Another Audi garage **** up!

[smudge_don]

Took my car back into Audi yesterday to have the DSG box looked at, as something wasn't right

Got a call earlier today, which just made me laugh. Went something along the lines of:

"Hi Mr Wade it's **** from ***** Audi, just giving you an update on your car. Seems that something is also wrong with the gearbox which we'll take a look at"

"Yeah, i know, that's why i brough it in"

"......oh.....well i had you down for a fault with your washer jets on your headlights"

".......i don't have washer jets on my headlights...."

"i see......well....errrrm......OH! wait, i see, i've got another Mr Wade with an S3 in for that problem, my mistake"

^^^(********)^^^

"Right, well whats happening with mine then?"

"Need to change the DSG box over as there are faults with yours"

I couldn't stop laughing after putting the phone down

But i'm also not best pleased, had this new car with the expectations of trouble free motoring, a lovely '07 plate with only 23k on the clock when i bought her, and at 25k she has had a flywheel and now DSG box change. Not impressed at all

 

[warren_S5]

[Flamesuit on]
I don't know about you, but I find this sort of service unacceptable. Yes people make mistakes, but reading simple instructions???

When I bought in to the brand in 2007 I expected to see a significant step change in the quality of service over Skoda/SEAT/VW, and I just don't think in the front line dealerships it is there. You could put half of these folk in KwikFit and they'd still look close to incompetent. You suffer this kind of service, and then they usually still try and patronise and talk what is obviously rubbish at you thinking you are stupid enough to believe anything they say.

Bold statement, but in the main I don't think anyone I have ever been served by anyone at Audi who truly knows what 'premium service is' (apart from the service manager called Alex who used to be at Oxford Audi who was brilliant - and female). I get better service from Waitrose when buying a £3 chicken fillet than I do from Audi buying a £32k S3.
[/Flamesuit off] Rant mode disabled

 

[smudge_don]

I know what you mean. TBH, the Audi that i use have been nothing but helpful, this was their 1st slip up after having visited them about 8 times in the last year with my past 2 cars

I'm currently in talks with the head of Audi UK regarding the state that my car was sold to me in by Amersham Audi - front and back brakes were both 80-90% worn, discs and pads

And now the flyhweel and DSG both need changing after me owning the car for not even 2 months

So after buying into a "premium" brand, i can't say i'm happy

But, the service from my local Audi has always been excellent, up until this today

 

[Mikey]

sounds bad, but ive had much worse...I was told by a garage that my car was being dropped off back to me, when it arrived IT WASNT EVEN MY CAR!!!!!!

 

[warren_S5]

sounds bad, but ive had much worse...I was told by a garage that my car was being dropped off back to me, when it arrived IT WASNT EVEN MY CAR!!!!!!

 

[dantdi]

I asked east kent Audi if they could take off the auto locking (over 10 mph) thing. They said yes they get asked to disable it a lot. Got the car back from them drove it up the road all doors locked! Had to be some where so couldnt take car back.
Went to go back out in it started it got fuel light come on even tho it had nearly full tank and a emissions light. Called Audi they told me to call audi Breakdown Assistance. Turned up he messed around with it for about half hour. Told me he can't sort it they put all the wrong codes in. So he going to have to reset ecu back to factory settings and it would take about hour!

Called them again next day all they could say was, Oh sorry about that i tell the mechanic who worked on your car.

 

[V6Pete]

I get better service from Waitrose when buying a £3 chicken fillet than I do from Audi buying a £32k S3.

If only Waitrose sold cars eh? One of the few companies out there that really does care properly about customer service.

 

[h5djr]

If only Waitrose sold cars eh? One of the few companies out there that really does care properly about customer service.

I agree that Waitrose offer good customer service, but they don't listen to their customers. About 12 months ago our local Waitrose had a 'revamp' and no longer stocked half the items we used to buy there. We are not the only ones and we know lots of customers who email or wrote to them to complaint Has anything happened. No. So most of these customers, including ourselves are now ex-customers who now shop elsewhere. Pity because before the revamp we did most of our shopping, including online shopping with them.

 

[Pii]

Smudge, how is the windscreen? Is that also bade news?

 

[Dan!]

dantdi, what A3 do you have (a diesel by any chance? )? Just asking as I test drove a black edition and you could turn it off through the DIS. I'm sure you've thought of that, just that if on some models you can do it yourself it should be really easy for a dealer to do!

I have ordered but not taken delivery of mine yet (bring on March!!) and all these stories about how cr@p the dealers are is starting to make me nervous...

 

[voorhees]

I sat for an hour and a half waiting for my car...asked when it was going to be ready they said its been ready for ages !! at least my young lad had a chance to see how bouncy the seats were in an S8,A6 and RS4 Cabriolet

 

[warren_S5]

I agree that Waitrose offer good customer service, but they don't listen to their customers. About 12 months ago our local Waitrose had a 'revamp' and no longer stocked half the items we used to buy there. We are not the only ones and we know lots of customers who email or wrote to them to complaint Has anything happened. No. So most of these customers, including ourselves are now ex-customers who now shop elsewhere. Pity because before the revamp we did most of our shopping, including online shopping with them.

That is annoying when they go and change all the foodstuffs you like, and it always seems to happen to the ones you like most.

But I find it is the sentiment at the John Lewis / Waitrose group where they train their staff to (pretend !) to care whether you are buying a 40 pence bag of sweets or a £4,000 TV, I just seem to get consistently good service, and very often from people who look like they are finishing school.

If I walk in to Audi looking anything less than business like I can be treated like something that has been dragged in with the wind. Then they struggle to follow simple instructions (to the point I now print off a list for them to staple to their job sheet) and then they still forget to do some of the work, and what's worse is afterwards they often don't really care. They are often slap dash, lazy, have poor attention to detail, then they sometimes have the audacity to compensate for their oversights by being condescending rather than candid!! I think Audi UK is so focussed on market share, and are gifted by the fact their new products seem to sell themselves, that the customer care part of it will be neglected until they fall on really hard times.

I know you are one of the luckier ones who has a great dealer up there, but should you ever move to the M4 corridor it's not a great place to be an Audi owner when you pay the kind of bills you do. Don't get me wrong, the German part of the ownership proposition (e.g the car) is very good, it's when you add the UK ingredient that the ownership proposition deteriorates quite quickly.

 

[h5djr]

Part of the problem with Audi dealers is that they are all individual companies unlike John Lewis/Waitrose. Some are very good and some are not so good. Perhaps if all the dealers were actually owned and the staff trained by Audi AG the level of service would be much more consistent.

 

[warren_S5]

You're right, until you have a centrally managed centre of excellence for defined training standards it will be pretty much impossible to deliver a countrywide standardized consistent service.

My brother in law used a dealer in Solihull the other week and said the customer service was exceptional.

Maybe in part some of it is driven by how much company car business a dealership can rely on, and how affluent an area is. Round here we have the horsey brigade (Newbury Showground) who all drive Q7's, RS's and as a result the dealer really doesn't need the likes of my type of custom! Many of these folk don't ask for discount on new cars, have any understanding when their cars don't work properly, and when the dealer says 'You need 4 tyres sir' they just say 'Do it'! As I like to buy decent kit at a reasonable price I am probably hassle for them.

 

[smudge_don]

Smudge, how is the windscreen? Is that also bade news?

Having to get that changed again matey, stupid bint didn't understand what NHN meant by "auto sensing bracket for rear view mirror" and just stuck a standard screen in

Audi now have my car for a week to change the DSG box over.....

 

[Dan!]

I know you are one of the luckier ones who has a great dealer up there, but should you ever move to the M4 corridor it's not a great place to be an Audi owner when you pay the kind of bills you do. Don't get me wrong, the German part of the ownership proposition (e.g the car) is very good, it's when you add the UK ingredient that the ownership proposition deteriorates quite quickly.

Was that directed towards my comment? Hope so!

I've also heard that Perth Audi is great but it's a bit of a long drive for something like a simple service....

 

[Pii]

Having to get that changed again matey, stupid bint didn't understand what NHN meant by "auto sensing bracket for rear view mirror" and just stuck a standard screen in

Audi now have my car for a week to change the DSG box over.....

Didn't see this and just PM'd you. Hope it get's sorted out soon enough dude. Have they sorted you out with a courtesy or something?

 

[shilts]

Hi , having read this thread i was wondering whether anyone had any dealings - good or bad with either Norwich Audi or Bury St Edmunds Audi . Thanks .

 

[dantdi]

dantdi, what A3 do you have (a diesel by any chance? )? Just asking as I test drove a black edition and you could turn it off through the DIS. I'm sure you've thought of that, just that if on some models you can do it yourself it should be really easy for a dealer to do!

I have ordered but not taken delivery of mine yet (bring on March!!) and all these stories about how cr@p the dealers are is starting to make me nervous...

Yes Dan it's a diesel, As far as i know i can't turn it off through the DIS. Any instruction on how to do that?

 

[Dan!]

As far as i know i can't turn it off through the DIS. Any instruction on how to do that?

To be honest I really can't remember how I got to the option and can't go look since my car still hasn't been built. lol. The one I drove had the full DIS, not just the red version, maybe you have a different one? You would hope that if it was able to be done on yours then the garage would know that and do it for you before they just messed everything up...

 

[remslie20]

I agree completely with all above comments. I came from a Skoda fabia vrs, 3 years hassle free motoring and exellent service from Aberdeen Skoda. Now have A3 2.0tdi 140 and since buying in May last year i have had it back into Aberdeen Audi 4 times with the same fault. ESP fault keeps coming on even tho car drives fine. Last time car was into get the ESP module changed out because they apparently found a fault with it the previous time the car was in. During the trip into the garage to get the module changed i got a phonecall from the service department asking to describe exactly what happened when the fault came in cause they couldnt find nothing wrong to which i replied (politeley!!!) that the car was in to get the module changed out as they had already found a fault the previous time car was in. There was a lot of err's and some bullsh*t back peddling and he told me there would be no way i'd get my car back that day as it was now twenty to five and they'd basically spent the whole day searching for a fault they'd already found!! Got a call 1 hour later from service manager telling me car was now ready and they had changed out the module so i could pick up the car anytime the next day. Went up the next day at 12 o'clock and no one knew where my car was. waited fourty minutes for it to arrive! Surprise surprise fault came back in three days ago and car is booked back in for a further three days of fault finding after another "polite" conversation with the service department. In my opinion Audi Aberdeen are incompetent, have very poor customer service and should try learning something from their sister brand Skoda Aberdeen who i'd quite happily go back to tomorrow!