver ones and the all those blue ones now we know where all the grey ones are ... :thumb :D

ps ....I don't trust any of the vw dealers if i'm honest with you ...They all let you down at some point of the buying process or in the after sales...
 
JockMacMad said:
Was it an Olympic Blue Van from VW Leicester that sold recently?

If so I could be the culprit as I picked one up last week from James & Stu.

No this is a silver one that's still in shipping.
 
Congratulations mate on your order you will not regret choosing a Cali over a conversion
Happy days ahead :thumb :thumb
 
Duckling68 said:
JockMacMad said:
Was it an Olympic Blue Van from VW Leicester that sold recently?

If so I could be the culprit as I picked one up last week from James & Stu.

No this is a silver one that's still in shipping.


:thumb :thumb :thumb
 
I have a good idea who you were trying to buy from.

For futre reference, if you are trying to buy a new California then please call us. We can deliver nationwide so location is not a problem.

I hope the rest of your experience is a lot better.

cheers
 
Welcome,

I can understand the frustration of trying to secure a vehicle before someone else finds out about it and does the same - we too bought a built 4Motion DSG that was just being shipped to the UK and at the time was without owner (we presumed a cancelled order). A fine choice :)

Each dealer seems only to have a single specialist who knows the California (understandable given the volume sold each year) so if they are out for the day or tied up with handing vehicles over to customers, there is no one to step in.

Our experience with SMG Tonbridge was quite different to Stu's and we bought our Cali from Laine there. A sensible attitude to discount helped, though we did buy before the summer buying season that seems to occur.

Unfortunately the frustration continues into warranty work where normal van centres can only work on standard Transporter/Caravelle aspects of the vehicle.

But its worth it ;)

Simon
 
smgcowfold said:
I have a good idea who you were trying to buy from.

Has the garage already been mentioned in this thread :?: :?: :laugh2

shambly said:
Our experience with SMG Tonbridge was quite different to Stu's and we bought our Cali from Laine there. A sensible attitude to discount helped, though we did buy before the summer buying season that seems to occur.

Simon I know another forum member who purchased from Tonbridge and found it difficult until Laine stepped in. :thumb
 
Duckling68 said:
JockMacMad said:
Was it an Olympic Blue Van from VW Leicester that sold recently?

If so I could be the culprit as I picked one up last week from James & Stu.

No this is a silver one that's still in shipping.

Oops I forgot to put @markm on it who mentioned the Blue van :doh
 
i know the guy at tonbridge smg...

i used laine & julie and we did have a hard time getting the cali ,but they pulled through in the end ....
 
JockMacMad said:
Was it an Olympic Blue Van from VW Leicester that sold recently?

If so I could be the culprit as I picked one up last week from James & Stu.

Yes, you lucky bugger, it looked really nice in the showroom.
 
We have an Olympian Blue California in our showroom unregistered and looking for a new home :thumb
 
smgcowfold said:
I have a good idea who you were trying to buy from.

For futre reference, if you are trying to buy a new California then please call us. We can deliver nationwide so location is not a problem.

I hope the rest of your experience is a lot better.

cheers

Hi Alex

I did call your dealership yesterday and spoke with Hugh, but unfortunately you had nothing available until October time that I was interested in.

:thanks
 
This is the main draw back for me about getting a Cali, having to deal with a VW Dealer! All my experiences to date have led me to buy a Japanese equivalent.

Two classics being in my (much) younger days looking at a second hand Polo, I asked to look at the engine, when the bonnet was opened it was immediately clear that the whole air filter and housing was missing, the sales rep tried to tell me this was the way they were designed, once I had picked myself up from ROFL, I told him to open up the bonnet on the adjacent Polo and tell me what the large round plastic housing sitting on top of the carb was!

The other was just last year, I needed a pickup for my business went into the VW dealer to look at the Amorak, there was one in the lot, when I went into the showroom the rep told me there was one in the lot (duh!) but he couldn't even be bothered to open it up for me to look inside. So I walked 500 yards up the road to the Toyota dealership and within an hour had done the deal, cash down with a reasonable discount.
 
Hi tomartinh,

GIve Hugh in our sales department a call and we will see what we can do. We have two California's in stock at the moment: 01403 839640

We also deliver nationwide :thumb
 
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