Complaint Review: Audi Of Huntington / Burns Ford - Huntington New York

Here are copies of two letters I wrote to this dealer after being lied to, cheated, hung up on, all while they deliverd me a broken/defective new car and then stole my old car!

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my total dissatisfaction with a salesperson from Audi of Huntington, in New York. I leased a 2003 A4 1.8T from Eric Shuster of this dealership on March 30, 2003.

Upon arrival to the showroom, Eric appeared to be a very well-mannered, honest, representative of your company. We talked about the A4, and different leasing options for some time. After arriving on a price and agreeing to purchase the vehicle, things started to go down hill.

When I took delivery of the car, Eric rushed through the entire lease signing process (telling me that numbers such as price and dates were changed to make it look like the car was sold for a March closeout instead of an April one). He appeared reluctant to answer questions, and when I asked him if I could physically see the vehicle before signing the lease, his response was Jordan, I need to get this over with, there is no time. For the record, after pushing him to show me the vehicle, Eric obliged. I was very disturbed by his lack of patience and respect for me taking my time to review a lease agreement and understand all aspects of the deal I was confronted with.

Moreover, my car was delivered with 3 prominent scratches (2 on the hood, one of the drivers door), an enormous scratch on the windshield, a broken backseat center armrest, brakes that sounded like a truck when applied, and a filthy interior (consisting of grease stains on the leather, and dust all over the console). Each of these problems have been addressed or corrected with the superior service department.

I would like to mention one incident that clearly indicates Erics inability to perform the functions of a sales professional. I traded in my 2001 Volkswagen Jetta to the dealership, and upon reaching an agreement for the purchase price of my vehicle, I informed Eric that the car had been registered in PA, but was recently registered in New York. I told Eric (as witnessed by my girlfriend and my father) that the PA title (which was held by Citizens Bank as my loan was not yet paid in full) was in the custody of the NY DMV. Eric understand that it could take 4-6 weeks to get the new title back and said, that would not be a problem, our business people will take care of it. I later received a series of annoying phone calls from both Eric, Bryan, and the business department harassing me over the location of the title (even though Eric was made fully aware of its whereabouts).

On 4/26, I received the title from the DMV and called Bryan, the sales manager. I left him three voicemails (on 4/26 at 3pm, 4/27 at 11am, and 4/28 at 9am) telling him that I had the title and would bring it by that week. Neither call was returned. On 4/28 at 7pm, I received a very nasty call from Eric telling me that I was to show up with the title in hand by 5pm on 4/29 or pay him $12,500 in cash. I informed Eric that I was not able to bring the title until 4/30, as I was working split shifts the next 24 hours. His voice raised and he said, Jordan I am tired of this nonsense, you either bring the title tomorrow or give me $12,000 cash. As I tried to reply and tell him my predicament, Eric then hung up the phone on me, like a child in high school.

I am still very unhappy with the treatment I received from both Eric and the sales department at Audi of Huntington and will consider this when my lease expires and it is time to purchase a new vehicle.

Sincerely,

MY SECOND LETTER:

Dear Mr. Burns,

I am writing to you again to further express my disappointment with Audi of Huntington. As you read in my previous letter about my horrific dealings with Eric Shuster, I feel as if your dealership is still lacking in their service toward their clients.

A month after my dealings concerning a title for a 2001 Jetta which I sold to you, I was once again haunted by problems at Audi of Huntington. This time, I received a statement from the bank (who financed my 2001 Jetta) saying that the loan was never paid off by you. They advised me that you paid off the loan on 4/15/03, but on 5/07/03, stopped payment on the check. This cancellation was exactly one week after I came into the office and signed over the title for the Jetta. This left me with a bad mark on my credit report, at a time where I am looking to purchase a home.

I immediately got in touch with Brian, your sales manager, who after a series of phone calls did resolve the problem in a timely manner by having the funds sent to Citizens Bank overnight. He explained that your bookeeping department somehow made a clerical error and cancelled the check even though you had legal possession of the Jettas title for a week. I was a bit mystified to discover that the check was cancelled within one or two days of you receiving my first complaint letter, and certainly was perplexed as to how a company of your stature could make a $12,000 mistake.

Although I do sincerely appreciate Brians solid efforts to solve the problem quickly, I am very disturbed how a problem like this occurred in the first place. Mr. Burns, I have purchased a luxury car from you dealership, a car which is manufactured by a company that consistently claims its superior service and utmost attention to detail. Thus far, I feel as if I have purchased a used Yugo. I have yet to enjoy my vehicle as the past two months have been clouded with dishonesty and carelessness on part of your dealership. Again, I do see that your dealership has been able to solve some of my problems to date, but I feel that each of the problems I have experienced so far have been avoidable and unnecessary.

Therefore, I am asking that you cover either my down payment on the Audi ($800) or 2 months of my lease payments (at $332 each, for the 2 months of stress I have dealt with) as a gesture of goodwill to compensate for the time, energy, and headaches that I have wasted straightening out problems caused by your dealership. After purchasing my Audi and selling my Jetta, I was led to believe that everything would be taken care of in good hands, when in reality I was left in the dark for the past two months. I, along with coworkers, friends, and family do look forward to purchasing Audis in the future, but are all extremely skeptical of your dealership based upon the aforementioned events. Hopefully we will be able to come to an agreement that will satisfy us both and will enable both myself and my acquaintances to view Audi of Huntington as a reliable and trustworthy dealership to purchase a vehicle from.

Thank you for your time and attention to my complaint and hope this can be resolved in a very timely manner.

STAY AWAY FROM THESE GUYS, THEY DID NOTHING TO HELP MY SITUATION. THEY MADE AN APOLOGY AND THATS IT. THEY DONT CARE AT ALL ABOUT THE CONSUMER!!

Jordan

Long Island, New York
U.S.A.