I tried ringing nobody picked up, at first attempt.
Rang me back quick enough, but the quote for a set of replacement keys was around 拢250, for a car that's around 11 years old. Needless to say after having a look around I found others considerably less.
This would be the price car dealers would charge, and I'm not in the motoring industry.
So by the price alone, I'd rate it 1 star, there are other places you can find cost effective key cutters…
,
A reputable company is not always determined by the amount of sales they make, but also how the customer is treated afterwards. You would think that after parting way with your money, you would feel that you would get the support and care, if anything were to fail afterwards.
Oh no, after purchasing a replacement key for my Audi A4 in the end of January. I should have been wary of the tell-tale signs that I've been duped with a dodgy key.
After 5-6 months of having the key, from time to time the key wouldn't open electronically, and had to be done manual. Ok, so I assumed it was a dodgy battery. So about a week ago, I thought I replace the battery. I opened the fob key up, lo and behold; the insides looked different to the one being shown on youtube! Again, didn't think anything of it, as I thought maybe replacement keys are like this. But only the small problem of a small motherboard being wedge inside! So I had to use scissors as a pliers, to wedge the motherboard out.
On the 18th of August, as I was coming out of the gym towards my car. Again, my car door had to be manually open. But in this instance, my key was not registering into the dash board at all. So after abit of fiddling, I still couldn't get the key to work. And to my astonishment, the immobiliser kicked in, and the car decides to lock me in with the alarm going off!
So I'm stuck outside my gym, for hour and a half with the alarm going on. While waiting like a damsel in distress, for the recovery people. I was eventually saved; the break down guy even looked at the key, and said it was a botch job! Because the soldering on the board doesn鈥檛 look right.
So, as it was late evening. I thought I give the company (him and another friend I believe) a call in the morning. Straight from the offset, he said he isn't liable for it, as there are no warranties with these keys. He said if it was a few days, or even 2months, he would be happy to replace the key free of charge. But 7 months?!? Yeah right, whether it was 2 or 7 months. It鈥檚 still under a year which I explained to him. I told him everything you buy, would always have a manufacturer鈥檚 warranty. Excluding item鈥檚 i.e jewellery, underwear for obvious reasons. This guy wouldn't agree to anything I say, even though it was pretty much common sense. But of course, he will only pick and choose, what suited to his defence.
He even told me, Audi have the same policy, and if I ring them up, and brought a key off them, they wouldn't be under warranty. And if they do, he鈥檇 be happy to give my money back if they do! And yes you guessed it; I called his bluff and called Audi to verify. It would be under warranty, after they have checked it and to see if it was a faulty component from their side.
Key word there was, 'They will take a look at it themselves first'. Which my friend over here, had no intention of. I repeat, I would ACCEPT the cost, if this was from normal wear & tear. Or accidental damage, but if this was of course a mechanical/electric fault. The company (him) would have to be responsible for it.
After telling him, he seemed to change his tone abit, as he got caught out from a white lie. I told him can鈥檛 you just go to your supplier and see if you can just get the motherboard to the key, as that seems to be the problem. (Me thinking in my head why am I doing your job for you, you should be the one coming up with a solution). So he said he give them a call and call me back. He rings me next day to basically say, the manufacturer won鈥檛 send him parts. Which really means, he does not want to fork out his own money to compensate for my loss!
So again, we go back and forth with arguing why this is wrong/right. He said that electronics are not under warranty. So I told him, you're telling me I can't return a PS4 in 7 months of being faulty to Currys? His answer, 鈥楾hat is different, it's not a car key. Keys are individual programmed鈥? Ok so what about if I had an alarm system at home, and my key fob didn鈥檛 work. The keys/systems are individually set up, are you telling me they won't be liable to fix the key? Again, his answer was. 'That's different'.
I am getting the understanding that this guy only picks and chooses what applies to him, and he has no intention of even having a look or helping me. I too work in the customer service field, and as the saying goes, 'Customers are always Right'. Even when they're not. And in this instance, whether I'm right or wrong, he hasn't taken upon himself to even take a look and help me.
So I hope I haven't bored you guys to deaf, or annoyed you with my grammar but please save yourself the trouble, and go straight to the dealers. You get what you pay for and I certainly did! He got offended because I told him he did a cowboy job, and skanked me out of my money. Well you did my friend, there is nothing else more to say. But see you in court!