Grimsby Audi and Soft RS4 wheels

[gareth215]

I recently found out that the alloys on my RS4 are slightly buckled the vibration can be balanced out but I thought I may as well get them replaced seen as Audi generously publically offered a life time goodwill warranty not so long ago!

I reported it to Grimby Audi who said they never heard of the "goodwill" and that I had no chance on an 8 year old car.

After showing them the letters issued by Audi they agreed to look into it for me and inspected the wheels and agreed at least that they where in good condition on the outside of the wheel i.e not badly kerbed and said they would file the claim with Audi.

I have had to chase them quite a bit and after a month or so they told me Audi said it would most likely be a no, but if I wanted to prgress the claim I would need to buy a new set for £2000 and submit my old wheels for further inspection with no guarantee at all of getting any money back!

I was also told by the dealer off the record that they where sure the goodwill claim would be turned down as its a "goodwill policy" not a lifetime warranty and therefore would not apply any more.

I asked what would the point be in paying £2000 for wheels with a proven record of being to soft when I could buy some aftermarket wheels for a fraction of the price, and was told that was upto me.

I have now sent a letter to Audi UK and will let you know what they come up with if anything. I am not sure how much of what I was told came from Audi UK and how much was Grimby Audi crap.

Does anyone think if I buy an aftermarket set of wheels in the mean time I can blag a £2000 voucher from Audi instead of new wheels and bag myself B7 RS4 brake set up instead!!

[Nige_RS4]

Did you try a different dealer? May even be worth going to an RS specialist dealer to get this sorted?

[Contigo]

Eeeeehh it's grim up north!

[gareth215]

well i have writen to Audi Uk Customer Service now as Grimsby said they had already been contacted by Audi UK I assumed the next dealer would also tell me to get lost.

[Contigo]

Stand your ground, these wheels are a pain in the ass and if these are the original wheels that have not been replaced since new and they are buckled with no kerbing then you are entitled to a new set. It's as simple as that.

I think Ollys recently got a set after writing a letter to Audi UK, maybe PM him for a template and see what they say?

[Contigo]

All the info here mate

http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=PNp ... ght=wheels

[gareth215]

Thanks for the info, I will just have to hope Audi Uk are more help! I just hope I dont kerb the wheels in the mean time and let them off the hook! How picky are they?

[Nige_RS4]

Thanks for the info, I will just have to hope Audi Uk are more help! I just hope I dont kerb the wheels in the mean time and let them off the hook! How picky are they?

Well one of mine was 1mm outside of the tolerance, another one had light kerbing on the outside rim and they blamed that for a deformation on the inside rim - go figure. They would've swapped 2 out, but wanted £450 each for the other 2 wheels. Seemed easier to get 4 new hards ones at the time.

They assured me they came with a 2 year warranty (although I've read elsewhere that as they were FOC, no warranty applies ????)

[gareth215]

Thanks for the info, I will just have to hope Audi Uk are more help! I just hope I dont kerb the wheels in the mean time and let them off the hook! How picky are they?

Well one of mine was 1mm outside of the tolerance, another one had light kerbing on the outside rim and they blamed that for a deformation on the inside rim - go figure. They would've swapped 2 out, but wanted £450 each for the other 2 wheels. Seemed easier to get 4 new hards ones at the time.

They assured me they came with a 2 year warranty (although I've read elsewhere that as they were FOC, no warranty applies ????)

Technically speaking not really free of charge as I bet you had to give them your old wheels. So you have provided consideration for the contract therefore normal Sale of Goods Act / consumer law should apply.

[TopBear]

Thanks for the info, I will just have to hope Audi Uk are more help! I just hope I dont kerb the wheels in the mean time and let them off the hook! How picky are they?

Well one of mine was 1mm outside of the tolerance, another one had light kerbing on the outside rim and they blamed that for a deformation on the inside rim - go figure. They would've swapped 2 out, but wanted £450 each for the other 2 wheels. Seemed easier to get 4 new hards ones at the time.

They assured me they came with a 2 year warranty (although I've read elsewhere that as they were FOC, no warranty applies ????)

Technically speaking not really free of charge as I bet you had to give them your old wheels. So you have provided consideration for the contract therefore normal Sale of Goods Act / consumer law should apply.

I guess where it falls down there is that there is no 'contract' as such in place for the consumer. The wheel replacement arrangement is (cleverly) based on goodwill.

[dhali]

when i had mine replaced @ camberley they said they came with a TWO year warranty. I will dig out the invoice and see if it is written on there.
btw. when i mentioned the goodwill agreement they hadnt heard of it . BUT they came through in the end albeit 4 months later..

[ollys]

Stand your ground, these wheels are a pain in the ass and if these are the original wheels that have not been replaced since new and they are buckled with no kerbing then you are entitled to a new set. It's as simple as that.

I think Ollys recently got a set after writing a letter to Audi UK, maybe PM him for a template and see what they say?

I never had to send the letter - though reading back it was quite a good one IMHO of course! Feel free to use it, I am a lawyer who specialises in civil litigation, so I had my pencil sharpened. What actually made the difference in my case was chancing upon someone at Dovercourt Audi, who was prepared to sort it out with Audi UK for me (the first guy there I spoke to about this was bloody unhelpful). My advice would be to go to a different dealer, who knows the problem, has experience of dealing with Audi on this before and who will take up your cause. Most of all, don't give up, don't pay anything upfront and don't get a new set of rims. If a new set of rims is ultimately what you want, get Audi to replace yours (as they should) first and then either keep those mint for when you sell the car or sell them to fund the new ones.

Best of luck.

Olly

[drjones1]

Portsmouth Audi just changed mine for hard alloys no quibbles..

[gareth215]

I never had to send the letter - though reading back it was quite a good one IMHO of course! Feel free to use it, I am a lawyer who specialises in civil litigation, so I had my pencil sharpened. What actually made the difference in my case was chancing upon someone at Dovercourt Audi, who was prepared to sort it out with Audi UK for me (the first guy there I spoke to about this was bloody unhelpful). My advice would be to go to a different dealer, who knows the problem, has experience of dealing with Audi on this before and who will take up your cause. Most of all, don't give up, don't pay anything upfront and don't get a new set of rims. If a new set of rims is ultimately what you want, get Audi to replace yours (as they should) first and then either keep those mint for when you sell the car or sell them to fund the new ones.

Best of luck.

I did think it was a well drafted letter! But you did not mention any basis in law as to why Audi should repalce the wheels, do you think there is any?

Audi Grimsby told me the life time wheel replacement was "goodwill" and not a warranty, so they were not bound by anything. My question is:- is there a contract that can be enforced legally if all else fails?

Could one legitimately argue Audi offered life time replacement wheels and made this offer publically. They also clearly intended to extend this offer to subsequant onwers as Audi issued and additional page for the owners manual re the soft wheels.

Audi made the offer of life time replacement wheels but this was made under the terms of their "goodwill policy" as far as I can tell that means the customers obligation is to keep the car with full Audi service history or is there more to the "goodwill policy"? If not I have stuck to my side of the bargain by keeping the car with full audi service history.

So Audi made an offer of free wheels for life if you keep the car with full Audi service history. Myself and the previous owners of the car have done this so have accepted Audi's offer, therefore are Audi duty bound to give me new wheels rather then just saying its up to them as its only ever done as a good will gesture?

[Contigo]

There's a letter in the docs part of the site which states that they will replace the sfot wheels if buckled, I think that's all you need!