A good old fashioned dealer story...

[Tom Morgan]

Fellow Audi forummers, let me get this story off my chest

Took my S3 in for service couple weeks back, Also asked them to investigate fault with the steering wheel column. Clicking sound when turning left to right.

Came to pick up the car and they said that yes they were able to find the fault - needs a special lubricant ordered and I could bring in the car next week. 1-day job. They booked me in Friday (yesterday)

Happily brought the car in yesterday to be told that the job was three day job and that It required a master technician I didn’t have until the following week. As the car is out of warranty on Monday I insisted they keep the car and try and find me a courtesy car. Obviously the usual ‘went dont have any’ ‘oh yes we do if you insist hard enough’ rigmorale and three hours later sure enough I have a courtesy A1.

About 10 minutes after driving Out of the dealership in the courtesy car on comes the tire pressure light. Thought nothing of it at the time but sure enough I check this morning and the tire is flat.

Called the dealership this morning. Nothing they can do. So waited in two hours for roadside assist to come and plug the tire, now can’t drive the courtesy car over 50 for the duration of me having it and only 100 miles as well.

Pretty standard Audi calamity of errors!

 

[Audi Bairn]

Sorry to hear about your experience Tom.
Thankfully they're not all bad and I have one of the good ones in Stirling Audi.
Generally good service, decent discounts and price matching tyre fitting, hence the reason we've bought our last 8 consecutive cars from them and get all our servicing, tyre fitting etc done there.

 

[TYb]

Fellow Audi forummers, let me get this story off my chest

Took my S3 in for service couple weeks back, Also asked them to investigate fault with the steering wheel column. Clicking sound when turning left to right.

Came to pick up the car and they said that yes they were able to find the fault - needs a special lubricant ordered and I could bring in the car next week. 1-day job. They booked me in Friday (yesterday)

Happily brought the car in yesterday to be told that the job was three day job and that It required a master technician I didn’t have until the following week. As the car is out of warranty on Monday I insisted they keep the car and try and find me a courtesy car. Obviously the usual ‘went dont have any’ ‘oh yes we do if you insist hard enough’ rigmorale and three hours later sure enough I have a courtesy A1.

About 10 minutes after driving Out of the dealership in the courtesy car on comes the tire pressure light. Thought nothing of it at the time but sure enough I check this morning and the tire is flat.

Called the dealership this morning. Nothing they can do. So waited in two hours for roadside assist to come and plug the tire, now can’t drive the courtesy car over 50 for the duration of me having it and only 100 miles as well.

Pretty standard Audi calamity of errors!

To be fair you can’t really blame them for the tire issue if it happened after leaving the dealership.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Hmm, on your dealership " a special lubricant" that sounds bogus to begin with. Three days means disassembly of the steering rack and other parts I would assume.

 

[Tom Morgan]

Yeah you’re both right. Rant over.

To their credit they are a good dealership, just daft that they got all the timings wrong.

 

[TYb]

Yeah you’re both right. Rant over.

To their credit they are a good dealership, just daft that they got all the timings wrong.

We all like a rant mate, glad it’s sorted

 

[dadracer55]

Sorry to hear about your experience Tom.
Thankfully they're not all bad and I have one of the good ones in Stirling Audi.
Generally good service, decent discounts and price matching tyre fitting, hence the reason we've bought our last 8 consecutive cars from them and get all our servicing, tyre fitting etc done there.

Ha yes Stirling Audi. Both the S3s I have had came from them. I'm not sure if being part of the Lookers group will be a positive thing or not.

 

[Audi Bairn]

Ha yes Stirling Audi. Both the S3s I have had came from them. I'm not sure if being part of the Lookers group will be a positive thing or not.

Yeah I suppose time will tell.
So far so good though, that's well over a year now.

 

[Shortyian]

Fellow Audi forummers, let me get this story off my chest

Took my S3 in for service couple weeks back, Also asked them to investigate fault with the steering wheel column. Clicking sound when turning left to right.

Came to pick up the car and they said that yes they were able to find the fault - needs a special lubricant ordered and I could bring in the car next week. 1-day job. They booked me in Friday (yesterday)

Happily brought the car in yesterday to be told that the job was three day job and that It required a master technician I didn’t have until the following week. As the car is out of warranty on Monday I insisted they keep the car and try and find me a courtesy car. Obviously the usual ‘went dont have any’ ‘oh yes we do if you insist hard enough’ rigmorale and three hours later sure enough I have a courtesy A1.

About 10 minutes after driving Out of the dealership in the courtesy car on comes the tire pressure light. Thought nothing of it at the time but sure enough I check this morning and the tire is flat.

Called the dealership this morning. Nothing they can do. So waited in two hours for roadside assist to come and plug the tire, now can’t drive the courtesy car over 50 for the duration of me having it and only 100 miles as well.

Pretty standard Audi calamity of errors!

Be interesting to find out more about the Clicking sound when turning left to right. Mine does this also but I've just learned to live with it!

 

[Tom Morgan]

Be interesting to find out more about the Clicking sound when turning left to right. Mine does this also but I've just learned to live with it!

Afraid I can’t help you there, as despite having picked up the car after three days in the workshop... the problem is still there!

So like you I’ll learn to live with it. But it is ****** weird that they should find a fault, spend 3 days ‘fixing it’ and then it’s still there when you pick it up.

 

[Mark_86]

I had a clicking sound coming from mine a while back (when it was just over a month old) and ended up needing a new steering rack. They didn't say what the fault was, just that it needed replacing. A few others on here have had racks replaced aswell. I thought it was the drive shafts clicking... either way, it shouldn't be making a noise that that.

 

[Tom Morgan]

I had a clicking sound coming from mine a while back (when it was just over a month old) and ended up needing a new steering rack. They didn't say what the fault was, just that it needed replacing. A few others on here have had racks replaced aswell. I thought it was the drive shafts clicking... either way, it shouldn't be making a noise that that.

Hmm interesting. So it’s out of warranty in six days. Should I push for a further diagnosis and replacement of steering rack?

 

[Mark_86]

Hmm interesting. So it’s out of warranty in six days. Should I push for a further diagnosis and replacement of steering rack?

In a word, Yes.

Honestly, it's not a normal thing. Sounds like a stone in a tyre clicking on the tarmac? I'd want an assurance from them, in writing that if they claim they cannot find anything, and then 6 months later the rack goes, they will replace it FOC in labour.

 

[Tom Morgan]

Thank you. Yes that's exactly what it sounds like. It's nauseating! As it goes I'll probably be taking out the extended warranty - but it strikes me as mad that they would release a car from their workshop without even testing it to see if the problem is even fixed

 

[Mark_86]

Thank you. Yes that's exactly what it sounds like. It's nauseating! As it goes I'll probably be taking out the extended warranty - but it strikes me as mad that they would release a car from their workshop without even testing it to see if the problem is even fixed

It's not unusual. They're a pain the backside sometimes... either lazy or incompetent is upto people to decide. I had an error code flag up on @DJAlix 's computer when he was sorting my mag-ride out... he gave me all the info and I went into Audi and they couldn't find the error code - which I think is utter BS from Audi. Anyway, they've probably wiped the error from the ECU now...

 

[DJAlix]

It's not unusual. They're a pain the backside sometimes... either lazy or incompetent is upto people to decide. I had an error code flag up on @DJAlix 's computer when he was sorting my mag-ride out... he gave me all the info and I went into Audi and they couldn't find the error code - which I think is utter BS from Audi. Anyway, they've probably wiped the error from the ECU now...

Lol that’s typical of Audi these days and very interesting as I use the same software Audi main dealers do. It’s all BS.

 

[Mark_86]

Lol that’s typical of Audi these days and very interesting as I use the same software Audi main dealers do. It’s all BS.

Yeah I know mate, I'm not impressed with them tbh. Considering using another deal for comparison...

 

[Pinky1959]

If your warranty runs out soon and they have not fixed the car get right back to the garage and speak to the main manager , state you are not happy and they will be keeping the car and giving you a good courtesy car till a technician from Audi comes out to see what the problem is and you want it in writing as well and ask what exactly they tried to do to fix the car ....
Thats what I would do ......

 

[Tom Morgan]

If your warranty runs out soon and they have not fixed the car get right back to the garage and speak to the main manager , state you are not happy and they will be keeping the car and giving you a good courtesy car till a technician from Audi comes out to see what the problem is and you want it in writing as well and ask what exactly they tried to do to fix the car ....
Thats what I would do ......

Ha - I went for the slightly friendlier option of bringing it in in Jan under the assurance that it will be covered...!