Anyone else experience the dreadful Audi customer service

[royalsteve68]

Remind me NOT to buy another Audi.

Absolutely appalling customer service.

Summary

My car went into an approved Audi repairer and now its stuck there thanks to Sytnerdrive, Audi insurance, Audi, and the approved repairer who are doing sweet FA to resolve it because they stupidly presume its my fault, when it ISNT!!!

Its been there for 9 days with NO resolution in sight because no one gives a damn.


Detail Info

3rd March - Accident occurred. Reported the accident to Audi Insurance (wish I hadn't now but a legal requirement!!) as was insured with them at the time. They logged the accident but I havent heard anything from them since.

7th March - Sytnerdrive called and said they could manage everything. So I agreed and signed all the paperwork online as requested. I arranged to meet their approved repairer's accident assessor at Audi dealer on the 11th March

11th March - Met the assessor and arranged for the repair and hire car through via Sytnerdrive and to meet at Audi dealer on 18th March

18th March - As agreed
a) dropped my car off at Audi dealer on 18th March for them to take the car to their approved repairer
b) picked up hire car - arranged via sytnerdrive

26th March - called sytnerdrive to check progress - left a message. I then called the repairer direct and was shocked to discover that the car had been sat their doing NOTHING and waiting for someone to authorise the repair - WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of calls and still loads of confusion

27th March - Called sytnerdrive using their telephone number, confusingly this is Albany Assist. They asked me to call the dealer and the dealer asked me to call Albany.

28th March - still no progress with everyone blaming each other and me the customer, because they assume I started it. Morons
So, basically what happened was that the hire car was sourced via sytnerdrive and Audi Insurance (who don't communicate with anyone!!) have been trying to sort the repair and this has meant that noone is doing anyone they are blaming each other and me. Brilliant!!


Conclusions

The best bit is that sytnerdrive and Audi insurance use the SAME hire car company AND repairer!!

Now I will have to wait at least another 7 days due to sheer incompetence. I am fuming. Have these people not heard of communication, you know eg phone call, email - there is no excuse these days!!!

I am staggered at the abysmal level of customer service, especially for a £40K car.

I was going to buy the wife an A1 sportback, possibly the s1 version. I'd say this is unlikely now after this experience so Audi have almost certainly just lost £25-30K.

Additionally I have reported this to Audi UK and I have made things crystal clear that if a resolution isn't found by 4th April, I will be returning the car that I cant see or drive at the moment for a full refund.

This Audi experience so far really sucks.

 

[h5djr]

That level of service is just not acceptable but the problem is more with that particular dealer than with Audi in general.

I must say that I have been purchasing new Audi's for 16 years and have never had cause for complaint but they have all been purchased from the same dealer who seems to put value on good customer service. Sytnerdrive obviously don't. I have never had any dealings with Audi Insurance so I cannot comment on them.

 

[royalsteve68]

That level of service is just not acceptable but the problem is more with that particular dealer than with Audi in general.

I must say that I have been purchasing new Audi's for 16 years and have never had cause for complaint but they have all been purchased from the same dealer who seems to put value on good customer service. Sytnerdrive obviously don't. I have never had any dealings with Audi Insurance so I cannot comment on them.

The dealer isn't helping at all now. I have raised the issue with Audi UK as I am fed up speaking to the Service Manager who clearly doesn't care.

He thinks its my fault (I soon sternly corrected him). He assumed I requested that Audi insurance and Sytnerdrive manage the claims.

In fact, I only reported the accident to Audi Insurance (legal requirement) and I have no phone calls or emails from them since. Sytnerdrive called me 4 days later and I agreed they could manage the claim. As far as I was concerned they were the only company managing the claim. After all that's what they advertise - a sytner version of audi ensurance.

Confusingly if you call sytnerdrive you get through to albany assist, who then ask you to call the dealer.....confused? you bet

The biggest joke is that the hire car company and approved repairer are the SAME, its just a fight over who is paying Noone is sorting it out and no one is even speaking to each other. Basically its just stuff the customer

 

[h5djr]

I wish I went with Epsom Audi now as they seemed decent

It's always easy to be wise with hindsight. If I ever had bad service from a dealer it would not put me off buying another Audi but I would certainly not go back to the same dealer.

 

[rams_s3]

I'm having a nightmare with Huddersfield audi which is a sytner aswel, took the complaint to audi uk hoping to get some answers soon. Been waiting for a part for my car for some warranty work for 7 weeks, 5 weeks longer than I was told and until yesterday didn't hear a peep from them about its whereabouts, and that's the tip of the iceberg!

 

[royalsteve68]

It's always easy to be wise with hindsight. If I ever had bad service from a dealer it would not put me off buying another Audi but I would certainly not go back to the same dealer.

maybe true but this is my first audi and my experience so far has been very poor. Mercedes wasn't any better. Peugeot were mostly good though

 

[royalsteve68]

I'm having a nightmare with Huddersfield audi which is a sytner aswel, took the complaint to audi uk hoping to get some answers soon. Been waiting for a part for my car for some warranty work for 7 weeks, 5 weeks longer than I was told and until yesterday didn't hear a peep from them about its whereabouts, and that's the tip of the iceberg!

they only care about the sales and they don't given a damn about after care service.....sure they are there to sell but thats a bit short sighted and short term thinking - what about repeat customers

 

[royalsteve68]

its my fault anyway as id previously reported the dealer to audi uk as on 3 occasions they served other customers who turn up after me in their audi or bmw because i presume they thought i was too poor to buy an Audi

I had turned up in either a 11 year old Peugeot, 15 year old fiesta or 7 year old merc a class. In response to the complaint, the dealer's director invited me in (probably to see what tosser i was,lol).

I advised him that i felt i was overlooked for my reason above, he obviously disagreed but apologised if i felt like that. I said you should never judge a book by its cover as i could afford several r8's if i wanted - but i chose not to

Anyway i gave them a 2nd chance and they were ok (obviously after the money). The salesmen i dealt with were great to be fair

Anyway i guess gut instinct was probably trying to tell me something....live and learn

Epsom Audi were great, very relaxed and not pressurised like my local dealer - id use them despite being 40+ miles away

 

[0B1001001]

its my fault anyway as id previously reported the dealer to audi uk as on 3 occasions they served other customers who turn up after me in their audi or bmw because i presume they thought i was too poor to buy an Audi

I had turned up in either a 11 year old Peugeot, 15 year old fiesta or 7 year old merc a class. In response to the complaint, the dealer's director invited me in (probably to see what tosser i was,lol).

I advised him that i felt i was overlooked for my reason above, he obviously disagreed but apologised if i felt like that. I said you should never judge a book by its cover as i could afford several r8's if i wanted - but i chose not to

Anyway i gave them a 2nd chance and they were ok (obviously after the money). The salesmen i dealt with were great to be fair

Anyway i guess gut instinct was probably trying to tell me something....live and learn

Epsom Audi were great, very relaxed and not pressurised like my local dealer - id use them despite being 40+ miles away

I had alarm bells straight away at Reading Audi - any dealership that only offers accompanied test drives I won't buy from, so they lost a sale because of that (if they think the way someone dresses and the car they turn up in is related to their ability to buy a car, they are idiots).

Sorry to hear you're having such problems, not what you need.

 

[Dan the man]

Your problem lies with Albany assist, my mate had his car accident dealt with by them and the trouble he has had is extraordinary.
His accident was in his two week old Skoda VRS, that was New Year's Eve, he is still waiting for his car back.
Albany assist have even tried to stop his hire car on only a projected date of repair for his, even tho it's still in the shop.
Just terrible.

 

[Palacemads3]

I'm having a nightmare with Huddersfield audi which is a sytner aswel, took the complaint to audi uk hoping to get some answers soon. Been waiting for a part for my car for some warranty work for 7 weeks, 5 weeks longer than I was told and until yesterday didn't hear a peep from them about its whereabouts, and that's the tip of the iceberg!

I'm not totally surprised by your problems with Huddersfield audi. I really wasn't impressed with them when I was looking to buy in December. I just never got the impression they actually were bothered about me buying a car. I ended up going to Leeds and the experience was totally different. From day 1 I felt the salesman wanted to sell me a car and I actually felt reassured about being a repeat customer. I head one of the head guys to come down to talk to me and they constantly kept stressing they wanted me to buy my next car from them too. Was much more what I expected from audi.

 

[SJC]

I have recently spoken to a few dealers throughout the uk and I would agree Leeds Audi were good. As they listened to myself and also were interested in what I had to say. Even when I was just discussing things with the salesman over the telephone.

I ended up dealing with another dealership in the end, but the lady I spoke to was happy to recive feedback and did not snub me compaired to other salespeople who contacted me after I made the deal.

I will defo give them a call again in the future when considering my next car for this reason.

 

[CraigI]

Audi service is worse than many other cars I've had. The best being Honda I think.
Just keep my fingers crossed I don't need to use them for anything other than the service plan.

 

[h5djr]

Audi service is worse than many other cars I've had. The best being Honda I think.
Just keep my fingers crossed I don't need to use them for anything other than the service plan.

Whilst looking to purchase my latest 8V I was in contact with several Audi dealers. Audi Huntingdon, Audi King Lynn, Audi Northampton and Audi Tamworth were all very good and professional at dealing with me as a customer. Audi Milton Keynes let me down by providing the wrong car for a test drive. Audi Huntingdon and Audi Kings Lynn both offered the best deals and as Audi Huntingdon are my local dealer and I have so far purchased eight other A3s from them I went with them.

 

[CraigI]

Whilst looking to purchase my latest 8V I was in contact with several Audi dealers. Audi Huntingdon, Audi King Lynn, Audi Northampton and Audi Tamworth were all very good and professional at dealing with me as a customer. Audi Milton Keynes let me down by providing the wrong car for a test drive. Audi Huntingdon and Audi Kings Lynn both offered the best deals and as Audi Huntingdon are my local dealer and I have so far purchased eight other A3s from them I went with them.

Servicing and sales are very different beasts in my experience.
Audi sales is very good. Audi service is not.

 

[h5djr]

Servicing and sales are very different beasts in my experience.
Audi sales is very good. Audi service is not.

The only dealer I have any experience of from a servicing point of view is Huntingdon Audi and they have never given me any problems or cause for complaint.

 

[royalsteve68]

Well phoned sytnerdrive again today and spoke to someone with a brain. I complained that every time I phoned their 0845 number they requested I speak to Reading audi, whom asked me to speak to sytnerdrive. Every time I call the sytnerdrive number confusingly they answer it as Albany assist - have they not heard of IP contact centre, honestly what a joke!!

So the lady I spoke to said the reason for the delay seems to be that the repair is waiting for authorisation. To get authorisation thet need an engineers report from the repairer.

WTF! The assessment by the repairer took place on 11th March. My car was booked in and dropped off on 18th March. She was confused as well as I shouldn't have been able to book it in at the repairers and I wouldn't have got a hire car from Albany assist if it wasn't authorised!!

3 weeks to complete an authorisation - don't care on their workload, I am in the wrong job!

 

[h5djr]

The only experience I've had of a bodywork repair on an A3 was on my previous A3. I managed to catch the front bumper on a low bollard at the RSPB HQ where I volunteer. I went direct to a company who I know are an Audi Approved repairer and asked for a quote and said I would almost certainly put it through my insurance. The following day I received the quote and telephoned them the same day to ask them to get my insurers approval to go ahead. They emailed 4 days later to say they had sent photographs of the damage to the assessor and had received the go ahead. The car was booked in 5 days later for the work to be done and was there 6 days. My insurer at the time was SAGA.

 

[royalsteve68]

The only experience I've had of a bodywork repair on an A3 was on my previous A3. I managed to catch the front bumper on a low bollard at the RSPB HQ where I volunteer. I went direct to a company who I know are an Audi Approved repairer and asked for a quote and said I would almost certainly put it through my insurance. The following day I received the quote and telephoned them the same day to ask them to get my insurers approval to go ahead. They emailed 4 days later to say they had sent photographs of the damage to the assessor and had received the go ahead. The car was booked in 5 days later for the work to be done and was there 6 days. My insurer at the time was SAGA.

Pretty much what I have done. I spoke to the repairer and photo and assessment was done on 11th march.

I don't have time mess about as far too busy and I was fed up dealing with so many people (felt like I needed a call centre as in 2 hours on one day I had 27 voicemails plus 7 calls) so went via sytnerdrive. Signed some online paperwork with sytnerdrive for car/repair

Arranged via sytnerdive for car to be dropped off at repairers on 18th march

Dropped the car off /picked up hire car as agreed on 18th march

The lady I spoke to at sytnerdrive today was as confused as me as I have a hire car from them which would only be provided if the repair was authorised. However it seems the repair hasn't been authorised, despite being told the opposite.

Today, I have double checked with Audi insurance and they have confirmed that they are not doing anything with my claim. So the fingers are pointing firmly at sytnerdrive/Albany Assist (I also blame the sytner dealer).

Total shambles and I have done nothing wrong

 

[royalsteve68]

interestingly, I saw a red audi with roof rails in my rear view mirror yesterday......

 

[pluves1]

Bit late to the party on this one!

Seems like your issue is with the claims management company and not really the Audi dealer (although I appreciate the it might be branded Sytner). I had a similar issue and used the sticker that was on my windscreen thinking this 'claims management' company was the best thing to do - first mistake as you have learned. If I were in your shoes I would contact Sytner Drive - you say you signed paperwork so get in touch with where that came from and ask what the hell they are doing. I appreciate you don't seem to have had much luck here but, they should really be your only point of contact. Ask them why you have had the problems above and if you don't get a response within 24 hours (working day) you will be contacting Audi Insurance to notify them that the 'claims management' company isn't managing your claim and what you need to do to get your car repaired (this will mean you have to do the work - a lot of which has already been done).
If you have the repair quote or if the Audi dealer has this via the assessor then get that forwarded to Audi Insurance and ask for authorisation.
Sorry to hear you've been going round in circles but, I lay the blame squarely at Sytner Drive and nowhere else at the moment as the dealer will have his hand tied (he can't repair till authorised) and Audi Insurance will be waiting on Sytner Drive.

I complained about the company that was meant to have handled my claim. They were a firm of solicitors who were only interested in what injuries I'd suffered as a result of my non fault accident.

 

[pluves1]

Update
This is cut and pasted from elsewhere which explains the connection between Sytnerdrive and Albany.

Sytner Drive will be credit hire. It is organised through Helphire/Albany.

The main dealer will be taking a referral fee for passing your details to Helphire / Albany, probably in the region of £200.

There are many pros and cons when using credit hire or credit repair, a quick search of Helphire or Albany on here will provide a good insight.

Although don't think for one minute that either your insurer or the other parties insurer have your best interests at heart. Both credit hire companies and insurance companies are businesses out to make money.

Insurance companies will make more money if they repair your car as cheaply as they can. How do they do this? they will repair panels with filler rather than pay for replacement parts. If they do replace parts they will instruct the garage to fit non genuine parts (or non OE). In short they will cut as many corners as possible to save on the overall cost of repair.

My advice, don't use Sytner Drive but do use the main dealer for the repair, make sure you know what they will replace and what they will repair. Finally make sure they use genuine manufacturer parts.

For a replacement vehicle, you can ask the dealer to provide you with a courtesy car (Free) or ask the other sides insurer to pay for a hire vehicle whilst your car is being repaired.

So this confirms that your 'contract' is now with Sytnerdrive to manage the claim. Let us know how you get on.

 

[smk82]

I had alarm bells straight away at Reading Audi - any dealership that only offers accompanied test drives I won't buy from, so they lost a sale because of that (if they think the way someone dresses and the car they turn up in is related to their ability to buy a car, they are idiots).

Sorry to hear you're having such problems, not what you need.

I'd agree with that regards the sales side of Reading Audi. I'd been servicing my previous car there (TT) for 5 years, and not had a problem. When I called their sales side to enquire about a possible deal on a new A3 was told that there was no deals possible at all. Strange considering I went with Guildford Audi and a 8.3% discount!. Their service side is normally fairly good though.

I would agree that the problem is with the specific dealer, not Audi itself though. I've come across some really stinkers of dealers, but also some who would bend over backwards for you...

 

[JohnM100]

I came across Albany Assistance last year and it was a real pain.

Suggest you contact both Audi Insurance and Synter drive in the form of an open letter / email copied to both. State the reason as you feel you are obliged to do this to fulfil your duty to minimise the cost of your claim but you are not seeing the same from them. Give them both the history of the saga and the lack of progress, and request a follow-up response in 2 days.

All the insurance policies and claims management company documents state your obligation to minimise your costs in the event of a claim. You are telling them that due to their inaction, they aren't doing this and the cost of your overall claim will be increasing day by day. Insurance company will be annoyed that cost of claim (ie their exposure) is increasing unnecessarily. Claims management company will be concerned that their justification to be reimbursed at the end of the process is being weakened and also their weakening their case to pursue you if the insurance company refuses to cover their admin costs.

John.

 

[royalsteve68]

Bit late to the party on this one!

Seems like your issue is with the claims management company and not really the Audi dealer (although I appreciate the it might be branded Sytner). I had a similar issue and used the sticker that was on my windscreen thinking this 'claims management' company was the best thing to do - first mistake as you have learned. If I were in your shoes I would contact Sytner Drive - you say you signed paperwork so get in touch with where that came from and ask what the hell they are doing. I appreciate you don't seem to have had much luck here but, they should really be your only point of contact. Ask them why you have had the problems above and if you don't get a response within 24 hours (working day) you will be contacting Audi Insurance to notify them that the 'claims management' company isn't managing your claim and what you need to do to get your car repaired (this will mean you have to do the work - a lot of which has already been done).
If you have the repair quote or if the Audi dealer has this via the assessor then get that forwarded to Audi Insurance and ask for authorisation.
Sorry to hear you've been going round in circles but, I lay the blame squarely at Sytner Drive and nowhere else at the moment as the dealer will have his hand tied (he can't repair till authorised) and Audi Insurance will be waiting on Sytner Drive.

I complained about the company that was meant to have handled my claim. They were a firm of solicitors who were only interested in what injuries I'd suffered as a result of my non fault accident.

Thing is when I call the management company, sytnerdrive, they say they are Albany assist and I need to call sytnerdrive and they then give me the dealers telephone number. Until now, this was very confusing but it seems I was dealing some total clueless idiots at Albany who didn't realise they have a dual role of Albany (hire car company) and sytnerdrive.

I did use the audi insurance for the first 4 days but they were equally useless but next time id rather use them and drive around in a rubbish car for a few days whilst my car is being repaired than deal with this hell.

 

[Pushed]

its my fault anyway as id previously reported the dealer to audi uk as on 3 occasions they served other customers who turn up after me in their audi or bmw because i presume they thought i was too poor to buy an Audi

I had turned up in either a 11 year old Peugeot, 15 year old fiesta or 7 year old merc a class. In response to the complaint, the dealer's director invited me in (probably to see what tosser i was,lol).

I advised him that i felt i was overlooked for my reason above, he obviously disagreed but apologised if i felt like that. I said you should never judge a book by its cover as i could afford several r8's if i wanted - but i chose not to

Anyway i gave them a 2nd chance and they were ok (obviously after the money). The salesmen i dealt with were great to be fair

Anyway i guess gut instinct was probably trying to tell me something....live and learn

Epsom Audi were great, very relaxed and not pressurised like my local dealer - id use them despite being 40+ miles away

I have to agree regarding Epsom Audi - all dealings with Epsom Audi have been great so far, easy to speak to/deal with, very accomodating.

I aked some questions on thier 'Click to chat' got a quick respone from a salesman, asked for and extended test drive for about an hour, they gave me an A3 saloon for the whole day .

They tried all they could to make the deal work for me (and them) but due to me owing more than my current A-Class is worth it was not do-able. :_( Ended up going to West London Audi (Sytner) to purchase the car.

Salesman was a bit pushy, did not really listen to what I wanted, and has not provided enough feedback on my order ( I have to keep phoning him).

I will definitely be using Epsom for all servicing needs.

 

[SilureMark]

I've been a customer of Audi for some 15 years, on and off. In that time I have had the odd problem, as you do. But, overall, the service I get has been excellent. In recent years I have owned BMW's, Fords and VW's and I can say that their customer service isn't up to the standard of Audis. Only Porsche would I describe as faultless, but then one would expect that. E.g. I had a delay with the order of my new Cayman S and Porsche UK gave me a new Boxster S as a loan car until my Cayman arrived. They even paid the insurance on it. The bad experiences I have had with Audi centred on one dealer and that was easy to resolve, I just don't use Chelmsford Audi any more and stick with Stansted Audi, who are excellent. Audi Assist - excellent service too. The S3 I have ordered to replace my daily runner, a 3 series. Everything was dealt with in a very professional and speedy manner. From test drive of the S3, to getting me the deal I wanted, to getting me my car within 10 weeks of placing the order (after I amended the colour!). I was kept informed all the way through and genuinely feel valued as a customer. Most of the Audi gripes I here about I feel are quite isolated, but never the less, concerning. I would always escalate a complaint very quickly if it's not being resolved to my satisfaction...

 

[PilotAudi]

We too have had more Audis than I can immediately recall and yes we've had some minor issues but Audi CC and my dealers have been excellent. I think it's how you approach things in the main unless you come across a complete **** in which case talk to the said persons manager.

I have an issue at present - Was expecting in car Wi-Fi hot spot. Was advised by sales folks in France and UK it came with Tech pack .. I upgraded and now find it doesn't .....I have made noises but no positive response yet.. any ideas?

 

[cemerson]

It comes with tech pack + connect, and that's quite clear in the brochures. If you can prove you were mis-sold it then you may have a chance, but I don't think you'll have a leg to stand on otherwise.

 

[PilotAudi]

It comes with tech pack + connect, and that's quite clear in the brochures. If you can prove you were mis-sold it then you may have a chance, but I don't think you'll have a leg to stand on otherwise.

That seems to be the case. The car is showing on my iPhone and displays Audi xxxx72 and a wi-fi symbol to connect and demands a code. I was told by Audi St Malo and Audi Bristol that all Tech Pack had in car Wi-Fi... I wasn't fussed about Google Maps and Audi Connect but was advised that an in car Wi-Fi hot spot came with tech pack.. even when I went back and asked them Joe the service Guy thought it did and all I had to do was get a Sim card!! WTF.

 

[cemerson]

Lol. If you have wifi, it'll be for the music streaming app I imagine, but you won't get internet access through it!

 

[PilotAudi]

Lol. If you have wifi, it'll be for the music streaming app I imagine, but you won't get internet access through it!

That works fine through wi-fi.