I came across a quote that says 'The cars we drive says a lot about us'. When you drive a Mercedes-Benz you know karma and everything good is on your side. Being an avid car enthusiast, I felt I should take my love for cars to another level and broaden my taste and garage a little bit by buying another car. Moment of bliss, isn't it? Dream come true you'd say. I felt no different. But what are the odds that there is someone out there who plans to spoil the party for you. I was yet to find out courtesy, the Volkswagen Vento 1.6 Petrol Highline AT.

Volkswagen - Das Auto, 'Das' what they said, till it all proved to be a sham. My innocent mistake? I fell in love with the car at first sight and knew I wanted it. Considering it moved out of the backyard of the biggest German automaker and the third largest automaker in the world there is a sense of faith that makes you believe that it's all going to be smooth sail. Enter reality. My nightmare started on 6th October 2013, when I booked the vehicle under the able guidance of Mr. Salim Akhtar a Volkswagen representative at Volkswagen Mumbai West (Mob +********6654). I guess some people don't understand the promises they are making when they actually make them, perfect specimen here: Volkswagen.

I was told that the car is in stock and Volkswagen would deliver it either on 13th or on the 14th October 2013. Keeping in mind the fact that I was dealing with a car company that strives on the standards it sets I was expecting them to keep their integrity in check. How wrong I was.

On 7th October I made an advance payment of INR 75,000 while the balance amount of 10,11,587 was paid on 8th October itself.

Is it wrong to expect what you have rightfully paid for? For the world no! But I'm guessing Volkswagen is an exception to that rule because on 14th Oct I was told that the car, my car, which I had paid for already, would be delivered on the 15th to which I made a request that instead I take it on the 18th , it being an auspicious day. But I guess in Volkswagen’s calendar it's an auspicious day only when they think it is because, I was told on 17th as well as on the 18th that my car would be delivered to my residence at 4 PM that evening.

When someone’s integrity goes for a toss then why bother about punctuality at all? Because, when I called them at 4.45PM to find out why my car had not reached the assigned destination, I was told that the car would leave shortly and would reach my residence by 6 PM. I guess Volkswagen had mistaken me to be the Zen Master because they had brought me to my wits end by now and I had reached my peak of no return and yet hadn't bothered to revert on the status of my car delivery. At 6.45 PM they asked for an extension on the said delivery time and that they would revert soon. No marks for guessing that there were no reverts from their end. I had to keep calling every 10-15 minutes and every time they promised to revert back.

Finally at 8 PM I was told that the car would be delivered the next day as there is an issue with the PDI software at Volkswagen end and their system cannot connect. How many mistakes does one have to pardon? Or rather, it seems Volkswagen is super optimistic about how composed their patrons really are.

On the 19th , no one bothers to call and provide any timeline or inform me about the whereabouts of my newly purchased car. I had a humble word with the Volkswagen showroom manager and he reiterated the same thing stating there was an issue with the PDI software and that it was taken up at Volkswagen. He also mentioned that considering Volkswagen people do not work on Saturday and Sunday, they will sort out the issue and delivery the car only on Monday 21st October. He was polite enough to mention that I wasn't the only unlucky person to face this issue. What? There were more unhappy customers like me? Unbelievable I say. My horror continued on the 21st and the 22nd October 2013. So I finally asked for a complaint to be lodged at Volkswagen for PDI not working.

This morning i.e. on 23rd am told that the issue is that when they run PDI, it shows some light and they are unable to detect the reason for the same. When I again asked why they kept on telling me its PDI software issue I was told that this is based on what they are being told by workshop. So much for trust and lucid communication.

My entire experience with Volkswagen is nothing short of a bomb ticking away ready to explode any moment. Sad part is, this is not even the start of my journey with the German car giants. The worst thing to happen is to expect a horse and find a mule. Hope that doesn't happen to me after everything I have already been through.

On second thoughts, after this entire fiasco. I should have believed the dealer of the competing car when he asked me one simple question “Why is it that they don’t sell as many cars?”.

Volkswagen – Bas (enough) Auto.

Jayendra Shah

Mumbai.