How To Approach BMW - Very Annoyed

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oo7ml

Active member
I dropped my car into BMW today for an Oil Service which cost me €320, and i am extremely annoyed to say the least:

1 - i arrived at the dealership this evening to pick up my car and the service guy said, "that's all done for you now... we just had one small problem, we did not have a Micro Filter in stock so you will have to pop back into us next week and we will fit it for you..."

2 - i got into the car outside and my seat was moved up very close to the steering wheel... i thought this is a bad oversight for a company who tries to set a high standard... SO i simply pressed the 1 button on the seat hoping for my seat to revert back to my settings... however the seat started to move even closer to the steering wheel... i thought why would they even do that to the car... there was no reason for anyone in the service centre to save their preference over mine... and not even a midget could have sat in the seat with the position they overwrote mine with (doesn't make sense to me... surely it was someone playing a joke... which i am obviously not finding funny)

3 - this is probably my biggest frustration... and i would not have even bothered mentioning the above if i had not of noticed this... my passenger side door has 5-6 small scratched marked all scattered close together... it is evident that these marks are fresh and they most certainly were not there when i hand washed the car myself last night... there is no way of me proving that they done this but they were not there before i dropped the car into them

Am i just being a contrary ass h*le, which to be honest is not in my nature... or should i ring them tomorrow and express my frustration over the poor customer service... i am really annoyed with the marks... i don't really care that i have to go back to them to get the Micro Filter fitted or that someone messed up my settings on my seat but the marks / scratches have really annoyed me...

Looking forward to your views and advice on this one, thanks for reading and sorry about the rant :(
 
first thing i would is i'm midget but i'll forgive you for that :wink:

the other stuff is not good though, especially the scratch
 
Taz x said:
first thing i would is i'm midget but i'll forgive you for that :wink:

the other stuff is not good though, especially the scratch
Click to expand...

Yeah as i said i wouldn't give a sh*t about the seat and them failing to notify before hand that they didn't have all of the required parts... but the scratches... i probably don't have a leg to stand on in relation to this... any advice on how i should approach them?
 
I had a 6" dent in passenger door of Slk after a service the tried to fob me off but I stuck to my guns and got it sorted :thumbsup:

They had also adjusted door mirror so you couldn't see it until you adjusted it back. I had washed car Sunday evening and straight to garage Monday morning.
They tried the "parking environment not our fault" I pointed out it was in their care.
Just keep calm and to the point :thumbsup:
 
do the service personel at bmw understand how we feel about our cars, I know we can be a bit anal, ( including me ) . I wash my car every other day , wax it to much , hence, I know every chip and blemish on the paint , if the paint is well looked after , it will feel as smooth as glass when you run your fingures across it , that is how I got them to fix a scratch on the rear end just above the exhaust. I explained that I look after the car got there service manager to run his hand over the paint and asked him , how many cars in here feel like that , have a go you never know . good luck !
 
Thanks all... I expected the car to come out better and healthier after a service and this has just pisses me right off...
 
At a loss here really as to why people take there car in for service and just hand the keys over without getting it visually checked first. I insist on it, it takes less than 5 mins and everyone knows where they stand. When you collect do the same thing. Any problems are then highlighted and the responsibility of the garage. Easy as that.

And as usual in these posts we blandly blame BMW - its not BMW as an entity it's the individual garage involved and their personnel - they are privately franchised to BMW! So name and shame THE DEALER not the whole BMW network.
 
As Alan says always get the dealer to check over the car when you drop it off. I also include a "Please do not wash sign" to prevent damage from washing.
 
Hi agree and disagree with you here... I wouldn't feel right doing these check but then again it is a way of eliminating problems like I have experienced... however I also feel that the points that I mentioned in 1 and 2 are not exacty in line with BMW's corporate principles / image etc... that the like to portray

When I refer to BMW, I am referring to the dealer and not an holistic approach to BMW itself...

The more I thought about it last night, the more I got annoyed... I might be looking into this a little too far, but the service guy asked me when i was paying him, "do I garage my car" (why would he ask this...) and then brought me to my car via their back entrance, behind reception and then out through their workshop which meant I approached my car from the drivers side and not passenger side which I would have approached from if I entered the service car park from the main entrance... as I said I might be reading into it a little too much but I am going to call them this morning and express my frustration in a polite but eager manor
 
I would stick with them especially with the scratches.... the other are annoyances; but easy to rectify.... why they would ever store memory seat preferences amazes me.... maybe by accident?!

I would love to be able to do a visual check before handing my car over.. however more often then not when i visit my dealer they are so busy that i hand the keys over to a rep... and i dont have time waiting for them as i have to go to work.
 
Yeah, I called te guy who I dealt with yesterday and the receptionist told me he was not at his desk... hashed her to get him to call me without mentioning the nature of the call... hasn't phoned me back yet but I can imagine they are busy taking customers cars in each morning
 
I've got scratches on my inner A pillar, they've obviously held it whilst accessing the OBD port and their ring?! has scratched it! So had to buy a new one!
 
I don't often get them to look at it first but I always check it before I drive away. You've gotta tell them asap or obviously it could have happened on the way home.

I sometimes set a seat position like that for cleaning behind the front seats, but it'd be 2 so I didn't accidentally press it.

Family friend got a bit bruised once when a map or something slid down & held against the passenger seat memory in a Merc, forcing them into a position they didn't really fit into :oops:
 
I usually find in these situations that getting in a pelt serves no useful purpose whatsoever. I spent 30-odd years in service delivery environments (OK a sight more horsepowered than a car dealership) and the minute a client got stroppy with me I tended to just shut down.

The key is to be firm but polite and insistent.

Just be absolutely clear that there is zero doubt in your mind about the scratches being caused during the service (don't 'umm' or 'err' or concede any other possibility) and that you'd really like them to rectify the problem. If they refuse, just keep going up the food chain until you reach the top. But do bear in mind that their perception will be that it could just as easily have been a supermarket car park thing, neighbours kids, a dog jumping against the car - all sorts of nonsense that you would have missed unless you maintain 24x7 monitoring of all sides of your car???

If you still get no resolution just politely point out to them that they have two options: (i) they fix it, or (ii) you will get it fixed and send them the bill, which you will then pursue through small claims court if unpaid. The latter is more trouble to them than its worth.

The other two issues are non-events and I'd say just get over them. Every time I climb into a car my wife has driven the seat is jammed against the steering wheel when I'm 6'3".....I live with it. :thumbsup:
 
I agree with lacroupade, firm and insistent is the way forward...

Also, pick your battles. What I mean is go after them for the scratches and forget the seat position... the scratches make them seem negligent, complaining about the seat position makes you seem like a cock (sorry, just how it sounds to me). If you want to be taken seriously focus on the one issue and don't get sidetracked by daft things like seat positions (nothing they can do about that now anyway etc)
 
Thanks all... as i said earlier i don't care that i need to go back to them again to get the micro filter installed and that my seats positions were overwrote... the only reason i am frustrated is because of the scratches... will ring them at lunch at update how i got on... thanks again
 
Just got off the phone from the service guy, told him the story about the scratches and his immediate response was... "absolutely no problem but we will need your car for the full day"

Car is booked in next Wednesday... they are very small marks but I do want my car back they way I left it with them... thanks to all for your input on this one, much appreciated...
 
Arrived at the BMW dealership again yesterday morning to get my car sorted... the micro filter fitted and the scratches & marks taken out of the paint work which they caused last week when they were carrying out the oil service & brake fluid...

I went to the service desk and gave the same guy my keys... he asked me to hang on for 20 minutes... so i did...

I had a colleague waiting with me as he was bringing me back to work (90 miles from the dealership...) - 30 minutes had passed so i went back up to the service desk to ask them why i had to wait, and he said that my car was almost ready... i asked him if the scratches and marks were sorted and he hesitated and saif "Oh, ok, i'll look into them for you and give you a call..." - i explained that i travelled nearly 100 miles and needed to head back to work so i asked him for a pen and paper so i could illustrate where the marks were...

Arrived back at the dealership that evening... he said everything was now sorted and that the car was out the front... he confirmed that the marks were put under a micro scope and confirmed / laughed that they were caused by the service team... no apology what so ever... he seemed to think it was funny

I was originally quoted €320 for the service and they had only asked me for €290 last week as they did not have the micro filter in stock... so i was now expecting to pay €30...

He handed me a bill for €99.91 - i explained the above quote and what was left and he checked it up on his computer... "Oh, sorry you are right..." - paid him the €30 and asked if the service book was completed and went out to get into my car...

- again the seat was not returned to where i had it (completely irrelevant but just thought they would return it...)
- pressed the 1 button on the memory seats... AGAIN, the seat started to move up and forward as far as it could possibly go as they overwrote my settings for a second time (why would they do this... anyway slightly irrelevant but just bad customer service)
- then noticed 14" - 15" inches of dry muck on the inside of both door panels and on the dash and passenger window sill (irrelevant again but it did annoy me)
- got out of there as quick as i could as i was quite p*ssed off and drove 90 miles back home

Went through the service book when i got home:
- the brake fluid section was completely empty
- only the Oil Service was ticked...
- the Air Cleaner Element was NOT ticked (is this the micro filter)
- the 22nd was entered in as the date of the service where as all the receipts for the oil service have the 15th of June (last week)
- NO mileage entered for the service (if i put down yesterdays (22nd) mileage, then it is different from the original receipts mileage ont he 15th..., if i put down the mileage on the 15th, the it would imply that the car did not gain any mileage within the full week (might be fussy here but it doesn't look good when it comes to sell the car on and a potential buyer looks into the service history...)

Last but not least the paint work that they carried out has a blemish in it...

I hate listening to people moaning and giving out and i am truly surprised at how angry all this experience with them has made me... I feel like sending a detailed email to the service manager and the overall manager of the dealership CCing BMW Ireland... i am not looking for anything from them but i dropped my car into them to improve it, and i have had nothing but hassle from them... i would like my service book and receipts to correspond and i would like the paint work on my car back the way it was when i dropped my car into them... fair play to you if you are still reading my rant... :(
 
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