Dealer appears to have lost my car?!

[audiblue]

Sorry - I worry the title makes me sound like a bit of a lunatic - but it may actually be true...

Dropped the A3 off at the Audi dealer for its MOT on Monday morning. Just an MOT and a brake fluid change - not a huge amount of work.

Told someone would call me when it was ready.
(Obviously no one called me back - but that seems to be pretty standard these days...)

Phoned on Tuesday morning to enquire abotut it - to be told "sorry, we don't appear to have any record of your car". We'll look into it and someone will get back to you...
(You know what is coming next - no one called me back)

Rang again this afternoon. Told by the receptionist that someone is looking into this and they will call me back - but yes they do appear to be struggling to locate it
(Place your bets now - what do you think are the chances they will actually call back....?)

Would I be overreacting by suggesting this is incompetence on a breathtaking scale - or is the loss of one car in a sea of grey Audi's par for the course...?

 

[Tom.H]

Think I'd be taking a trip to the dealership to find it myself

 

[James.B8]

I’d be kicking off big time.
How can they not tell you where your car is and then have the cheek not to call back..?!
Go in and see them.

 

[Pinky1959]

I would not be calling them I would be in the managers office complaining bitterly, and they would be giving me one of their demo cars for the inconvenience untilthey find the car .

 

[Daveotto]

Trip to the dealer is a must.

Assume someone walked the vehicle with you and you signed a handover sheet before you left when you dropped it off

 

[PanamaS3]

absolutely get yourself down the dealer and don't leave without your car.....there can be no reason why the car is not there

 

[Matt Titanium]

They'll phone you once the damage is repaired and the paint has dried.

 

[RichardT]

Certainly you should have a loan car by now. Do you have evidence that you dropped it off. Presumably you have the name of the guy you dealt with and you must have signed some paperwork.
I find it surprising that you didn't call them yesterday afternoon, or just trundle down to pick up your car.

 

[Gazwould]

Clearly an employee has taken it for a rally stage blast , then it will receive a dropped sponge grit wash , or..

the filler and paint are baking in the body shop oven after it fell off the MOT ramp .

 

[Kuku]

As above really get across to the dealership....always harder to avoid the conversation whatever it maybe when you’re there face to face...

 

[audiblue]

Yeah - I think we are going to have to go and doorstop them. It is just ridiculous.

Curiously I do have a loan car from them at the moment which they show an equal lack if interest in getting back. So I have some leaverage I suppose...

[Albeit the leverage is a Q2 - which really is a terrible car.]

My fear is that "lost" might be a euphemism for "damaged"

 

[A4AvantBlackEdition]

Yeah - I think we are going to have to go and doorstop them. It is just ridiculous.

Curiously I do have a loan car from them at the moment which they show an equal lack if interest in getting back. So I have some leaverage I suppose...

[Albeit the leverage is a Q2 - which really is a terrible car.]

My fear is that "lost" might be a euphemism for "damaged"

Whether it is lost or damaged, someone hasn’t/isn’t doing their job properly and the lack of communication is shocking.

I trust you won’t be paying for the MOT under the circumstances?

I would definitely be down the dealers to find out who’s f*cked up and how and what they are going to do to rectify it.

 

[Tom.H]

They'll phone you once the damage is repaired and the paint has dried.

I actually thought the same thing after I posted!

 

[traindweller]

I would ring and ask if you should be reporting the missing car to the Police so you can get a crime number.

 

[Sandra]

If you don’t get any joy, I be phoning audi uk customer service

 

[Gazwould]

Ask to speak to Sandra .

 

[Retroman]

If not found, report to the Police

 

[paradigital]

For an MOT and fluid change if I didn't have the car back on the day it went in, I'd be going nuts. Three days in I'd have lost my **** and someone would be getting the sack at that dealership.

I've got previous in getting people removed from my local dealership too, so they wouldn't be messing with me in the first place.

 

[richinsoton]

They're fobbing you off, it's either currently in the bodyshop as others have said or something went tits up during the brake bleed & they're for instance awaiting a new caliper to arrive to replace the one they've sheared the bleed nipple off of / or replacement engine for the one that threw a rod during the emissions test of the MOT.

 

[Sandra]

Ask to speak to Sandra .

Your so funny Gaz. Made me smile though. x

 

[musicegbdf]

I had a car years ago smashed up by dealership. Thankfully it was a company car , but still ended up in court . We won plus my expenses of course !
Hope things get sorted

 

[daydotz]

Have you tried the mot checker to see if it even had a Mot

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Ormesome]

Just going down to the dealership seems the minimum I would be doing. They are stating they can’t find your car. It’s YOUR car! You paid a lot of money for it! I would be calling the police straight away, they have admitted they can’t locate it. At least threaten them with calling the police, that might get their a**e in gear. Shocking really and I hope you name and shame the dealership.

 

[James.B8]

+1 on threatening to call the police

 

[audiblue]

Okay - so an update....

The critical bit as far as I am concerned is that I have my car back. She has been found - safe and well.

How this came to pass is both more prosaic and bizarre than I anticipated:

So after failing to arouse any interest via the phone - just before turning up, I passed the problem over to my (somewhat wiser) other half - who has learnt that if you need to get Audi's attention - nothing works quite like the Twitter. (Maybe this is how Donald Trump got started...?)

So an angry tweet and a couple of private messages later - we end up with a manager from the Audi garage calling us on the phone. He assures us that the vehicle has been located and all the work has been done on it.

Actually the car was ready for collection yesterday - but it seems no one could be bothered to let us know....

Or to answer our phone calls...

Or send an email / text message or any other the other numerous contact details they have for me...

So we pick the car up. (Yes, they waived the cost of the MOT) and they were most apologetic.

There then follows an odd mea culpa session where they admitted that really they are not doing a very good job in service at the moment. Huge staff turnover, people not bothering to return calls / update customers and it is all a bit of a shambles really...

Apparently they are working on things and service really will be much improved soon...

I hope they do - but really the service has been pretty dire for years - and it sounds like an uphill task. I must admit the thought of booking the next service is bringing me out in hives...

I have to say that while I like the car, the dealing-with-the-Audi garages is far and away the worst aspect the ownership experience. (Many years ago my mother used to bribe the local Saab dealer to service her ancient Audi 100 so she didn't have to deal with the local Audi franchise....) My experience with most of the franchised dealers to date has been they build these beautiful glass and chrome temples, and then staff them with absolute morons.

So if I can end on a more constructive note - if you are in based in southern England (west of London) are there any dealers people here would rate as competent? If it is any help I curently define competence as "not losing your car for two days".

 

[UKSteveF]

+1 for checking MOT status online.
I would be there as they opened up and demand to talk to service manager or the GM. No excuse for not knowing/ informing you of any progress ( or lack of)

 

[S32B]

So after failing to arouse any interest via the phone - just before turning up, I passed the problem over to my (somewhat wiser) other half - who has learnt that if you need to get Audi's attention - nothing works quite like the Twitter. (Maybe this is how Donald Trump got started...?)

So an angry tweet and a couple of private messages later - we end up with a manager from the Audi garage calling us on the phone. He assures us that the vehicle has been located and all the work has been done on it.

Glad you got it sorted

I found contacting Audi UK gets the job done!
Dealership told me that my new car would be ready on the Friday or early the following week at the latest! So on that info I told the guy buying my S3 that he could have it on the Friday. The Wednesday comes and I get told "Oh it may be up to 18 days from now" I ask for a car for that time..."No, can't give you one". I phoned Audi UK and he fully agreed that they should at least give me a car, as Audi don't expect any of their customers to be without one! 1 hour later I'm contacted by the dealership again but this time I'm being asked to go in to sign the paperwork as my car will be ready to collect that Saturday!!!

They even sent someone to collect me from home The only thing I could think of was that they wanted to roll the collection over to the next month to balance their sales figures?!?!

 

[Daveotto]

pleased its all sorted, I would be looking for a different garage next time.

There is a garage review section if you want to log your experience and share the wider ASN community

 

[suzannec]

What an unusual situation but glad you have your car back.
I have the opposite situation - whilst Audi is expensive I keep going back due to the excellent customer service! One customer service agent in particular is friendly, helpful and easy to deal with - main reason I like to deal with them. Sadly my local dealer is in the SW! I hope you find a good SE based dealer.

 

[Knacker]

f you are in based in southern England (west of London) are there any dealers people here would rate as competent?

There is one dealership east of Newbury and west of Slough that I wouldn't touch with a barge pole after their appalling customer service.

 

[KrisKrk]

Okay - so an update....

The critical bit as far as I am concerned is that I have my car back. She has been found - safe and well.

How this came to pass is both more prosaic and bizarre than I anticipated:

So after failing to arouse any interest via the phone - just before turning up, I passed the problem over to my (somewhat wiser) other half - who has learnt that if you need to get Audi's attention - nothing works quite like the Twitter. (Maybe this is how Donald Trump got started...?)

So an angry tweet and a couple of private messages later - we end up with a manager from the Audi garage calling us on the phone. He assures us that the vehicle has been located and all the work has been done on it.

Actually the car was ready for collection yesterday - but it seems no one could be bothered to let us know....

Or to answer our phone calls...

Or send an email / text message or any other the other numerous contact details they have for me...

So we pick the car up. (Yes, they waived the cost of the MOT) and they were most apologetic.

There then follows an odd mea culpa session where they admitted that really they are not doing a very good job in service at the moment. Huge staff turnover, people not bothering to return calls / update customers and it is all a bit of a shambles really...

Apparently they are working on things and service really will be much improved soon...

I hope they do - but really the service has been pretty dire for years - and it sounds like an uphill task. I must admit the thought of booking the next service is bringing me out in hives...

I have to say that while I like the car, the dealing-with-the-Audi garages is far and away the worst aspect the ownership experience. (Many years ago my mother used to bribe the local Saab dealer to service her ancient Audi 100 so she didn't have to deal with the local Audi franchise....) My experience with most of the franchised dealers to date has been they build these beautiful glass and chrome temples, and then staff them with absolute morons.

So if I can end on a more constructive note - if you are in based in southern England (west of London) are there any dealers people here would rate as competent? If it is any help I curently define competence as "not losing your car for two days".

Oh wow! I would be sh..tting my pants, if they would do that to me.
I would be down there before they would put the phone down and asked myself in to search for a car. I don’t care, call the cops. Even better.

As for the dealership, this particular (apparently biggest one in Europe) has largest number in staff properly named by you. They don’t give a single one there.
If you going there to buy, than it’s a different story.
Service, repair or mot? Yea, mate. Someone will het back to you, when it’s done. IF it’s done or whateva.

Hate this place.

Parts department however, cannot complaint. Polite guy waited for me to arrive, although it was past he’s working hours. It wasn’t much, less than 10 minutes and only a dash switch to collect but he was kind enough to do so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PanamaS3]

glad you got it sorted....and after all that it was just dealership moronic incompetence...pfffft
sadly more and more commonplace these days...can't get the staff and all that....we get what we want in the form of economies of scale, large supermarkets that sell everything cheaper lower quality more options etc....but it all loses the little things on the way that make our experiences and life enjoyable....quality attention to detail....so back to small quality individual corner shops we go....and I for one welcome that
if you're getting MOT done then am I right in saying you're no longer under warranty....and if so, go and find that nice independent mechanic shop who needs your business and will give you the service you want and deserve

 

[DrEskimo]

If you going there to buy, than it’s a different story.

If only that were true...countless dealers apparently were doing so well that they couldn't be bothered to even sell me a car....

I can't seem to stop a daily email from MK Audi about a pathetic 'sale' they have on right now though....

nice independent mechanic shop who needs your business and will give you the service you want and deserve

I'm also struggling with those! One local I got on really well with and helped me out loads with my A5. Been using him for the OH's Mini Cooper and doesn't seem interested..

Asked for a quite for discs and pads all round and wanted £550! Mini dealer 2mins down the road were doing it for £350!

 

[PanamaS3]

If only that were true...countless dealers apparently were doing so well that they couldn't be bothered to even sell me a car....

I can't seem to stop a daily email from MK Audi about a pathetic 'sale' they have on right now though....



I'm also struggling with those! One local I got on really well with and helped me out loads with my A5. Been using him for the OH's Mini Cooper and doesn't seem interested..

Asked for a quite for discs and pads all round and wanted £550! Mini dealer 2mins down the road were doing it for £350!

I hear you....but I often take the view that sometimes I win, sometimes I lose....but if overall I get a better service from the local guy whose always willing to help when needed and goes above and beyond the ever changing moronic dealer staff....then I'd rather give the local the business and build a good relationship which keeps him around....I think that gets lost when we always try and go for lowest cost

 

[Pinky1959]

I am glad this is sorted .
Some dealers don't care perhaps a letter to Audi customer care complaining may make the garage sit up a bit next time you go in .Shows you wont be taken for a ride and want good service .

 

[S32B]

Asked for a quite for discs and pads all round and wanted £550!

Don't have to worry about that if you get a new car every 3 years lmao That's 2 months payments on a new pcp All those little bills eating into your cars value!!!

 

[DrEskimo]

Don't have to worry about that if you get a new car every 3 years lmao That's 2 months payments on a new pcp All those little bills eating into your cars value!!!

Haha!

It’s £350 in 4yrs....

Pretty sure I would change the brake pads on any car if I had it for + 20k miles....? New cars don’t suddenly have infinite brakes and tyres....?

 

[Matt Titanium]

Okay - so an update....

The critical bit as far as I am concerned is that I have my car back. She has been found - safe and well.

How this came to pass is both more prosaic and bizarre than I anticipated:

So after failing to arouse any interest via the phone - just before turning up, I passed the problem over to my (somewhat wiser) other half - who has learnt that if you need to get Audi's attention - nothing works quite like the Twitter. (Maybe this is how Donald Trump got started...?)

So an angry tweet and a couple of private messages later - we end up with a manager from the Audi garage calling us on the phone. He assures us that the vehicle has been located and all the work has been done on it.

Actually the car was ready for collection yesterday - but it seems no one could be bothered to let us know....

Or to answer our phone calls...

Or send an email / text message or any other the other numerous contact details they have for me...

So we pick the car up. (Yes, they waived the cost of the MOT) and they were most apologetic.

There then follows an odd mea culpa session where they admitted that really they are not doing a very good job in service at the moment. Huge staff turnover, people not bothering to return calls / update customers and it is all a bit of a shambles really...

Apparently they are working on things and service really will be much improved soon...

I hope they do - but really the service has been pretty dire for years - and it sounds like an uphill task. I must admit the thought of booking the next service is bringing me out in hives...

I have to say that while I like the car, the dealing-with-the-Audi garages is far and away the worst aspect the ownership experience. (Many years ago my mother used to bribe the local Saab dealer to service her ancient Audi 100 so she didn't have to deal with the local Audi franchise....) My experience with most of the franchised dealers to date has been they build these beautiful glass and chrome temples, and then staff them with absolute morons.

So if I can end on a more constructive note - if you are in based in southern England (west of London) are there any dealers people here would rate as competent? If it is any help I curently define competence as "not losing your car for two days".

Smoke, mirrors and deflection? If you booked your car in and had a loan car, they had paperwork. It is inconceivable that they 'couldn't find' your car. Just how big is their site?
I'd be having a close look at the bodywork and trim for signs of the dent doctor and a good sniff around for fresh paintwork, polish and bodyshop dust.

 

[Djpfrozenp]

My local centre is Tetbury Audi - always had good service from them.

 

[vacant]

I'm more likely to defend dealers than bash them as I work for one (not Audi), but my experience when owning an S3 was hilariously sheet.
Highlights included: keeping me waiting for 2 hours before giving me a lift to the Wrong hire car company when my car broke. Audi UK came to rescue and moved my courtesy car booking to the company I was abandoned at.

Agreeing a special price for stronic and Haldex oil change at service, then not doing on the day as it "isn't due" (as well as charging original price) . Only to ring me one week later asking if I wanted to book my "due" stronic/Haldex at full price...

Every interaction I had was poor tbh, so OP story doesn't surprise me - glad you got it sorted though!