# Traded her in



## melillobm (Jul 17, 2004)

Well it was a five month stint with my 2015 A3 and it ended when it started shaking violently at speeds above 40mph. After the other problems I have had with this car, I took it back to the dealer to make it the 8th time it was at the dealer since I bought it. After a couple of days to diagnose, I did an alignment, but then was told that I needed all four new wheels (and tires). The dealer explained that they were all bent.... for reasons unknown to me... I don't believe this really is the issue and I fought because I believed it was the wheel bearing that was defective because the shaking was on par with a bad wheel bearing I had in a previous Audi. They told me they will not look into the wheel bearing issue unless I fixed what they recommended first. 

That was when I realized they were going to continue to leach money out of me for every little issue they could seemingly blame it on before any warranty work was done, even when I told them what the issue probably is. 

After my previous issues with the car and the fact that Audi of America seems to never fix anything under warranty no matter which dealer I took it to, how new the vehicle was, and that the problems weren't caused by me. I received a ungodly quote to fix the car and realized it was cheaper to trade it in for something else. 

At this point, the car was really disturbing me emotionally and I hated to drive it. Every day, I would get in and start to drive and just get angry at the amount of money I spent on the car to purchase it, how much money I've spent since to fix it, and how much I would have needed to pay to fix it more. 

What perturbs me the most is that none of the issues I had with the car had been fixed. Even after they leached money out of me or others (window issue is somewhere on this forum too). Window still doesn't work correctly, MMI system stuck on "loading navigation" screen for days sometimes, Bluetooth not streaming music from my iPhone, when nav does load I would also get "Navigation not calibrated" error constantly. 

Luckily because of the supplier discount, I purchased the Audi way under MSRP and I was able to use a supplier discount I have at Jeep to get a new Jeep with no neg equity, no money down, and no change in payment. 

This is the second Audi I have had problems with and I will not be fooled for a third time. I will never buy a VW/Audi/Porsche/Lamborghini/Bugatti ever again. It was a beautiful car and I hope the rest of you in the forum are able to enjoy your A3/S3's without problems like me.


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## tekmo (Nov 30, 2013)

Sucks.


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## IHIERBal (Sep 26, 2014)

Sorry to hear that you've had such bad experiences. I don't blame you for not wanting to come back.


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## tagsvags (Nov 25, 2005)

Jeep, best of luck with that.


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## davewg (Jul 30, 2001)

Enjoy the Jeep.

Head over to www.jeepgarage.com if you're looking for a good forum for it.


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## trueunion (Apr 15, 2008)

That sucks I love my A3 and no problems 6 months later. what kind of Jeep did you get?


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## sevenVT (Aug 18, 2004)

melillobm said:


> This is the second Audi I have had problems with and I will not be fooled for a third time. I will never buy a VW/Audi/Porsche/Lamborghini/Bugatti ever again. It was a beautiful car and I hope the rest of you in the forum are able to enjoy your A3/S3's without problems like me.


K lol. I'm sorry that your ownership of the entry level A3 is going to keep you from purchasing a Bugatti or Lambo in the future.

Bad dealerships are sadly not specific to these companies and are not directly related to the cars they sell.


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## Bruticus (Aug 30, 2014)

sevenVT said:


> K lol. I'm sorry that your ownership of the entry level A3 is going to keep you from purchasing a Bugatti or Lambo in the future.


I can totally empathize. I had a bad experience with Ford and will not buy an Aston Martin now. Well, that and I can't afford it.


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## madcowz (Jan 9, 2002)

Bruticus said:


> I can totally empathize. I had a bad experience with Ford and will not buy an Aston Martin now. Well, that and I can't afford it.


Ford era AM's were crap. Shared interior components with bog-standard Ford models. No comparison to the AM's of today.


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## nicoli35 (Jun 30, 2014)

Rarely seen, the elusive Lambo Jeep keeps predators away by flapping its doors, in this undated file photo...


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## Bruticus (Aug 30, 2014)

madcowz said:


> Ford era AM's were crap. Shared interior components with bog-standard Ford models. No comparison to the AM's of today.










.


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## melillobm (Jul 17, 2004)

sevenVT said:


> K lol. I'm sorry that your ownership of the entry level A3 is going to keep you from purchasing a Bugatti or Lambo in the future.
> 
> Bad dealerships are sadly not specific to these companies and are not directly related to the cars they sell.


Lol. You never know! I'm in my 20s. A lot can happen. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## melillobm (Jul 17, 2004)

Bruticus said:


> I can totally empathize. I had a bad experience with Ford and will not buy an Aston Martin now. Well, that and I can't afford it.


My issue is with the company and not necessarily the car. Bad cars are made and I understand that, but that was an opportunity for Audi to make me a satisfied customer by the way they handle it, and they mishandled every issue I had. If that's the company culture it will trickle to all divisions. But also I would hope they treat their lambo and Porsche customers better, but then again that's what I thought with Audi. Lol 


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## sevenVT (Aug 18, 2004)

melillobm said:


> Lol. You never know! I'm in my 20s. A lot can happen.


True enough, that's why I'd probably say you should check to make sure that your local Bugatti dealership isn't the same place you get Audi service... that way you can redact the parts of your post about never buying those brands when you decide to buy that Veyron you have your eye on.

For VW services (as I was a VW owner for a long time) we had two stealerships within 30 minutes of me, one was horrible, one was great every time. If you don't have that benefit, you will get down on a brand, but its not the brand usually that's screwing you; it's someone behind the counter.


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## outshined (Jul 30, 2011)

Why wouldn't they make the repairs under warranty?


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## gamegenie (Aug 24, 2014)

outshined said:


> Why wouldn't they make the repairs under warranty?


Because on a previous thread he made, he revealed how his local Audi service shop informed him that they couldn't do the repairs to his electronic windows because he voided he warranty on the tint he used. 

Others posted how certain tints require the doors to be broken down for the liquid to be applied to the windows to make the authentic looking tint. 

(It answered a question in my head on why I see a lot of tinted Mercedes Benz with a film-like tint covering the windows, these were probably just done by the end-user)

I presume OP is upset at his local Audi hiding behind their policy than fix an issue he's having.


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## Bruticus (Aug 30, 2014)

melillobm said:


> My issue is with the company and not necessarily the car. Bad cars are made and I understand that, but that was an opportunity for Audi to make me a satisfied customer by the way they handle it, and they mishandled every issue I had. If that's the company culture it will trickle to all divisions. But also I would hope they treat their lambo and Porsche customers better, but then again that's what I thought with Audi. Lol


Holding companies like VAG rarely have any kind of corporate culture implications on their divisions. Divisions in companies like VAG or J&J act mostly like independent businesses that have alliances with their fellow divisions. From VAG's perspective, Audi is an investment center and all VAG's CEO cares about is how Audi performs regarding ROA, ROI, etc.


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## phospher5 (Jun 21, 2012)

melillobm said:


> My issue is with the company and not necessarily the car. Bad cars are made and I understand that, but that was an opportunity for Audi to make me a satisfied customer by the way they handle it, and they mishandled every issue I had. If that's the company culture it will trickle to all divisions. But also I would hope they treat their lambo and Porsche customers better, but then again that's what I thought with Audi. Lol
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Had you contacted Audi care or Audi directly about this other than the dealership ? If so, grounds for being ticked with company......... if not- only grounds for being ticked with the audi store you visited.


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## melillobm (Jul 17, 2004)

phospher5 said:


> Had you contacted Audi care or Audi directly about this other than the dealership ? If so, grounds for being ticked with company......... if not- only grounds for being ticked with the audi store you visited.


Yea contacted Audi of America numerous times. All they did was open case numbers and told me to go back to the dealership. I guess that's standard protocol. Probably for most car companies, so I don't see a reason to pay a premium for a badge if you don't get a different service experience. 


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## phospher5 (Jun 21, 2012)

melillobm said:


> Yea contacted Audi of America numerous times. All they did was open case numbers and told me to go back to the dealership. I guess that's standard protocol. Probably for most car companies, so I don't see a reason to pay a premium for a badge if you don't get a different service experience.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Fair enough- It's just wierd because I have read numerous threads where other people approach audi or vw corporate and their situations ultimately get dealt with- with some nice discounts or something otherwise of an incentive.... If the dealership is that bad I am surprised because I would have thought they had other complaints about them.

For example, I recently had my front bumper replaced because it had too many stone chips in it too quickly...... probably cost a grand to have the body shop do it and it had no impact on the cars performance whatsoever.

Wonder what a call to the local paper would do..... especially with that wheel issue you mentioned.


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## 1anG (Jul 14, 2011)

U will never but a Bugatti again lol


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## gtitx1 (Oct 6, 2014)

On the tint issue, my salesman was very up front about the tinting needing to be by audi or an authorized place, as they will not warranty electronics in the door if tinted elsewhere. I balked at the $400 mark up for tinted windows, because I know what an insane margin that is. In the end, he basically threw the window tint in on the deal, so I was happy, but it was interesting because I did recall reading that thread on here some time ago when looking at info about the S3/A3


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## gtitx1 (Oct 6, 2014)

Also, I certainly think you got a combination of a lemon and a bad dealer, but if you think that is bad, just wait till you have issues with your jeep and trying and work with a jeep dealer...we have one in the family, and the recent recall for something or other made for a total nightmare of miscommunication, misinformation, and a nice dose of deception.


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## gamegenie (Aug 24, 2014)

gtitx1 said:


> On the tint issue, my salesman was very up front about the tinting needing to be by audi or an authorized place, as they will not warranty electronics in the door if tinted elsewhere. I balked at the $400 mark up for tinted windows, because I know what an insane margin that is. In the end, he basically threw the window tint in on the deal, so I was happy, but it was interesting because I did recall reading that thread on here some time ago when looking at info about the S3/A3


I never ventured to tint windows of my car before but after looking some nice tints of people's A3/S3s here and on the web, I think I will venture to do the same. 

Guess I will speak with my Audi dealer about it and ask about authorized tint shops as you did.


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## cgpublic (Aug 8, 2014)

*The Big Disconnect*

​


melillobm said:


> Yea contacted Audi of America numerous times. All they did was open case numbers and told me to go back to the dealership. I guess that's standard protocol. Probably for most car companies, so I don't see a reason to pay a premium for a badge if you don't get a different service experience.


If I've read this statement once, in various permutations, I've read it a thousand times on the lux auto boards. Here's what many posters overlook in regard to the sales and service experience:

1. The vast majority of lux buyers are not haggling over the price of the car or wearing out the sales guy over options, e.g., when are the SS seats going to be available.
2. The vast majority of lux buyers are not modding the engine, suspension or electronics.
3. The vast majority of lux buyers are not tinting their windows.

That said, the vast majority of posters will share one or all of the above as part of the car purchasing/ownership experience, my guy, this shop, blah blah blah. So, when a twenty-something or thirty-something guy drives up with his windows tinted and says, "My door switches aren't working," guess what the sales/service team is thinking?

Welcome to the real world.

Let's assume the OP has a legit issue with his car. The car shakes violently over 40 MPH? He comes the Audi guy now. Well, did it shake violently when you drove it off the lot? No, what happened? You don't know. But your wheels are bent/or not bent/or it's the bearing. Once again, who knows? Should I give you the benefit of the doubt? Let's see, you tinted your windows, the switches were working/weren't working/who knows what when you drove off the lot, but now they don't. Hmm, what happened. What? No one knows. OK. Except now I know. Now I know this conversation is boring and we'll get back you in a few days. Oh, you traded in the car? That's wonderful. Problem solved. Good luck. End of story. Period.


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## nicoli35 (Jun 30, 2014)

cgpublic said:


> ​Good luck. End of story. Period.


That about sums it up :laugh:


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## melillobm (Jul 17, 2004)

nicoli35 said:


> That about sums it up :laugh:


True. I wish it wasn't a lemon. Should have taken the hint when the first A3 I test drove had an issue with the wheel and it was squeaking so loudly they had me turn it around and take it right into the service bay. I really do think it's just glitches in the very first round of them sent out to dealers, but I thought Audi would be receptive to problems people had with them knowing this.


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## jhatfie (Apr 19, 2011)

Sorry about your experience with the A3. Enjoy the Jeep. My wife and I love our 2014 Grand Cherokee Limited Eco-Diesel. Between it and our 2011 Grand Cherokee with the Hemi we had before it, we have had 70,000+ trouble free Jeep miles without a single issue so far.


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