well, Livermore Audi just burned its last bridges with me. (rant)
09-21-2004, 10:03 AM
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well, Livermore Audi just burned its last bridges with me. (rant)
i am sick of their horrible service and of Freddy (yes, I am to the point of naming names) treating me like a punk while kissing certain other people's (i wont name names of AW members) ***.
a bit of history between me and livermore:
12/2001 - i buy my certified preowned 2000 S4. salesman shows off car's power, brags how you can bump it to over 300hp with just a chip.
3/2002 - i get my first CEL (O2 sensor), take my car in. Freddy tells me my car has been chipped, and he can't work on it. The kicker -- this is before i chipped the car, so whatever damage there was to the ECU cover, i bought it that way. I take it to Diablo and get my O2 and cat replaced with zero hassle.
from then on, i started taking my car to Diablo. it's twice as far, but the service manager (Rusty) there treated me well. honest, straightforward, and got the car done on time, most of the time. the free loaners were a great benefit too.
3/2003 - my turbos start whining (not drilling yet), and Diablo replaces them without question.
9/2003 - i blow my turbos while taking RubenG to pick up his car from Livermore. since i was 3 minutes away when it happened, i just pull into the lot blowing smoke and oil out my exhaust. since i was chipped, i had little expectation of getting warranty work, but i thought i'd try anyway -- mainly knowing Freddy has pulled some strings and done the work for some VERY heavily modified people before.
it doesn't happen, i get screwed with a $350 diagnostic bill, a $12K estimate to do the work, and end up taking the car to LA to have simmply do the work for a fraction of the cost.
all in all, i know that chipping a k03'd car is playing with fire, and i got burned -- but i have a feeling that if i had the car taken to Diablo, it would have been covered.
last week -- while i was there to pick up some coolant, i asked them to look at my headunit, which has stopped playing CD's. i specifically asked the service advisor - Mike Hoffman - if they could take a look at it quickly if i had an appointment. he said "yea, just schedule an appointment".
i went and asked freddy if he could look at it real quick. he said, no come back with an appointment, "you know i'll take care of you, man". that struck me as funny given our history, but i held back the laughter and went to schedule an appointment.
this morning -- i show up a few minutes early for my appointment. stand around while some other dealership employees chat with each other, finally acknowledging my existence. instead of getting a service advisor themselves, they kinda point me in the general direction of the shop.
finally Mike walks out -- "do you need something?" i was immediately taken aback by his style of greeting. i may be wearing shorts, instead of a suit and tie, but that doesn't mean he has to talk to me like that.
anyway...he pulls up my info, and asks me for my key so they can pull it into the shop.
me: can i pull it in myself?
Mike: no, that'd be against our insurance
me: well, i don't like other people driving my car, can they just diagnose it in the driveway?
Mike: look, we need to pull it into the shop
me: to check my cd player?
Mike: either we pull it into the shop, or you can go elsewhere
me: that's just great audi service, but whatever (i start taking my key off the keyring)
at this point Mike gets up, and walks to the garage (which is separated from the office by a glass door), and as the door is closing, i hear him yell at Freddy while pointing at me "WHO THE FU..."
Freddy walks out.
Freddy: if you're not going to let us drive the car...
me: i already said fine, i don't see what the problem is
Freddy: and you're going to leave the car with us?
me: you can't diagnose the cd player right now?
Freddy: no
me: i thought that's why i scheduled an appointment
Mike: no, you schedule the appointment for the day
me: it's going to take you more than 15 seconds to diagnose and say "oh, it's broken, we should order you a new one"?
Freddy: you need to leave your car
Mike: or you could go elsewhere. we don't have to service your car, given your history.
me, to Freddy: look, i don't need his attitude
Freddy: we don't feel comfortable working on your car. and i don't appreciate you abusing my service writer.
me: he's the one giving me attitude!
--silence--
me: soooo, you can't look at it?
Freddy: no, we don't feel comfortable working on your car.
with that, i turned and left. never again will i set foot in that f*cking dealership. and if i get at least a few other people to say the same, i've done my job.
horrible customer service. horrible service department. corrupt as all hell.
a bit of history between me and livermore:
12/2001 - i buy my certified preowned 2000 S4. salesman shows off car's power, brags how you can bump it to over 300hp with just a chip.
3/2002 - i get my first CEL (O2 sensor), take my car in. Freddy tells me my car has been chipped, and he can't work on it. The kicker -- this is before i chipped the car, so whatever damage there was to the ECU cover, i bought it that way. I take it to Diablo and get my O2 and cat replaced with zero hassle.
from then on, i started taking my car to Diablo. it's twice as far, but the service manager (Rusty) there treated me well. honest, straightforward, and got the car done on time, most of the time. the free loaners were a great benefit too.
3/2003 - my turbos start whining (not drilling yet), and Diablo replaces them without question.
9/2003 - i blow my turbos while taking RubenG to pick up his car from Livermore. since i was 3 minutes away when it happened, i just pull into the lot blowing smoke and oil out my exhaust. since i was chipped, i had little expectation of getting warranty work, but i thought i'd try anyway -- mainly knowing Freddy has pulled some strings and done the work for some VERY heavily modified people before.
it doesn't happen, i get screwed with a $350 diagnostic bill, a $12K estimate to do the work, and end up taking the car to LA to have simmply do the work for a fraction of the cost.
all in all, i know that chipping a k03'd car is playing with fire, and i got burned -- but i have a feeling that if i had the car taken to Diablo, it would have been covered.
last week -- while i was there to pick up some coolant, i asked them to look at my headunit, which has stopped playing CD's. i specifically asked the service advisor - Mike Hoffman - if they could take a look at it quickly if i had an appointment. he said "yea, just schedule an appointment".
i went and asked freddy if he could look at it real quick. he said, no come back with an appointment, "you know i'll take care of you, man". that struck me as funny given our history, but i held back the laughter and went to schedule an appointment.
this morning -- i show up a few minutes early for my appointment. stand around while some other dealership employees chat with each other, finally acknowledging my existence. instead of getting a service advisor themselves, they kinda point me in the general direction of the shop.
finally Mike walks out -- "do you need something?" i was immediately taken aback by his style of greeting. i may be wearing shorts, instead of a suit and tie, but that doesn't mean he has to talk to me like that.
anyway...he pulls up my info, and asks me for my key so they can pull it into the shop.
me: can i pull it in myself?
Mike: no, that'd be against our insurance
me: well, i don't like other people driving my car, can they just diagnose it in the driveway?
Mike: look, we need to pull it into the shop
me: to check my cd player?
Mike: either we pull it into the shop, or you can go elsewhere
me: that's just great audi service, but whatever (i start taking my key off the keyring)
at this point Mike gets up, and walks to the garage (which is separated from the office by a glass door), and as the door is closing, i hear him yell at Freddy while pointing at me "WHO THE FU..."
Freddy walks out.
Freddy: if you're not going to let us drive the car...
me: i already said fine, i don't see what the problem is
Freddy: and you're going to leave the car with us?
me: you can't diagnose the cd player right now?
Freddy: no
me: i thought that's why i scheduled an appointment
Mike: no, you schedule the appointment for the day
me: it's going to take you more than 15 seconds to diagnose and say "oh, it's broken, we should order you a new one"?
Freddy: you need to leave your car
Mike: or you could go elsewhere. we don't have to service your car, given your history.
me, to Freddy: look, i don't need his attitude
Freddy: we don't feel comfortable working on your car. and i don't appreciate you abusing my service writer.
me: he's the one giving me attitude!
--silence--
me: soooo, you can't look at it?
Freddy: no, we don't feel comfortable working on your car.
with that, i turned and left. never again will i set foot in that f*cking dealership. and if i get at least a few other people to say the same, i've done my job.
horrible customer service. horrible service department. corrupt as all hell.
09-21-2004, 10:34 AM
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Hence the reason I don't go there ever either.
I did some test drives there and the attitudes in that place were just horrible. I won't ever buy anything from there, no matter what it is. I don't care if they have this new location and fancy schmancy buildings. There's a better shop in Pleasanton. SAS German Motors. They have the right attitudes and love the cars. I won't ever direct anyone I know to Livermore Audi.
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09-21-2004, 11:16 AM
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you really should report them to AoA... when they called me a few days after i bought my A4...
i went into a big story about my bad experiences with Steven's Creek... they seemed to take it very seriously.
