VW Brand and Dealer Experience

[TonyTA]

I’m not sure where to post this so hope this is right section.

Wife and I own a couple of VW’s. Loyal owners and drivers for well over 15 years now. We’re looking to buy a new VW to replace our eldest. We went into a VW dealer in Sydney on the weekend.

***SHOCKED*** by our experience.

Young-ish sales assistants wearing faded and dirty polo shirts (not VW or dealer branded ones). Ripped jeans, chewing gum. Tat’s visible under shirtsleeve polo.

We asked to take a seven-seat Tig for a test drive. The vehicle was presented to us with a boot full of crumpled up clothing, jackets, general ‘stuff’ / ‘junk’ that looked like it had just been thrown in on top of the fold-out rear seats to hide it. The car was otherwise clean, but the impression we got was not, shall we say a positive one.

I would not expect that sort of presentation, experience or service from the cheapest of car dealers (new or used), let alone, from a what we thought of a premium brand.

Admittedly, it’s been a few years since we bought our last VW, but I’m shocked, and my wife and I were left wondering what happened to the brand? I know there have been some ‘challenges’ with diesel engines, software and the like, but has VW really lost it in the last few years, and I’ve just been living on another planet, too far away to notice?

[theresanothersteve]

Try a different dealer...

[Hillbilly]

Name the dealer and send a letter to head office as Im sure its not normal or desirable for the brand

[doc_777]

Yeah, if it bothers you then it’s up to you to feed that back to the sales manager first and foremost, or dealer principal. VW Aus would probably appreciate an email too.

But there are plenty of VW dealers around - unless you are severely limited for choice I’d just go elsewhere.

in the end they are just a franchised business and simply some staff are better than others. The better business-people will attract good staff, pay them well, and their business presentation will reflect their efforts to build a business worth dealing with.

unfortunately however, there are a fair few rotten apples. If the Hobart VW dealer wasn’t so good to deal with then I would be driving a different brand because there are no other VW dealers in this city. Sometimes that is the difficult choice we must make, because IMO having a good local dealer is an essential element of the ownership experience. There’s too many good products on the market from other brands - makes it pointless to waste time on a bad dealer.

[Ozsko]

Email sales manager, copy VW and dealer principal into it and stand back and watch what happens.