Mollinger

OK, you guys are gonna hate me, but I'll have to tell this story nonetheless:

Last week I went to my dealer to get the 150,000 km service for my A8 3.3TDI done. Besides the service there were other things to do: Slight coolant leak and power loss under full acceleration. So I went through all the issues with the repair guy and he told me the car would be ready in two days. For those two days I got a loaner (A6 Avant, 3.2 FSI quattro, loaded).
On the 2nd day (friday), I got a call from the dealer that it would take longer, cause they found some more issues during the service (front control arms, magnetic door switch). I wasn't too happy about the delay but my moods rose as the dealer told me they would give me the loaner over the weekend at no extra charge (1st big plus).
On monday I finally got the call that my car was ready for pick up. I drove to the dealer and there it stood, freshly washed inside and out. The repair guy had seen me coming and came out to show all the things they fixed: radiator (the coolant leak), mass airflow sensor (power loss), the aforementioned control rods, the door switch etc. Up till now, ist's nothig too special, a dealer/repair just doing their work but...

Then he presented some warranty forms for ALL the parts they needed to fix the issues - even the wear and tear parts which are normally not covered by the warranty. All labour - except for the service itself of course - was coverd too and so I ended paying 550Euro instead of over 3k. OK, I bought the car 11 months ago from this dealer, but I didn't have to tell him - he just got all the paper work done on his own. That's what I call customer service!

Oh, and before I forget it: the car is perfect now! It never ran better, no power loss at all handling is as tight as it should be, no brake vibration etc. The last night I took it out for a quick high speed test topping at 270 km/h (speedometer readout, AC said 258). I'm a happy customer again )

So if someone of you guys happen to come to Heidelberg, Germany and need your car serviced, go to the "Audi Zentrum Bernhardt, Heidelberg" I really can recommend it!

ex-a8drifter

I think some of the problems in dealers in the U.S. is the drive for profit and doing so at any cost. Its capitalism for ya! You can choose to go the "good customer service business" route or you can go the "bottom line business" route and overlook the longterm ROI with satisfied customers.
I'll bet you'll probably buy atleast another car or recommend them to your friends like you already have!

ryoung

I'd like to read this kind of story more often.

JimR

on forums, we need to have your dealer have a talk with Audi of America.

Nice!

Mollinger

...I'll have him teach other German dealers how to treat customers

Most of them aren't that good - but regarding all those negative posts here, our dealers are probably still better than those in the U.S.

JimR

often it is AoA policies that are the root of the problem.