[pdev29]

Dear Karan,

Really sorry to hear about what has happened.
I work for Audi Mumbai West and i got to know about this today.
to be very hones it happened due some reasons which was really out of our control
and to be very honest its a very minor. I totally understand that its not your look out as customer
.
I really cannot discuss much about this on open forum due to company policy but as a BHPian i will try my best to help you in this as much as i can.

Regards
Devang

[pratheekkunder]

I am sorry to hear that brother. But i have got a feeling that, there is some more fishy things with the way they are trying to get you off from the delivery.
Do a proper PDI of the car, even if it take hours. but do it!
Good Luck

[taranonline]

Unless you sign the final docs and you have driven the car out of showroom the car is not yours. Talk to upper management.

Just say no. I would do it.

[madnish30]

The guys at Audi will for all reasons like to downplay this, I just can not digest this... Sometime ago they shooed away the wife and kids of a fellow BHPian who had paid 10lacs advanced and wanted to show his family different color options before finalizing, Audi told them they can't see the car as it is due for delivery and the kid will spoil the car, you can search for the thread, it is by the member who went ahead and got a s350.

If they dont allow anyone to even come close, even toddlers how can a kid damage the fender ? Just doesn't sound right.

Don't take the delivery... You dont want a car whose' service log started before the owner even clocked a kilometer on it...

In case you have mo option... Take details of everything they did to your car after they had it delivered to them by Audi in written of course, this wouldn't be so bad if they would have let you come or just told you the truth with a picture.

best of luck, do go in with a good number of people who know how to do thorough PDI.

[AbhiJ]

Dude... drop what you are doing and go see the car NOW. If you cant go send someone knowledgeable about cars.

If the "replacement" is complete, demand to see the old fender and dont leave the workshop until you do.

[BANDHAV]

Sorry If I missed this information somewhere, Is the vehicle already registered to your name? If no then simply ask them to provide you another example of the same car. Even if you end up getting everything in writing, actually getting it done would be too much of an effort.
Give them two option, give you another piece or walk out of deal altogether. I think it would make more business sense to them to close the deal in someway rather than loosing it and they always have the option of selling this particular example to some unsuspecting customer.

[discoverwild]

Originally Posted by Karan1981

Since then till now i've received multiple calls from sales team members, service manager trying to convince me that it's just the fender that is damaged and in the CKD we do get extra parts considering indian conditions for these type of incidents. When i asked him if he can show me the invoice and prove that the part getting replaced is indeed from the same CKD package as my A4 he goes to say all part numbers are same no one can figure that out only the dealer who get it knows its from the same box

Highly unfortunate, Karan. I think you should get in touch with Devang and see the damage for yourself. Until then, it will just be words flying around. If it is not too serious an issue as claimed by the dealer, they will be willing to negotiate some kind of settlement towards the damage caused.

Taking the legal route, as we all know by now, will be years of waiting, pain and eventually demoralizing.

Originally Posted by pdev29

Dear Karan,

Really sorry to hear about what has happened.
I work for Audi Mumbai West and i got to know about this today.
to be very hones it happened due some reasons which was really out of our control
and to be very honest its a very minor. I totally understand that its not your look out as customer
.
I really cannot discuss much about this on open forum due to company policy but as a BHPian i will try my best to help you in this as much as i can.

Regards
Devang

Hope Devang can help Karan out as a true fellow BHPian. He can also show this post to his seniors and see that it will generate a lot of bad blood. This might help the dealership gain brownie points if they settle the matter to Karan's contention, quickly and correctly.

[kailashnj]

We are on the way, stuck in the Mumbai taffic. Still not sure what is in store for us there at Audi.

Hope everything turns out fine.

Kailash

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by madnish30

The guys at Audi will for all reasons like to downplay this, I just can not digest this... Sometime ago they shooed away the wife and kids of a fellow BHPian who had paid 10lacs advanced and wanted to show his family different color options before finalizing, Audi told them they can't see the car as it is due for delivery and the kid will spoil the car, you can search for the thread, it is by the member who went ahead and got a s350.

It was androdev. Serves Audi right. Maybe he should click a pic of his S and mail it to Audi, thanking them for their help in the S purchase

@OP, that's really a terrible experience you have gone through.


Make sure there are no further hiccups. More importantly, don't let em pull a fast one on you again. Hopefully the BHPian working for the Audi dealership should be able to see you through this.

Keep us posted.

[androdev]

Dear Karan,

Sorry to hear what happened. I can feel your pain and just on this forum alone I have come across a handful of bad Audi experiences.

I would say keep your cool and plan how you will handle it. The sales people are so thick-skinned that they would rather be ready to get slapped in their face instead of trying to address the issue.

I don't buy their "Q5 owner's kid opened the door blah.." theory. First, kids can hardly open the doors of these tanks far enough to hit the cars next to it. Second, even when I park my budget cars in congested malls, I always make sure that I park in such a way that next car driver-side door can be opened comfortably. So Audi guys are plain stupid to park a delivery-car too close to another car. Third, they don't seem to be honest from the start, so it is hard to believe whatever BS they say.

Originally Posted by AbhiJ

Dude... drop what you are doing and go see the car NOW. If you cant go send someone knowledgeable about cars.

If the "replacement" is complete, demand to see the old fender and dont leave the workshop until you do.

Excellent advice. This is exactly what I would do. Forget photos and promises. I would drop everything else and go see the car myself this very minute. Will take a friend along too just to keep things in balance. Take some good quality pictures with the damage so you can use it later in case things get ugly.

They are very likely to repair the panel. Even in CKD world, I believe panels are painted in India? So the likelihood of getting a factory painted panel is low in my opinion.

It is a very painful situation to be in - this is not so major that it will get you a refund given that it is already registered in your name. I would be realistic and demand a quality repair/replacement job and some sort of 'compensation'. But before anything else, I would check out the car first!

Also would suggest not to let this experience ruin the whole fun. Panel damages are inevitable for cars that are used as daily drivers in big cities - it is just something that happens to all the cars sooner or later. In your case, it happened too darn soon. Just keep your cool and make them pay - but don't lose sleep over it.

Just thought to add what I would do:

1. Start with a refund or fresh vehicle request (Best case but unlikely to happen, but just to play offensive)
2. Need a factor finished panel and not a repaired panel. Again, may not be possible technically.
3. Ask for a loaner A4 till the car is returned in a satisfactory condition. They will not have a loaner to spare. If not, ask for a daily rental allowance of equivalent car (without bills preferred). This is very important, otherwise they will not be under pressure to do things quickly.
4. Ask for "compensation" (free service, free accessories worth a min 50K depending on the damage). If they insist on repairing the panel instead of replacing - the compensation has to be higher.

#3 is the most important thing, otherwise this affair will not be time-bound and nothing is more frustrating than wasting your time following up.

You should not settle for anything less than: Good repair job + loaner/rental allowance + compensation

All the best, keep us posted.

[mkpiyengar]

Sorry Karan to hear the bad news..

Dealers lack basic honesty in dealing, so whatever they do we cannot trust them unless we verify ourselves thoroughly whenever possible.

I've a basic question, The car ready for delivery is normally registered in your name, so what happens to registration if we do not accept delivery and ask for replacement due to dealer's fault.

Is there means of getting registration transferred ? What are the options ?

Cheers
MKPI

[nitinbose]

Hi Karan,

Congrats on the Audi purchase but feel sorry for the poor experience. Such unfortunate events do happen with all dealers across the globe, but its just that you happened to be the 1/1000th person to suffer this.

Getting annoyed wouldnt get you anywhere. Please keep your cool and do take the delivery after a PDI, making sure there are no damages.

Coming to the Vkool installation, do understand its not Audi certified engineers who install the sunfilm but some 'boys' from Vkool and they're no different from the staff at an accessory shop and bound to make mistakes.

My personal view is that the dealer was transparent enough to let you know of these issues before you reached the showroom for delivery - many would have simply hidden these and made you wait till dark and then do the delivery so that you wont notice these. Later when you find the issues, it would be left to you!

Wish you a happy car delivery in advance!

Nitin

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by nitinbose

Hi Karan,

Congrats on the Audi purchase but feel sorry for the poor experience. Such unfortunate events do happen with all dealers across the globe, but its just that you happened to be the 1/1000th person to suffer this.

Getting annoyed wouldnt get you anywhere. Please keep your cool and do take the delivery after a PDI, making sure there are no damages.

Coming to the Vkool installation, do understand its not Audi certified engineers who install the sunfilm but some 'boys' from Vkool and they're no different from the staff at an accessory shop and bound to make mistakes.

My personal view is that the dealer was transparent enough to let you know of these issues before you reached the showroom for delivery - many would have simply hidden these and made you wait till dark and then do the delivery so that you wont notice these. Later when you find the issues, it would be left to you!

Wish you a happy car delivery in advance!

Nitin

Nitin, I'm not sure of the 1/1000th part but there are 3 of us in this thread only who had a poor experience with Audi. Namely Androdev, Karan and me. :P

PS: Any updates Karan?

[manson]

The Audi Mumbai West dealership is as low life as it gets.
They walked out of a signed booking form four days into the deal last year when we had booked a pre facelift Audi A6. It would have been our first premium sedan and I didn't want to chase them on it as we had already stretched our intended 25L budget beyond comfort. The acquisition just did not have a feel good factor after this whole drama.

Originally Posted by AdiSinghV12

Nitin, I'm not sure of the 1/1000th part but there are 3 of us in this thread only who had a poor experience with Audi. Namely Androdev, Karan and me. :P

Four now.

[madnish30]

Originally Posted by nitinbose

Hi Karan,

Congrats on the Audi purchase but feel sorry for the poor experience. Such unfortunate events do happen with all dealers across the globe, but its just that you happened to be the 1/1000th person to suffer this.

Getting annoyed wouldnt get you anywhere. Please keep your cool and do take the delivery after a PDI, making sure there are no damages.

Coming to the Vkool installation, do understand its not Audi certified engineers who install the sunfilm but some 'boys' from Vkool and they're no different from the staff at an accessory shop and bound to make mistakes.

My personal view is that the dealer was transparent enough to let you know of these issues before you reached the showroom for delivery - many would have simply hidden these and made you wait till dark and then do the delivery so that you wont notice these. Later when you find the issues, it would be left to you!

Wish you a happy car delivery in advance!

Nitin

"Such things happen" will be a very sorry excuse, such things should NOT happen, especially not at Audi, and if they do, why should the buyer who spends hard earned money be at loss?

The dealer clearly used vkool as an excuse to hide the panel/fender damage - isn't that obvious? Shameful behavior.