Podnov

Hi all. I've been stalking this forum for about the last 6 months during my car shopping experience. I'm new to posting, and starting out my posts with a bad one.

I pulled the trigger on a CPO 2012 A6 Prestige about a month ago. My negotiation process w/ the dealer was decent, but nothing spectacular. I caught my salesman on a few back pedals and also noted a few pieces of misinformation (maybe due to his lack of knowledge of the vehicle, which I was able to recognize due to knowledge I had attained on these forums). No big deal.

I had two larger issues, however. The first was after I purchased my vehicle and was about to take it home for the first time. There was an issue w/ the key fob, preventing all advanced key functionality from working. This had me uneasy, but he assured me it was a fluke, and ran off to talk to another customer that just returned to the lot. While the "fluke" hasn't happened since then, he left me with my "New(ish)" car feeling like I might have just bought a lemon.

The second issue was that, post-purchase, I received no contact from him or the dealership. No call or email asking, "Hey, how's the car doing? Are you happy?"

The overall experience left me expecting more after purchasing my first "premium" vehicle. This was reflected on the survey Audi sent me. I feel I was critical, but not un-fair. I gave my salesman mostly 7's and 8's (if these were out of 10?) with maybe a 6 or a 9/10 thrown in here and there on certain subjects.

Today, a full month after purchasing the vehicle, I finally received my first contact from the dealership. It came in the form of my salesman, calling to tell me that the review I gave him was the worst he's gotten in all of his years of selling cars, and that he never wants to work with me again.

That has me pretty miffed. I feel the call was very professional and I now want to take all of my future business (whether it's a future purchase or service on my current vehicle) to the next closest dealership (about an hour away).

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Am I out of line here?

DirkM

I was told by my sales guy anything but a 10 would not be acceptable by Audi (and come back to the dealer). Not that I would care too much (he was ok and I gave him the 10s), sometimes a wake-up call is appropriate and if he doesn't want to do business with you then I'm sure someone else will.

salvadorik

I naively thought that all these surveys are confidential and surveyors' names wont be disclosed specifically to the personnel who are being surveyed. This is messed up IMO especially when they call you and express their dissatisfaction.

NVThs1

I would not say you are out of line. If you feel the dealership and salesperson received the score based on the service they gave, than so be it. They are graded pretty heavily on those survey's so of course they want top numbers. I got a kick out of my dealer that said if they did something to get less than a 10, to let them know. As if making up for it after the problem was addressed and sale completed would automatically warrant a 10. Seriously just do it right the first time and there will be no reason to score under 10.

I had a problem during my order process as well. I was not getting call backs as fast as I personally thought I should. So I complained to my AOA local rep. The problem was handled. Turned out my guy was on vacation with no out of office message. I gave the dealership high marks to help the cause as in the end, they were cool with me.

I am a bit different than others on this site. I don't put a huge expectation on the sales rep. I just want one I can BS with for the most part. I don't need to be sold the car, I just need it ordered and a decent price to be had. After that I wouldn't mind just chatting every now and again with my sales guy. I do that now. Go in for a wash, and talk cars with my guy. He is cool. He got a lay up sale as far as I am concerned. All he did was approach me when I was screwing around one day looking at A7's and a couple months later I walked in and ordered my car.

I would not let that phone call slide though. Talk to the sales manager, the GM, or find the principal of the dealer. I know if my guy did that to me, I would have been on the phone with his boss, and the owner, and he is accessible. I also would have called AOA. AOA takes that stuff pretty seriously. Tell the dealer you plan on taking the service and future sales to the competition. That is the profit center of a dealership these days.

Grapeking

Firstly, congrats on your new (to you) vehicle and welcome to the forum.
Secondly, I would immediately contact the General Manager of the dealership, inform him of the call you received from the salesperson, and tell him you, as the customer, expect better than that. See how that conversation goes, I'll bet it will leave you feeling better.

fEArmE

you are not alone. there is an audi dealer in front of my house where i will never do business with. I was being treated like a thief. Bought a CPO A4 from them 4 years ago with no joy but repairs and frustration (water leaking, unresolved vibration issue, etc). They scratched my car during service and denied it. In addition, they hard coded a remark in the service report to state that the car is scratched. I think that is unprofessional and unnecessary. On one survey, I rated them mostly 1 except a couple questions with 4. Didnt get any call from them because they know what i will be telling them.

well, fast forward to 2012, i bought my 2013 A6 from another dealership 30 mins away. I dont mind traveling further to do business with people that are interested. Just move on

MileHighJC

A few comments for you...

• I have essentially no patience for a sales person that knows less about the car than I do. Knowing their product is their job, and representing it well is the key to their success. I shouldn't be educating the sales person, regardless of where I got the knowledge.
• You don't say what the final issue with the key fob was, but I think it is a pretty large leap from the fob not working correctly (once) to "you bought a lemon". This car is FULL of high tech, and while I have not had any material problems with mine, I have had to "reboot" the MMI a few times over the past year.
• I don't think as a buyer we are "entitled" to a follow up call from the dealer to see how you are doing. Good business practice? Absolutely. A requirement? No. Having said that, my dealer was pretty much a pest with their follow-ups. It did however make me feel like a valued client.
• How you feel about your buying experience is how YOU feel. Clearly you had higher expectations than what was delivered, so be it. The salesman calling you back to berate you about your survey responses is unprofessional at the highest level in my humble opinion. Were I in your shoes, I would express that sentiment to the owner, and to Audi of America, probably in writing.
  
  The survey has absolutely NO value to the dealer or Audi in general if clients are berated into specific responses. Why not just have the salesman fill out the survey with straight 10s and submit it on your behalf? My dealer also expressed the desire for straight 10s, and while I rated them VERY highly, it was NOT straight 10s. Having said that, my buying experience was the best I have every had for ANY car.
  
  If the owner blows you off, then I would take my business elsewhere in the future. You own them nothing.
  
  It would be interesting to know who it was. I purchased an A4 from a dealer about 20 minutes away from me in 1997, and had a marginal experience (it was ok, but I walked away feeling like a second class citizen because I bought an A4, not a 911). I looked there again when I bought my A6, and found the salesman did not know the A6 as well as I did. Having had enough, I wound up buying the car from a dealer that was just over an hour away from me. I don't regret it a bit.

Just my $0.02...

Notorious Tech

That's too bad you had a bad experience, and then for the sales guy to call you and complain is complete BS. I completely agree with NVThs1, call the GM and AOA to complain. A crappy sales person is just that, and they need to know.

My guy and University Audi was 10's. I showed up on Friday, without my trade-in, and negotiated the deal. Gave me exactly what I wanted for my trade, and I paid about $1.5k less than I'd expected (fleet sales). Saturday I show up with my trade, and my new A6 is in the service bay waiting for me. An hour+ long delivery "show-and-tell" so I knew what everything did. Setup my iphone, and the car was ready to go. I received a call here and there asking if I was happy and if I had any problems or questions. He called when the 6 month service was due and made sure I had an A6 loaner. Then I get a card about 1 year after I bought it, basically saying it's been a year, congrats, blah blah. But in it was a coupon for a free detail from the dealership (they farm it out to shop nearby). I called the service desk to see what it would cost for a detail, $250!!!

SmokingTires

The OP is perfectly correct to give fair grades to the service he received. A 10 must be earned. It's not a default.

I was also told that anything less than 10 is a fail for the car salesmen. Well, maybe they should try harder then. Most are just glorified gophers to go between the sales manager and a customer. They make no decisions and all they need to do is JUST BE NICE and ATTENTIVE.

When we bought my wife's Acura we were also almost taken by the salesguy to the tune of $1,500. It was eventually corrected, after a very stressful 2 hour ordeal. I gave less than stellar review to him, but gladly he didn't have the audacity to call and complain afterwards.

In your case, I would phone the General Manager or Audi North America and document the story. You have nothing to lose.

Slant83

I had this happen on my last BMW purchase..The saleshole called me about 6 weeks after purchase and actually ripped me a new one on my cellphone voicemail !!!! I actually was so pissed I called BMWNA and played it to them...needless to say he was fired and BMW sent me a complimentary keychain for my troubles. REALLY !!