You might wonder how I am blogging when I should be on a ferry to the UK right now. Well, the car is not fixed.
I have sent an email to Ed Doolan who is a BBC WM radio presenter well known for pioneering social action broadcasting who also takes on the big utilities, the councils of the West Midlands and even areas of national government if an injustice has been done.
Here is a copy of what I have sent:
Dear Ed Doolan
I have often listened to your radio programme and been very impressed by the results you so easily seem to achieve.
I would be very grateful for your comments concerning our experience with our new Audi car.
On August 14th, in the middle of our holiday in France, our three month old £33,000 Audi Avant A6 developed faults. Two warning lights came on and there was a serious loss of power, giving a maximum available speed of 40mph.
Audi Assist France were absolutely excellent at sorting out a hire car and arranging for our car to be taken to the nearest Audi concessionary dealer.
Unfortunately up to now - Sep 2nd (nearly three weeks later!!) - the garage is still waiting for the necessary spare part and doesn't even have an approximate date for when it will arrive from Audi in Germany. Our ferry home, booked for Sunday 3rd September is now cancelled as quite plainly we can't be on it and we can't even begin to make alternative travel arrangements when we don't know when our car will be ready and no-one seems able to tell us.
If it's ready in the next few days we can wait for it; if it's longer than a few days we will have to fly home without it, hire a car and return to pick it up ( with the bulk of our luggage) when it is ready. It is really difficult to plan whether to fly home, or to wait for the car to be ready when we don't have a completion date.
Audi UK are not being helpful and say that without extra insurance having been taken out there is nothing they can do. We feel extra insurance shouldn't be needed for a three month old car as what sort of new car takes more than three weeks to be repaired.
We also feel Audi UK should either provide us with a hire car to get home in together with repatriation of our car, or offer some sort of major recompense for our problems and expenses.
At the very least we feel they should offer us a hire car from Stansted which is where we will have to fly to, for the time we are in England without our car.
What do you think?
Best regards...
PS Here is an excerpt from the AudiAssistance website found via Google:
"Audi Assistance is a free and comprehensive
motoring assistance service for all new
Audi models.
Created to perfectly compliment your
vehicle’s full two year unlimited mileage
warranty, Audi Assistance offers owners
peace-of-mind motoring at home and abroad.
It’s been specifically designed to ensure
Audi owners receive the best possible
service available.
In the unlikely event of a breakdown,
you’ll always find help at hand, 24 hours a day,
365 days a year, by means of a phone call to
Audi Assistance.
Benefits include:
• Home and roadside assistance
• Onward travel
• Replacement vehicle
• Vehicle storage
• European Assistance"
I doubt that it will do any good but its made me feel a bit better.
We've had a lovely holiday but we're both ready to come home now - and I shan't be able to bring my 15 cartons of Gazpacho made by Tropicana home on the plane.
I love this stuff but it seems only available here in France in the summertime and I've never seen it in England.
Actually gazpacho is not my biggest problem, but it sometimes helps to concentrate on the small things!
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