E
Esandar#1
Hi,
Hopefully this post will prove to be useful to anyone ordering a new VW California or experiencing any build error issues.
We are proud and very happy owners of a new VW Beach after an interesting year from time of order until now. I have been reading this forum (under a different, now defunct alias) since we ordered in Feb 2016 and read many great posts including some about build errors. Thank goodness I did, as articles posted here have helped us successfully overcome what could otherwise have been a potentially very awkward situation.
We ordered our Beach in Feb 2016 after a few months of pondering. As a family of 4 - who do loads of sports and often take other people / family members on trips - we wanted the flexibility of a 7 seater (think Caravelle) but with the full 'camper' flexibility of a California - for weekends away and holidays. Buying a second hand Beach was near on impossible, so 'going new' was the only way to get what we wanted and fortunately that was an option available to us.
Our VW dealer was really helpful in guiding us through the ordering process - all the optional extras that take the base price from high 30s to high 40s - and our delivery date was set at Wk18 (the relevance of this Wk number won't be lost on anyone who has ordered new!). The lead time was longer than expected, 14 weeks, but we were scheduled to be in possession of our van by the start of June - perfect timing for the 3 months of English summer (this does a slight dis-service to the month of May which is oftens has great weather).
Long story short, the delivery date slipped for various, slightly dubious, reasons (that we never really got to the bottom of) and we ended up getting 'Womble' at the start of the second week of August. This was 24 weeks after ordering - rather than the 14 weeks originally promised. We were slightly annoyed to have missed all of June and July, but there was no other option than to accept it as a late registered 16 plate - if we wanted to enjoy the last few weeks of the school holidays, which we duly did.
However there was a big and unwelcome twist on delivery day. At the end of the two hour paperwork / showround handover, and as almost the final act in this otherwise exciting experience, I asked for the remote control for the auxilliary diesel heater - which we had been 'sold' as the must-have 2nd hand market factory fitted option. As we waited for the salesman to 'check his desk drawer' he returned to deliver (rather nervously) the news that it hadn't been fitted...!
'What happens now?' asked my rather crest fallen wife. This is where my readiing of the VWCC site became invaluable, as I was able to answer her question before the VW rep could. "We keep this van and use it as ours until you build us a new one" (as retro fitting is not an option and we wanted the extra heater as it makes the van an all- year round camper). The salesman went off to check with his boss and fortunately this was agreed. You would expect VW to have a system whereby they could jump you to the front of the queue where the build error was a factory one (as it was in this case) but alas no, so our new order goes to the back of the queue which then had an estimated 26 week lead time.
Seven months later - at the start of March 2017 - we handed back 'Womble'... in/with whom we'd had some great adventures. I actually felt sentimental, even disloyal handing her back, as we'd looked after her impeccably and it felt like (I imagine) it would if taking a puppy back to the breeder after 7 months because our new 'slightly better' one had arrived! Anyway, we are now over that...!
Our new van was here and thankfully everything was exactly as per the order this time... and it was registered as a new 17 plate before the rise in VED on 1st April. It had all been a bit tense though, as any delays or errors could have seen us into April or having to go to the back of the queue again (if there had been another build error).
With the paperwork finally confirmed to our satisfaction, I can finally heap praise on this wonderful piece of german engineering and also highly recommend VW Heritage in Bristol (John Lawry in particular) for the way they / he dealt with this issue caused by a factory build error. This dealership has put the customer first and, other than some delivery date slippage communication frustrations, acted very positively throughout to resolve a problem that was not of their direct making. When it comes to ordering a new van you do want to know that your dealer will be on your side if things go wrong.
We've had 7 months of experiences with Womble and now a month with our new van (name TBC). The sense of fredom and adventure that comes with owning a VW California is amazing. Over the winter months we've had it in 7 seater mode, but will now take the extra two seats our for what will hopefully be a long summer of adventures in the UK and on the continent too.
We took advice posted on here not to buy too much extra stuff until we had tried using our van - which is sound advice. Our garage now has our pre-loaded camping boxes ready to pack into the van at the drop a hat, and a pop up pup tent is perfect at the other end for saving our pitch and storing these boxes whilst we head to the beach etc. We have now bought a Kyham drive away awning in anticipation of some longer stays this summer and a Dometic RC2200 fridge, but last August we enjoyed the simplicity of just being able to hop from one site to the next, day to day.
Now we are hoping for a great summer of sunshine and fun on the road! Thanks to everyone who posts such useful stuff on this site. If anyone wants more info on what happened with our delayed / incorrect delivery please just ask.
One final point: we were offered a new van by various third party 'brokers' but I am so gald we ordered directed with the Heritage VW Dealership as I'm not sure this would have worked out so smoothly otherwise. Also, we saved a heap of money using the (free and simple to use) 'Drive The Deal' website which gave us leverage to push for a much better dealership discount.
Cheers
Esandar#1 & family.
PS. I have read much about the Beach v Ocean debate and think each to their own on this. For us, as a family with two boys aged 10 and 12, the extra room and versatility of the Beach is perfect, but for others the Ocean will tick more boxes. We are all lucky to be California owners together!
Hopefully this post will prove to be useful to anyone ordering a new VW California or experiencing any build error issues.
We are proud and very happy owners of a new VW Beach after an interesting year from time of order until now. I have been reading this forum (under a different, now defunct alias) since we ordered in Feb 2016 and read many great posts including some about build errors. Thank goodness I did, as articles posted here have helped us successfully overcome what could otherwise have been a potentially very awkward situation.
We ordered our Beach in Feb 2016 after a few months of pondering. As a family of 4 - who do loads of sports and often take other people / family members on trips - we wanted the flexibility of a 7 seater (think Caravelle) but with the full 'camper' flexibility of a California - for weekends away and holidays. Buying a second hand Beach was near on impossible, so 'going new' was the only way to get what we wanted and fortunately that was an option available to us.
Our VW dealer was really helpful in guiding us through the ordering process - all the optional extras that take the base price from high 30s to high 40s - and our delivery date was set at Wk18 (the relevance of this Wk number won't be lost on anyone who has ordered new!). The lead time was longer than expected, 14 weeks, but we were scheduled to be in possession of our van by the start of June - perfect timing for the 3 months of English summer (this does a slight dis-service to the month of May which is oftens has great weather).
Long story short, the delivery date slipped for various, slightly dubious, reasons (that we never really got to the bottom of) and we ended up getting 'Womble' at the start of the second week of August. This was 24 weeks after ordering - rather than the 14 weeks originally promised. We were slightly annoyed to have missed all of June and July, but there was no other option than to accept it as a late registered 16 plate - if we wanted to enjoy the last few weeks of the school holidays, which we duly did.
However there was a big and unwelcome twist on delivery day. At the end of the two hour paperwork / showround handover, and as almost the final act in this otherwise exciting experience, I asked for the remote control for the auxilliary diesel heater - which we had been 'sold' as the must-have 2nd hand market factory fitted option. As we waited for the salesman to 'check his desk drawer' he returned to deliver (rather nervously) the news that it hadn't been fitted...!
'What happens now?' asked my rather crest fallen wife. This is where my readiing of the VWCC site became invaluable, as I was able to answer her question before the VW rep could. "We keep this van and use it as ours until you build us a new one" (as retro fitting is not an option and we wanted the extra heater as it makes the van an all- year round camper). The salesman went off to check with his boss and fortunately this was agreed. You would expect VW to have a system whereby they could jump you to the front of the queue where the build error was a factory one (as it was in this case) but alas no, so our new order goes to the back of the queue which then had an estimated 26 week lead time.
Seven months later - at the start of March 2017 - we handed back 'Womble'... in/with whom we'd had some great adventures. I actually felt sentimental, even disloyal handing her back, as we'd looked after her impeccably and it felt like (I imagine) it would if taking a puppy back to the breeder after 7 months because our new 'slightly better' one had arrived! Anyway, we are now over that...!
Our new van was here and thankfully everything was exactly as per the order this time... and it was registered as a new 17 plate before the rise in VED on 1st April. It had all been a bit tense though, as any delays or errors could have seen us into April or having to go to the back of the queue again (if there had been another build error).
With the paperwork finally confirmed to our satisfaction, I can finally heap praise on this wonderful piece of german engineering and also highly recommend VW Heritage in Bristol (John Lawry in particular) for the way they / he dealt with this issue caused by a factory build error. This dealership has put the customer first and, other than some delivery date slippage communication frustrations, acted very positively throughout to resolve a problem that was not of their direct making. When it comes to ordering a new van you do want to know that your dealer will be on your side if things go wrong.
We've had 7 months of experiences with Womble and now a month with our new van (name TBC). The sense of fredom and adventure that comes with owning a VW California is amazing. Over the winter months we've had it in 7 seater mode, but will now take the extra two seats our for what will hopefully be a long summer of adventures in the UK and on the continent too.
We took advice posted on here not to buy too much extra stuff until we had tried using our van - which is sound advice. Our garage now has our pre-loaded camping boxes ready to pack into the van at the drop a hat, and a pop up pup tent is perfect at the other end for saving our pitch and storing these boxes whilst we head to the beach etc. We have now bought a Kyham drive away awning in anticipation of some longer stays this summer and a Dometic RC2200 fridge, but last August we enjoyed the simplicity of just being able to hop from one site to the next, day to day.
Now we are hoping for a great summer of sunshine and fun on the road! Thanks to everyone who posts such useful stuff on this site. If anyone wants more info on what happened with our delayed / incorrect delivery please just ask.
One final point: we were offered a new van by various third party 'brokers' but I am so gald we ordered directed with the Heritage VW Dealership as I'm not sure this would have worked out so smoothly otherwise. Also, we saved a heap of money using the (free and simple to use) 'Drive The Deal' website which gave us leverage to push for a much better dealership discount.
Cheers
Esandar#1 & family.
PS. I have read much about the Beach v Ocean debate and think each to their own on this. For us, as a family with two boys aged 10 and 12, the extra room and versatility of the Beach is perfect, but for others the Ocean will tick more boxes. We are all lucky to be California owners together!
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