[jrlee53]

Poor Audi guy's wheels get stolen off the Audi lot and the dealership won't help him.

http://jalopnik.com/5567283/audi-dealership-wont-help-customer-robbed-on-lot

[jrlee53]

Original Thread


http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?369777-Un

[FStop7]

Dealerships always say they're not responsible for damage or loss on their property. I don't think any other type of car dealership would say or do anything differently than this dealership did. If you think that you can beat them in court, take your chances and hire an attorney.

[OMID INC]

Originally Posted by FStop7

Dealerships always say they're not responsible for damage or loss on their property. I don't think any other type of car dealership would say or do anything differently than this dealership did. If you think that you can beat them in court, take your chances and hire an attorney.

i would raise the issue of a conspiracy since the cameras conveniently were not working. unless they have been down for some time, it seems a little fishy.

also negligence is an issue that the dealership must address whether aftermarket or not

[bikesbikes]

It wouldn't surprise me if someone at the dealer stole it. I've seen worse things happen at dealers. My first job was working as a car jockey at a dealer. Sometimes customers would come in and drop their car off with OEM wheels. And they would leave with reps would never notice the swap.

[Finnegan]

Yet another reason to find some way to mark up parts with UV dye of some kind so you can see if you still have what you came in with when you leave....

[Crazy Bimmer]

Ugh, bought my Audi from there years ago. This is not surprising they are denying responsibility.

[FStop7]

Originally Posted by OMID INC

i would raise the issue of a conspiracy since the cameras conveniently were not working. unless they have been down for some time, it seems a little fishy.

also negligence is an issue that the dealership must address whether aftermarket or not

All true, but it's going to cost a lot more money to get a lawyer to make that case for you than it would to make a a claim against your insurance.

I know someone whose car got pretty messed up at a dealership - a tech backed another car into it, damaging some of the panels. He tried to push the dealership to fix the problem at their cost, and they basically said no and he should file a claim against his own insurance. He figured out the cost of a lawyer was more than the cost of paying for all the repairs out of his own pocket. I think the dealer ended up paying his deductible for him.

[SlamMan]

Originally Posted by Jesal@Project 808

Ugh, bought my Audi from there years ago. This is not surprising they are denying responsibility.

Most likely, they're not legally responsible. The owner of the car is just a victim of crime.

[fatjoez]

LOL

[Garduna]

Originally Posted by fatjoez

LOL

that's awful o_O!

[ptack]

Originally Posted by FStop7

Dealerships always say they're not responsible for damage or loss on their property. I don't think any other type of car dealership would say or do anything differently than this dealership did. If you think that you can beat them in court, take your chances and hire an attorney.

The biggest risk to a luxury car dealership is their reputation and one really pissed off customer can cost them a lot more than a set of wheels. This may not be immediately obvious to them or they may be playing chicken and waiting to see how determined the customer is. Start filing complaints the BBB and make a big stink in the middle of the show room on a Saturday afternoon. I predict they will cave real fast.

[majin ssj eric]

Article says Audi NA is investigating. Hopefully this will get resolved.

[Sylon]

I would call the local news station and tell them about it. My hometown's new channels had whistleblower-type people that would love to go after something like this (I'm from the Detroit area), the news would be all over this.

Bad publicity is a good way to light the fire under a company's asses. Also, sending stories like this to various websites just like jalopnik and Autoblog helps too.

[Zephyr15]

Originally Posted by SlamMan

Most likely, they're not legally responsible. The owner of the car is just a victim of crime.

It's called a bailment, and your dealership is absolutely responsible for the condition of your car when you leave it in their possession for maintainence or repairs.

In this situation the worst-case scenario is to pay the deductable and then sue the dealer in small claims court to recover the deductable and court costs. Easy win IMO.

[ibeclueless]

that sucks

[Freakazoid]

wow despite them *eventually* paying for it... this has really pushed me away from audi... that's ridiculous...

[positiveions]

at least the guy still have his car. I knew a guy through the Audi Quattro Club that used to drive S4 Avant with Twin Turbo. He left the car at a one of southern calif Audi dealership. He gets a call from the service manager stating: "your car suffered a misfortune. One of our service technician, while on a "test drive" lost control and totaled the car". Come to find out that the technician was driving 105 mph while he was trying to run an errand. A lady was leaving the carpool lane, cut him off, he couldn't brake, hit the lady, span, hit the center divided, and the lady's car flipped over like 2 times.
I wish they provide us with a Horsepower kill switch.

[Sylon]

"
********************- UPDATE **********************

Yesterday evening 06/18, I was contacted by the general manger of said dealership. We had a long conversation and he was extremely reasonable and apologetic. He was talking to me as another Audi enthusiast and was regretful that the situation has come to this. All in all, he promised to cut a check for $500 deductible and offered to let me use the loaner as long as my car is out of commission for repair. (He even offered me to a free participation at private tracksession in July which he is attending himself.) That was all that I demanded and he had issue with fulfilling them.

I have requested that Admin on other forums to delete the post I have made (clublexus, supraforums ** I come from Lexus/Toyota group before converting to Audi) and they were immediately removed. I have contacted the editor at Jalopnik to temporarily remove his blog posting and am awaiting his response. **Edit: I have told matt the outcome of the situation and to update his blog post to give credit where it's due.** No false statement was made on my part and there is no risk of further legal ramification for the blog that was made, but i felt it was the best i could do since they took care of my requests. I have asked Anthony to delete this post as well.

I think the biggest cause of this whole mess was the attitude of the service dept. They should have elevated this issue to the fullest extent to at least *try to* accommodate my needs, instead of shutting me off. And as you can see my request was not all that out-landish. I hope their service dept learned something from this incidence as their actions have affected their sales dept I'm sure. ** Oh, and I almost forgot to mention how Audi of America customer relations dept was little to no help in this case. I am truely disappointed that they could not leverage any authority on this. **

In any case, I'll let this thread float for another couple days and make another request to anthony to have it deleted.

Thank you all for your support and I couldn't have done this without you (and huge thanks to Jalopnik and Supraforum ** SFOT CREW ** that have been the most active).

- Jason "

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?369777-Un

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by Sylon

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?369777-Un

Personally I think it's silly/stupid to ask for the deletion... the dealership should have to suffer the consequences of this.... it shouldn't just become an afterthought.

The ONLY reason it was taken seriously was BECAUSE of all the PR. Future customers should be aware of this....

Beyond that, it's not even a fix.. it's still going to affect the guys insurance... (or potentially could)

[ragingclue]

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

Personally I think it's silly/stupid to ask for the deletion... the dealership should have to suffer the consequences of this.... it shouldn't just become an afterthought.

The ONLY reason it was taken seriously was BECAUSE of all the PR. Future customers should be aware of this....

Beyond that, it's not even a fix.. it's still going to affect the guys insurance... (or potentially could)

I agree, but having been thorough all that crap, I bet he's just happy that there has been any kind of acceptable conclusion.... It must have been exhausting.

[DASHOCKER]

Originally Posted by fatjoez

LOL

The car looks rice on the jack stands