Door/Dealer advice

S

Ste

Senior member
 Costa Del Barrow-in-Furness
Since I bought the Z a year and a half ago the driverside door handle has always been a little bit stiff, but never thought anything of it really.

When it was in BMW Batemans last week to get the amp and waterleak fixed I mentioned to them to have a look, and they subsequently stripped, adjusted, lubed etc the door mechanism, and charged me a hefty labour rate for doing so.

However, on the weekend when I went to get into the car, I found the door wouldn't open. Not from the inside, or the outside, just completely stuck. Had it back into Batemans today and they've said that the door lock has gone into deadlock and can't be opened.

Now they've turned around and said that it's nothing to do with the work they did or anything they did to the door, but will pay half the 2 hour labour cost needed to break the lock and attach a new latch etc, as they did strip it down and have it out last week, so costing me £175 out of my own pocket.

Personally I'm finding it hard to believe it'll be fine if a little stiff for 15 months then suddenly stop working completely a couple of days after they strip it down. Should I be happy they're paying half the labour costs, or be kicking up more of a fuss, i'm not sure what's what in terms of the door mechanics.

Cheers
 
No idea about the door mechanics but I absolutely would be in there laying the law down. They need to sort it for you.
 
Mines always awkward when it's had direct sun on it. It never happends in winter but as soon as it heats up the door Handle sticks?


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ESP said:
Mines always awkward when it's had direct sun on it. It never happends in winter but as soon as it heats up the door Handle sticks?


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Nah this was more then just a bit sticky, the entire door won't open from inside or outside no matter how hard or soft i pulled. And the dealer said it was the lock itself which was jammed.
 
Carol M said:
...I absolutely would be in there laying the law down. They need to sort it for you.
Click to expand...
I agree, kick up a fuss - only a bit sticky until they 'fixed' it, and now it's foo-parred?

Demand to speak to the dealer principal! :evil:
 
Dealer principle wasn't in and anyway i didn't have time to argue, needed it done and to get home for travelling to Glasgow tonight for my Sports Relief challenge :)

Been charged £173.32, broken down as such:
Labour: Strip out o/s door liner, release dead locked door latch, replace door latch and rebuild door - £93.00
Parts: Door Panel Clip x 12 - £5.40
Parts: Door Latch - £46.03

My invoice from last week states that the following was done and charged for:
"Check o/s door handle, strip door, lube and adjust door latch and mechanism, rebuild door".

Shall be writing a letter to the aftersales manager on Monday Morning, and ask for it to be forwarded on to the general manager or dealer principle, but it's left a really sour taste, I've no problem at all paying the going rate for required work done right, even at BMW main dealers extortionate rates, but not this...
 
Hi Mike,

I'm writing with disappointment regarding some work I've had done over the past two weeks at Batemans.

My car was initially in last week (10th March) for a water leak. I also mentioned that the driver side door handle was slightly stiff (to be honest it'd been like this for the 15months I've owned the car, not too big a deal but thought I might aswell get it sorted). So on top of the work for the boot leak (which by the way was done perfectly, no complaints atall there), according to the invoice you guys also charged me to "Check o/s door handle, strip door, lube and adjust door latch and mechanism, rebuild door".

Assuming it was now ok, I drove home and didn't actually drive the car again until Thursday (13th March). Going to get in the car i found the driverside door wouldn't open atall, but I tried the inside and this worked and opened the door. I presumed it may have just been a bit sticky where some lube or grease was settling. When I spoke to Shaan who rang me to check I was happy with the work done I mentioned this and said I'd give it the benefit of the doubt, but if it happened again call you.

The next time i went to drive the car, on the Friday evening (14th March) I found the door wouldn't open atall, either inside or outside. It just wouldn't shift no matter what I tried. This remained the situation of it right up until today when I had it back in with you (having rang on Monday), leaving me a full week of having to drive around with a driver side door not working, embarrassing and inconvenient at best, dangerous at worst.

I was told that the door latch had dead locked and wouldn't open. The door was fixed, and I was charged £173.32 for the following:
Strip out o/s door liner, release dead locked door latch, replace door latch and rebuild door - £93.00
Door Panel Clip x 12 - £5.40
Door Latch - £46.03

I'll be honest, I'm finding it a little hard to swallow how the door handle is slightly stiff but functional for 15 months at least (thats just under my ownership), but then a couple of days after being in with yourselves and paying for you to strip the door, adjust the latch etc, the latch suddenly deadlocks itself and is broken.

I have no problem paying the going rate for good, required work done right, but can't help but feel aggrieved in this instance, when it feels like I've paid twice for you to do something after it wasn't done properly the first time.

Please don't think this is a complain letter as such, as I always find your staff (and up until this time the work done) to be fantastic, especially Steve Stowe and the lady who served me on reception, but I just feel I've been dealt with incorrectly at best here.

Please could you forward this email on to the dealer principle or general manager if needs be, for any future reference, and give me a call or email back whenever's convenient on Monday with regards to this.

Regards,
Ste
 
How come you had it looked at by a Stealer? Surely you would have been much better off going to a decent Indy?

I bet you would of had better after care.
 
CornishRob said:
How come you had it looked at by a Stealer? Surely you would have been much better off going to a decent Indy?

I bet you would of had better after care.
Click to expand...

For mechanical things such as brakes/suspension etc I usually go to a local indie where my friend works and lets me have free ramp time and helps out/does work on the cheap for me, but for things like the amp/electrical/complex things I prefer to go to a dealer and stay OEM... Won't make that mistake again like.
 
Have you already sent the letter/email?

Atall isn't a word, it's 2 - at all.

Good luck, I wouldn't be happy paying twice and you have a good cause to complain
 
Ste said:
Dealer principle wasn't in and anyway i didn't have time to argue, needed it done and to get home for travelling to Glasgow tonight for my Sports Relief challenge
Click to expand...
okay - good luck

Ste said:
Shall be writing a letter to the aftersales manager on Monday Morning....
Click to expand...
needs to go to dealer principal, and copied to ..... :x
 
Spoke to Mike Kendall at Batemans today. He's convinced that having spoken to the guy who did all the work and looked into it, they didn't do anything wrong and reckons it's just a big coincidence... Finding it hard to believe in such a massive coincidence myself, but just don't know enough about it all tbh... Apparently they did give me an hours worth of labour for free out of goodwill (not because they'd done anything wrong he was keen to stress), hence why the labour cost was only £93 and not £186... £93 an hour, yet another reason to stay away from main dealers!

I asked him to send me an email with a diagram of the work they did and the part that failed for me, which is below:

35hoh82.jpg


Good afternoon Ste,

As discussed...
Item number 1 on the attachment has to be correctly aligned within item number 4 in order for the release mechanism to work correctly, unfortunately this wasn't the case. What we did on your first visit was to correct this accordingly to allow this to function correctly.

Item number 9 is the door latch which is a sealed, unserviceable unit containing the central locking actuator/relay. This is indirectly connected to item number 4 via a cable and had failed without any form of influence from our intervention with items 1 & 4.

I do hope the above provides the information you require but please do not hesitate to contact me should you need any further clarification.
 
I can fully understand and appreciate why you are concerned. Having said that I had the misfortune to be volunteered to "fix" my father in laws door lock. Again a BMW and working after a fashion until I lubed it and worked it a few times. The damn thing then completely refused to play ball. Never again!
 
Shouldn't be paying twice for the fix, the first fix didn't work effectively or the fault was misdiagnosed. What would the price have been to replace the parts first time; that would seem a fair price to pay.


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