Steve Mac

Sure, I could have checked years ago, but I didn't. I had my first flat tire in nearly six years last Thursday. Now, changing tires is no biggie to me. I usually change tires in the garage, where I have all the necessary doodads, air wrenches, whatever. So I pulled out the jack and the tools and set down to work. Wheel off the ground in seconds, put the wrench on the nut... What the??? It won't go on! I tried a couple more times and it absolutely wouldn't go on the nut. So I looked at the socket and found that the hexagon was oddly misshapen, like someone had squished the top so that it was smaller than the bottom. Great, now what?

Fortunately, I was able to call up my wife (thanks Sprint PCS) and ask her to bring my tools from home. She brought enough of the right things so that I could change my tire and go home.

So I thought Audi should know about this. I sent them an email and said that all I would like is to have them replace the wrench. I don't want money for some specious emotional condition that I was now suffering from, just a replacement for a wrench that was bad from day 1.

I received a call today on my machine, returned the call, gave the nice person my code number that I received when I sent my email and proceeded to wait on hold for 15 minutes listening to Christmas muzak (btw, the Mel Torme song was a nice touch). The same nice person came back on the phone and told me that since my car was out of warranty both on age and mileage, there was nothing that they could do and I would just have to keep the wrench or replace it at my own cost. I asked him again, with a slight reword, "You mean that a wrench that was defective from day 1 is not covered under warranty?" And he said, "There's nothing I can do." I expressed my disappointment at their attitude and hung up on them when they cheerfully said, "Have a great day!"

I'll go down to the dealer where I bought the car and I have little doubt that they will replace the wrench and eat the cost. And the cost is not what bugs me the most. What if it had been my wife and kids that had been stopped in the snow on the mountains with this defective wrench? Would they have been so sanguine in the face of a multi-million dollar lawsuit for wrongful death caused by negligence? There's nothing I can do indeed!

I love my car and it's been great, but I don't know if I can do business with a company that treats their customers like this.

If AOA still reads this board, my name is Steve McDermott and I live in Bend, Oregon. Our local dealer has my phone number.

And I still have my Craftsman socket in the trunk.

coocoomike

golden shower eH?