Hi all,

Well here goes my horrible service experience with Laurel Audi in Westmont, Illinois:

I purchased my car from a local dealer in Illinois who took it in to Laurel Audi for it's prepurchase inspection and final warranty service. At the time of inspection I was charged extra on top of the warranty service for a "mechanical inspection" which i have now found out was not done at all. I live in D.C. and if i would have waited to drive the car back here, it would have been over 50k miles and out of warranty. The selling dealer took the car into the dealership and the service rep who was looking at it is named Blake Farmer. He was impossible to reach and when I finally did get a hold of him he told me the car needed a serpentine belt, waterpump, thermostat. Great, I thought- i'm glad this stuff is getting fixed.

So fast forward to a day later. I fly to Chicago to pick up the car from the selling dealer. Everything looks great and I see the service record shows that the thermostat and serpentine belt were replaced. no waterpump, so i think maybe it wasn't needed. I get in the car and start driving back towards d.c. 20 miles out i get a low oil warning light. I pull over into a gas station and have to add 5 quarts of oil to the car. wow, a certified audi service dealer that doesn't know how to check the oil on a car.

so no harm done huh? well- first thing i do yesterday after work is take the car to the audi dealership that is local to me for an oil change. while changing the oil- the service tech calls me into the shop and tells me there is a coolant leak. i look under the car and there is red coolant- dripping all over the place. not only that- but a ton of white and pink residue from a past leak there as well which the tech points out. great! now my car is out of warranty and there is a leak from the waterpump/pulley area. i called laurel audi up and spoke to their service manager, Ed Skibinski. He tells me first that he can't do anything for me in a rude condescending tone. then he tells me, well...bring the car in and i'll look at it. i tell him i'm 750 miles away from him and he basically says "tough". Then he tells me that the dealership i'm at now is being audited. ??? Who cares, I want my stuff fixed, how unprofessional

So long story short, I was a victim of horrible customer service- and obvious dealer fraud. The "inspection" that i was charged for was not done, the oil wasn't even checked, the warranty item wasn't fixed. The waterpump is a long job and it was obviously ignored because while speaking to the original tech at Laurel Audi- he kept mentioning how busy they were and how a waterpump is a big job. so they cut corners and didn't do it. now i'm left with a possible huge bill.

i've called audi advocate up and hopefully they will work something out for me.

sorry for the long rant.

 

Well. I'm a standup guy and just like i posted my bad experience, i'll now post my good experience as well:

Ed Skibinski called me and told me that he would take care of the repair to my car that could be done here in the d.c. area. After the dealership here repaired the waterpump/thermostat/serpentine belts- Ed sent a check for the work and resolved my issue. I'd like to thank him for being a standup guy and turning this experience around for me. My faith is restored!! [/align]

 

Glad to hear you had a "happy ending"! I live close to Laurel and am getting ready to get some service done, so I'll be sure to mention this situation and reiterate the fact that you deserved better service.

 

I have been doing business at laurel audi for over 8 years and never had an issue. always professional and go out of thier way. after reading about your experience, it's clear you should have bought a certied audi from an audi dealer. in addition, sounds like your story was given to you by the dealer you bought from.

sounds like the dealer you bought from sold you a junk.......where did you buy it?

 

I've been an Audi owner for a long time!

I currently service my car at Laurel and they have always, always, always done good for me! My car iswashedall the time when I pick it up (except when it the weather is super bad/cold). Ed, Justin, Blake, Jim, Dan...the porters...the cashier have all been helpful.

When I read the first post of this thread, the first thought was, "Hey, what about this dealer whothe car wasactually bought from? Why all the blame on Laurel?"

Laurel is the best all around Audi dealer in the Chicago area. I'll tell you a couple of other observations about other Chicago area Audi dealers - Continental has great service,and above average sales experience - - - Schaumburg rates about a 5 out of 10 in sales and if a negative rating could be given for their Service Department they would take the prize of all Chicago dealers. Their Service Manager, Tony P. is an a_ _! --- The Exchange, McGrath, and Tinley Park all have very good Service Departments and pretty good Sales Departments. I have no experience with Fletcher Jones downtown...only below average comments from people who do have first hand experience.

 

They've alwaysbeen good to me. The one in Tinley as well.

 

Laurel has been just ok with me.. There was some warranty work that they did on my a6, where they used aftermarket parts to replace the wiring harness. They used replacement pigtail connecters for the fuel injectors where they connect to the wiring harness. This work was done by them for the previous owner. I would have not let them get away with that.. For warranty work they should use the OEM parts, they should have just swapped out the whole harness. Anyway, the car runs, just not as smooth as I would imagine it would without the extra resistance from the aftermarket connectors.. It does shake a little. I did bring this up to Blake, and he kinda brushed it off.. I mean, I didn't really have much leverage being the new owner. They were good to me with the other work I needed done. Just be CAREFUL about letting them use aftermarket parts.

Laurel - feel free to pm me if you want to make it right and replace that harness