The guy on the phone was very apologetic on their behalf, blamed them for the situation and also wasn't happy with how they dealt with me yesterday so it seems Audi UK are on my side here
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The guy on the phone was very apologetic on their behalf, blamed them for the situation and also wasn't happy with how they dealt with me yesterday so it seems Audi UK are on my side here
Knowing the manager i am dealing with, since he knows theres no way i'll pay for the gearbox, he actually will cancel the order.
Remember when dealing with dealers that they are franchises. Separate from Audi UK....although closely linked obviously.
Some are good, some are ok, some are cr@p.
Audi UK are very keen on looking after their brand/image.
The dealers are mostly keen on trying to make money.
Some are good, some are ok, some are cr@p.
Audi UK are very keen on looking after their brand/image.
The dealers are mostly keen on trying to make money.
The dealership i have been dealing with has been the Sytner Group who you would expect more from considering the amount of brands in their control. If this cant be resolved then I'll go to the 2nd closest dealership which is run by Spire
If I were you, I would go through a car broker. You end up dealing with an Audi dealer anyway but the deal is done and upfront. When you said they wouldn't give you a test drive without someone accompanying you, that is when I would have walked. We normally take a car for a day or two as it is a lot of money to spend on a short test drive.
They said they don't provide that service and they can't source a car which was my original spec. It's looking like it won't be resolved because honestly the manager I was dealing with is just ridiculously stubborn and acts like a know it all which just annoys me
It may be painful, but I would walk away. I wouldn't line the pockets of anybody with an attitude like this.
Speak to Audi UK and ask them to honour your original deal at another nearby dealer?
Speak to Audi UK and ask them to honour your original deal at another nearby dealer?
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I may just have to walk away as i was told i would 100% be contacted the following day (Friday) and not even an email from them, I'm going to call the dealership in a bit and see if they even have done anything since me going in on Thursday
Mayfair Audi (on Picadilly) is actually a satellite office of Slough Audi. I've ordered a car from them too.
So far though, the process has been smooth, and given the discount I got, I'd currently recommend them. I shall watch this saga with interest though, and may even mention it as a concern on my order when I speak with them on Monday.
If I were in your shoes their failure to deliver would probably result in my walking away on sheer principle and heading over to another dealer instead, but then I'm the sort of person who will happily leave a weeks shopping in the aisles at Tesco if they won't honour the "one-in-front" policy and go to Asda instead. You are under absolutely no obligation whatsoever to buy the car, as they have failed to deliver the agreed specification. A lady called Tina at Coulsden Audi came within a whisker of the price I got from Mayfair Audi, and would probably have matched it without much effort on my part. They are part of the SG Smith group.
If it were me I'd leave leave them to ponder a simple choice. Make good on the promise you made to me, either by providing the car I ordered or discounting the one they ordered to the same price, or I walk away now, order from another dealer, and pursue the difference in price from Sytner in the small claims court. They need to know that you walking away is not the last they'll be seeing of you. There is no "happy ending with no loss", and one way or another, they will be paying to put this **** up right.
Remove the option of them "getting away with it" and see if their attitude shifts.
So far though, the process has been smooth, and given the discount I got, I'd currently recommend them. I shall watch this saga with interest though, and may even mention it as a concern on my order when I speak with them on Monday.
If I were in your shoes their failure to deliver would probably result in my walking away on sheer principle and heading over to another dealer instead, but then I'm the sort of person who will happily leave a weeks shopping in the aisles at Tesco if they won't honour the "one-in-front" policy and go to Asda instead. You are under absolutely no obligation whatsoever to buy the car, as they have failed to deliver the agreed specification. A lady called Tina at Coulsden Audi came within a whisker of the price I got from Mayfair Audi, and would probably have matched it without much effort on my part. They are part of the SG Smith group.
If it were me I'd leave leave them to ponder a simple choice. Make good on the promise you made to me, either by providing the car I ordered or discounting the one they ordered to the same price, or I walk away now, order from another dealer, and pursue the difference in price from Sytner in the small claims court. They need to know that you walking away is not the last they'll be seeing of you. There is no "happy ending with no loss", and one way or another, they will be paying to put this **** up right.
Remove the option of them "getting away with it" and see if their attitude shifts.
A lovely lady by the name of Dee who answers all of Mayfair Audi's Carwow requests, although she seems to be based in the Slough office. Again, my own experiences with them don't echo your own, Dee has been brilliant so far. She's friendly, professional, a pleasure to talk to and a credit to her employers. My own experience differs so greatly from yours I wondered if we talking about the same dealer.
My experiences with main dealers have usually been good. In fact I've only come across two who I'd say we're shockingly bad when it came to poor service before I'd taken delivery (although plenty fall out of favour once they've had their pound of flesh and hand over to the service dept!).
One was a Toyota dealer who I bought a brand new MR2 from about 15 years ago. They did fine in the end, but it was disappointing to have to remind them of their obligations when they discovered a critical fault on the new car come delivery day. I'd had to get a bus (ugh) to the dealership, only to be told when I arrived that I couldn't have the car yet as there was a fault in the paintwork and I'd have to come back another day.
A short lesson in customer care later and I recieved a poverty spec fiat panda courtesy car for the duration of the repair.
A second, shorter, louder and slightly more succinct lesson in customer care, responsibility and ownership of problems resulted in the panda being hurriedly removed and a top of the range Toyota something-or-other appearing instead, along with a written agreement that the new car would be professionally resprayed, then independently quality checked by an engineer of my choosing at their expense. Acceptance of the repair was down to me and me alone. If it wasn't up to spec, the car would be rejected.
The car when returned had a paint job so gloriously lustrous that it looked like it had been sprayed in Crewe!
The salesman has the power to make or break the customers relationship with the brand for a lifetime, but in this case it appears a desire to cover ***** and avoid the additional expense of two consecutive ****-ups is clouding judgement. I'd be insisting in speaking with the dealer principle and not the sales person who's lack of care, quality and/or competence has caused this issue, and asking him if this is the impression he wants his premium brand, premium location, premium reputation dealership to leave on its customers, and if so, how does he expect to get any repeat business?
You might also want to air your problem (impartially and without accusation and conflict - leave them room to fix the issue and "save face") on a public forum like Twitter. Very powerful tool for problem resolution.
My experiences with main dealers have usually been good. In fact I've only come across two who I'd say we're shockingly bad when it came to poor service before I'd taken delivery (although plenty fall out of favour once they've had their pound of flesh and hand over to the service dept!).
One was a Toyota dealer who I bought a brand new MR2 from about 15 years ago. They did fine in the end, but it was disappointing to have to remind them of their obligations when they discovered a critical fault on the new car come delivery day. I'd had to get a bus (ugh) to the dealership, only to be told when I arrived that I couldn't have the car yet as there was a fault in the paintwork and I'd have to come back another day.
A short lesson in customer care later and I recieved a poverty spec fiat panda courtesy car for the duration of the repair.
A second, shorter, louder and slightly more succinct lesson in customer care, responsibility and ownership of problems resulted in the panda being hurriedly removed and a top of the range Toyota something-or-other appearing instead, along with a written agreement that the new car would be professionally resprayed, then independently quality checked by an engineer of my choosing at their expense. Acceptance of the repair was down to me and me alone. If it wasn't up to spec, the car would be rejected.
The car when returned had a paint job so gloriously lustrous that it looked like it had been sprayed in Crewe!
The salesman has the power to make or break the customers relationship with the brand for a lifetime, but in this case it appears a desire to cover ***** and avoid the additional expense of two consecutive ****-ups is clouding judgement. I'd be insisting in speaking with the dealer principle and not the sales person who's lack of care, quality and/or competence has caused this issue, and asking him if this is the impression he wants his premium brand, premium location, premium reputation dealership to leave on its customers, and if so, how does he expect to get any repeat business?
You might also want to air your problem (impartially and without accusation and conflict - leave them room to fix the issue and "save face") on a public forum like Twitter. Very powerful tool for problem resolution.
They messed your order up twice, expect you to pay more for their mistakes, arrogant staff and then to rub salt into the wound they don't call you back when they should! I'd be telling them to stick the order and I'd go to another dealership (keeping Audi UK in the loop).
I got Audi UK involved when I was miffed with something, they couldn't do enough and I even felt that they were just as miffed as me lol. As a sorry they gave me a brand new R8 for the day with a full tank of fuel
PS: How uncanny, I thought I wonder if this person is young and that's why they are taking the p***! I've just looked at your age, I bet they are treating you like this because you're a young person (no disrespect meant by that), I bet they wouldn't do it to most of us...it's just wrong to treat people differently because of age/appearance.
Edit* This is so wrong, from a business point of view with you being a young person they should be treating you like royalty, they should be making you want to buy Audi after Audi after Audi, not be pushing you away to another brand because you have had a bad first experience. I'd contact Audi UK again and put this point across, say that you are a young person with a lot of future cars to buy and this first Audi buying experience isn't a good one and that you are now thinking of looking at BMW.
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It could be that a certain lack of due respect is in play due to the OP's age, but I suspect it's more a case of **** covering due to the compound errors. This is after all Mayfair, the heart of Londons "rich-bit", the nations most expensive real estate, and consequently with the worlds most demanding and expectant customers. I imagine standards for everything from dress, language, etiquette, and even cultural awareness are very-very high, and mistakes like this are probably career limiting.
(Note: there is one other car dealer of note on Piccadilly. Given the customer base in this part of London (it's directly opposite Fortnum & Mason) no-one can work out why it's there. You can't even buy a car there, but you can wander in and re-live 1995 as you sit in an old MG-F. You can't buy one of those either, but if you then go to Basildon you can buy yourself an MG-3. £8.5k's worth of shoddily built laughable Chinese hatchback...)
(Note: there is one other car dealer of note on Piccadilly. Given the customer base in this part of London (it's directly opposite Fortnum & Mason) no-one can work out why it's there. You can't even buy a car there, but you can wander in and re-live 1995 as you sit in an old MG-F. You can't buy one of those either, but if you then go to Basildon you can buy yourself an MG-3. £8.5k's worth of shoddily built laughable Chinese hatchback...)
Little update for everyone, just got off the phone with the saleswomen and she says her manager wont budge on price at all, told her to refund my deposit and now im torn with either going to a different Audi dealership or getting another brand such as a Merc CLA or a BMW 2 Series. I honestly due believe its due to my age as i had emails gone unanswered, and just a general lack of respect from the managers who i felt always looked down on me. I'm about to call Audi UK and update them with what has gone on.
Good on you, take your business elsewhere and let us know what Audi UK say. Don't let one experience put you off Audi though, they are great cars. I bought Audi after sending two emails to BMW with the spec I wanted and asking "When is the best time to come in and order?"....they never answered either email!!!
I don't think I'd have let them off the hook quite so easily, but as stated, I'm a stubborn *******.
Still, move on, learn from the experience, and decide if you still fancy Audi. If so, then as suggested, give Tina Filton at Coulsden a ring. She offered me the next highest level of discount without going to Coventry or Liverpool, and I got a good feeling about her. Failing that, buy the BMW. Don't buy the Mercedes though. They're awful.
Use your quote from Mayfair as a starting point. Email it to her, if you want you can tell her Sytner failed to order the right car twice (everyone likes to know they've taken a customer from the opposition), and ask her to beat it...
Still, move on, learn from the experience, and decide if you still fancy Audi. If so, then as suggested, give Tina Filton at Coulsden a ring. She offered me the next highest level of discount without going to Coventry or Liverpool, and I got a good feeling about her. Failing that, buy the BMW. Don't buy the Mercedes though. They're awful.
Use your quote from Mayfair as a starting point. Email it to her, if you want you can tell her Sytner failed to order the right car twice (everyone likes to know they've taken a customer from the opposition), and ask her to beat it...
I'd cancel. I owned an stronic a3 for 5 years and grew to hate the gearbox with a passion (I won't go into why as this thread will take a turn for the worse ). Lots of people love them, but not everyone. It's a very different car with an stronic so make sure you are comfortable with the gearbox before agreeing to anything.
). Lots of people love them, but not everyone. It's a very different car with an stronic so make sure you are comfortable with the gearbox before agreeing to anything.Just got off the phone with Finchley Road Audi who is owned by Spire. They contacted me after Audi UK contacted them and told them the situation. Audi UK really apologise and the manager of the complaints centre is going to contact me on Monday and i told them there could possibly be discrimination due to my age and they were certainly shocked that something like that could take place. Things are looking promising, if the numbers are good with this dealership then i will still purchase an A3, if not then i have my eyes on a 2 Series
G--Man
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Sounds like you're on the right path. I can see how age may be factor in their mistreatment of you and that is totally unacceptable. If Audi UK are involved and helping you source a deal elsewhere then I can't see you not getting the deal you deserve. I just hope you get your deposit back as this will ultimately be the decision of the dealership.
I made sure to get the deposit back, if they tried not refunding over a grand I would have gone mental
Exactly, never too young to have money and be respected
Examples from the past few months:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35192359
http://www.businessinsider.com/this...he-has-a-message-for-fellow-teens-2014-3?IR=T
Quick little update, dealing with Spire Audi at Finchley Road and honestly the salesman is the kindest person i've dealt with but it now turns out placing the order now will take around 4 months and i will be receiving the facelift model
He said it would be the facelift and as for numbers, just waiting for the email. We agreed to sort this out over email for the majority and then i would go in to put down the deposit etc
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That's good news mate..Well done for sticking your ground...Are you going to stay with your original spec or are you going to go for pan roof and Stronic?...Might be worthwhile hinting on the phone on Monday for some sort of discount/freebie unless of course they already have that in mind..Good luck and let us all know how it goes...
He asked me over email what sort of numbers i wanted and i bluntly told him the discount i got at Audi City which i believe was close to 13%, and as for spec, decided to leave out sunroof as its a 3dr, personally believe its more useful on the SB. Heres my Config Code if you want to check it out. AM3K581Q
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Good news mate and it will be well worth the wait! I just wish Audi would confirm the details of the new facelift model as it all feels very speculative at the moment.
After some sleuthing on Google, saw some pics of it being tested, the saloon version and the HB. Improvements seem to be the new grill style seen on Q7 and A4, also headlights seem different as well as rear lights. and considering the pattern design thingy which they have only done on the front and rear end, expect new style bumpers. Bare in mind the models they were testing didn't seem like S Line so im curious what the new bodykit will look like
Glad things seem to going the right way for you now.
The age thing is a tricky one. It could prove hard to back up discrimination.
I wouldn't let them off with this though.
The age thing is a tricky one. It could prove hard to back up discrimination.
I wouldn't let them off with this though.
I think that they will throw some new style alloys on as well...new alloys on any car make a big difference.
Just hope price doesnt increase too much as the numbers are going to be agreed from now, dont want the car to come out more expensive which will force the dealer to recalculate
