I've been a long time BMW and Audi own and still have my beloved '88 Quattro. 8-months ago I went in to buy a used Allroad 2.7. I was ready to buy that night. As I looked through the inventory with the salesman, Vincent Schommer, he came across a '01 Volvo V70XC and given the price point said it was a great car, just came in, and in perfect condition. I've never bought from a dealership, but have been buying parts from them for a long while. I was just getting married, starting a family, and wanted the reliability of buying from a very credible dealership - and I was completely wrong. It was in the evening, but he showed me the Volvo and it looked great and started right up. He sold me on this car instead of the Audi I wanted. Before picking it up, I emailed him a checklist of all the things that I wanted him to confirm had been gone through and checked out perfectely - engine and transmission included. He said it was perfect and checked out thoroughly by their service dept. I trusted them. I picked up that car and noticed that night that the engine would surge at about 20mph, the car would fall out of gear, rev to over 3,000 rpm and then clunk into gear. I emailed called the next day. They again took it into their service dept and said this was minor and would be fine after the scheduled service. I had my doubts, but believed them. The transmission issue continued and I went back in again. This time, one of their managers game me a $400 check to help with the "minor" adjustment the transmission needed. The issue continued and got worse. I had the 65K service done and the Volvo dealer charged me over $900 to fix the transmission issue - which it didn't fix. I again took the car back to Audi Manhattan. I was very concerned and didn't want this car -- they didn't offer any make good by taking back the car - instead, they said I would need to give them another $8K to put me into a different used car. That's all they would do.

For the last 8 months, I've been wrestling with Audi America and taking the car into the Volvo dealership and indpendent shops to document and possibly fix this problem. The car surged into traffic as my wife pulled up to a stop light in a very busy intersection - she was freaked out and will not get into the car again. The car finally died in another part of town last week - transmission lights on, engine check light on, and the warning symbol light flashing on the dash.

This is absolutely ridiculous that Audi would not do something about this. They sold me a very bad and unsafe car to an Audi owner... The salesman, Vincent Schommer, completely lied about the condition of the car just to get it off their lot. They tried to cut me a $400 "go away" check - knowing that this was a bad car. I've been in contact with Audi America about this, but without too much help from them. I cannot believe this dealership's practices not only to a historic Audi owner, but a consumer who is starting a family and putting us into an unsafe car. I gave them a few chances to make good on this, but they never came through and turned their backs to the issue. I'm not sure how this is possible - I believed in their reputation and the Audi brand, but am now stuck with a dead car because of issues I pointed out to them in the very, very beginning. How can brand Audi allow this to happen at their dealerships?

Sorry for the excessive rant, but I've never had such a horrible experience with a dealership in anyway.

 

sorry to hear of your troubles. as Vincent would probably say, "Heck its sales. Gotta do what you gotta do." Im sure he had the blessings of pre-owned sales management to do what he did. In most cases, this is what happens. Sometimes, its all upto the salesman's tactics. Car sales (esp. pre-owned) isnt exactly the most ethical and regulated of all sales industries. I used to work in sales but in pharmaceuticals. So i am familiar with quotas, deadlines and pressure related to making goal. But unlike in pharmaceuticals, car sales is a completely different animal. its raw, blunt, and unregulated both federally and ethically for the most part. All that matters in car sales is moving the volume out to consumers and patching problems with cheap fixes and fine print legal bullshit.

 

Sorry about the bad experience you had there! When I first started Audi shopping, I couldn't find any decent or reputable dealer, so I said...hell! Why not Audi Manhattan,theyre bound to be good! WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG. When I was there shopping for a 2.7t a6, the experience was good and the salesman Fahim Mahir was pretty friendly. I put a sec. deposit on the car, and intended to pick it up the following weekend ( I work and live about an hour away from the city, so by the time I get out of work theres no chance I'd be there before closing time). Come Monday morning I got a call from Fahim telling me that I need to get him the ~$20k for the car during the week and that I need to pick it up or else they wouldnt give me the same price on the car. I thought this was not only absurd, but also impossible. Im not about to take a day off of work to hand someone a check they can wait another few days for. Anyway, after several phone calls and him threatening me to increase the price on the car (which by the way, they already had for 7months at the time) I said "**** it,give me my deposit back." It took a month and a half to get my deposit back, and it was THE worst experience I'd ever had at a car dealer. They still have the car for sale, and theyve actually decreased the price by about $1,000. Good sales people huh?

 

"Fahim Mahir" -- this is exactly the guy that I'm dealing with now. He is the third person that I've dealt with over there and seeing your reply doesn't inspire confidence. He already has not returned my email or voice messages. It's truly unbelievable. I know I shouldn't be in disbelief, but damn!!! We'll see how it goes -- hopefully they'll make good in some-which-way.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

Fahim is very slow to return phone calls or emails that don't benefit him in any way, shape, or form. I found the best way to deal with him is to give him a bit of attitude and he'll be quick to get back .
ps. if you leave an angry message with the sales manager about the issue and who youre dealing with, that also inspires very fast replies best of luck dealing with these A-holes

 

So wait did you buy the volvo or the audi from them? Confusing to me lol.

By the way you ran into the same issue I ran into. I bought the car and they said everything was fine. Once I got the car I took it to my mechanic to check it out and the CV boot and breaks were bad and the oil pan was riveted onto the car . Luckily Selden Motors has offered to help pay for the bill of the car.

 

I went in there to buy a used Allroad 2.7, but they sold me on a used Volvo V70 XC that was "recently" traded in. Later I found out that the car had been sitting for months since being traded.

As for Fahim - I completely understand the getting back when it benefits him thing, but I'll also give him the benefit of the doubt so far since he was very patient and courteous when I came in a little while back ranting. I'm still somewhat optimistic and it hasn't gotten ugly - yet...even though my car is unusable at this point.

We'll see.

 

maybe a call to your attorney might prove useful.

 

Update:
Audi Manhattan is backing out of any responsibility for the car they sold. They are saying that the $400 check given to me a week after I picked up the car releases them of responsibility - even though this document focuses on their check to pay for a new car lock remote and programming. I've been cc'ing audi corporate on all email back and forth. Here are their names and email contacts if anyone needs them:

johan.denysschen@audi.com ---------- EVP Audi of America, Inc.
scott.keogh@audi.com ----------- Chief Marketing Officer
jeff.kuhlman@audi.com ---------- Chief Communications Officer

If I didn't mention it before - I also sent each of the corporate contacts the full packet of information, emails from the beginning of the purchase, as well as the service records of the past 8 months detailing the issue until the car finally locked up in 2nd gear.

I'm following up with the attorney general in NY as well as one of their consumer affairs & civil rights lawyers. I'll follow up with my lawyer as well - I've been told that the used car lemon law is flexible if it's clear the seller/dealer knew of a dangerous issue before the sale of the vehicle. Lastly, there seems to be some negative Google Search ads running - not sure if the attachment will come through in this post.

What's amazing and maybe not amazing at all is that this dealership is one of the top 3 in the country in regards to sales revenues...there is no customer service or pretension that there is an "Audi family" or any care about customer retention. In this way, it is true that the rich always get richer.

 

Sorry to say, but a car salesman is only your friend when you are buying. Afterward, too many of them could care less about you and your problems. I bought our Quattro Cab at Mohegan Lake in upstate NY. The salesman was friendly and very helpful right up until he handed us the keys. I never heard from him again. The dealership is always sending us service reminders. (We live on Long Island and would never travel back up there for service) but the salesman didn't even bother to send us a card- "Hope everything is good" or a holiday card. I dealt with a BMW salesman years ago who always sent a holiday card for as long as I owned/leased the car.

You bought a trade in from the wrong dealer. Poppa always said, "never buy a Chevy from a Ford dealer, son". He was right. They don't know the vehicle and you need to wonder why the previous owner switched brands. I hope you can resolve your troubles, but I'm a bit dubious. Beyond any warranties and the NY lemon laws, you could be screwed.