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[ASeven]

My main aim would be to stop them misselling in the future.

Next would be a fix.

Lastly compensation.

Ok, we've had a chat and this is what we think (the following should in no way be construed as legal advice, I'm just reporting what we discussed during an off-the-books lunch):

Compensation is the only thing you're going to directly win with a legal dispute. This may or may not result in Audi retraining staff and making these issues clearer in their literature, but you can't force them to do this with a consumer legal dispute. Similarly you can't force them to fix it.

You'd probably be entitled to return the vehicle as unfit for purpose under the Sale of Goods Act. This would be decided on a case by case basis, and you'd need to prove that the vehicle was mis-sold, and that the faults with the vehicle prevent you from using it in the way it was intended. This is a tough one unless, like me, you specifically chose the vehicle for the features in question.

Compensation, however, is a very straight forward procedure and something I'd have no problem helping people with; despite the fact it's not the path I'll be going down myself.

Quite simply, you need to do this:

Get everyone who is interested in pursuing this to write their name, address, contact number and brief description of the problem in a letter. They'd also need to state that they were unaware of the issue prior to purchasing the vehicle and/or that the technical options were mis-sold as they were specifically told the phone was compatible.

Get everyone to send a Letter Before Claim to Audi. This needs to include the following:

* The problem
* What you want from them (how much)
* How you calculated that figure (cost of the MMI upgrade system, any costs incurred such as taking a 3G subscription for the vehicle, and your time - which is calculated at £9.25 per hour).
* A list of the documents you will use to support your claim (original brochure failing to mention the issue, any correspondence with Audi you've had, and the 20 statements from other drivers confirming they were also mis-sold the system).
* How long you are giving them to respond (28 days).
* What you want from them. (An immediate fix, or compensation to the amount detailed above).
* Finish with the following legal statement: "In closing I would draw your attention to section II (4) of the Practice Direction which gives the courts the power to impose sanctions on the parties if they fail to comply with the direction including failing to respond to this letter before claim. I look forward to hearing from you within the next 28 days, should I not receive a response to my letter within this time frame then I anticipate that court action will be commenced with no further reference to you."

So, if the system cost was £2000, and you've made 20 calls to your dealer and written 5 letters, it would be reasonable to claim £231.25 (£9.25 x 25) + £2000.00 + £200.00 in incidentals such as court filing fees, petrol driving to the post office, stationary, etc. etc. A total of £2431.25.

Obviously everyone's claimed amount will be different, and you MUST be able to show how you've arrived at the figure claimed for.

Everyone should send their letter to Audi HQ on the same day by Recorded Delivery. That should cause a few raised eyebrows in the office, and will mean you're much more likely to get an offer of resolution before any court papers need to be filed.

If they don't respond, or refuse the request, then everyone files the court papers on the same day. You can claim for up to £5000 in UK small claims court, and you don't need any legal representation. The cost is around £50.00, which you include in the amount claimed from Audi.

If (likely 'when'), they settle, then that's it and you are done with the issue. If they don't, chances are they will before the court date, but even if not, 20 signed papers from customers with exactly the same problem, coupled with Audi's blatant attempts to sweep you all away, will weigh heavy on any judge's desk.

That's the course of action I'd recommend for yourselves; it's just a shame it's not one I can go down myself.

[s555]

Wow. This has legs this one!

Audi UK gave me the full cost of the option, 1500 quid, back after I complained. They also gave me 750 quid for misrepresenting their fuel efficiency figures in an early brochure (a printing error they claimed)

I say Audi UK, but the cheque came from the dealer, so not quite sure whose pocket it came from.

We spoke about me rejecting the car, but I never threatened legal action specifically.

My contact at Audi UK left soon after the cheque was received. Maybe she did this one last good deed before she went. Or maybe, she over stepped the mark with me and was asked to leave. Who knows!

All of this was "good will" of course, and i felt it was a reasonable settlement, but happy to write a witness letter or provide a copy of the letter detailing their payment for everyone else's benefit.

[ASeven]

Handy to know, thanks.

There's half a chance that we'd have taken a settlement of some sort if Audi had been nice and played ball. They didn't, though.

Audi Finance totally ignored my initial "lets sort this out between us" emails, and when I called I got "oh yeah, we'll call you in an hour" lies.

I've told legal to run with it now. I think they've served them with a 14 day "respond or else" letter. Failing that, they'll get a 7 day Letter Before Action and then court for the full value of the lease plus compensation plus costs. Hopefully that will turn some heads, and make them realise that ignoring customers who are leasing high-value vehicles has consequences.

[s555]

I'm assuming due to you going after the full cost, this won't be the small claims court.
Therefore, does that not mean if you win, a precedent will be set?
I bet you they settle out of court.

[ASeven]

I'm not a legal expert, but I'm fairly sure we can't use small claims court anyway for a corporate case; regardless of claim value.

I believe it would set a precedent, yes.

They could have settled amicably with me long before this point. I like(d) Audi.

Horrendously poor customer service.

[bett123]

I'm not a legal expert, but I'm fairly sure we can't use small claims court anyway for a corporate case; regardless of claim value.

I believe it would set a precedent, yes.

They could have settled amicably with me long before this point. I like(d) Audi.

Horrendously poor customer service.

I didn't take legal action because my car is leased through Audi Finance too. Because of this I thought that it could only be the owner of he car (Audi Finance) that were the only ones to take legal action. I hope you get somewhere and that I'm wrong so we can all take the same course against what is as you say, horrendously poor customer service from Audi that a wider audience needs to know about. I too think they'll settle out of court and try to get you to agree to keep quiet about it so others won't follow. Good luck and keep us posted.

[sebbie]

Hello All,

Oh dear!

I've got myself a Galaxy Nexus (latest one, whatever that is).

Connecting it to the A7 by bluetooth I only get the handsfree option, which wont let me use the phone for data, which was kinda the whole point.

From what I can gather the phone is rSAP so what on earth am I missing? Has anyone had this problem with this phone, or is it the Audi gremlins?

Galaxy Nexus 4 made by LG (latest) does not support rSAP.

Previous Galaxy, Nexus S made by Samsung, can be hacked (requires rooting): Remote SIM Access for Android

The only reasonable Android handset that supports RSAP is Samsung Galaxy S3.

[ASeven]

s555, Would you be good enough to send me a PM regarding this issue? (I'm not currently able to send PMs myself as my post count is too low).

Plenty going on behind the scenes here, for those still interested.

[Wuffles]

No idea if you can send/receive PMs but I've messaged you about this out of curiosity - also S555, sent you a message too.

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