Alana B

Worst experience of my life

My partner bought an Audi RS3 from Audi Stansted and it was by far one of the worst experiences of my life. We flew down to collect it and it was arranged we were getting collected in a Q3 at the airport. Once we landed, we were then told to get a cab at £27 by the salesman as he did obviously not want to pay £4 to go through the collection. We told him we wouldn’t be paying a cab as it was arranged we were being collected and didn’t think that was ok as we had flown in from Scotland and plan’s had been arranged. We were then asked to walk a mile or so away from the airport to save him the £4 collection charge. He then collects us is the RS3 my partner was buying! I was absolutely shocked. I asked the salesman, Rod why the car wasn’t at the dealership for a handover experience and he explained to me that not even brand new R8 buyers get that experience. Once back at the dealership for the paperwork, I raised with Rod that the cars online history was incorrect as well and the car had appeared to have done over 3000 miles in the 12 days. There was also never any online update for the haldex or brake fluid service ever being carried out and all service work in the cars life had been done at that branch. I might as well have spoken gaelic to him cause he didn’t have a clue. When signing the documents Rod happened to mention that my partner didn’t opt for any insurance products with his sale. My partner advised to Rod that this was in fact incorrect as the GAP insurance had been built into the deal. Rod asked my partner to prove it and told us a whole big story that made my partner out to be a liar. Surprise surprise, on the sales invoice was proof it was added into the deal for free even though Rod said they would never do that at Audi Stansted. No apology given for being make out to be a chancer. Rod advised we know much more than him about the vehicle so no handover was given. He asked that we give him good feedback on the survey as he doesn’t get paid if we leave bad feedback…seriously! We left. Fast forward two hours later on our journey home and ping, a low oil level light comes on. We pull over and find there is oil all over the exhaust, the bottom of the engine, the undertray. I couldn’t believe it. We phoned Audi back up, they told us to drive the car back to them, with the low oil light on. The master technician (take master with a pinch of salt) had left the oil filter housing drain open, which had allowed the engine oil to poor out of the car, from a service that was done 12 days prior and almost 3000 miles ago according to the online history? The car was topped up with oil and drain was closed, we were then told to be on our way and Rod said we were asking a bit much when we asked that our fuel was paid for. We got the used car manager involved, Zoie. She was so sorry about what had happened and agreed to pay our hotel for the night and compensation for our ruined day and having the engine bay, under tray and underside of the car professionally cleaned as this is what we asked for. We drove the car home and had health check carried out only to find the car had been in a front end collision and the headlight was cracked and bumper poorly repaired, there is no way we would have seen this unless the car was on a ramp. We contacted Audi Stansted and they told us the car was to an Audi Approved standard and that they are not interested in solving the issue. This car was described to us in a CitNow video as being absolute mint condition. Audi Stansted are completely incapable. They cannot even get the basics correct. Car wasn’t serviced correctly (this could have cost the vehicle an engine), online history is incorrect, the salesman was incapable of collecting his customers from the airport and went on to call them liars and ask for as good review! Avoid at all costs! Absolutely cowboys who couldn’t care less about you or your vehicle. I can’t believe we were treated with that level of disrespect. It saddens me that my partner was so excited to buy this car and it was almost just a slap in the face - AVOID!