Rhoomba

I just got off the phone with Todd Flowers @ Plaza.

He's the General Service Manager who oversees all service departments, and was returning my call from yesterday morning RE: Plaza's new loaner policy of no courtesy cars for out-of-warranty cars (instead of a loaner from their fleet of Camry's, Plaza was going to subsidize Enterprise cars for owners of out-of-warranty cars so they would only cost $15/day). I should make clear that this is for my Audi, the service dept for which is ganged with Porsche and Land Rover. (BMW, Infiniti and Lexus all have factory programs subsidizing their service loaner programs).

Todd comes across as a nice enough guy, who treated me well and with respect, listened politely to my beef and responded (to be perfectly honest, I was pleasantly surprised to hear back from him - didn't think I would be getting a call back).

The decision to cut loaners for out-of-warranty car owners was one that was made to impact the bottom line for Plaza's owner group. I understand that. But the impact to owners is a big one. And one that I am not necessarily willing to trade happily. The convenience and time savings of picking a car up from the receptionist is worth a lot to me. I'd even be willing to pay MORE than the $15 (say, $30) for the loaner with that level of convenience. But Plaza says they're going back to the old way.

An I respect that decision.

Still - because there is no such thing as a free lunch - any cost that someone doesn't have to pay in one respect, will be reflected somewhere else (be it overall profitability, or in price of parts/service, etc). Of course, that's acceptable to me in the long run.

Todd Flowers won my business back for Plaza.

For this reason, as well as for why I chose Plaza in the first place, they will retain my service business, and I shall continue to consider them in the future for new and used car purchases.

myfirstimport

they want me to come back for repeat business for my 2nd $50k car.

Yet they can't give me the satisfaction of a competative loaner policy. They mark up the price of their parts and labor more than enough to cover $15 a day.

The techs and service writers are worthless. they don't fix things as requested, regularly screw up quotes and have general squirly busines practices.

So they do their stupid survey thing. You as customer answer how you feal and maybe give them a bad review....now all of the sudden the service writer cares about you, because he wont get paid with too many nad reviews. he calls and asks what he can do to fix it, and has the ***** TO SAY "you should have told me you were not happy before the survey"

I shouldnt have to tell you. you should be able to follow instructions and make me happy.

All this leads up to VERY **** POOR SERVICE AFTER THE SALE. For gods sake, the local Chevy dealer cars more about repeat business on a $15k geo metro than Plaza does onhigh end cars.

I am sorry I didn't buy my car from Parktown, and all my dealings with them have been 110% satsified. They know I didn't buy my car from them and they want to be sure I buy my next from them.

That's how I want to be treated. Plaza can suck it. Audi customers have always been made out to be an after thought to all the other brands they carry.

Parktown rules.

Rhoomba

...you could have benefitted from a different service writer at Plaza, and a better quality control process. FWIW, I've been very happy there, and feel generally well taken care of. Everyone's mileage varies, however..

FWIW: "Audi customers have always been made out to be an after thought to all the other brands they carry."

It's a shame when a dealership can put so much negative mojo on a product family. It's enough to make me consider other car brands.

Frankly, I mostly get the cold shoulder from their sales side. I've only met two decent used sales guys, and no decent new sales - everyone else seems to ooze slime. The fact that service is right next to Porsche sales puts us in with a particulary slug-infested area.

In terms of service, Landrover, Porsche and Audi all have the same service bay, dept and writers. Landrover, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes and Caddy do not have a competitive loaner programs, even though Lexus, BMW and Infiniti all have factory sponsored loaners.

Doesn't change things for you, though. Best of luck down at Parktown.

lopxtc

Well this week has been my first dealing with Plaza and I have to say that I have been pleasently surprised with them. You can follow my thread below about my clutch going out and the worries I had when I got the call from Plaza about the cost to fix it. After calling around to several places; Reid Vann, and Autos of Europe to name two, I was surprised to find that Plaza was only $200 more than either of the other shops I called. On top of that Dan had the cost of the loaner waived and has been very good communication wise through the whole process.

I had originally taken my car to Plaza only because at the time Reid Vann and Parktown were both saying it would be two weeks before I could get my car in, thanks to the power outage several weeks back, and I needed it right away. So I was more than a little worried given all the bad press I have read online. Well so far in this whole experience I havent seen any of that bad press and I think Dan has had a lot to do with that.

Aaron

krautfed03

I have to agree. I have nothing but excellent experience with Plaza in service. Both Audis that I have owned have been under warranty, so this will not affect me. I had a great salesman, but he recently left Plaza to go work at West County Volvo. I would buy at Plaza again, but in all fairness, I will give Parktown a chance. I got stuck with Leo, so my past experience with Parktown has not been favorable at all.