Annoyed with dealership, advise please.

[PetrolAholic]

Right, as the title says I am utterly annoyed with my Audi dealership, I won't say which dealership yet as just want some opinions of which route I should go down to resolve the issue.

Basically, I took my car into dealership for some warranty repairs (the car came with 1 year extended warranty as I purchased the car through this particular dealership)

The problems were, a sensor with the tyre pressure monitors had failed and had to be replaced. Also my engine management light was on so wanted either a repair doing on whatever had broken or for them to clear the error if they could not find a fault (I know the management light can be a bit sensitive sometimes)

Right so they had no courtesy car for me so I had to drive the car to the service centre and be picked up, and as I am under 25 (i'm 24) however before christmas I had a courtesy car from them with another unrelated issue. Strange how policies change over a few months.

They rang me up to say the car is ready for collection, got a lift there to find they had cleaned the driver side of the car but not the passenger (I would rather them not clean it at all if they planned on doing half a job!)

Went in, got the keys and was told my rear tyres were on their legal limit and should be replaced asap. Well when I bought the car the rear tyres had 5mm of tread and i've done 1000 miles in it since I bought it so I thought that was odd. I checked them visually myself and yes they were correct they were illegal. Fair enough i'll change them.

Got in the car and turned the ignition to find 44 miles have been added to my odometer, odd I thought so I checked the average mpg consumption as I reset everything when I dropped it off. To find an average mpg of 14.2...

My car has been utterly thrashed by the dealership, I am contacting tracker today to see if they can tell me where the car has been over the last few days but don't think they can do that.

Responses and advise on where I am going with this would be appreciated, I also have an appointment with my solicitor later to see where I can go.

I should have not left the car park to be honest but I was in that much shock I didn't know what to do.

Thanks all,
An angry Audi owner.

 

[CHRIS555]

Really sorry to hear that mate - I'm in my early thirties and probably look a lot younger than I am and it's amazing how people treat you when they think your younger - the Nottingham Audi is perfect towards me yet Derby are a bunch of 9-5 nobs.

I would put in a formal complaint and ask them to explain, in writing, about the mileage and MPG and what exactly they have done to achieve this along witht he fact that the car was half cleaned and you now want a valeter to come to you (work/home) to do a proper job.

On a seperate note, I recently came across a young lady called Lisa who worked at Mercedes Benz in Loughborough, Leicestershire and she openly admitted that the customers cars are taken out and thrashed - the lads there boasted about it! And ther management didn't appear to be bothered - afterall they have targets to meet!

I'm in the process of fitting a new tracker which will enable me to see where what when etc my car is doing at the present and past times - i'm doing it through my business as it is a "business vehicle tracker" but I have allways been worried that should my car be stolen I would be relying on Tracker and the Police to go do 'their business but with this I WILL KNOW WHERE MY CAR IS!! And they can records speeds etc.

Don't let this go mate - you have a really nice car and I would be absolutley furious with them - it could be worth checking with another dealership what they would do if they had your car in with the same issues - it would be interesting to see if they would need a 40+ drive around......

 

[Yappy]

Go back in there and tell em the tyres are gonna be replaced on warranty because there shouldn't be wear on them yet you want laser line tracking done on it because quattros are bad for it and also just go mental at em about the milage and tell them you want some sort of compensation out of it but you ain't really got a leg to stand on because youve driven away from the forecourt without saying anything to them
I will say in there defence and being a mechanic you do have to test a car after you've worked on it to see if the fault will still come up or not so some times you have to drive them hard ish not down to that mpg and 40 miles is a bit ott see what you can do mate
Hope this helps mate Dan

 

[CHRIS555]

Tracking would be a good idea as above - I might go get mine done!

 

[jdp1962]

I agree broadly with what the others have said, but would suggest that when challenging the dealer you prioritise the issues and focus on the ones that really matter. Forget about the lack of a courtesy car. It's just that, a gesture of courtesy, and no more; the dealer isn't obliged to provide it as part of the warranty conditions. Similarly, the half-cleaned car is an annoyance, but let it go; ultimately, it isn't important when compared with the really big issue, which is the possible abuse of the car whilst in the dealer's hands.

Get your evidence in place first, i.e. via your Tracker data, and then whan you know for certain what has happened, make a formal complaint.

Do it that way, and you will come across as a credible, focussed, complainant with proof to back up your claim.

I deal with complaints for a living, and so many people with a legitimate beef lose their way because they throw everything into the mix, jump up and down and generally shout an awful lot.

 

[hades-]

1 mistake you made
you left the dealers you should have pulled them there and then
did you take pics or the miles b4 and after ?
or the half washed car ?
iv been through this and they will not admit it

 

[auroan]

**** me. 24 and an RS4 ? I'm in the wrong job.

 

[jb0o]

Road Hawk,

YouTube - Roadhawk car black box camera catches driver doing 125mph

 

[DaveyB]

Sorry to hear that you have had a sh#t time with the delaers.

I agree with Jeff, focus on the important issues here when you make your complaint. The courtesy car isn't a big deal compared to the info your on board computer is displaying, or the tyre limits maybe more importantly.

I didn't get a courtesy car from the dealer that I bought my S3 from when I had to send it back for a bit of warranty work on the interior bucket seat trim. Then I took it to a closer dealer recently as the heated elements failed and I did get a courtesy car this time. Even when I picked it up and drove it away 3 days later I still wasnt happy as part of the seat adjustment was broken and so I phoned up the dealer 9 am on the saturday morning and they were very apologetic and arranged a collection and delivery. Both times they washed and vaccumed the car, albeit it never being that dirty.

The point i'm trying to make is that it seems the delaership network is a little bit of a lottery, some good, great even and some not so good. If it were me i'd be raising heaven and earth until I was satisfied.

BTW i'm 26 - just because your young don't be treated any differently !

Good luck

Dave

 

[jaygeezer871]

Im sure someone will correct me if im wrong...
Have read it on here before, Being a Quattro the car should have been supplied with four(4) tyres of the same make.
If it came with say two Conti's and two Bridgestones then they have breached there own warranty/terms of sale and you could get them replaced free of charge.
Have a look, might save yourself a few pennies?

 

[PetrolAholic]

Tyres are Pirelli Pzero Rosso's all round. I always use Pirellis on all my cars.

I'm having my Solicitor put it in writing for me to head office about the service I have recieved. I agress with whats been said about courtesy car and lack of being cleaned as minor issues but posted my entire experience to give you all an idea of how I felt.

On a slight side note new tyres are ordered and are being fitted this afternoon, don't fancy 3 points per tyre if I get pulled over.

Tracker are currently collecting all the data and should have that emailed to me, they can show where the car was every 5 minutes when stationary and every 1 minute when moving so pretty accurate, can also show vehicle speed by average distance between points.

I don't think it's because of my age but to be honest I didn't really think about it like that.

Hopefully they will at least offer to pay something towards the tyre use.

Never had this problem with my SL55.

 

[Dane]

Never had this problem with my SL55.

Wow. I'm Definately in the wrong jobs lol.

Clear, concise and from a Solicitor is a good plan.

This sort of thing always worries me, I know its not quite the same but I think Tuffty runs his on actuator pressure only when he takes his s3 to a dealer, Obviously you don't have a turbo but it might be an idea to see if you can find a 'delivery mode' of sorts and activate it before leaving it with a dealer.

 

[DaveyB]

Sounds like your making pretty good progress with ironing out the issues.

Re. the age comment, I just don't think some people/dealers expect the slightly younger generations to be as attentive to detail as we are and on occasions I have managed to prove them very wrong indeed.

Certainly no stranger to well maintained good honest examples. I have to say on the SL front, I no longer use the dealerships - much prefer to trust the local specialists & family friends.

 

[Dane]

Certainly no stranger to well maintained good honest examples. I have to say on the SL front, I no longer use the dealerships - much prefer to trust the local specialists & family friends.

Yep no to dealerships here too, Badger 5 and thats it.

 

[PetrolAholic]

Update:

Getting a written apoligy from Audi uk for my service experienced, they are reimbursing me for all fuel used in "road testing" the vehicle and an explanation why the vehicle was driven hard. They cannot explain the tyre wear for the time the car spent with Audi however they are investigating and will notify when they come to a conclusion, no doubt discount off tyres if I purchase through dealership or something.

Just goes to show how it works if you put your full force into something.

 

[jaygeezer871]

You didnt say as much but seeing its an RS4 you think some little git from the dealership has been out joyriding in your car lighting up the rear tyres, hence they need replacing?

 

[pjmspeedy]

**** me. 24 and an RS4 ? I'm in the wrong job.

Never had this problem with my SL55.

I'd contact the Service Manager and ask him for an explanation as to why you have received such service and why the thought it was necessary to add those mails to your car! Then I'd go down the Solicitor route and tell him this is what your going to do.

Ok curious now........How much is your insurance on the RS4 and what was it on the SL55 ??

 

[PetrolAholic]

I'd contact the Service Manager and ask him for an explanation as to why you have received such service and why the thought it was necessary to add those mails to your car! Then I'd go down the Solicitor route and tell him this is what your going to do.

Ok curious now........How much is your insurance on the RS4 and what was it on the SL55 ??

Pretty much what I am doing...

Not wanting to start discussing money but insurance as you wanted to know for the RS4 is £880 and for the SL55 it's £1450... As it's a convertible it's higher. I still own both cars.

 

[PetrolAholic]

You didnt say as much but seeing its an RS4 you think some little git from the dealership has been out joyriding in your car lighting up the rear tyres, hence they need replacing?

I think that's precisely what's happened. Which is annoying.

 

[murran]

with reference to the the mpg.
what was the engine light on for? did they say what theyve done to fix it? depending on what it was, it might explain that lengthly test drive? say if it was a air/fuel adaption problem, theyve changed something, reset the adaptions and given it a good run to see if the adaptions stay where they should be. it takes time being driven for them to change.
also if they might not have given it a thrashing..... might have been a spirited test drive yes, but then it might have been left ticking over for half an hour or so. that would explain it if its been left ticking over for a while. ie using fuel but not actually going anywhere.
ive noticed this when doing an mot for example. dash might say 42mpg when i start a test but after 1/2 an hour of idling while im looking round it and then an emissions test, it'll say 22mpg afterwards.

not always black and white.