Disappointing Audi main dealer service experience.

Disappointing Audi main dealer service experience.

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Discussion

loskie

5,143 posts

119 months

Sunday 27th July 2014
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It really is shocking that the Audi dealer does not have the foresight to set up a no fly zone in the vicinity of their business. Maybe you should contact Audi Customer Services.

Duke147

629 posts

147 months

Sunday 27th July 2014
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james S said:
Its going to get bird poo on it again and again and again, I wouldn't worry too much.

I've often heard about it wrecking paint, but to be honest I've never had a problem and mine is parked under a tree all the time. Agree about not letting them polish a black car though...
1 seagull poo left on overnight, although unknown how long it was on there in the baking sun the day before:



Wasn't happy. This photo was taken after I'd put some lacquer on the exposed area to stop it spreading. Not that it made any difference, as the whole bonnet needed respraying. frown

No Audi dealerships were harmed in the production of this photo. Or seagulls. Feathery bds.

Mastiff

2,515 posts

240 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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Sketchface said:
Well now, this is upsetting. It’s really vital to me, personally, that every single one you on ph likes and respects me.
Yeah, right. hehe

Sketchface said:
Final thing – are the dissenters here really expecting me to believe that if you had your car serviced at a main dealer and discovered it adorned with baked-in bird s*** that you wouldn’t be annoyed in anyway?
At no point in your original post did you say that it was "baked-in" - you said..

Sketchface said:
To their credit, they've offered to have the car back and polish the area affected - hence I'll follow rule #1 to let them correct this first.

Am I over-reacting with my level of disappointment; I had a nagging sense of 'Dude, it's just a car'.
Edited by Big Al. on Saturday 26th July 13:51
To which the answer is a resounding yes.


james S

1,615 posts

244 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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Duke147 said:
1 seagull poo left on overnight, although unknown how long it was on there in the baking sun the day before:



Wasn't happy. This photo was taken after I'd put some lacquer on the exposed area to stop it spreading. Not that it made any difference, as the whole bonnet needed respraying. frown

No Audi dealerships were harmed in the production of this photo. Or seagulls. Feathery bds.
Thats terrible. I wonder if there is something nasty about seagull poo. Mine is usually parked under a big old tree in the drive and gets caked in it, if I leave it there for few days.
Do you know if this was the original paint?

Kell

1,708 posts

207 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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I think some of the replies are a bit OTT.

It's no good comparing finding a bit of bird poo to the situation in Gaza as yoy could apply that to any motoring forum thread.

Someone drove into your car and wrote it off then disappeared? Just be thankful that you're alive and well and not in a war zone.

What is expected from a premium dealership is that if they're going to polish your car, then it should come back clean.


All that said, it's still a non-story. You were annoyed that someone didn't spot the bird poo. You told them. They removed it.

I'd only call it disappointing if the poo had caused damage to the paint or that some garage idiot had tried removing it with a wire brush. Or if they'd just shrugged their shoulders and said "we didn't st on your car" it's not our problem.

sleep envy

62,260 posts

248 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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james S said:
Thats terrible. I wonder if there is something nasty about seagull poo. Mine is usually parked under a big old tree in the drive and gets caked in it, if I leave it there for few days.
Do you know if this was the original paint?
When paint lacquer warms – in sunlight, for instance – it softens and expands. At the same time, the heat dries and hardens any bird droppings on the surface. But as the paint lacquer cools again, such as overnight, it contracts, hardens and moulds itself around the texture of the bird dropping.


Afterwards, the "moulding" appears as dulled or etched paintwork. The light's reflection is interrupted by the imperfect surface, unlike the undamaged surrounding paint which gives off a clearer reflection

Sheepshanks

32,519 posts

118 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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james S said:
Duke147 said:
1 seagull poo left on overnight, although unknown how long it was on there in the baking sun the day before:



Wasn't happy. This photo was taken after I'd put some lacquer on the exposed area to stop it spreading. Not that it made any difference, as the whole bonnet needed respraying. frown

No Audi dealerships were harmed in the production of this photo. Or seagulls. Feathery bds.
Thats terrible. I wonder if there is something nasty about seagull poo. Mine is usually parked under a big old tree in the drive and gets caked in it, if I leave it there for few days.
Do you know if this was the original paint?
Went out to see a couple massive splodges across the bonnet of my daughter's metallic Black SEAT (so probably the same paint as Audi use) Ibiza. We don't live anywhere near the sea so it wouldn't have been seagulls.

Washed it off and but the haze of splodges still remained and T-Cut wouldn't touch it, but AutoGlym Paint restorer did a pretty good job although a faint outline always remained.

james S

1,615 posts

244 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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Looks like I've been very lucky thus far then!

SuperchargedVR6

3,138 posts

219 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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Sketchface said:
Nedzilla obviously gets it. If you get a car serviced, it’s just part and parcel of customer service. ‘Oh, customer a has arranged to pick up in an hour, let me make sure the car doesn’t have any baked-in bird s*** on it’.
There is nothing unreasonable what so ever about expecting your car back in the same condition you left it. It's not like Audi took custody of your car for the good of their health. They charge you handsomely for their services and it's their responsibility to make sure you're satisfied, but this being Britain, people just accept bad service and are too spineless to stick up for themselves.

Sketchface said:
Final thing – are the dissenters here really expecting me to believe that if you had your car serviced at a main dealer and discovered it adorned with baked-in bird s*** that you wouldn’t be annoyed in anyway? You’d just ignore it in case somebody thought you were ‘behaving like a girl’. Sure, sure.
Of course they would. It's classic forum witch-hunting. One person chimes in with "Oh poor you, think of the starving Sudanese people" and everyone joins in.

I bet these people would have something to say about being escorted to their table in a posh restaurant, only to find food on the chairs and wine stains on the table cloth, which the waiter couldn't give a toss about.





Duke147

629 posts

147 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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james S said:
Duke147 said:
1 seagull poo left on overnight, although unknown how long it was on there in the baking sun the day before:



Wasn't happy. This photo was taken after I'd put some lacquer on the exposed area to stop it spreading. Not that it made any difference, as the whole bonnet needed respraying. frown

No Audi dealerships were harmed in the production of this photo. Or seagulls. Feathery bds.
Thats terrible. I wonder if there is something nasty about seagull poo. Mine is usually parked under a big old tree in the drive and gets caked in it, if I leave it there for few days.
Do you know if this was the original paint?
That I'm not sure about. I'd had a minor shunt prior to this, which affected the bumper mainly. There was a tiny corner of paint taken off the bonnet, which looked like it had just been retouched. I had my reservations, though, as I kept finding tiny little bubbles of lacquer which were mobilised from the below paint layer. This problem was exclusive to the bonnet.

The seagull crap completely removed to lacquer from the affected area, it wasn't just hazed. Now that I have a black car I keep rinsing any turd off at the earliest opportunity. hurl

Chippo1

344 posts

122 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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Just had first service on my car by the local stealer, unofficially suggested as the best of the 2 i nominated whislt chattig to Audi UK.

But first lookig at the bill i nearly had a fit £90 for 5 litres of Castrol Edge Pro , crikey I was gob smacked , next time I will supply the oil !! which they said was not a problem and they would be happy with that solution , there was no offer of a price reduction and franly i thinkk this was a blantant stripe up . Not sure yet what say Opie oils would want for the same product!

Secoundly I had the Warning triangle pathertic bit of plastic that holds it to the boot lid fall to bit , already had this cleared by Audi UK whislt chatting it would be done under warranty , when i booked car in nearly 3 weeks ago ! , i asked for this to be done and said I had ceared it with Audi UK , name givern, and was franly surpirsed that they had ordered the part . But guess what it was on the bill and they tried to charge me for it .

SO , take you own lubricants , check your bill , save a packet while your have to use mai stealers.

3 nice bits of totty in the show room to guide you through the experiance to the service dept , I suppose they have the cahrge for them to be doing thier nails all day !!!

Sheepshanks

32,519 posts

118 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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Chippo1 said:
But first lookig at the bill i nearly had a fit £90 for 5 litres of Castrol Edge Pro , crikey I was gob smacked , next time I will supply the oil !! which they said was not a problem and they would be happy with that solution , there was no offer of a price reduction and franly i thinkk this was a blantant stripe up . Not sure yet what say Opie oils would want for the same product!
Probably not immensely less. That's not terrible price for that specific oil. 10 yrs ago a Merc dealer charged me £19/litre for Mobil 1 I could get in Costco for £25 for 4L.

graeme4130

3,823 posts

180 months

Monday 28th July 2014
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Dealer works on your car and between them leaving outside and you collecting it, a bird poo hits it
Dealer then offers to bring car back in for a polish

I'm struggling to see this is poor dealer attitude myself and I've been on the end if poor Audi main dealer work
This seems a pretty reasonable solution to be fair and the op's having a slight over reaction

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

Jazzer

1,665 posts

203 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
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OP is indeed over reacting, with Audi offering a sensible resolution.

However, I would point out that the very best dealers inspect cars immediately prior to collection (when the customer has arrived) and would deal with matters of dust build up/ bird poo promptly.

It's touches like this that set them apart, along with high standards of service of course.

Sadly, this would not include a recent BMW dealer in Cambridge, which saw fit to return my car in a dirty state, inside and outside, and with virtually no fuel left in it ( they had test driven the car several times over the course of a week to hear again the noise I demonstrated to them in their car park!)

Rick101

6,959 posts

149 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
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Was it the receptionist?

Some would pay to see that.

gregpot2000

233 posts

143 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
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I agree that the dealers probably did all they could....but I would second the thoughts about it actually being more serious than made out on here. My 2008 black A4 is covered in hazy circular marks from bird poo, and nothing seems to get them out. This is especially worse in this weather, it seems to just take a few hours to leave a permanent mark. I always carry a cloth and a bottle of water in the car now, so I can rub them off as soon as I see them

El Guapo

2,787 posts

189 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
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That's outrageous. I would have demanded a replacement car.

unrepentant

21,212 posts

255 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
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El Guapo said:
That's outrageous. I would have demanded a replacement car.
I think you should stay out of this. It was your cousin El Guano that caused all the trouble to start with.

Chippo1

344 posts

122 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
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Well I checked to day and the oil was approx twice the price I can buy it for , and given the price a Stealer ship will pay for 45 gallon drums this would equate to in excess of a 100% markup.

And as for charging for a warranty part , I presume they thought they would get away with it.

As far as the bird poo incident is concerned I think the dealer went above and beyond , surely at best it's an act of god , force majuer , how could they be responsible , will Sainsbury,s be next time you park in a shop car park ! I think not

Rich_W

12,548 posts

211 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
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gottans said:
I think your reaction to a bird crapping on your car is well OTT and I am sure that everyone at the dealer has had a good laugh at your expense. The fact it is black car means some birds find it threatening and crapping on it is their way of defending themselves, next time buy a silver one.
Is that true? It would explain things laugh

Saying that I do know of a case where a dealer resprayed the roof of a car because of bird poo on it. Still beggars belief now.