Car dealer sold me a service plan but now 3 weeks later says its not applicable
Comments
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Might be worth calling up the dealer principle or visit the showroom in person to complain. They will keep fobbing you off, but if they know you are on your way, they will normally see you.0
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This is what I would have expected considering I have taken my car to them for the past 4 years to be serviced, I have just paid £750 for the last service (which includes the price of the service plan) and I was just about to pay them another £695 for a cam belt and water pump change in a few weeks time. The cost price to them for a minor service (which is basically just and oil & filter change is probably less than £50 based upon labour rates and the consumables involved.
Hold up..Had I have known the service plan wasn't applicable, I would have visited my local independent dealer who would have used the same quality Audi parts but for a considerably cheaper price.
Why would you have said the service plan would have changed who you had it serviced by if you were going to take it back for further work anyway?!?
Then you reveal you have taken this car to them for the past 4 years.... owning an S and the costs involved are clearly not new to you.
Then when you use the fixed price servicing option on Audi's website to check the cost and you realize the discrepancy between normal and S service pricing it becomes a bit more obvious that all is not what it seems.
To give you an example
s4 saloon - 12 plate
£215 basic service
£475 major service
£225 trans oil change
£84 Brake Fluid change
s3 - 63 plate
£187 basic service
£375 major service
£225 trans oil change
£65 brake fluid change
a4 - 64 plate - 2.0 tdi
£167 basic service
£329 major service
£225 trans oil change
£65 brake fluid change
Something really doesn't add up - I personally think given how long you have owned the car and the costs you have had up to this point you clearly knew the service pack didn't apply to you (as it wasn't just one conversation you had with one dealer, it was multiple over a period of time) coupled with the fact you are now trying to leverage them to provide - you have an enthusiast model for a reason, playing the innocent card when it suits isn't very fair...
As per the terms of the deal though Audi do have a 'can be withdrawn at any time' etc and given your service hasn't gone through the pack the likelihood is they will cancel the agreement and return your money - returning you to the same point you were prior to the agreement - which would be in line with the law as far I as I can interpret.You are quite right and it does say that "S" models are not covered in the link you have provided, I have not seen that page or the small print before). The prices they have charged in the past have been the ones for normal models, not the more expensive ones for the likes of "S" and "RS" models etc. I have questioned them in the past over whether I have to pay the more expensive "S" model prices and they have said verbally that the prices they will charge me are the ones that they charge for normal vehicles. Unfortunately this was verbal and not in writing. They have honoured this at the sister branch several times and that is why he offered me the service plan I'm guessing.
I didn't know my vehicle wasn't "officially" covered before I asked the sales person for it this time as I had been told by one of her colleagues previously (albeit a different branch of the same franchise) that my vehicle is included which is why he offered it to me.
The assistant at this branch that sold me the service plan this time should have sufficient training and knowledge of their rules, procedures and product offering to be able to tell me long before 3 weeks after I have paid for the product and me being told several times that it wasn't a problem and it had been successfully been set up. They have effectively lied to me as well. They are now ignoring my telephone calls as well. All in all very poor customer service.
The poor customer service is something I would take up with Audi UK.0 -
Hold up..
Why would you have said the service plan would have changed who you had it serviced by if you were going to take it back for further work anyway?!?
Then you reveal you have taken this car to them for the past 4 years.... owning an S and the costs involved are clearly not new to you.
Then when you use the fixed price servicing option on Audi's website to check the cost and you realize the discrepancy between normal and S service pricing it becomes a bit more obvious that all is not what it seems.
To give you an example
s4 saloon - 12 plate
£215 basic service
£475 major service
£225 trans oil change
£84 Brake Fluid change
s3 - 63 plate
£187 basic service
£375 major service
£225 trans oil change
£65 brake fluid change
a4 - 64 plate - 2.0 tdi
£167 basic service
£329 major service
£225 trans oil change
£65 brake fluid change
Something really doesn't add up - I personally think given how long you have owned the car and the costs you have had up to this point you clearly knew the service pack didn't apply to you (as it wasn't just one conversation you had with one dealer, it was multiple over a period of time) coupled with the fact you are now trying to leverage them to provide - you have an enthusiast model for a reason, playing the innocent card when it suits isn't very fair...
As per the terms of the deal though Audi do have a 'can be withdrawn at any time' etc and given your service hasn't gone through the pack the likelihood is they will cancel the agreement and return your money - returning you to the same point you were prior to the agreement - which would be in line with the law as far I as I can interpret.
The poor customer service is something I would take up with Audi UK.
Correct, I have taken my car to them for the past 4 years which only equates to 3 occasions as my car has only needed a service approximately every 18 months, looking back through the paperwork the basic timeline is:
June 2013: Car purchased (1st service within next 2 years included free of charge by a service plan taken out for me by the supplying dealer as part of the deal)
November 2014: 1st Service carried out (Major - Free of charge as covered by the service plan detailed above).
May 2016: 2nd Service carried out (Minor - Cost: £159, not £175 as I originally thought) which is the price of a normal car, not an inflated "S" model price. Looking at your comparison above it was cheaper than a normal A4 to be serviced! This is when I was offered a service plan for £360 but I declined the offer as I was planning to sell the car.
December 2017: 3rd service (Major): This is when I requested the service plan which was duly sold to be with no issues at the time but now they have gone back on the sale of the plan 3 weeks after it was sold to me!
Between the purchase in June 2013 and December 2017, I have only had to replace the brake fluid once which cost the same as a normal car (£65) and 1 set of tyres. No brakes or other servicing costs due to my driving style so now you are aware of the few actual costs involved I'm sure you will agree that I have had little exposure to inflated costs for the "S" model.
I only had the conversation once with the dealer in May 2016 about a service pack and it wouldn't have been available to me until the car became 3 years old which was in 2016.
Had I have known it was going to be £360 just for the December service alone (no minor service included up to 18 months after), then I would have phoned around to have all of the items carried out in the December 2017 service and the Cam belt, Water Pump & Pollen Filter all done at the same time and I would have negotiated a price, not pay Audi's fixed prices for the service items which I did because I thought I was getting a major and minor service for £360.
Hope this makes sense?0 -
Might be worth calling up the dealer principle or visit the showroom in person to complain. They will keep fobbing you off, but if they know you are on your way, they will normally see you.
I am just going to write a letter/email of complaint, I'm not going to start legal action or anything for loosing out on a minor service but I want them to know I'm not happy with the way they have dealt with the matter.0 -
Correct, I have taken my car to them for the past 4 years which only equates to 3 occasions as my car has only needed a service approximately every 18 months, looking back through the paperwork the basic timeline is:
Had I have known it was going to be £360 just for the December service alone (no minor service included up to 18 months after), then I would have phoned around to have all of the items carried out in the December 2017 service and the Cam belt, Water Pump & Pollen Filter all done at the same time and I would have negotiated a price, not pay Audi's fixed prices for the service items which I did because I thought I was getting a major and minor service for £360.
Hope this makes sense?
Just as a side point but you say that you went to them on 3 occasions previously, but only now took out the plan...
Now you are arguing that you would have "phoned around" had you not been enticed by this offer. You said in your earlier post that "Had I have known the service plan wasn't applicable, I would have visited my local independent dealer".
May I enquire as to why you didn't "phone around" or "visit your local independent dealer" on the three occasions previously?
Bit of a red flag, and I would query whether:
- The local dealers are actually cheaper or not
- you are only bringing this point up to strengthen your argument and that you actually had little intention to phone around other garages
I only mention this as it sort of hinders your case if you were going to seek compensation.0 -
stuartJo1989 wrote: »Just as a side point but you say that you went to them on 3 occasions previously, but only now took out the plan...
Now you are arguing that you would have "phoned around" had you not been enticed by this offer. You said in your earlier post that "Had I have known the service plan wasn't applicable, I would have visited my local independent dealer".
May I enquire as to why you didn't "phone around" or "visit your local independent dealer" on the three occasions previously?
Bit of a red flag, and I would query whether:
- The local dealers are actually cheaper or not
- you are only bringing this point up to strengthen your argument and that you actually had little intention to phone around other garages
I only mention this as it sort of hinders your case if you were going to seek compensation.
No I went to them on 2 occasions previously before the latest service where the issues have arisen:
1. November 2014 (free of charge)
2. May 2016 (£159)
I would have been crazy to use an independent garage considering I was entitled to my 1st service for free courtesy of the Audi finance plan. I phoned around for the 2nd service costs including the independent dealers and they were roughly the same price as Audi so I just used Audi as they have access to vehicle software updates and manufacture recalls etc.
The service plan is not available to vehicles less than 3 years old so wouldn't have been offered to me until 2016 which is when the car reached 3 years old. When I got the car serviced in May 2016 the plan was offered to me by the sister branch but I never took them up on it. I requested it on the immediately following service which was December 2017. It was sold to me without quibble but 3 weeks after they have gone back on it.0 -
Just as an update, I have been looking at the franchise owners website (Barons Group) who owns the Audi branches in question and there I found a version of the Audi service plan page on that website that doesn't exclude "S" models, only other performance models. I finally managed to get through to the manager of the troublesome dealership and referred him this version of their website and he says its an old page and he still can't honour it. Surely if its on their website and it doesn't exclude the "S" model I have they have to honour it?
I have a 2.0TTS
https://www.baronsgroup.co.uk/audi/service-plan-offer
He says he is going to get their IT department to update the web page and he is standing firm saying he cant do it and he's not prepared to honour the 1 x minor service i'm entitled to as it will eat into their profit margin!0 -
I'd go in a start talking very loudly about the mis selling.
Doesn't matter what was on the website or what wasn't in this case. You checked before purchasing, they sold you it still.
They've entered in to a contract. I'd be wanting a significant portion refunded to reflect the fact you have to pay for a minor service next year or them to honour it.
Don't just let them bend you over. They are not doing you a favor by letting you off the poultry 15 quid.0 -
The one thing that strikes me is an 'S' owner would know full well this doesn't cover the expensive servicing of an 'S'. And you did too by specifically asking well before taking up the offer.
The question therefore becomes did you know it wasn't covered but because you asked and the sales person didn't quibble you went ahead or did you really have no idea (your original post doesn't lead me to believe you had no idea...).
Its clearly called out on the audi site.
https://www.audi.co.uk/owners-area/audi-insurance-warranties-and-service-plans/audi-service-plans/audi-service-plans-existing-vehicles.html
Who cares. Op sought clarity on whether he qualifies. They had opportunity to look in to it and decided he was able to purchase the service. All that is irrelevant. They entered in to a contract.0 -
I'd go in a start talking very loudly about the mis selling.
Doesn't matter what was on the website or what wasn't in this case. You checked before purchasing, they sold you it still.
They've entered in to a contract. I'd be wanting a significant portion refunded to reflect the fact you have to pay for a minor service next year or them to honour it.
Don't just let them bend you over. They are not doing you a favor by letting you off the poultry 15 quid.
My thoughts exactly.
I have also found out they have changed the service type of my vehicle from "Long life - Variable" (Decided by the vehicle itself - Up to 18 months depending on depending on driving style) to a fixed 12 months schedule so I now potentially have to have my car serviced more often as I was getting away with nearly 18 months between services before!
He says the type of service I asked for automatically changes the service from Long Life to fixed one. I wasn't told that either before it was done.
Not happy at all.0
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