I was fed up with the piss poor service and outrageous prices at my Audi dealership, so I started looking around for a new shop. I didn't know before my research began, but there are several shops in the area that specialize in German automobiles and a few that specialize in Audi's (my car). I called around to several of them, but found Bartech to be the most personable and responsive of them all. That was very important to me since the dealership treated me like I was constantly wasting their time and always gave the impression of faking their interest in the customer. I really wanted to find a shop that I felt good about the mechanics, felt as though I was important, and felt that my car was in good hands. JK immediately, gave me all of those impressions. On top of that, the estimate that Bartech provided me (via e-mail...in writing!!) for the work I needed performed was in line with what I was really looking to pay. The dealership wanted twice as much.
JK (one of the owners) was very responsive over the phone and via e-mail. On the day of my appointment, during the write up, he asked if I wanted to have my water pump replaced as well. Doing it with the other service I was having performed on this day would ultimately save me several hundreds of dollars if I ever had to come back to have it done on its own. I declined at the time of the write up. Later in the day, I received a phone call and an e-mail from JK explaining that the water pump was indeed leaking; the seal had started to break. He went so far as to take pictures of it and e-mail them to me so that I could see for myself. I was blown away by this extra effort.
The service went an additional day due to this add-on, but that wasn't an issue for me since I was fully expecting this service to be a 2-day job. After it was completed, JK came and picked me up, drove me back to the shop, and showed me all of the parts that they had pulled out of my vehicle to be replaced. The end price was reasonable, as far as I could tell...when compared to other shops.
The final thing that happened was the best. He told me that he and his partner had made a cosmetic enhancement to my car and they wanted me to check it out. They had put on a new license plate frame (promoting Bartech, of course). He said, they chose chrome because they thought that it really looked great on my car and they thought that this was a great enhancement to the look of the car. Then he asked me for my opinion. I was stoked. I didn't really need a new license plate frame, but it was the way he presented it to me. Like this was something that I had to have and how it would make my car look THAT much better. I got a kick out of it.
I remember when the Audi dealership did the same thing, but instead of presenting it in a friendly manner that made me feel as though I needed it, they told me that they put their license plate frame on my car so that I could advertise for them. That kind of cheapened the whole experience. Needless to say, I am proud to be sporting my Bartech license plate frame and replacing that dealership frame.
If you are an Audi owner whose warranty is up and you don't want to continue being treated poorly or ripped off by the dealership, I highly recommend that you give Bartech a call. I'll be taking my car there from now on. read more
