my local dealer sucks! (long rant)

[Scott Wood]

Have to throw in a recommendation for Bavarian Parts (no affiliation) and
Mr. Marc Kaufman (the owner - I believe).  I have had the greatest luck
with these guys and they gives buying Audi parts a good name.  Prices are
great, service is excellent and Marc is a funny character to talk to.  Site
is Bavarianparts.com and I believe they were originally all WMB, but are in
the process of upgrading ;-) by adding other marques (Audi) as well.

Read this, it tells a lot about these folks.

Here is a quick story to tell you how I feel.  My wife, 4 year old daughter
and I were on the way to KC, MO visiting for Thanksgiving when (about 200
miles out I sensed something wasn't right so we pulled off at an exit and I
bought the family lunch and went to check on the CQ.  Started it up and
pulled out to get a level spot.  As soon as I turned right, a terrible
sound told me a CV joint just destroyed itself.  Well, I started calling St
louis, Columbia and KC trying to see if I could get the thing fixed.  The
best was back 100 miles to St. Louis and they might be able to get it done
by the following Monday (this was Tuesday) due to the holiday and weekend. 
I figured all in with flatbedding the car and all, it would be an easy
$1000 bucks.  Luckily my dad was visiting as well (with his motorhome) and
a call to U-Haul got us a flatbed trailer for $50 and we took it to my
sisters house.  In the meantime, I called all over looking for parts.  The
dealers in the before mentioned cities didn't have the outer joints, nor
the axle assy and just as well, because the dealers price - just for the
outer CV assy - was between $550 and $600 each side.  Called Marc and he
was on the hunt.  Called a couple other places on the list that we hear of,
one said they couldn't get them and the other could and could overnight
them - great.  Bavarian came back, without knowing the price I had gotten
elsewhere and had them to me overnight for half of the price of the other
outfit.  These were German units made by, can't remember who, but TPC said
these were the OE ones.  Turned out they were.  Got the car fixed the next
day.  Took two hours total.  Didn't require any special tools (aside from
what I brought or the brother-in-law had except to crimp the boot clamps).
Gotta love those two piece struts.  Needless to say, it saved the trip.

My thanks to Bavarian.  I'll be ordering a lot of stuff from Marc in the
future.  (already had a couple weeks before, so I had some experience with
them).

Scott Wood
1990 CQ
Charlotte, NC

----------
> From: Bernard Littau <bernardl at acumenassociates.com>
> To: rplines at pacifier.com; quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: my local dealer sucks! (long rant)
> Date: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 4:45 PM
> 
> > I've finally reached the end of my patience with Sunset Porsche/Audi in
> Portland,
> [ snip ]
> > Unbelieveable....  I don't know whether
> > to cry, or just kick myself for not learning my lesson sooner.
> >
> > -Peter
> >
> 
> Try:
> http://www.thepartsconnection.com/4000/4000k.htm#K4
> 
> Scroll down to RADIATOR FAN SWITCH.  Is this what you are looking for?
> 
> Kick yourself, and don't buy parts like this  from the dealer :-)
> 
> I've had my 5ktq for 2 years and have never bought a part at the dealer. 
(I
> do need to buy a new injector cooling duct, so I will have to see the
dealer
> real soon now.)
> 
> I am just a satisfied customer of TPC; I happily use Blau and VM Autohaus
as
> well.  No affiliation with any of these.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Bernard Littau
> Woodinville, WA
> '88 5ktq