Hi Everyone,
Wanted to give an update following contact from Audi this week.
They of course won't accept liability for it "because we are not aware of it being a wider issue with this model or age of vehicle". I am unsure if this is a fob off or if they are being sincere and people are not reporting it. I would encourage everyone experiencing this issue to report it to Audi. The more people that do, the more chance there will be of them doing something about it.
They wanted the dealer to offer me something which I really didn't agree with given the issue is likely to be with the manufacturing process. In the end they did offer me a payment of half of the value of the repair as "a gesture of good will" which I accepted. I couldn't push further with the Consumer Rights Act that I mentioned previously because I inherited the vehicle from my father when he passed so the implied contract does not apply to me. Had I purchased the vehicle myself I would have proceeded with them legally under this legislation.
The service received and lack of ownership from Audi UK is disappointing. The dealership took a month to repair the car due to lack of stock (Audi UK accepted this was their issue hence the payment). It took approximately 6 weeks to get any sort of acknowledgement from Audi UK after raising my official complaint and when they did acknowledge it they said they would close my call if I didn't respond to their email in 24 hrs, not impressed to say the least!
It's such a shame and I am so disappointed. I really like Audi's but this experience has put me off buying one again. I will not recommend them and will warn people about this going forward. I accept that issues arise, it's how companies respond which is important to me. This is a serious and potentially dangerous issue which, in my opinion, they have handled poorly and done nothing to allay my fears around.
Hopefully the above helps someone else!