VW TDI goodwill package: Offers $500 Visa cards & $500 dealer credits to TDI owners

[Justin_12]

Attempted to read through the forum and find the answer but there's so many replies I gave up (chalk it up as laziness). How long is the activation process at the dealership? Is it simply they have to verify your VIN and enter it in a system? Or do they make you jump through hoops at the dealership?

 

[shovelhd]

Called VW. Few minutes wait. They verified my registration, and told me that the dieselinfo web site is misleading: supposedly the registration code check is only meant for people who registered before the program started on November 8. Anyways, after being told that my package doesn't show up as shipped in the computer, I get home to find the package arrived.
So far this scandal is working out ok!

That's classic!!!

 

[Rico567]

Attempted to read through the forum and find the answer but there's so many replies I gave up (chalk it up as laziness). How long is the activation process at the dealership? Is it simply they have to verify your VIN and enter it in a system? Or do they make you jump through hoops at the dealership?

Evidently the process is pretty simple, from what I've read. I haven't got my package yet, but as long as the local dealer (from whom we did NOT buy the car) is participating in this, I don't expect an issue. Someone in a post (....so that's ONE anecdote) said that the manager of the dealership has to do the activation, but in any event, when I get my package I intend to call and make an appointment, being sure exactly what they want to see and that someone will be there to do the activation.

 

[kevin_in_idaho]

I know different dealers are offering incentives for trades. Below is what is being offered from my local dealer:
First and foremost I would like to thank you for being a loyal Volkswagen Gallery customer. I wanted to personally reach out to our diesel customers to offer assistance and guidance with the Volkswagen Goodwill Program that has been mailed to you.
By now, you should have received the package from Volkswagen which includes a $500 Volkswagen Prepaid Visa Loyalty Card that you can spend anywhere and a $500 Volkswagen Dealer In-Store Gift Card. This card can be used for service, parts, accessories and boutique items such as shirts, hats, bikes, etc. at our dealership. You may also use it toward the purchase of a new vehicle.
In order to activate the cards, the current registered owner must bring their vehicle to the dealership. At that time we will match up the records of your vehicle identification number, mileage on your car and activate your goodwill cards.
We would like to extend additional incentives for any current diesel customer that is interested in upgrading their current vehicle to a new gas powered, fuel-efficient vehicle. Below are some year-end offers you can take advantage of:
Sign and drive event ZERO Down ZERO 1st Month’s Payment
Dealer cash on select models up to $4000
$1000 owner loyalty credit
110% of KBB Fair Market Value on your current vehicle
$1000 Goodwill Package from Volkswagen
Kind of tempting. I don't know what models qualify for $4000 dealer cash (I'd guess Touaregs). I have 73K on my 2010 Jetta and it still runs great. Having had a 2013 Jetta I prefer the 2010 in terms of quality of the interior. The inventory at my local dealer is pretty sparse, actually. A brand new Carmax just opened up across the street fro the VW dealer. They must be worried at this point.[/QUOTE

Might be a good deal, but I bet Chris Farnham is rolling in his in grave as he typically could beat those prices everyday. Sure miss his deals.

 

[rahman20k]

Good Morning Guys,
I'm heading out of town Sunday for a good two weeks, and i did register for this goodwill package on the 9th of November.

Haven't recieved anything in the mail yet , so i did get curious yesterday and gave Volkswagen a call. The guy on the phone was really cool, and he said that my cards were sent out on the 8th of this month, meaning i should have it within a few days.
I initally called to see where it was only because i'll be gone for two weeks and don't want anyone getting curious to go through our mailbox.

 

[charley654]

Attempted to read through the forum and find the answer but there's so many replies I gave up (chalk it up as laziness). How long is the activation process at the dealership? Is it simply they have to verify your VIN and enter it in a system? Or do they make you jump through hoops at the dealership?

It is simple, my dealer had a dedicated table setup with a separate computer.
I was told 10 people at the dealership are able to activate the card.
I was in and out in 5 minutes. Needed to be present: Driver's license, vehicle registration, and vehicle. mileage and VIN was verified. Copy of a successful activation was printed out.

 

[rustycat]

Attempted to read through the forum and find the answer but there's so many replies I gave up (chalk it up as laziness). How long is the activation process at the dealership? Is it simply they have to verify your VIN and enter it in a system? Or do they make you jump through hoops at the dealership?

My wife and I were in town yesterday, driving a pickup and brought the needed documentation in to activate the car. Naaa Naaa, Service Manager explained he needed to see the actual car.
Hell, they sold it to us, we brought the registration and title in, but, nope have to have the car.
Oh well, .....

 

[StayPuff]

Good Morning Guys,
I'm heading out of town Sunday for a good two weeks, and i did register for this goodwill package on the 9th of November.

Haven't recieved anything in the mail yet , so i did get curious yesterday and gave Volkswagen a call. The guy on the phone was really cool, and he said that my cards were sent out on the 8th of this month, meaning i should have it within a few days.
I initally called to see where it was only because i'll be gone for two weeks and don't want anyone getting curious to go through our mailbox.

Just have the post office hold your mail while you're gone. They'll even deliver it all on the day you choose. I do it all the time. Works great, and no worries about some derelict stealing my mail... https://holdmail.usps.com/holdmail/

 

[Ares]

Ive had plenty of prepaid visas come in as rebates, they all had to be used within a year of being issued.

I always convert prepaid cards to electronic Amazon gift cards. I buy enough stuff on Amazon. It does not leave a penny for the issuing company.

 

[StayPuff]

I always convert prepaid cards to electronic Amazon gift cards. I buy enough stuff on Amazon. It does not leave a penny for the issuing company.

There was another member that mentioned this too....what a great idea. I'm a Prime member and use them a lot.

 

[jen_madcity]

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459200141/compensation-to-vw-owners-will-include-loss-of-resale-value

So we know now that as part of a package, VW will compensate diesel owners for "loss of resale value." I imagine this varies greatly from vehicle to vehicle, and year to year. Has anyone kept track of lost value? And any guesses as to how they'll calculate it? Seems like a pretty daunting task.


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[ray96disco]

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459200141/compensation-to-vw-owners-will-include-loss-of-resale-value

So we know now that as part of a package, VW will compensate diesel owners for "loss of resale value." I imagine this varies greatly from vehicle to vehicle, and year to year. Has anyone kept track of lost value? And any guesses as to how they'll calculate it? Seems like a pretty daunting task.

A nickel says the goodwill package is the compensation.

 

[tobianogreg]

A nickel says the goodwill package is the compensation.

They'll have to get a little more serious if they want to circumvent all the class actions.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459200141/compensation-to-vw-owners-will-include-loss-of-resale-value

So we know now that as part of a package, VW will compensate diesel owners for "loss of resale value." I imagine this varies greatly from vehicle to vehicle, and year to year. Has anyone kept track of lost value? And any guesses as to how they'll calculate it? Seems like a pretty daunting task.

I think that is one of the reasons that VW required us to report our current miles on the vehicle. With that info they should have a starting point to calculate change in resale values.

 

[ray96disco]

They'll have to get a little more serious if they want to circumvent all the class actions.

Probably so but they're getting sued anyway. They'd be sued if they gave 100% refunds. I don't think they can get past the lawsuits but the compensation package is about the biggest lump sum tdi owners will see. The dealerships will fare better and the attorneys'll be able to retire.

 

[ndmike88]

Just called VW. My Goodwill Package was mailed Tuesday. Hopefully I'll get it today.

 

[bubbagumpshrimp]

Good Morning Guys,
I'm heading out of town Sunday for a good two weeks, and i did register for this goodwill package on the 9th of November.

Haven't recieved anything in the mail yet , so i did get curious yesterday and gave Volkswagen a call. The guy on the phone was really cool, and he said that my cards were sent out on the 8th of this month, meaning i should have it within a few days.
I initally called to see where it was only because i'll be gone for two weeks and don't want anyone getting curious to go through our mailbox.

Same here. FYI...for anyone that's curious on the status of their free money....click on the url/link that's on the bottom of the confirmation email that you received when you registered. Then click on the 'Chat' option. They'll be able to tell you the status of your cards (without having to wait on hold for an extended period of time). Cheers.

 

[bubbagumpshrimp]

I think that is one of the reasons that VW required us to report our current miles on the vehicle. With that info they should have a starting point to calculate change in resale values.

Yup. That and it gives them an idea of how many vehicles out there are literally not worth fixing (i.e. 2009 with 150k+ miles) and giving a warranty for the installed parts. Depending on the cost of retrofitting the older cars, warranty the work/parts, and the projected failure rate for the refits...it might make more sense to just buy some cars back, rather than be on the hook to fix cars like that for 'x' years to come.

 

[najel]

Same here. FYI...for anyone that's curious on the status of their free money....click on the url/link that's on the bottom of the confirmation email that you received when you registered. Then click on the 'Chat' option. They'll be able to tell you the status of your cards (without having to wait on hold for an extended period of time). Cheers.

It seems they may have taken down the chat, or it is maybe disable because many people are using it? I see the icons for chat, but can't click on them.

 

[Fourplay]

Chatted with an agent today was told my cards were shipped on December 9th. My confirmation number was pretty low (8xxx IIRC), so they definitely didn't ship them based on sign-up order. Seems like it was totally random when they shipped them.

I'll either have them today or tomorrow, no big deal. Anyone thought of creative ways to extract the cash value out of the dealer card? My first thought was to buy parts and resell on eBay, but it seems like many people will be trying that and the market will be flooded.

I tried to talk a local dealer into accepting my leased JSW TDI as a trade in on a Golf R or GTI lease, but they never got back to me. I suspect the trade in would have been way, way less than my current lease buyout. Oh well.

 

[bubbagumpshrimp]

It seems they may have taken down the chat, or it is maybe disable because many people are using it? I see the icons for chat, but can't click on them.

That's probably a browser issue. I used the chat feature about an hour ago and it worked just fine.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I initally called to see where it was only because i'll be gone for two weeks and don't want anyone getting curious to go through our mailbox.

You go away for two weeks and don't have the PO hold your mail? Seems risky to me.

 

[sapgar]

VW Care told me mine were shipped on Wednesday.... Yay... going to get snow tires next Friday, so that will help with that.

 

[bagmite]

I registered for the package on 11/9 and just chatted with VW Customer Care and was told:
"Your cards were ordered 11-10-15 and they were mailed on 12-09-15. Your cards can be expected to arrive in the mail within 7-10 business days."
I then asked when the cards would expire and was told:
"It will expire 1 year after activation."
I thought originally they were to expire one year from issue, so this seems like an improvement unless I originally misunderstood. I'm in NJ, BTW.

 

[kjclow]

Request made on 11/13. Both packages arrived yesterday morn (12/8).

I'm dreaming of a Green Christmas...and a NOx-ious New Year!

Best one yet!

 

[najel]

That's probably a browser issue. I used the chat feature about an hour ago and it worked just fine.

It worked after a few minutes, so maybe there was a glitch or they deactivate it temporarily when too many people use it?
I did try a few different browsers. Anyway, seems not to be a problem.

 

[kjclow]

Anger is a big problem in today's society. Anxiety I think is the root cause. If there's any sage advise I could give (since this helps me) is to have patience.
Patience prevails, time heals, take it easy, easy does it, slow and steady wins the race, etc. Today's society is very anxious about a lot of things. I used to get all bent out of shape about things but as I'm middle aged we do get better with time.
Farmers used to watch me the city slicker shovel snow and remark how fast is not the way. They would say slow down your movements, use all your body mechanics fluidly and such advice, priceless.
I now watch workers work and see who works fast (haste makes waste) and who works smart, or work smarter not harder if you will. My job is blue collar so I'm a worker too. Those who work fast (same as a mechanic on cars) often:
1. Make mistakes
2. Forget something
3. Get tired so can't finish
4. Get injured
5. Pay somebody else (too lazy)
6. Create waste since they must do over, waste more time
7. Get angry or emotionally upset
8. Lose their job
9. Lose their family
10. Lose their health
Take it easy, take care.

My favorite story is about the two lumber jacks.
They started at the same time one morning and at about the same pace. The first lumber jack took a 5 minute break every hour to rest his muscles and stay hydrated. The second lumber jack would take a quick drink every now and then but keep chopping except for lunch. At the end of the day, the first lumber jack had chopped about 20% more wood. The second lumber jack asked how his partner did so much more with all those breaks. The first replied, "every time I sat down, I not only got a drink but I also sharpened my axe."

 

[Jeta Life]

Dad at 79 still chops wood and I ask him why when you can buy a truckload for $100, he says its to keep himself busy.
The older generation has more patience. I'll admit I've got a long way to go to catch up to Dad, worked 2 jobs his whole life. I worked 2 jobs for 10 years and realized how tough he must of been to do it for 20+ years.
Complaining is kind of the thing to do now instead of working.

 

[Jack Diesel]

Registered 11/11 ->No Cards Yet - NJ


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[Justin_12]

Got it activated today. Took about 20 minutes because the service manager was busy. Does anybody know if the prepaid $500 can be converted to cash at all?