Andrew Pritchard

I purchased a 2016 Audi TDI from Audi Burlington on February 22. I want to share the nightmare I went through. From the very beginning, during the test drive, the “check engine” light was already on February 22. I want to share the nightmare I went through. From the very beginning, during the test drive, the “check engine” light was already on. The salesperson told me it was nothing serious and that they would fix it. I trusted them — partly because I really wanted a diesel car (they’re very rare in the US) and partly because I assumed an official Audi dealership would take care of it properly. When I signed the papers, the check engine light was still on, and they said the car was being repaired. At that time, I was paying for a rental car out of pocket, waiting to drive the car I had just bought. They told me the repair would take 2–3 days. But days kept passing. Nathan (the salesperson) kept telling me “tomorrow.” I want to be clear: Nathan himself was polite and tried to help — I have no issue with him. My frustration is with the service department and management. After about 10 days of me paying for a rental, Nathan finally arranged a loaner so I didn’t have to keep wasting money. But even with the loaner, it took them another three weeks before they gave me back my car. Nathan handed it back saying they basically rebuilt the engine and their best tech worked on it. For a moment I felt relieved — until the very next day. The car could barely accelerate, and the check engine light came back on. I returned it immediately. They gave me a 2024 Audi A5 as a loaner. Within 25 minutes of driving, when I restarted the car, the dash showed “steering wheel malfunction.” The steering was so stiff it was almost undriveable. I didn’t want to call a tow truck, so I forced myself to bring it back. They then gave me another brand-new A5, but the same day that one showed “driver system malfunction” and low tire pressure. This time they fixed my car in just 2 days. They admitted someone hadn’t closed a valve properly during the previous repair, which caused the light. After that, I drove my car for about 2 weeks with no problems — until one day when the tank was only about one-quarter full. Suddenly the car started jerking on the highway, and the check engine light came back again. I returned it once more and got another loaner. This time, my car sat in service for 6 weeks. They basically stopped giving me updates. After 6 weeks, I was told they had “taken everything apart” but still couldn’t fix it, so they would buy the car back and return “every penny I spent.” I asked to speak with the sales manager, Andrew Pritchard. I explained my whole months-long experience. He gave me generic responses and showed no understanding of how frustrating this had been. At one point he even said: “Well, Audi builds these cars, not us — it’s out of our control.” But you are the official Audi dealer — you’re supposed to stand behind the product, not shrug responsibility. And their “every penny” didn’t include the money I spent on gap insurance, excise tax, loan interest, gas, rentals before the loaner, or the work hours I lost going back and forth. I didn’t ask them to hand me cash — I asked for a fair discount on another car so we could part on good terms. Instead, Andrew offered me $500. That’s insulting. I also reached out to the general manager, Adnan Sehovic. I briefly explained the situation by email. He never responded. My advice: stay away from Audi Burlington. If your car has serious issues, they will not stand by you. Everything looks fine until trouble starts, and then you’ll be ignored and left to deal with the stress alone. In my case, the problem was debris in the fuel system. Every new part they put in eventually got clogged because they never did a full system clean. That would have been expensive, but still cheaper than replacing part after part. I also suspect that the first time they gave the car back, they knew it wasn’t really fixed — when the tank was full, the error didn’t show, but as soon as fuel got lower, the issue came back. More

Report | Print