Poor treatment by main dealer on RS6 recall.

[Steve123]

My RS6 was recently recalled to remedy a possible future oil strainer filter problem. The letter from Audi said that their local main dealer would require the car for “ approximately one day “.   When I arrived at their showroom I was told that they would need it for at least three to four days and then it would have to be driven thirty miles to another of their branches to have it “ calibrated “.  Their courtesy car had so little diesel in it that I had to detour significantly from my route home to buy some gas. Forty eight hours later they rang to say my car had been done and I was to return their car immediately because it had been allocated to another customer.  This was not possible and the main dealer was not happy about this. A minor row ensued but I would not give way.   In the end it was agreed that they would deliver my car and recover their own. In addition to this problem there were more. I was told that my car would be given a complimentary valet and a complimentary fifty point inspection for any potential faults. This was to be emailed to me by their engineers department. Neither of these things happened. When I queried about the absence of the report I was told that my car was “ OK, and there was nothing wrong with it “ ! My other cars have been Bentleys or Aston Martins which have been returned to the factories for servicing and my dealings with them are polite and efficient; perhaps I have been spoiled by them ?

[Optimus]

absolutely not.

I've worked in the motortrade for a number of years starting with Lotus ending with Rolls Royce. In-between spent a little time with some luxury brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes and BMW.

 

The issue you describe is a problem specific to Volkswagen Group UK. Customer service models are the same whether it is VW, Skoda or Audi. This problem is very specific to the group and i strongly recommend to complete the online satisfaction form without prejudice! I picked up on this owning my first new Audi and noted the service compared no different to my VW passat (daily driver) which I had for a number of years.

I was a consultant for Nissan UK as they had a sharp decline in customer satisfaction scores for their Nismo range. As a mystery customer tasked by Nissan UK, I picked up a used/new GTR from a non Nismo dealer (arranged by Nissan) with a minor imaginary problem and booked it in with a Nismo approved franchised centre. Cutting a long story short I did this with 6 dealers up and down the country. The service was appalling when you consider the car I was driving cost £100K+ and I was getting the same level of customer service as someone whom spent less than £15K on a new car. Nissan realised this and sharply did a u-turn on their policy making, I think now the worst courtesy car you can get into as a GTR customer is/was the Juke Nismo.

Just to add, Lexus have told their dealers to hire you a car if they cant provide you a similar model specification.

When i worked at Lotus no mountain was high enough, we (the dealer or manufacturer) couldn't climb to support the customer. Bad customer rapport regardless of the cost was not an acceptable outcome.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Optimus