Reply With QuoteOut of interest, why would you bother using the virtual pedal to close the boot? I'd imagine if there was any limitation in reaching the button, it'd be easier to just use the key wouldn't it?
Volkswagen Fan
Yay!!! thank you Enobar.Originally Posted by Enobar
Thank you for your trip story as well.
Volkswagen Fan
Out of interest, why would you bother using the virtual pedal to close the boot? I'd imagine if there was any limitation in reaching the button, it'd be easier to just use the key wouldn't it?
Volkswagen Fan
yeah, I'm not sure it's overly useful to close the boot with other than the 'check this out factor'. Opening with the kick though is useful and I've already made use of it a couple of times went carrying luggage etc to the car.
Volkswagen Fan
Good question Backdoc. For my children so they can close the boot by themselves. Of course, I will teach them to clear any obstacles that may stop the boot from closing and then stay away as soon as it start closing
Volkswagen Fan
Makes sense 👍🏼
Volkswagen Fan
Thursday looks to be D(elivery) Day.
Fitting the towbar has taken some extra time so Thursday it is.
If the truck arrives. If I get a call. If they can tell me who to make the cheque out to.
After calling the dealership I was answered by a very helpful lass who would put me through to Finance. Seems they were all too busy to answer. At 10:30. Morning tea time? Same on the second attempt. Then I was asked what I was after. What name I should write on the cheque?
“Oh, that’s easy. I have a list. Who are you buying from?” (It’s a multi brand franchise) “Oh! They’re the only ones not on my list. One minute please and I’ll find out from someone.”
Poor lass was getting flustered. After seven minutes I had a business name for the cheque.
If giving them money is the easy part...
Think positive. Roll on Thursday afternoon.
Volkswagen Fan
WELL.
Well.
Well?
It’s Thursday morning. Work is keeping me busy.
The car is due off the truck at 1pm.
The Six Million Dollar Man theme music starts to play. You know the bit. Where they show an x-ray of an eye and the music is building to a peak.
9:01am Number plates collected from the registry. Car registered.
10:30am. I call the registry to make sure the plates were collected. Their computer crashes and they promise to call me back.
10:35am The Registry calls to say the plates were collected at 9:01am. They didn’t appear in the system because it said they were now in use.
11am.
12 noon.
12:28pm I crack under the pressure and call Mr S.
Turns out I should have received a call to let me know that 3:30pm is The Assigned Time. The car is already there and looking good. I smile. And get worried. Something is sure to go wrong. I goodbye Mr S and get back to work.
Drag time begins.
Not the Drag Time on a Friday night when men dress in women’s clothes and display clocks.
Drag time.
the 1:00pm. 1:01pm 1:02pm 1:03pm kind of drag time.
OMG It’s 3pm I’d better pack up!
Taxi to the dealership.
I find my way inside. I am here.
Oddly, that’s what is also written on my T-Shirt, with a big red dot underneath the words.
Mr S and I meet for the first time, in person.
He initially looks a little confused. I tell him that I sound taller on the phone.
Or maybe it’s the T-Shirt?
It’s over to the desk. I’m told that they are finishing coding the tow bar and then everything will be ready.
At that moment a uniformed Workshop Dude stands next to Mr S and says, “You need to call Mr T.”
WD repeats himself. Mr S finishes talking and looking at stuff and WD says, “You really need to call Mr T.”
Mr S lifts the phone and presses many buttons. I figure it’s a directory search. W T F Mr T. The call connects.
Pleasantries exchanged. “Yes, here’s here with me now.”
Well.
Well.
The call is ended. The car is showing faults.
Lots of boring stuff happens. I won’t write about it in detail here.
Yes there are faults, but it’s safe to drive.
Can they say what the fault codes are? Then I can look them up and see what it all means.
No, they are too busy at present to do that.
So I either leave it here to be looked at tomorrow and then hopefully pick it up (that’s not going to work with work), or I take it now and bring it back later? Lets find out what the faults are.
Mr S visits the workshop. Upon his return I am told it is the ACC radar unit showing the code. It’s also on the dashboard. Mr S remembers seeing it when moving the car earlier. In an attempt to soften the disappointment I’m told that “this happens with European cars, even Audis.”
I mention that I am quite disappointed that their expensive pre delivery inspection process didn’t turn up this fault earlier.
We talk about worst case scenario, I leave the car with them and it’s found the radar needs to be replaced. Is there stock in Australia? How long to obtain it?
More boring stuff. Another workshop visit by Mr S.
Whilst he’s away I read the Owners Manual (on my iPad) and search for all ACC fault references. Not much in there. Take it to the Dealer is all it says.
Mr S returns and we go out to look at the car.
This will be the first time I’ve seen the colour in the flesh. I see my Dad’s old car number plate on the front and at once feel excited and sad. The blue looks wonderful and the beige interior looks good from outside as well.
The tow bar is on. There’s rain spots al over and sticky residue from the wrapping plastic is still in spots. Just as I wanted it. The paint is fresh and remarkably swirl-free.
So what happens next?
I’ll write that stuff tomorrow.
Volkswagen Fan
Last time on “A Superb purchase experience”, Buffy had been cornered by a gorgeous no-eyed vamp. And to make things worse, she had left Mr Pointy on the book table in the library!
If only life could be written like a TV show. In real life we don’t have a narrator to catch us up on things or remind us of what has happened previously. We have other things.
Measure twice, cut once.
All care, no responsibility.
It’s the little things that count.
Colloquialisms. They remind us of things we’ve learnt in the past.
In the case of a new car delivery, lots of little things can really make the experience memorable, and leave a lasting impression.
Seeing that old number plate for the first time after more than 30 years is the biggest memory I’ll keep from this. And I especially liked the way they didn’t put on those cheap free marketing surrounds. Speaking of little things, it seems the workshop box marked “Little things” is empty. The screws used to attach the plates are huge. Walking around the back of the car, the number plate is jammed up against the ledge that houses the camera. That explains why the surrounds aren’t fitted. There is simply no room. One on the front and none on the back doesn’t work.
Measure never, drill twice.
No care, no responsibility.
A zero inventory of little things in the workshop is, perhaps, representative of how the place is run.
Are they trying to rush through too many jobs for them to be done well? If they are, then when something goes off the rails there is no capacity to correct it. Ahead full speed and damn the torpedoes!
The fault is front most in my mind.
Are they understaffed at present? Under equipped? Under enthused?
I’ve worked with a range of “Scan tools” in my life, from hand held ones to ones that live on trolleys. If they are switched off they take a few minutes to start. My takeaway from the behaviour of the service guys is that they didn’t have time to open the door, plug in the cable, and press Read Codes.
It might have been a lack of communication between staff. The person that drove it off the truck didn’t say they saw the alert. The service guys that drove it didn’t mention it either. The guy that had to code the tow bar certainly saw it but then what happened? There’s a chance that there was no error for people to see until they went to code the tow bar. But by then I was sitting in the dealership, and there was no capacity in the workshop to do anything about it.
My decision to not pre-purchase the servicing seems proved by this experience.
I feel for Mr S. He shoulders all of the responsibility for the customer experience yet has no control whatsoever. Once he moves past the edge of his desk he becomes a messenger.
The survey that Director has twice emailed me about, the one marked with A Big Red Pen, is used to whack the sales staff over the head. There’s a big disconnect here, but that could just be one of the customs of his alien overlords in Orbiting Skoda HQ.
Whatever the reasons, Mr S is worried about how I’ll respond to the survey.
I do my best to explain I understand that these things are beyond his control.
During the time it took you to read all of that stuff above we have walked around the car, looked at the paint (no swirl marks!), looked in the car, sat in the car. Even removed the tow bar. The weight of it nearly caught me out. JB is certainly a two hander. And yes, there’s a torch in the back! A little thing.
We’ve talked about the shuttle service between the dealership and the local train station. Mr F, the first salesman, had mentioned that there was one. Excellent. A rookie mistake from me when I didn’t ask what time it operated. Mr S mentions that it starts running at 9am. That’s convenient when you drop the car off at 7:30am. We run through various scenarios to get the car back to the workshop for diagnosis and repair, then returning to me at minimal inconvenience. Most fail due to lack of parking where I work.
You can probably guess by now that I’ve decided to take the car home. I can check the fault myself and, with luck, find it was just a hiccup and it never comes back. It’s probably breaking some rule to take a known faulty new car, but that’s a little thing I guess. I am aware of the fault. I know the impact of the fault.
We return to the office to do the deed. I recognise no one from my previous visit. Not even the bored kid in Dad’s suit. It turns out that he decided a life of finance wasn’t for him.
I am again offered some finance products that I decline. Papers are signed, invoices presented, and I am gifted a nondescript white cardboard box. I later open it to find a Skoda Finance Services drink bottle. It looks a little too thin to fit in the cup holder of the Superb without flapping around.
Keys are attached to hefty keyrings. Three keys, one shiny, two utilitarian.
And now it’s out to the car. My car. Mr S works through some of the points I should remember. I joke that I have read the manual “a few times”. Sadly it’s not a joke. We shake hands a number of times and try to depart on happy terms, but I can see Mr S is worried about A Big Red Pen.
Into the car, close the door, start the engine.
Next time on A Superb purchase experience, our hero moves 5 kilometres in 20 minutes, then discovers the unconfigured driver profile button. He pressed this and you won’t believe what happens next!
Volkswagenist
My dealer had similar issues, the big red pen seems completely ignored, noone ever contacted me from either of thet two I have done so far. I didn't have any issues with the car itself, just the window tinter they used that decided cutting things is a good idea. And the non existent detailer who swirled it up good an ignored the damage the tinter had done....(if I don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist)...
Volkswagen Fan
Glad you have your car! Less glad that its not 100%. Also, what a stupid move by them putting on your numberplate... I think they took extra care doing mine because I was standing over their shoulder.... out came the measuring tape and the positioning was confirmed with me before the drill came into contact with my car.
My delivery experience was pretty good.. except for when I spotted the dealer stickers on the window and unceremoniously ripped them off before handing them to the lady sitting behind the desk. With a horrified expression she said 'i only just put those on' to which I replied 'oh so you're the one who ignored the explicit instructions for no dealer advertising are you?'. The sales person who had been in contact with me throughout the process (well not quite throughout.. the first guy left for greener pastures... are there any dealer ships with more green in them than Skoda???) looked rather sheepish. I suspect a certain 'no stickers' message was not passed on.
Nevertheless, the handover process was otherwise smooth and to my liking. I sincerely hope your radar issue does not reappear for you.
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