cancelling my order

[emzino]

It's not you i'm personally aiming that post at... it's the employees of Audi who don't return the calls let alone answering them in the first place. Seems more like a game of cat and mouse if you ask me. Hide and seek should be definitely kept in the playground, not in a professional environment where people are willing to spend hard heard thousands & thousands of pounds on a vehicle.

As for you, if your not one of those people, no need to take it on the chin at all mate. Don't take it anywhere infact. Just continue what your doing and don't become on of "them"

 

[royjk]

Sinclair Audi In Bridgend are very good. I have dealt with them for many years. I recently purchased my A3 Cabrio from them, they were very helpful & also very patient with me especialy as I changed the spec more than once. They kept me up to date on delivery & once a build date had been received they tel me every week with the progress. I was eventually given a collection date but then received a call from them saying they had managed to prep the car quicker than they had expected & it would be ready two days earlier.

 

[Mikey]

isnt it funny that they only call you back if your enquiring about purchasing a car. was the same for me. rang up stoke audi to do a deal, badgered me they did to sell the car, did a deal, then once they had my deposit and promised phone calls of the progress of the build of my car i heard NOTHING. I had to badger them and I still got no return phone calls.

 

[PNH80]

Chesteraudi: Good lad for putting your point accross and standing up to be counted but i must massively disagree with you on your point regarding 'showing us how good a dealer can be when equipped with the right tools etc etc'.

The best experience i have ever had with Audi was with Newton Abbot Audi, way down on the south coast. I did a 425 mile round trip for my car. My local big flashy Audi showroom were nothing short of rude, ignorant and aloof. Whereas Newton Abbot are a tiny little dealership and really made me feel that my custom meant everything. So to say that bigger, better, more expensive facilities makes a better dealer is rubbish quite frankly. Does a rotating display stand and a bigger office make you more able to return a phone call or negotiate a price in a more pleasant manner??! Hardly....

 

[jamiekip]

chesteraudi - to reitterate what others have said, I don;t think anyone is directing their thought specifically at you. Like you said, you're 2 posts in and no-one knows you. I think it's good of you to come on here and help straighten a few things out.

If you read the bulk of peoples experiences, it's nothing to do with poor old systems or a flash new showroom, it the people within these dealerships in both sales and service that have people pain and blown their confidence in the brand.

In my humble opinion, the dealerships are Audi's achilles heel.
Think about it, great product, great brand, huge brand loyalty, but everyone has had a really bad expereince with the dealer and it is nothing to do with poor systems, or delayed orders etc, etc. It all seems to boild down to the customer not feeling valued. not getting that update call, not returning calls, handing back a customers car with shoddy workmanship. All of these things are the human elements withni the dealership.....

If you stick with us and put your money where your mouth, ie, prove to us that you're different, then maybe you'll come out fo this smelling of rosesa nd you can demonstrate to toehr dealers how it should be done.

Good luck... prove us wrong!

J

 

[PNH80]

In my opinion, to kinda repeat you jamie is that Audi basically suffers from poor management in it's dealerships. It doesn't matter how big and expensive the dealership is, it's all down to how tightly things are managed.
Salesmen should be reporting back to management at all times and should be trained to sell a 'premium' product. If you're not returning customers calls and bending over backwards to keep them happy, go and work at a Tata dealership.

At my local Audi dealership even the manager couldn't be bothered to return calls so honestly what can i expect from the salesmen?! And to say 'maybe the message didn't get passed on' just makes it worse. That just makes dealers sound totally inept at their jobs. You'll take my order on an R8 but can't pass a message from one side of the room to the other? Thats terrifying.

But at the end of the day, we as customers are to blame. We put up with bad service and go back for more. If we started backing out of deals as soon as dealers messed up they'd soon buck their ideas up.

 

[jamiekip]

PNH80 - agree, but they have you over a barrel. You back out, you have to orer again, you're at the back of the queue....
I#d love to be proved wrong about this, but until Audi UK become stricter with dealers I fear it's not going to change!

 

[h5djr]

In my opinion, to kinda repeat you jamie is that Audi basically suffers from poor management in it's dealerships. It doesn't matter how big and expensive the dealership is, it's all down to how tightly things are managed.

I could not agree more about the effect that poor top management can have on a dealership. Not Audi but VW this time. My wife purchased her previous Polo from a VW dealer. She took the car back to them for service and they were useless. Then a new service manager took over and it happened to be someone we had dealt with at a previous VW dealer. He made so many improvements. Then he moved on to become a general manger at another dealership in the same group and everything went downhill again. My wife got so cheesed off with them that she took her Polo to another dealer and they were so good and efficient. She has now just placed an order for another new Polo and you can guess which dealer got the order.

The really strange thing is that both dealers are part of the same family run group. It's all down to the individual managers at each dealership.

 

[PaulMc]

Tata ! What, you mean a Jaguar or Landrover?

 

[glenn c]

There are good salesman at Audi, there are bad salesman at Audi, good at BMW, bad at BMW. Good dealers, bad dealers, good deals, no deals. It's the same for all products and businesses everywhere. That's where the customer can exercise some choice and take his money to a 'better' dealer. In theory, the bad get no business and go broke, the good do well, increase referrals and get rewarded. It comes down to market forces.

I have to say though, to the Audi dealer who mentioned the supply line stuff. It's no excuse to blame a poor local service on the general success of the brand. If Audi want to keep shifting more cars, they need to ensure that the appropriate infrastructure is in place to cope. From the customer point of view, it doesn't matter where the problem originates; we are just dealing with Audi and, for me, that's you not them....

 

[PaulAr]

I could not agree more about the effect that poor top management can have on a dealership. Not Audi but VW this time. My wife purchased her previous Polo from a VW dealer. She took the car back to them for service and they were useless. Then a new service manager took over and it happened to be someone we had dealt with at a previous VW dealer. He made so many improvements. Then he moved on to become a general manger at another dealership in the same group and everything went downhill again. My wife got so cheesed off with them that she took her Polo to another dealer and they were so good and efficient. She has now just placed an order for another new Polo and you can guess which dealer got the order.

The really strange thing is that both dealers are part of the same family run group. It's all down to the individual managers at each dealership.

Completely agree with this.

Had a very poor experience with Wearside AUDI and never returned.
Used Tyneside AUDI for some recent warranty and service work and they were excellent.
Both dealerships are part of the same group.

Paul

 

[jamiekip]

Teesside Audi are part of that group (Colebrook and Burgess) to Paul and I find them pretty poor.
I know JamS3 recently moved from Tesside Audi to Tyneside Audi and has nothing but good to say about them.

 

[bacardi]

its not a sales pitch its the truth, reading the comments from you guys is an eye opener, i dont think anyone in the audi network is a bad person,

Seriously? Fair play for standing up, as some others have said, but I would very much like to see your definition of a bad person, because it is clearly very different to mine

Ignoring the repeat faults I have had, the biggest disappointment is the incredibly poor, insulting and obtuse people I have dealt with at aforementioned dealers -

The total lack of care they have taken with my car on many occasions, total lack of concern over what could potentially be serious safety issues, and also total lack of attention to detail (I have mentioned many times - they managed to collect the WRONG car from our office for a service/wheel bearing fault) doesn't give me the impression they are good people

 

[murkins]

Hmmm, My only experience has been at Bury St Edmunds Audi, a guy called Kevin sold me my car. He was fantastic, very friendly, returned calls and even pre-empted by calling me with a build date!

I was also considering a Seat Leon, test drove the car at Cecil and Larter Seat in Bury St Edmunds on a Saturday. I was the only customer in the place. They proceed to send some very Junior (part-time) kid to sit with me during the test drive and when I get back to the showroom the salesman didn't even bother trying to sell me the car. I asked a few questions, got some very short answers, complete disinterest and eventually I left.

Sure Audi are damn expensive for what you get but I got friendly and efficient service in Bury St Edmunds so any East Anglians should think about going there imo. Vindis run the Audi franchise in Cambridge, no idea what they are like.

 

[dc240969]

There are good salesman at Audi, there are bad salesman at Audi, good at BMW, bad at BMW. Good dealers, bad dealers, good deals, no deals. It's the same for all products and businesses everywhere. That's where the customer can exercise some choice and take his money to a 'better' dealer. In theory, the bad get no business and go broke, the good do well, increase referrals and get rewarded. It comes down to market forces.

I have to say though, to the Audi dealer who mentioned the supply line stuff. It's no excuse to blame a poor local service on the general success of the brand. If Audi want to keep shifting more cars, they need to ensure that the appropriate infrastructure is in place to cope. From the customer point of view, it doesn't matter where the problem originates; we are just dealing with Audi and, for me, that's you not them....

Couldnt agree with you more. Take Audi in Dundee. Unhelpful and generally not interested. 20 miles along the road in Perth, they got my money.

 

[Amchlolor]

Couldnt agree with you more. Take Audi in Dundee. Unhelpful and generally not interested.

To be fair, it must be hard for anyone to drum up enthusiasm whilst working in that fat bird's undercleavage sweat receptacle of a city.

We (the company) have ordered several Audis from them, over Specialist Cars Aberdeen.
They've often managed to get us cars quicker and at better rates.

My last encounter with Specialist cars Aberdeen had me storming out the place with a loud "STICK YOUR AUDI UP YOUR ****!", after they tried to tell me knackered front wheel bearing noise was caused by balding rear tyres.

I wouldn't normally behave in such a coarse manner, but I wouldn't normally expect to be treated like an imbecile either.

As for the after-service satisfaction calls, I always said "yeah, all fine".
Seriously, I just didn't see the point of telling them the truth.
They also had an uncanny knack of phoning me whilst I was driving.

 

[phope]

Aberdeen Audi have been excellent for us...bought 3 cars from them in the last 18 months, and will have had 5 cars serviced there by the end of the year. The S3 was bought as a 6 month old used car from Perth Audi, who were also top notch in the sale department (but will be using Aberdeen for the S3 servicing)

Great banter with the service guys in Aberdeen and although the actual cars have all had warranty niggles (BOSE amp going on the Mk2 TT, leaking roof on an old TT roadster, expensive bills on a high mileage A4 TDi, etc), we've had excellent service, courtesy cars whenever we've wanted one and some substantial discounts on parts and service...the service manager even got me to act as a mystery shopper, complete with hidden camera, to test out the customer skills of the service guys

They also support the TT Owners Club, and have sponsored some events recently, including organising a customer drive with TT, S and RS owners for a free lunch and drive through Glenshee...a passenger ride in an R8 driven enthusiastically was the highlight so far for the events they've contributed to

Aberdeen sales have been good as well...although very reluctant to do deals on new cars, the salesmen have always been available to chat or email whenever I've wanted to find out more or discuss a deal...I walked away from their offer on their demo TTS and got the S3 instead though

 

[PaulAr]

So I guess what we are seeing is a lack of consistency throughout the dealer network.

That in itself isnt really good enough.

Thanfully I think Ive found a pretty decent lot at Silverlink Tyneside AUDI so credit where credit is due.
Even the drivers were very professional.
Long may it continue.


Paul

 

[Amchlolor]

, expensive bills on a high mileage A4 TDi, etc),

I would now automatically query any high bill from Aberdeen Audi.
Given that they were trying to sell me two new back tyres, to cure a rumbling front wheel bearing, they evidently cannot be trusted.

I also know of a couple who had a car on a serviced contract.
It went in for a service, Aberdeen Audi called them and said "you need 4 new tyres".
The bloke said "no skin off my nose, you pay for the tyres anyway"
Lo and behold, no new tyres on his car when he collected it.
When he queried it, he was told that was a "mistake".

Aye, right!

We still have two Audis on the fleet (A4 and A6).
I'll be watching the bills that come in for them like a hawk.

 

[GlasgowRangers]

Bowfer you should have told them exactly what you thought of them. When I received ****** service in Turkey I went directly to head office. It didn't change much but it might save the next guy from being treated the same. Audi service is generally crap everywhere I have found.

 

[Amchlolor]

Bowfer you should have told them exactly what you thought of them. When I received ****** service in Turkey I went directly to head office. It didn't change much but it might save the next guy from being treated the same. Audi service is generally crap everywhere I have found.

If I had thought the product was so good that I wanted to stay and see their service improve, I most certainly would have.
I had already decided their products didn't suit me any more though, so continued bad service became irrelevant to me.

TBH, I can't actually say BMW's fault-fixing is any better than Audis.
It's still taken me several trips to get little things fixed.
But their actual service, as in the manner they treat you, is miles better.
So their mechanics are as bad as Audi, but their front desk is better.

 

[L60N]

But their actual service, as in the manner they treat you, is miles better.
So their mechanics are as bad as Audi, but their front desk is better.

Oh, and thats a survey taken from how many dealerships?

Theres good and bad in all marques its fair to say.

Its not fair to say BMW service treat you better than Audi, infact, its utter drivvle.

Come to Harrogate BMW if you dont beleive me

Oh, I should say that by the same token I wouldnt say Audi is any better service than BMW either, why? Because like you I aint travelled the length and breadth of the country to gain an accurate view.

 

[phope]

I would now automatically query any high bill from Aberdeen Audi.
Given that they were trying to sell me two new back tyres, to cure a rumbling front wheel bearing, they evidently cannot be trusted.

I also know of a couple who had a car on a serviced contract.
It went in for a service, Aberdeen Audi called them and said "you need 4 new tyres".
The bloke said "no skin off my nose, you pay for the tyres anyway"
Lo and behold, no new tyres on his car when he collected it.
When he queried it, he was told that was a "mistake".

Aye, right!

We still have two Audis on the fleet (A4 and A6).
I'll be watching the bills that come in for them like a hawk.

Oh I do query the bills...the bills on our old A4 were for some out of warranty work

It was within a used car warranty period, but the clutch gave up big style after 60k miles...the flywheel warped with the problem (saw the damage, so know I wasn't being led on), so it needed replaced at the same time....a front wheel bearing was audibly on it's way out, so again, not covered under warranty...got the other side done at the same time as the clutch and flywheel. Timing belt was also due in a few thousand miles. so bit the bullet and did the lot at the same time

I get on well with the guys, so they knew it was going to be a big bill with all the labour costs...so even after reductions to both parts and labour, it still came to well over £1000 for the work

 

[davemk]

Its not fair to say BMW service treat you better than Audi, infact, its utter drivvle.

I know where you're coming from but it is true in his experience.

I have to agree with Bowfer. I've been to several Audi dealers and had different experiences in all. Some were good, some were bad.

The BMW dealers I've visited have been far better.

So, again, in my experience BMW do treat their customers better.

 

[bacardi]

Bowfer you should have told them exactly what you thought of them. When I received ****** service in Turkey I went directly to head office. It didn't change much but it might save the next guy from being treated the same. Audi service is generally crap everywhere I have found.

In my experience, the Head offce are equally as inept and clueless, only slightly politer

 

[bacardi]

I know where you're coming from but it is true in his experience.

I have to agree with Bowfer. I've been to several Audi dealers and had different experiences in all. Some were good, some were bad.

The BMW dealers I've visited have been far better.

So, again, in my experience BMW do treat their customers better.

Totally agree with this, in fact, I've experienced equal amounts of BMW and Audi dealers and its a 100% politeness hit rate for the BMW bunch and a 75% mix of "grin f&cking" and inept feckwits from the 4 ring brigade

 

[bacardi]

Oh, and thats a survey taken from how many dealerships?

Theres good and bad in all marques its fair to say.

Its not fair to say BMW service treat you better than Audi, infact, its utter drivvle.

Come to Harrogate BMW if you dont beleive me

Oh, I should say that by the same token I wouldnt say Audi is any better service than BMW either, why? Because like you I aint travelled the length and breadth of the country to gain an accurate view.

Have Harrogate BMW blindly filed away parts of your car interior then? or is that limited to Audi only?

 

[Iggu]

Oh, I should say that by the same token I wouldnt say Audi is any better service than BMW either, why? Because like you I aint travelled the length and breadth of the country to gain an accurate view.

That's "Bowfer Baiting" for the sake of it mate - I haven't travelled the length and breadth of the country trying to gain an accurate view of the quality of home brew lager (for e.g.) but I can categorically say its all ****.
Having said that the most entertaining threads are those where people are stoking up a good row so from that point of view I'm behind you all the way.

 

[PaulAr]

I haven't travelled the length and breadth of the country trying to gain an accurate view of the quality of home brew lager (for e.g.) but I can categorically say its all ****.

Im sure Hugh Fernley-Whitingstall would beg to differ.

Oh, and men with beards.

 

[PaulAr]

Aren`t there some `Which`survey stats to indicate whether or not all AUDI deallers are in fact useless, and BMW dealers are generally just ace?

I dont car either way but it would interesting to see whether it is in fact only the `bad bits` that make it into this forum.

Rose tinted glasses dont really suit me, but wining for wining sake doesnt either.

Paul

 

[Iggu]

Im sure Hugh Fernley-Whitingstall would beg to differ.

You're spot on - I forgot about that tool.

 

[bacardi]

Aren`t there some `Which`survey stats to indicate whether or not all AUDI deallers are in fact useless, and BMW dealers are generally just ace?

I dont car either way but it would interesting to see whether it is in fact only the `bad bits` that make it into this forum.

Rose tinted glasses dont really suit me, but wining for wining sake doesnt either.

Paul

I love "which" surveys, someone tried to use one as ammunition in a meeting at work the other week - they were asked to leave.........

JD power may give more of a steer but those inclined to fill in a survey usually have big reasons one way or another, for example I would go out of my way to tell a survey how ***** Audi service was, but I couldnt be bothered to say how good Toyota service was

 

[Iggu]

There are some cracking BMW and Audi stories on here (a real site believe it or not):
http://www.crapservice.co.uk/

 

[PaulAr]

I love "which" surveys, someone tried to use one as ammunition in a meeting at work the other week - they were asked to leave.........

JD power may give more of a steer but those inclined to fill in a survey usually have big reasons one way or another, for example I would go out of my way to tell a survey how ***** Audi service was, but I couldnt be bothered to say how good Toyota service was

What about `mystery` shopper data?

Are there independant bodies who carry these out?
Arent these published anywhere?

I dont know what to make of the whole dealer bashing thing.
Ive experienced some awful workmanship at both HONDA and VW but is was put right in the end and the guys I dealt with were pretty reasonable.

Fortunately Ive not had a lot of visits to AUDI but so far its been very good, but I wouldnt be so niave to assume AUDI have a better network than VW or HONDA on such limited experience.

Like I said I would be interested to see some impartial stats if there are such as thing.

Paul

 

[Iggu]

What about `mystery` shopper data?
Paul

This was a mystery shopper exercise ...

http://www.crapservice.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=740&highlight=bmw+service

 

[h5djr]

I know where you're coming from but it is true in his experience.

I have to agree with Bowfer. I've been to several Audi dealers and had different experiences in all. Some were good, some were bad.

The BMW dealers I've visited have been far better.

So, again, in my experience BMW do treat their customers better.

I have never owned a BMW so I have no experience of the Service departments but I did visit two different BMW dealers to have a look a their cars before I decided on my current A3. One dealer was fine and just what I would expect and the other was absolute rubbish.

 

[bacardi]

What about `mystery` shopper data?

Are there independant bodies who carry these out?
Arent these published anywhere?

I dont know what to make of the whole dealer bashing thing.
Ive experienced some awful workmanship at both HONDA and VW but is was put right in the end and the guys I dealt with were pretty reasonable.

Fortunately Ive not had a lot of visits to AUDI but so far its been very good, but I wouldnt be so niave to assume AUDI have a better network than VW or HONDA on such limited experience.

Like I said I would be interested to see some impartial stats if there are such as thing.

Paul

Absolutely, its one of the few measures out there that gives pretty reasonably fair results

I'm all for dealership bashing and praising, I can't recommend Huntingdon Audi enough, I can't slate (S)Hatfield Audi enough, or a couple of others who aren't as inept

 

[Amchlolor]

Oh, and thats a survey taken from how many dealerships?
Oh, I should say that by the same token I wouldnt say Audi is any better service than BMW either, why? Because like you I aint travelled the length and breadth of the country to gain an accurate view.

Seeing as I'm in Aberdeen and I'd already mentioned Aberdeen Audi I took it as read I didn't need to constantly place "Aberdeen" in front of Audi/BMW.

 

[Amchlolor]

Oh, and thats a survey taken from how many dealerships?

Theres good and bad in all marques its fair to say.

Its not fair to say BMW service treat you better than Audi, infact, its utter drivvle.

Come to Harrogate BMW if you dont beleive me

Oh, I should say that by the same token I wouldnt say Audi is any better service than BMW either, why? Because like you I aint travelled the length and breadth of the country to gain an accurate view.

I assumed, evidently incorrectly, that the fact I'm in Aberdeen and had previously already referred to "Aberdeen Audi" gave a sizeable clue as to the fact I was talking about Aberdeen Audi and Aberdeen BMW, without the need to constantly type the word 'Aberdeen'.
Just for your benefit though, I was comparing Aberdeen Audi and Aberdeen BMW, both of which are situated in Aberdeen.

 

[GlasgowRangers]

If I had thought the product was so good that I wanted to stay and see their service improve, I most certainly would have.
I had already decided their products didn't suit me any more though, so continued bad service became irrelevant to me.

TBH, I can't actually say BMW's fault-fixing is any better than Audis.
It's still taken me several trips to get little things fixed.
But their actual service, as in the manner they treat you, is miles better.
So their mechanics are as bad as Audi, but their front desk is better.

Bowfer mate do you think you'll ever go back to the brand again? I mean, are you now so disillusioned with Audi that you would never consider buying one of their products again? For example, if they came out with something that was right up your street and seemed to fit your bill perfectly, would you still dismiss it?

How is the Alpina going by the way. Lovely car...