First experience of aftersales service.

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Rob Earl

Past Member
We've got 2 issues with our car, so went to the dealers tonight.

1) Water in the headlight.
The service guy came out to have a look, telling us on the way that this was a common problem on most new cars with this type of light, including VW, BMW etc. On inspection he said the water in our headlight was excessive and the unit needs to be replaced. His overall opinion seemed to be that slight condensation in the light is nothing to worry about. What are other peoples ideas on this?? Surely any water in the light unit is a problem.

2) Old style wiper fitted.
I know there are other threads about this but I'll put it here anyway. Asked same service guy why my 2003 car had the wrong wiper on it. He said it wasn't wrong - just the older style. He went on to say that the factory probably has the old style lying around and is just using them up. We ended up having a bit of a debate about the wiper styles but he just wasn't going to back down.
By this rationale then, our A2 could have come with a small fuel tank or any other 2002 spec parts as they might have been just laying around and needed using up.
Had a look in the owners handbook after leaving the dealers and the wiper depicted is the new style[^] I'm going back down there to have another chat about this.
I personally don't know if the new wiper is vastly superior the the old design but I'm going to follow this through out of principle - plus the fact I think the new wiper is more aesthetically pleasing.

Overall, not overly impressed with some of the cr@p sprouting from his mouth. The car is booked in on the 20th for a new light to be fitted.

1.4SE petrol in Merlot Red, Biege interior, 16" 5 spoke alloys, DIS, Open Sky, Elec rear windows.
 
Rob,

Its up to you whether you believe my sincerity or not, but I’m telling you that I am upset over what you have been told. I genuinely believed that after all the rumpus that I created at your dealers (Whitehouse Audi) that by now they would have seen the error in their ways of acting like idiots, and have started to give the customer a bit more of the honest approach – sadly this does not appear to be happening.

It was not that many days ago that your dealer almost insinuated that you were an oddball in mentioning the new wiper, which they claimed they knew nothing about. How on earth can this be the case when they have had countless letters from me over this topic, together with me supplying them with large photographs – just in case they failed to understand the English language.

Regarding the headlights, yet again I wrote to both WA and Audi UK stating that their daft explanations were an insult to my intelligence. The straight facts are that is an utter nonsense to say that all cars with acrylic headlamps suffer from the problem, and for sure VW’s do not. As I have mentioned on this forum before if it is “an act of God” that water gathers inside the A2’s headlamps, then why oh why did it not do so after mine were replaced ? In addition if this were the case then 100% of all A2 owners would suffer the same problem – but many do not.

I say we all learn through our mistakes, but from what I hear Whitehouse Audi are not prepared to learn anything.

Regards
John Disdale
 
Rob,

for what it's worth, I'd make them change the wiper and then I'd change dealers to one who might care more about customer service.

JR

A2 1.6 FSI, Cobalt blue, OpenSky, etc.
 
Just thought I'd say that when I got my Punto about 20 months ago (when it was 9 months old) it had some condensation in one headlight. It wasn't too bad. Within 2 weeks of normal use it had gone. I put it down to my car sitting around only going for a quick test drive for 3 months after 6 months of being a hire car. Had it not cleared I'd have claimed under warranty. However on a brand new car that's been built to order it's totally unacceptable. It shouldn't have stood around for more than a couple of days. And definatly throw the book at them for the wiper.

Although part of me still wants to get an A2 next year, my visit to the motor show has broadened my horizons, and the other VAG group car I now conside is a Skoda Fabia estate. With the problems people are having it seems Audi Dealers aren't the best people - but Skoda are trying hard to improve thier image of ten years ago - all the reports are glowing with just a few owners reports of dud ones - what %age of A2's are perfect?
 
Gav, what %age of any make/model of cars are perfect? I believe there are good dealerships and bad dealerships out there so don't dismiss the A2 altogether due to faults seen on this forum. If all dealers were up to the standards of the best there wouldn't be half as many complaints.

If our A2 had 8 minor faults (I count the headlight as a minor fault) and all were fixed by the dealer with prompt and courteous service I would be extremely happy. If however, it has 2 minor faults that were dismissed by the dealer as irrelevant, this tends to cast a shadow over the whole A2 ownership experience.

JD, I'll try and see if WA come round to my way of thinking regarding the wiper before venturing to other dealers. They're on their first notice already tho'. Not bad for the first month of us being customers. Perhaps they've got more money than sense.

1.4SE petrol in Merlot Red, Biege interior, 16" 5 spoke alloys, DIS, Open Sky, Elec rear windows.
 
Rob - The idea of having to go to another Audi dealer is bad news, and being that they very carefully position themselves a long distance apart such a decision likely brings with it a lot of inconvenience
 
Hi,

The water shouldn't be in the headlight, mild condensation can be possible but should vaporate very fast. When you see goldfish migrating towards your headlights it's time to change.
I've never had this problem (knock on wood) on my 2002 A2.

The new wiper is offcourse far superior to the old one.
That's why Audi invented it. It reduces the windnoise on the front window. And it gets teh rain of better because the wiper is flexible.
It should be possible to retrofit it. Mercedes is offering the Aeroblade as a retrokit.

Good luck !


Dennis de Held

Amulet Red 1.4 Tdi
 
Hi guys like the others a2 owners i also have the problem with the headlights( as you can see in the november photos) in the begining they told me that was normal ;( but than they had change the all front lights....but the problem is still there but it´s minor
Tiago Casaca 1.4 TDI

TCasaca
 
Dennis - As you can imagine its nigh impossible for Brits to contemplate a retro fit of the new wipers when currently (even still) we have dealers that refuse to even acknowledge their very existence.
 
Rob

Sorry to hear of your problems. If you have read any of my other posts on the wiper subject, you will see that I found out from my Audi dealer when I approached the subject that there are in fact different 2003 models. Up to a certain VIN, Audi did not fit the revised wiper, even though your A2 may well be sold as a 2003, and Audi have put in black and white that 2003 models have the revised wiper and larger fuel tank.

To be honest, it falls under a the sale of goods act surely-advertising something which doesn't exist. My dealer has, as a gesture of goodwill, ordered the revised wiper. Whoopee. In fact, they are putting something right which shouldn't have happened in the first place. But I shan't be asking for any compensation from my dealer for the extra expense in fuel, time, effort etc as I have been told I won't get anything (thanks Robinsons Audi, Norwich). If they fixed thing first time and with the occasional "sorry" it may help smooth things...

So Rob, tell your dealer that they will fit the revised wiper, and pretty damm quick, or you will be seeking advice from trading standard re advertising something and then not delivering.

And as for the headlight.......read round spherical objects....

It stinks.

Steve - 2003 1.4SE petrol, Silver, black/black interior
 
Just paid another visit to my dealer to pursue the wiper saga.

It was like walking into a different dealers. We spoke to a different salesman who totally agreed our car should have the new style wiper and they would get one in to fit as a good will gesture. He even offered to whip a floppy one off another A2 & only stopped when I said about the arms needing to be changed as well. It's down to be done on the 20th now along with the headlight.

Well done that man down Whitehouse - Praise where praise is due. If only all visits were so stress free.

1.4SE petrol in Merlot Red, Biege interior, 16" 5 spoke alloys, DIS, Open Sky, Elec rear windows.
 
I too have experienced the headlamp fogging on my new FSI. It is nearly impossible to exclude moisture in a wet climate from a container with that many seals and joints and plug sockets. I take the view that unless you could guarantee an hermitic seal by welding or other means and make provision for flushing with dry nitrogen, the best approach might be to ventilate well or to use silica gel sachets (inside the back cover), which could be dried out from time to time.
As the housing cools down after use it is bound to draw in cooler air from the outside... and if that air is moist, eventually water will condense on the coolest part.Silica gel might help to minimise this effect.

mw
 
Our A2 now has the new wiper and a new nearside headlight - however there is still condensation in it. When I brought this up, the answer was that it had just been jet washed and the new lights have breathers in the back. So???

I still contend that it might be difficult to fully seal the unit but it is possible, as proved by the offside light on our car.

I find the condensation unsightly and my eye gets drawn to it each time I approach the car - thus leading me to think other people see it as well and say 'look at that car - not very good is it'.

1.4SE petrol in Merlot Red, Biege interior, 16" 5 spoke alloys, DIS, Open Sky, Elec rear windows.
 
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