Poor experience from Audi N1 city

The Audi A5 story :: In the beginning of November 2017, our Audi was taken in to Audi to repair the timing belt, while the vehicle was in for repairs, My partner received a call from the technician at Audi N1 City advising us that he could fix the vehicle privately at a better rate – My partner reported this incident and according to Audi N1 City, the employee was fired – we fetched the vehicle a few days later.

About a week later, the mirror on the windscreen fell off – we took it back to Audi N1 City and were told that it was most definitely not their fault and that these things happen on after market windscreens – we understood it as such and had the mirror fixed accordingly (Note however that this mirror was firmly fixed on the windscreen at the time of sending the vehicle in for the timing belt replacement).

On 15/16 November, my SON was sitting in the front seat of the Audi A5, when I braked and heard a snap; the seat then propelled forward with him and then backwards with a force – I then took the vehicle in, I was told by the technician that Audi seats malfunction, it happens….. No regard for my child’s safety whatsoever – it just happens and it is what it is. Audi N1 City then removed the seat, replaced it again and told us that it was a ‘silly little repair’ and that the vehicle was safe for use again – the report stated that the rails were dirty from wear and tear and so malfunctioned?

On 28 December, I was sitting in the front seat (that, according to Audi N1 City was safe for use) and was flung forward towards the dashboard and backwards again, resulting in an old neck injury flaring up. We then took the vehicle back to Audi N1 City, where we were again told it’s a malfunction due to wear and tear and that they had replaced the repair kit entirely, we were told by Melissa(service agent) via telephone that she had personally tested the seat by moving it forward and backwards and that the seat is now fixed and we wouldn’t have problems again.

On 22 January 2018, I was driving to Knysna with my colleague, when I braked and heard the snap AGAIN, my colleague was also rocketed to the front and then to the back – we ended up having to mcguyver the seat with a bag in front and back so that it didn’t move around as we were too far into the trip already – I was then forced to drive back from Knysna to Cape Town on my own, because all my colleagues were too scared to drive in my vehicle…… I then e-mailed Audi N1 City to let them know that I’d be bringing the vehicle in on 26 January 2018 to repair the seat and had no response from them, when they finally did respond, we were told that they were busy and we had to book the vehicle in – the response was a week later.

In a meeting with Grant and Stephanie, we were advised that the repair kit had failed and as such we needed to replace the whole bucket seat at a cost of R10 000, we were told that Audi N1 City would send our vehicle away to an accredited panel shop and get a full report on the malfunction – to which they reverted with the news that the seat had malfunctioned due to wear and tear – the vehicle is 5 years old, the seat is a safety hazard that was not tested adequately in terms of safety testing – a technician taking the vehicle for a drive and a staff member pushing the seat back and forth is not safety testing, yet according to Grant Pienaar is the manner in which they are advised by the Audi OEM to safety test their seats.

We then advised Audi N1 City that we would not be replacing the bucket seat, and that they were to put the seat back in, we would fetch the vehicle on my discharge from hospital (I would sit in the back seat) and that we would be selling the vehicle immediately due to us not having faith in Audi N1 City being able to fix the problem, seeing as the previous two attempts were unsuccessful and 3 people had been put in harms way already.

We got to Audi N1 City, around 11h20am, I sat in the loan car and waited, My partner went in to fetch the key. Melissa the service advisor was aware that we were there (she ran to the back when she saw Johan, maybe she had another other urgent matter to attend to, so we could possibly be wrong in saying she ran away) and nobody could help us find the key. Quite some time later, I asked to sit inside as I was struggling in the heat, Grant Pienaar (Dealer Principle) then walked up to us, found the key and gave it to My partner, without actually walking with him to the vehicle to check that all was ok – My partner then pulled the vehicle up to the door, I then saw that the back windscreen had been smashed, when I called two of the sales representatives, they asked me what I had done???? The vehicle had been standing outside their workshop, I hadn’t touched the vehicle, so couldn’t have possibly broken the window – I had just been discharged from hospital AND gave Audi N1 City a heads up that we were on our way and needed to get out asap…. We then received an e-mail from Grant stating that it was (once again) no fault of Audi N1 City and that they think a car must have picked up a stone and flung it onto the car, shattering the ENTIRE window? Please take note that the road behind the dealership is quite a distance away and it is quite difficult to fathom, as the cars are only allowed to drive 60km on that road, there were TWO holes in the window, therefore two stones would have needed to hit that window at an incredible speed or force to have resulted in the kind of damage - the entire window was shattered.

Audi N1 City has failed to fix our vehicle on two occasions, put my family at risk and treated it as if it did not matter and then expected us to pay for a brand new seat based on the fact that it was wear and tear and 'malfunctions happen' even in one of the safest vehicles - this vehicle is supposed to be a safe vehicle at all times, especially if it’s only 5 years old? Or am I expecting too much? How do I know it won't happen again?

How can Audi N1 city think that their safety testing measures are up to standard? My biggest concern is that Audi N1 city does not adequately test malfunctions that could result in loss of life and should be remedied to avoid it happening to another family?