Beware Brian Harris Audi *rant*

[golfvdude]

I an new to the community and today a service manager got under my skin through his lack of respect for others. Here's my story.

I purchased a 2006 Audi A4 used in August 2006. Driving home, I get a malfunction light for the TPMS. I later discovered the cd changer doesn't read any cds. I figured I would bring my car to the closest dealer near me (1.5hrs away) to Brian Harris Audi. The service guy in the dept helped me out and everything was fine. I came back thinking they fixed that stupid malfunction light but 20-30 miles later, it's back. I call them and let them know right after the light came on. No big deal. Service guy said the tech checked all the sensors and they were fine. I took his word for it and figure it's the module since he said the sensors were good. Cd changer was replaced under warranty. I was ok with that.

Second attempt was after i got a blowout on the interstate that could've harmed 3 other passengers. I scheduled another appt. and went in again. Car comes back out 30 minutes later and the tech told the service guy that he reset some stuff blah blah blah. Disappointed, I took the car and left and sure enough, light comes on after 20-30 miles. Service guy is taking my side and wants to fix the problem. We schedule ANOTHER appt in November. I drop off my car and wait.

Third attempt is where the juicy stuff happens. I get periodic updates from the service guy. I wait patiently for my car to be fixed. This took almost 4 weeks. They changed out the module and apparently changed out two tire pressure monitors. One apparently was cracked when the previous owner changed the tires. This was not known to me till today. They will not cover the stuff on warranty. I was fine with it, but they try to slap me with a 605.xx dollar bill to cover the parts and labor! I told my service guy I wasn't going to pay for it because I never authorized any work done to the vehicle since it wasn't covered. I know the sensor only costs 135 retail and I can get that one changed out at a local tire shop for dirt cheap.

Service guy goes to his Service Manager a.k.a. jerk. He comes back with a 355.xx dollar amount wanting me to pay for it and that he'll "eat" the cost of the labor on the module and one sensor and the parts of one sensor( that wasn't broken) and the cost of the module. I told him I just want my car back to where it was prior and that I will fix it myself. Then he goes on a rant about how his techs don't work for free and that it takes time to troubleshoot the problem. I told him if his techs visually inspected each sensor, this wouldn't have happened and that I was willing to pay an hour for their trouble. The whole time he was speaking to me in a demeaning manner. He finally agreed and i was furious at that point. I hung up and talked to my service guy and the manager told him right after my conversation with him that if he gives me a loaner for any reason, that he'll get fired!

*CLIFF* I was never notified. You ordered the parts and put it on anyway. You want to make me pay for something I didn't authorize and now I get put in the black book because I wasn't going to pay??!! The service guy was real cool about it and he tried to help me out. But his service manager is the prick here and of course, has a power trip with everyone.


I like my audi and was willing to stick it out in spite of the recent setbacks but now I have no where to service it for warranty due to Mr. Prick. It is so disappointing to hear a MANAGER speak to a customer like he/she is a retard. I bought the Audi to introduce my family(potential buyers) to the brand. Now I think that is shot. Sorry for the long ass post guys/girls. I am just mad at the fact that I was treated with disrespect. I don't think I'm overreacting. I just want fair treatment. Is that so much to ask???.....

P.S. I will be contacting the owner of the dealership and when I get the survey, they will know every detail.

Anyone living in the Louisiana area that would like to know more specific information can pm me.

*BEWARE BRIAN HARRIS AUDI IN BATON ROUGE, LA*

*UPDATE* Post #30.

[Apraudi23]

Most dealerships are greedy these days.

[golfvdude]

I talked to my brother who works at a shop (5+ years)and he said it would take an hour or less to let the air out, pry the tire down to inspect the sensor and air them up and make sure they are balanced. If your tires weren't turned, they should stay in balance. Service manager basically told me over the phone that that wasn't true.

They are Apraudi23 and that is why I probably will never bring my car back if I keep it.

[Tru NY Player]

goodluck with all that..
but there is always somebody higher..
take it to them and stick it in the teeth..

mo power to the audis..

[golfvdude]

Thanks Tru NY Player. I will be doing my best to make sure this doesn't happen to any other customers. No one deserves that kind of treatment.

[golfvdude]

Complaint sent to AoA.

[a4b7]

Worst come to worst u can try aoa, but that should be the last resort. If you present them your case, Im pretty sure aoa will give the dealership a call .
Thanks for the heads up, I guess thats one dealership I wouldn't go to. I haven't had a problem with the one here in NO yet (knock on wood).

[a4b7]

^^ lol I guess you beat me to it. good luck
never tried aoa, but had to deal with vwoa for my gf's w8 which was a success

[golfvdude]

Worst come to worst u can try aoa, but that should be the last resort. If you present them your case, Im pretty sure aoa will give the dealership a call .
Thanks for the heads up, I guess thats one dealership I wouldn't go to. I haven't had a problem with the one here in NO yet (knock on wood).

I'm going through all of them. I just sent AoA a complaint. I will be contacting the owner next week. And I will be sure to give a thorough explanation when the survey calls.

[golfvdude]

^^ lol I guess you beat me to it. good luck
never tried aoa, but had to deal with vwoa for my gf's w8 which was a success

The funny thing is, I never wanted anything for free. I never implied that I wanted something for nothing. I just want my original parts on the car and I'll even pay for their time. I guess that wasn't good enough. Goes to show being nice doesn't pay either.....

[Sharkfin]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I guess I am lucky, I've had nothing but great experiences at the 3 dealers I've been to.

[golfvdude]

Thanks. I guess it's part my fault in expecting exceptional service from a "luxury" brand. Got a call this morning from AoA. I don't care if it's resolved. I wouldn't want anyone to go through the same treatment.

[Glassnpowder98]

I've had good and bad experiences trying to contact AoA. I am having issues with my transmission grinding in third gear and my dealership wouldn't cover the problem under warranty because of my intake and diverter valve. After speaking with the service advisor, service manager, and regional manager it was clear that they weren't going to do anything for me. I called up AoA and was transferred to their warranty claims division. They were very friendly and said they would look into the problem and get back to me within a week. Sure enough, they called me back within a week. Unfortunately all they did was contact the service manager and regional manager who obviously gave them the same answer which was relayed again to me.

Unsatisfied with that, I started a thread on here and you guys helped me to come up with some ideas and contact information for some execs at AoA. I, with the help of cgmiller (thanks again) wrote a professional letter to three execs at AoA. Last Thursday I received a call from Brad Holisder (I think he's in the warranty department) saying that the letters were forwarded to his attention and he has a team of warranty people and engineers looking into the problem to see if my mods would have caused the transmission failure. He was extremely nice and told me that he did not have an answer for me at that time, but he did not want to leave me hanging and wondering if the letters were received. He said he would get back to me on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, which he did. He called me Wednesday afternoon saying that again he does not have a final verdict but he did not want to leave me hanging. Although he did add that at this time, it is looking good for me and they will most likely be able to fix my car under warranty. He said I should receive a call from him at the latest Friday (today). He usually calls me around 3:30-4:00, so I should probably hear from him today in a few hours (if writing this didn't jinx me).


Anyways, point being if you go through the proper channels it seems as though AoA wants the best for their customers. On the other hand, it seems as though more and more dealerships are trying to take advantage of their customers and not provide the service that a "luxury brand" should. If this trend continues, I sure hope that AoA steps in to do something about it because dealerships could ruin the Audi image for customers since 99% of the time, customers are doing business and speaking directly to dealership personnel.

Sorry to semi thread jack, but I wish you luck with getting all of this straightened out!

[golfvdude]

I appreciate you inputting Glassnpowder98. I read your thread a while back and I'm glad that you are getting your problem resolved but it ultimately comes down to initial service and results. You SHOULDN'T have to contact AoA or write letters to the execs. And that is why I have a grudge I guess. And you make a great point in that customers mainly deal with dealerships. That is why I'm never going back. And any interested parties that wanted to purchase an Audi has gone to Lexus, Bmw, or Mercedes.

Like they say, it's the package you gotta live with. I'm not living with crap service and disrespecting "managers". Professionalism just got thrown out of the window in my eyes at that place.

*UPDATE* Got a call from AoA. Filed my complaint. Probably didn't do much. But I'll do what I can, when I can.

[Glassnpowder98]

^^^ I totally agree with you. I kind of failed to mention anything about my dealership during my rant... Like you, I will never bring my car back to that dealership, HBL of Tysons. I do not want to support them or give anymore of my money to them. I used to bring my car to them for everything because I wanted a certified tech working on my car. I spent thousands of dollars at that dealership only for them to try to screw me over. I don't want to deal with a service manager who when I call him the first thing he says is, "geeez you're like the 8th person who's called me about your car today." It shows total disrespect and lack of customer service. Hopefully if or when this problem resolved, AoA will let me bring the car to another dealership because I definitely do not trust giving my car to HBL (luckily there are a few that are somewhat close).

Unfortunately there are a lot of wealthy people in this area that purchase expensive cars. They are the closest dealership that sells Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, and Aston Martins for most people. There is a pretty big market for those cars, so it doesn't look like they will be going anywhere for a while. Especially when half of the expensive cars you see around here have HBL license plate frames. Needless to say, I took mine off a long time ago and now I'm rockin the Audizine frames

[rnp614]

Worst come to worst u can try aoa, but that should be the last resort. If you present them your case, Im pretty sure aoa will give the dealership a call .
Thanks for the heads up, I guess thats one dealership I wouldn't go to. I haven't had a problem with the one here in NO yet (knock on wood).

How do you think they would deal with servicing a car with exhaust? Is NO pretty picky?

[cgmiller63]

I strongly recommend you get the AoA contact information from Glassnpowder98 and send a letter to AoA corporate. With the automotive situation the way it is right now I'm sure AoA wants to do everything it can to keep their customers from going to other brands. If I were AoA I would want to know if my local representatives were providing poor service. Look at Glassnpowder98’s situation. The local dealership treated him like crap but now he’s getting some respect from AoA.

In my opinion the TPMS should have been replaced under warranty. If the system was cracked due to the prior owner, then I would think Audi would have caught it during their inspection prior to them reselling the vehicle (assuming you bought the vehicle used from a dealership).

I would also advise the dealership’s owner that you are planning on filing a complaint with the United States Department of Consumer Affairs because they did repairs without your consent and are now trying to bill you for those repairs.

I don’t know if Louisiana has a Bureau of Automotive Repair like we do in California, but if you do that’s another avenue. Also, in California, the Department of Motor Vehicles licenses auto dealerships and they are very interested in hearing about these types of things as well.

The one catch is you may get the service guy who helped you out in trouble and that would be bad karma. Good luck and keep us posted.

[golfvdude]

Thanks for the info cgmiller63. AoA has called me friday morning and got my statement and it's going through the proper channels for a complaint. I already talked to the guy that handles my account/vehicle prior to filing the complaint. He actually told me to do it because I was 100% correct. I woulf feel bad if he got in trouble but ultimately, the service manager could've handled the situation in a more professional manner and not threaten his worker because he/she was doing their job. Hopefully, I will be getting in contact with the owner of the dealership next week and let him/her know about their "great" service manager.

Also, I bought the vehicle from a volkswagen dealer. The factory warranty still applies but aparently, the previous shop that installed new tires cracked the sensor. I assumed the sensors were fine because the "tech" said the sensors were good. Naturally, I figured a visual inspection was also done with a voltage check to each sensor. They would've known the problem the first time i brought my car instead of me bringing my car 3 times. I also live an hour and a half away, so I have to arrange my schedule accordingly to meet my appts. Just want Audi to know that an employee that represents Audi should not act like a backyard mechanic. I will be paying for an hour labor because that's all it would've taken to find out the problem with the sensor. And I think I'm being generous here.


Oh, and they already lost customers(me and two family members). So my main agenda is to make sure this doesn't happen to other customers.

[cab7a4]

Holy Shit This Sounds Like My Expeience With Bakersfield Audi :(...it Definetley Deters Me From Wanting To Buy Another Audi

[MurderedA4*20]

i hate the dealerships all of them... I have a 2005 audi a4 as of right now and have had so many problems with it its insane and i just got a brand new engine and turbo because my shortblock cracked, due to chip, which i never put in. so anyways
I payed 7800 dollars to get my car back and a day later still problems so i complained to AOA and nothing could be done because the dealership said my car was highly modified.. So i decided i would trade this car in and get it appraised by another dealership.. They told me my cars worth 4800 dollars thats it.. some Fuckin BS im done with it.. we owe 26000 dollars on my car now so that means they charged me like 35k for a b6 2005 cvt that was a Lemon... i dint mean to thread jack but i am soooooooooooo... pissed its not funny i have 4 more years with this peice of shit

[Bmeister]

Never ever have non-warranty work performed by a dealership. Ever. Even when my cars (regardless of make) have had some small annoying problem, I'd rather fix it myself than have a dealership break something else while doing warranty work. Good techs are hard to find because dealership principals don't pay well enough. Stay away from dealership service departments unless it's a major problem you need fixed while under warranty.

[golfvdude]

i hate the dealerships all of them... I have a 2005 audi a4 as of right now and have had so many problems with it its insane and i just got a brand new engine and turbo because my shortblock cracked, due to chip, which i never put in. so anyways
I payed 7800 dollars to get my car back and a day later still problems so i complained to AOA and nothing could be done because the dealership said my car was highly modified.. So i decided i would trade this car in and get it appraised by another dealership.. They told me my cars worth 4800 dollars thats it.. some Fuckin BS im done with it.. we owe 26000 dollars on my car now so that means they charged me like 35k for a b6 2005 cvt that was a Lemon... i dint mean to thread jack but i am soooooooooooo... pissed its not funny i have 4 more years with this peice of shit

I am definitely sorry to hear about your situation. I hope this does not happen to many people. I believe the techs working at some of these dealerships are nothing but "wannabes" that shouldn't be touching a car.

[golfvdude]

Never ever have non-warranty work performed by a dealership. Ever. Even when my cars (regardless of make) have had some small annoying problem, I'd rather fix it myself than have a dealership break something else while doing warranty work. Good techs are hard to find because dealership principals don't pay well enough. Stay away from dealership service departments unless it's a major problem you need fixed while under warranty.

It was under the impression that it was going to be a warranty job at the beginning, hence the move to bring my car in. And the fact that the techs that looked at my car the first TWO times stated my tire pressure sensors were fine. This meant to me that they were physically fine AND electronically working. But they didn't do a visual. They just assumed. If I knew from the beginning that it was a cracked tpms sensor, i would've bought another one and changed it myself. Well, I'm still doing it anyway.

[golfvdude]

Holy Shit This Sounds Like My Expeience With Bakersfield Audi :(...it Definetley Deters Me From Wanting To Buy Another Audi

The funny thing it that it doesn't deter me as much as the rest of my family members that were about to purchase an Audi!

[Bmeister]

.... Service guy said the tech checked all the sensors and they were fine. I took his word for it and figure it's the module since he said the sensors were good. Cd changer was replaced under warranty. I was ok with that.....

I overlooked this comment. After checking the senors the first time, they find no problem but NOW they check them again and there is a crack supposedly from a tire change? That smells wrong, and as one who has managed warranty for an automaker (previous career) they missed it or did it themselves by accident and are covering their tails. They should attempt to goodwill-warrant the work or at least eat all the labor charges for your inconvenience. Period.

What they're probably trying to do is recoup the T&M assessing the problem. They do not get paid (via warranty) for extended diagnosis and that is why the labor rates and markups are so extreme. In your case, even if it was warranty work they have so much time/money into your car for diagnosis that they cannot hope to recover it with even an inflated warranty claim.

Of course, if a tech is good at the job, the diagnosis would have been more thorough and the whole mess avoided. Good luck to you and pray they don't break something else while they hurriedly do the repair to maximize profit or minimize their loss.

[golfvdude]

I overlooked this comment. After checking the senors the first time, they find no problem but NOW they check them again and there is a crack supposedly from a tire change? That smells wrong, and as one who has managed warranty for an automaker (previous career) they missed it or did it themselves by accident and are covering their tails. They should attempt to goodwill-warrant the work or at least eat all the labor charges for your inconvenience. Period.

What they're probably trying to do is recoup the T&M assessing the problem. They do not get paid (via warranty) for extended diagnosis and that is why the labor rates and markups are so extreme. In your case, even if it was warranty work they have so much time/money into your car for diagnosis that they cannot hope to recover it with even an inflated warranty claim.

Of course, if a tech is good at the job, the diagnosis would have been more thorough and the whole mess avoided. Good luck to you and pray they don't break something else while they hurriedly do the repair to maximize profit or minimize their loss.

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! I'm not mad about it anymore. I am just disappointed that it came down to a service manager being desrespectful to a customer when no aggression was present and the fact that he blantantly threatened one of his workers because of this. I think they ust have communication issues that could have been resolved in a much more positive way that benefited all parties but I got involved because of a person(s) didn't do their job adequately. I don't want this to happen to anyone else. So hopefully by me informing AoA and the owner of the dealership helps prevent this from happening again.

[Silververtu]

That's the reason I am planning to get another Audi - extremely bad service.

[Bmeister]

That's the reason I am planning to get another Audi - extremely bad service.

I'll buy another Audi regardless of how good or bad the dealers are. I'm thoroughly enjoying my A4. It was meant to be a transportation appliance but I find it a thrill for non-work travel (i.e. fun) as well. So glad I skipped over a Bimmer this go 'round.

Take this from someone who has owned many many cars and trucks from many different makes: it gets no better at a Mercedes, Lexus, BMW, Porsche, Infiniti, Ford, Chevrolet, _____(insert make) dealership when it comes to a service-diagnosis-repair-gone-bad. Any dealer can smell like roses for an expensive oil change and free car wash, but when they really need to fix something that isn't obvious, bend over or do the work yourself.

[MurderedA4*20]

if you want the work done right learn your stuff and do it yourself as for the audi technicians they pretty lame i have talked to the guy that works on my car and he has said he knows i never chipped my car, but wont tell the manager its not chipped in fear of losing his job ... as for me i just dont touch my car because its a disaster.. hopefully ill be out of it soon.. just dont know what to do right now :(

[golfvdude]

*update*

Picked up the car yesterday. Car was on empty(showed 5 miles left). Car was dirty from them driving it to troubleshoot the tpms. Car has over 100 miles more than when I dropped it off. And the only good thing that came out of it was that they didn't charge me the one hour I agreed to pay.

*The Bad* As a friend and I were heading to get lunch, we heard thuds in the trunk. I stopped and low and behold, the trunk is still apart. The spare tire cover was gone, the weather strip to seal the trunk is sitting on the spare tire and the rear plastic cover is sitting on the tire. The whole metal strip at the lower end is starting to get rust. Even though they installed everything, I'm missing nuts and clips to some of the panels. So now, I filed another complaint as I will not talk to the service manager again and my service guy has no power to make those decisions to repair my car. I am definitely not going back there for any reason. Time to look into buying aftermarket warranty......

Pics will come later tonight when I get home and get the pics from the camera and resize them.

[golfvdude]

if you want the work done right learn your stuff and do it yourself as for the audi technicians they pretty lame i have talked to the guy that works on my car and he has said he knows i never chipped my car, but wont tell the manager its not chipped in fear of losing his job ... as for me i just dont touch my car because its a disaster.. hopefully ill be out of it soon.. just dont know what to do right now :(

I definitely agree with you. I am used to working on my own car. But if it required warranty work, I figured why not. The tech that "forgot" to finish my car is a "certified" audi technician, whatever that means anymore. HAHA. I gotta just laugh about it now.

[golfvdude]

Just spoke to someone about the we one incident. If you didn't catch it, it is the last post on page one. I am forced to have an Audi dealer determine if it's corrosion or not. Funny. So I have to drive to new Orleans or Houston now. Guess I'll just have to pay for this one because that dealership isn't gonna want to do anything.

[golfvdude]

The rust runs along the that whole ledge.

[golfvdude]

Well, guess some people are either pissed off. I got a call stating that my warranty is expired and I have 43k on the odometer. Will be calling tomorrow to my service advisor (cool guy) to see what the whole problem is.

[rnp614]

Wow

[golfvdude]

my thoughts exactly.

[golfvdude]

Oh, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong forum. Can any mod move this to the feedback section? Just thought I'd share since I have a B7 also.

*update* Bought a TPMS sensor for 66 bucks shipped through genuineaudi. Brother works at a shop so he'll swap it out for me. Better than paying 400 bucks imo.

[jojogoya88]

Just like ANchor Audi, bunch of pricks and assholes. They lost me and my fathers business FOREVER!!!!!!!!

[rnp614]

Man I cant believe my backup dealership is yours. Hopefully New Orleans doesnt do me wrong.

[ItsThat2.0T]

Yowza. Best thing to do is keep a level head, and don't forget the saying, "Throw enough shit against the wall some of it will eventually stick."