An OpenSky is reborn!

New OSS fitted

Hello everyone.
Just got back from a 2700 km trip to Germany, where i had my old OpenSky System replaced by a new one, backed by a two year warranty, yey! :D
This post should give you the necessary info in order to check if you are eligible for a free repair/replacement of your now defective panoramic roof.
I firstly want to thank bretti_kivi and nuttinnew for their support in arranging this trip and their willingness to help out a fellow club member.

Let me start with a few prerequisites: your car has to be no more than 10 years old from the date of first purchase (you don't necessarily have to be the first owner) and it's last FULL service has to have been done at an Audi garage. The second one is pretty easy to do but if your car is over 10 y.o., sorry...

As far as i know, the only service where Audi has this free repair deal ( that's "kulanz" in german ) is Rinner Autohaus in Bad Tolz, Germany. Their website is here: http://www.rinner-gruppe.de/cms/
They have a pretty capable garage that managed to change my whole roof in about 8 hours.
The whole thing was pretty simple to set up. I contacted Rinner's on the phone in order to see if i could benefit from the free repair. They speak English well enough. Then sent them an email with my VIN number and mileage and two days later got the go ahead from Audi Germany. I then called them again to arrange a reservation and that's about it. After i arrived in Bad Tolz, i left them the car at 8 am and by 4 pm it was done. This was a full roof swap with a brand new one. This was done because after some good months ago my roof refused to close on one side, now it degenerated and wouldn't open at all, just clanked when you tried to open it. The technician said that a repair was out of the picture.
The entire cost of the OSS replacement was covered by Audi.

Now for some note worthy advice on the whole operation:
-- if your car has or hasn't been last serviced in an Audi garage, it's a good advice to have the full service done at Rinner's. Oil+oil filter+air filter+polen filter+fuel filter+brake fluid service is about 490E, including also a good inside clean, outside wash, shock absorber and brake efficiency test, electric diagnostic, etc.
I've had the full two year service done at an Audi dealership in Romania just before leaving for Germany because it was way cheaper, with the Audi stamp and everything on the service booklet. When i arrived in Bad Tolz i was told by mr. Rinner that the oil change code my Audi garage used in the service chart was wrong and because of that i could not benefit from the free OSS repair ( even though i've sent him a scan of the service chart a week in advance to check if all was ok, so as not to go to Germany for nothing... ). :rolleyes: This lead to me have a second oil change in 1200 kilometers done at Rinner's, for the sum of 291E, now sporting the correct code. Of course he could not tell me what the difference was between the two codes, but going back home with the roof broken was not an option for me considering the distance travelled, and i quote him: "changing your roof costs over 2000E, you can have it done now for 291E..."
To sum this up, don't complicate things, get the full service done at Rinner's and avoid any drama. :)
-- consider booking online a room in Bad Tolz for the time your car is in service. Having a rest while your OSS is repaired is not a bad idea. The town is a small one (and boring if you ask me, because i visited during a terrible snowy weather, but nuttinnew swears it's pretty nice :) ) and is also pretty far from any large towns or tourist attractions. Also, i arrived earlier than expected at 3 in the morning and the town was dead. Not a man or car on the streets, no place to get a coffee or even an open gas station. Only saw a taxi, and the driver said that just the casino was open, but i skipped on visiting it.

Any other questions i'll be glad to answer them.
Down with the ClosedSky System, long live OpenSKY!
 
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What a superb bit of timing. Having just acquired another A2 with opensky its really useful to know of a safety net should it fail.
Well done for your research and patience.
 
Well done on your perseverance and a great result.

I don't have OSS but this thread has been a great read.

I hope you have many OSS hassle free years now.

Cheers

David
 
Rancethebus

I had to check the date when I read this to see if it was April Fools day. What I want to know is, does this set a precedent for ALL Audi dealers? Surely if one has done it and it has been paid for by Audi then ALL Audis dealers should follow suit. Has anyone else tried yet?
 
Rinner is an Audi prefered service partner for a few years (2007 to 2011 if i'm not mistaken ). I think it is something that they have been doing for some time, even if only now with the added benefit of full goodwill. Our german forum members can set us straight if they know of any other dealerships that do the repair.
I spoke to Audi Romania but they have no idea of what i was talking about regarding OSS repairs, but this could also be because the A2 was never officially sold over here.
 
Can someone clarify the position for me re OSS
My car is 2002, FASH, has a defunct OSS.
To have it repaired in UK it will cost me £2000 at Audi dealer.
If however i travel to Bad Tolz in Germany, or another Audi Partner in Germany (although no others have been mentioned) they will replace it for Free, or as Trex has found, the cost of a service.

This just seems bizarre that one EU country will replace whilst another won't

Have i got this clear?

Glen
 
Yes, that's about it, but you have to check your VIN number first with the garage, and the car needs to be no older than 10 years.
 
martings said:
This just seems bizarre that one EU country will replace whilst another won't
Click to expand...

Agree. I thought the EU was supposed bring more equal consumer rights. You could write to the EU but by the time they replied your A2 could be more than 10 years old ;)
 
This is slightly uplifting though a drive to and from Rinner (plus 5 star hotel for 1 night and the Rinner Service) from London would be about £1000 easy.

I think Rinner totally robbed you for that 291EUR knowing full well you would not refuse.

My car is a 53 plate with FASH so in theory I have almost 2 years to rectify this - plus I do Snowboard around Austria pretty regularly!

If I can't fix my roof with lube, this could be a Road Trip for this Winter 2011!

Well done lads!
 
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It's good to hear that the trip happened in the end, I remember you calling :)

martings said:
Can someone clarify the position for me re OSS
My car is 2002, FASH, has a defunct OSS.
To have it repaired in UK it will cost me £2000 at Audi dealer.
If however i travel to Bad Tolz in Germany, or another Audi Partner in Germany (although no others have been mentioned) they will replace it for Free, or as Trex has found, the cost of a service.

This just seems bizarre that one EU country will replace whilst another won't

Have i got this clear?

Glen
Click to expand...
Basically it has 0 to do with the EU and lots to do with the fact that Rinner know exactly what to do with OSSes and they've been doing it for a long time - essentially ten years - so their diagnoses are simply nodded through. Lots of forum members have been or are on their way down to Bad Tölz (that must be the tenth this winter alone that I know about) to get it fixed. The guys are good and know what they're talking about.
I don't see that this has anything to do with consumer rights, though I also suspect you won't find a dealership in the UK with anything like this experience in OSSes - if any, and that's the rub. If they don't touch them, they have no idea how to fix them. So they don't want to, especially if they then get to sit on costs as a result.

Bret
 
I'm slow getting back to this but...

1/. I feel if your car has fAsh it's worth approaching them regarding a goodwill gesture for the travelling to Bavaria. These payments are made for a variety of reasons usually involving inconvenience with a 1500mile round trip amounts to :) Nothing ventured nothing gained and all a that but £250 (an amount a couple were paid when their Tiguan was delivered with the wrong radio and the correct one was on back order....) would certainly help with the travelling costs.

2/. I agree it's worth getting Rinner to do the service. In my instance it was cheaper like-for-like than my local Audi dealership to the tune of £150+.
It may appear opportunistic of them (charging me washer fluid when there was 4l in the back & charging for a new tyre foam when there was a spare wheel in there, both fully visible in the boot) because what other option do we have but it still only came to the same cost of having them fit the repair kits. It also includes Audi roadside assistance. All in, it may not be cheap as such but it is good value, so much so that when I'm back in that neck of the woods in August I think I'll get the roof checked over again and an oil change (I'll have done about 13k since the last one by then...).

3/. trex, a pity you didn't enjoy the scenery as I did but I did have better weather I think and it was the week before Christmas.
 
Dan b,
Yes, failing to close properly. Tried the usual Audi UK repair route and nothing. So may try the trip to Germany soon. How about you? Same problems?
Bob.
 
Mine is juddering a little when the 1st panel slides back before it engages the 2nd panel. Although it's been doing that for a fair while, I'm keeping an eye on the Rinner option just in case...
 
Yes, keep an eye on that and lubricate where you can. Mine was fine for years (kept it moving so it didnt stick) and then juddered open- closed ok and then after that it wouldn't close correctly. IMHO it 'feels' like the near side cable is catching. I also checked the teeth on the motor were engaging properly (they were). Mine meets the criteria for Rinner to have the warranty repair done so hopefully I will get a look at the roof once it's off and get some pics.
 
bretti_kivi said:
It's good to hear that the trip happened in the end, I remember you calling :)


Basically it has 0 to do with the EU and lots to do with the fact that Rinner know exactly what to do with OSSes and they've been doing it for a long time - essentially ten years - so their diagnoses are simply nodded through. Lots of forum members have been or are on their way down to Bad Tölz (that must be the tenth this winter alone that I know about) to get it fixed. The guys are good and know what they're talking about.
I don't see that this has anything to do with consumer rights, though I also suspect you won't find a dealership in the UK with anything like this experience in OSSes - if any, and that's the rub. If they don't touch them, they have no idea how to fix them. So they don't want to, especially if they then get to sit on costs as a result.

Bret
Click to expand...

Bret,

The reason i was seeking clarity has more to do with OSS problems being known about across ALL Audi dealers in EU, including UK

Audi Germany, it appears, have said OSS will be repaired for 'Free' (with usual prerequisites etc) because they must recognise it as a design issue.

Audi UK know about this, and we actually do have dealers in the UK as good as Rinner who could diagnose and repair the OSS to same standard, however in the UK we have no 'Free' repair option.

I am not surprised by this, but i along with many other owners would just like to find out if it is abolutely impossible to get it repaired in UK under the same conditions as that offered in Germany.
Cheers
Glen
 
Believe me I have tried to put a lot of pressure on my local dealer. Even straight to Audi UK to complain about them not doing anything. Got nowhere. I would be more than willing to start the pressure again. Can our friends at Stoke Audi help out?
 
I think Stoke Audi are part of the swansway group and they have really good facilities for repair and technicians, so they may be a good 'rinner' equivalent if we can get Audi UK to reciprocate Audi germany offer.
Not holding my breath
Glen
 
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