Your friendly dealer?

[OscarH]

I bought my car last december in a private sale. The previous owner had it serviced by QST before handing it over and I was assured that the next time they needed to see it would be at 80k for the cambelt. I live a little out of the way of QST, so when I decided the wipers could do with replacing I had it done at my local Audi and provided them with all my details including mobile phone.

About 2 weeks ago a notice came on that my car was due for service in 1,200 miles, much to my surprise, since I am not even close to being 1,200 miles away from 80k.

I was even more surprised to receive a text message from my Audi dealer enquiring if the car alert had come on for the service and if yes, I should be aware that they had a special offer for cars booked in before 30 April.

Is this:

1) normal and are Audi being super efficient. Have they tracked the services the car has had and now figured out I own it and automatically sent the text message to me?

or

2) my local Audi dealer being entrepreneurial and downloaded the service schedule out of the cars computer (is that possible?) when they saw it and sending me the text message because the computer said it was due?

or

3) more sinister, my local Audi dealer being more than a little entrepreneurial and set the 1,200 mile alert at a specified time in the future when they saw it and sending me the text message to get some business?

I had to get a wheel sorted out, so QST reset the 'alert' for me and again told me to come back at 80k, so I am not concerned about that, but am actually more than a little intrigued by what's going on Audi's end. Any ideas?

[30mgs]

I can't answer how your local dealer has come by your details but in this day and age it's not difficult.

You might be reading too much into this, in dealings with my local stealer I've found them to have been a bunch of buffoons with regards my cars service history - it had a few trips to a specialist instead of Audi themselves.

If I hear 'your car is due a cambelt change' again I swear I'll throttle the woman!!!

If you're not happy with them continue with getting your car seen by a specialist, anyone who knows anything won't be too disturbed seeing non-dealer stamps in a book should you come to sell it. Plus you'll be safe in the knowledge that you haven't just been shafted with a long pole when you collect your car