11.10
Recently I had an experience with Audi of Bernardsville in NJ, which frankly was sad. Plain and simple, this dealership does not honor its commitments and I’m not the only customer who thinks this. Here are a few others that also think Audi of Bernardsville doesn’t honor their commitments: http://www.dealerrater.com/dealer/Audi-of-Bernardsville-Mendham-review-997/ This review shows an average rating of 1.5 out of 5. Additionally, in the minimal experiences I’ve had with this dealership I have now made up my mind to never visit this dealership again. They promised a few things, and never delivered on any. Thus, the title of this post “Honoring Commitments”.
My story begins last year, when my wife purchased her car in December 2008. In making the sale, the saleswoman at that time stated we’d be able to get a loaner car for any Audi we serviced there in the future. Even if the car was not purchased there. Unfortunately, when I tried to take Bernardsville Audi up on this offer, they explained that they changed their policy and no longer provide loaner cars to anyone who had not purchased their car from there. I thought wow, it’s fine that you changed your policy, but the salesperson told me that we would always be able to service any of our Audis there and obtain a loaner whether or not it was purchased there. After some discussion back and forth, I gave up. I could see that it was a waste of my time to argue this point.
This wouldn’t matter much if I bought a Yugo or a much less expensive car that doesn’t require such a high level of maintenance, but in this case we are talking about an Audi. People purchase premium brands in order to receive a premium product. That goes for everything related to that product, from the actual product to the servicing of the product. When you have a premium product it is not okay to not honor your commitments. I do not hold this against Audi, but I definitely do hold this against Audi of Bernardsville. Once I did actually have my car serviced there, there were numerous other flaws in their process, which were downright pathetic. However, I’m going to spare you those details as it would be two more pages of writing and I don’t want your blood to boil over the other atrocities. Yes, these words are harsh, but trust me when I tell you the situation was harsh and that along the way the dealership had a dismissive attitude.
By posting this I just want to let Audi of Bernardsville know that it is 2009 and that in the age of the Internet – information travels quickly! They may have just seen me as one inconsequential customer, and a customer that they already made money off of when my wife purchased her car – but I’m a customer with a voice, and I’m willing to use it.
I will now go back to getting my car serviced at Princeton Audi, a dealership which actually maintains Audi’s brand “promise”. Ray at Princeton Audi knows good service.