[MattyUp]

Hello fellow Upsters,
Bit of a tale I'm afraid but would be grateful for your thoughts.

OK so last Friday (11th May) My dealer called me to confirm that my Up was on the carrier ship if not already at Sheerness. Great! I had initially been told mid July so just a couple more weeks to wait was music to my ears! I asked Mr VW salesman for my Chassis number in the hope I could track it if it was still at sea but despite him giving me the number, I was unable to track it down.
Anyway - Since I hadn't received a call from him this week, I thought I'd ring him this afternoon to check for any updates.
"An up! Black with sunroof was delivered this morning, I thought it was yours, but it wasn't" were his words. "It seems yours is still in Sheerness".

OK so thats not bad, still not nearly as long to wait as we intially thought BUT..

When we placed the order, there were only TWO black ups' ordered before ours. The first, a Take up! and the second, an up! Black which the dealership ordered as a demo.
We popped into the dealership when the Take up! arrived so we could see an Up in black. Fine. We popped in again when the demo up! Black arrived. Fine.

So why is this latestUp, delivered todaynot ours? We snuck down this evening and luckily the compound gate was still open so we went in for a peek.
There sat an up! Black with a sunroof, parking sensors+cruise control, speakers in the back - The EXACT spec that we had ordered!!
The chassis number on the printout pasted on the window was two digits out from the number that the dealer gave me last week.

Has naughty VW man allowed someone to jump the queue and have our one? Perhaps just to get the sale? Can they do this? - The fact the latest arrival is the exact spec we ordered seems much more than pure coincidence.
Is he being truly honest about the one that is supposedly ours?? - Is it really in Sheerness? Or still in Emden? Or Slovakia? Worse still.. still in pieces??

Reassuring words will be most welcome!
I will be calling him back up tomorrow to put accross the above points. Feel like I NEED answers!

 

[willowaz]

hmmm..... matty, you do make a very good point

however i very much doubt that theyve let someone have your up, and if they have then i would be asking for some big compo of some kind.

 

[Rednaxela]

I agree with Willowaz, vw head office would not be happy to hear that! I am sure they would sort it out. However, hopefully all will be well. I get the impression from my visit to get my car today that their network updates are not that good or fully up to date as we would expect. They told me I new more about the ship mine came in on than they did, when I was chasing.. Lol
They get allocated a number of cars each month, and they have to try and guess how many to save for on the fly custom orders like ours,, and how many to order for the show room stock. They then have to select the options they think may sell the best. That black up may just be one if the stock cars they ordered. My dealer gets about 20 ups a month to play with.
I recon yours will still be on its way. Mine sat at Grimsby for 10 days waiting for a transporter.
Keep us updated..

 

[MattyUp]

Thanks Willow and Red. Perhaps I am reading far too much into it!
It was just so painful to see an exact clone of my car which I can't have! And if it was a showroom car then why can't I have that one??Rather than call him again tomorrow, I'll wait until next Friday if I don't hear anything in the meantime.
I can then pose a few questions to him as part of my usual weekly nag and hope my clone doesn't show up on a neighbours drive!!

BTW I really like your Red.. Red!

 

[wigit]

You should ask your dealer or the commission number and then can check with VW Customer Services on 0800 0833 920 regarding progress, chances are it may be a stock car but VW dealers are a mixed bag when it comes to keeping you informed

 

[Rednaxela]

Definitely call him tomorrow, don't wait till next week

 

[flossie]

I have just read Rednaxela's post re car waiting at Grimsby for 10 days - oh no! Maybe mine won't be with me by Monday after all! The last few days are so painful but this forum is fantastic at keeping us would-be-owners sane (I think!)

 

[MattyUp]

Thanks all!Alright, I'll give him a call tomorrow -Put him on the spot and see how he reacts.
I will also ask him for the commission number if VW Cust Servs are informed any better than dealers on delivery progress.
It does seem details get very sketchy once these cars leave Emden. With technology these days, you'd think you shoud be able to track car from factory to dealer!

I'll keep you posted..

 

[suzikettles]

WELL I do think that there is something fishy going on...................... I ordered 8th march and mine is not even built yet................I believe my order may have been initially wiped off by a system change

YET there are 2 black ups sitting at the garage one demo - which has been there for ages and one in the actual showroom

Its really disappointing to read that even after building that its taking weeks for the cars to arrive at the dealers so goodness knows when I might get mine mind you I only paid a small deposit so I might yet just go elsewhere - there are plenty good deals on just now maybe I'll spend my saturday doing that!!!!

 

[clowesa]

Hi MattyUP. It does seem a bit odd that the one in the showroom is the exact spec you ordered especially as, from the ones I've seen at the dealers, they don't usually get one with a sunroof as a showroom model,

As Alex said, I definitely wouldn't wait until next week to call the dealer, get on the phone to them today and demand some answers.

Hope you get things sorted very soon.

 

[ZumbaQueen]

Our dealers up white has a sunroof which prompted me to have mine as it looked goooood!

 

[MattyUp]

Many thanks for your comments folks. I took your advice and carried out my investigation today...
Rather than call, I decided to pop in to have a word face to face.
My salesman was busy with a couple of other customers so the sales manager (who I'm not too keen on as he made an apearance when I was ordering the car and said some silly things regarding carpet mats but anyway..) met me and I explained that I just popped in to have a look at the up! Black which arrived yesterday.
Together, we walked over to the paddock. I then mentioned that the car in front of us was to the exact spec that I had ordered and that when I ordered mine, there were no other up! Blacks' on the system other than the showroom model which arrived 2 weeks ago.
He wasn't sure why that would be the case. He said that perhaps this one was on a different batch and just arrived sooner, or that there were some differences in the spec.
I argued that I am certain that the spec is exactly the same (I'm a member of this forum and thanksto all of you, know my way around different versions of up!s')
It had a sunroof, it had the switches on the side of the wiper stalk for cruise control, rear parking sensors, I could see the speaker grill by the wing mirrors which suggests sound pack and there was no button for switching off the emergency braking. What else could be different between this one and my one??
He assured me that when orders are placed, they are given a number assigned to that particular customers name and that there is no way another customer could have jumped the queue and steal my order.
He told me he would investigate and get back to me later this afternoon. Unconvinced, I drove off.

Later this day...

I received a phone call from my salesman who had been told my story from the sales manager.
He told me that he has been looking into it and that the car waiting in the paddock had been ordered by a Mr Green on the 5th March. He went on to explain that the reason we didn't see this on the system when I placed my order (17th March) was because details of ordered cars do not show up until they get a confirmed build week.
He offered for me to come back to the showroom where he was willing to show me all the details regarding Mr Greens order - dating back to March 5th.
he also reminded me that when I ordered mine, he thought there was another up! Black on order which he couldn't find on the system. (I have to admit to remembering this now he mentioned it!)
Lastly, he checked and confirmed again thatmine IS waiting at Sheerness and I can expect it to arrive at the showroom in about 12 days time.

I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and not go in for proof that Mr Green exists. I do feel reassured and as long as mine turns up in about 2 weeks, will be happy that they were being honest with me.

My only worry now is if Mr Green lives on my road! After all, we obviously like the same cars.. could our similar tastesapply alsoto houses??!
As Mr Green doesn't appear to be a club member, he clearly doesn't deserve his as much as I do!!

WELL I do think that there is something fishy going on...................... I ordered 8th march and mine is not even built yet................I believe my order may have been initially wiped off by a system change

That is very concerning. My only thought would be that your dealer may have already met its monthly quota for March and had to order yours in April. Very frustrating all the same and worth a complaint letter.

 

[suzikettles]

well if that was the case and they had reached their monthly quota they must be exceptional sales people as it was only the 8th of March and also surely they should have just told me that they had reached their quota -I saw the order slip it was not accepted until 24th April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the day after i phoned to see if there was any word of delivery...................
I think that it only got actually ordered after that call.

I currently have a nice very nippy 1.2 turbo clio and I am seriously thinking of cancelling my up order and buying another clio ............very very nearly went and did that today!