Horrible Buy Back Experience .. The Worst.

Well after months of waiting and lost paperwork and calling the V.W. Settlement attorney's, the day finally came to turn in our V.W. 2014 Passat TDI SEL.
Easy Right? No to be.
We arrived at the Gainesville Florida Dealership at 10:20 am. Our turn in appointment time was for 10:30.. We were greeted by a girl named Liz. After she took pictures of the car and the odometer we went to her office. There she had us sign our paperwork. All was going well until she said that completes the transaction have a nice day. I asked where my check was for the $4,835.62 owed to me. She proceeded to tell me that she had no check. i explained to her that we had requested a check and were advised by VW that a check had been sent to the dealership. She said no check had been sent and in needed to take it up with Volkswagon.

I explained to her that I was not leaving without the check or the car. One or the other. She stated that i needed to take that up with VW of America. Buy this time my wife had pulled up the e mail from VW of America stating that the check would be at the dealership. She then responded by saying that she had 8 other customers to deal with that day and did not have any more time for us.
With that my wife blew her top. It got ugly very quickly. Remember that for the last 9 months of this ordeal we have basically had a car we can't drive due to the Takata Air Bag Recall and my wife has been afraid to drive the car. It has been sitting unused in my barn since this Emissions crap started.
My wife got up ans stormed out of the office. i tried to talk to Liz who proceeded to tell me to leave the office and the dealership or she would call the Police. I said please call the police because I'm not leaving the dealership without a check or a car. I went to grab the keys back for the car and she swept them off the desk into her desk drawer.. I took out my cell phone and advised her that I was calling the Lawyer I hand been dealing with at the Firm handling the claims for the owners. With that she proceeded to tell me to leave the dealership immediately or be subject to arrest. I went into the parking lot of the dealership and called the lawyer ( Allison).

After speaking to her it was learned that VW Settlement had sent a check to the dealership. VW Settlement gave me a tracking number and it showed that the check was sent April 3rd and received by the dealership on April 7th signed for by R. Randi the parts manager. I went back into the dealership leaving my now totally fuming wife in our other vehicle. By this time the dealership manager was involved along with a salesman. He got my side of the story. We went to the parts desk and low and behold there was a Fed Ex package with my check and three others. .. Needless to say the dealership had egg on their face. But the general manager told me that " Liz is not an employee of VW." She is an Independent Contractor hired by the Settlement Group to handle the transactions. With this a call was made from the general managers office to the " Liz's " supervisor and the whole incident was relayed to him.
I write this to warn all of you who may be selling back your VW's that is was a total unprofessional transaction. If I had left the dealership with all the paperwork signed how would I , ( or you for that fact) prove that you did not did not get a check . This entire ordeal from the start of the problem until now has been a total nightmare. But I confess to you that I will never again purchase a Volkswagon product and am completely unhappy and disappointed about the entire process..

If any members wish to contact me
I"m Layne E. Schultetus
Layne12gun@aol.com
O'Brien Florida

Sadly, the part about Liz not being an employee of the dealership is true. And despite a smooth transaction on my buy-back, the person who I worked with was completely non-empathetic and impatient. (I had the direct deposit, so maybe that's why it was a smoother transaction.) But the settlement people like yours and mine really don't help Volkswagen with their reputation.

But your point is clear: If you have a buy-back with a check due, sign no papers until the check is produced.

Sorry for the ordeal. At least you were vindicated, have your check, and can now move on from this experience.

Layne12gun said:

Well after months of waiting and lost paperwork and calling the V.W. Settlement attorney's, the day finally came to turn in our V.W. 2014 Passat TDI SEL.

Easy Right? No to be.

We arrived at the Gainesville Florida Dealership at 10:20 am. Our turn in appointment time was for 10:30.. We were greeted by a girl named Liz. After she took pictures of the car and the odometer we went to her office. There she had us sign our paperwork. All was going well until she said that completes the transaction have a nice day. I asked where my check was for the $4,835.62 owed to me. She proceeded to tell me that she had no check. i explained to her that we had requested a check and were advised by VW that a check had been sent to the dealership. She said no check had been sent and in needed to take it up with Volkswagon.


I explained to her that I was not leaving without the check or the car. One or the other. She stated that i needed to take that up with VW of America. Buy this time my wife had pulled up the e mail from VW of America stating that the check would be at the dealership. She then responded by saying that she had 8 other customers to deal with that day and did not have any more time for us.


With that my wife blew her top. It got ugly very quickly. Remember that for the last 9 months of this ordeal we have basically had a car we can't drive due to the Takata Air Bag Recall and my wife has been afraid to drive the car. It has been sitting unused in my barn since this Emissions crap started.
My wife got up ans stormed out of the office. i tried to talk to Liz who proceeded to tell me to leave the office and the dealership or she would call the Police. I said please call the police because I'm not leaving the dealership without a check or a car. I went to grab the keys back for the car and she swept them off the desk into her desk drawer..

I took out my cell phone and advised her that I was calling the Lawyer I hand been dealing with at the Firm handling the claims for the owners. With that she proceeded to tell me to leave the dealership immediately or be subject to arrest. I went into the parking lot of the dealership and called the lawyer ( Allison).


After speaking to her it was learned that VW Settlement had sent a check to the dealership. VW Settlement gave me a tracking number and it showed that the check was sent April 3rd and received by the dealership on April 7th signed for by R. Randi the parts manager. I went back into the dealership leaving my now totally fuming wife in our other vehicle. By this time the dealership manager was involved along with a salesman. He got my side of the story. We went to the parts desk and low and behold there was a Fed Ex package with my check and three others. .. Needless to say the dealership had egg on their face. But the general manager told me that " Liz is not an employee of VW." She is an Independent Contractor hired by the Settlement Group to handle the transactions. With this a call was made from the general managers office to the " Liz's " supervisor and the whole incident was relayed to him.


I write this to warn all of you who may be selling back your VW's that is was a total unprofessional transaction. If I had left the dealership with all the paperwork signed how would I , ( or you for that fact) prove that you did not did not get a check . This entire ordeal from the start of the problem until now has been a total nightmare. But I confess to you that I will never again purchase a Volkswagon product and am completely unhappy and disappointed about the entire process..


If any members wish to contact me
I"m Layne E. Schultetus
Layne12gun@aol.com
O'Brien Florida

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Bad on vw and their crummy staff at your location.

Only my 2 cents here

I'm going for the check, as I do not want Chase to have my BoA account number, before the fact.

Guess I am ready to face a rescheduling with this in mind. I plan on asking to see the "check" before they get my SIG, Car, keys etc.

If my rep has no check, what the he!! is the point of surrendering your car?

Needless to say, one of my keyfobs got eaten by my pet goat

Motto ~~ "be prepared."

i tried to talk to Liz who proceeded to tell me to leave the office and the dealership or she would call the Police. I said please call the police because I'm not leaving the dealership without a check or a car. I went to grab the keys back for the car and she swept them off the desk into her desk drawer.. I took out my cell phone and advised her that I was calling the Lawyer I hand been dealing with at the Firm handling the claims for the owners. With that she proceeded to tell me to leave the dealership immediately or be subject to arrest.

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Would have been your luckiest day

Had you just sat down, remained calm, quiet, and politely answered all questions, IMHO, the police would have laughed their way to the next assignment or closest donut shop

And the vw dealership owner and management would get "liz" under control.

You were there (by appointment) to contractually sell your car to vw, and vw was not pay you.

Of course you had your wife's phone recording it all (in living color)

It would go viral in 4 hours, and by midnight, there would be 'bout a gazillion ambulances chasers sucking up to you and your lovely wife.

ya think vw would be ready to ooonnnnlllyyy just trade your video for say a new car ~~ and brush it under the rug

My advice for buy back candidates is to hold one key, part the car pointed out of the lot, and get at least two camera to see what mistakes the next "liz" is up to

I hope Liz has been fired over this. Probably not her first transaction. Surely she would know that the process ends with either an etf setup or with delivering a physical check. She could have put a little thought into the situation.

Seems like the process is broken for those who submitted physical forms through the mail and/or opted for a check.

Smile, OP. Ordeal over.

2015vwgolfdiesel said:

Would have been your luckiest day
Had you just sat down, remained calm, quiet, and politely answered all questions, IMHO, the police would have laughed their way to the next assignment or closest donut shop
And the vw dealership owner and management would get "liz" under control.
You were there (by appointment) to contractually sell your car to vw, and vw was not pay you.
Of course you had your wife's phone recording it all (in living color)
It would go viral in 4 hours, and by midnight, there would be 'bout a gazillion ambulances chasers sucking up to you and your lovely wife.
ya think vw would be ready to ooonnnnlllyyy just trade your video for say a new car ~~ and brush it under the rug
My advice for buy back candidates is to hold one key, part the car pointed out of the lot, and get at least two camera to see what mistakes the next "liz" is up to

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I remained calm. told her i wanted to call the Settlement Lawyer from her office. She threw me out of her office because she said that she had 8 other people to deal with that day and I was taking up her time. Once the paper work was signed her entire attitude changed. I prayed the police would come. I believe that the GM called them off. But i don't know that for sure,

unfortunately, there is a certain kind of person that takes jobs like this, or that this type of job turns people into that type. I'm not sure which
they seem to get off on power tripping and being difficult. I notice this type of behavior with insurance adjusters too. did you ever try to buy a short sale home? chances are the "negotiator" is also one of these fine upstanding citizens.

my turn in story was way different. I arrived at 1030 for an 11am appt. I got in right away. no wait. the whole transaction took about ten minutes. he recorded the mileage and the vin, I signed the papers, handed in the keys, and off I went.
my money was in my account the next day! well, except about a grand of it. I had to keep making car payments while my paperwork was processing and that was the amount I paid down my loan by. no biggie, vw cut me a check 2 weeks later.

I turned in at 1 dealer and bought a new SEL at another. THAT was a fiasco! i had a car waiting for me, which they promptly sold a few days before my pickup date. then i had a loaner for nine days (!!!!) while the new one came in. THEN, the spoiler wasn't ready to install. THEN, I find out on Saturday, 5 minutes before I was going to leave to get it done, that the glass shop that installs them doesn't work on saturday! nothing like the last minute.

they ended up giving me the spoiler for nothing, as well as a set of monster mats for my trouble. they even drove a loaner to my job to get my car completed. it ended well after a very frustrating 2 weeks.

I love my new gasser! i can pull about 38-40mpg on the highway if i am careful. 28-30 average. i was getting 40ish in my tdi before i turned it in.

my car needed:
Def pump
new tires
timing belt
alignment
bodywork ($1000 deductible)

all of which would have eaten up my comp money.

I miss the stick though!

Layne12gun said:

I remained calm. told her i wanted to call the Settlement Lawyer from her office. She threw me out of her office because she said that she had 8 other people to deal with that day and I was taking up her time. Once the paper work was signed her entire attitude changed. I prayed the police would come. I believe that the GM called them off. But i don't know that for sure,

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Being the Okie geezer a$$ h*** I truly am -- -- --

If it were me, at the point where she sequestered your key fob, I would call police repeatedly, until they came. Sitting (quietly-calmly) in her office.

Saying this only one time. With as many witnesses as you (or wife) can muster. Using quiet (but firm) voice tones, modulation, good elocution, and the best poker face at your command

"Ask her to get the check, or please return my car -- as I will reschedule an appointment.

Then shut up and wait for the officers to arrive.

Your particular case on a reported BB has me over the top with negative feelings about the half baked service vw has treated its' customer base.

What a fiasco! glad it worked out for you. My turn in went very smooth but now VW has dropped the ball with paying off my loan. 70 days now. After owning 2 Jettas im glad we decided to leave VW and buy a bigger more comfy Japanese vehicle. We will never own a VW product again after the deceit, lies and unprofessionalism!!

Tinkertoy said:

unfortunately, there is a certain kind of person that takes jobs like this, or that this type of job turns people into that type. I'm not sure which
they seem to get off on power tripping and being difficult. I notice this type of behavior with insurance adjusters too. did you ever try to buy a short sale home? chances are the "negotiator" is also one of these fine upstanding citizens.

my turn in story was way different. I arrived at 1030 for an 11am appt. I got in right away. no wait. the whole transaction took about ten minutes. he recorded the mileage and the vin, I signed the papers, handed in the keys, and off I went.
my money was in my account the next day! well, except about a grand of it. I had to keep making car payments while my paperwork was processing and that was the amount I paid down my loan by. no biggie, vw cut me a check 2 weeks later.

I turned in at 1 dealer and bought a new SEL at another. THAT was a fiasco! i had a car waiting for me, which they promptly sold a few days before my pickup date. then i had a loaner for nine days (!!!!) while the new one came in. THEN, the spoiler wasn't ready to install. THEN, I find out on Saturday, 5 minutes before I was going to leave to get it done, that the glass shop that installs them doesn't work on saturday! nothing like the last minute.

they ended up giving me the spoiler for nothing, as well as a set of monster mats for my trouble. they even drove a loaner to my job to get my car completed. it ended well after a very frustrating 2 weeks.

I love my new gasser! i can pull about 38-40mpg on the highway if i am careful. 28-30 average. i was getting 40ish in my tdi before i turned it in.

my car needed:
Def pump
new tires
timing belt
alignment
bodywork ($1000 deductible)

all of which would have eaten up my comp money.

I miss the stick though!

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Yesterday I was fully commited to returning a 99 % perfect car.

Even giving it my last wash job in the drive way before turn in day

lrobinson69 said:

What a fiasco! glad it worked out for you. My turn in went very smooth but now VW has dropped the ball with paying off my loan. 70 days now. After owning 2 Jettas im glad we decided to leave VW and buy a bigger more comfy Japanese vehicle. We will never own a VW product again after the deceit, lies and unprofessionalism!!

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Wife loves her RAV4 LIMITED.

Wow, what a pain in the a $$. I can only say my turn in rep was very professional and a pleasure to deal with.

I kinda don't feel too sorry for you. You should have called the day before to make sure the check was there and at least before the appt to see if your check was there. At least before you signed anything and right after you met Liz you should have asked if the key component of everything that this is about... MONEY... is there for you. Then, it's silly to take a check anyway. It's just an added complication. Chase will know your bank account either way. Keep things simple and over-follow up.

chief poncho said:

Wow, what a pain in the a $$. I can only say my turn in rep was very professional and a pleasure to deal with.

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Sad issue for the dealership, is that "liz" is an employee of WAG

Regarding the VW station owner, he/she had no control over the misdeeds of "liz"

Like to be a fly on the wall, to hear the blow back on

(1) Owner & GM to WAG
(2) General public to dealership via phone calls
(3) General public to staff up and down the line, in the dealership.

(4) WAG to "liz"

fookin said:

You should have called the day before to make sure the check was there

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Nonsense. I also favor EFT, but there's no reason to expect that checks shouldn't be handled competently as well.

In most of the "outrageous" stories that have been posted, there's more to the story. I'm not sure what that would be in this case, though.

This is just another illustration that the big problem with the actual turn-in of these cars are the temp employees (independent contractors, call them what you will....) who have been hired to do this. Their performance and behavior is clearly all over the map.
I attended our son's turn in at Village VW in Chattanooga on Monday, and the whole thing took about 15 minutes, the turn-in person had all his ducks in a row. And then he drops the casual line that VW might come back on our son for repairs to the vehicle (it had been hit on the passenger side, ruined both doors, but was completely driveable). It's preposterous statements like this that end up hurting VW. The proper procedure at that point would have been to simply refuse buyback, but they didn't. They paid him the full amount, and the EFT went through yesterday. And no one with a lick of sense believes that VW would sue him for damage to the car, when there's no legal basis to collect anything. But these people are out there on their own, the dealership has no control or supervision over them, so they can just pull something out of their nether orifice if they feel like it.

That parts guy who signed for the FEDEX delivery, then put it in his drawer, was the root cause of the problem. The dealer should have told his people that anything like that should be passed on to the front office to be passed to the buyback agent.

Sort of wondering why your check was so small. Was the figure, perhaps, a typo in your original post?

k1xv said:

That parts guy who signed for the FEDEX delivery, then put it in his drawer, was the root cause of the problem. The dealer should have told his people that anything like that should be passed on to the front office to be passed to the buyback agent.

Sort of wondering why your check was so small. Was the figure, perhaps, a typo in your original post?

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1) Another question is why wouldn't VWGoA have a way to directly send the checks to the buyback agent as opposed to blindly routing them through the dealership?

2) Or, is the small check possibly the remainder after paying off loan?

DanB36 said:

Nonsense. I also favor EFT, but there's no reason to expect that checks shouldn't be handled competently as well.

In most of the "outrageous" stories that have been posted, there's more to the story. I'm not sure what that would be in this case, though.

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Morning Dan, Had your first cup? yet? ~~ Wife just brought mine.

I too was/am looking for "that" ~~ Guy seems real enough - me thinks

Agreed, the two two methods should have an equal results. In my case I do not want CHASE to have my BoA account number, until after the fact.

Fully admitting, I am certifiably paranoid about being hacked.

Dan as a man of the world regarding your many feats of BBs ~~ if you had one with a missing check, how might you go forward?

If this is a unwanted question, please ignore.

--------------------------------------------

UP-DATE

Papers went in to snail mail Wednesday 5:30 PM

Last night, Wednesday late PM, got an Email from WAG with attachment. Text of Email stated papers "SEEMED" to be in order; and I would be past to a higher level of bean counters.

Upon opening the attachment, it was only a schematic about the WAG overall BB from being to end. But nothing about my particular case number.

I was heartened, (and gratified) with the rapid movement of my snail mail progress. Only one week, to know they HAVE the envelope I sent, and it passed the first level peon check point.

Guessing I might get another email in a few days, stating that the front line peons correctly evaluated my "stuff."

2015vwgolfdiesel said:

if you had one with a missing check, how might you go forward?

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It's hard to say, and it's one reason I've chosen to go with EFT for my transactions--it just strikes me as the simpler way to do things, especially when I do most of my banking long-distance. But if I had chosen to be paid by check, I don't think I'd be inclined to leave the car there without getting the check.

In this case as reported, though, I'd likely have been inclined to call the police myself, or at least told "Liz" to go ahead and call them, I'd wait.

Rico567 said:

This is just another illustration that the big problem with the actual turn-in of these cars are the temp employees (independent contractors, call them what you will....) who have been hired to do this. Their performance and behavior is clearly all over the map.
I attended our son's turn in at Village VW in Chattanooga on Monday, and the whole thing took about 15 minutes, the turn-in person had all his ducks in a row. And then he drops the casual line that VW might come back on our son for repairs to the vehicle (it had been hit on the passenger side, ruined both doors, but was completely driveable). It's preposterous statements like this that end up hurting VW. The proper procedure at that point would have been to simply refuse buyback, but they didn't. They paid him the full amount, and the EFT went through yesterday. And no one with a lick of sense believes that VW would sue him for damage to the car, when there's no legal basis to collect anything. But these people are out there on their own, the dealership has no control or supervision over them, so they can just pull something out of their nether orifice if they feel like it.

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Root cause if this insane results, is the person in charge of hiring and training these "temp" whack jobs

Ya think someone in da home land would have written a hand book on little issues. Like, if it starts and moves under its' own power, pay da man

My "LIZ" handled my buy back much differently.... She showed me my check BEFORE we started the paperwork in her office. She had already taken her photos and had started the car prior to any time in her office. So, I was looking at the check at the same time I was signing the car over to VW. Case closed.

I'm sure there were a lot of unqualified reps hired to do the job. Maybe competent to do the paperwork, but not qualified to deal with the general public!!!

I will say again, "Thanks VW for buying me my great Lincoln MKZ Hybrid" ( with $ to spare!)

fookin said:

I kinda don't feel too sorry for you. You should have called the day before to make sure the check was there and at least before the appt to see if your check was there. At least before you signed anything and right after you met Liz you should have asked if the key component of everything that this is about... MONEY... is there for you. Then, it's silly to take a check anyway. It's just an added complication. Chase will know your bank account either way. Keep things simple and over-follow up.

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We had an e mail in hand from VW that the check was there. Showed it to the girl ( Liz) she would not even look at it. Even after we returned with the Fed Ex tracking number she would not look at it. It was complete unprofessional conduct.

This was an unfortunate situation that was probably outside "Liz's" authority. Regardless, I don't understand how incompetent a buyback rep could be in that they don't understand the process with regard to checks or EFTs. Obviously, if you selected check she would be aware of that and consequently would know the check should be in her hand to provide to you. This really shows her own incompetency and isn't necessarily a direct reflection on VW. Although as I stated before, every customer interaction and experience ultimately reflects directly on the brand.

Again, to the one person saying the OP should have called first to make sure the check was there, just shut up. This wasn't Layne12guns fault in any way shape or form. I don't know if the buyback reps attitude changed when things got heated, or why. As Dan said, there is often more to the story than we get. Again, I'm not blaming Layne12gun or his wife for the f up, but the reps reaction to their irritation may have been prompted by their initial response. And believe me, I probably would have been the same way. But just like the guy drug off of the United flight the other day, ultimately it reflects badly on the business, not the irritated customer, regardless of who may have escalated the encounter.

With regard to what to do when going forward? I would recommend nobody sign any documents until you see the check, assuming that is the method of payment you selected.

Anyone know if vw has educated "Liz" ~ or fired her ~ Yet?

Anyone know if vw has educated "Liz" ~ or fired her~~ Yet?

WAG Might-Should-May-Maybe best suck it up, and do something w/ "Liz"

Hope the poor (innocent?) dealership owner has *some* sway over this incompetent "Liz" lady

Sounds like had you left your wife at home and called the attorney at her (Liz) first balk, you would have made out ok. No excuse for her attitude or your wife's. There are mechanisms to work these things out, as you found out. No one wins when the shouting starts. As you had already experienced many issues and been in contact with the attorneys I would have had them send me the tracking info first and printed it out along with the email you had. Be proactive not reactive.

It's certain that the buyback reps should be better prepared to deal with their appointments. Given the circumstances, things can be touchy to start with, and escalate from there.* It should be part of their training that they are expected to be calm and professional, no matter how the car owner behaves. As has been said, a situation such as portrayed in the OP can only redound in a bad way on VW's publicity.

{Possibly irrelevant digression follows; if you think you might read something inappropriate, please stop reading here and don't complain to me.}

*When I read the OP, I thought back to an encounter in the M-B dealership in Fort Wayne, IN many years ago, '71 or '72, I think, that started with the service people leaving all the old parts removed lying around under the hood in various places. If I hadn't looked, they would have been bouncing around and falling out on the way home. I took this to the manager, and he basically accused me of putting the stuff under there. Things escalated very, very quickly, and the only reason the Ft. Wayne police weren't involved is that my relatives dragged me out of the dealership and into the car.

Rico567 said:

It's certain that the buyback reps should be better prepared to deal with their appointments. Given the circumstances, things can be touchy to start with, and escalate from there.* It should be part of their training that they are expected to be calm and professional, no matter how the car owner behaves. As has been said, a situation such as portrayed in the OP can only redound in a bad way on VW's publicity.

{Possibly irrelevant digression follows; if you think you might read something inappropriate, please stop reading here and don't complain to me.}

*When I read the OP, I thought back to an encounter in the M-B dealership in Fort Wayne, IN many years ago, '71 or '72, I think, that started with the service people leaving all the old parts removed lying around under the hood in various places. If I hadn't looked, they would have been bouncing around and falling out on the way home. I took this to the manager, and he basically accused me of putting the stuff under there. Things escalated very, very quickly, and the only reason the Ft. Wayne police weren't involved is that my relatives dragged me out of the dealership and into the car.

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Rico567

A man after my own heart

Note to self - return only one key and keep the other with you so that you can repossess the car if no payment made on the spot.

fookin said:

I kinda don't feel too sorry for you. You should have called the day before to make sure the check was there and at least before the appt to see if your check was there. At least before you signed anything and right after you met Liz you should have asked if the key component of everything that this is about... MONEY... is there for you. Then, it's silly to take a check anyway. It's just an added complication. Chase will know your bank account either way. Keep things simple and over-follow up.

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We had an E mail from VW Settlement that the check was there. My wife tried to show her the e mail from our cell phone. Liz would not even read it . Said she had eight other customers and we had to leave to take up the issue with the check with the VW people.