Sytner Audi, Slough

I bought my Audi A3 E-tron last year in March. I was told by the dealer it is due for a cambelt and water pump change. Without thinking too much I decided to use SYTNER AUDI SLOUGH for any inpections Mots and Repairs as I have no clue about cars. I booked cambelt change which was changed last year not long after I bought the car. Unfortunatelly I was not informed about water pump not being changed at the same time. Literally not long after I have started experiencing coolant leak and was receiving message on my screen that coolant level low. I have just tooped it up not thinkng to much. My work place is within electric range so I been driving most of the time using Electric Motor. When my MOT was due I obviously used Sytner Audi Slough as it was free aswell because I changed timing belt with them. During the health check one of the technicians adviced Manager that there is a leak from cooling pump qouted the repair for 740£ IF THERE IS NOT NEED TO LEAVE IT LONGER AND MORE PARTS. I left it did not booked the repair as I was shocked and did not have that much money repair it. After I took the car from mot I kept using it just electric motor to commute to work. Problems started when I actually wanted to take my family for little journey. Then I expierienced the Coolant mesagge again. I started making a bit of research on Audi forums and consulted with 2 mechanics one from AA and one from independent audi specialist garage who did diagnostics resulted with water pump has failed. Both told me same thing I have read on Audi forums. I should change Timing belt same time with water pump. There is a known issue to make water pump fail if it was not change at the same time. I have completely not been aware of this and If I was I would requested for both work to be done. Technician qouted 740£ which is the price for timing belt and water pump change at Audi Garage. He mentioned if no other parts are needed means Timing belt again > ? I have contacted main manager who did reply to me but with not much concern. I know they on big money and don't care much. I am very dissapointed and will not use them again after they just treat me like It never happened. I am not on huge money and I work hard to support my family. We been dreaming to have a good car like that and they make it a nightmare for us until today as I still coudn't afford to fix it. I will leave it here but be aware they not very trustworthy of what they say there.

I am writing this review to highlight the terrible experience we had with Slough Audi. We noticed the engine light was on and the car was misfiring, so we called our son who is a senior technician with 27 years’ experience, he did a diagnostic test on the vehicle which revealed that No.2 and No.3 cylinders were misfiring. As we wanted a Haldex service carried out by Audi for online service records we thought we would take it to Slough Audi and have both jobs done at the same time. We booked the car in and a whole day later Slough Audi sent us a quote advising that a repair was required, the ‘removal of spark plugs to check condition’ and then the removal of the injectors for inspection, possible cleaning and advice that the fuel tank should be drained, they said due to the possibility of low-quality fuel being used – we have receipts to prove that we always use Shell V-Power. Two days later my son contacted Slough Audi to discuss the report, and asked if they had checked the ignition coils, the next day they told him that one of the coils did need replacing and that they had been overlooked, in my son’s experience this is the first simple check that should have been done at the start. After 3 weeks and various telephone calls some with no response, they phoned to say it was ready for collection. When we collected it a service manager told us that there had been a smell of petrol, but the technician said it was down to residual fuel and the car was ready to take away. We paid the final bill of £2388.84. When we arrived home my son lifted the bonnet to the strong smell of petrol, on investigation he found petrol dripping from the high-pressure supply pipe to the fuel rail, he also found that the plug had been incorrectly routed and stretched over the low-pressure fuel rail and various cables were not secured. They sent a technician who tried to rectify the fault, this could not be done so the next day they had to send a recovery truck to take it back to the garage. My main concern is that if this had happened to someone without mechanical knowledge, they would have been driving it unaware of a serious fire hazard as we were while driving it home. I find it hard to believe how Audi can charge £185.00 an hour plus VAT for such bad workmanship. We contacted Audi UK, who in turn contacted Slough Audi as they are a franchise. A few days later the after-sales manager Michael phoned who made no apologies just saying that everyone makes mistakes and instead did not care in the least of the stress caused, in his words saying, ‘but is it fixed?’ - from my conversation with him I realised he had not even read our original email properly. After a lot of back and forth he offered us a free service which, in light of this experience, we obviously declined. We will never take our car there again.

(Please see previous entries)

The water pump on my 09 registered Audi A4 needed to be replaced. Although the car was 20 months outside its warranty Audi UK paid for the part and Aston Green Audi covered the labour. Although I have owned he car from new, it was not purchased from the Slough garage, so I did not have a long term relationship with them.