Seriously frustrated with Passat order...

[Riker]

G'day all,

Thought I would share a situation I have been through over the past few months in regard to my Passat wagon order. A bit of cut & paste from a post I made in the Tracking thread in the new Jetta forum.

Placed order end Aug 2011 & was advised from mid Sept 2011 that the car was in production. Leading up to mid Oct 2011 I was being constantly advised the Passat was in production in Germany, was due late december 2011 & therfor I could not make any changes to the order. Nov 1, 2011 I asked the dealer how I could track the order from Germany to which I was advised that the car was actually not yet in production & infact the dealer had not even placed the order. Yep, they have been sitting on the order for months & didn't place it till Oct 31, 2011..... Lie after lie after lie, & to compound things the dealer tried to offer me a different Passat with none of the options I wanted nor the right colour....... Up to this point every part of the dealing was calm, measured & ammicable. I didn't put any uneccessary pressure on the dealer & interestingly didn't really receive any in return.

To date there has been no reply from Fair Trading & I don't expect a reply of any real purpose anytime soon. VW Australia gave me a complaint reference # & advised they would contact the dealer then get back to me within 2 days... They must be sitting on it too as they haven't been back to me either............................. No point in me pondering over 'what next', just wait & see what happens if anything.

I cancelled the order & the dealer (Campbelltown), the deposit was returned to my account just yesterday which was a two week wait. I quickly engaged a broker to get another deal for me with a different dealer & changed the order from a Passat TDi wagon to a V6 sedan. The new dealer that is happily closer to me came to the party & gave me a good deal so lets hope the broker can keep everything on course. Just incase I get a sniff of any BS from the new dealer, I have the broker looking at a Volvo V60-T6.....

I can tell you it has left me with a very frustrated impression of some elements of VW. No wonder the latest news coming from VW Australia over the last week is they intend investing heavily on bettering the Customer Service coming from the dealer network.

Remember all be fair & measured but if ordering a specially optioned car be sure to keep the pressure on the dealer from the day after you place an order, to tracking it's ride to Australia, right up to delivery. Get any relevant allocation & production numbers as early as possible & stay on top of it.

Now, let's see how this one goes.....

[FSI 220]

Check out my sig to see how my order tracked! Although I am not that fussed ...

The first slip was self inflicted (my changing my order), although had the dealership been given the right info the rest would not have happened...

Good to a V6 Compadre finaly!!! I was beggining to think that when it came to B7's it was the TDI club!

[Riker]

Bit of an update & a favourable one at that....

Long story short as written above, I canned the original order (& dealer), & a day after posting the original post above ceased the involvement with the broker after I realised the deal they had made was $2100 more than a quote I received about 4 months ago. Went back to the original dealer & found they had a cancelled order of a brand new Passat V6 wagon just arrive that day. It has all the options I originally wanted plus one extra. Talk about luck, anyway, sealed the deal & the car is getting pre-delivery stuff done this week & a nice dark tint added.

Totally happy with the outcome & the straight up, down to earth & no hassle negotiation with the dealer. Who is the dealer, Chatswood Classic Cars VW & the sales guy was Henry Lui.

One happy camper & thrilled to finally become a member of the VW clan.....

[FSI 220]

Congarats!

Million dollar question (for me)... does it have Launch Control?

(I couldnt get the test drive v6 highline to launch control, wondering if the "sport" check box adds it? )

Lets hear what you think about it once you get your hands on it!

[aware]

Congrats - That's a great outcome!

Enjoy the new car!!

[Riker]

Thanks fella's.... Should have it early next week if the dealer & I can make a time for the 90min 'this is how everything works' spiel by the dealer... I did tell them I can read the manual but they like the handover process so that is what will happen.

The dealer called this morning advising the wheel change & dark tint had been done. I changed to the Kansas 18's over the sport packages Vicenza 18's. Just don't like the Vicenza's.

Launch control, well we will find out soon enough I guess but I don't want to go mashing the loud pedal too soon if you get me. Give me at least a week......

[clip]

Million dollar question (for me)... does it have Launch Control?

It should do, even the TDI has it.

[FSI 220]

It should do, even the TDI has it.

Cool if it does, I couldn't get it to LC on the test drive...

Is it you that got the Wheel replaced with a flappy version , then got it programmed in? or did you have LC before that mod?

Cheers

John

[clip]

Yep, I had the wheel replaced.

But your's should do it. I haven't had mine changed to my knowldege.

Make sure you follow the instructions:

The launch Control Program enables maximum acceleration from zero.
1. Switch off TCS
2. With left foot, depress and hold the brake pedal
3. Move the selector lever to position S
4. With your right foot, depress the accelerator until the engine speed reaches approx 3200rpm
5.Take your left foot off the brake. The vehicle will start with maximum acceleration.
6. Switch the TCS back on after acceleration

Mind you, in the TDI, it doesn't make that much difference, it acceleartes pretty hard in "S" from standing start anyway. Much harder than the petrol

[FSI 220]

Much harder than the petrol

Thems sound like fighting words....

Did those instructions to a tee, car was stalling on the clutch... Lucky I had the dealership girl so green by then she didn't work out what i was trying to do... to buisy concentrating on the horizon...

So Ricker... whatzit like???

John