Watchdog - I need some support

bobby69 said:
It seems sometime its down to how good the dealer is I had the hill assist problem spoke to dealer they spoke to bmw uk few days later they agreed to swap the car for a auto
i was as simple as that
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See, this is the thing. A big part of my complaint was the hill start thing. I asked for an auto. They totally pissed on it and my dealer actually told BMW lies - he told them I knew about hill start before collection....well yes I did, from reading on here it was me that pointed it out to dealer! It was mis sold. Cheating Lieing scumbag was my dealer principle, I'd rather go elsewhere than deal with him again.
 
I agree, the weak link is the dealerships.

I sat in a car with a service chap and he said he could hear the electrical spinning noise from behind the dash and said it was definitely electrical. I advised this to BMW Finance. Next time I went into the dealer the Service Manager had received a note from BMW Finance with my reference to the service chaps remark and they said I had lied.

I really think the dealers play a game, they either say or lead you to believe certain things and then screw you over. In my experience I've found BMW the worst (on my 3rd dealer purchase)

Last night I sent an email to Tim Abbott explaining the situation in brief, I hope he does help and this is the end to a 9 month nightmare...

Thanks for the email address marchantsuk!!
 
I'd escalate this if you can. Don't accept the three months as that could be an admission of acceptance. I'm no lawyer but that's what it smells of.

Financial services ombudsman?
 
inkey$ said:
I'd escalate this if you can. Don't accept the three months as that could be an admission of acceptance. I'm no lawyer but that's what it smells of.

Financial services ombudsman?
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+1 that does wiff. Go to a solicitors pay a couple of hundred quid and get them to write a letter in response to all your communication with BMW and Financial Services. The likelyhood is that BMW UK FS is a 3rd party and even if thats not the case, they have targets to meet.

There is no point arguing with them if they are playing you, just get legal and be done with it.
 
inkey$ said:
I'd escalate this if you can. Don't accept the three months as that could be an admission of acceptance. I'm no lawyer but that's what it smells of.

Financial services ombudsman?
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They are a bit clever with this. When I had issues and complained, they offered, among other things, a years free warranty extension. I took it. Little did I know that accepting this meant I accepted the car as it was and no more compensation would be considered for anything. They never told me that at the time, they told me that when I complained again about something else.

Very sneaky.
 
I have a response:

Dear Mr W,

Thank you for your email of February 4, 2013.

There is nothing more important to me than the satisfaction of our customers and I was concerned to hear about the issues you have experienced with your BMW Z4.

However, I do have a specialised team who make sure that when problems occur they are resolved quickly and have therefore contacted XXXXX, my National Customer Service Manager, to brief him on your situation. I can assure you that his team will give this matter their prompt attention and be in touch with you shortly.

In the meantime, if you would like to provide any additional information or get in touch with the team direct, their contact details are below.

Best regards
BMW Group UK



I've responded offering to send as much information as they need, hopefully this isn't just another ploy to offer customer service and then try and resolve it in their favour.

I've also submitted enquiries to a couple of solicitors and will discuss a strong letter with the most appropriate.
 
A call from BMW customer service and a case handler assigned. A conversation with the handler has given me a small amount of confidence, but she can already see my case and see someone in her team was already assigned.

I'm not holding my breath considering I'm going over old ground but someone may realise I'm a customer, a law exists to protect us and the car should be rejected...
 
I found it a 3 way conversation - the dealer, BMW UK and BMW Financial Services.

I complained about the leak that they couldn't fix, the length of time my car had been with them (was given a loan car....but never a Z4) and also the lack of hill start assist, even though it was advertsied.

I asked for a replacement car due to the leak, a free upgrade to auto box due to the hill start issue and compensation for the hassle.

Right from the start the DP tried to play down the hill start issue...he then said that might be their (dealers) responsibly, and he continued to ignore it. All along they lied to me about sending the car away to be fixed (the location of the centre kept changing depending who I spoke to) and BMW kept asking them to change 1 thing at a time.

I appreciate fault finding techniques, but by this stage it was too much.

BMW UK wouldn't talk to me....they kept saying I had to go through the dealer. The dealer just said they are dealing with BMW UK. It was only BMW Finance who would talk to me (I sent all 3 a 9 page rejection letter) and even she ignored my calls for a while. Eventually the offer came back they would replace the car and pay 2 months finance payments in full and final settlement. Nothing for the hill start.

We took it cos getting the car changed was the main thing, and 2 months payments made up for the time we were without the car.

They said they wouldn't consider the hill start issue as I knew about it before taking delivery of the car. The fact is I didn't know when ordering, and it was via the forums I found out, as the 20i's started arriving. When I spoke to my salesman he assured me it did....until he tested one. At that point it was like "oh well" shrug shoulders time.

Every time I mentioned the forums they poo poo'd them and I've heard them do this to another customer (different car/issue etc). They must hate forums as it means they cant bullshit as much!

When they replaced the car I wanted to add DAB radio....they point blank refused! I said I will pay for it outright so it doesn't affect finance but they said no, the car had to be identical to the original! So they turned down more custom! Yet the finance is for a '12 plate car and I've got a '62 plate car.

I seriously considered changing dealership but the nearest is 50mile away and in the same group, the next one is about 70 miles away!

Overall I am happy with my dealer and salesman, but I dont like the DP....he has really tarnished my view of it all.

All I say is keep fighting, use logic and common sense. Ask if they would like to pay nearly £40k for a car and have these issues.
 
I have gained legal advice, rattles are no basis to reject the car unfortunately from a legal stand point, I tried, trust me I tried. Also I had a leak but BMW dealer couldn't find it. I still have a leak and unless they find it then that's it.

My advice, if you can get watchdog involved them go for it. I would love to make my voice heard!
 
Matt Bacon is a reasonable bloke. He refunded all my costs including petrol, ferries, tel calls, hotels etc when my car broke down in Germany last year....he also gave me back £1800 (cost of white design interior) for my stained alcantara from the seatbelts
 
There's 3 issues I'm going for:

1. The rattles - appreciate this is a really tough battle.
2. The engine noise, which is very noticeable in mine
3. The leak - but I've never reported this due to being so minor.

Yesterday I passed all the details to a customer services manager including a log of every bit of detail since collection. This has proved extremely useful, and helped me stay sane knowing how the situation has been treated.

I received a call back from the CSM later and she was shocked that BMW Financial Services had been handling the case since August, they had neglected to return any calls throughout January and the ongoing behaviour of the dealership.

I will be visiting the car to take it for a drive and validate the issues are still there and the garage hasn't touched them and then have a further appointment with the area technician to take the car for a 1-2 hour drive. This happened previously, however I couldn't make any of the dates offered due to work commitments. According to the garage and BMW FS, I wasn't being flexible and they had to proceed without me... No, first week in a new job, hmmm, can I have a day off to test drive my car...

I hope the whole case has enough clout to get rid of the car...would I consider another BMW, depends on the deal I suppose...but like JDM, if given the chance I would check out Audi.
 
I have found this:

http://my-new-mercedes-benz-rattles.com/2012/08/06/rejection6th-august-2012/

It relates to a merc, but both are prestigious car manufacturers.

BTW - Thank you all for the offers to support the watchdog case, I will be putting forward my case to them shortly and will report back.
 
Good luck.
I would however remove the email you have posted from BMW. That should not be on an open forum given the processes you are going through where it names individuals.
 
I remember threatening a different car company to reject their car I had on finance, I spoke to Watchdog and the Ferret, as well as Trading Standards, all told me that in order to reject a car you must immediately stop using it, park the car in the dealer forecourt and hand them the keys and a letter telling them you are rejecting the car, copied into the finance company.

Then get a solicitior to work on your case and look to get your money back, or a new car.

I didnt go the whole hog as it was resolved by then, especially when the TV channels got interested, but all were very stern with their warning that to reject a car you must stop using it.

Good luck though, hope it all works out for you.
 
Thanks Gary... They have my car and the keys but for a different reason. Maybe I should just send them the letter and complete the picture :wink:

I've submitted my story to watchdog, if anyone is willing to help and also I can help you, please go to the watchdog site and submit your story.

The other angle I've been considering is SOGA but I believe it's sales of credit act or something similar. I don't believe the car is of the quality that relects the price, the brochure of the overall owner experience BMW say it does. Rejecting the car is a more difficult route and this may be simpler and easier. Anyone have any view on this?

Again, thanks for all the support, I've never spent so much time on a forum where people are helpful and there's no sign of trolls...
 
Slightly off topic but Mercedes Benz CS are the most unhelpful people I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

Tried opening a case, the dealer had taken a drive in my car and deemed it 'chipped'. I was then indirectly called a liar by CS who were blindly stating that the car was indeed mapped.

Then they closed my case saying they're doing nothing about it after I threatened legal action. Yes my warranty was in breach (due to modifications) but I was not complaining about that. Needless to say I got rid of the car and shall never deal with them again.

I know its generally used for issues outside of warranty but could you use ESKULAB as some form of addition to strengthen your claim for refusing the car?
 
So here's the letter of the law: http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/consumer-rights/

Quite whether rattles are sufficient to reject a car is another matter.
 
I had a replacement car but it wasn't because there was anything wrong with it, it was because of what the dealer did to it when it went in for work.
Bmw financial services were brilliant with me but it is totally different circumstances to you.
I would, as has been said, be very surprised if rattles are classed as a reason backed by consumer law for rejecting the car.
Good luck.
 
When I take the technician for a test drive I will be focusing on build quality against the rattles and the engine noise. I agree that rattles don't stop the car taking you from A-B, but it does breach the sales of good act which after 3 repairs is a replacement or refund.

Car rejection seems to based on differnet criteria, but rattles and creaks has worked for a number of people if persistant enough :headbang:
 
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