Volvo Saga: A first-world problem but frustrating, none-the-less.

Wanna see my new Volvo?

Yeah, me too.

Here’s the story of my atrocious experience with Volvo’s Overseas Delivery program.

For the last 5 months, all I’ve talked about is how excited I was going to Sweden to pick up my new Volvo XC60 Recharge. By ordering through the OSD program I saved $5k on the car, would get roundtrip airfare for two to Scandinavia a night in a hotel and an exclusive pick up experience at the Volvo factory in Gothenburg Sweden. Additionally, I’d have “concierge travel” assistance.
Here’s what Volvo promises on their website:

THE TIMELINE

1/21/22- paid $3k deposit

2/1- Finalized my selections for my new car. Scheduled pickup for June. Would have LOVED to get it sooner, but this was the soonest I could justify planning *international travel*.

3/31-Had first consult with AdTrav to start planning my trip. The rep I spoke to encouraged me to travel early and visit places like Stockholm and Copenhagen where I might not want to deal with traffic and parking with my brand new luxury SUV. She was to send me some info and ideas in the following days. Never heard from her again. 

4/24- I reach out to AdTrav again. I’m told they are no longer offering “extended travel assistance” but will still book my Volvo-paid flights & hotel. Except, the woman I’m speaking with can’t help me because it’s her last day but she’ll have someone else reach out. Ummm ok. 

4/27 - I start planning other details since I’m on my own now. Book hotel in Stockholm for 6/4 and buy concert tix for 6/5.  

5/12- Per program rules, I must have car paid for/financed before pickup. Trade in my car and pay the difference. Yay! I own a Volvo! But ask sales rep if she can please help get me in touch with the right people because I still don’t have tickets to get to Sweden to pick it up. 

5/20- Her efforts and mine reaching out to Volvo and AdTrav get me a call. This person is confirming my departure city and dates. I give the info. Ok, she will have someone else call me next week to set it up. (Again, I don’t understand why I only get calls from people who can’t actually help me.)

5/23- Next AdTrav rep emails. Still has wrong dates and cities. I send this very clear itinerary:

5/25: AdTrav sends one flight option arriving in Gothenburg on 6/4 at 11:45 pm. Just a 5-HOUR DRIVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY to our hotel in Stockholm. She says there are no flights available to Stockholm that day.

1) Huh. Almost like you shouldn’t have waited until 8 days before departure.

2) REALLY? There are flights into this country-ass airport in Gothenburg but not the largest International airport in Sweden?!  

I call and email multiple times the rest of the day to see if we can get this figure out something else that will work QUICKLY. She says she’ll call me next day at 11am.

5/26 11am- Calls (yay!). Review my dates and cities again. She says she will look at other airlines for flights to Stockholm or something that gets me into Gothenburg earlier. 

5/26 3pm - I get a voicemail from SAME AdTrav rep. 

Sorry she *didn’t* call me?! I return call, leave voicemail reminding her of the details of our call and what she was supposed to be doing.

I also contact Volvo again (vm & email) expressing my concern about not yet having flights booked. With only a week until departure I’m uncomfortable booking any other lodging or details of the trip that are my financial responsibility and would like info on having my car shipped. 

Tuesday 5/31- (!!!) Volvo emails. Says they CANNOT ship my car. I MUST sign for it in Sweden.

WHAAAAAT?!? But AdTrav has yet to book tickets for my departure IN 3 DAYS.

AdTrav calls. She is combative. Says she has just been waiting for me to send her my departure day. 🤯🤯🤯 Proceeds to read me “her notes” about what I said on our call on 5/26 (the one she didn’t remember happening 4 hours later). Sorry, I think I trust my recollection over your “notes.” This wildly frustrating 20-minute call ends with her insisting that before she can send me flight options she needs “in writing” my travel date/time needs. 

JUNE 1ST!!!! ……

I can’t. 

Like you guys get I can’t go now right? Steve and I have accepted this isn’t happening. 

Call Volvo. Cry.

After some nudging from Volvo (I assume), I get this:

Call Volvo again. Ask again about getting my car shipped. He’ll email his manager.

Like maybe pick up the phone? Stop by her office?

What??! No. Cry more. 

When I spoke to Jeff on the phone and he told me the could not ship directly, I asked how all the people who had trips planned and were unable to travel due to shutdowns  and he said they did ship to them. AND as I learned later from my sales rep, they even kept selling cars through the program and shipping them IMMEDIATELY allowing these folks to cash in on their trips later… as in now. So people have been driving their OSD discounted cars happily for a year or more and now getting their trip to Scandinavia.  

When I asked why this wouldn’t be treated the same considering how I did everything in my power to make this happen but there were circumstances (and much incompetence) beyond my control, he said too many people just used the program to get a discount with no intent of travel. 

“You get that’s not what this is right??!?”

If that was the case, would I have…

1. Planned a “fake” trip 6 months out?! No, I would have scheduled as quickly as possible (my car was ready in April).

2. And if I’d done that, I also would have traded my car in when there was still snow on the ground and an influx of Californians in Boise wanted 4-wheel drive vehicles and there was a shortage. When the dealer appraised my trade-in in January they offered me $1,500 more than when I ended up trading in May ahead of my trip and gas was $5/gal and all the snow is gone.

3. Booked NONREFUNDABLE hotel stay and purchased concert tickets?

6/2- MY CURRENT OPTIONS ARE…

Pay an extra $5k for a car I’ve already paid for in full. Or be forced on an ill-planned trip to Sweden departing in less than 24 HOURS!!!  And I have to trust this wildly incompetent AdTrav to not fuck anything else up on the booking and get me stuck in customs in some foreign land where I don’t speak the language? 

By the way, according to a quick Google flights search, these tickets are about $10k roundtrip for my husband and myself. So Volvo would rather SPEND $10k to force us to go than to just ship the car (which is already included in the OSD price I paid). No, they want to extort another $5k in ransom for me to spring my car from this hostage situation.

So still no flights confirmed. AdTrav calls in the morning. She offers a complimentary night in a hotel to make sure this “ISN’T A STRESSFUL EXPERIENCE.” 

Have I mentioned how little time I had planned to be dealing with this days before I spent 2 weeks OOO? I had packed my calendar with meetings in prep for being away.

Miss a call from AdTrav with a new flight option that leaves Boise 6/4 gets me into Stockholm 6/5. (I will still miss the concert and one night I’ve paid for my hotel.) She will proceed with booking it if she doesn’t hear from me by 3pm. 

I’m in meetings but I reply to an email from Volvo.

Truthfully I’m skeptical AdTrav will even be able to successfully book me. All the info I provided in this process back in March has so far been ignored leaving me to believe they don’t even have all my passport info. In her message she says she’ll send me an email with the details of the itinerary. No email comes so I figure I’m right. 

But in a shockingly lucid moment of competence, I get a email at 3:45pm that I’m booked! There it is… my husband and my full names, passport numbers, TSA known traveler ID, and airline frequent flyer miles. 

I send this to Volvo:

6/3: The travel saga finally comes to an end when Jeff emails in the morning—you know, the morning I should have been departing for Sweden. He has advised AdTrav to cancel the tickets and will proceed with direct shipping. 

No statement that they are NOT charging me more.

No details of next steps.

I thank him and I tell him I look forward to hearing more details and timeline. 

He replies:

“You’re welcome. Have a great weekend!”

Again, that was Friday June 3rd.  I have not heard one more detail from Volvo in the full week since. I’ve called the dealership who is supposed to be getting more info. 

That is where we are today. 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?!?!