[200q20v] 1989 audi 200 Stereo reset

[Phil Rose]

Oliver, your question was _so_ far from being a case of "dealer 
bashing" that I'm stunned by Brett's response. IMHO you said nothing 
that required an apology.

Brett, to characterize Oliver's remark as slander (he had "fear" of 
having to bring the problem to a dealer) probably slanders the 
meaning of "slander". BTW, the alleged act would actually be "libel", 
not slander, since it involves a written, not spoken, statement. 
Anyway, even though you had some valid points to make, I believe your 
tone was excessive for the case at hand and--regardless of your 
disclaimer--rather censorious sounding.

Since you've decided to make an issue of Oliver's "fear", I'll offer 
an opinion that we owners of older Audis often (not always) have much 
to fear when forced to rely on a dealer--especially we with 20V cars, 
although allowance for rarity must be made. Yes, some dealers are 
much better than others, but that's cold comfort for many of us who 
have no choice of dealers beyond the single, local one. In my area, 
the sole dealer's parts and service department appears to regard an 8 
or 9 yr-old Audi as beneath contempt. They (my local dealer) do 
not--by policy--stock even the most mundane parts that are common to 
about all the type 44  cars (drive belts, suspension bolts, sealing 
washers, etc); these are parts very likely to be found stocked by 
most small, independent shops. Let's not even get into the matter of 
pricing.

Now in their defense you might say that dealers are obliged to give 
high priority to parts and service for their new-car  (warrantee) 
customers. Certainly true; but if as a result, their parts and 
technical expertise cannot be there for us poor benighted oldsters, 
aren't we justified in our aversion to relying on them? BTW, my local 
dealership--who will not stock an alternator belt--is not some poor 
"little" guy trying to ride out hard times. It's a mammoth enterprise 
with five large buildings devoted (hah!) to BMW/Land Rover; 
Porsche/Audi/Mazda; Honda; Acura, and last but not least, M-B.

Yes, I realize that Audi USA barely managed to stay alive through the 
dark days of the early '90s, and I'm hopeful that dealer stability, 
attitude and competency will be improving. In the meantime, I thank 
my lucky stars for these mailing lists (and for dealers like Carlsen 
and Clair) and their vital role in my struggle to avoid trips to _my_ 
local Audi dealer.

Phil



At 10:32 AM -0700 3/18/01, omllenado wrote:
>1. thanks for the link.
>2. geez you're right thanks, i don't know that,... anyway, i hope audi picks
>up with the people that they needed, i really like audi and i think we'll
>have a long a lasting relationship, i hope to get the 20V version of the 200
>in the near future. My wife asks me to part with the car and get an SUV
>instead because of the occassional repairs, well for an 11 year old car it's
>just part of maintaining the car and an audi rides well and will give a long
>service (robust german technology), now she doesnt bug me anymore 'coz she
>sees the passion i have for this car. thank God audi did not pull out from
>the us.
>
>to the dealer mechanics here i would just like give you my apology, same to
>the dealer owners. live on.
>thanks Brett,
>
>peace,
>
>
>Oliver M. Llenado
>Homepage http://www8.ewebcity.com/omllenado
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Brett Dikeman" <brett at brettd.dsl.speakeasy.net>
>To: "omllenado" <omllenado at hotmail.com>
>Cc: <200q20v at audifans.com>
>Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2001 8:31 AM
>Subject: Re: [200q20v] 1989 audi 200 Stereo reset
>
>
>>  On Sun, 18 Mar 2001, omllenado wrote:
>>
>>  > After a successful alternator transplant, thanks to you guys, there
>>  > goes my stereo is in safe mode .The security code written on the manual
>>  > is bogus... so after 3 attempts = lock.
>>  > can I  reset it without bringing it to the dealer?, (dealer fright!),
>>  > and a supplier for coolant here in colorado.
>  >
>>  In regards to your question, http://brettd.dsl.speakeasy.net/cgi-bin/fom
>>
>>  Navigate to:
>>
>>  Electricals : "Can I/you/anybody reset my radio?"
>>
>>
>>  Dealers are just like mechanics.  There are good dealers, and there are
>>  bad dealers.  Let's please quit the "dealer bashing" which has been
>>  getting a little out of hand here; among other things, I know several
>>  enthusiasts on this list and the main list, who are dealer employees, and
>>  I'm sure they don't appreciate it.
>>
>>    If you have a reason for your comments, fine...but if you don't, then I
>>  believe that's what the legal community calls slander.
>>
>>    I don't feel this way just about dealer comments.  I also feel the same
>>  way about vendor comments.  Nothing pisses me off more than to see
>>  someone bitch, whine and moan about how there's a problem with part XYZ,
>>  but lo and behold, it's discovered they haven't even bothered to pick up
>>  the phone and call the company.
>>
>>  That is NOT to say that I'm trying to censor opinions; rather, I simply
>  > want comments to have some basis in reality...
>>
  [snip]
-- 

Phil Rose
Rochester, NY
mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net