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West Hamlin, WV Car Consumer Discussions

$1000+ Costs to NEW Q7 Owners - Defective MMI

by kerryjth on Sat Feb 23 14:27:07 PST 2008

SImple fact ... if you drink coffee or water while you drive and may spill it .. then it can cost you $1000+ each time to repair the MMI electronics which are stored below the cupholder in the front seat !!! It really is a design flaw BUT AUDI will not own up to it and forces the customer to pay $1000+ to repair it !!! Send the Audi USA President a note if you would like to have his confirmation .. Johan De Nyssch 3499 West Hamlin Road Rochester Hills, MI

$1000+ cost to customer - Q7 DEFECTIVE Cupholder DESIGN

by kerryjth on Sat Feb 23 14:20:18 PST 2008

CAREFUL.... if you drink coffee or water while you drive and have ever spilled some it may cost you $1000+ to fix your MMI... The electronics are stored below the cupholder between the driver and passenger seats!!!! If you have nay questions ask the dealer or sent a note to the president .... His staff is hiding this MAJOR customer sat issue from him and of course new and prospective Q7 customers !!! :mad: ... Johan De Nyssch 3499 West Hamlin Road Rochester Hills, MI

Re: MMI quit working [kerryjth]

by kerryjth on Sat Feb 23 14:10:18 PST 2008

I love my Q7 too BUT AUDI messed up and they need to admit it and not make $1000+ per MMI failure due to spilled coffee from a cupholder which is ABOVE the eectronics for the MMI !!! They made a stupid design error and should agree to fix it and not penalize the customer !!!! I plan to write a letter to AUDI USA PRESIDENT so you may want to do the same Johan De Nyssch 3499 West Hamlin Road Rochester Hills, MI :mad:

Re: MMI quit working

by kerryjth on Sat Feb 23 10:04:05 PST 2008

The dealer and AUDI both claim it is my (and your) FAULT that this happened and therefore we have to PAY !! That is BS. The product has poorly designed cupholders and they need to FIX it!.... I LOVE my Q7 but if whenever I spill something it costs $1000+ to fix it THAT IS JUST NOT FAIR !!! AUDI is just not being FAIR !!! I have called US customer service ((877 827-2665) and they just yes you to death and then AGREE to do nothing !! They really did not seem to care they just wanted me off the phone !! I spoke to a customer service rep who was nice but could not help . Then a "supervisor" called me and he was RUDE and just about told me to go stuff it. I was in Europe this week and a AUTO industry guy told me to send my complaint to WWW.AUDI.de It is the German HQ website. He said they may actually listen. but it is in GERMAN !! Oh well.... I plan to write a letter to AUDI USA PRESIDENT so you may want to do the same Johan De Nyssch 3499 West Hamlin Road Rochester Hills, MI Also I sent an email to AUDI Germany customer service and will post their response !!! :mad: I really have no time for this but either they admit the design flaw and fix it o I have to sell the Q7.... I really do love it but this is unacceptable treatment of a customer by AUDI !!!!

VW : Buy it, you'll regret it. A letter to VW

by bluelemon on Sun Aug 15 13:10:05 PDT 2004

Gerd Klauss, President Volkswagen of America, Inc. 3499 West Hamlin Road Rochester Hills, Michigan 48309 Dear Mr Klauss, As the President of Volkswagen, I thought you might like to hear of my recent experience in purchasing a product from your company. It is a story from which not only you, but many others, can learn, and one which I am anxious to share. I spent many years admiring Volkswagen cars for both their styling and espoused reliability, before I could finally afford to purchase one after I completed graduate school in 2002. In 2003, I proudly purchased a second-hand 1999 New Beetle GL, 2.0L, with a manual transmission and 50540 on the odometer. I had the car service checked by a AAA technician prior to purchase, to make sure it was in good condition, and I drove away a relatively happy customer. I was given no warranty brochure and no information about the manufacturer's warranty at this time. As I rarely drove the car in the first month of ownership, I made my first journey in it when I moved from*** to ***. This is the last time I drove the car happily. My ten year admiration of Volkswagen began to dissipate one month into ownership. Immediately after the 350 mile drive, the 'check engine light' came on in my vehicle, and I lost power between gears. I spent the next four months and nearly $700 trying to fix this problem, including two visits to an extremely unreliable, unfriendly and not especially knowledgeable dealership (about whom I complained to VW USA). It was during the next couple of months (September--October 2003) that I discovered the excessive oil consumption of the car. I drove one thousand miles without checking the oil in the Beetle, and the level went so low it caused the engine to knock. VW claims in one of their technical service bulletins (1701) that this level of consumption (one quart per thousand miles) is normal. If so, may I suggest that oil gauges similar to petrol gauges be fitted into the instrument panel? Since this is a most unusual characteristic of an automobile, the ignorance of which could cause the destruction of the engine, I think the driver should have an easy way of knowing when a refill is needed (usually every 2-3 weeks), as with the petrol. In the new year, the Beetle suffered a spate of small problems. The battery died at 58K. Door handles and the finish on the parking brake wore. A cupholder broke off. The plastic grid at the front snapped. No one could fix the power mirrors which had never worked. However, this was a time of relative peace between me and the Beetle. Although I dreaded the return of the infamous check engine light , everything seemed to be fixed for the first time. I call this period, 'The Calm Before the Storm'. The storm blew in around June 2004, with 60000 miles on the odometer, to mark the anniversary of one year of unhappy ownership, I heard a noise upon releasing the clutch at start up. Taking the car to the shop, I was told to replace the starter motor. This cost me $500. I also had the car fully serviced, which cost me $600. The replacement of a blown tail light and a new windshield blade cost another $130. At this point, my family and friends began to beg me to sell the car. And at this point, I was afraid to pass on my problem to someone else. And would it were, but that's not the end of my story. Whilst on my way home from work (odometer 67000) at the end of July, I heard an awful scraping sound coming from the transmission. I feared the worst, and received it. The mechanic diagnosed an 'internal failure', very similar to the one I suffered when told my repair bill, to replace the entire transmission: $2900! One third of the purchase price of the car. It was at this point I called the customer service representatives at VW USA, and was informed that I was not covered under the 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. as I was not the car's original owner. I was however told that, due to recalls, I could have my Mass Air Flow Sensor replaced; my windows fixed if they fell into the door; and my complaint documented. And that was that. Mr Klaus, don't you think a warranty should stand behind a car, not an owner? I should very much like to know why, if VW have faith in their product, this policy is in effect. A week ago I collected my car from the mechanic. The clutch, they found out, was also 75% worn, and also needed replacement. The bill was nearly $3500. A day or so after I collected it, the lock system was mistiming, and a $1 door switch needed replacement. VW, however, only offers a whole new latch. This repair cost me $250. A year of VW ownership has cost me nearly $6000 (not including routine service, such as oil changes), as well as untold amounts of depression and inconvenience. It has sunk to me a level of debt I did not anticipate. Additionally, the car has spent over a month in total in repair shops, leaving me stranded. It is now for sale, despite my qualms of conscience over selling such a sour lemon to another unknowing human being. Mr Klaus, the one thing you should know, if you learn nothing else from my story, is that I am not alone. You can refer to websites such as myvwlemon.com, suckercars.com, and others: a short Google search brings up many such websites entirely devoted to problems with modern VWs. On these sites, you can, and you should, read about some of the misery, expense and inconvenience these cars have caused their unfortunate owners. To satisfy my own curiosity, and to sooth my misery with company, last night I looked through moderated discussion groups on other web sites: edmunds.com, carsurverys.org, Consumer Reports. Each and every site had a long discussion regarding problems with VWs. For the two good reviews I read, I must have read 100 very bad ones. Included in these were some very negative comments about VW Customer Service and poor quality dealerships (corroborated by my own experience). The complaints myself and other owners have voiced are not minor problems. They are major issues, and they have a routine similarity: transmission and engine failure, fuse boxes melting, persistent check engine light, electrical fires, window collapses, and so on. These issues are not only excessively expensive to repair; they are also safety hazards. As I sure you know, modern companies are based on brand image. But perhaps you do not know that the current brand image of Volkwagen-- among the volks, anyhow, who actually drive the car-- is failure. We unhappy few have found to our misfortune that, due to the cost of repairs, a total lack of reliability, poor customer service, poor dealership service, and the refusal of Volkswagen to stand behind the car with their warranty (rather than use it as a buyer incentive), these cars have become one of the least attractive options on the market. The drivers Volkswagen advertised for are out there, telling their stories. I think you should listen.

"lemonjetta13"

by laurenjc on Mon Aug 11 07:02:56 PDT 2003

You can try to contact VW of America by writing to or calling them. Address your letter to Gerd Klauss, he's the pres. of VW of America. 3499 West Hamlin Rochester Hill, MI 48309, or call 248 754 5000...speak to someone about your problems, ask them to "goodwill" the repair of your cylinder. If they can't do anything for you, ask to speak to Sally Eberle (Gerd's secretary)...she may not be all that helpful, but she's the highest up you'll get in the US. (as a fellow lemon owner, I've contacted her many times!) I can give you her email if you still need it! If you need it, I have his secretary's direct line