Phil G.

Yep, letter is too long and needs to be more to the point. Then state clearly what you want - is it money, an apology, other? Be specific. I'm taking notes on your letter since my new S4 is going in for a synchro and possibly a full transmission replacement in the next 1-2 weeks. Dealer and Audi of America have pledged to "make the car right" but if it needs a tranny, they want to use a remanufactured one - which is unacceptable to me in a 400 mile car (yes, folks it has fewer miles on it than the 996!!) Hopefully, it wont' come to that and the synchro will fix the problem. I've dealt with AoA on several occasions - the dealers don't like it when you go to them with complaints and posting negative stuff on the internet to potential customers is damaging as well. Do what you need to do regarding your experience. Personally, I would have walked just on principle. I wouldn't give those guys the satisfaction of selling me a car.

Steven B

My dealer experience has also been poor--Found my '03 996 on the web, bussed down and drove home, and little issues (and ATTITUDE) have been terrible. Makes you wonder why, in this computer age, there is not a "Dealer Service" type of web page where potential buyers can peruse before they lay their money down!!

Enjoy your car--My wife loves her A4 Avant.


Steve B

Wellardmac

It's funny, as this appears to be a trend with Audi. I have friends that say exactly the same thing about every Audi dealer they have worked with.

BruceP

Solid business idea, and would cost almost nothing to start up. Trip Advisor, which started out doing the same thing for hotels and resorts, sold for about half a billion dollars...

Dutchie in NC

Here you go...

http://www.dealershipratings.com/

doesn't look like it gets a lot of use though...

Edmunds has one as well... again, not a lot of usage...

http://www.edmunds.com/dealerships/drr/jump.html

Wellardmac

Plus there's Yelp.com to allow you to review every place you interact with.

every day

Forget the whole thing and get on with your life.

1. The dealership made a mistake in the advertisement - mistakes happen.
2. The salesperson was lazy and didn't confirm the equipment - no surprise here.
3. The GM wasn't warm and fuzzy with you - he obviously doesn't value your business (which is his right) so buy elsewhere.
4. Caveat emptor.

You have no legal recourse so quite wasting you time and go enjoy driving the car.

BruceP

Not sure I completely agree. I think that if we all just walk away from this stuff, it encourages companies to keep getting away with it, and even to try to get away with more. I support anybody who tries to even just make it a bit uncomfortable for lazy or devious merchants. At a certain point you have to cut your losses and get on with life, yes, but meekly disappearing serves nobody.

Remember your Edmund Burke... "All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." Same applies to bad retailers.

every day

Point taken, Bruce - I just have a low initial expectation from dealerships and most other retailers in today's market place.

Although I must say, with all due respect, I'm not sure if Edmund Burke would agree that his quote applies to the car buying process...

tooloud10

Personally, I'd have a harder time believing that he WOULDN'T agree that it applies to the car-buying process. Evil is evil, whether it be a murderer, a king, or a GM at a higher-end car dealership.

+1 for Bruce...

BruceP

Possibly not...

arr0gant

He's right. You'll be wasting your time, you'll never get a penny out of them. They don't care whether you flew there and have to drive 6 hours home OR you drove 5 minutes to buy the car. It's up to you to check out the car BEFORE you buy it. I am speaking from MY experience. You had the choice to NOT buy the car, it's not their fault you would have been out of pocket to fly home. You think if you drove 30 minutes to find out it wasn't what you expected they would give you gas money for your drive home? You get my point.

An extra option they quoted in their ad is NOT actionable. They all have a disclaimer as well about this.

Wellardmac

Very good way of putting it Gant.

apterr

Scot, If not too late:
Find out if the Lexington, KY television stations have news reporters who investigate consumer rip-offs. Many do. Get the names, Tv station names, other information, etc and include this information in your letter. Then the GM and Audi N.A. will have something to weigh their actions against.
If this is too much work, then just forward your email to the Lexington TV stations and see if you get any return calls.
This GM was a bully and you gave him the opportunity to make good which he refused (and even insulted you). You are doing future buyers a favor by taking this on. Good luck.

Zoolander

Here is the final edited letter that was sent certified today. Again, thanks for the great advice. Not stressing out about it in the least. Will keep you posted if Audi replies.
Learned a lot from my mistakes and from the dealer's behavior. Definitely will come in handy for later car purchases. So far I have yet to meet a salesperson that really deserved my respect.

Dear Sir or Madam:
We are writing this letter to inform you of the extremely disappointing service we recently experienced while doing business with one of your dealerships - Audi of Lexington, Kentucky.
My wife was in need for a new car. I desired to find her something safe and of good quality as well as a reputation, and her requests were quite simple… a white cabriolet with heated seats. After scouring the Internet and using the Audi’s Certified Pre-Owned web search, I soon found a 2004 Audi A4 cabriolet for sale at Audi of Lexington which, according to the details/features listed on their website, met both our requirements.
The long distance made me a bit hesitant as I would be unable to inspect the car but I felt confident in dealing with an Audi dealership for a CPO’d vehicle rather than purchasing from an unknown individual or a non-factory dealership. I contacted the sales rep Malcolm Cheek who answered all my questions and we came to an agreement of sale price for the automobile which was described on their Audi website. I then placed a deposit via credit card and later arranged to fly from Greensboro, NC at 6am to the Lexington dealership on New Years Eve in order to sign the paperwork and drive the car the 6 hours back home for my wife.
When I arrived at the dealership, the salesperson quickly urged me inside as I was beginning to examine the car. Trusting the salesperson, I followed him inside to his desk so we could go over the papers. Upon completion of the paperwork we then walked outside to have him show me the car. Shortly thereafter, it came to my attention that the car in fact did not have heated seats at all, in contradiction to their advertisement and conversations with the salesman. Needless to say, this was not a pleasant surprise especially since heated seats were a top priority for my wife. I showed them the original advertisement and Mr. Cheek agreed that the car was falsely advertised as having heated seats when it actually did not.
I was obviously very concerned at this point. Malcolm said he would speak to the General Manager and see what could be done to rectify the situation. Malcolm returned shortly with news that shocked my wife and I; he informed me that the GM didn’t want to do anything about it… nothing at all. So I walked inside to speak with the GM Andy Ludwig about the situation in hopes of working out a solution to this problem, which in my mind, involved them either installing the heated seats in the car as it was advertised, decreasing the price of the vehicle by the value amount of the heated seats, or taking me back to the airport and paying for my ticket home.
Upon walking up to Mr. Ludwig I introduced myself politely. He did not return the introduction but just shook my hand and waited for me to say something. Not being the confrontational type and still being optimistic that he would apologize and make an effort to correct the mistake his dealership made, I then told him I was hoping we could work this out. He replied that he could not do anything at this price and then stated “If you had paid our original asking price, I could do something for you”. I was actually speechless for a moment by his lack of concern and twisted perspective of a business agreement. I then told him how I fail to see how that even applies, since we negotiated and agreed upon a price prior to my trip to Kentucky for the car which was expected to have heated seats as well as all the other features listed in the advertisement. He answered again that I should have paid the asking price and then stated that I “should have inspected the car earlier before I flew in to buy it” and how he “would have never bought a car so far away”. I then informed him that if we could not come to an agreement, I would be contacting Audi North America, the Better Business Bureau, my lawyer, as well as writing postings on the numerous internet car forums of which I am an active member. His response was “I don’t care” and he walked away. At NO time during the entire conversation with Mr. Ludwig did he offer an apology.
In retrospect, after hearing what he had to say I should have walked out simply based on the lack of professionalism, ethics, and respect for a customer. It was quite obvious that this dealer had me between a rock and a hard place. But it was either going to be a $750++ last minute walk-up ticket home, or I was driving home a car that was not exactly the one we contracted to purchase. After much frustrating and aggravating thought I decided to go forward with buying the car for my wife and deal with this issue by taking it to upper management instead for resolution since discussions with Audi of Lexington were futile.
Needless to say, I expected a much higher level of service from your company, and I am quite disappointed. I feel that the Audi of Lexington dealership was very unprofessional in their handlings of this situation, and the General Manager was discourteous as well as arrogant. In contrast, I recently purchased a Certified Porsche from a Porsche dealership in Florida and they handled the transaction with a high level of class as expected. Similarly, we chose Audi and made the conscious decision to purchase a CPO’d vehicle specifically from an Audi dealership because we felt it would ensure a certain level of professionalism, respect and honesty in regards to the business at hand. Unfortunately, this was not the case and we feel you should be informed.
I write you today in hopes of rectifying this unfortunate predicament which, as I stated previously, at the very least would consist of Audi paying for the installation of the heated seats in the car as it was originally advertised as well as a letter of apology from Mr. Ludwig. We hope to be contacted about a resolution by January 21st, otherwise we will have no other choice but to inform the Better Business Bureau about this dealership’s poor business practices and false advertising, my friends and family about this experience, as well as our lawyer about this misrepresentation by your company and potential fraud. Please feel free to contact me at XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sincerely,