Totally Flat Battery after 4 Days??

J

Justinitus

Member
 Northern Ireland
Sorry guys and gals but I need to vent.

Used my Zed on Saturday for about 20 mile drive and went to start it tonight. The battery was so flat that the window dropped its usual inch or so when I opened the door and didn't have enough energy to raise up again when I closed it. Even the fuel guage wouldn't move and the clocks had reset themselves. I double checked and I hadn't left any lights on.

BMW Emergency sent an agency recovery firm. Aparently because Northern Ireland is a "remote province" they do not employ their own factory trained mobile technicians here like they do in England and eslewhere. Hmmm. Didn't mention that in the sales literature at purchasing time did they??

Anyway, the guy seemed to know how to jump start my car but could not offer any other reasoning for the battery being totally drained and didn't have any diagnostic equipment. Suggested I take it to BMW :o . Another half day off work then. Not really much of a backup service is it?

But it gets worse. The guy who came, as polite and courteous as he was, was wearing trousers with zips on the back. Broken zips too. Without using any sort of seat cover he climbs into my car, slid into the driver seat and did THIS:

IMG_6955.jpg


This pic is after I had a go with the BMW lederlotion. I called BMW Emergency after he left and explained. The mechanic had signed the sheet to say what had happened. BMW said they "would talk to the recovery company to see if anything can be done".

WTF??? :evil:

This whole BMW ownership thing, taking into account my recent broken spring at 12k miles, my damaged wheels caused by the faulty OEM BMW wheel brushes and now this, is really starting to stink.

Vent over. :D
 
Jesus - unlucky mate - thats shocking (seats).

Re: battery - do you have any hardwired equipment you've installed yourself? Or a tracker?

I once had a similar thing happen with my TT and it was because the RAC Trackstar I had was draining the battery.
 
Thanks guys for the support, what would be wanting done about it?

I don't want a leather repair as one scratch is really deep, so a new seat cover? What if the black doesn't match?

Didn't get my promised phone calls back from either the recovery agent's boss or BMW themselves. Kinda gives me an idea of how they must rate their customers really.

I truly get better service from Toyota. When my "change engine oil" light came on in my jeep a few weeks back, I called up the local dealer here and asked about it. "Its ok to drive, will you home by 6? If so I'll ask one of the boys to call round after work and reset it for you". I was back, and they did come. Brilliant.
 
Wow, that's really bad representation for BMW.

I know the feeling, my battery on my 06 is dead too. The shop said to either bring the car in or have it flat bed to them. When I bought the Z they said they come to your house if you have any problems. Guess it isn't so :(

I haven't had time from work to get it down to them and I hate to have it flat bed. I've had nothing but problems with this Z :fuelfire:
 
Terrible mess of the seat.

Can you prove the BMW guy damaged the seat, or at least reasonably so. Did he see the damage and apologise at the time, acknowledge it, etc.

Personally I'd hold BMW responsible as you contracted with them, not the recovery company. Visit the selling dealer, meet a member of the management team and get them to accept responsibility and fixing it. Put it in writing too. Alternative is to Call BMW UK Cust Serv. and work through with them. Clock is running an they'll collectively run you around if allowed to. I'd be after 2 new seats covers, bases and rears to ensure match. They have no real defence in this case.

Don't let them worm out of it.

Battery almost becomes the side issue and I would suspect an internal failure of the battery if it happens again given the speed it died at an lack of any residual energy to drive anything. Similar happened on my X5 2 months ago and it was a totally dead cell in the battery, discovered only ages after wasting time trying to find a current drain.

Good luck
 
Thank you all for the support and very welcome advice, am sorry to hear I'm not the only one suffering a (possible) dud battery.

Just to fill you in, I had a request from the recovery agent to come around and have a look at the damage. Booked to come today at 10am but didn't show, I then called at 11.30 and they promised to be with me by the latest 1.30pm (I had a meeting scheduled for 2.30pm 35 miles away) and they eventually turned up at 6.15pm.

After they left, I had no option but to write this to Mondial/BMW Assistance....

Hi T****a

I'm just writing to let you know that 3 people from A*** G****m recovery have just been to inspect the damage to my drivers seat.

The first question they asked was if the damage was done previous to the mechanics visit last Thursday.

I then pointed to the broken zips on the back of the mechanic's (same mechanic) trousers which are broken and appear sharp. They then said that anything could have caused the damage.

The mechanic then got into my car again and claimed that the zip on his trousers was nowhere near the damage. I think you'll agree that when you look at the picture of the damage on the seat is is indeed in the area of where the zip of a back pocket would be.

I then mentioned that I had shown the mechanic the damage right after he had got out of my car and that he had also acknowledged what had caused it, apologised and had signed the report sheet to indicate the damage that he had caused.

He then proceeded to tell me today that he had only signed the sheet to indicate that there was a mark on the seat and that he hadn't agreed he had done it, he had marked it on the sheet because I had asked him to. That is an absolute lie.

Basically they came in a group of 3, stood around me in a group and tried to wriggle out of their responsibility to fix it.

I am absolutely shocked at this behaviour and attitude of a BMW appointed agent. I'm not suggesting the mechanic did it on purpose, far from it, it was an accident, but I am not prepared for them to now try and deny it.

They have gone away and have promised to contact me on Tuesday but to be perfectly honest, I'm so hopping mad about this evening's visit and their attitude towards a BMW customer I do not wish to deal with them. When they call me I will ask them to liase through you.

I trust that you understand my reaction to the way I am being treated in this matter and thank you for your assistance so far.

Regards

Justin Manning
 
Many of us, me included tend to baby our Zeds drive them to infrequently or just on short hops without getting the battery really fully charged. When I went into my local dealership I saw every BMW there with a cord coming out of the trunks. Looking inside I saw trickle chargers keeping the batteries up and ready.

I was going to buy one from BMW but they were quite expensive. I found one called the Battery Tender by Deltran. After looking at it and comparing it with the BMW unit I think they are one and the same as the case is the same size the lights and controls are also the same. The BMW one comes in a neat case with BMW on it, but the unit inside is, if not exactly the same, very close.

These type of devices can be connected day after day and they are smart enough to know when to and not to charge the battery so no over charging happens. Also there is a little pigtail that is connected to the battery and you connect the charger to it so there is no connection and disconnection from the actual battery. Just disconnect at the pigtail. The price of these devices is small in comparison to the cost of a new battery not including the inconvenience when one can not start the Zed or it will not start after you park it somewhere.

I had a brand new Cadillac before I got the BMW and the battery died at the hospital parking lot sometime during the first year I had it. The mechanics at the dealership told me that the battery was damaged by being overcharged because of the short trips I was taking and not letting it ever get fully charged. So this problem is not isolated just to our Zeds. :(
 
When would you replace your factory battery? Mine is an 03 with 30K miles?
Do you wait to it s*** the bead or replace before?

B-
 
Sorry, forgot to provide my input on your situation, sorry again!!!
I would have them repair it so it will match and not look to strange, if you select the proper leather repair person, you will never see the scratch if done correct with proper dye!!!!!!!!!!

B-
 
JUst to give you guys an update, its now nearly 7 weeks and still nothing more from Mondial (BMW Emergency Services). Tried to get BMW CS themselves to intervene but they said it wasn't to do with them.

Will be writing to Mondial for the final time later this week
 
I have a battery conditioner/maintenance charger I use all winter whent he car is laying up in the garage.

Unfortunately my garage is 11 miles away from the house (it's not all my land in between you understand.... :lol: ) and I have no way of plugging it in during summer months (although I'm guessing some clever sod is going to suggest I get an 11mile long cable.... :lol: )

However since the dreaded breakdown day, the battery has been fine..... :D
 
The very first thing to do is get the battery itself checked out. Its the cheapest thing to check and then you know for sure wheather its the battery or the car. Then go from there.
 
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