Worst customer service ever!

[Mike]

Hey guys, i have been trying to get a Polo GTI now for about a month and it's been the hardest car i've ever tried to get.
When i first found out about this car i started calling around Melbourne with no luck at all, i then tried rural Vic and to my surprise there are actually some dealers with Polo GTI's sitting in their show rooms that aren't sold! Too bad none were white 5 doors
I then started calling every dealer in Aus starting close and ending up in N.T.
I called a dealer in N.S.W who said they had a white 5 door coming friday (1st April)
which was in 2 days. I was wrapped, we talked specs and price and ended up settling on $33550 drive away with Leather and Audio, i gave them a deposit and they sent through a contract.
It get's to Friday and no car... They say Monday... No car... At this point i'm worried as they told me i can pick the car up Wednesday and helped me book a flight for that day.
They kept assuring me it was definitely coming and should have been there. I call first thing Tuesday and they tell me it's still not there and that it won't be there for a Month! I was beyond enraged when i heard this, i had just wasted $200 on a plane ticket.
I tell them they have to pay for my flight now and to let me know a proper ETA.
No calls, every time i call i get told they will call me back... Never happened.
This went on for a week before i called VW Customer care who were absolutely useless! They said they can't do anything for me.
I then call up pretending to be a new enquirer and get onto the Manager. She says the ETA on the car is late June and that the price i was told was wrong and that it is now $35990!
I told them to refund my deposit and the $200 i paid for the flight... She said that was fine... Still no refund.
I've been flat out searching for a White 5 Door GTI in Australia since and have only found 1 at a dealer and lets just say it's the furthest Dealer from me.
I am trying to buy it but the Sales Manager is telling me he needs approval from VW to sell the car interstate.
If i can't get this one there's pretty much no hope in getting one until July.
Seriously worst stuff around ever!
Thanks to anyone who read through my rant, just needed to express my outrage.

[noone]

Sucks dude...

[GTI JOE]

I would like to very much make a comment.......but..... I have been warned there may be an infraction from my part
Read my experiences here http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f128...ing-52981.html
and yes....it most certainly SUCKS

[broxigar1983]

I must say, I take my hat off for you guys waiting ages for cars

I almost raged when I found out I had to wait a month for mine. If this happened to me I would have bought a Golf or take my $$$ somewhere else.

[Frostee]

What you describe is indeed a terrible experience, and I think you have shown tolerance and understanding with apparently little in return and are out of pocket.

I recommend you read this link and think about how it might apply and help your situation

Misleading & deceptive conduct

[themmc]

I had a similar experience with my dealer - signed up on the basis of delivery before May. No problems they said - we have a week9 build slot available before and upto signing. Then the story changed and changed.

[Blitzen]

I had the same thing happen to me with a Penrith NSW dealer, then it took them months to refund the money they owed me for an option that wasn't fitted to the delivered car... Needles to say that the department of fair trading in your or the dealers state is your friend.

It has been said many times on this forum, but VW make great cars, but their dealers and VWA's customer service is absolutely abysmal, and needs a major shakeup.

[pologti18t]

I cancelled my contract with a VW dealer in sydney. The saleperson asked for the receipt, promptly went round to the finance person who then refunded it directly onto my credit card.

One thing I can suggest, if you paid by credit card then lodge a dispute with your bank. Tell them you didn't receive any goods
Otherwise, next time you have the delaer on the phone get them to refund it directly to you credit card while you wait. They can punch the numbers in manually at the eftpos terminal.

[s1831559]

honestly polo gti is a great car; sadly VW AU and dealers are very poor at their customer service.

[sVWatt]

Hey guys, i have been trying to get a Polo GTI now for about a month and it's been the hardest car i've ever tried to get.
When i first found out about this car i started calling around Melbourne with no luck at all, i then tried rural Vic and to my surprise there are actually some dealers with Polo GTI's sitting in their show rooms that aren't sold! Too bad none were white 5 doors
I then started calling every dealer in Aus starting close and ending up in N.T.
I called a dealer in N.S.W who said they had a white 5 door coming friday (1st April)
which was in 2 days. I was wrapped, we talked specs and price and ended up settling on $33550 drive away with Leather and Audio, i gave them a deposit and they sent through a contract.
It get's to Friday and no car... They say Monday... No car... At this point i'm worried as they told me i can pick the car up Wednesday and helped me book a flight for that day.
They kept assuring me it was definitely coming and should have been there. I call first thing Tuesday and they tell me it's still not there and that it won't be there for a Month! I was beyond enraged when i heard this, i had just wasted $200 on a plane ticket.
I tell them they have to pay for my flight now and to let me know a proper ETA.
No calls, every time i call i get told they will call me back... Never happened.
This went on for a week before i called VW Customer care who were absolutely useless! They said they can't do anything for me.
I then call up pretending to be a new enquirer and get onto the Manager. She says the ETA on the car is late June and that the price i was told was wrong and that it is now $35990!
I told them to refund my deposit and the $200 i paid for the flight... She said that was fine... Still no refund.
I've been flat out searching for a White 5 Door GTI in Australia since and have only found 1 at a dealer and lets just say it's the furthest Dealer from me.
I am trying to buy it but the Sales Manager is telling me he needs approval from VW to sell the car interstate.
If i can't get this one there's pretty much no hope in getting one until July.
Seriously worst stuff around ever!
Thanks to anyone who read through my rant, just needed to express my outrage.

Purchase = Consume = Custom = Customer.
I bought from the same place as GTi Joe, and had a great experience. The GM was who I went to to ensure smooth transaction. But alas to have an 'easy' fix on a Bluetooth issue and RNS coding issue resolved, I hit a roadblock. ACT dealer Gerald Slaven - Belconnen ACT are probably not the ones to go to if you expect to have your phone calls or emails returned. Customer and Service do not seem to mean much there.
Anyone bought from them and happy?
Anyone had a good service experience from them?

[Mike]

After some back and forth with an interstate dealer, it looks like i finally have a car!
Basically the manager said that he'd have to get the ok to sell the car interstate, which i was a bit confused by.
But in the end he said he can do it, he'll just have to transport it to my local dealer in Melbourne and i can pick it up from there.
The thing i was unsure about is that he said they have to register it there and then i have to get it changed over to Vic reg here???
Weird if you ask me... Does anyone know if this sounds right? Can they register the car in my name interstate?
Also does $32,500 inc transport (roughly $700 im told) and stamp duty etc for a stock 5 door White Gti sound like too much?

[sVWatt]

After some back and forth with an interstate dealer, it looks like i finally have a car!
Basically the manager said that he'd have to get the ok to sell the car interstate, which i was a bit confused by.
But in the end he said he can do it, he'll just have to transport it to my local dealer in Melbourne and i can pick it up from there.
The thing i was unsure about is that he said they have to register it there and then i have to get it changed over to Vic reg here???
Weird if you ask me... Does anyone know if this sounds right? Can they register the car in my name interstate?
Also does $32,500 inc transport (roughly $700 im told) and stamp duty etc for a stock 5 door White Gti sound like too much?

Bought mine interstate VIC, drove it back to ACT and registered it there. Bayford gave me a 14 day paper which allowed me to drive unregistered. ACT you don't pay duties if your car is 'green' so worked out well for me. Don't see why you can't just buy where you want, minus state taxes and drive it home.

[Mike]

Bought mine interstate VIC, drove it back to ACT and registered it there. Bayford gave me a 14 day paper which allowed me to drive unregistered. ACT you don't pay duties if your car is 'green' so worked out well for me. Don't see why you can't just buy where you want, minus state taxes and drive it home.

The main reason i wouldn't want to drive the car home is because the dealer is about 4000k's from me.
Apparently they can't do short term permits in N.T so they said they'd have to do a 1 month reg.
I don't know why they couldn't just put the car on the truck without rego and get my dealer here in Vic to do its first registration?
Apparently VW wont let them?

[GTI JOE]

With the supply and demand issues currently with the Polo GTI, I would imagine that dealer deals would be few and far between

[yas786]

Also does $32,500 inc transport (roughly $700 im told) and stamp duty etc for a stock 5 door White Gti sound like too much?

Not sure what justifies being too much or too little, but for comparison sake, in Sydney I paid $32,500 driveaway for black with tints. No other options.