Dishonest service advisor at Santa Monica Audi

[HCP3]

Ugh, there goes my desire to buy a new Audi now. Time to look at other lines now.....

It has nothing to do with the brand. It has to do with a shitty dealership's service department. All brands have them.

 

[nordic454]

Our regular service writer at Henderson Audi/Lamborghini was gone one day. Had to take our SQ7 in for an oil change and DEF top off. He calls me and says I need new tires, at the cost of $2400. I had just installed new tires 9 months/16k miles prior, so I knew they were new and he was full of it. He said that they were at 4/32 and needed to be replaced. I told him he was full of it, got it home and measured them at 7/31. The tires new are at 10/31. Talk about a risky move, to try and sell something like that, without knowing us, or our knowledge of our own vehicles. I let our regular guy know, as well as the Audi Customer Service rep when they called to me to make sure my visit went well.
Unfortunately, it happens all the time.

 

[termiteguy]

Never and I mean ever own a Audi out of warranty you talk about turning a large some of money into zero . My mechanic hates the car as much as I do (wife loves it) if anyone needs a good auto shop in mission Viejo nieghhood car care ask for randy

 

[Warlock1]

It has nothing to do with the brand. It has to do with a shitty dealership's service department. All brands have them.

While this is absolutely true, I also do not want a car with inherent issues either. We have bought new Chevys, Toyotas, Fords, and even Kias and they have all been relatively trouble free. To your point though we have had both Corvettes to the dealerships while in Florida and they screwed the pooch every time. They have so much volume that they literally will not do any troubleshooting. Swap a part or say could not duplicate the problem.
Sonya and I want to step up the game a little and grab a new sport performance SUV because I am getting too old to be getting in and out of a Vette. I want the comfort, class, style and giddy-up that the Jaguar, Porsches, BMW, Audis all have.

 

[Taboma]

While this is absolutely true, I also do not want a car with inherent issues either. We have bought new Chevys, Toyotas, Fords, and even Kias and they have all been relatively trouble free. To your point though we have had both Corvettes to the dealerships while in Florida and they screwed the pooch every time. They have so much volume that they literally will not do any troubleshooting. Swap a part or say could not duplicate the problem.
Sonya and I want to step up the game a little and grab a new sport performance SUV because I am getting too old to be getting in and out of a Vette. I want the comfort, class, style and giddy-up that the Jaguar, Porsches, BMW, Audis all have.

My wife has owned her / our 16' SQ5 Audi since new in Oct 15'. Been two minor recalls and otherwise we've had zero problems. It's not uncommon for a battery to shit the bed after 4 years, although honestly, after a charge, it started fine.
Most of that was being away on vacation, her driving several back to back short trips. In my own truck, I'd have easily milked another year out of it. I had it swapped to buy her peace of mind with her daily driver. Well and mine too.
The only other expense other than yearly oil changes has been replacing those quick wearing summer tires. You buy performance, which she wanted, well you pay the tire piper. With the 21" wheel option, all season tires --- all of one, only recently became available. When we replaced her tires, we watched for an Audi service special and bought them for less than Discount Tire etc.
Certainly not a super performance car, but she wanted a smallish SUV and with supercharged 354 hp, it's got plenty of Giddy-up. With the Quattro AWD, she can play and I'm not worried about her mating with a pole. Funny, she's 63, runs with most of the vehicle dynamics in "Comfort" mode, but has the exhaust in "Dynamic". In dynamic over 3200 RPM or so, baffles open and that SC V-6 has a mean growl, sure wish my Raptor sounded that good.

We have zero regrets and wouldn't hesitate replacing her's with another Audi. But we don't care for the new gen "Built in Mexico" SQ5, so not sure what's next.
For the record, for us it was between that SQ5 or the Porsche Macan. We really liked the Macan, although with a few options the price escalates quickly. At the time the Porsche was a brand new model, very few around and getting any deal was impossible --- when I'd inquire they'd just look at me like "You do realize you're at a Porsche dealership right ?" indignant look The SQ5 was such a close comparison and we got such a screamin deal, it was an easy decision.

Next time ? Who knows at this point.

 

[NicPaus]

I am at the chevy dealership now. Same 1 I have had issues with. Was going to try and bring it to Selman but to far drive. Hopefully they fix it. Have to bring my other 1 tomorrow for a recall.

 

[RiverDave]

Just another unregulated predatory industry... they are all shady crooks, just like mortgage brokers

lol

 

[SBMech]

I've spent plenty enough time reading on Audiworld to have a layman's understanding of the VCDS software, required battery ref # and how the data is utilized.
I do know, but certainly don't considered myself educated enough on the subject to argue, that there's a lot more battery data logged then you'll get just entering the battery type and ratings.

I wasn't sold Fuckery, I was sold EZ convenience. For over 30 years my hard working wife has picked out and bought HER own cars.
It's rare if I even lift the hood, let alone work on one of them Hell, I rarely ever drive one, except to take them in for occasional service, which she pays for.
I've got plenty of my own truck, car, boat, jetskis, SxS and 3/4 acre of landscaping to keep this ole retired guy busy.

In answer to your statement about data logged, sure there is, mostly useless for all practical purposes. Actually programming it is a simple button push and entering the date.

Audi's are without a doubt the one most complicated and sophisticated vehicles out there, over engineered and over complicated......and an absolute blast to drive when everything is working.

Simple things like timing chain stretch should be compensated, but no...they need to replace the timing chains if they are more than 2* out, because they did not calculate that into the fuel injection/timing map....so that means 6-12k to the customer every 60k....ouch. Rear main seals that leak and cause lean codes...yea baby..love em!

There is a reason there is one in my bay every single week, and news flash, it's not because I am a shitty mechanic...

 

[rivermobster]

I know a guy who use to be a Porsche mechanic and is now an Audi mechanic, know why he switched? He makes twice as much money as an Audi mechanic...

Yeah, that's bullshit!

I worked for Rusnack for a few years at Bentley/Rolls Royce. There was an Audi and Porsche dealership on the same property. I was friends with all of the guys.

Porsche, was like Bentley. All customer pay work. Audi, is all warranty work.

What's that mean???

NOBODY WANTS to do warranty work. Warranty work doesn't pay worth a shit! (No money in it).

No real mechanic would intentionally subject himself to that. Not a snowballs chance in hell. LoL

@Ziggy

 

[mudpuppy]

I wasn't looking to have anyone fired, I was just looking for the opinion of someone in the business as I had no idea about what was fair.

As for dealerships, having spent 18 years in that business, I'll say there's more incompetent techs than there are crooked ones. The systems are getting more complex and guys just don't take the time to educate themselves to the level it takes to understand them. A flow chart only gets you so far, at some point you have to understand how things work.

rodger that

 

[boatpi]

Someone in the industry speak up, but I believe CA just passed a law that all MFG MUST pay going retail labor rate, or make an agreement with each dealership as to warranty payment.

 

[LuauLounge]

AB 179, signed in October 2019.

Bill Text - AB-179 New Motor Vehicle Board.

leginfo.legislature.ca.gov

 

[Tireman]

Must be the area. The GM dealer I was talking about is Earnhardt Cadillac right there at FLW and Hayden. There is a great local mechanic I use over there near Costco. Place is called Scottsdale Protech and the guy is really fair and very honest.

I KNOW THE GM THERE....

 

[nowski]

Yeah, that's bullshit!

I worked for Rusnack for a few years at Bentley/Rolls Royce. There was an Audi and Porsche dealership on the same property. I was friends with all of the guys.

Porsche, was like Bentley. All customer pay work. Audi, is all warranty work.

What's that mean???

NOBODY WANTS to do warranty work. Warranty work doesn't pay worth a shit! (No money in it).

No real mechanic would intentionally subject himself to that. Not a snowballs chance in hell. LoL

@Ziggy

My Buddy Brian was a long time mechanic at Beverly Hills Porsche. When I asked him why he jumped ship he told me there are way more Audi's on the road than Porsche's. I was surprised when he told me but it made perfectly good sense to me...

 

[rivermobster]

My Buddy Brian was a long time mechanic at Beverly Hills Porsche. When I asked him why he jumped ship he told me there are way more Audi's on the road than Porsche's. I was surprised when he told me but it made perfectly good sense to me...

Beverly Hills eh? How long ago was this? My friend Kenny probably took his place. Probably about 5 years ago now?

He's just as busy as he was at Rusnack. Kenny always made stupid money. Great tech. Forgot more than most guys will ever know.

 

[ka0tyk]

Took my navigator to ford to diagnose a VCT system issue. Three days later I finally get ahold of the service writer guy and he says it needs a whole new engine. I tell him no... he responds with well its all apart right now in the bay and it'll be a few days before I can have it picked up and that I owed for like 6 hours of diag. I tell him to come outside of his stupid booth and meet me in the parking lot where my truck had been sitting the whole time untouched. I purposely put a little rock on top of the tire just to make sure if it had moved. Told him I wasnt paying him sh%t and what a crook he was.

Now when I tookmy wife's infiniti to the dealer for a small noise in the front end they gave it back to me 0 out of pocket. Basically replaced the entire front suspension, new shocks, new hubs, all new wheels and tires since it was AWD. Also had found the AC was like 2 degrees under spec and had replaced the compressor. I thought they were full of crap but was amazed when I looked under the car and it was basically brand new. Maybe they just drill the crap out of their warranty dept for the work done?

Not all dealerships are bad.