[StarScream]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

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.

Originally Posted by 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! Its like hanging kasab. 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!

Let's please keep some perspective here. What happened was bad and a breach of trust - Audi must apologize and compensate the customer in some way.

But, at the end of the day, it's a car. No one was stabbed, raped or killed. Asking for corporal punishment, incarceration or hanging someone is a little extreme.

[amitby]

I am shocked to read this.
A friend of mine narrated this incident and I was unable to believe it but not that I read it here I am shocked.
I am personally going to make sure that I am there when my BMW is being serviced at the workshop.
I truly hope justice is served in this case.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by StarScream

Let's please keep some perspective here. What happened was bad and a breach of trust - Audi must apologize and compensate the customer in some way.

But, at the end of the day, it's a car. No one was stabbed, raped or killed. Asking for corporal punishment, incarceration or hanging someone is a little extreme.

Dear starscream,i did not imply in anyway that the Audi dealer must be hanged! I just wanted to convey the severity with which the issue needs to be dealt with.Hence the comparison with Kasab's hanging . I did not want to hurt any sentiments of anyone! Sorry if my post did it unknowingly.

Yes at the end of the day, due corrections must be made by the dealer to the Q7 owner in both monetary and apology!

[libranof1987]

Sheer immaturity on Audi's part.

You have to trust a customer, esp. one who has bought an expensive car from you, has evidence about misuse and has managed to get it published in the media. More than trust, you have to respect the customer's complaint.

Does Audi *really* think they can pull off this stunt? Audi, get your act together and make sure your dealers start behaving themselves.

It's a pity you can't trust A.S.S. with your vehicles at all; driving rashly within the garage is one thing, misusing it is another.

[speedy]

The Facebook information and the information given in the press dont match at all.

If you further note the first reaction of a person is to file a police complain and not sit watching your phone or compter updates for 4 hours. Then take your sweet time to come in the afternoon to the service center to check on your car and collect it too. The person could have even gone to the Service center to check if his car is there along with the cops..i am sure he would have either seen his car there or then found it mssing.. if the car was there a simple touch on the bonnett would have indicated if the car has been driven of been standing there. The first thing to do is varify the truth before going to the media or social pages.

The tracker on his car is an external cigrette lighter one as to not hamper warrenties and i doubt it being 100% accurate or even proper. In the FB page Mr.Vishal. has been provided with the entry and exit log By AMW and it clearly states the entry and exit time and kms of the vehicle which add to 11 kms driven in the day time. To add to this Mr.Gondal has mentioned he is not sure what to believe his tracker or the log provided. He was also provided with the picture of the speedo of his car to which he doubts the authenticity. AMW themselves have 30 cars of their own which included the S4, R8 and the RS5, why would they want to take a customers car to joy ride.

If you see the tracking picture provided it shows gone through mangrves and driven on railway tracks..do you think the car would be in the condition it was in the press picture if it was driven through the mangroves...I offroad and have seen first hand if a car is taken through such places there would be millions of scratches on the car, which is not the case with this vehicle.

[ninjatalli]

Or a means to push Technopurple, the GPS device? This would be a cool PR incident to "use" for the GPS company in getting future sales.

"... Look at this recent incident - without our product, the owner would have never known where his car was being taken ..."

Can anyone check/confirm if the vehicle owner, Vishal Gondal has any relations to the company?

[poloman]

Very sensible post. Unfortunately even on forums like TBHP, people jump to judgements with out hearing other side of argument. If I see my car being misused like this i would dash to the showroom and catch them red handed rather than ranting on FB.

[speedy]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Or a means to push Technopurple, the GPS device? This would be a cool PR incident to "use" for the GPS company in getting future sales.

"... Look at this recent incident - without our product, the owner would have never known where his car was being taken ..."

Can anyone check/confirm if the vehicle owner, Vishal Gondal has any relations to the company?

Thats one point i never thought off, thank you for bringing it to notice. I'll search for information about this.

If it indeed it is a PR Excercise for Technopurple's Tracking device its a bad one as it shows the external cigrette lighter tracker malfunctioning and going haywire. I have seen the CCTV footage myself as my cars go to AMW too and i wanted to varify the facts before believing any single side. The only way of getting the actual facts varified is via the cars internal log that cannot be tampered with.

@ Poloman i do agree with you. People all over dont varify the facts and just jump the gun at blaming people..I did take 2 days to meet the people at AMW and hear their side of the story too before making any post. Its someones reputation at stake here.

It also could be to defame AMW and Promote the New Dealership in south Mumbai. Anything is possible.

[VW2010]

@speedy

Amazing interpretation and this i love it. The angle to it has reasoning and gives a fresh perspective before jumping to sides. The variables just grew and this gives more chance to Audi to defend if they are right and now it becomes a case of proving the incident.

Either way the device did record movement of device if not the vehicle. Would love to see the reports.

Social and media resolves cases faster in India than Law. Thats the sad state of our law.

On the side,Well done Speedy

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by speedy

Thats one point i never thought off, thank you for bringing it to notice. I'll search for information about this.

If it indeed it is a PR Excercise for Technopurple's Tracking device its a bad one as it shows the external cigrette lighter tracker malfunctioning and going haywire.

One more point to consider -

VW service advisors, by default procedure, ask to remove all external accessories & personal stuff before they take the car for servicing. I am pretty sure Audi workshops would follow the same procedure. I find it quite doubtful to believe that the SA in this case would have allowed the GPS device to remain in the car.

Can you confirm if this practice is followed in Audi workshops?

[Swanand Inamdar]

Very well said indeed, Speedy.

I'm not implying that Audi did do it, or didnt do it.
But, in such a situation, any rational man wouldve gone to the dealership (with cops probably) to check on the authenticity of the tracking device.
Whats the point on going on FB directly, sitting in the comfort of your house, "tracking" your car?

@Ninja, such a practice is followed by most dealerships. It isnt standard VAG practice only.
Even when my Swift goes for servicing, they insist on removing all removable accessories from the car.

I highly doubt, Audi would've let the GPS tracker be, in case its a removable accessory, we are talking about.

[poloman]

When he received the alerts and warnings, how did he conclude that the car was not stolen from the showroom,but being misused or taken for joyride by Audi even when he was typing the Facebook post. How could he know who was driving the car at that point of time?

[Rufus_M]

Originally Posted by poloman

When he received the alerts and warnings, how did he conclude that the car was not stolen from the showroom,but being misused or taken for joyride by Audi even when he was typing the Facebook post. How could he know who was driving the car at that point of time?

A very good point there poloman. It's simply amazing how quickly things change after the advent of social media. I never thought on this side presented by speedy & was completely against AMW.

You guys are amazing & this is why I love Team-BHP. Independent & Unbiased. Would love to know more about this. Something is fishy in this case.

[speedy]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Either way the device did record movement of device if not the vehicle. Would love to see the reports.

The car movement is recorded but the distance 11.00 could have been read by tired eyes as 100. The divice being a removable accesory could have gone haywire if its not plugged in properly. I too have asked to be shown the cars internal log as that would not be wrong.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Can you confirm if this practice is followed in Audi workshops?

I just got off the phone with AMW, not only them but even for the Tata Nano a customer is asked to remove all expensive and removable accesories from the vehicle. In this case the person who came to drop the car mentioned it to be a GPS device and said he would like to keep it in the vehicle itself, AMW cannot force a customer to remove articles but warns the customer its done so at the owners risk. The removable tracker device was in the vehicle at the time.

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Very well said indeed, Speedy.

I'm not implying that Audi did do it, or didnt do it.
But, in such a situation, any rational man wouldve gone to the dealership (with cops probably) to check on the authenticity of the tracking device.
Whats the point on going on FB directly, sitting in the comfort of your house, "tracking" your car?

I am just analysing things with a cool and unbiased view and stated my observations above. As informed to AMW the person was not in the city at the point and the next morning his people came to take the car from the service center in a hurry. He was busy making allegations on a social forum though on the same day.

Mr.Gondal has deleted posts that have questioned the actions on FB as well as put up a thank you note for BMW in regards to sending the Mini countryman to him for a test drive and further mentioned is it the next Batmobile. So doubts do get raised.

[KnightRider77]

Originally Posted by speedy

This seems to be a publicity stunt

Which has zilch to do with the issue at hand. FB profiles or press releases don't necessarily match up all the time. Hell, my FB profile doesn't reflect my current status either, but that's 'cos I'm lazy.

If you further note the first reaction of a person is to file a police complain and not sit watching your phone or compter updates for 4 hours. Then take your sweet time to come in the afternoon to the service center to check on your car and collect it too.

My impression was that he had just returned (or was in?) Iceland or some such place. Which would explain the delay, if that were the case.

The person could have even gone to the Service center to check if his car is there along with the cops..i am sure he would have either seen his car there or then found it mssing.. if the car was there a simple touch on the bonnett would have indicated if the car has been driven of been standing there. The first thing to do is varify the truth before going to the media or social pages.

Good point. However, having known Mr Gondal for a good many years, going to FB to make a point isn't out of character. Indeed, he's very good at getting things done by using the social media route. FWIW, he's at least managed to land a BMW Mini Cooper for himself, so I would say he's done very well for himself by going public.

If you see the tracking picture provided it shows gone through mangrves and driven on railway tracks..

GPS tracking isn't exactly 100% accurate but you make some valid points if true.

As someone pointed out, with so little facts at hand, it's quite presumptuous to jump to any conclusions at this point in time. Let Audi, the service center and the GPS company work out the facts, and we can play the blame game then.