Karrera4

Ok, so here is the quick story:

Met our salesman years ago at Road America. Took our business to him (which happened to be our local Audi dealer that we had never supported). He was great...could always call him and he would make sure things went smoothly. We always had a nice loaner. The dealers service dept. always underwhelmed, but our salesman softened the blows and things were eventually done right. We sent everyone to him, and actually were asked to do a commercial for the dealer. More than 20 cars later, Lithia buys the dealer and turns it to sh*t. They kept our salesman on and promoted him to manager (which was fine and I thought that meant they were going to try to continue a high level of customer service).

I was wrong. The service dept. has become painful to deal with. We have had a few things go wrong on our A8 (air conditioning and the door blades are warping). They always say they have to check if it will be covered and never call back. I have bugged the hell out of them, to no avail. The air conditioner was fixed and they charged me. I fought them all the way to Audi NA, and they finally reimbursed me. Now, they are dragging *** on the door blades. Is it too much to ask for a car like this to be done right!!?? No other high end dealers have ever acted like this.

Icing on the cake - they relocate our sales guy to another dealer in the lithia family and never tell anyone. I found out when I walked into his <old> office and find someone else. You would think they would tell customers like us about it at least!

I'm tired of pulling teeth. Im sick of wasting my time on these people. We have spent a ton of money on cars there over the last 10-12 years and this is how they treat us? Do I have any recourse? I finally sent a letter to management telling them of my dissatisfaction and stating as long as they made decisions like this, I was taking my business elsewhere.

Audi's are such amazing cars, esp. in the midwest. But seriously, this makes me question if I will continue buying them.

Rowlie

I have found that the service of Audi dealers where they have competition is much better than it is in cities where they are the only game in town.

Nothing like a little competition to keep them on their game.

Karrera4

only one in town. next nearest is 1.5 hours away.

big_sos

In my hometown, the audi dealer is great. The Mercedes dealer is really bad. Think it's a high volume / low volume thing.

Just as an FYI, I've owned toyota's, honda's, and a couple of mazda's. Never a warranty problem till I bought a Mercedes. Go figure.

Audis or VWs 4Life

Solution isn't easy either with the next dealer being so far away. I guess its the perils of living in an area with few Audi dealers. I won't tell you how many are within an hour drive of my home but what I will tell you is getting a letter to AOA does get things moving. I would say be positive but also point out how things have changed for the worse. I will email you later today when I am home with details of who to contact in AOA.

Karrera4

thanks. Nice to see you in an A8 now!

testarossaguy

I too am very disappointed in my latest A8L. It's had nothing but problems. Most recently I had the front suspension bushings replaced, factory warranty ended on 12-31-08 and the CPO warranty is in effect. The mechanic told me that another dealership had previously replaced some bushings and the job was done wrong. I complained that I shouldn't have to pay for previous faulty work performed by Audi, but they didn't budge and I ended up paying the deductable, plus taking a day off work to drive the car the 125 mile round trip to get this done. I bought my car on CPO but have since discovered many things that should NOT have passed the CPO inspection, like the walmart bag in the air filter housing, a slice in the right front tire sidewall, non-matching front armrests, glove box door "easy down" cylinder broken, you get the picture. I've complained to Audi and am waiting for them to contact me this week. This car has had 5 dealer visits in 5 months and only 6k miles driven. I'm just about ready to sell it and get a Phaeton!

Karrera4

damn, I would be fuming if I were you. Where did you get your car??

Our car has not had those kinds of issues, but the few it has had they just refuse to cover. We have 39K miles on our 06 and it is still in its full bumper to bumper warranty. What they hell is the warranty for?

testarossaguy

Bought the car from Audi in Highland Park, Ill. CPO car with 38k miles, paid cash for the darn car - it's now at 44k miles. I looked it over carefully, but as everyone knows you will always miss things when looking to buy due to emotional blindness, that's why I wanted a CPO car. I'm thinking maybe a well-sorted 04 for A LOT LESS MONEY would have been a better deal. Live and learn...

Karrera4

Nope, its not. The problem you might be having is that they will not cover things done by the previous owner (such as the arm rests). Although, that is something you should fight with your dealer about because it should have been done right from the get go.

We got ours at Continental Audi in Chicago and couldn't have been happier with them - also paid cash. However, seeing as we are in Iowa, it is not practical for me to take it there for service.