Dont think audi have done themselves any favours
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Put me down first on the list, last Thursday my dealer said my car was on a priority build list, he said he'd call Firday to confirm details..... nothing!
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Perhaps if everyone who wants to complain post on the topic i will print it off and send it in (if thats alright with Kaine,will check).
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Is it worth each Posting Order date, dealer, advised date at order and then build week if advised eg
Order date 6th Feb 2010, Worcester Audi, advised early June when ordering, to date no advised build week at all!
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970 Posts
Good Idea dave,
Ordered 6th feb as well,dealer ordered 12th feb.told no later than end of may delivery.Have build week 27 but unconfirmed est delivery mid july.2010?????
Build week 27 I think is 5th July onwards. So built by end of the week 9th July and then they say generally 4 weeks after that for delivery so that would imply probably week of 9th Aug.
(Ordered on 16th Feb. Was indicated a Sept delivery. Then got allocated week 37. Then about a week ago got informed this had been moved forward to week 23 (no idea why). And to expect the car 4 weeks after this so week commencing 12th July. So that will be 5 months).
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278 Posts
I am surprised at that - I bought via Audi Worcester and they quoted me June, when I ordered on November '09 - when quizzed, they said they had to be careful not to promise what they couldn't deliver ! They actually delivered at the end of April, so 6 weeks early. When I collected mine they were saying if I ordered then (a month ago) I would be lucky to see it before November if not next year ?
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358 Posts
Ordered from Hull Audi on 16th February and was told to expect June delivery. I was told in April that I had a provisional build week of 28 but this has since moved forward a week to 27 - which according to my Outlook Calendar is week commencing 27th June. They still insist that if anything the build week may yet come forward. To be fair it looks like they are only going to be a maximum of a month out with their original estimate.
They tell me if I were to order now I would be looking at Feb/March next year.
They tell me if I were to order now I would be looking at Feb/March next year.
Ordered from Derby Audi 6th April, provisional build date wk 31 , came froward a couple of weeks ago to wk 30, spoke to the dealer this morning who says it is back to wk 31 and shouln't move more than a coupe of weeks either way. He confirmed it was 2011 spec with stanadrd suspension and if I try and change to sports supension I would lose the build date, apparently still on course for September delivery.
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358 Posts
All I can say about that is that I have a provisional build week of 27 and my order was amended yesterday to include the sports suspension and it didn't effect the build week.
Audi dealers seem to be very inconsistant and can be pretty ignorant about their own products and systems.
I agree, they are currently using an antiquated system that updates every few days, I undersatnd that they are moving to a web based system in July / August that will allow customers to track their orders.
It's precisely because I am unsure about the current system and sales staff that I don't want to run the risk of changing anyhing and jepordising the delivery date
It's precisely because I am unsure about the current system and sales staff that I don't want to run the risk of changing anyhing and jepordising the delivery date
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44 Posts
It's precisely because I am unsure about the current system and sales staff that I don't want to run the risk of changing anyhing.
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This is really frustrating. Ordered my Q5 in early April and told then (and again last week) that delivery should be in September. I would like to add the "Sound Package" to the order but don't want to jeopardise delivery. Has any other member of the forum positive or negative experience of amending their order. It would be good to go back to the dealer and be able to say "xxxx managed it, why can't you?"
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This is really frustrating. Ordered my Q5 in early April and told then (and again last week) that delivery should be in September. I would like to add the "Sound Package" to the order but don't want to jeopardise delivery. Has any other member of the forum positive or negative experience of amending their order. It would be good to go back to the dealer and be able to say "xxxx managed it, why can't you?"
Ordered my Q5 from Bath Audi in febuary was told in April it will be on the line week 26. Was told delay was due to the line being stopped to enable modifications to improve production. Week 26 confirmed again to day.
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I know who said that!
I think the key here is clear information
I think we can all understand that AUDI revise their production schedules based on orders - I believe that when orders are low, the production line speed is reduced (i.e. they can't just stop and have nothing for the workers to do, so they just slow the line down) - this will of course then delay completion and put deliveries back. We can also understand the difference between estimated delivery times (at time of order) and confirmed production times (confirmed by the factory when the build date is scheduled).
This kind of information always seems to be lacking from any dealer (not just AUDI) - what is needed is clear information and updates directly linked to the production plant - why can't the customer see the order system online?
If we could see based on the current build schedule, the car will be built between say week 30 and 34 we would initially be content - then if the dates move outside these original targets, the dealer (and maybe even the customer) would get a email from AUDI advising the revision, citing production slow down etc. This of course would be dissappointing, however at least we have clear concise information from AUDI and help keep our good relationship with the dealer as at the end of the day this is our AUDI face.
Anyway, thats my opinion - I would be very happy if such a system was introduced.
Kaine
I think we can all understand that AUDI revise their production schedules based on orders - I believe that when orders are low, the production line speed is reduced (i.e. they can't just stop and have nothing for the workers to do, so they just slow the line down) - this will of course then delay completion and put deliveries back. We can also understand the difference between estimated delivery times (at time of order) and confirmed production times (confirmed by the factory when the build date is scheduled).
This kind of information always seems to be lacking from any dealer (not just AUDI) - what is needed is clear information and updates directly linked to the production plant - why can't the customer see the order system online?
If we could see based on the current build schedule, the car will be built between say week 30 and 34 we would initially be content - then if the dates move outside these original targets, the dealer (and maybe even the customer) would get a email from AUDI advising the revision, citing production slow down etc. This of course would be dissappointing, however at least we have clear concise information from AUDI and help keep our good relationship with the dealer as at the end of the day this is our AUDI face.
Anyway, thats my opinion - I would be very happy if such a system was introduced.
Kaine
Ordered my Q5 17th May, received written confirmation from the dealer today that the status of your vehicle is week 34, anticipated delivery mid September 2010. This is still the order date, so will see what comes out when it gets confirmed from the factory.
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358 Posts
You may well be right Kaine but my experience leads me believe that there are more fundamental issues to be addressed at Audi UK and Audi dealerships.
Yes an improved system with better tracking would help, and I believe this is on the way, but the dealers do get a rolling indication of lead times - my dealer called it up on his system and showed me it. I think some of them employ a little poetic license when quoting lead times to encourage a sale.
I would guess that all Audi dealerships got the bulletin regarding the 2011 spec changes but it seems like very few of them have read it let alone know what to do with it - I spoke to three people at my dealership about the suspension changes and none of them understood what the implications were or how to address them. It was down to me to chase around and point them in the right direction.
None of them appear to understand what the impact of an order amendment would be - that is pretty basic stuff which they must encounter on a regular basis - I can't believe that the greater Audi is unable to give the dealerships some kind of direction regarding order changes.
In my humble opinion there seems to be quality lacking in both product awareness and customer service. If there are spec changes to a product then Audi should ensure that their dealerships are aware of the changes and how they will effect their customers and then the dealership's should act accordingly.
I agree that these kind of issues are not unique to Audi and I have experienced much worse at Jag, Merc and BMW - I honestly think that Lexus are the only ones to come close.
Not sure what any one else's view is but I expect a level of service whether I'm spending 10k or 140k
Kev
Kev,
Its been a few years now since I was in the industry, however barring a few hiccups, generally AUDI provide very good info to their dealers - by means of training and electronic news feeds - I'm not saying this is fact, but I tend to believe many salesman just aren't interested in the cars enought to be bothered to educate themselves on a daily/weekly basis. The amount of times I will go to a dealer and the salesman can tell you whats in the brochure but has no idea regarding new changes/updates etc - sometimes they are really clueless (I'm not making a sweeping statement here of course).
I guess we're going to conclude that all these 'issues' basically lead to customer dissatisfaction and hence forum threads like this and both the manufacturer and dealer will hopefully take notice
Kaine
Its been a few years now since I was in the industry, however barring a few hiccups, generally AUDI provide very good info to their dealers - by means of training and electronic news feeds - I'm not saying this is fact, but I tend to believe many salesman just aren't interested in the cars enought to be bothered to educate themselves on a daily/weekly basis. The amount of times I will go to a dealer and the salesman can tell you whats in the brochure but has no idea regarding new changes/updates etc - sometimes they are really clueless (I'm not making a sweeping statement here of course).
I guess we're going to conclude that all these 'issues' basically lead to customer dissatisfaction and hence forum threads like this and both the manufacturer and dealer will hopefully take notice
Kaine
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358 Posts
Kaine,
I'm sure you are spot on there in as much as the dealers do get supplied with very good information but they need to ensure that they, the dealers, use/act on the supplied information as they should.
I also agree that many salesman aren't interested enough in providing a quality service but at the end of the day it is down to Audi UK to drive the quality of service provided by their franchised dealerships.
It's not rocket science and very easy for Audi to lift and maintain the quality of their UK dealerships and if Audi aspire to be a prestige brand then that is really what they should be doing.
I sincerely hope that Audi and their dealerships do read and pay heed to forums such as this, there is masses of useful information and feedback to be had on this one forum alone - and credit to you for all the hard work you must put in to make it possible.
Cheers,
Kev
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