- This topic has 30 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 9 months ago by
.
- Topic
It started at end March when we ordered by phone (due to Covid rules) a new VW Tiguan Elegance model 1.5 TSI petrol DSG in Moonstone grey with Storm grey/black interior. We were told mid July would be delivery and that was ok we were asked for a £500 deposit but at that time their machine was not working so could not take deposit and the salesperson said they could do that at a later date.
A couple of days went by when we got order confirmation from Motability so everything Ok.
About 4-6 weeks later we had to get our current Tiggy MOT’d ready for the hand over when the new car arrived. This was done at the same local dealers where we had ordered the new car from. While I was waiting for the car to be MOT I asked one of the sales people to check our order so I could log on to the VW online app to keep a track of the car while it was progressing through their system from build week to shipping just like I did last time. She gave me the Works order number which I checked on the VW app later that day. Everything was ok all details checked out but it had not been given a build week at that stage.
Every few days keep checking and build week still not scheduled although I was aware their system was not updating as it should so was not particularly worried.
Around early June I get a call from the sales person who said she was my new contact as the original sales person had left and she was ringing to give me an update. She told me week 26 was when it was expected to be built but that build weeks were a bit fluid and they can move back or forward which I was expecting having read of the global situation.
I kept checking the VW app every few days still ok but no further progress on the order regarding build week. Then about 10 days ago I checked the VW app and to my Horror a major change to the order, my vehicle was no longer Moonstone grey with Storm grey interior it was now Urano Grey with black interior!!!!.
I got on the phone immediately to the deal and told my contact their were they aware the colours had changed. She checked and she said it was still Moonstone grey/Storm grey and that she would check it out but not to worry as they would have to supply as ordered. She came back an hour later and said it was due to build times slipping and that my car would now be a 22 yr spec car and that Moonstone grey had been dropped from the range of colours.
I was aghast that no one from VW had bothered to let the dealer or customer know this SMALL detail change. Had I not been checking regularly on line a wrong colour car would have shown up and they would have had a very angry customer on the day.
I then had to make a choice as to what colour would be an acceptable substitute and told them a Brown Ginger metalic with Storm interior would probably be ok. At this stage it was noted I had not yet paid a deposit so they were then asking for A £500 payment to go ahead and change the colour and could I come in today and pay it, Oh and by the way week build was now week 36 not 26 as was stated a few weeks ago…….
I sent her an email that day to explain my situation this is what I wrote:
“Hi xxxxx
Further to our conversation yesterday regarding our order from 29th March this year for a Tiguan Elegance 1.5 TSI DSG in Moonstone grey with Storm grey/black interior that has been changed to Urano grey with black interior without letting us know first.
The Urano grey is not acceptable as it is too dark a colour but as discussed with you Ginger Brown with Storm grey is an acceptable alternative. You asked we let you know if we wanted to change the order to Ginger brown and let you know today. You also asked if we can pay a deposit of £500) we are prepared to pay a deposit but we do have concerns that as the build week has already been put back from week 26 to week 36+ 2-3 weeks to get it here it and could possibly slip again.
With that in mind we will pay a deposit on the understanding that if we get any further delays taking delivery to us beyond early October 2021 we can if we chose cancel and receive a full refund of our deposit. In addition as the AP was £1949(plus £290 for boot hoist) for the car at time of order which came down the next day to £1799 with the new Q2 pricing, should the new Q3 pricing due out in 2 days from now reduce the AP further we feel it only fair that as the order is changing due to VW’s enforced change in colour that any lower AP would be applied to our order.
We appreciate that the delays are not the dealerships fault and that micro chips are causing most manufacturers problems, although as I understand it that was partly because various auto manufacturers had reduced capacity last year due to falling orders and micro chip manufacturers switched some capacity at their plants from automotive chips to different chips to take up the slack. That however does not excuse them from just changing a customers order without notice and informing them of any change.
Had I not gone on the VW online site to track my car myself last Saturday to get an update we could have had a car turn up eventually with a totally different colour to that ordered. I might add when I had previously checked the order a few weeks ago it had shown it to be Moonstone Grey so the change to Urano grey must have been made fairly recently.
If you can agree these points we can come in and pay a deposit although that would be tomorrow or Thursday as we are not able to come in today.”
Needless to say I had heard nothing since till I called them yesterday having spent most of the intervening time looking round at some dealerships to try and see in the flesh what these colours look like. That is not an easy task these days as most dealers have little new stock on hand and what they do have is nearly all white/grey/black and what hurts most a few Moonstone grey.
I called at around 11am yesterday and was told she (the Motability sales person) was with a customer and would call me back. I waited………. and no callback so called again at 4pm again she was with a customer but the receptionist asked could she help so I briefly explained to her what was needed was for the sales rep to call me back.I asked what time she was there till I was told 6pm so 2 hrs to call me back. Of course I did not get a call back that evening.
This morning about 9.30am I get a call back where she tells me they can’t continue with the order without the £500 deposit as this colour is not a popular colour and if we cancelled due to further delays beyond October which are beyond their control they would be stuck with a £30k car on their hands that they could not sell!!!!!!!
This is where I was totally aghast, car they can’t sell are they stupid, at the moment they could probably sell 20 of them if they had them!!!!!!
She then came up with another chestnut, I had better check to see if they can actually CHANGE the colour anyway from Urano to Ginger Brown I will call you back in half an hour…….
Half an hour later she called back and guess what………………………… They can’t change the colour!!!!
So if the order is to stay on the system I have to agree to take a car of a colour I don’t want at a time sometime in the future I don’t know and pay them an unrefundable deposit of £500….ARE THEY NUTS.
I told them I will be speaking to Motability to and will cancel with them, she said no need to do that I can do it from my end. I said I will do it thanks, If they do it they will probably be saying it was me that had changed my mind that was causing cancellation.
Not called Motability yet but we have decided to keep our current car for 12 months and see if anything more suitable becomes available in the meantime but it wont be a VW after this fabulous service we have had NOT.
Your disgusted
The most annoying thing is the dealer will be gaining as he will now be able to offer my car with a build week around 36 to some none Motability customer and make a bigger profit, don’t you just love it………
- Replies
Certainly a shocking tale. But a not uncommon one, I suspect. I think choosing to hang on to your current car, kbfern, is the right decision. Industry says the chip shortage isn’t going to end anytime soon, most manufacturers are on short time working, and 71 reg vehicles are likely to be fairly rare on the roads..
I’m so sorry to hear about the VW issues, they read very familiarly ?
You may be dodging a bullet of sorts. Myself and a few others are experiencing awful fuel consumption on the 1.5 DSG, so much so that I have a cancellation and have been allowed to change as a result. What to change to is the real question!
I really hope you find a workable solution in your case, finding a vehicle you’re happy with for 3 years seems rather difficult at the moment.
This is all becoming too common. Especially with VW and Volvo. That is a shocking story. The audacity some of these dealers have is beyond me. They treat us as if we are second class citizens, unacceptable. Contact motability immediately in my opinion.
Thanks guys
I knew the 1.5tsi would be worse than the 2.0 diesel we have now but was hoping for 30+mpg local and 40 ish on a decent run so do you think that was being optimistic Tim.
I spoke with Motability in the last hour and told them of our woes. It was like a breath of fresh air, their girls are sympathetic and understanding unlike the jokers employed by some of the car sales folks who feel so entitled.
Thank god there are still a few dealers out there who still know how to treat a customer.
It’s just annoying when you spend a lot of effort poring over which car to get, looking a dozens of specs/tests/options and then deciding which colour spec to get only to be kicked in the teeth after wasting 3+ months and then having to cancel an order due to someone deciding to delete your chosen option and then not even able to make a choice other than what they have deemed you WILL have to live with.
I guess we start again and hope something more suitable turns up over the next few months but like you guys have said choices are limited as we have specific needs which mean a car similar to the tiguan are needed and there aren’t many like that about at around £2k..
If the Skoda Enya comes on the scheme that could be of interest in electric but would only pay up to around £3k as I would be saving something on fuel costs of an ICE car.
I wouldn’t continue with the current dealer regardless, and that’s probably spiting myself more than the dealer, but principle prevails…
MPG wise local is around 26 and it’s already need more oil in the 6 months we’ve had it (not earth shattering that it needed oil but odd in my experience).
I’m also hopeful of the Skoda making an appearance but I’ve seen Matt from Carwow points out the options which should be standard are outrageously priced so I feel it may be a non-starter.
Im currently looking at the Vauxhall Vivaro. Why? I have no idea tbh, I saw the comfort and electric drive would fit our usage but it’s a big old thing to drive about daily ?
I’m sure I’ll find something sensible soon!
May I suggest you take a look at SEAT sadly we are just coming to the end of ours a SEAT Alhambra, but if we could stay we would as you get a VW without laying a deposit with far more spec and if you compare our to our neighbours T roc far better paint. Also our 2.0 litre 180 dsg returns 43.2 average but we are rural so may no5 be as good for everyone. We bought the xcellence lux and it wanted for nothing panoramic roof leather electric passenger seats even full seat of carpet mats and blinds. So maybe a VW without the arrogance of VW.
@kbfern i wouldn’t be paying any deposit to that dealer and take my business elsewhere. It may be a major hassle trying to get your deposit back if needed down the line. Speaking from experience it took me 6 weeks and at least 10 phone calls to different people in the dealership to get my deposit back from a dealer last year, I ended up escalating this to Motability and they got it resolved. I don’t know where you are in the country but I know Volkswagen Edinburgh had 3 Tiguan Elegances in stock last week available for immediate delivery (2 black 1 white)
As WigWam says, it’s no longer ‘unusual’ it’s exactly the same experience I had when ordering my Astra ST.
Delays due to facelifts and models changing only led to my new car being downgraded in what I felt were key areas. This in turn led to Motability allowing me a free cancellation after only a few weeks.
Thanks Mike
I certainly would not pay a deposit if it was not refundable due to any unreasonable delays but they would not budge and said delays are beyond their control. They have already gone from week 26 to 36 to 38 and no guarantee they won’t change again. I would not mind if it moved again by a couple of weeks but to just not know when it could be delayed till is unacceptable therefore we have cancelled.
I asked previously weeks ago were there any stock cars in the system but have always been told no stock cars available but like you say they are about. Only trouble is they are not in a colour I would want.
White black dark greys no good, moonstone nightshade Ginger brown ok, but I also wanted storm interior, for this I am prepared to wait a reasonable time but from placing an order in late March an October delivery is more than long enough and they can’t even promise that.
I am in the west midlands by the way.
Try Vertu VW, they have a few locations around the West Midlands. Ask if they have anything group stock and they’re normally happy to transfer between dealerships.
?Thanks Tim
What a performance! So sorry to hear about all of this. Can’t say I’m surprised as from our experience of 3 different VW dealers they were all very poor. I have a degree of sympathy with the dealer about Ginger Brown. This isn’t a popular colour (I’m being polite) and I can see them being stuck with it, especially with a Storm Grey interior. We have Storm Grey on our Tiguan (and it’s lovely) but it would clash with the Ginger Brown IMHO and I think they would really struggle to shift one in that colour combo.
It will be very difficult to match the Tiguan Elegance for kit. I compared the spec to the Seat and the Tiguan had much better spec, other than leather (which is a glaring omission in the Tiguan IMO). The problem that you will now have is that you will probably be waiting 3 to 6 months for almost any car now, so I would agree that it’s best to hold on to your current car until things settle down.
Thanks GG I have actually seen the Ginger Brown in the flesh with Storm interior at the time I ordered the Moonstone and it looked very nice. The off white of the storm complemented the ginger brown very well.
Had I been able to change the colour to Ginger and delivery had been put back a few extra weeks I would not have cancelled but the fact that VW wouldn’t change the colour and I was still expected to pay the Deposit and loose it if I cancelled was a bridge too far.
It’s cancelled now anyway and they probably have already sold the option to someone else by now AND I bet they would have been able to change the colour as well. I feel that they were lying through their teeth when they told me it could not be changed as lets face it week 38 min is still what 3 months away at earliest.
I am keeping the Tiguan till next year and may well come off the scheme and get a Skoda Enyaq or similar car with my own money and use the deposit I would have paid for the Tiggy + £600 refund when the old car goes back along with the DLA allowance to make it a viable option. That is unless a suitable EV comes on the scheme before then, There are 3 or 4 mid sized EV SUV’s due out between now and then that could tempt me.
Yes I fear that the dealer is full of BS. Colour can be changed until spec is locked down, which isn’t until a few weeks before build. Our Tiguan is Grey and it suits the car as it masks the grey plastic side sills. Seen a few in Nightshade Blue, which is quite nice but looks green.
Small pet peeve of mine: your experience isn’t with “VW”, it’s with your local dealership. There’s VW dealerships active here (or at the very least, were) where the experience was apparently just great (Marshalls, if i recall correctly).
Name and shame the dealership, it has nothing to do with the manufacturer. As another example, when we went to Mercedes (often reported that customers feel a bit.. lets say, undervalued, or snubbed), we let them know that we were looking for a Motability car, already feeling somewhat.. nervous? Anxious? Like we’re.. Beggars, or something. Generally uncomfortable. Until we met “our guy”, who was genuinely the nicest, most understanding salesman i’ve ever met, making us actually feel welcome and valued (of course, as it should be, but often isn’t).
Hell, even in the same dealership you talk to an incompetent knob first, to then get “loaded off” to another guy who knows that he’s doing.
Our current car didn’t go smoothly either (SEAT Ateca 2019), everything went spotless – got a timeslot, got the car in the timeslot (pre-covid, of course) etc – good guy too. Except, when we went to pick up the car (i didn’t fully grasp the issue), he apparently forgot to put our pin into the system. Took them two weeks to figure that out – and if i’m not mistaken, that meant that we drove two weeks without insurance (because we never officially “received” the car).
If a dealer sucks and tries to pull you over the table, shame the dealer – so others can avoid them.
In regards to colour, i’m with Glos Guy. We were looking at the Tig Elegance as well, and would only take it in Dolphin Grey metallic – exactly for the same reason. It’s basically the same colour as the grey plastic trim, making it look uniform rather than the (imho, ugly) two tone approach of all other colours. It’s not too dark for us either (that’s subjective though), and we would’ve considered Nightshade Blue as well if it weren’t for the fact that our Ateca is Lava Blue (same colour).
The brown.. Down to taste, i think. We saw it, and it looks too “pensioner” to us. Very brown.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.I hope she OP doesn’t give a toss about opinions on their colour choice ?
As for who they have a grievance with, to me it’s VW too. After all they’re the ones who said the options were locked and communicated nothing through the dealer about changing a £30k+ vehicle order ?♂️
Marshalls Oxford have had a negative turn recently on the forum. They were very good a couple of years ago but sadly certain folk have moved on from the dealership and several negative experiences have been reported.
I had a similar situation with my last vehicle not being in the system, it was rectified of course and Motability assured me RSA would have covered as usual regardless of the admin error.
Despite colour being down to personal choice I can understand the dealer wanting a deposit on a ginger brown car.
They wanted a deposit whatever colour was chosen, the original colour selected was Moonstone grey, changing the colour made no difference on that.
I am a pensioner of 69 years old and want a car with a bit of colour don’t want black or white, they are great just after cleaning but awful after rain etc and black shows swirl marks early in life. The grey’s are well “grey”and whilst can look nice in the lighter shades as they don’t show the dirt the darker ones are almost as bad as the blacks for showing dirt. That left a red which did not look nice, some reds are ok but not the current one. Nightshade looks great on the promo literature but that’s on a nice sunny day, in England we don’t get that much sun and it looks uninspiring and much darker than the promo pics.
The R has a nice blue but don’t want the R as the spec is poor this time round.
VW’s colours in the Tiguan range are rubbish, drop down the range to the t-roc or golf or the e cars ID3/4 and the colour range is much better with some nice vibrant colours which are much nicer than the drab colours on offer.
Maybe VW think Tiguan owners are boring old fart’s and don’t deserve a nice bit of colour, The Ginger brown was the only colour with the storm that looked nice in the flesh other than the moonstone we ordered originally even though that was a grey?
Our current car is tungsten grey which we really like and looks clean between washes which is usually more than a month apart but we wanted a change this time round.
I hope that explains to some of you out there that thinks BROWN is a bit pensioner but as I am a pensioner so what? anyway it’s Ginger Brown and I don’t want to be called a ginger either we all know how people take the pee out of Ginger’s don’t we.?
For once, I find myself agreeing with almost every comment from every poster! Well, perhaps with just a few minor exceptions ?
I agree that bad dealers should be named and shamed but that it can just be down to a poor salesman. We’ve dealt with two different sales people at Heritage VW Bristol. The first was dreadful and the second was was OK. Nothing special, but OK. Heritage Gloucester were dreadful. Had to chase them several times about a test drive and lead times and they never phoned me back. Months later they called me to ask if I was still interested in the Tiguan (presumably they were under pressure to hit a sales target), so I took great pleasure in telling them that I was, but as they couldn’t be bothered to get back to me we had ordered one from elsewhere. Our current Tiguan came from Marshall’s Oxford South. Not local to us, but we went there because of this forum as they were promoting £500 off the AP. Chris and Kit were both lovely guys, but sat on the order for weeks before placing it (build slot allocations presumably) and there was zero communication over 5 months about how the order was progressing. I had to do all the chasing.
Colour choice is entirely subjective, but there are three facelifted Tiguans in our village. A Dolphin Grey, a Nightshade Blue and a silver one. I like silver, but it doesn’t work on the Elegance as the ugly grey plastic side skirts really stand out. As kbfern mentions, if the Nightshade Blue looked anything like it does in the promotional blurb it would be stunning. But it doesn’t. Not even remotely close. In the flesh it’s a dark petrol blue colour that looks more green than blue. It’s OK, but nothing special. The Dolphin Grey one looks best as it completely masks the side skirts. I know that a lot of people on this forum don’t like grey cars, but they do tend to make cars look quite classy, which is why so many drivers of prestige cars (Aston Martin, Porsche, Bentley etc) tend to choose greys. The right grey can look stunning, but I just don’t get this trend for these very pale and flat ‘putty’ greys. Ugly as hell IMHO and can ruin a nice car! As for Ginger Brown (or any other browns) I must confess that I don’t think ‘pensioner’. I call them sh*t browns ?. I agree that the colour choice on the Tiguan is dreadful, as it is with many German manufacturers. The Germans might make the best cars, but they have no imagination with colours.
kbfern – As you are back to the drawing board, can I suggest that you have a look around at what else is available and you might want to read my review of our current Tiguan on the reviews thread. We have had four Tiguans, so are pretty knowledgeable about them. They served a purpose for us but the shortcomings have become too irritating now and our current one is not being replaced with another Tiguan.
Did have a look, couldn’t see a review of the 2021 Tiguan?
It’s still on our shortlist, so would be interesting to see. Inarguably, if you’re looking at a medium sized car, the Tiguan is one of the best bets in regards to kit/price on the scheme, hence us looking at it.
I hope that explains to some of you out there that thinks BROWN is a bit pensioner but as I am a pensioner so what anyway it’s Ginger Brown and I don’t want to be called a ginger either we all know how people take the pee out of Ginger’s don’t we.
I didn’t mean that in a rude way – it’s just a very, very brown colour. It’s of course down to taste.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.Thanks GG we have had a 2018 2.0 diesel Tiguan SEL DSG in Tungsten grey for 3 yrs now and like it a lot that’s why we were happy to go with another facelift car but petrol this time round.
As you point out the Tiggy beats most competition hands down in Elegance spec @ £2k AP and having looked at the new Hyundai Tucson at £2500 AP but lesser spec also on extended delivery or a Pug 3008/5008 at again lesser spec and ranging from around £1700-3000 nothing else looks close.
So decided “hang on to what we got” (Frankie Valli) for now and see if anything changes by Q1 2022. As I pointed out we may even come off the scheme and get something electric like an Enyaq or similar next spring with our own money unless it’s available on Motability at a reasonable cost.
Rene – Look under ‘Motability Car Reviews’ (sticky thread towards top), page 3, 7th post down.
Cheers, just had a read, and agree to some extend – we basically have the exact same issues with our Ateca, which is using the same (re-skinned) software and hardware. Sat Nav is.. temperamental, but we learned to work around that. Bit of a faff, but not a deal breaker. Voice Control is.. A first generation system. We use it to stop Sat Nav guidance (“stop route guidance”) and getting home (“navigation route home”) – which work just fine. Any system that uses a button to activate voice control is ultimately useless – more advanced “natural” systems are considerably better (“Hey Mercedes” etc). LED Headlights, same issue – and yes, IQ lights fix that. Forward collision assist, ours does the same thing. Never done it on the motorway though. Adaptive Cruise control, exact same thing. For us, accelerating after braking doesn’t even fix it – i would expect that if the car slows down and the guy in front is out of the way, if i tap the accelerator, it just goes back to the adjusted speed. It doesn’t. It brakes, i tap the accelerator, we go up a little, i let off and the car brakes again, this can be repeated up to three times before it picks up again. Worst feature on our car.
Economy, we have the 1.5 DSG and returned up to 48mpg, so we genuinely can’t complain in that regard.
Cheers for writing the review, here’s hoping that the Sat Nav (we’d go with the Discover Pro for extra monies) has been improved. The main issue we got with ours is that while we can work around the sometimes awful routing, it’s hampered by the “low performance” of the computer behind it. Everything’s laggy, inputs take too long etc – the Disco Pro should fix that. Hoping, at least.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.No offence taken Rene my post was tongue in cheek with smileys attached, colours as with most things are personal choices and some like one colour and some don’t.
Remember old Henry Ford, ‘Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.’
I still don’t think the car looks brown anyway??♂️
Hm. Yeah i agree that the colour shown there (with my screen settings) looks decent enough, but that genuinely isn’t what the “deathbed brown” (as my wife called it) looks like in person.
It’s considerably darker, the guy with the camera has HDR cranked up to 11, it almost looks like copper (which would be a cool colour, mind).
That’s closer, in my opinion.
And of course, it’s down to personal liking. I really did like the screaming yellow Audi A3 Saloon (removed from the scheme now i think), and my favourite colour for the CLA is denim blue (least chosen colour if i’m not mistaken) – so maybe i’m just odd with my colour choices. 😀
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.