Vehicle has had a fault from new - what are my rights?

AdrianC

Scrapit said:

AdrianC said:

No, a minor wrinkle in minor functionality - which can be easily worked around - is not sufficient grounds to reject a car. Especially after nearly five months.

I know a ford owner who rejected his focus for a very similar reason. However it took nearly a year. 

Did it actually go to court and he won? Or did the dealer simply give in and agree?

Supersonos

Scrapit said:

AdrianC said:

No, a minor wrinkle in minor functionality - which can be easily worked around - is not sufficient grounds to reject a car. Especially after nearly five months.

I know a ford owner who rejected his focus for a very similar reason. However it took nearly a year. 

I actually don't want to reject it because I love every other aspect of the vehicle.  But I doubt I'd have actually bought it if I knew Android Auto didn't work correctly.

And there is a solution: upgrade the stereo.  But I doubt the dealer will want to do that, or they'll say they'll do it if I pay the additional £1200.  (The upgraded stereo has sat-nav, but I'd never actually use it)

Ditzy_Mitzy

Your choices are, therefore, to put up with it and keep the car; to reject the car and receive a refund; or to pay to have the upgraded stereo fitted at a cost of £1,200.  
Rejecting the car isn't a particularly favourable option as, presumably, you'd then be without a car and looking for another one.  Any that you find, as said already, might not be the right specification or the wrong colour or just not as good for whatever reason. 
Paying £1,200 isn't great either, as you feel, justifiably, that you shouldn't have to pay such a large amount just to have the car working as it absolutely should.  The dealer isn't willing to stump up as he, correctly, can't justify offering an upgrade which, I assume, wasn't chosen at the point you ordered the car.
There's putting up with it, which is what I'd do but, as someone who's happy to live without a lot of technology, my opinion isn't that relevant.
Is there another option?  Perhaps there is.  Maybe it's not a case of the stereo being terminally broken.  Maybe, instead, it's a case of the Audi dealer lacking the necessary expertise to fix it properly.  Dealers are marque specialists, granted, but not always technical specialists.  I'd consider taking the car to an independent audio centre to see if anyone there can, in fact, fix whatever's up with the system.  You might need to speak to the dealer about the warranty first, to find out if working on the stereo is grounds for invalidation.  This might cost you a little bit, but then you may end up with the ideal outcome: your car with a functioning mobile telephone receiver.  

Scrapit

AdrianC said:

Scrapit said:

AdrianC said:

No, a minor wrinkle in minor functionality - which can be easily worked around - is not sufficient grounds to reject a car. Especially after nearly five months.

I know a ford owner who rejected his focus for a very similar reason. However it took nearly a year. 

Did it actually go to court and he won? Or did the dealer simply give in and agree?

Not sure if it was the dealer or court that decided it but I do know he moved away from the brand as a result which would suggest to me that it may not have been the dealer but that is just guessing at this point. To my mind it appeared trivial but he's arguement was the feature was advertised and and therefore the reason for purchase over other brands or models and the manufacturer couldn't repair it it and therefore haven't delivered.

AdrianC

Scrapit said:

AdrianC said:

Scrapit said:

AdrianC said:

No, a minor wrinkle in minor functionality - which can be easily worked around - is not sufficient grounds to reject a car. Especially after nearly five months.

I know a ford owner who rejected his focus for a very similar reason. However it took nearly a year. 

Did it actually go to court and he won? Or did the dealer simply give in and agree?

Not sure if it was the dealer or court that decided it

A world of difference in terms of precedent.

And, also, in terms of how to proceed. Remember, to reject when the supplier is unwilling to agree, you need to physically return the goods then take the supplier to court for the cost. And it's not going to be a small claim.

Scrapit

AdrianC said:

Scrapit said:

AdrianC said:

Scrapit said:

AdrianC said:

No, a minor wrinkle in minor functionality - which can be easily worked around - is not sufficient grounds to reject a car. Especially after nearly five months.

I know a ford owner who rejected his focus for a very similar reason. However it took nearly a year. 

Did it actually go to court and he won? Or did the dealer simply give in and agree?

Not sure if it was the dealer or court that decided it

A world of difference in terms of precedent.

And, also, in terms of how to proceed. Remember, to reject when the supplier is unwilling to agree, you need to physically return the goods then take the supplier to court for the cost. And it's not going to be a small claim.

But whats your point? It can be done and for the reasons the OP has given.

Supersonos

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Your choices are, therefore, to put up with it and keep the car; to reject the car and receive a refund; or to pay to have the upgraded stereo fitted at a cost of £1,200.  
Rejecting the car isn't a particularly favourable option as, presumably, you'd then be without a car and looking for another one.  Any that you find, as said already, might not be the right specification or the wrong colour or just not as good for whatever reason. 
Paying £1,200 isn't great either, as you feel, justifiably, that you shouldn't have to pay such a large amount just to have the car working as it absolutely should.  The dealer isn't willing to stump up as he, correctly, can't justify offering an upgrade which, I assume, wasn't chosen at the point you ordered the car.
There's putting up with it, which is what I'd do but, as someone who's happy to live without a lot of technology, my opinion isn't that relevant.
Is there another option?  Perhaps there is.  Maybe it's not a case of the stereo being terminally broken.  Maybe, instead, it's a case of the Audi dealer lacking the necessary expertise to fix it properly.  Dealers are marque specialists, granted, but not always technical specialists.  I'd consider taking the car to an independent audio centre to see if anyone there can, in fact, fix whatever's up with the system.  You might need to speak to the dealer about the warranty first, to find out if working on the stereo is grounds for invalidation.  This might cost you a little bit, but then you may end up with the ideal outcome: your car with a functioning mobile telephone receiver.  

Great advice, thanks.

The stereo can't be fixed.  It's gone all the way to VW in Germany and they admit it's a software glitch with the vehicle.  That glitch isn't present in the upgraded stereo which is why installing that would solve my issues.

No way I'm paying £1,200 though as most of that cost is for the satnav which I simply wouldn't use.

The odds are certainly stacked against me.  VW have sold me something which was advertised as working a certain way and it doesn't, and they can just fob me off.  Also worth noting they're still selling them.  There's all sorts of threads about this on VW and Google forums.

Frustrating.

Ditzy_Mitzy

Supersonos said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Your choices are, therefore, to put up with it and keep the car; to reject the car and receive a refund; or to pay to have the upgraded stereo fitted at a cost of £1,200.  
Rejecting the car isn't a particularly favourable option as, presumably, you'd then be without a car and looking for another one.  Any that you find, as said already, might not be the right specification or the wrong colour or just not as good for whatever reason. 
Paying £1,200 isn't great either, as you feel, justifiably, that you shouldn't have to pay such a large amount just to have the car working as it absolutely should.  The dealer isn't willing to stump up as he, correctly, can't justify offering an upgrade which, I assume, wasn't chosen at the point you ordered the car.
There's putting up with it, which is what I'd do but, as someone who's happy to live without a lot of technology, my opinion isn't that relevant.
Is there another option?  Perhaps there is.  Maybe it's not a case of the stereo being terminally broken.  Maybe, instead, it's a case of the Audi dealer lacking the necessary expertise to fix it properly.  Dealers are marque specialists, granted, but not always technical specialists.  I'd consider taking the car to an independent audio centre to see if anyone there can, in fact, fix whatever's up with the system.  You might need to speak to the dealer about the warranty first, to find out if working on the stereo is grounds for invalidation.  This might cost you a little bit, but then you may end up with the ideal outcome: your car with a functioning mobile telephone receiver.  

Great advice, thanks.

The stereo can't be fixed.  It's gone all the way to VW in Germany and they admit it's a software glitch with the vehicle.  That glitch isn't present in the upgraded stereo which is why installing that would solve my issues.

No way I'm paying £1,200 though as most of that cost is for the satnav which I simply wouldn't use.

The odds are certainly stacked against me.  VW have sold me something which was advertised as working a certain way and it doesn't, and they can just fob me off.  Also worth noting they're still selling them.  There's all sorts of threads about this on VW and Google forums.

Frustrating.

Is it simply a case that your car, Car X, won't communicate properly with Stereo Y, i.e. the one fitted?  Would it, therefore, still be a problem if Stereo Y was replaced with Stereo Y 2, i.e. the same make and model as the one in there but a different physical unit?

Supersonos

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Supersonos said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Your choices are, therefore, to put up with it and keep the car; to reject the car and receive a refund; or to pay to have the upgraded stereo fitted at a cost of £1,200.  
Rejecting the car isn't a particularly favourable option as, presumably, you'd then be without a car and looking for another one.  Any that you find, as said already, might not be the right specification or the wrong colour or just not as good for whatever reason. 
Paying £1,200 isn't great either, as you feel, justifiably, that you shouldn't have to pay such a large amount just to have the car working as it absolutely should.  The dealer isn't willing to stump up as he, correctly, can't justify offering an upgrade which, I assume, wasn't chosen at the point you ordered the car.
There's putting up with it, which is what I'd do but, as someone who's happy to live without a lot of technology, my opinion isn't that relevant.
Is there another option?  Perhaps there is.  Maybe it's not a case of the stereo being terminally broken.  Maybe, instead, it's a case of the Audi dealer lacking the necessary expertise to fix it properly.  Dealers are marque specialists, granted, but not always technical specialists.  I'd consider taking the car to an independent audio centre to see if anyone there can, in fact, fix whatever's up with the system.  You might need to speak to the dealer about the warranty first, to find out if working on the stereo is grounds for invalidation.  This might cost you a little bit, but then you may end up with the ideal outcome: your car with a functioning mobile telephone receiver.  

Great advice, thanks.

The stereo can't be fixed.  It's gone all the way to VW in Germany and they admit it's a software glitch with the vehicle.  That glitch isn't present in the upgraded stereo which is why installing that would solve my issues.

No way I'm paying £1,200 though as most of that cost is for the satnav which I simply wouldn't use.

The odds are certainly stacked against me.  VW have sold me something which was advertised as working a certain way and it doesn't, and they can just fob me off.  Also worth noting they're still selling them.  There's all sorts of threads about this on VW and Google forums.

Frustrating.

Is it simply a case that your car, Car X, won't communicate properly with Stereo Y, i.e. the one fitted?  Would it, therefore, still be a problem if Stereo Y was replaced with Stereo Y 2, i.e. the same make and model as the one in there but a different physical unit?

It's a software glitch of stereo A that means it won't automatically select the phone as an audio input (and you can't do it manually), so even though the phone is sending music/a podcast etc., you can't hear it.  Stereo B doesn't have that glitch so automatically selects the phone and so you can hear the audio being sent.

Ditzy_Mitzy

Supersonos said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Supersonos said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Your choices are, therefore, to put up with it and keep the car; to reject the car and receive a refund; or to pay to have the upgraded stereo fitted at a cost of £1,200.  
Rejecting the car isn't a particularly favourable option as, presumably, you'd then be without a car and looking for another one.  Any that you find, as said already, might not be the right specification or the wrong colour or just not as good for whatever reason. 
Paying £1,200 isn't great either, as you feel, justifiably, that you shouldn't have to pay such a large amount just to have the car working as it absolutely should.  The dealer isn't willing to stump up as he, correctly, can't justify offering an upgrade which, I assume, wasn't chosen at the point you ordered the car.
There's putting up with it, which is what I'd do but, as someone who's happy to live without a lot of technology, my opinion isn't that relevant.
Is there another option?  Perhaps there is.  Maybe it's not a case of the stereo being terminally broken.  Maybe, instead, it's a case of the Audi dealer lacking the necessary expertise to fix it properly.  Dealers are marque specialists, granted, but not always technical specialists.  I'd consider taking the car to an independent audio centre to see if anyone there can, in fact, fix whatever's up with the system.  You might need to speak to the dealer about the warranty first, to find out if working on the stereo is grounds for invalidation.  This might cost you a little bit, but then you may end up with the ideal outcome: your car with a functioning mobile telephone receiver.  

Great advice, thanks.

The stereo can't be fixed.  It's gone all the way to VW in Germany and they admit it's a software glitch with the vehicle.  That glitch isn't present in the upgraded stereo which is why installing that would solve my issues.

No way I'm paying £1,200 though as most of that cost is for the satnav which I simply wouldn't use.

The odds are certainly stacked against me.  VW have sold me something which was advertised as working a certain way and it doesn't, and they can just fob me off.  Also worth noting they're still selling them.  There's all sorts of threads about this on VW and Google forums.

Frustrating.

Is it simply a case that your car, Car X, won't communicate properly with Stereo Y, i.e. the one fitted?  Would it, therefore, still be a problem if Stereo Y was replaced with Stereo Y 2, i.e. the same make and model as the one in there but a different physical unit?

It's a software glitch of stereo A that means it won't automatically select the phone as an audio input (and you can't do it manually), so even though the phone is sending music/a podcast etc., you can't hear it.  Stereo B doesn't have that glitch so automatically selects the phone and so you can hear the audio being sent.

I see, and you're welcome re the previous.  Could you compromise somehow?  Find out the cost of the head unit that's in there at the moment and ask if the dealer is willing to contribute that amount towards the upgraded model, with you paying the difference?  It just doesn't seem like there's an acceptable way out of this particular situation, given your entirely understandable unwillingness to reject the whole car.