Audi warranty!

Dandle

Dandle

Dandle

Soldato
Joined
4 Nov 2003
Posts
4,548
Location
Ashford
Just a bit of a rant to vent my anger.

At 3.5k I noticed the drivers seat bolster had wear marks on the leather llike the black dyed area had split a bit. Audi replaced the cover under warranty but the car had to go back five times over the next 8 months due to a sqeaky seat, which they finally fixed.

Now at 13.5 k miles the passenger seat has the same signs of damage. I took it back to the dealers last week and the warranty manager said it was wear and tear and blamed us for letting go of the seat belt so it could fly back. The car has been our pride and joy and theres no way we would tread it badly, I dont even let any one else wash the thing. So I rang Audi UK and said that I don't think 13.5k miles is fair wear on the seat considering that my wife drives the car on her own most of the time and that the passenger seat is only used twice a week at the most. Two times they were supposed to ring back they never bothered. Then when I spoke to them they say they are backing the warranty manager and its wear and tear. I'm bloody fuming now that we are treated so badly after shelling out £27k of our money on what we thought was a premium brand to be told the seat covers are fair wear at only 18months old and with so little use. I would be annoyed if a 16k focus had the same wear let alone this car.

Ive been on to trading standards and they agree that I have a case so I'm now having to draft and official letter to Audi and will then have to pay to get the seat covers independantly tested.

I was even lining up an A6 avant as my next car but this will be the last Audi I will buy for a very long time if ever again. I have freinds who have bought second hand BMWs and had warranty issues and theres never even been a quible(TwFoxs is another good example). So much for customer service at Audi.

Rant over thanks for reading.
 
Blimey thats poor, is it a common problem with that type of model, i must say ive been impressed with Ford over stuff like this, i noticed an imperfection with the seam on the passenger side (leather recaro's), nothing big really, and as id done 30 oddk, i thought they would tell me to sod off, but no,a new seat later im happy,very happy infact.
 
I am shocked tbh, when we had the TT the Audi dealership were really really good everytime we had to deal with them.
Ironicaly we have had the same squeaky seat problem on the BMW, its been back several time and they do seem to have sorted it now, their customer service has been lacking however. Also seems to be a crazy amount of wear on the drivers seat for 8kish miles. Maybe its a German leather thing? :(
 
nomad said:
Also seems to be a crazy amount of wear on the drivers seat for 8kish miles. Maybe its a German leather thing? :(
Click to expand...

The seat is the original passenger seat but its mostly driven with no one in that seat. So probably no more than 3.5k miles of use at most.
 
dont worry if it was a focus they would have laughed you out the showroom trim only gets a 1 year warranty from ford ;)

But continue your case with audi uk,

Ask to take it further and speak to trading standards
 
In my opinion keep at them, we had a warrranty problem with our 3.2 TT earlier this year (although differnt to yours), the car had a strange rattling noise around the engine compartment after about 5 mins of running. The car went back three times:-The first time it was still under warranty, they thought the noise was the climate compressor so they replaced it. The second time it was out of warranty (just), the noise was still there so they replaced the flywheel at the dealers own expense. The third time they replaced the gearbox (DSG) as the noise had still not gone, the car had only done 20000 miles and is only driven at weekends. Audi had to concede that due to the mileage of the car etc this problem should not have occured. the cost of the gearbox inc fitting was met by Audi. This process took some time and some very heated phone calls to get sorted but in these cases you have to keep at them.

Personally I think you have a very good chance of getting it sorted in your favour.

The drivers seat in ours has slight wear on the edge as you get in, but as our use of the car is only at weekends we are not too concerned as to pay to replace would probably cost £1000+.
 
Keep fighting them. Noticeable wear on the seat is unacceptable on an Audi of that age and mileage - my drivers seat is only slightly warn after 150,000 miles and 5 years so really there is no excuse. If it truely is wear and not a fault I would be inclined to blame poor manufacturing, ergo, still their problem.
 
sormicoft said:
dont worry if it was a focus they would have laughed you out the showroom trim only gets a 1 year warranty from ford ;)

But continue your case with audi uk,

Ask to take it further and speak to trading standards
Click to expand...

Yeah mine was under a year old, but passenger seat was hardly ever sat in, mind you its the only thing that Ford have gotten right so far, their service on the whole (well from this particular dealer,Brooklyn Worcs) leaves a lot to be desired.
 
Thats shocking, especially for a passanger seat, keep at them!

My 1998 Camry has no leather wear whatsoever on the passanger seat, and very minimal wear (you have to be looking real close) on the drivers seat, and its done 130,000 miles!
 
Ask the Audi dealer for the Customer Services number and then talk to them.

After being nice and calm I explained to them the 3 month battle I was having. They sorted my problem out with my 2002 S3 within 24 hours. (under warranty the dealer did not change both front springs after one had snapped resulting in a 5mm height difference between the two front wheels and unstable drive at high speed).

I wonder if its a design fault or something - my Recaros are immaculate with the car having done 35K miles and driven daily.
 
Last edited:
brakeinup said:
Ask the Audi dealer for the Customer Services number and then talk to them.
Click to expand...

Thats who I spoke to and they agree with the warranty manager that its wear and tear. Been on to trading standards and they think I have a good case, got to write an official letter to Audi as the first step.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom