VW Toureg Commercial (sort of) at DVinfo.net

Chuck Spaulding · October 13th, 2010, 10:07 PM

It's fairly self explanatory. I want to put this on Youtube and get as many hits as possible, there doesn't seem to be much rime or reason to what gets a lot of hits and what doesn't.

Does anyone know the secret to getting a lot of hits?

Brent Hallman · October 14th, 2010, 09:56 AM

0:57.... that is why you always read and understand everything before you sign a contract....same goes in the video world (ie. those people who signed releases to appear in Borat had no clue what they were signing).

Chuck Spaulding · October 14th, 2010, 10:38 PM

I read the lease and thought I understood it well enough. I've leased dozens of cars, and nothing like this has ever happened. This certainly wasn't the intent, and call me old fashioned or stupid, but I still believe in the intent of business and nowhere in that paragraph does it mention that they can change the agreed upon purchase price/residual of the car. A couple of other finance companies are starting to do this sort of thing, I just thought I'd point it out to others so they might know what to look out for.

For me I vote with my check book. Like I said I'll never buy or lease another VW again and I'll do what I can to dissuade friends, family and employees from doing business with them too. I just thought this would be a more fun way to stand up for my consumer rights than going to court.

Robert Turchick · October 14th, 2010, 11:44 PM

Ahhh...another story of VW screwing their customers.

Let me share mine...

In 2004, life was good. I was actually a Realtor at the time and we decided to get a high end SUV. Cayenne, Land Rover, Mercedes, and BMW were all on the short list. Being a faithful subscriber to all the major car magazines, they simultaneously ran reviews of the 2004 Touareg V10 TDI. "more torque than a Dodge Viper and 40mpg!" Diesel was cheap too! Everything looked great so we bought one. It was an amazing vehicle and we got every option made for it. Grand total somewhere north of $70k.
After two months, all four tires were bald. Only 4000 miles were on the car! Dealer replaced with a different brand for no charge.
A month later, the steering started making horrible groaning noises. Dealer said the whole front end needed to be replaced. Under warranty and a known issue. Since parts came from Germany, it was 3 weeks before we got it back.
Another couple of months go by and the same issue. Warranty repair again but the parts don't arrive for a month!

Then...driving in a pretty nasty rain storm....the engine seizes!

This is where the battle begins. Turns out the intakes are extremely low in the engine bay and water got into the engine. VW claims "that isn't possible!" After disassembling the entire front half of the car the dealership says.."it could happen based on the design!" but wouldn't commit to signing anything. (we were in an inch of water...supposed to go through 23"!!)

Bottom line, VW holds firm that it isn't a warranty repair and my insurance takes a $38K hit to replace the engine.

Guess what...3 months to get an engine!

We decide to lemon the damn thing and after 6 months of back and forth, we reluctantly accept a settlement and keep the vehicle. VW being complete a-holes the whole time. After the check cleared into our account, we traded it for a Lexus and with a bit of guilt, ran from the Lexus dealership as fast as we could! (BTW, they checked the carfax and it came up clean! DONT TRUST CAR FAX!!)

So all repairs counted (I've listed only the major ones) we drove the car for 9 months out of two years of ownership.

My wife turns red in the face any time the letters VW are uttered in succession. And she won't look at ANY vehicle made in Germany! (yes, she can hold a grudge!)

I like your approach to generating public awareness. Oddly, I was going to do a video of mine too. Ultimately we couldn't decide between my wife wanting to roll it off a cliff (slow and painful demise) and my idea to have it "accidentally" left on the Luke AFB bomb range so my buddies who fly F16's could have some fun! (quick death!) Would have been a GREAT video either way!

Sorry for the rant but VW is a HORRIBLE company and the whole world needs to know!
Hope your's turns out OK!

Damian Heffernan · October 15th, 2010, 03:04 AM

It's difficult to know what will make a hit on youtube other than a funny cat video. But you have the right elements in getting the first hits (scantily clad girl).

Put it out there, market the heck out of it (facebook, social media) and hope it goes a bit viral.

Brent Hallman · October 15th, 2010, 12:28 PM

Those are tough situations no one ever wants to be in. One thing different about the States than Canada is your Lemon Law...we have no such thing here.

Chuck Spaulding · October 18th, 2010, 03:46 PM

I tried using a cat but it wouldn't stay in one spot long enough...

Robert, sorry to hear about your experiences with VW, our Touareg was great, but not good enough to overcome dealing with such a crappy company.

For me I vote with my check book. Like I said I'll never buy or lease another VW again. I just thought this would be a more fun way to stand up for my consumer rights rather than going to court. I realize that they had a right to do what they did and I have the right to tell all my friends, family, employees and peers what they did too. I also realize there will be a lot of people who just think I'm an idiot, but I'm not as big an idiot to continue to do business with a company who chooses to treat its customers this way.

Daniel Browning · October 18th, 2010, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Spaulding

Does anyone know the secret to getting a lot of hits?

It's pretty simple. After you post the video, go around to as many other sites as you can find (Digg, reddit, facebook, etc.) and post articles asking "Does anyone know the secret to getting a lot of hits?". I keed, I keed. :)

Chuck Spaulding · October 18th, 2010, 05:00 PM

That's funny. But I haven't even posted it on Youtube yet.

I guess that's the place to start...

Ivan Martinez · October 18th, 2010, 09:08 PM

VW the company itself SUCKS big time, great video by the way.

Tom Dickerson · October 20th, 2010, 07:14 AM

Chuck, in the November issue of Reader's Digest they feature a lady who had warranty service issues with Volvo. She posted short YouTube video clips on her blog RusmackedVolvo and Volvo responded.

I think your video is visually stunning, but too long. The first 45 seconds (with no narration) looks like a Volvo commercial and gives the viewer time to get bored. Perhaps cut that down a little. Then later the narrator takes a real long pause while the women gets dressed...perhaps visually interesting but, in my opinion, a bit too long.

If you could get this under 2 minutes I think you would have better success with it.

This is just my opinion as I assumed you posted this for a cross section of feedback.

Good luck. I hope you get their attention.

Tom

Chuck Spaulding · October 20th, 2010, 10:35 AM

Wow, Freya was certainly ambitious and did a great job.

We shot this in about an hour and a half and then did the VO a couple of days later. I'm not trying to get anything from VW, just warn people that they have these sort of business practices.

It was a fun shoot but not nearly as well thought out or done as Freya's blog. She was very creative, unfortunately I was not and the video comes off that way.

I just posted it to Youtube last night, it will be interesting to see what it does, I'm not expecting much.

Tom thanks for watching and giving me feedback. I agree with your comments and if I end up putting more time into this and reediting it I will certainly take your suggestions.

Paul Cascio · October 20th, 2010, 05:55 PM

Nice video, sorry for your pain. However, I would contact the Attorney General of your state. California has one of the strongest Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practice Acts in the U.S., along with CT, FL and OH.

Also, I believe this may be of interest to the Federal Trade Commission as it is anti-competitive in nature.Leasing a car should not encumber your future purchasing decisions, and it should not penalize you for buying from someone else. This is blatantly illegal IMO.

I would not do anything that will damage your credit or you will be punishing yourself in the long run.

Give your video a good title...F'n-nugen or Why You Shouldn't Buy or Lease a Volkswagen, or something. Then, call CNN and your local affilliates and get some publicity. I remember a guy who performed a ballad after United Airlines lost/damaged his luggage. It was on Youtube and then national TV. Also, one more idea - put a plea at the end of the video encouraging people to tell others about it.A call to action will increase its viral potential.

Good luck.

Chuck Spaulding · November 1st, 2010, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Cascio

Nice video, sorry for your pain. However, I would contact the Attorney General of your state. California has one of the strongest Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practice Acts in the U.S., along with CT, FL and OH.

Also, I believe this may be of interest to the Federal Trade Commission as it is anti-competitive in nature.Leasing a car should not encumber your future purchasing decisions, and it should not penalize you for buying from someone else. This is blatantly illegal IMO.

I would not do anything that will damage your credit or you will be punishing yourself in the long run.

Give your video a good title...F'n-nugen or Why You Shouldn't Buy or Lease a Volkswagen, or something. Then, call CNN and your local affilliates and get some publicity. I remember a guy who performed a ballad after United Airlines lost/damaged his luggage. It was on Youtube and then national TV. Also, one more idea - put a plea at the end of the video encouraging people to tell others about it.A call to action will increase its viral potential.

Good luck.

I did contact the CA Attorney General and they contacted VW who replied with the paragraph that they claimed gave them the right to do that. Interestingly enough, the paragraph that they quoted was very different from the one in our lease.

Initially I was going to leave it at just producing the video, but if these pinheads don't even know which lease we have or what's in it, I'm a little more motivated to pursue this legally. We gave it to our attorney who is looking into it.

Things that make you go hmmm.

October 13th, 2010, 10:07 PM	#1
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	VW Toureg Commercial (sort of) VW Toureg on Vimeo It's fairly self explanatory. I want to put this on Youtube and get as many hits as possible, there doesn't seem to be much rime or reason to what gets a lot of hits and what doesn't. Does anyone know the secret to getting a lot of hits?

October 14th, 2010, 11:44 PM	#4
Robert Turchick Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 1,389	Ahhh...another story of VW screwing their customers. Let me share mine... In 2004, life was good. I was actually a Realtor at the time and we decided to get a high end SUV. Cayenne, Land Rover, Mercedes, and BMW were all on the short list. Being a faithful subscriber to all the major car magazines, they simultaneously ran reviews of the 2004 Touareg V10 TDI. "more torque than a Dodge Viper and 40mpg!" Diesel was cheap too! Everything looked great so we bought one. It was an amazing vehicle and we got every option made for it. Grand total somewhere north of $70k. After two months, all four tires were bald. Only 4000 miles were on the car! Dealer replaced with a different brand for no charge. A month later, the steering started making horrible groaning noises. Dealer said the whole front end needed to be replaced. Under warranty and a known issue. Since parts came from Germany, it was 3 weeks before we got it back. Another couple of months go by and the same issue. Warranty repair again but the parts don't arrive for a month! Then...driving in a pretty nasty rain storm....the engine seizes! This is where the battle begins. Turns out the intakes are extremely low in the engine bay and water got into the engine. VW claims "that isn't possible!" After disassembling the entire front half of the car the dealership says.."it could happen based on the design!" but wouldn't commit to signing anything. (we were in an inch of water...supposed to go through 23"!!) Bottom line, VW holds firm that it isn't a warranty repair and my insurance takes a $38K hit to replace the engine. Guess what...3 months to get an engine! We decide to lemon the damn thing and after 6 months of back and forth, we reluctantly accept a settlement and keep the vehicle. VW being complete a-holes the whole time. After the check cleared into our account, we traded it for a Lexus and with a bit of guilt, ran from the Lexus dealership as fast as we could! (BTW, they checked the carfax and it came up clean! DONT TRUST CAR FAX!!) So all repairs counted (I've listed only the major ones) we drove the car for 9 months out of two years of ownership. My wife turns red in the face any time the letters VW are uttered in succession. And she won't look at ANY vehicle made in Germany! (yes, she can hold a grudge!) I like your approach to generating public awareness. Oddly, I was going to do a video of mine too. Ultimately we couldn't decide between my wife wanting to roll it off a cliff (slow and painful demise) and my idea to have it "accidentally" left on the Luke AFB bomb range so my buddies who fly F16's could have some fun! (quick death!) Would have been a GREAT video either way! Sorry for the rant but VW is a HORRIBLE company and the whole world needs to know! Hope your's turns out OK! __________________ The older I get, the better I was!

October 15th, 2010, 03:04 AM	#5
Damian Heffernan Major Player Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: c Australia Posts: 234	It's difficult to know what will make a hit on youtube other than a funny cat video. But you have the right elements in getting the first hits (scantily clad girl). Put it out there, market the heck out of it (facebook, social media) and hope it goes a bit viral. __________________ http://onarafilms.com/ http://gentlespirit.com.au/

October 20th, 2010, 05:55 PM	#13
Paul Cascio Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bristol, CT (Home of EPSN) Posts: 1,192	Nice video, sorry for your pain. However, I would contact the Attorney General of your state. California has one of the strongest Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practice Acts in the U.S., along with CT, FL and OH. Also, I believe this may be of interest to the Federal Trade Commission as it is anti-competitive in nature.Leasing a car should not encumber your future purchasing decisions, and it should not penalize you for buying from someone else. This is blatantly illegal IMO. I would not do anything that will damage your credit or you will be punishing yourself in the long run. Give your video a good title...F'n-nugen or Why You Shouldn't Buy or Lease a Volkswagen, or something. Then, call CNN and your local affilliates and get some publicity. I remember a guy who performed a ballad after United Airlines lost/damaged his luggage. It was on Youtube and then national TV. Also, one more idea - put a plea at the end of the video encouraging people to tell others about it.A call to action will increase its viral potential. Good luck. __________________ Paul Cascio www.pictureframingschool.com

October 14th, 2010, 09:56 AM	#2
Brent Hallman Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 89	0:57.... that is why you always read and understand everything before you sign a contract....same goes in the video world (ie. those people who signed releases to appear in Borat had no clue what they were signing).

October 14th, 2010, 10:38 PM	#3
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	I read the lease and thought I understood it well enough. I've leased dozens of cars, and nothing like this has ever happened. This certainly wasn't the intent, and call me old fashioned or stupid, but I still believe in the intent of business and nowhere in that paragraph does it mention that they can change the agreed upon purchase price/residual of the car. A couple of other finance companies are starting to do this sort of thing, I just thought I'd point it out to others so they might know what to look out for. For me I vote with my check book. Like I said I'll never buy or lease another VW again and I'll do what I can to dissuade friends, family and employees from doing business with them too. I just thought this would be a more fun way to stand up for my consumer rights than going to court.

October 15th, 2010, 12:28 PM	#6
Brent Hallman Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 89	Those are tough situations no one ever wants to be in. One thing different about the States than Canada is your Lemon Law...we have no such thing here.

October 18th, 2010, 03:46 PM	#7
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	I tried using a cat but it wouldn't stay in one spot long enough... Robert, sorry to hear about your experiences with VW, our Touareg was great, but not good enough to overcome dealing with such a crappy company. For me I vote with my check book. Like I said I'll never buy or lease another VW again. I just thought this would be a more fun way to stand up for my consumer rights rather than going to court. I realize that they had a right to do what they did and I have the right to tell all my friends, family, employees and peers what they did too. I also realize there will be a lot of people who just think I'm an idiot, but I'm not as big an idiot to continue to do business with a company who chooses to treat its customers this way.

October 18th, 2010, 05:00 PM	#9
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	That's funny. But I haven't even posted it on Youtube yet. I guess that's the place to start...

October 18th, 2010, 09:08 PM	#10
Ivan Martinez New Boot Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bronx NY Posts: 16	VW the company itself SUCKS big time, great video by the way.

October 20th, 2010, 07:14 AM	#11
Tom Dickerson Regular Crew Join Date: May 2009 Location: Mesa, Arizona Posts: 86	Chuck, in the November issue of Reader's Digest they feature a lady who had warranty service issues with Volvo. She posted short YouTube video clips on her blog RusmackedVolvo and Volvo responded. I think your video is visually stunning, but too long. The first 45 seconds (with no narration) looks like a Volvo commercial and gives the viewer time to get bored. Perhaps cut that down a little. Then later the narrator takes a real long pause while the women gets dressed...perhaps visually interesting but, in my opinion, a bit too long. If you could get this under 2 minutes I think you would have better success with it. This is just my opinion as I assumed you posted this for a cross section of feedback. Good luck. I hope you get their attention. Tom

October 20th, 2010, 10:35 AM	#12
Chuck Spaulding Trustee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Thousand Oaks Posts: 1,099	Wow, Freya was certainly ambitious and did a great job. We shot this in about an hour and a half and then did the VO a couple of days later. I'm not trying to get anything from VW, just warn people that they have these sort of business practices. It was a fun shoot but not nearly as well thought out or done as Freya's blog. She was very creative, unfortunately I was not and the video comes off that way. I just posted it to Youtube last night, it will be interesting to see what it does, I'm not expecting much. Tom thanks for watching and giving me feedback. I agree with your comments and if I end up putting more time into this and reediting it I will certainly take your suggestions.