Audi launches ‘real-time’ online service booking tool
Audi has taken another pioneering step towards its goal of delivering unparalleled customer service by launching the first online booking facility capable of managing servicing and MOT requests in real-time and confirming appointments almost immediately.
From now on, customers using the majority of the UK’s Audi Centres can forget about opening hours, busy service departments and congested phone lines when they want a service or MOT appointment, or even just a replacement tyre. Instead, they can visit the 'Owners Area' at audi.co.uk throughout the day or night, seven days a week, and arrange everything they need from their local Audi Centre in just a few clicks.
The clear and easily navigable online system facilitates booking of a range of appointments, including major and minor services, complimentary healthchecks, MOTs, tyre replacements, general investigations and diagnostics. It also offers various mobility preferences for convenience, including courtesy car booking, collection and delivery, courtesy lift arrangements, while-you-wait services and the option to select the Audi Cam video-based diagnosis service.
A simple process secures a booking for any one of these options. Customers first choose their preferred Audi Centre, and can find the nearest one to their location by entering a town or postcode. They are then asked to select the service they require. Available times and dates are then offered, and can be selected along with additional services such as a courtesy car or courtesy lift. Once a selection is made, the chosen date and time is immediately blocked out by the system for the customer and a confirmation is displayed including a booking reference number and an estimated total cost for the work booked. Finally, this price is confirmed by the Centre by either email or text.
This sophisticated new system debuts only a few months after Audi Cam revolutionised workshop servicing by enabling Audi Centre technicians equipped with video cameras to film diagnoses and beam the resulting clips, along with an estimated price for the necessary job highlighted, to owners' computers and smartphones before work begins.
John Bower, Head of Service and Parts Operations at Audi UK, welcomed the new initiative: “The convenience factor is crucial to the continued success of our Audi Centres, so I’m delighted that this new booking facility is going to genuinely save our customers time and effort. At the same time it’s also going to enable us to confirm arrangements and convey pricing estimates virtually instantly, and with greater clarity – I’m confident that use of this simple but highly effective tool will soon become second nature to many Audi owners.”
The new online service booking facility can be viewed at: audi.co.uk/owners-area/online-service-booking/book-a-service.html
