[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by engrohit

Wow Shankar, that's devious. BTW & OT as well, I just happened to come across your views on some other thread (Duster Review), which were in direct contradiction to what you have mentioned here.

Any comments?

Yes, these are direct contradictions because this is blatant, proven misuse of an expensive vehicle and abuse of the trust placed in the service centre. Different circumstances entirely from the Duster thread.
Yes, these views are extreme but no quarter given, no quarter asked.

[VW2010]

How can you prove that your device was working fine and the data you see is accurate?

This determines the whole case in a nut shell, for the Audi can prove that the car never left the service centre with their CCTV, Odometer reading etc.

There are ways to change the cluster reading but ECU reading cannot be that easilly altered and its illegal to do so.

http://forums.quattroworld.com/s4/msgs/110568.phtml

[Motored Mindset]

This is a despicable breach of a customer's trust, and the argument remains the same whether it is a 75+ Lac Audi Q7 or a 7.5 Lac Swift Dzire. Clearly, there is a deficiency in the service provided by the service center, the owner in question got lucky because of the tracking software on his vehicle, and I feel sorry for dozens of possible Audi owners who have given their car for service at the Service Station in Kalina.

Bhp-ians, don't you feel that these nightly joy rides are simply the logical next-step in VW not understanding the essence of car ownership - that vehicle owners in general value their cars and would under no circumstance like them to be used by someone else? Especially misused at high speeds by unknown service technician(s)the way the Q7 was. There are instance of people using brand new cars that are awaiting delivery to their owners being offered as TD vehicles to prospective customers, there are instances of fuel pilferage and the stealing of valuables the owner may have forgotten in the car at service stations and now we have this, it simply takes the cake.

[Accius]

I have heard of service centre executives misusing customer's car for their personal work or joy rides like in this case. But to hear such a thing from the service centre of a premium brand like Audi, I have my doubts confirmed that its now not safe to hand over the cars to the service centres for long period of time.
Just today, I have had this kind of experience from AVK Automart (service centre for Chevrolet at Vasai East). I went for 10000 kms service of my Chevrolet Beat and decided to wait at the service centre itself as it wasn't a major service and have heard service centre guys misusing customer's vehicles. To my horror, when the car was being brought to the main area after the wash, there were some guys know to the service advisor who were openly telling him to take my car and drop them at Vasai station which is about 7 kms. The SA saw me standing there and refused them.
I am sure if I would not be there at the moment, my car would have been surely used to ferry the people upto the station under the pretext of a test drive.

[robimahanta]

This is the reason I never leave my car overnight at a Skoda service station. If its a regular service I hang around at the service center till they finish the work. Its just once every 10-15k kms anyways.

Going a bit OT but I got some details regarding the technopurple device and thought it would be useful for the bhpians.
Kindly check the attached pdf:

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Some more details of the Joyride, it lasted almost 8 hours. From 12am to 8am.

News coverage is there on today's Times Mumbai Mirror.

How can you prove that your device was working fine and the data you see is accurate?

This determines the whole case in a nut shell, for the Audi can prove that the car never left the service centre with their CCTV, Odometer reading etc.

From Mumbai Mirror today: Amit Jain, the managing director of TechnoPurple that supplied the tracking device to Gondal, said the company had verified the data. "We can confirm his car was taken out for a drive."

[shuvc]

What would nail this further is any CCTV footage that may have captured a shot of the car along the route it was driven.

[VW2010]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

News coverage is there on today's Times Mumbai Mirror.
From Mumbai Mirror today: Amit Jain, the managing director of TechnoPurple that supplied the tracking device to Gondal, said the company had verified the data. "We can confirm his car was taken out for a drive."

This gets interesting. Lets see what Audi has to say. Shameless dealers now deserve getting closed for this violation.

The fact that they have also tampered the odometer deserve legal action.

Audi apologise with a big settlement, close the dealership and make us proud.

[hrman]

Typical VW isn't it? Will not own up for their mistake. I shudder to think what level of controls they have in place to prevent these kind of untoward incidents. If a 70L Audi Q7 can be taken by their people at the wee hours, what happens to our 10L Ventos and Rapids? If something untoward had happened, Audi would have just asked the owner to file an insurance claim. The Car tracking device also has an option to remotely disable the starter motor in emergency. Would have been interesting if the owner had got it disabled and drove down to the location in another car. Could have caught them red-handed!

After seeing this story, I can recall when my Rapid was due for a small job, I asked for a pickup and drop. It did seem that the driver took an unbelievably long time to deliver the car to the showroom, from the time he left my place. I suspected these guys pick up and drop passengers on ORR during peak hours for a fee. Nothing can be proven though.

I have seen on a thread here about how some Vento customer saw his Vento parked at the Mc Donalds in Pune while it was given for service.
Shame on you VW. Your cup of woes runneth over.Literally going to "Man's best friends!!"

[Parthasarathig]

I feel no matter what you do to the VAG group, they still wont own up to their mistakes. When VAG sell you a car, it comes free with headaches and heartburn for the rest of your life that you keep the car. In one of the world's largest car markets, this is how VW treats its customers.

Lets hope Mr. Gondal is able to make an example out of Audi so that other companies follow suit and tackle rogue dealers.

[amolathalye]

Absolutely scary stuff. Who and Why is doing such things ? is the mismanagement at the Audi so loose ? very unbelievable but sadly true. Poor owner. This is a landmark case which indicates very poor state of consumer rights. If wealthy & influential people associated with big brands have to go through such things then one can imagine what possibly happens with others and worst is that they may never even come to know about it as such sophisticated technology is not commonly used. Great job by the owner and trust the concerned guys will take due / apt actions.

regards
Amol

[StarrySky]

I think it's a bit premature to blame Audi India. From the link posted in this thread, the story about CCTV footage and odometer reading has been given by the dealership and not Audi India. There is a statement from Audi India at the foot of the link saying they will investigate. Let's see what Audi India comes up with.

[sagarpadaki]

This is sick! Audi dealer-Audi Mumbai West, you are sick! How can you take a persons 1 crore + car on a joy ride? You guys must be booked and brought to the law. Otherwise other dealers wont learn a lesson! It will atleast be a deterrent for other dealers that they cannot simply get away with such callous attitude !

Guys make sure you send this link to all the Audi car owners whom you know. So that the dealer will lose some crores of business. And put it up on your FaceBook page too. Let this news spread like wildfire!

Good that this has come in newspaper. The damage is already done. Now we must also play a role to propogate the damange so that Audi Mumbai West should go down on its knees before the customer and pay him a couple of lakhs along with a apology letter. Unless this kind of hard treatment is meted out, they wont learn. Heck even Maruti treats its customers cars better!

I second Shankar balan's view here. These people must not be left off the hook!

[mikem]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Some more details of the Joyride, it lasted almost 8 hours. From 12am to 8am.


Kurla – Pant Nagar (Ghatkopar) - Kurla : 06:03 am to 06:22 am
Attachment 1017714

I just saw this area in Google Maps in satellite view and noticed that most of the places the car is showing GPS markers are located on Railtracks in and around Lokmanya Tilak Terminus on non-motorable places.

Was this a secret AUDI test of new hybrid system for Indian Railways or was the GPS really wonky??

He should post a KMZ file for everyone. Will clear a lot of doubts.

[manishk123]

Audi Mumbai West is by far the worst dealership I have come across. So far they had a monopoly in Mumbai so they thought they could get away with anything. I had booked 2 cars with them earlier this year and actually cancelled them and took my money back because of their attitude and lack of work ethics.

The news article says that the Q7's owner has contacted the managing director of VW on Twitter and he's going to look into it. However, I doubt there will be anything more than some disciplinary action against the errant employee and an apology from the dealer.

Here's a link to the news article:
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Defau...&ViewMode=HTML