Bad experience - Benham BMW

[vinny09]

Hi all,

Just a warning about a recent very disappointing experience with Benham BMW dealership in Wolverhampton.

After buying a used car from this garage I experienced a string of problems:

- Car not prepared properly for collection, so I had to take it back a few weeks later to get some repairs done that had been promised (200 mile round trip)
- No Sat Nav CD in the car and it took weeks to get it through
- Some bodywork nuts had not been replaced after taking parts off to prepare the car
- The door was misaligned on one side and Benham refused to accept responsibility, even after elevating this to BMW UK, they reluctantly finally offered to repair it at no cost, but the cost to bring the car back in should be borne by me (after already one trip back)

There seemed to be a real culture of sell the car and then forget about it, an attitude mirrored by BMW central who wanted little to do with the complaint.

I also fear for the future of BMW when the new MD (Klaus Kisbgaard) has no interest in the poor quality service of their local dealerships and refuses to take calls on the matter.

Whilst this could be just a one off bad experience, I have now given up and got the car repaired at my expense locally, but feel obliged to warn others who may consider buying from this garage.

[Wondermike]

Was the door misaligned before you bought it or did it occur afterwards but before you collected it? I suppose maybe you wouldn't notice this before you actually took delivery of it.

[Adam D]

Has this car been in a collision? Removing body parts sounds fishy + door out of alignment?

[vinny09]

Hi,

No, I noticed the misalignment (about 0.5cm) at the bottom of the door a few days after picking up the car. This has been part of the problem. Another more local dealer (who ultimately realigned the door for only 18 GBP said that this should have been picked up on the AUC checks, but Benham came back with a range of excuses such as:

- It's a "grey" area so door misalignment does not need to be part of the checks
- It is "common for other garages to blame each other" with reference to the more local dealer saying it should have been fixed
- Insinuation that I had done it in the few days between pickup and reporting

Ultimately, for the bad feeling it has caused, it seems a shame that they were not willing to pay for repairs at the more local dealer (the car is quite rare hence travelling 100 miles to Benham in the first place), especially given it only cost a small amount to get done (had I known it was so cheap I probably would not have bothered complaining in the first place)

So far as I know the car has not been in an accident and presume this would have come up on the car check sheet they give you when you agree the purchase if it had?

It also seems a real shame that BMW central has not interest in supporting used car disputes through the BMW AUC scheme - this impacts just as much on the BMW brand as the new cars and they seem to have lost control of the local dealers. Ultimately, this will only lead them down the same road as Mercedes have gone down for the last few years and will lead to a poor brand reputation for service.

Anyway, the car is all now sorted and good fun to drive, but suffice to say I wouldn't go back to them!!

[vinny09]

Ps. The front bumper was removed at my request to deal with some scuffs (this they at least did do), but forgot to put one of the holding nuts back in when they completed the work!!!!!

[tec243]

Please move this thread to the 'Dealer feedback' forum. It's important that we all have a good context on where dealers either, perform or fail to perform. Thanks. ...dean