[Vdoug]

Just wondering how people found their overall VW experience.
Personally, I am a4,

The dealership was very clean and tidy, well presented etc,

For some reason I seemed to know more about the car than he did! But that said it is a very new car so I guess you learn moreabout it over time, also having shopped around before I went with an up!, I noticed my dealer wasnt the onlyone guilty of this!

One other gripe would be the level of contact-I found that unless I ring up the dealership, I don't really get any info but thats no biggie to me! As I approach my delivery date I shall be ringing every day anyway

And the fact that I am getting my up! earlier than expected is +points.

Overall a good experience.

 

[Vdoug]

^
That said, my dealer could have punched me in the face repeatedly and I still would have bought the car 'cause up!s are amazing and I want one!! haha.

 

[ZumbaQueen]

not happy with mine........just wish I'd picked another dealer instead of just local

 

[willowaz]

should we all be voting once weve got the car, that way we get the full view of our dealers?

 

[ZumbaQueen]

Sometimes, when you buy a car the only dealing you have with the sales team is before it's delivered after that it's just the servicepeeps when it goes in for it's servicing.
Or that maybe my opinion 3 VWs in

Edited by: ZumbaQueen

 

[R1ch]

Will vote when my car arrives. So far so good.

 

[montys1]

I wish I'd gone to another dealer. Very unprofessional so far. Buying a new car for the first time should be a pleasurable experience but it's felt like pulling teeth so far. They tried to rip me off over the price of the city braking system - saying the website had the wrong price of £225 when it should be £400 although as I had kicked up a fuss they would honour it as a one off and claim the difference back from VW. Absolute bollocks.
When we were going through the figures he kept disappearing to do the finance quote with his boss four or five times which was very off putting. It was like going through an interpreter who was in a different room.
Also despite saying they would keep me upto date with the progress I have had to chase them as they don't return calls or messages. I only ring once a fortnight.
Shocking service all round so far.

 

[Violet]

My first dealer tried to rip me off on the p/e price (without seeing my car) by almost £1000 over the fair price, let me down over a test drive, asked me if I live alone, and was I married/have I ever been?

Tried repeatedly to sell me what he had, as opposed to what I told him I actually wanted. Took a deposit on a car and then changed the spec and price after he'd done so, then the next day reneged on the deal (although I'd agreed to pay the extra cost), didn't offer to refund my deposit, (although did refund it when asked) and then told me I would have to wait till September for a car he knew was available to pick up this week. I am pretty experienced at this (though have never had a VW before) and felt it was verging on sharp practice. The most unprofessional service ever.

The dealer from whom I'm now buying the car, however, could not (so far!) have been more informed, helpful, efficient, courteous and reliable. Has called me every day to let me know of progress - even sent me a photo of the car as I am 100+ miles away!!Edited by: Violet

 

[MarkyMark]

I reserve my vote on this to see how they deal with my complaint when i collect tomorrow. That will be the ultimate test of dealer service for me, having work in the trade for many years.

 

[Annie43]

My first dealer tried to rip me off on the p/e price (without seeing my car) by almost £1000 over the fair price, let me down over a test drive, asked me if I live alone, and was I married/have I ever been?

Tried repeatedly to sell me what he had, as opposed to what I told him I actually wanted. Took a deposit on a car and then changed the spec and price after he'd done so, then the next day reneged on the deal (although I'd agreed to pay the extra cost), didn't offer to refund my deposit, (although did refund it when asked) and then told me I would have to wait till September for a car he knew was available to pick up this week. I am pretty experienced at this (though have never had a VW before) and felt it was verging on sharp practice. The most unprofessional service ever.

The dealer from whom I'm now buying the car, however, could not (so far!) have been more informed, helpful, efficient, courteous and reliable. Has called me every day to let me know of progress - even sent me a photo of the car as I am 100+ miles away!!

VW would only give me what I owed on my old car so I went to we buy any car and got the book price for it !!Edited by: Annie43

 

[Craig200588]

Barrnetts Volkswagen Dundee

This is the second car I've purchased from them, the first one last year was a bit of a let down. But buying my Up this year was an absolute fantastic experience. I went into the showroom in February for a service on my previous car, I knew I wanted the Up and was very specific on the spec. I got a guy called Ollie who took all the details, ordered it and gave me a great deal. I was looking at a 5 month wait for my car which I was expecting. He kept to his promise and called me every week with an update. To my surprise the car arrived 3 months early. My maps and more was in the car when I picked it up. He gave me a complete demonstration over the entire car (which I never got last year). He threw in nearly £100 worth of goodies most of which I never asked for but was an awesome surprise.

All in all, I received the best car buying experience, I felt he really wanted to help me in any way, had really great banter off him, talked for ages about geeky computer stuff ( found out him and me are both nerds when it comes to computers ), I got my Up which I am more in love with than I thought and I couldn't be happier!

I 100% recommend VW in Dundee!!!

 

[ZumbaQueen]

Wow, is it too far to commute between Chesterfield and Dundee - I want a dealer like that!!!

 

[luckyjimmy]

My VW dealship experience was really good - the saleman was knowledgeable and professional. When I had occasion to call the dealership, if he was not available, the saleman always called me back. Also, he genuinely seemed keen to get me the car specification I wanted and, it turned out, he managed to get it within a month of ordering.

 

[mark]

Breeze VW in poole, haven't taken delivery yet but so far we are pleased with the experience. Far better than our Fiat experience over the past 2 years.

 

[willowaz]

i too have been dealing with Breeze VW in Poole, and also havent taken delivery yet, but so far, not bad... they have always called back same day or next day if i couldnt get through to the guy im dealing with. also they are making sure i have a second remote key with mine, only thing i would say i have had to phone them for updates rather than the other way round. the actual place is fantastic, and the test drive could have gone on for ages if id wanted it to! and they didnt try to push the sale either.
i shall refrain from voting until i get my car tho

 

[TwoUp]

I have two VW dealerships within a five mile radius.  The closest I bought my VW 1.9 TDI Sport estate from in 2000 and generally I had found their overall customer care over the next few years to be average at best.  Once out of warranty my car was serviced at a local garage.  So, in looking at the Up I thought I'd give them another go.  Obviously personnel move on and they'd just had a swanky new extension to their dealership so they must have been doing something right.  As it turns out it was a new building but the same old poor service.  After initially having a test drive I made an appointment to order a Move Up.  When I arrived the sales guy dealing with us was busy with a customer.  Fair enough, I understand that appointments have to be flexible when dealing with customers.  However after 40 minutes waiting, the salesman, despite having got up from his desk on at least two occasions didn't have the common courtesy to come over and acknowledge us or say how long he thought he would be.  So I left the showroom without having been seen and drove to the other dealership where the experience was completely different.  I ordered a Move Up there and then and the salesman was excellent.
 
I went back two days later after having made an appointment to discuss buying a second Up (Up Black this time).  As I arrived our man was with customers but within five minutes he had come over to see us and explained he might be tied up for the next thirty minutes.  A little thing but makes a big difference.  The upshot of this was that because (as you all know too well) the lead time is now stretching to 12 weeks, he could not secure a decent part-ex price for my Allroad.  So I said I would think about it.  However, he has still ordered me in an Up Black to my spec and if he can't secure a decent part-ex for my car at the time it arrives I can walk away and he's confident (not surprisingly) that he'll be able to sell it. And if I'm happy the car is mine.  No deposit required and I have first refusal.  Now that is customer service

 
So the upshot is that my local dealership has lost out on one car sale and potentially two simply for the want of a little common courtesy.  And I'll never go back there""¦ Edited by: TwoUp

 

[M5 SUT]

should we all be voting once weve got the car, that way we get the full view of our dealers?

I'm with you on this one Gemma & I'll not be casting my vote until We get our up!.

I sent our sales chap an e-mail this week asking if it was too late to add the sound pack, his reply was

"Hi Malc, sorted it and added to order!"

Would rather have had a "No! Sorry your car is on its way" but at least we get the sound pack.

I've not asked about the "2 Key" issue as I'm just going to expect 2 when we collect and play holy **** if we don't!


Edited by: M5 SUT

 

[veedub-ally]

I can second Craig's experience. I have been dealing with Barnetts (formerly Glenvarigill) in Dundee for almost 10 years and have bought many cars from them. I have personally recommended many friends to them as well which has secured them many many sales. I always deal with Scott Myles and the service is always top notch. All of my family buy their VWs from him too. People always ask why I go to Dundee to buy my cars when I live outside Glasgow - it is about a 180 mile round trip. Simple reason is that I've never found a VW garage in my local area that comes anywhere near my expectations and most of the local ones are Arnold Clark. I've never had a good experience dealing with an Arnold Clark dealership. In past years they have provided poor service, wrong advice, disinterest in addressing valid warranty issues and even carried out the wrong service on a car. I had to complain to VW UK about them on one occasion so that's why I travel. It's a small price to pay for good service. My cars are important to me and I work hard for the money to pay for them so I expect to have a good experience when I buy - simples! Barnetts does that for me and I'd recommend them to anyone

 

[whassup]

I'm another Barnetts fan, and have dealt with Ollie and Scott on many occasions. Can't fault the dealership on any aspect of service, never feel patronised, deceived or ignored and always get good honest advice and deals. Have dealt with Arnold Clark in the past too and had very poor service.

 

[Verity]

I'm gonna cheat a bit and kind of give an opinion from the inside. But I hope it might help with opinions in some way.

Firstly my dealership is most deffinatly not perfect, I know all the niggerly things, but it would be hard to find a retailer that is honestly perfect everything single day, every single hour, infront and behind the scenes.
The techs are an amazing bunch of blokes, they have helped me with my car no end, and if it wasn't for them putting so much sweat and time (and some serious amount of thinking when one odd noise appeared that we just couldn't work out) into my car, my car would be long gone (bareing in mind they do it for free in their breaks for me) They all love what they do and I actually can't fault them personally.

With regards to the service team and the sales, they are all very perfessional, the worst thing I hear of is sometimes over promising ie. if you were told it'll take an 1hr to do the job, actually the techs need more like 2. 
Sales are all pretty friendly and want to help you out.

And from a dealers POV;
Some people you just can't make happy. 
There is one kid on a forum who is local to me, he had a problem with his car, so I got the  boyfriend to book it in and have the chaps check it out. Took a few hours but they fixed the problem. My boyfriend didnt charge as he did it for me as a friend sort of thing.
A few week later VW phone him to ask what the service was like that he received, and he moaned that it could have been cheaper - it was free!! He just thought if he complained he'd get something else.

You also get the ones that moan when the place is shut. 
Ie. the lady who broke down Sunday afternoon and tried to phone service department for help, only to find they were shut. Sunday is the only day they get off, and they got moaned at for it!

Theres a lot of "ever since you serviced my car my radio won't work"
"ever since you changed my brakes my central locking has been playing up"
"ever since changed my wipers my cat got run over" and so on...  

A chap even moaned his car no longer smelt of new car!!!

****! One lady complained when she got into the dealership to find her car wasn't booked in on the system for a service - turned out she had a Nissan and had turned up at completly the wrong garage. Haha

I've heard soo many stories the past few years which have at times made me so ashamed that I'm a fellow VW driver  
They do have to deal with a lot of very long hours on what is actually very little pay.
Where ever and when ever you work in retail you are going to have to deal with some proper pull- your-hair-out kind of people-- I know I do every day for the retailer I work at at. 
Those ones that make you question humanity! Ha!

But I do think it's important to have an inside pov sometimes  could change your views on your own dealer?! 
I'm not at all trying to offend anyone I'm sure you're all top notch customers, and everyone has the right to complain when they recieve bad service. I know- Ive had some right dousies when I've gone to garages
"the hydraulics in your clutch is on the way out." "that's interesting as my clutch is a cable clutch"
But all the same, its good to have an idea of what your dealer has to deal with