New Guy but same old question

[Dr H]

When i went to buy shocks from them i phoned around for a few quotes, qst came out cheapest. Then when i called back 15mins later the price suddenly rose quite alot but since the car was in bits by then i didnt have much choice but to ordered them.

Greg

Hmmm....a quote is a quote. If they got the price wrong that's their problem. They should stick to the price thay gave you.

I'm sure there's some legal basis to this.

[s2driveruk]

lol......not sure if some of these so called specialists are just specialists in the removal of money from your wallet or actually in keeping up to date with the latest products (lets face it an exhaust upgrade on a 12+ years old Audi is going to be a pretty common request)......really P88sses me off.

If you specialise in Audis, you should know the range, rare or not and considering most specialist business' were built on the back of the URQ fame etc it shouldnt be that difficult but has been mentioned so many times, if its not a CTRL-ALT-DEL command thorugh a laptop to sort a car, most seem disinterested these days.

Chris, i don't think i know much about the mechanics of my car, infact the S2 is the first car i have actually got my hands dirty on, I was so sick and tired of crappy experiences with garages that I actually thought i had just as much opportunity to get it right as they do....i have been back to places (specialists included here) too many times becuase trim is not fixed properly back to the car, or a lead las been left unplugged etc etc. For the most part aftersales is....afterthought

Rant over

David

[s2avant]

At Castle Combe they weren't prepared to touch the S2, i enquired about if they did a Miltek exhaust for the S2, which i got the response "Miltek dont produce an exhaust for S2"... so off i trot to QST the stand RIGHT next to the AMD stand grab the Miltek leaflet and promptly show the Miltek exhaust listing for the S2 with price.

The muppet went "Oh, i didn't know that"

Not exactly a confidence filler!

AMD don't seem to give two hoots about S2's. I asked them about a Miltek a few weeks back and they told me they don't make them anymore. Phoned Miltek and they said no problem.

I phoned them on Monday morning to get some specs on an ARB and they said they'd find out. While I was on the phone the bloke was asking if they could get me anything else for the S2 and whether I wanted any work done. They still haven't got an answer on the ARB though so I ordered one from awesome instead.

Through work we spend £10-20K a month with AMD and they spend a fair whack with us. If this is the help I get I hate to think what it's like for the man on the street.

Ben

[Chris A]

Chris, i don't think i know much about the mechanics of my car, infact the S2 is the first car i have actually got my hands dirty on, I was so sick and tired of crappy experiences with garages that I actually thought i had just as much opportunity to get it right as they do....i have been back to places (specialists included here) too many times becuase trim is not fixed properly back to the car, or a lead las been left unplugged etc etc. For the most part aftersales is....afterthought

Rant over

David

David,
Many thanks for your advice, I can understand why so many S2 owners decide to get involved in the maintenance of their beloved vehicles as over the years I have experienced poor service at many garages. However, I have also experienced really good service at other places.
What amazes me, after 3 years with the S2, is why there are not more specialised centres or centres that are linked to a forum or club. From what I heard the UK imported more S2s than any other European country so where have they all gone? How many are left? And who is taking care of them. Even if you are upto doing your own service, who does your stoneguards or rebuilds your turbo or uncouples your gearbox to get it reconditioned?

Last year I had some work done on my gearbox the third gear was making a grinding expensive sound every time I selected third. I located a gear box specialist in Halifax but they would only accept the gearbox to cary out the repair work. I then had to locate a 'friendly' Audi guy to remove my gearbox so I could take it to Halifax. This one week job in the end took two week and when I got the car back the speedo wasn't working. So in desperation I took it to the local Audi dealer who after pursuing the thought that the cluster was the problem eventually found out it was the 'sender' which I believe was damaged during the refitting of the repaired gear box.
The Audi dealer kept my S2 for 3 weeks, working intermittently while he decided what the main fault was. They charged me £100 for the restocking of the cluster which was not used and 3 x £80 for labour plus £25 for the sender plus Vat. the car was out of commission for just over 5 weeks and the total for both jobs was around £1100.

Do I love the S2, yes I think I have proved that.

thanks to all who contributed.

Chris A

[newsh]

White Cottage Quattros , Horsham, Sussex. Just around the M25 and south a bit.

[Chris A]

White Cottage Quattros , Horsham, Sussex. Just around the M25 and south a bit.

Thanks John, but its a bit far for me as the problem I currently have is the fan is not starting and the engine overheats. So I have to choose my journeys carefully and make sure they do not include standing in traffic jams e.g. M25.

Chris

[s2driveruk]

Chris, I had that exact problem it will be brittle/corroded contacts on the back of the fan motor, an absolute PITA to get at and I was charged over £200 in labour and about £4 in parts..... If its a 3b, if you look under the battery tray towards the rear of the fan you may be able to see if a wire is hanging loose there. Be careful that its not a short though, i had this happen about a week before using the car to drive around europe.....it shorted taking with it the fuse box and half the loom....costing a ch...ching £500 odd to fix at a main dealer which was the only place i could get it sorted in the time i had.

Hope you get it sorted out ok!

Cheers,

David

[jubjub]

AMD don't seem to give two hoots about S2's.
Ben

I phoned AMD the other day to enquire about about parts for their brake upgrades, the response i got was they don't have any kits for them in stock. I asked when they could get any in and they said they probably wouldn't as theres not much call for them.They said try QST.

I noticed a couple of months ago on their website that they have dropped the listing for S/RS2....although they were happy enough to be selling an RS at GTI this year

[newsh]

Thanks John, but its a bit far for me as the problem I currently have is the fan is not starting and the engine overheats. So I have to choose my journeys carefully and make sure they do not include standing in traffic jams e.g. M25.

Chris

OK well hopefully not too expensive a problem, I thoroughly recommend Pete at White Cottage, once you get this problem fixed.

[Michel]

Sound as if I'll have to check again with AmD before its time for a service/ MOT. If they don't want to touch it I'll let everyone know.

I hope that they will, but you never know..

[Chris A]

Chris, I had that exact problem it will be brittle/corroded contacts on the back of the fan motor, an absolute PITA to get at and I was charged over £200 in labour and about £4 in parts.....
Cheers,

David

David,
thanks for the info I'll check it out.

Regards
Chris