To this this behaviour from VOLVO (mnet advertiser) was totally CRAP

[MargaretTheImpossible]

So last year, after much debating and test driving and research, dh and I decided to buy a Volvo XC40 rechargeable Hybrid. The shiny new model being advertised at the top of the page.
We've never owned a 'luxury' brand car before, we were excited, the car looked great, the showroom was suitably blingy etc. In around October we put down £1000 deposit. We refinanced our current car so that it would run until the Volvo was available. Car was due to be delivered around March. A couple of months later we were told it had been moved and delivery would be Mid May. A month or so later we were told around 17th May.

Fast forward to beginning of May. Haven't heard from Volvo Garage so chase them up. Email bounces back. Try again, same problem. Try the general garage email rather than the person we had been dealing with, same problem. Phone and leave a message. 10 days before car is due to be delivered, Volvo phone back. Original sales guy has left (fine, whatever) and Volvo has cancelled our order. End of story. Much frothing and questioning from me, apparently
not their fault, Volvo decided, nothing they can do.

Options are a) buy second hand version of car for more than new one would cost (as second hand cars are costing a fortune at the moment)

b) go on waiting list for new model of the car they discontinued (23 model instead of 22 model which they suddenly decided not to make any more of) - wait time, approx 12 months. They couldn't guarantee anything including the same thing not happening again

c) get deposit back and walk away and start the whole process again with a different make/model of car

Obviously the whole motor industry is having problems because of supply issues. However I did not expect this sort of crap: reneging on the contract we signed to buy a car from them; sitting on £1000 of our money for 7 months; turning around and saying they've decided to cancel all orders which were placed. Extending the delivery time would have been annoying but understandable but just cancelling?!

So lesson learned, more money spent does not mean better service received.

Just thought I'd give anyone considering buying a Volvo the heads up.

I realise, of course, this the definition of a #firstworldproblem.

YABU: the whole car industry is in a shambles

YANBU: this was rubbish service and you'll never get back the hours and hours and bloody hours of time you invested in choosing this car, completing paperwork etc and Volvo's behaviour was crap

It's very tricky with car orders at the moment, but your anger in this case is well founded.

DH ordered a car over 18 months ago now and it's been slipping back and back, not cancelled though (as far as we know!)

That is very poor from VOLVO. Disappointing.

I understand your disappointment. However, if there is no indication of supply issues easing it makes total sense for them to cancel orders and close their books.

Thanks! It was a big disappointment after a long wait, not helped by the weak-assed 'it's not ouuuuuuuur' fault from the garage. I mean they were Volvo when they showed off the product and took our money but it was nothing to do with them when Volvo cancelled our order with no warning!

@FrankLampardsBrokenHand I see your point but maybe they could have moved all the customers they left with no car to the front of the list for the 2023 model list? Or are they simply not producing and selling any cars for the next year?!

They can't do that, because not all customers would want to wait almost a year as a minimum. You have the option of going on the list for next year's model.

And yes, they will prioritise production by availability of components.

That is so frustrating but I think the blame lies largely with the garage here. They took your order and miscommunicated with you. I'll bet there's more to the story than Volvo cancelled it. I feel your pain though I waited 4 months for a fridge once and then got told it was discontinued and they should never have sold it to me.

In my experience not all Volvo dealerships are equal. I bought a used Volvo through Volvo Selekt and they were amazing at fixing things under the warrenty even though I went to a different dealership.

But no excuse not to communicate with its customers, apologise and return their money in a timely manner. That's very poor.

I understand what you're saying, but (in the majority of cases) car dealerships are not owned by, run by or controlled by the manufacturer. They're not even franchises, or anything like that.

They just have to meet certain standards the manufacturer dictates (tools, training, etc.) and then they apply to start selling their products. They are at the mercy of the manufacturer really.

They mostly used to have a company name but now most dealers seem to have dropped that and just use the manufacturer and city name, which makes it look like it's the car co' itself.

For example, 20 years ago it might be "Wood's Volvo" but now it might be "York Volvo" which then looks it's Volvo's own business.