Disgusted with Audi customer service !!!!!

[Seez]

Thirsty33 said:

Seez said:

Yes, I have found a specialist I am happy with near Poole, they are top blokes and always take my cars back there...

Would that be the FRP?

APD, I was referring to, provided I am allowed to say their name out loud?!

[Blackpool Rocker]

I have to say though, I Have had my A4 Cabriolet serviced and repaired by Wolverhampton Audi.
Always found the guys in service a top bunch of chaps. Prompt attention and always given
nice loan cars.
In these times no one really ever says Thank You, but credit were is is deserved.

I have spoken to Audi Customer Care though.....a different matter!!!

[DPX]

Had my cambelt and service at Yeovil perfect on time in price and a free wash and no stress

[JoGrey80]

Some of the stories on here are similar to my own..really bad Audi customer service (after sales ..of course)
I've been a customer of Audis for a 5yrs and I have to admit I do change them quite often (6 in the 5 yrs) I cash purchase (i now know its a big no-no to buy cash!..but i'd never had a problem before)
Heres just a little of whats been going on with my Audi A4

• November 2012..We travelled to Audi in Carlisle and purchased an Audi A4 (61 plate ex demo) for £18,990.

• 18th December 2012..We had a egg smell coming from the vehicle we called a local audi and we were told the car is new and the smell will disperse as the car is new and the parts sometimes burn off excess oil?.

• 23rd December 2012..During a family day out with the children we travelled down the A1 to see family and do some last minute christmas shopping the smell and heat coming from the vehicle was very apparent but after a call to Audi we were told to ignore it so we did so, on the return journey the car started bellowing black smoke and the heat and smell was strong enough for us to have to pull over and require assistance from RAC/Audi Assistance ..we were told the car had a clutch failure and it had to go into Audi Teesside for repairs.

• **I required a courtesy car during this period and Audi Assist who knew I had 3 children issued me with a 2 seater Audi TT!? this scuppered nearly all of our family christmas plans, but as my gran was over from germany and I knew this may be the last christmas I have with her I was determined to get to bucks were she was.. from teesside but this was a mammouth task with a family of 5 and a 2 seater car two of the children nor myself got to see gran before she left unfortunetly (she passed 2 weeks later .****

• 9th January 2013..I received a call from Gemma Clark in audi customer services to say my car was being delivered back to me today as it has been fixed (it had apparently needed a new clutch) which had now been done and we were able to take it back she had just been informed from the dealers (teesside audi) that the work was complete.

• 9th January 2013...My car was delivered back at lunchtime with a invoice stating my car had been fitted with a new clutch and oil had been topped up (under warranty work) So I decided to drive to my local Tesco with my Little daughter within half a mile I noticed the smell initially and the heat followed i spotted some light smoke coming from the bonnett so I pulled over, I decided to call teesside and spoke to Mark who had apparently carried out the work and told him what was happening to my car, he said the car is going through was is called a regeneration and I was to ignore it and keep driving I also rung Gemma and she said he knows what hes talking about and with a new part sometimes they give off a smell and I was to do what he said...I drove another mile up the road when my car once again was smoking and other road users and bystanders where signalling for me to pull over ..completely frightened and not knowing what to do i quickly pulled over and as I left my vehicle a fellow driver approached and said that looks dangerous and i was to stand back with the little one ..i done so and he and another man cautiously opened my bonnett with that a ball of black smoke and fire shot from the front of my car ..i called RAC/Audi Assist who came to me at the roadside took him 90 minutes to arrive at the vehicle and he stated he could smell my car more than 100yards away he wouldnt move it whilst the car was still so hot so he left it to be later recovered by Ron Perry (a tow company)..I called gemma to let her know and she told me it turned out Mark in Teesside had not even repaired the car and she felt awful that she'd allowed me to take this vehicle back when they hadn't done anything to it by way of repair ..marks excuse was he thought I was imaginging it!? but had provided us with an invoice to say these works had been carried out? Gemma said she wasnt happy with what had happened and she felt somewhat responsible so she advised that I put a formal complaint in writing to the branch about this technician and she was doing the same her end as she felt partly responsible and she was referring my case to the executive office, my car was taken to Audi Tyneside garage where they discovered the clutch was completely burnt out and desperately needed replacing, Richard from Tyneside said if the car has had been driven any further it could of been much worse. ( I have to add Richard and Mark in Tyneside gave me a fantastic level of care and commitment I felt looked after whilst in there capable hand...

• 2nd February 2013 ...I receive a call to say my car is repaired and it can be brought back to me.

• 8th February 2013...car breaks down cluth slipped

• 14th Feb 2013......get my car back but during a road test fails and clutch fails again

• 21st feb 2013...Clutch replaced again and once again i am given my car back.

• We were away 25th feb to 11th March and upon returning the car wouldnt start..once again the car is towed and we're told the 2nd base plate on the clutch has corroded and it needs another new part (a base plate?)

• 26th March 2013.... we get our car back and for the first week or so it seems to be driving o.k

• 4th April 2013...cars has started pulling to the left and the egg smell and smoke has returned, we call RAC and have it towed to a different garage (Harrogate) maybe some fresh eyes will help and finally give us a car we can use , we receive a call to say the vehicle may be pulling due to the tyres so by replacing them this may help the problem, we paid £500+vat to have the tyres replaced ..to be told two days later during further investigation its been found the clutch has slipped again and we were also told that the new model of audi has a larger gap for the clutch but as audi are using an older model of clutch the clutch is able to move around and this is why it keeps slipping a new part is ordered again to replace the small one.

• 22nd April ...My car is brought back im informed they couldnt fit the new part as it didnt work all they could do is tighten the clutch and hope for the best but during towing it back to me my car was damaged during transportation the low load driver couldnt apologise enough for the damage and after letting me see what had happened he took it back away again to have the damage repaired..i was utterly devasted and slowly losing faith and patience.

• 29th April 2013 Car is brought back with no damage and the drive of it seems ok

• 6th May car stalls and smell is back car goes in to Harrogate which is were it is now..Ive told them I'm fed up now I spent nearly twenty thousand pounds (which I paid for cash) for a car which is wholly unreliable and as ive been told on at least 5 occasions 'Not fit for purpose', I called Audi and asked what my next step is as I believe ive given Audi more than ample opportunity to repair my vehicle which still hasn't happened I have done everything Audi has asked of me and some and now i cant take anymore I cant continue to put my children into something i dont trust and that is so unreliable.

• On the 9th May I wrote a letter of rejection for the vehicle to Audi UK and a copy went to the garage I purchased it from.

I dont feel im getting any further forward so Trading standards Tanvir has requested that he takes over this whole case, hes advising I go to the press and sue for negligence but this is not really my thing I just want what I paid for a prestige car from a prestige company and as a loyal Audi customer for over 5 years I dont want to go down this route.

Last month i contacted Martin Winterkorns p.a who gave me Verena clarks contact(VWG M.D- P.A) details name and number and she said they will be able to help which wasnt the case, they are now basically saying if I remove my complaint against the technician they will help otherwise pay for further work myself..the whole thing got passed over to Lee Manuel in Audi exec and he is a complete plank doesnt care about customers..service..duty of care, so Ive sent everything over to Motor codes and there investigating

Sorry its so long winded but I wanted to get all the details in.

Does anyone know if theres anything else I can do..thanks guys
Jo

[helmutlaang]

Tell them that a 61 plate carr is still under warranty so they can pay to fix it not you.

Then you have to get tough on them through a solicitor and take no more of their crap.

Refuse to budge from rejecting the car. They have had ample opportunity to fix it properly. It may not be your style but going public usually makes them take you a bit more seriously.

[graeme4130]

Nicholas Blair said:

What's worse is your looking at a Chrysler Crossfire

Audi would have to punch me in the face and burn my house down before I'd look at a Chrysler crossfire
You want them to take you seriously, tell them you'll be buying a BMW

[S8honglonglong]

This really sucks...

I also found out some problems with my Audi just 10 minutes after I drove away from the dealer. It took them over a month and half to sort everything out. But at least my car was fixed... although I had to make some complaints even just to get a courtesy car.

Good luck to your case, hopefully it ends well for you.

[clived]

graeme4130 said:

Audi would have to punch me in the face and burn my house down before I'd look at a Chrysler crossfire
You want them to take you seriously, tell them you'll be buying a BMW

Given the OP posted about his Crossfire test drive 7 YEARS AGO, I doubt if the dealership are still taking him seriously if he's still car shopping ;-)

[mikiesb]

some quick points in general.

1. get a 3rd party audi specialist to replace clutch - maybe an uprated (sports)clutch - get receipt and get refund, or get in writing before 3rd party car out of work that audi will pay for it.

- if all else fails and I know everyone on the forum is going to have a heartattack there is a particular clutch "specialist" company that most people wouldn't go too -

BUT this particular company (they don't do tyres or exhausts) I've used for my wife's car and my friend for his 4x4 Nissan Animal Jeep - in my experience they were the cheapest and gave a warranty... just as cheap as my mechanic of 20 years.

So Credit to this clutch company - but I won't mention who as can't be bothered with arguments - have no ties to them and I am not a mechanic.


2.) Now an Audi owner I find most dealerships to be "snobbish/stuck up in service department" and unhelpful in general - I don't bother with them apart from only parts that i can't get elsewhere if required.

3.) Best customer services in my opinion and most "reasonable" were Honda UK and a certain Honda dealership in London regarding a re-occuring problem I had with my Accord Type R 5 years ago - goodwill and out of warranty and went above and beyond the call of duty - Honda's I like just as much as Audi.

4.) Word of mouth, recommendations are always best imo - good luck

Edited by mikiesb on Wednesday 5th June 21:54

[rowley birkin]

lucy12 said:

Hi black 5,

Some time what happened dealers are not allowed to answer your query. They have their own customer care division where technical persons are available to answer your queries. I also faced similar problem with my audi and visited dealers and they replied me in similar manner and told me that I should contact their customer care division. I got the number from http://www.fixithere.net/audi-uk-customer-services... and called them. They cleared all my doubts and my problem was solved.

I don't think he owns an Audi any more

[silentbrown]

rowley birkin said:

I don't think he owns an Audi any more

And if he did, why on earth would he want to get Audi UK's phone number from some highly dubious website?

[anonymous-user]

They really are worse than useless, my recent service experience was awful. Staff who didn't have a clue, they did things they were told not to, the didn't do things they were told to, missed a foot long section of missing undertray when they were specifically told to quote for the repair.

Their fixed price servicing doesn't service the car according to audi's own servicing schedule. Days later the battery died but not really their fault.

The only positive is they picked the car up so I didn't have to go see them and I will now use an independent specialist.