[EssYouWe]

Originally Posted by poloman

First of all the title of the thread should be changed. Polo as a car is not at all a disaster and I can vouch for it from my ownership. The delivery schedule and the dealerships are disastrous in their own terms. Any thing more than a 3 month waiting period should not be acceptable for any cars. you have lot of choices in the market and the best way to react is to cancel the booking and go for an alternative. To other people who are bashing VW and heaping praise on Maruti and Hyundai, should check up the waiting period of their popular models in person. This after decades of presence in India.VW is new to mass markets in India. Please give them some time.

Hi,

Everyone has different expectations from their car. Maybe yours were met, but there is a large number out there who isn't very happy with the Polo.

I personally loved the looks, interiors and handling. But VW is not doing us a favour by launching a car with these features. That too priced much higher than the competition.

No company has the right to play the consumer for a fool. VW is the largest auto company in the world and if they are incapable of predicting market behavior in India... it just reflects how serious they are about the Indian market. They can not even feign ignorance, these are the same flaws which have brought a bad name to Skoda.

Someone mentioned VW's ad initiatives, I too feel they should spend more on developing core qualities rather than such gimmicks.

Lets hope they get their act together soon.

[avinashpai]

VW has come to India with much fanfare and I was reading that their Chakan plant has a capacity of producing about 110,000 cars per annum. If that be the case, why are they struggling to meet commitments here in the local market?

I can only see two reasons:

1. They have not started operating at full capacity yet. In fact going by current dispatched as a proportion of the 110,000 vehicles capacity they are probably operating at about 20%-30% capacity. If this is indeed the case, doesn't it reflect poorly on the company to launch a product a good 7-10 months prior to being ready for a substantial commercial production run. Don't this guys have people who plan?

2. They are exporting a significant part of their production. I don't think this is the case with VW although it is probably the case for some other manufacturers.

Are members aware of other countries (Especially those positioned as 'strategic and future growth oriented' by manufacturers) where car delivery takes a significant time like here in India with not just VW but also some models of Hyundai, Maruti and other manufacturers. I mean I can understand a delay in the i20, Polo or the Swift for maybe 3-4 months after an initial launch. But to have the same situation continue for years (Like in the Swift) after an initial launch is taking the customer for granted in my opinion.

Sorry for the tirade - Just had to get that off my chest somewhere - especially after waiting for 2 months for my i20Crdi.

[poloman]

Dear friend, if your expectations are not met, who is forcing you to buy it. Did VW tell you that they are doing a favor by launching the car? If the prodcut is not priced right it will die a natural death, dont worry too much. If you are bringing Skoda when ever you mention VW, please understand VW holds 20% stake in Maruti also.

[xingamazon]

Guys
Please hold on to your guns before arriving at conclusions. I had this expected right from start that one complaint and immediately this becomes a Polo bashing thread.
Let us think of this practically, agreed they did a mistake owing to pressure. But we all know no one relies on just oral agreement.
We should not gun down a company for issues like this.

Mind you even I would not probably opt for a Polo on a given day,

But gunning down a company for a one off complaint is not right approach. That too based on an oral agreement. Please dont make this a VW bashing thread, its better to suggest what Bunty to do next than to keep shouting at VW in all threads.

Originally Posted by poloman

If you are bringing Skoda when ever you mention VW, please understand VW holds 20% stake in Maruti also.

O.T: Personally I loved this perspective . Never thought of it this way. In fact thats why I said, Skoda and Audi are different companies.

[JJames]

Originally Posted by Amartya

If you are talking about the Petrol, I do not agree with the "not going...anywhere". Mind you, I do not like the engine being a 3-pot but it still works pretty well in the city. The diesel on the other hand, falls flat on it's face when compared to the Figo 1.4 TDCi and the Fiat 1.3 MJD mills.

Sorry, I beg to differ on this. I maintain an excel with the official figures of most cars in Indian market and use it mostly to make a rough comparison of the engine capabilities, quantitatively. This has helped a few of my friends to finalise their choice of cars; I am sharing a relevant screen-shot of the same here. From this, you could make out that:-
1) In all the parameters I used, namely: Engine power, Torque, Power-to-Weight, Power*Tourque/Weight, the Polo fails way behind all other rival cars except Ford Figo. But the Figo justifies its position by means of a better wheelbase, lower cost & bit more gadgetry.
2) Even its Wheelbase is only better than Swift & i10.

[sukeshs]

Has Volkswagen learnt anything from Skoda's mistakes?? I just hope this is a one off incident. As one of the fellow member's has suggested, please send them a link of this thread. Raise a stink and let them know about it.

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by poloman

If you are bringing Skoda when ever you mention VW, please understand VW holds 20% stake in Maruti also.

Exactly how did you come to this fascinating number? VW owns 20%(19.9 to be precise) of Suzuki and Suzuki owns 54.2% of Maruti Suzuki, so is it safe to say that the statement statement is completely false?

While quoting numbers to bolster a point, kindly make sure that the numbers are accurate.

Originally Posted by xingamazon

Mind you even I would not probably opt for a Polo on a given day,
O.T: Personally I loved this perspective . Never thought of it this way. In fact thats why I said, Skoda and Audi are different companies.

While I am not claiming that Skoda and VW are the same, hope you understand that Skoda is a fully owned subsidiary of VW (Audi too), and since Audi works in the niche segment, VW's record in India is not stellar by any account.

Originally Posted by JJames

Sorry, I beg to differ on this. I maintain an excel with the official figures of most cars in Indian market and use it mostly to make a rough comparison of the engine capabilities, quantitatively. This has helped a few of my friends to finalise their choice of cars; I am sharing a relevant screen-shot of the same here. From this, you could make out that:-
1) In all the parameters I used, namely: Engine power, Torque, Power-to-Weight, Power*Tourque/Weight, the Polo fails way behind all other rival cars except Ford Figo. But the Figo justifies its position by means of a better wheelbase, lower cost & bit more gadgetry.
2) Even its Wheelbase is only better than Swift & i10.

Thank you James for sharing this with us. As far as numbers are concerned, I cannot refute them. However, having actually testdriven the car, I disagree with it being very sluggish (again the petrol).

See, the thing that you excel sheet doesn't cover is the power and torque characteristics, as well as the gear ratios (OT: the Polo has the best gearbox in the segment along with the Fabia). Make no mistake, I consider the Polo a ripoff (harsh maybe, but I still can't think beyond their lousy strategy of offering only 2 colours in the base version, which is the only one which can be seen as being worth it), but I have driven it and seen that it's not that bad. Also, to drive the point home, I'd say test-drive the Vista 1.2 Safire, it is not sprightly but it doesn't feel underpowered either.

[samyakmodi]

to get over these issues of verbal commitments over the phone or in person, I strongly recommend all the prospective car buyers to record the conversation. do tell them that the conversation is getting recorded, that itself will stop them from not committing things which they also know are just to buy some more time.

try getting them to sign off a minutes of meeting, OR ask them for their email id and you send them the minutes of meeting stating clearly all their commitments they have made. If they do not contradict OR reply with changes implies that they agree and accept the minutes of meeting.

now coming back to bunty's case ::
I don't know whether it will find you any solace, but you are not alone. there are hundreds of other customers around the country who are getting "cheated" by VW group and their dealerships everyday.

I suggest that you should cancel your booking and buy some other car. as far as i know a dealership is super cordial before the sale is made, the attitude usually changes after your cheque is cleared. since they are already faltering on their commitments before the closure of the deal, you can just imagine what kind of A.S.S you would get if at all anything goes wrong with your car. ESCAPE while you still can!!

[2cents]

Sad that the only advice we can give is 'cancel booking and go for this, or that'.

I am sure the problem is with a overzealous dealer. Yes VW has not responded for days, but how do we know what follow up action they are into. Evidently, they are unlikely to update the customer at each and every step, unless they have a concrete reply. Else, the next complaint will be about useless answers from VW, like 'VW says they are following up with the dealer, but nothing is happening'. Mind you, even Skoda canceled Nummer's dealership, clearly there was a follow up action. It is Indian dealerships and their devious ways that VW was not prepared to handle, not the overflow of clientele.

[WindRide]

Thanks JJames - That excel sheet proves Swift 1.2 is the 'hottest' practical (which rules out overpriced Jazz and i20D) hatch today a customer can lay hands on!!

[JJames]

Originally Posted by Amartya

Thank you James for sharing this with us. As far as numbers are concerned, I cannot refute them. However, having actually testdriven the car, I disagree with it being very sluggish (again the petrol).

See, the thing that you excel sheet doesn't cover is the power and torque characteristics, as well as the gear ratios (OT: the Polo has the best gearbox in the segment along with the Fabia).

I agree that these figures cannot bring out the actual handling, in-gear acceleration, turbo lags, ride quality/suspension etc.; it is just an indicator to what the cars are offering - not an absolute guide. As far as handling is concerned, there are other parameters like the torque at low speeds, turbo lag etc., which can be quantified only after a good test drive. I personally haven't done a TD of Polo; but from the test drive reports that I have gone through, I understand that Polo isn't as bad as the figures suggest - though not quite in the i20/Punto/Swift/Fabia league in sheer handling & acceleration.
Polo 1.6L may come up with better ideas though!

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by poloman

First of all the title of the thread should be changed. Polo as a car is not at all a disaster and I can vouch for it from my ownership. The delivery schedule and the dealerships are disastrous in their own terms. Any thing more than a 3 month waiting period should not be acceptable for any cars. you have lot of choices in the market and the best way to react is to cancel the booking and go for an alternative.

VW is new to mass markets in India. Please give them some time.

+1 except for the last line.

Toyota had the guts to stop Fortunner bookings when it was clear that they are not able to meet the demand.

What was VW thinking when they launch a B segment car in India? Expect people to cough up booking amounts and pray to god that VW would deliver their car soon?

Apparently the first part has happened. People as usual, coughed up the money to the premium VW. And when they don't get the car, go paint the whole town red that VW is bad.

Companies should hype for whatever they are worth. Over hype creates such unpleasant events.

[bunty]

Hi all.

Thanks for the replys.

I booked the VW Polo just because it was a relatively new car in the market and the initial wait period of 2 months was still acceptable.

As pointed out by mkh, even I was given the impression that VW was doing us Indians a favor by launching a small car at a price point below Rs. 10.00 Lacs.

I finally got a call from the dealership today, saying that the VW has asked him to inform me that my car can be delivered on 8th August. VW still doesnt feel the need to respond to my email directly.

I have told to dealer to take a hike and cancel my booking. I have today booked the i20 Asta Petrol. The delivery is scheduled for next week.

With regards to approaching the Consumer Forum, I am consulting with my lawyer about the possibility. VW needs a good Indian vote of the feet as rightly pointed out by members of this forum.

I had not enclosed copy of mail (which is still unreplied) in my original post. Attached herein.


Reminder No. 02 FW: Complaint regarding delivery of Volkswagen Polo‏
From: Niranjan ******** (*******@hotmail.com) Sent:22 June 2010 21:34PMTo: Volkswagen Auto (customer.care@volkswagen.co.in)
.ExternalClass .ecxhmmessage P{padding:0px;}.ExternalClass body.ecxhmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;}Reminder No. 02

Atleast have the decency & shame to acknowldge the receipt of email.



From: *******@hotmail.com
To: customer.care@volkswagen.co.in
CC: *********@hotmail.com
Subject: Complaint regarding delivery of Volkswagen Polo
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:13:47 +0530

.ExternalClass .ecxhmmessage P{padding:0px;}.ExternalClass body.ecxhmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;}To,
The General Manager,
Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Limited
3, North Avenue, Level 4, Maker Maxity,
Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East),
Mumbai - 400 051.
India.

Sir/ Madam,

I have booked a Volkswagen Polo Hiline Petrol in Red Color on 25th March, 2010 with your dealer M/s Vidyut Motors Pvt. Ltd., Pune. A booking amount of Rs. 50,000/- was paid to the dealer. The booking was made in the name of my wife.

At the time of the booking, the dealer informed me that the car would be delivered by the end of May, 2010 or latest by June, 2010. Subsequently, I enquired with the dealership in mid May, 2010. I was informed then that the car would be delivered in June, 2010.

I visited the dealership on 15th June, 2010 to enquire the status of my car. At this point, the dealer stated that a car has still not been alloted to me. They also informed that as per the current allotments, I shall be getting the car only by the end of August, 2010 or September, 2010.

Exasperated, I called your Customer Service on 15th June, 2010 and lodged a complain regarding the inordinate delay in allotment of the car. The Customer Service Executive said "The complain has been forwarded to the concerned department at Volkswagen Auto and they shall get back to me in 48 Hours".

Today is 18th July, 2010, and more than 48 hours have passed since I lodged the complain. I have still not received a call from Volkswagen Auto.

I again called your Customer Service today at 4:15 PM. The Customer Service Executive; one Mr. Altaf reaffirmed that my complaint has indeed been forwarded to Volkswagen Auto on 15th June, 2010. Mr. Altaf said that Volkswagen Auto would get back to me in another 24 hours. On my insistence of an immediate reply, he said that he would get back to me in 1 hour. Mr. Altaf did get back to me within the hour after speaking with the concerned person at Volkswagen Auto; who by Mr. Altafs own admission refused to speak with me; with no input whatsoever.

At the time of booking the car, I was under the impression that Volkswagen Auto is a German company and that like all German companies is committed to delivering on their promises and commitments. Till date, all that I have received from Volkswagen Auto are false promises and unfulfilled commitments. Infact, Volkswagen Auto has not even had the decency to call or email me even once regarding the status of my booking.

The Volkswagen experience; which I was made to believe to be of a truly international standard is unfortunately a damp squib.

I expect an urgent, prompt and positive response from Volkswagen Auto to this email latest by tomorrow noon, failing which I shall be compelled to share this terrible experience with the National and International Media as well Automobile Blogs.

Also, please understand that I shall be well within my rights to initiate legal proceeding against Volkswagen Auto for causing mental trauma, harrasment as well as cheating and deception.

Regards,

Niranjan

Originally Posted by xingamazon

Guys
But gunning down a company for a one off complaint is not right approach. That too based on an oral agreement. Please dont make this a VW bashing thread, its better to suggest what Bunty to do next than to keep shouting at VW in all threads.

How can it be an oral agreement when I have paid Rs. 50,000 as booking amount and have a receipt to that effect?

Also, I am not Polo bashing here. I still feel its a nice car. It is the callousness of Volkswagen thats bothering me.

[formel_eins]

its sad to see that you are experiencing such delays, I too booked it in March and delivery is in first week of July, keeping my fingers crossed. In the beginning my dealer was taking me for a ride but I had couple of arguments with them, went upto the owner of showroom and things settled down. Yes there are delays, specially for HL, but 6 months is certainly not acceptable. You can protest by cancelling the booking but it would only kill your desire to own this car, wont affect the company or the dealer in anyway. If you are not much attached then there are certainly competitive options in market.

Too early to compare Skoda service with VW, being under same group does not imply the logic. Should a Jaguar customer be concerned about service since it comes under TATA group??

[ghodlur]

Mods

Should this thread not be in Indian car dealership section. Just a suggestion