10-25-2015, 03:53 PM | #1 |
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Horrible BMW Service
(sorry for the following vent, but I love my X1 and have really had my faith in the brand shaken by the following experience) -
At 49,000 miles my car's service light came on so I called to schedule maintenance (it should be noted that this is a vehicle I bought new from this dealership). Needed new plugs along with the oil change and was told this would take a few hours - but a loaner car wouldn't be available for almost two weeks. So I made an appointment for then and when I brought the car in I was 180 miles over my 50,000 mile warranty. I innocently thought they would honor the maintenance warranty since I called to schedule the appointment when I was below the 50k mile mark, but no, I was told I had to pay $600 for the plugs on top of the fee for the oil change! I tried working with the service guy but he said the service manager wouldn't budge - then he offered to sell me an extended warranty! I couldn't believe it. I also called the sales guy I bought the car from - he said the best they could do was knock off 20% (?!) The worst part? I contacted Customer Relations at BMW America and never heard back from them. WTF. Is this a typical BMW experience? I've never had an issue like this with the new Acuras I've owned. I was even treated better by the the local Honda dealership! Curious as to what you folks think of this situation. PM me if you want the name of the dealership. |
10-25-2015, 05:23 PM | #2 |
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I guess I have mixed feelings. Companies in general are getting to be hard azzed about warranty limits. Consumers need to look out for themselves.
As such, on one hand I see your point and one would hope that the dealership would do the right thing. Especially, if you noted that the car was at 49k miles. However, given that the vehicle was nearing the 50k mark you should have been on top of things and not made any assumptions. A few years ago I had the vent control on a vehicle go out. I had replaced it something like 350 days before. My SA looked up the notes and said hey we should get this fixed ASAP as the 1 year warranty is about expired. I'll make you an appointment for a couple of days from now and order the part now. I have another issue to deal with. Not a car but a dive suit that has something like 15 days on it in over two trips. The damn thing is literally falling apart at the seams. However, it is 1.5 years old with a one year warranty. I am sending back to the company. I hope they will replace it. But if not oh well, we will quit buying this type of suit cause the previous one delaminated with similar light usage. THe current one was a "warranty" replacement for that suit. I guess the question I have did you have the dealer do the service or take to an independent service center (for undoubtably much less). |
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10-27-2015, 12:39 AM | #5 |
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11-03-2015, 07:17 PM | #6 |
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I worked for BMW for 6 years. Seen that happen a lot, to them it is what it is. Warranty and maintenance is 4yrs or 50k miles. End of story, you go over the 50k or 4 yrs, its done. It's your responsibility.
Go to an independent BMW repair shop, you'll save a ton and get better treatment.
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'15 E84 X1 35i M Sport MPI DME Flash - K&N drop in - MPI Chargepipe - Oil T-stat valve - ETS 5" I/C - N54tuning 3.5" downpipe - catless mid section - Dinan 135i rear exhaust - Apex ARC8 18x9/10(255/295 tires) - H&R Sports - Bilstein B6's - F3x M Performance brakes '02 E39 530i 624whp/558ft-lbs @23psi |
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11-04-2015, 10:34 AM | #7 |
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I actually went to a competing BMW dealership and they waived all the labor fees! Renewing my faith in BMW. They also agreed the other dealership was trying to rip me off by charging $600 for replacing plugs.
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11-04-2015, 11:44 AM | #8 |
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Glad it worked out for you. I know we have a couple dealerships in my area and one of them is notorious for this kind of crap. That's why I didn't buy from them and will avoid going to them if I can help it.
Shame because the dealership is practically walking distance from my work. |
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11-06-2015, 08:41 PM | #10 |
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$600 is steeeeep. The N20 plugs are $71 for 4 at full retail, labor depending on the dealers labor rate is roughly 1hr @ $130-$170 per hour. Putting you at max of $241. Plus an oil service $150 max dealer price. You're still under $600. That dealer wasn't ripping you, it was the service adviser. I'd give BMW NA a call with the dealer name and the adviser. Did they give you a written estimate?
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'15 E84 X1 35i M Sport MPI DME Flash - K&N drop in - MPI Chargepipe - Oil T-stat valve - ETS 5" I/C - N54tuning 3.5" downpipe - catless mid section - Dinan 135i rear exhaust - Apex ARC8 18x9/10(255/295 tires) - H&R Sports - Bilstein B6's - F3x M Performance brakes '02 E39 530i 624whp/558ft-lbs @23psi |
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11-07-2015, 01:25 AM | #11 |
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No written estimate. Contacted BMW NA and left a "formal complaint", but never heard back from them.
This particular dealership (in Western Washington) receives almost daily negative reviews on Yelp, yet BMW corporate does nothing about it. Discouraging. |
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11-07-2015, 09:47 AM | #12 |
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If you're willing to put some work into it to improve the service of that dealer get in touch with BMW AG and tell them about the dealer, point out the yelp reviews, and tell them that BMW NA didn't respond at all
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11-07-2015, 09:55 AM | #13 |
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I'm assuming that's the German corporate offices? Thanks, will look into it.
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11-07-2015, 12:34 PM | #14 |
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Yeah it is.
Someone I know has had personal experience that when BMW dealerships denied there was a problem (related to the car's handling of all things), he contacted BMW North America which didn't help, but when he got in touch with BMW AG he got a personal call from the manager of the dealership who was then able to finally resolved the problem. Not sure your experience will be the same but the more complaints BMW AG heard about them the more likely they are to force the dealer to change. |
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12-01-2015, 04:30 PM | #15 | ||
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Here's what it really comes down to. Forget everyone else in the dealership, the single most important person that will impact your customer experience the most is your Service Advisor. A good advisor will take control the process and deal accordingly with the shop dispatcher, technicians, and the parts department. A bad advisor will let you down from square one and you'll never be happy. |
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12-01-2015, 07:45 PM | #16 | |
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This is the kind of sentiments that has been making me 2nd guessing myself as to whether I want to pick up an X1 or not. Sure I am not buying the dealer, but still the overall service / customer experience matters. 8 out 10 BMW dealers I have researched had this bad reviews on yelp/google. |
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12-01-2015, 08:51 PM | #17 | |
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Very few people post how great a car is. Last edited by Njerts; 12-01-2015 at 11:02 PM.. |
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12-02-2015, 12:00 AM | #18 |
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That is very true. I know someone who is on their forth BMW and loves it. That said he had a couple experiences that were less than perfect, but the cars sure made up for it.
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12-02-2015, 10:29 AM | #19 |
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I've just written off this particular dealership and have taken my business to a competing dealership (which is further away from where I live, unfortunately). Will probably take my out of warranty X1 to independent shops for maintenance in the future. The whole experience has been unfortunate.
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12-02-2015, 02:19 PM | #20 | |
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12-02-2015, 04:55 PM | #21 | |
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It's important to note that I am not saying all indy shops provide poor service. I know of some extremely good indy shops that provide excellent service. I'm saying more indy shops provide bad service than dealers. The difference is you might not even realize it because you're blinded by the little bit of money you saved, but didn't realize they only fixed half of the issues and missed the other half, they did sup par quality repair work skipping steps, and they changed your oil but didn't do the other 7 maintenance items the car really needed. Going to one that you are not familiar with or without a glowing referral is really rolling the dice. On the flip side, there's always a tech/advisor or two in every dealer that really has no business being there and is just as prone to mistakes or causing issues. |
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12-02-2015, 05:03 PM | #22 |
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Just because a dealer has more overhead than an indy, they should benefit from new and used sales and be able to be competitive. But almost universally, they're not. Just my experience in SoCal and North Texas.
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