[nileshch]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

My delivery dates have been twice pushed, now the 3rd date being mid August. Even that date (obviously) is not guaranteed. As per the VW sales team, my choice of color (Shadow Blue) is to blame.

Also has anybody been delivered a Blue diesel Vento in July (at Pune)? According to the VW team, I am the first person in the list waiting for the blue color since July.

Guys, a few suggestions on where to start? Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

Nice to see you have chosen the blue TDI. I know I shouldn't say this but VW is really going to test your love for the color

But I wonder how the loan disbursal happened without your involvement. In my case, the bank was insisting on chassis/engine number before preparing the demand draft.

For starters, send separate mails to the Germany (KUNDENBETREUUNG@volkswagen.de) and Indian customer care (customercaresales@volkswagen.co.in). Mention that the loan disbursal has already been done at the dealer's behest and the resulting complications. Also, lodge a complaint with the customer care helpline (18001020909 / 18002090909).

This should set the ball rolling.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

But is the difference in waiting period so different between different places? 20 days in Delhi vs 6 months down south? Infact I went to another VW dealer today in Delhi just to make sure if the waiting is indeed less then a month. The SA initially said around 4-5 weeks for the White colour which is the most in demand. On a little pushing he was ready to deliver a white coloured TDI highline car to me before 10th august if I book within 2 days.

I think guys you need to really push the dealers to make things happen. Thats the way VW seems to be working!

This is indeed strange. This could be because petrol prices are relatively high in the south (72 in Bangalore vs 63 in Delhi) and hence the demand for diesel cars is also higher. VW must have done a flat distribution to all regions and the north might have lesser diesel bookings. That's the only explanation I can think of.

Originally Posted by bala80

My expectation levels with VW have dropped drastically now - Hopefully the after sales is better compared to pre-sales. Its totally the opposite to what I have been experiencing with Maruti so far, Agreed its a trade-off, but I'm doing so very consciously. Wish me luck!

Same here. After being a Maruti customer for more than 10 years, I had come to expect the same level of customer experience, if not better. So have my fingers crossed too for the after sales. To think of it, I have been giving a rating of 9/10 to the extremely courteous Maruti A.S.S. staff wherever I have been. I feel sorry for these guys now. Should have given a 10/10 to them!!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by nileshch

Nice to see you have chosen the blue TDI. I know I shouldn't say this but VW is really going to test your love for the color

But I wonder how the loan disbursal happened without your involvement. In my case, the bank was insisting on chassis/engine number before preparing the demand draft.

For starters, send separate mails to the Germany (KUNDENBETREUUNG@volkswagen.de) and Indian customer care (customercaresales@volkswagen.co.in). Mention that the loan disbursal has already been done at the dealer's behest and the resulting complications. Also, lodge a complaint with the customer care helpline (18001020909 / 18002090909).

This should set the ball rolling.

Thanks Nilesh.
I went down to the VW showroom to have a long chat with the sales manager. After a long discussion, he has agreed to give me a clear cut date and not one that has caveats attached. As of now, the date's been postponed to the month end, but he would be giving me a call tomorrow after consulting with VW. On a parallel note, I'll send the mails to both the Germany & Indian Customer care ids. I plan to keep the VW sales manager's id in cc. Do tell me if I need to do otherwise.

Lets see how it turns out.

As for the love for VW, I come from a family that are die-hard fans of Maruti. They simply do not look at any other automobile company as an option for a car. Every day the car gets delayed, I keep getting asked to re-consider the Maruti options, considering the SX4 hardly has any waiting periods. Still as long as they concentrate more on the car, and less on getting me married, I'm more than happy

[drmohitg]

Beat This now: I just got a message from VW Delhi that Contact this number for immediate delivery of Diesel vento. Ready Stock!! Looks like VW has got the area wise allocation wrong as most of you down south are still being quoted long waiting periods.

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

I plan to keep the VW sales manager's id in cc. Do tell me if I need to do otherwise.

You can keep him in copy if your equation is right. Else I would suggest not doing so!

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

As for the love for VW, I come from a family that are die-hard fans of Maruti. They simply do not look at any other automobile company as an option for a car. Every day the car gets delayed, I keep getting asked to re-consider the Maruti options, considering the SX4 hardly has any waiting periods. Still as long as they concentrate more on the car, and less on getting me married, I'm more than happy

My search for a sedan began with the SX4. But did not end there. Folks at home were stuck with the SX4 for a long time, till took them to the Vento TD.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Beat This now: I just got a message from VW Delhi that Contact this number for immediate delivery of Diesel vento. Ready Stock!! Looks like VW has got the area wise allocation wrong as most of you down south are still being quoted long waiting periods.

Nothing more to say!

[souravc]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Had an long discussion with my loan executive on this - (as per him) basically what happens is once you sign the loan agreement & submit all documents, once your loan processing is done, the bank disburses the loan amount to the dealer.
Now this seems un-necessary as the dealer could take a long period and take benefit of the loan amount; but need to understand the following
From the bank's perspective :- the bank gets assured of the customer loan; processing fees are collected - a sales deal has been made - that's more important
From the customer (us) perspective :- The interest rate gets fixed.
(all this as per the executive)

People,
looks like the VW friendly & helpful pre-sales service is going to live upto its mark in my case too. Till date, I haven't pushed them to deliver; but since my loan's approved & disbursed; and now I have a deadline of 30 days before the rates get reconsidered.

The loan executive is taking you for a ride - there is nothing like the rate is fixed . Its linked to the bank base rate and if it gets revised , the loan executive ( who must be the juniormost guy in the decision tree) would not do anything about it . When your loan exec says that " sign the documents else the rates would get revised ! " , please ask him how much is he short on his monthly target and how would he like his achieved number to be reduced by one more ( i.e you) .
Now for your reasoning out and to help keep your anxiety levels down:-
1. Car loans rates are applicable at the time of disbursement and not at the time of documentation completion so your fate is being decided by VW ( and its dealer)
2. Every month if less number of cars are getting sold , then it works out to less number of loans being disbursed which translates to the sales guy being woefully behind targets - nudge his blood pressure up a bit rather than you fretting about it since you are anyways a prisoner of point (1)

Focus your efforts wholeheartedly on the VW dealer because at this point of time he holds the key to you beating the RBI guv to one more rate hike forget the financier.

BTW we are all here to sympathise , empathise with you when you write about your long waits, we will counsel you - most of us Vento owners have gone through the same or even worse . From my experience though the car is worth every bit of the wait [ I have heard that the wait reduces by atleast 2 weeks if you swear to start your ownership thread on TBHP alongwith loads of pics within a day of getting your vento ]

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Beat This now: I just got a message from VW Delhi that Contact this number for immediate delivery of Diesel vento. Ready Stock!! Looks like VW has got the area wise allocation wrong as most of you down south are still being quoted long waiting periods.

Awesome! I do hope I get more info on this from the showroom tomorrow, although I doubt it. No wonder the sales guy at VW Pune couldn't defend 3-4 months being a reasonable waiting period - also we had a short discussion on Vento vs Verna sales; thanks to TBHP monthly sales threads, I could call his bluff. He clearly knew Verna sales were double than that of Vento for the last odd month(s).

A huge difference in his confidence level as compared to May last week when I did my booking; then he openly declared that ANHC was the main competitor, they didn't forsee ANHV or NFF causing any dent in Vento sales

Originally Posted by nileshch

You can keep him in copy if your equation is right. Else I would suggest not doing so!

Thanks for the suggestion! Will take it in consideration.

Originally Posted by souravc

The loan executive is taking you for a ride - there is nothing like the rate is fixed . Its linked to the bank base rate and if it gets revised , the loan executive ( who must be the juniormost guy in the decision tree) would not do anything about it .

Fortunately (or unfortunately) my loan has been disbursed; I have got the confirmation sms from the bank, as well as I have confirmed it with the dealer.

Originally Posted by souravc

Focus your efforts wholeheartedly on the VW dealer because at this point of time he holds the key to you beating the RBI guv to one more rate hike forget the financier.

Exactly my plan of action for this month. Hence I took a half day off and sat at the dealer's office for nearly an hour; plan to do so several times in the coming weeks! Have found in the past, a face-to-face interaction works better than a phone call.

Originally Posted by souravc

BTW we are all here to sympathise , empathise with you when you write about your long waits, we will counsel you - most of us Vento owners have gone through the same or even worse . From my experience though the car is worth every bit of the wait [ I have heard that the wait reduces by atleast 2 weeks if you swear to start your ownership thread on TBHP alongwith loads of pics within a day of getting your vento ]

At your service, sirji!
I am so eagerly waiting to do that; at times I think of taking pics of my khatara M800 that is lying outside and open a ownership thread; just to get my mind of it! Will that earn me any brownie points?

[souravc]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Fortunately (or unfortunately) my loan has been disbursed; I have got the confirmation sms from the bank, as well as I have confirmed it with the dealer.

Mate, how did they disburse without the Form 20 ? Where did you take the loan from ? So essentially you will start paying the EMI without the car . You are actually funding the dealer's working capital at your own expense , you should get cash back from them Seriously speaking, you should highlight this in your communication and ensure that you get preferential treatment - we gave a 75K advance to book our car , you have given an advance of apprx 11 lakhs so you deserve it

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Exactly my plan of action for this month. Hence I took a half day off and sat at the dealer's office for nearly an hour; plan to do so several times in the coming weeks! Have found in the past, a face-to-face interaction works better than a phone call.

Thats the way to go , thats Vento's way of making us patient drivers and reducing road rage. Please maintian polite email follow-up too with a few
" Heard from a friend that dealers sometimes allot one client's vento out of turn to another and spoke to VW about it , please ensure that it does not happen" kind of mails

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

At your service, sirji!
I am so eagerly waiting to do that; at times I think of taking pics of my khatara M800 that is lying outside and open a ownership thread; just to get my mind of it! Will that earn me any brownie points?

Yes , why not - a long term ownership thread with details of how it has served you. M 800 brings a lot of good memories amongst a lot of us . For many of us its the first car that we owned and its always special . Since Suzuki has refused to co-operate with VW , you do not get any brownie points

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by souravc

Mate, how did they disburse without the Form 20 ? Where did you take the loan from ? So essentially you will start paying the EMI without the car . You are actually funding the dealer's working capital at your own expense , you should get cash back from them Seriously speaking, you should highlight this in your communication and ensure that you get preferential treatment - we gave a 75K advance to book our car , you have given an advance of apprx 11 lakhs so you deserve it

HDFC Bank.
Well that's my bad. You got it correct - just was off the phone with the HDFC representative. Guess I became the month-end-target-meeting-requirement sucker!
But on their side, HDFC guy has assured me that he'll ask the RM for VW showrooms (as per him they have a RM for every showroom/company - can someone confirm this)? to give me a call & push B. U. Bhandari to deliver my car asap.

Had a long call with VW, they acknowledged the payment done by HDFC, and hence would try to deliver my car as early as possible, with the max date being the month-end. Also the sales manager of Bhandari just called up again a few minutes back and told me he's confirmed the same with VW and assured that VW would deliver the cars this month itself.

Yes , why not - a long term ownership thread with details of how it has served you. M 800 brings a lot of good memories amongst a lot of us . For many of us its the first car that we owned and its always special . Since Suzuki has refused to co-operate with VW , you do not get any brownie points

Lol. That's one task lined up for this weekend! Guess I'll need to wash her up for a mini-photo shoot.

[noopster]

Hey Niranjan, glad to see you almost have your car. I think BU Bhandari is doing a much better job than the other dealer, who unfortunately had a monopoly back when I booked my own Vento. You're getting the TDi right? In shadow blue?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by noopster

Hey Niranjan, glad to see you almost have your car. I think BU Bhandari is doing a much better job than the other dealer, who unfortunately had a monopoly back when I booked my own Vento. You're getting the TDi right? In shadow blue?

Yes sir! Although "almost" is quite a flexible word for VW to use in my situation.
But overall, I am quite satisfied with BU Bhandari's pre-sales experience. Except for the delay(s), they have been upright & helpful in their manner of working.

Anytime you visit their office, they treat you like a royal customer; irrespective if you have come for a TD or purchase or just for a casual visit. Also I did my booking after the closing time; yet they were helpful enough to keep the showroom open & allow me to complete the booking.

In my discussion with the sales manager, he openly stated that VW considered Bhandari to be the more important of the two dealers - which might help them in case of pushing deliveries.

Btw, have seen a service center of VW on the Bombay - Pune highway close to Indira college. Part of Bhandari or Vidyut motors?

OT : Need advice for a friend of mine in Bombay who has a Vento; he lives at Ghatkopar (E); and the VW showroom at Chembur is the closest showroom (10 mins drive). Any feedback on the service history of this place?

[sajo]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Btw, have seen a service center of VW on the Bombay - Pune highway close to Indira college. Part of Bhandari or Vidyut motors?

Thats Bhandari's. It used to be a Tata workshop earlier.

[noopster]

The place on the highway near Indira is BU Bhandari's service centre. Vidyut's service centre is right where its sales showroom is (off JM Road). Must be a pricey propsition running a workshop in downtown but that's the way it is.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Beat This now: I just got a message from VW Delhi that Contact this number for immediate delivery of Diesel vento. Ready Stock!! Looks like VW has got the area wise allocation wrong as most of you down south are still being quoted long waiting periods.

I called Volkswagen Chennai in CIT Nagar, Chennai last Sunday to enquire about the OTR prices for Vento D. The person who attended my call told me in a hurry that its 9.56 and 11.98 for Trend and Highline. Waiting period is six months. He immediately hung up the phone even before I thought of asking some more questions.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

I called Volkswagen Chennai in CIT Nagar, Chennai last Sunday to enquire about the OTR prices for Vento D. The person who attended my call told me in a hurry that its 9.56 and 11.98 for Trend and Highline. Waiting period is six months. He immediately hung up the phone even before I thought of asking some more questions.

I sympathize with you guys LOL. I will be making my booking for the Vento this weekend. Lets see when I present them with the cheque what delivery period do they commit. I will be insisting on a proper date of delivery and it goes without saying that I would be pushing him for an immediate delivery or as early as possible.

[souravc]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

OT : Need advice for a friend of mine in Bombay who has a Vento; he lives at Ghatkopar (E); and the VW showroom at Chembur is the closest showroom (10 mins drive). Any feedback on the service history of this place?

Luckily I am ready with advice since I have first hand experience of suffering at their hands . Pls ask your friend to book through the Nerul showroom rather than the Chembur one - they are the same dealership , Chembur is a sub outlet of the Nerul one .