Stewie
Member
I own four Audis, A6, Q7TDI, Allroad (bought used from Dealer), A3 TDI Titanium Edition (Bought used from Dealer). I don't have an axe to grind, long time Audi enthusiast.
I followed the step by step process to accept the buyback offer on the A3. Final step in the process is for you print out and sign their Contract Offer document, get it notarized and then upload it to the website. Car is an excellent condition 26,000 miles on it, basically driven to and from my home to the train station, about 10 miles per day.
Here's the details of the offer:
$28,950.00 Vehicle Return Amount
$ 8,776.73 Additional Restitution Amount
$37,726.73 Amount VW Will Pay You
I book the appointment for yesterday at Livermore, CA Audi for 4 PM. About a three week leadtime to get the appointment.
I clean the car out, park it, walk in with the clean title, registration and both keysets.
Am greeted by a gentlemen with a nametag Audi Buyback Administrator, clearly not a member of the local Audi Team, but so far so good. He asks for my ID, the title and registration, fills out the Not for Sale tag with the case number on it, and says he needs to see the car. No surprises.
Comes back in, opens his laptop, opens a large, white envelope with my name handwritten on the outside and pulls a few papers out.
Says nothing, types a bit on the laptop, then passes over my check with a smile. The check is $1,350 less than the contracted amount.
$ 27,825 Vehicle Return Amount
$ 8,551.73 Additional Restitution Amount
$36,373.73 Amount VW Will Pay You
I hand the check back and tell him the amount is not right. I'm met with a shrug and told "I don't calculate the amounts, the checks just come in the mail, and I hand them out" I ask that he pick up the phone and call whomever he needs to call to make the correction. I'm told he has no one to call, it would be the same number I would call to get the claim center. I get him to call that number, he talks, hangs up, says "no one can tell him what the issue is"
I ask that he walk me through what drove the buyback down $1350 in the 26 days from November 3rd, when I executed the Contract thinking he saw something on the car, the mileage, anything. Blank look, again I'm told he has no knowledge of how the calc is made, confirms nothing odd about the mileage, no damage, said the check was cut days ago, not that night.
I escalate up through the dealership management team. Sales Manager offers to "make me a great deal on a new Audi". GM finally steps in offers to call the Area Manager. They make it clear, they are not responsible for the administration of the buyback program, they are "just a franchise dealership" and basically I need to fight my own battle with "Corporate". I explain I own four Audis and like it or not, regard my local dealership as "the face of Audi" and suggest that excellence in service, is a key tenant of the Audi Brand.
I log into the portal to reschedule the appointment, and see that my case is resolved and closed. I have zero access to my documents and history other what I have printed out. To be clear, once the rep hits case closed, you have no access to the details of that particular vehicle.
Buyback Rep says he cannot reopen the case. I call the buyback phone line, am told they cannot reopen the case, that there is a high call volume as a number of buyback cases are having similar problems. I ask to speak to a supervisor, am told them is there isn't one, and that they are just a call center not Audi employees, but she "....will escalate my case..." and it will take about three days for them to get back to me due to the case load.
I go back to the GM and tell him I'm concerned. I cannot accept the check as that closes the door to my ability to pursue the $1350 shortfall, but I'm concerned that from Audi's point of view they now own the car since the case is closed.
He runs a Vehicle Registration Inquiry Report, shows me I still own the car. Says because it's 7 PM PST Corporate is closed, but he will make some calls on the 30th.
Lessons Learned For the Rest of You
Appreciate any insight the forum might have for me as to how to proceed. Am supposed to close on a car tonight that I negotiated hard for, worried I may lose that deal.
Update Nov 30 08:30 Audi Twitter tweets back: Thank you for your information. We will be contacting you by DM to provide further details, shortly.
Update Nov 30 12:42 Audi USA has punted. Here's their last Direct Tweet to me:
Thank you for your reply, (Stewie). We appreciate your loyalty to Audi. We have documented your feedback for our internal review. Your file is being handled by our dedicated TDI remediation team. With that being said, Audi USA would be unable to further address this situation. For assistance, you may contact our TDI remediation team at +1 844 982 5246 to speak with a claims specialist. You may also wish to visit http://VWCourtSettlement.com for comprehensive information regarding the settlement. We recommend Mozilla Firefox as the choice of browser, as we have experienced some issues with Internet Explorer.
Update 12/1 09:30 First some helpful info for those trying to call Audi for help. Call 844-357-7778 and ask for Anthony or Steve. If they are not there, most likely whomever answers can really help you. Don't be put off by the official sounding recording that makes it sound like it's a number for only dealers to call. After multiple calls to various Audi numbers, Anthony explained my situation more or less like this. "Stewie, this is the fifteenth call I have taken this morning from someone in your situation, where the check is less than the offer. The car is more valuable in 2017 with the surrender date you provided and with the mileage stated than it is today. I know that's hard to understand, but that's the way it works." What he explained is consistent with those on this forum that took the time and effort to dig deep into the charts and figure out the correlation between $, Date, Mileage.
This number is also an excellent number to have your dealer call. According to Anthony, the dealers have a higher engagement with the program than they may think. He did say that some dealers are corporate owned, and others are Franchise, and that this early in the program, everyone is still trying to understand how the program works, especially the part about a low mileage vehicle being worth more at a future date than an earlier date.
The GM at Livermore Audi has stepped up and is personally handling my case. The folks at the 844-98-CLAIM number actually said Stewie is a well recognized name in their call center, in that I seemed to have surfaced the glitch around not being able to re-open a case for whatever reason.
Finally, a significant lesson for me; I was totally caught up in trying to reopen the case to get the appointment rescheduled, etc. Tweets to Audi etc. Yesterday it occurred to me ask the GM if he had the phone number of the Buyback Ambassador and could he call him and see if he still had the check. Turns out the Ambassador still has the check, and is checking to see if it's still valid. GM will call me later today to advise if we can do the dropoff today, or we need to wait for a new check.
I'll follow through with the final closure when it happens, but in the meantime I want to thank all of you for your great support and insight into how this program works. Hopefully my input will help others as well.
Update 2PM 12/1 - Steve at the number above called the dealer, called the Ambassador and arranged for me to go back to Livermore Audi tomorrow.
I followed the step by step process to accept the buyback offer on the A3. Final step in the process is for you print out and sign their Contract Offer document, get it notarized and then upload it to the website. Car is an excellent condition 26,000 miles on it, basically driven to and from my home to the train station, about 10 miles per day.
Here's the details of the offer:
$28,950.00 Vehicle Return Amount
$ 8,776.73 Additional Restitution Amount
$37,726.73 Amount VW Will Pay You
I book the appointment for yesterday at Livermore, CA Audi for 4 PM. About a three week leadtime to get the appointment.
I clean the car out, park it, walk in with the clean title, registration and both keysets.
Am greeted by a gentlemen with a nametag Audi Buyback Administrator, clearly not a member of the local Audi Team, but so far so good. He asks for my ID, the title and registration, fills out the Not for Sale tag with the case number on it, and says he needs to see the car. No surprises.
Comes back in, opens his laptop, opens a large, white envelope with my name handwritten on the outside and pulls a few papers out.
Says nothing, types a bit on the laptop, then passes over my check with a smile. The check is $1,350 less than the contracted amount.
$ 27,825 Vehicle Return Amount
$ 8,551.73 Additional Restitution Amount
$36,373.73 Amount VW Will Pay You
I hand the check back and tell him the amount is not right. I'm met with a shrug and told "I don't calculate the amounts, the checks just come in the mail, and I hand them out" I ask that he pick up the phone and call whomever he needs to call to make the correction. I'm told he has no one to call, it would be the same number I would call to get the claim center. I get him to call that number, he talks, hangs up, says "no one can tell him what the issue is"
I ask that he walk me through what drove the buyback down $1350 in the 26 days from November 3rd, when I executed the Contract thinking he saw something on the car, the mileage, anything. Blank look, again I'm told he has no knowledge of how the calc is made, confirms nothing odd about the mileage, no damage, said the check was cut days ago, not that night.
I escalate up through the dealership management team. Sales Manager offers to "make me a great deal on a new Audi". GM finally steps in offers to call the Area Manager. They make it clear, they are not responsible for the administration of the buyback program, they are "just a franchise dealership" and basically I need to fight my own battle with "Corporate". I explain I own four Audis and like it or not, regard my local dealership as "the face of Audi" and suggest that excellence in service, is a key tenant of the Audi Brand.
I log into the portal to reschedule the appointment, and see that my case is resolved and closed. I have zero access to my documents and history other what I have printed out. To be clear, once the rep hits case closed, you have no access to the details of that particular vehicle.
Buyback Rep says he cannot reopen the case. I call the buyback phone line, am told they cannot reopen the case, that there is a high call volume as a number of buyback cases are having similar problems. I ask to speak to a supervisor, am told them is there isn't one, and that they are just a call center not Audi employees, but she "....will escalate my case..." and it will take about three days for them to get back to me due to the case load.
I go back to the GM and tell him I'm concerned. I cannot accept the check as that closes the door to my ability to pursue the $1350 shortfall, but I'm concerned that from Audi's point of view they now own the car since the case is closed.
He runs a Vehicle Registration Inquiry Report, shows me I still own the car. Says because it's 7 PM PST Corporate is closed, but he will make some calls on the 30th.
Lessons Learned For the Rest of You
- Tell the Buy Back Admin "Do not close out my case until I see the check" as soon as you shake hands. If the amount is wrong, you want to be able to go back in and reschedule the appointment while you work the correction.
- Bring a copy of your contract with you. The local dealership, nor the buyback admin had ever seen the terms. Were both surprised to see the 12,500 miles per year allowance.
- Open a twitter account and tweet your dissatisfaction is something goes wrong. I tweeted last night, Audi corporate picked it up at 5:20 AM asking for a direct message with my VIN and contact info. I will post to this forum as to my success via that route. #audibuybackfail
Appreciate any insight the forum might have for me as to how to proceed. Am supposed to close on a car tonight that I negotiated hard for, worried I may lose that deal.
Update Nov 30 08:30 Audi Twitter tweets back: Thank you for your information. We will be contacting you by DM to provide further details, shortly.
Update Nov 30 12:42 Audi USA has punted. Here's their last Direct Tweet to me:
Thank you for your reply, (Stewie). We appreciate your loyalty to Audi. We have documented your feedback for our internal review. Your file is being handled by our dedicated TDI remediation team. With that being said, Audi USA would be unable to further address this situation. For assistance, you may contact our TDI remediation team at +1 844 982 5246 to speak with a claims specialist. You may also wish to visit http://VWCourtSettlement.com for comprehensive information regarding the settlement. We recommend Mozilla Firefox as the choice of browser, as we have experienced some issues with Internet Explorer.
Update 12/1 09:30 First some helpful info for those trying to call Audi for help. Call 844-357-7778 and ask for Anthony or Steve. If they are not there, most likely whomever answers can really help you. Don't be put off by the official sounding recording that makes it sound like it's a number for only dealers to call. After multiple calls to various Audi numbers, Anthony explained my situation more or less like this. "Stewie, this is the fifteenth call I have taken this morning from someone in your situation, where the check is less than the offer. The car is more valuable in 2017 with the surrender date you provided and with the mileage stated than it is today. I know that's hard to understand, but that's the way it works." What he explained is consistent with those on this forum that took the time and effort to dig deep into the charts and figure out the correlation between $, Date, Mileage.
This number is also an excellent number to have your dealer call. According to Anthony, the dealers have a higher engagement with the program than they may think. He did say that some dealers are corporate owned, and others are Franchise, and that this early in the program, everyone is still trying to understand how the program works, especially the part about a low mileage vehicle being worth more at a future date than an earlier date.
The GM at Livermore Audi has stepped up and is personally handling my case. The folks at the 844-98-CLAIM number actually said Stewie is a well recognized name in their call center, in that I seemed to have surfaced the glitch around not being able to re-open a case for whatever reason.
Finally, a significant lesson for me; I was totally caught up in trying to reopen the case to get the appointment rescheduled, etc. Tweets to Audi etc. Yesterday it occurred to me ask the GM if he had the phone number of the Buyback Ambassador and could he call him and see if he still had the check. Turns out the Ambassador still has the check, and is checking to see if it's still valid. GM will call me later today to advise if we can do the dropoff today, or we need to wait for a new check.
I'll follow through with the final closure when it happens, but in the meantime I want to thank all of you for your great support and insight into how this program works. Hopefully my input will help others as well.
Update 2PM 12/1 - Steve at the number above called the dealer, called the Ambassador and arranged for me to go back to Livermore Audi tomorrow.
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