Watford Audi damaged my RS4!

[minzrs4]

Some help and advice please on the situation below:

I took my car in for a service on the 3rd April 23 to Audi Watford at 9am. Came back to collect it at 4pm only to find it had been involved in some sort of accident.

When I checked the car in the morning it was perfect no dents or damages. I reported the issue straight away but as it was at the end of the day, not much could be done. I returned back on the 4th of April as I didn’t receive a call and Simon Herridge the aftersales manager came out to see me. I was shocked by his comments saying the damages doesn’t look fresh, implying I was lying about the damages. Apparently, they do not have CCTV footage available and he said they are not responsible if the accident happened in their car park, even though I left the keys with them for a service. Apparently, the engineer who worked on the service said the damages were present before moving it into the workshop. He said the dealership is only responsible for the car when it goes into the workshop and my car only went into the workshop at 2pm so for 5hrs the car was parked at the main dealership car park, but yet they are not liable.

This dealership does not book the car in with any visual checks, so basically it’s your word against theirs. As a paying customer, you leave your car with a main dealership thinking it will be looked after and provided with a professional service.I paid £600 for an Audi service plan for an oil service and ended up with over £3k in damages, and I feel customer service in handling this situation has been appalling. I am posting this on social media platforms to make customers aware that cars are not safe when booked in for a service. It is now the 14th of April and basically no closer to resolving the matter.

I am fuming about the situation, and any advice on the next steps would be much appreciated.

[Dubbsley]

Go to Audi UK with a complaint about the dealership & your issue.
I used to work in a Audi dealership & the dealer would fob customers off till the cows come home but as soon as Audi UK got involved they would usually back track & sort the customers complaint.
Not saying it will definitely happen in your situation, I can only go on my own experience in my old dealership, but it’s definitely worth a email to Audi UK & get the dealerships head of business’s email address & CC them into it also.


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[minzrs4]

Thanks for the reply, I have already contacted Audi UK and hopefully they can help.

[zainster]

Sorry to hear of your issues, really hope you get them sorted. Never good to read things like this but as the reply earlier - Audi UK should be able to help.

I had an Audi dealer charge me over £200 against their service quote on my old B7 RS4 Avant - I remember being in a rush at the time of pick up so just paid and left but when I checked my paperwork later that evening, it did not add up so I contacted the service rep and his manager but neither would listen and just said I was wrong and they had priced it and charged me correctly. Took Audi UK to get involved and a couple weeks later, I was refunded my money and an apology issued as an admin error on their part for including some service work that never happened being the cause of the error.

Good luck OP and hope you get it resolved to your satisfaction.

[minzrs4]

thanks for the advice, Audi UK has been contacted

[elchet]

I had a very similar experience at Harold Wood Audi, but unfortunately didn't notice the damage they'd done until I was back home. They denied responsibility, saying if they'd damaged it they would have declared it and fixed it, which of course is great as long as they A) realised they'd damaged it, B) had a business with all workshop staff being 100% honest. In the end I got everything fixed out of my own pocket (body panel gouged, £600 knocked out, reinforced, resprayed, and windscreen replaced with OEM glass I had to source myself, about £400 all in) - £1k plus their costs for the radar diagnostics it went in for.

Pretty sharp snap back to reality as I figured buying into a range topping model with a premium marque would earn you some best in class customer care, not being treated like a liar or con-artist.

I will always take 360 photos or video of the car now, inside and out when taking it in for anything, especially with Audi themselves.

[Capt Ric]

Audi Watford's car park spaces are so tight. It's highly likely that damage would occur there.
You might be better off using audi Amersham or one of the good local independents. ( Vag Tec Chalfont? )