Shipping

[PhilArnold]

Has your dealer organised a social distanced handover? How will it work?

That’s an interesting one.

Off topic, but relevant to anyone who’s received a confirmed build date notification but not received a tracking update to say their car’s actually been built, then there’s a fair chance it might not have been built yet.

Forum member OomStu_ZA posted a link to a news item back on 31/03/20 which reported that SA car makers didn’t foresee any disruption to production as a result of Covid-19. This was the news item in question;
https://www.wheels24.co.za/News/sa-auto ... s-20200318

However, like most other VW production facilities (and other car manufacturers’ factories) elsewhere in the world, VW’s Uitenhage production facility did temporarily shut down, with production scheduled to re-start this month.

https://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry ... y-46766961

If restarting Polo production follows the same process as other VW plants, then this will be a staged approach - presumably meaning initially the plant won’t be at normal / full operating capacity, but will build up to full capacity over a period of time. Employees may also need to be trained in and adopt revised safe working practices too. What this means in terms of build delays is anyone’s guess, but if the factory was closed for most or all of April (and the beginning of May?), and it’ll take a while to get back up to full operating capacity, I dare say realistically, this could add 5-6 weeks to lead times - maybe longer, depending on how much below normal capacity the plant is operating at in the initial weeks after re-starting production. That’s assuming there’s no disruption to VW’s supply chain or transportation of cars from the factory to the UK and on to the dealerS.

Interesting times.......

I can add a bit more to this

My car had a confirmed build week of week 12, and the tracker hasn't updated since then
I left it a month as I hadn't seen anything in the news to suggest they shut in march, but when I phoned VW customer service, they eventually got back to me and said the SA factory actually shut in that week and my car was in build. They said to call back in a month which i will be doing this week

I saw in the news that SA was opening last week of April with a view to start ramping production 1st week may. No update on the tracker but hopefully when I phone this week there may be more info

Either way my dealer is shut and I am now thinking it's a bit of poor form on VWs part to bit provide any update at all on status, even if it is just to say when factories are opening & shutting

[Ima]

Thanks for the update as that’s more than I got from customer services. I missed a return call with an update today and they are calling back tomorrow but I can guess then I’ll be told my car is 6 weeks delayed as I was week 18. I rang in week 18 and they mentioned nothing about a delay just saying it was still down as week 18 for build and call back the follower and said nothing about a shut down. Oh well what a few more months of waiting. It’ll be about 8 months from order. I guess it won’t be until late August and I might as well see if they can’t sit until new reg in September now.

[Ima]

Just spoken to VW customer service. Car still saying build week 18 and no updates on a new build date. They said they never had official confirmation about the South Africa factory closing but have to assume builds are about 6 weeks behind schedule but literally had no knowledge themselves from the system on what is going on. Ah well at least we are all in the dark. Might as well hope for new reg in September as I can’t see it arriving much before then now!

[SRGTD]

Just spoken to VW customer service. Car still saying build week 18 and no updates on a new build date. They said they never had official confirmation about the South Africa factory closing but have to assume builds are about 6 weeks behind schedule but literally had no knowledge themselves from the system on what is going on. Ah well at least we are all in the dark. Might as well hope for new reg in September as I can’t see it arriving much before then now!

I think VWCS’s call centre is a third party operation; if so, it won’t be staffed by VW employees and they’ll only know what VW choose to tell them. I’ve had incorrect / inaccurate information from VWCS in the past, so always take what they’ve told me with the proverbial ‘pinch of salt’. When I’ve queried the information they’ve given me, they’ve just told me to contact my dealership. You’ll probably get more accurate, up to date information from the dealer; some dealerships do have sales staff working (maybe from home), so it might be possible to contact (by email) the sales person you dealt with when you placed your order to see if they have an up to date build status for your car.

[monkeyhanger]

^ The 3rd party VW people know nothing about build weeks, whether the car has been built or shipped. They can find out by making enquiries to VW while you're on the line, but generally don't make those enquiries unless you ask them to. They're pretty useless in most regards and seem to be the fall guys for your wrath when some faceless git that actually works for VW has denied a reasonable warranty claim. Welcome to the atrocious customer service that VW provide. I't's lucky their cars are great to drive (when they work - average reliability) or no-one would entertain buying their wares.

[PhilArnold]

Just rung VW and it's good news! Car's built and on the boat to Emden!
Can't believe it, as my tracker still shows build week confirmed but if the lady is telling the truth then it's at least en route

[S_94]

Just rung VW and it's good news! Car's built and on the boat to Emden!
Can't believe it, as my tracker still shows build week confirmed but if the lady is telling the truth then it's at least en route

You can ignore the tracker. I was driving out of the showroom with mine and the tracker still said 'In Transit'!

[ryanponti]

Mine went into transit on the 13th of March and is sat at the dealer. I rang on Tuesday for an update and was told I would get a call back within 24 hours. Next day no call so I called them to be met with "we have over 3000 cars to sort so no you wont get a call back I don't know what you were expecting" … If its not going to be a call back in 24 hours tell me that, if its going to be a week fair enough. Just don't promise something and then have a go at me for it.

[SRGTD]

Just rung VW and it's good news! Car's built and on the boat to Emden!
Can't believe it, as my tracker still shows build week confirmed but if the lady is telling the truth then it's at least en route

You can ignore the tracker. I was driving out of the showroom with mine and the tracker still said 'In Transit'!

Yes, the tracker is notorious for being slow to update and inaccurate - that’s under normal conditions. In the current climate with fewer people at work, if the tracker relies on human intervention to update it, then it’s probably not worth bothering with tracker updates at all.

[johnpolo2]

Mine went into transit on the 13th of March and is sat at the dealer. I rang on Tuesday for an update and was told I would get a call back within 24 hours. Next day no call so I called them to be met with "we have over 3000 cars to sort so no you wont get a call back I don't know what you were expecting" … If its not going to be a call back in 24 hours tell me that, if its going to be a week fair enough. Just don't promise something and then have a go at me for it.

I can imagine that wasn't their tone when they were trying to sell you the darn thing.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[stevereeves]

Mine went into transit on the 13th of March and is sat at the dealer. I rang on Tuesday for an update and was told I would get a call back within 24 hours. Next day no call so I called them to be met with "we have over 3000 cars to sort so no you wont get a call back I don't know what you were expecting" … If its not going to be a call back in 24 hours tell me that, if its going to be a week fair enough. Just don't promise something and then have a go at me for it.

So have a go back; you're a customer and one way or another you are about to hand over a lot of money, depending on how you finance the car. Looks like I'm about to get into a potential battle with VW myself, waiting for updates on possible next PCP vehicle (Polo or Golf Mk7.5, not fussed either way, but not a MK8 Golf). Obviously I'm aware of current events but I was promised 'weekly updates', (heard / received nothing), when phoning up I'm put on hold forever (not accepatble), emails sent to 2 different people (2 1/2 weeks later, no reply), not accepable either. (assuming this to be a family forum and attempting to keep post as clean as possible) Were this about anything else, specific advice on location the dealer could travel to and exact storage options for new car order on arrival to said loaction would already have been issued . It may yet come to that, but - I like VWs. I know, there's no hope for me : ....

[AnthonyH89]

Just a quick update for you on my original post.

Got the text today, moved to stage 5b. It's on the way to the UK.
So looks like things are beginning to move again. Hope this helps anyone who is also wondering just wth is going on.

[monkeyhanger]

Just a quick update for you on my original post.

Got the text today, moved to stage 5b. It's on the way to the UK.
So looks like things are beginning to move again. Hope this helps anyone who is also wondering just wth is going on.

A mate of mine's Golf GTI TCR order is moving today too, must be making a big push to get cars available for showrooms reopening.

[Ima]

I do hope so as waiting is bad enough and challenging my patience but not knowing what’s happening is totally doing my head in. I know it’s a first world problem but it’s a different focus and distraction from all the Covid stuff.

[stevereeves]

Of course there is much more going on than new cars, they are only cars after all. But dealers, while aware of the current awful situation we find oursleves in, really shouldn't promise to keep in touch, then not, then unbeleivably ignore customers....