Just another reason to avoid University Audi, Seattle

[GQ//S4]

Some of you may know the insurance hell I went through this past year with University Audi in Seattle when I took my S4 there to have a door replaced/painted, two new wheels put on, and a new power steering rack and tie rod put on.

In short, the first set of repairs took them 31 days, and I did not receive one single update or call from the dealership within the first 3 weeks of the car being with them. When I received the car back, the paint on the lower drivers side rocker had been pressure washed OFF the car, leaving a 6" x .05" gap down to the plastics, which the service manager argued "was already there". After a long discussion, he conceded to paint the lower rocker later in spring to avoid sandy roads. After further inspection, I noticed that the new door WAS NOT the same color as the rest of my silver car, a problem they said at first was only my imagination. In June, I returned the car to have the rocker panel painted, and showed them in sunlight the door, which they said initially they didn't see, but then conceded to repaint the door to match. The second time around the paint was much better, at least from the looks. In August, I pulled into my driveway, and after exiting the car heard a loud hissing noise from the front left section of my car. After kneeling to inspect the cause of the noise, I found that the entire inside of my tire had been rubbed raw, through the cables, and caused a massive failure of my tire, dropping the car onto the ground in my drive way and settling on the rim. Believing this may have been caused by the initial damage from the curb (which is why the steering rack was replaced), I returned the car to Audi, stating it was either in their hands or insurances to pay for, they could figure out which. Instead of giving me a loaner vehicle, I had to head over to Enterprise where my insurance provided a Mitsubishi Galant. I returned home, a 40 mile (each way) trip, and parked the pathetic excuse for a car and didn't think more of it. The next day I received a call from a service worker who informed me that the Tie Rod Locking Nut wasn't installed properly after the PSW change, leaving the front left tire out of alignment (which had the tire let go 5 minutes earlier, I would have been driving on a control wheel going 85 mph on I-5 = Death). I immediately returned the 40 mile journey to return Enterprises car (as my insurance was not going to pay for Audi's mistake any longer) and retrieved a loaner car from them. Again, this is over the summer, when gas was 4.35 a gallon, so this has now cost me more than $30 in just dropping off/picking up cars, not including my time and frustration level. Audi replaced the tire (using my matching spare), and provided a similar new tire for my spare (which they left unsecured in my trunk on top of my trunk mat, instead of properly stowing it below. Ever since the car has been returned, the front end has felt a bit shakey, but I deemed it to be the tire, nothing more, and since I was planning on buying new tires soon, put it out of my mind. This past week I walked out to my car to go to work and saw that the paint in a 1 foot section of the lower drivers rocker (that they had just painted) was chipping off right about where ones feet may hit getting in/out during normal use. This chipping went through the clear, paint, and down to the plastic once again. After checking the 8 year old paint on the passenger side and seeing that there was NO damage, I concured that their paint had not bonded properly, or was too weak to be used normally, and called to explain my concerns, and was told to bring the car down the following (this current) week. On Saturday I replaced all 4 tires, and was informed and shown by the people at the tire shop that the FRONT LEFT WHEEL was bent, the wheel that had had the tire burst.

The car is now currently at the dealership, where the Service Manager is refusing to be held responsible for any of the latest damages, and insists that I either pay $310 for them to fix the paint, or that I can just pick up my car and leave. I find this to be insane, especially considering why would I ever pay a shop to fix a problem that I believe they caused in the first place, especially considering my long (year long) list of problems with their workmanship, not to mention the way that I've been treated? Every issue has been a battle of me proving to them that it was indeed their fault, and each time it has been proven that they caused the error, and I still come out losing.

Please, avoid this dealership at all costs. I will provide an update tomorrow on whether or not they agree to fix my car. If not, expect to hear further ranting.

[UnkleGatsby]

Did I see your car in the overflow lot yesterday (Monday)? Bummer. From my experience yesterday the salesman I worked with was a cool guy. Sounds like the service people are lame.

[GQ//S4]

Did I see your car in the overflow lot yesterday (Monday)? Bummer. From my experience yesterday the salesman I worked with was a cool guy. Sounds like the service people are lame.

Yeah, if its a silver b5 on 18" Rs4 wheels and black windows, that was mine. I'm surprised they weren't out doing doughnuts in it or something.

Most of their staff is friendly and nice, but their service management is awful. The Manager Philip was supposed to call me for the past 3 days, and still has yet to get back to me. At this point they have been instructed to get rid of my car or have me pay to fix their problems, which is making me more irrate.

[littlewhite]

When I was in Seattle, I lived ONE block away from them. Uni Audi is horrible. Bunch of bdag that don’t know shit and wont help. I know 2 tech that used to work there and they left b/c of shi$$y business practice and management. My car wouldn’t start one time and I went into ask if they can help me jump it. They said well since is out of the area we have to charge you $50. WTF you can see my car here from the showroom and is only a block away.

[Old No.7]

I wanted to buy a used A4 from them, I test drove it, loved it but I couldn't buy it that day because I was waiting for the cash from the sale of my truck which would take another 3-4 more days. The guy buying my truck was waiting for the funds to clear the bank. I offered Univ. Audi $500-$1,000 cash to hold the car for me for 3-4 days just until I get the cash for my down payment. They wouldn't do it and they sold the car over the weekend. I was pissed. The sales guy helping me was cool, buy it was out of his hands because the sales mgr. said sorry, we can't do that.

[grimlock]

Hmmm good to know. If my buddies in Seattle ever want to get an Audi I'll send them to Barrier .

[dextrek]

When I was in Seattle, I lived ONE block away from them. Uni Audi is horrible. Bunch of bdag that don’t know shit and wont help. I know 2 tech that used to work there and they left b/c of shi$$y business practice and management. My car wouldn’t start one time and I went into ask if they can help me jump it. They said well since is out of the area we have to charge you $50. WTF you can see my car here from the showroom and is only a block away.

I used to live a block away from them as well...50th and 11th.
Took my car there once for an oil change and a test drive.
I drove the RS6 down the 11th ave going like 70 mph and it was freakin sweet!

[littlewhite]

HAHA! Sweet! I was on 12th Ave. Sometimes when I cant fall asleep or bored late night, I just go over to the lot to check out the cars lol! Crime central there as you probably know. Lots of fights and shooting and one time a dbag was drunk and ran into the garage door busting it and almost ran into my car that was parked inside.

I hate their service depart area right outside the showroom. Is so small and narrow with bumps and the surface is so mess up and uneven I scrap all the time (not sure now, maybe they resurfaced it)

[Affinitive]

Hmmm good to know. If my buddies in Seattle ever want to get an Audi I'll send them to Barrier .

HAH. You think University's Service department sounds bad....you haven't seen nothing until you deal with Barriers Sales Dept..........actually just Barrier Audi in general. Barrier Porsche seems to be acceptable, their parts dept in particular but way way way overpriced.......the Barrier price that is. Can't speak about Larson's Audi in Tacoma but from what I hear they seem to be even worse than Barrier......... I would recomend people check out Sunset's inventory when looking to buy and make the drive if needed.

C

[littlewhite]

Barrier Sales...

[grimlock]

HAH. You think University's Service department sounds bad....you haven't seen nothing until you deal with Barriers Sales Dept..........actually just Barrier Audi in general. Barrier Porsche seems to be acceptable, their parts dept in particular but way way way overpriced.......the Barrier price that is. Can't speak about Larson's Audi in Tacoma but from what I hear they seem to be even worse than Barrier......... I would recomend people check out Sunset's inventory when looking to buy and make the drive if needed.

C

Yea, Sunset sales seems ok from the one time I went to look at cars, but their service is a whole other story

[jzm3]

I wanted to buy a used A4 from them, I test drove it, loved it but I couldn't buy it that day because I was waiting for the cash from the sale of my truck which would take another 3-4 more days. The guy buying my truck was waiting for the funds to clear the bank. I offered Univ. Audi $500-$1,000 cash to hold the car for me for 3-4 days just until I get the cash for my down payment. They wouldn't do it and they sold the car over the weekend. I was pissed. The sales guy helping me was cool, buy it was out of his hands because the sales mgr. said sorry, we can't do that.

A lot of bad stuff in this thread. To the post I am quoting was this at the university seattle dealer? or lynnwood university?
I used to work at lynnwood and the sales manager helped people out a few times and took a 500$ to hold the car a few days. The lynnwood guys are great. Both sales and service!

[GQ//S4]

A lot of bad stuff in this thread. To the post I am quoting was this at the university seattle dealer? or lynnwood university?
I used to work at lynnwood and the sales manager helped people out a few times and took a 500$ to hold the car a few days. The lynnwood guys are great. Both sales and service!

Seattle. The service mgr of Lynnwood is now the service mgr of both Seattle AND Lynnwood.

Here's where it stands:

They refused to accept that the paint they applied is weak, and refuse to fix the side skirt.

The wheel is still bent and have not heard back from them.

I'm fed up and done with this dealership, I've had enough problems with them to have called Audi of America, and still may.

[Old No.7]

A lot of bad stuff in this thread. To the post I am quoting was this at the university seattle dealer? or lynnwood university?
I used to work at lynnwood and the sales manager helped people out a few times and took a 500$ to hold the car a few days. The lynnwood guys are great. Both sales and service!

It was the Seattle dealer! The Lynnwood dealer wasn't open yet when I was looking to buy a car.

[jzm3]

Well how was the wheel bent? Post some pictures if you have some?
A lot of dealers reputations get ruined in the eyes of enthusiasts through forums. Atleast give us something to look at. I am not calling you a liar or trying to start an argument, I am simply wanting to find out more information. I have never dealt with the University Seattle service but the University in Lynnwood has been very honest with me.

[jzm3]

Well obviously you have some information you don't want to share.

[GQ//S4]

Well obviously you have some information you don't want to share.

Nope, just haven't checked this thread in a while. Wheel got bent when the tire burst after they misaligned my car and the tire failed from the toe out.

I can post pics if I remember later this weekend.
believe me when I say they are responsible for everything wrong with my car.

[jzm3]

I don't understand why he wouldn't just admit to the fault and fix the problem. Instead of covering it up and making matters worst.

[GQ//S4]

I don't understand why he wouldn't just admit to the fault and fix the problem. Instead of covering it up and making matters worst.

I've had to deal with 2 different service managers, three different service associates, and two different departments through this whole thing. The current mgr is now head of ALL service, and thats making things more confusing. The wheel problem wasn't discovered by me until I had my new tires put on, but the car had been having a front "shake" since I got it back from them. I don't understand why they're dragging their feet so much now.

[littlewhite]

I take no updates @ this pt? You are not alone, another buyer got ripped off with an S5 @ University Audi. Is up top of the page....

[Sim4]

Okay, so what is a good, honest dealership to go to for sales and service?

[SoFresh]

Okay, so what is a good, honest dealership to go to for sales and service?

You have um... 2 options Barrier or University

[geeky]

Barrier Audi of Bellevue has always treated me nicely, but I only go there for parts.

[GQ//S4]

Alright boys and girls, here goes an update for you, JZM3, pull out a notepad and copy this down, cause if this isn't enough for you to be satisfied to Universitys stupidity, nothing will.

Yesterday afternoon I bolted on my new rotors and pads front/rears, put my wheels back on, dropped the car onto the ground, and set off to bed in the new pads. I put the car into reverse, started letting off the clutch, and felt the car catch and STOP. I push the gas a bit firmer thinking that its just a caught/frozen pad (30 degrees out), and I hear a scrapping noise and feel the car tugging. I pulled the car forward back into the driveway and parked, swore about how much I hate my car and grabbed the keys to a different car and took off for the gym. I came home around 11:00 pm, furious still that I have no car, and started looking at the front right rotor to see if it were the culprit holding my wheels, and stuck my fingers through the spokes of my wheels to see if i could move the pad away from the rotor a bit more. As I poked my finger through, I felt it catch on something sharp and metallic on the back of the spoke of my wheel (Real Audi wheels) that Audi had put on to replace my damaged wheels after the accident. Since I had bent two wheels, they had only replaced two, and my remaining others were replica's from Achtuning. I looked to see what I had caught my finger on and discovered a gash about 1/8" on the back of the spoke, and then on the next one, and so on down until 5-6 of the spokes ALL had the gashes with metal shavings protruding from them. I then looked at my caliper and discovered, to my horror, that the wheel was grinding on my caliper, cutting not only the caliper but the wheel spokes. Why did this happen, you may ask? Because University Audi didn't do their job, and orded ET43 offset A4 Celebration wheels instead of ET35 Rs4 wheels. They have been fine this long because my brakes had been so low they weren't interfering, but now that the pads/rotors have been replaced, they are back to where they should be, and in the way. The drivers side didn't have this problem because the other replaced wheel was being run on the back left side, so out of the way and completely harmless. So at 11:30 last night, in the freezing fog on frosted ground, I was stuck rotating my wheels front to back just so I could drive my car to work this morning.

I called University Audi and spoke with their Service Manager, who treated me as if by bringing up his shops error I had insulted his mother, and told me that I need to "bring the car into the shop so they can see what the problem is". At this point, I was ready to lose it, and stated very firmly, "I told you what the problem is, your shop ordered ET43 offset wheels for a car that requires ET35's, which means the wheels won't clear the stock brakes!" I was very polite in all of this, holding back all of my rage, and now have to prove to them once again their error. He refered to my car, after looking up my history as "Oh, its that silver s4......" They know the car well, they also never take responsibility for their actions.

I am tired of proving their errors. I'm tired of their condescending remarks. I'm tired of them looking at me like I'm ripping them off when I keep suffering for their mistakes.

I fucking hate that I ever let them touch my car.

[mcaanda]

wow...

Not much to say but wow...

[Tifosi]

First of all, sorry to read about your troubles.

However, you might want to do a little research on this but I think you may be wrong here. IIRC, the ET43 offset on the Celebration wheels is the correct offset for B5-S4s with stock HP2 calipers. They may not fill in the fenders as well as the ET35 replicas, but they are suppose to fit without spacers. The OEM B5-RS4 wheels will never fit our cars unless yours is a WB because their wheel offset is in the 20's. Another thing is, I don't believe that Audi ever made ET35 Celebration wheels, they only exist as aftermarket replicas, not OEMs.

In addition:
Also, remember that not all brakes pads are created equal. You are using aftermarket Hawk pads and they may not allow the HP2s to clear the Celebration wheels. Check both sides, if the problem is unilateral, I would say that something went wrong with the installation. If it is bilateral, it may be a hardware/pads problem. Either way, I hope things works out for you soon. GL.

[GQ//S4]

First of all, sorry to read about your troubles.

However, you might want to do a little research on this but I think you may be wrong here. IIRC, the ET43 offset on the Celebration wheels is the correct offset for B5-S4s with stock HP2 calipers. They may not fill in the fenders as well as the ET35 replicas, but they are suppose to fit without spacers. The OEM B5-RS4 wheels will never fit our cars unless yours is a WB because their wheel offset is in the 20's. Another thing is, I don't believe that Audi ever made ET35 Celebration wheels, they only exist as aftermarket replicas, not OEMs.

In addition:
Also, remember that not all brakes pads are created equal. You are using aftermarket Hawk pads and they may not allow the HP2s to clear the Celebration wheels. Check both sides, if the problem is unilateral, I would say that something went wrong with the installation. If it is bilateral, it may be a hardware/pads problem. Either way, I hope things works out for you soon. GL.

Believe me, they don't. I'll post pics soon of the wheel against the caliper and the metal shards. I'm not sure what to have them do, since my insurance bought the wheels for $1500 from Audi, for just the two wheels, and now we know they don't fit. I might just ask them to give me the money back and take the wheels so that I can go buy another set.

[GQ//S4]

Well, I'm going to have to give them credit, so with them making an effort, I'll put this up now even though the wheels are slowly beginning to be set in motion.

I took the car down to the Lynnwood store this afternoon to show one of their guys the wheels to get his opinion, and he confirmed the offset problem, ect. Shortly after I got back to the office I got a call from the Gen Service Manager for U. Audi, and I'm pleasently surprised. He apologized for the issues I've had so far over the past year, and they are going to be replacing my wheels for me to fix the issues that I had, and are going to pay for the bottom rocker to be fixed. It seems they are making a genuine effort to make it all ok, which is good by me, because honestly, all I want is my car back to normal! I think this is the first time I didn't feel like the assumption was that I had messed something up and was trying to get something for free, and that to me is a big deal, because I baby the hell out of this car, and just wanted her back to normal.

The bad news was that when I contacted Achtuning for replacement wheels, they no longer manufacture B5 Rs4 wheels, which is sad, because they're my favorite Audi wheels ever made, and sexy as all hell on these cars! To replace my beloved Rs4's, I've selected Rs4 DTM's in 18" x 8.5", which I hope and think will look great!

Anyways, as always I WILL update this, and hoping this whole damn nightmare gets buried and put behind us so I can go back to enjoying this car for the fun parts, ie awd turbo fun, and not focusing on these little issues.

[8520]

Hopefully this will be the last time you have to take it back there, but we will see.

Nice to see that it looks like they're going to take care of this though

[Sim4]

Wow, good to hear the positive update. Post pics of the ride after this ordeal is done.

[steveo_01vwgolf]

Shit, good luck.. hope it all works out...

[tew]

On a side note. I have taken my car to Larson in Tacoma and they were pretty helpful for a dealership. Took my car there for repairs and bought parts. So far a thumbs from me. Anyways, sorry to hear about the crappy University expierence.

[GQ//S4]

Wow, good to hear the positive update. Post pics of the ride after this ordeal is done.

Will definitely do.

Car is at the dealership in Lynnwood getting the new DTM Rs4's put on, can't wait to see how it looks when its done. The shop manager there (Mike) has been a great guy to work with so far, and is the first Audi mechanic who seems to actually know what a B5 series S4 is, and why we love them so much more than the new ones!

As always, finished pics/updates will follow, and I hope to have this whole hatchet buried soon.

[littlewhite]

Great to hear you are getting good service elsewhere. I’ll just listen to what Uni. Audi say for now since they mess you up so many times and wont be happy until you actually drive it around for a while and nothing break/fall apart after few s/m then be pleased that things are ok. Hope this saga ends soon.

DTM wheels are hot too!

[GQ//S4]

Great to hear you are getting good service elsewhere. I’ll just listen to what Uni. Audi say for now since they mess you up so many times and wont be happy until you actually drive it around for a while and nothing break/fall apart after few s/m then be pleased that things are ok. Hope this saga ends soon.

DTM wheels are hot too!

Yeah, I LOVED the B5 Rs4's, and I was honestly sad to hear that I couldn't get my hands on a set, but at the same time, I think it will be good to have something new to refresh the look, and since I'm hoping this starts the car back on a "normal" and problem free life, it will be nice having her look a little different as well.

If she's as pretty as I am hoping when I pick her up, she will be getting more presents soon!

[littlewhite]

Yea well she should look good rolling around too! In 1-piece!! B5 RS4s never get played out, it looks so elegant and classic like the BBS CH and Oettinger RZ or whatever it is now.

[GQ//S4]

Yea well she should look good rolling around too! In 1-piece!! B5 RS4s never get played out, it looks so elegant and classic like the BBS CH and Oettinger RZ or whatever it is now.

pic should be up today, still getting used to the new look

[Sim4]

He drove away and never came back.

[GQ//S4]

He drove away and never came back.

Who did that? Sorry I just haven't had time to take any pics worth a damn!

[jzm3]

Hey sorry I haven't checked on here in a long time my buddy just emailed me the link again.
Well I am glad the Seattle store stepped up and like I said the guys in Lynnwood are all good. Who is working on your car? Marc has worked on a few b5 s4s and so has Tony.


cant wait to see the pics!