In the summer of 2015 my husband and I bought a certified 2012 VW Golf TDI. It is great on gas, and has lots of torque which makes it fun to drive, not to mention it is very practical and can hull a tonne of stuff. Then in the fall of 2015, the VW Dieselgate happened. In the following months, my coworkers made fun of me and accused me of being a planet hater and a squirel killer, because of my VW TDI's terrible terrible emission lies.
Like many unfortunate TDI owners, I was waiting to see what VW was going to do with our now unresellable and potentially uncertifiable cars.
Sometime in the Winter of 2015, I get a letter from my VW dealership, "You've been specially selected to receive a $1000 credit at this particular VW dealership!" Wow, how nice of them I thought. I can get at least get some winter tires for free I guess. Then I read the fine print, which told me that I can only use 10% of this card at a time towards my bill at the dealership. So if I spend $1000, I'd get $100 off, and have to pay $900 out of pocket. That means in order to get the full amount of credit on this card, I'd have to spend $9000 at this dealership! Wow, what a great deal! Thanks VW!
By the time I got this offer, I'd already heard of rumours of US TDI owners may be getting $5K back and what not. So when I got this offer and saw the deal it presented us, I was pretty disgusted. I thought VW Canada was really screwing us over on this one. But the Internet didn't explode with anger, so I soon realized this must have been just my particular VW dealership trying to make me feel better. Haha, with an offer that good, I wish they didn't "specially" select me at all!
Then, about a month ago, I got the official VW Canada offer, $500 credit for use at any VW dealership, and $500 on a prepaid credit card. Alright, it isn't $5K, but I guess it's better than nothing. I signed up for it online, filled in my VIN, the car's mileage, etc.
I receive the credit package in the mail some days later, and once again, there is some fine print.
This time it says you have to bring these cards in to the dealership to get them activated (why?!?) and you must bring the title, proof of registration or lease agreement. I thought, yeah but this dealership is just around the corner from me, I bought the car from them. They have me in their system, they know who I am, I think it'll be fine, they don't really need all those things. That's probably just in case you go to some random VW dealership. I'll just drive in and activate the cards. Now the reason I don't have things like the title/registration with me is because the VW is actually my husband's primary car, so the title is in the car and not in my hands.
I drive to the dealership today, thinking it'll be easy. They can just look me up in their system, I was happy to provide my driver's license to prove my identity.
The place is pretty empty, only one representative at the customer counter. Okay, he asks me how he can help me. I tell him I am there to activate the cards. He says okay, show me the blah blah blah documents. I tell him I don't have them with me, I say you have the information in your system, and you can just look me up. He says no, in fact, they need to see the car, verify the VIN, check the mileage, etc. I am like, I already told you the mileage when I filled in the online form, and check the VIN? What for? I bought the car here, you know who I am, I am in your system, the car, the VIN, everything. No maam, there are certain rules to this offer, and you have to show the documents. I ask, can my husband come in and do it, since he is the primary driver of the VW? Nop, he cannot, because I signed up for the offer (cause my husband could care less about this stuff!)
Ugh... thank you VW for making this potentially good will buying offer, now a PAIN IN THE ASS. Oh yeah, I told the service rep this, and he throws back, in the coldest, least interested manner, "I am sorry if you feel that way". Yup, I am sorry too, sorry I ever bought a VW.
You know VW, I can apply for a platinum credit card online, without ever having to drive anywhere, and the cards will show up at my door, and I can call a number, and activate it over the phone. Why in the world do I need to physically go into the dealership when they already have my information?
Volkswagen Canada, what is it you are trying to do with this credit offer? Are you trying to get some good will with your customers? Or are you trying to piss them off even further? Because you are certainly achieving your goals on the latter.
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