Hi all,
The final update on my former E-tron. Sold it back to the dealer after being totally malested by Audi International, Audi Sweden and the dealer (which is a fully owned subsidiary to VW Group). The worst customer experience I have ever had. Beware of these cars!
This is from Facebook where I posted the full story:
In March, I bought an almost new Audi e-tron from Audi Helsingborg, which is part of the Din Bil group and a wholly owned subsidiary of Porsche, which also owns VW and Audi.
The car had traveled about 15000 km as a demo car and had just over a year's new car warranty left. Audi Helsingborg refused to offer an extended used car warranty and already there I should have guessed there were owls in the bog, but I accepted the explanation that that warranty could not be taken out when the car still had a new car warranty left.
Already when I got home to Stockholm with the car, I noticed that the taillights were functioning to 50 % and also blinked strangely. After a few more days, I started receiving warning messages that the handbrake was not working. I booked an appointment at Audi Stockholm in Stockholm. So I had owned the car for less than 24 hours when the first faults occurred.
Before I had time to hand in the car to Audi Stockholm, however, I noticed that water flowed into the passenger compartment at the left a-pillar. The carpet at the front of the passenger seat was completely soaked and there was water on the plastic panels at the passenger door. I then drove the car directly to Audi Stockholm.
There it remained for SEVEN weeks "because of the corona", which in itself can be assumed to be a reasonable excuse. During this time, they replaced the taillights and fixed the broken parking brake. With the leak, however, it was a different story. At first I heard nothing. Then I heard nothing and then I heard even less from Audi Stockholm. I contacted Audi Helsingborg and ask them to help me. Then people start to contact me and I find out that there is a construction fault on the sunroof that they do not know how to fix.
Water leakage into the floor of an electric car is extremely dangerous. Should the water find its way into the battery, there is a risk of an explosive fire. It is simply life-threatening to have water leakage in electric cars.
"We have to drill a hole in the roof to drain the water," said the workshop manager at Audi Stockholm. The car was then 14 months old.’’
With these two teams in Stockholm and Helsingborg, there have been several emails back and forth. I have checked with my lawyers who say that I cannot try to cancel the purchase until the trader has had a reasonable opportunity to rectify the error. I asked Audi Helsingborg for compensation, but the answers were always hovering and it was obvious they haveno desire whatsoever to take responsibility or compensate me for my car being in the workshop.
During these seven weeks I gotan Audi A3 and an Audi A4 courtesy car which costs about 25% of the E-tron. At the same time, I bear all the financing costs for my own car that is in the workshop.
After seven weeks, I finally get the car back. I get an assurance from Audi Helsingborg that no holes have been drilled in my roof. I drive the car during the summer. It rains very little during this period. But then comes a real autumn rain in August and I discover again that water has leaked into the passenger side.
I myself manage to locate and replicate the fault to one of the drainage channels to the sunroof. Now I do something stupid that I still regret. I assume that Audi Helsingborg will help me faster and more efficiently than Audi Stockholm. So I choose to drive the car down to Helsingborg.
During the journey down, water continues to flow into the car. I must add that I constantly during this second leak wiped up carpets, loosened plastic panels that I could and dried them off on the inside. The entire interior of the a-pillar with electrical cables etc. was wet.
After a few days, the workshop manager at Audi Helsingborg calls me and starts asking strange questions:
"Are you sure you did not have a friend with wet shoes who went with you in the car?"
"Did you have the passenger door open when it rained?"
"Why are there no limescale deposits and drainage marks on the inside of the plastic panels?"
After a few more calls, he says that they cannot replicate the error and that my car is not leaking water. Of course I have both photos and videos of the leak. I ask them to try to replicate the error as I did. Nothing helps. My car has absolutely no water leakage issues at all says the workshop manager and adds: "I have videos and photos that show that the car is snuff dry inside now that we have dried it up." The car is thus dry when it has dried up. But I must have poured in the water myself… 😉
Now I am talking to two lawyers who say that this action is "smart" because a car dealer in principle cannot refuse a customer to cancel a purchase when they tried to fix a mistake three times but did not succeed. Both lawyers said they may have fixed the issue but then let me know that the car is tight.
I ask the car dealer outright if they have not fixed anything at all on my car. The answer is no and further questions and "accusations" that I had the door open in the rain, etc.
My choice now is to return the car or sell it to a third party. Audi Helsingborg gives me a shameful bid of SEK 170,000 less than what I paid seven months earlier. Of course they think I should refuse and ask them to go and fly. But I cannot do that. I cannot have an electric car that leaks water and I cannot sell it with a clear conscience to another car dealer or a private person.
So I choose to sell the car back to Audi Helsingborg. The car is left there for about a month before they sell the car on to an unauthorized dealer. The car is thus completely without any problems and/or issues, but Audi Helsingborg chooses not to resell the car themselves.
After this I write a letter to Audi GmbH and then I am contacted by Audi Sweden who interrogates me for about 35 minutes. After that, nothing happens even though I am promised feedback. I contact Audi Sweden again myself and they refer me to the National Board for Consumer Disputes in an email that I think was written by a lawyer:
"Dear Christoffer,
Dialogue regarding compensation must be conducted with the selling party in question, which in your case was Audi Helsingborg. You have signed a purchase agreement at a price of SEK 680,000 (incl. VAT) which is based on car model, year model, mileage, equipment and current market prices. The issues you complained about could not be replicated by Din Bil Helsingborg. If you wish to pursue your case further, you are welcome to contact a consumer adviser in your home municipality or the National Board for Consumer Disputes."
Absurd things that happened:
The workshop manager at Audi Helsingborg wrote the wrong e-mail address when he was going to email me and sent an email to
[email protected]. This Christoffer read the whole email conversation and answered!
"Glad that you will "fix "a broken car you tilted on a poor buyer, luckily I do not drive an Audi but drive a Tesla. Sad to read about an e-tron owner who is dissatisfied, of course I read through the conversation and am completely saddened. These are the type of horror stories you don't think exist. In the future, keep an eye on who you email. "
The other absurd incident was the employee at Audi Stockholm who came up to me and said: "I'm so sorry for what you've been through, but I'm not a manager and my hands are tied. There are not many who are as honest as you, you should know. But my boss here has said that I must not tell you what I think of Audi Helsingborg. "
I have learned the following lessons:
During the time I could use my e-tron, it cost me SEK 43,840 / month to own.
That an Audi has a new car warranty means nothing. It is the workshops that decide whether there are faults or not.
Audi Sweden takes no responsibility whatsoever for the actions of its dealers towards end customers.
Audi Helsingborg played on every single section of the Consumer Purchase Act in full. The law protects us consumers from criminal traffickers, but not from scams. Pig is unfortunately completely legal.
Never return your car to the dealer who sold it to you. They have the least to gain from helping you. Go to another authorized workshop / dealer instead.
