Audi Umhlanaga is the worst dealership in SA Tarnishing Audi's Brand Integrity

Audi Umhlanga is the worst possible dealership in SA that will undoubtedly tarnish the Brand that Audi once had. Personally Audi has lost me as a customer due to this dealership.

Since 2006 I have always driven an Audi car, i purchase a brand new Audi every 5 years. However with my most recent purchase Audi Q3 TDI i have had the worst possible customer service imaginable.

My car is brand new, less than 10 000K on the clock as at today, purchased in 2015. The car is hardly used and well looked after. When the car had less than 2000 KM on the clock before the first service the PDC parking sensor (Fell out ) the bumper and rendered the usability of the PDC useless. I immediately notified Audi about the issue and audi took responsibility and asked me to bring the car in to get fixed. At this point Audi has accepted liability. The car was inspected and it was confirmed to be a factory manufacturing fault / default.

When collecting the car, i was told that the PDC was fixed and Audi apologized for the inconvenience. No problem at this stage, well accepted and understandable.

The car was then booked for its first service, on collection after the first service i noticed the car was scratched, i am an architect so i have an eye for detail ( One of the reasons i loved Audi is they pay attention to detail ), i notified audi before i left, the incident was minuted / recorded and Audi had an agent / subcontractor attend to the scratch and dent at my premises. The scratch and dent was fixed perfectly, i had my uncle inspect the job as he is a panel beater.

Before the second service was due the PDC ( Fell out ) again, i thought this was strange as Audi confirmed it was fixed and assured me it would never happen again. When taking the car into the dealership for its second service i notified Audi about the PDC parking sensor that fell out again and Audi confirmed it would be fixed.

Upon collection of my car after the second service i noticed that again the car was scratched and dented, i reported this to Audi before i left the dealership. Whilst the report was being captured on record i asked the principal service manager Marius Parsons if the PDC was fixed, He notified me that it was fixed, so i asked him how it was fixed, he said it was made good. I said what exactly does made good mean? I was then informed that Audi used glue to fix the PDC to the bumper. At this point i was infuriated by the response and asked why it was not fixed correctly. Marius notified me that there is a clip on the pumper that holds the PDC in place and that audi cannot replace the entire bumper for a single clip thats broken. I told Marius that the car is under warranty and that Audi has already previously taken liability for the problem as they confirmed it was fixed previously and acknowledged that it was a factory fault.

Audi then told me that the warranty does not cover the bumper and PDC. I then asked audi why was i **** to previously when audi told me it was fixed? Marius did not have a response. I therefore assume it was never fixed the first time. Why did audi fix it the first time if its not covered by Warranty? Why was it stated that it was a factory fault?

I then asked audi if they will fix my scratch and dent after the second service, they said they would, the tail light was badly scratched and i asked audi how they intend to fix the scratch on the tail light. Marius then told me they would buff the tail light and make it as if it was new.

I then told marius i dont accept this as the tail light was brand new when i brought it into audi, now audi is offering me a tail light that does not match the specification that a brand new audi Q3 has. Marius asked me how does it differ, i stipulated that when plastic is buffed then microns are shaved off the plastic until the scratch is invisible / removed, this means that the thickness of the plastic on the tail light is sub par and not as i had delivered to audi before the service. This is completely unacceptable, i notified Marius that i would like a meeting with his manager Stephen, to date Stephen as not contacted me and Audi is not taking liability for their faults, mistakes and manufacturing defaults / faults.

Audi refuses to resolve this matter on a brand new car, i am turned away and told nothing can be done.

From the above story you can clearly see that Audi Umhlanaga does not take care of their customers cars, who is to say that audi did not damage this PDC clip the first time they tried to fix it? There is solid proof that audi is not careful with their clients cars, or they would never scratch and dent my car during both services. Audi scratched my tail light and now refuse to replace it, this proves that Audi is ********* and not trustworthy, which proves my statement regarding the PDC.

This is about the principal and ethics, i can easily pay for all this to be fixed at my cost, however i don't believe this is a customers problem as Audi is responsible for all the events leading to this dispute.

I have failed to resolve this dispute with Audi Umhlanga and ask that Audi SA take this matter further. I demand that Audi resolves this matter and finds an amicable solution urgently. Should Audi not resolve this matter i shall take this matter to the press and my lawyer for further resolution to mediate this matter.

I have made contact with motoring magazines and radio, all whom would like to hear my story and offer the experience on air and to their readers. As an architect and property developer we hold a rather large punch in the local community and i can assure you that we can certainly throw a fuss about this matter and expose your brand.

I urge you to please contact me urgently to resolve this. Should you not resolve this you will lose a very valuable Audi customer and whom knows how many more you will lose after i take this story to the press.

To date i have converted over 7 family members and friends to the audi brand due to word of mouth, by not fixing my your factory faults or assisting me you are losing far more. A loyal customer will pay you for life, a disgruntled customer will cost you the world.

Kind regards