Bought my BMW from this dealer in aug 2009...eight mths ago...we had tire issues since we bought the car...including the warning light that keeps going on and off.

Well, the tire finally blew today...the roadside assistant guy said the has never seen a tire so dry rotted and the tire was plugged...he went on to say that..."he doesn't usually comment about things like this, but this tire is a mess".

The sales manager...Tommy...was a jerk...was rude...said he was the boss and the only one above him was the Board of Directors...didn't care what I said...NEVER BUY A CARE FROM THESE GUYS.

Here is a letter sent to BMW about my complaint that no-one seems to take seriously and for which I have still not had a reply.

My BMW 3i SE Convertible was bought on 21 September 2007 at Broad Oak Canterbury. At the time of purchase I was asked what colour the car was to be finished with at an extra cost of approximately £500.
In September 2009, I noted some paint had come off the bonnet of my car and assumed a stone or some other small object had caused the damage. However, in November after washing the car, I started to notice other areas on the bonnet also had small areas of paint loss. On careful further examination of the cars’ paintwork there were also losses of paint on the wings and more disturbingly on the rear of the car. In total there are at least 31 areas of loss of paint on the car ranging from 2- 15 mm in diameter or length. Despite having a BMW before this one and a further 10 cars in my lifetime I have never witnessed this amount of paint loss in multiple areas of a car like this including cars like Mazda, Nissan and Honda even when they have been up to 9 years old.
The tyres required being replaced in January 2010 and whilst in the BMW Center at Broad Oak Canterbury I asked the technicians to look at the paintwork. I was told that all the areas of paint loss were caused by chips from stones even the ones at the back where being hit by a stone is unlikely. I then requested a further inspection and I was told to make an appointment at Barretts Repair Centre in Canterbury. Darren inspected the car stated it did not come under the corrosive warranty and said that they were all due to stone chips and with the one at the back something had to have hit it somehow . I told him I was not happy with this explanation as this sort of paintwork damage had never occurred on any of my previous cars that I had possessed. He suggested then that an Inspector from BMW could look at this at some time. A further appointment was made to get this seen by the BMW Inspector in Ashford and the car was left at Barretts Canterbury. The car was picked up the following day but no explanation was given to me of the findings at the time of pick-up. The lady behind the desk just stated that I had no cause for complaint. I asked for a more detailed explanation and was told to ring back later that day. On returning the call I was told they were all chip marks and that was that. I requested then a written report from the BMW Inspector and was told I would receive this shortly. Two weeks later I still have not seen this report and still have the ever increasing number of defects on the paintwork of the car.

My complaints are as follows:
This car is the most expensive car I have ever bought and yet the paintwork is obviously defective or not in keeping with the cost of purchase of the car. What is even more disturbing is the fact I had to pay an extra amount of money for the metallic finish. I can understand stones causing marks of maybe 1mm but when areas surrounding the chip flake off in larger areas it makes me wonder whether the paint used or its application was defective in some way. This point has some truth in it as I have never witnessed this type of defective paintwork on any other car I have owned including the BMW Estate which I gave to my son and is currently 6 years old.
Although I have requested it to date I have not received a technical report explaining why the paintwork is defective despite the car being examined on 3 separate occasions. To be told they are just chip marks is not from my point of view an adequate explanation.
Looking on the internet it would appear other BMW car owners are experiencing a similar problem and are being fobbed off with the same explanation.
Unless a satisfactory explanation is forthcoming it would seem that my only course for redress would appear to report my experiences to someone like BBC Watchdog or highlight the problem in the local press so that other potential purchasers of these cars are made aware of this problem. The watchdog programme are also likely to undertake a more extensive investigation of the problem.
I chose to buy my car from BMW as you advertise the fact that you make a point of having a reputation for looking after your customers and sorting out their complaints but at the present time this does not seem to be my experience. In the future it certainly will make me look at other cars when I exchange this car in the next 2 years unless I get some recompense for this problem.
I look forward to your response before I consider taking further action on this matter.

A Stellon

On the 24th of Feb. I took my M3 to BMW for repair, an oil leak and the hooter, after 2 weeks of it will be 'done Friday' I was finally able to pick up my car on the 10th of March.
Much to my horror, the steering wheel was on crooked, I phoned to say I would be right back to correct the problem, as I got on the freeway to go back the car started to cough and sputter, I finally got there and they took the car in. They admitted that there was WATER in the electrical from the bath that they gave the motor, I then asked WHY the hooter was not fixed (even though it was charged for AND already paid) I was told that it was NOT on the ticket, when I showed them the receipt they tried to tell me that the part in question was for the transmission. I then went to the service manager who confirmed that the 'slip ring' was indeed for the hooter.
Upon getting word that the car was repaired as specified AND PAID FOR, I was told that the 'slip ring' quoted was incorrect and that the new one was going to be an additional R1900
I have a receipt that is marked paid NOWHERE on this receipt does it state that I am responsible for their incompetence.
Water in the electrical components promotes corrosion, the electrical components under the hood have been written a death sentence, forever compromising the integrity of my car. The steering wheel on crooked, it obviously was not marked correctly by the technician before it was removed, this was an abomination of everything that BMW stands for.
The car was not road tested.
A technician was swearing someone in front of my wife.
Now I am being forced to pay the R1900 for the “correct” part, or go without the repair that I have already paid for.
Upon picking my car up on March 19, 2010 I was again horrified, not only was the steering wheel STILL crooked (after they had assured me it was straight) the turn signals no longer cancel. AND the horn/hooter is still not repaired!
Is this what BMW has become? BMW customer care South has a 1 in 10 response to customer complaints!:


http://www.getclosure.co.za/complaints?op=DisplayComplaintConfirmation&PlainantName=Raymond%20Smith&PlainantID=24134&[email protected]&SupplierName=BMW%20SA%20BMW&SupplierID=484&ComplaintID=29604&authkey=3dfad15e3d6feb941e5cfa857e5715f3&redirect=redirect

Received following uninvited email, presumably spam:


CUSTOMER SERVICE
REFNO.:BMW/74-A0802742010
Batch: 044/05/ZY369

Dear E-mail Owner,

You are a winner of the <BMW Automobile awareness Online Promo Programme>
that was held on 3rd of March 2010. You have therefore been approved to
claim a total sum Five Hundred Thousand Great Britain Pounds (500, 000.00).
Please this informations are required for verification.

Name:...
Address:...
Country:...
Age:...
Gender:...
Occupation:...
Phone and Fax:...
Winning E-mail Address:...

Please contact:
Thomas Wells
Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +44-704-570-7201

Alexandru Bercean
Annoucer For BMW Automobile Awareness Online Promo

Report on BMW 320D YTB 409 GP 15 February 2010

I took delivery of the vehicle on the 12th of November 2009 from Leo Haese Hatfield South Africa
About a week after that a friend pointed out the light spot on the back right hand side door. I realized I have never seen this as the car was parked in a darkish show room where I took it from at 5 PM. From there I drove to my house and parked in the garage, where for the next 2 weeks it was to work and back and at work inside the under roof parking.
I phone BMW and told them about the mark on the back door, it is a circle in the middle of the door with a ± 30 cm radius that is much lighter then the rest of the car and door. I was asked to bring the car in and they will have a look, this was about 2 to 3 weeks before Christmas in December 2009.
The Sales person had a look and said he will have to launch a factory warranty call for them to sort out the problem, but this will however only happen in 2010 as BMW is closed until then. At this stage my car had ± 2500 km on the clock.
I took the car back the first week in January for the factory representative to come and have a look. I was asked to come fetch my car the next day, and it was reported to me that they can see there is something wrong and they will come back to us with a solution. A week or 2 went past and I phoned them to ask what would be done about the problem, I also told them that I was going on honeymoon from the 23d of January to the 1st of February, and would like the car to be fixed before that.
I was then asked to bring my car back in on the 18th to 22nd of January, they then told me they are going to fit a new door to see if the colours matched, but for this it has to go to the panel beater to strip the trimmings on the door. I told them I cannot understand why the car needs to go to the panel beater as they can fit the blank door at the dealer, to see if the colours matched. They then said ok they will have the door fitted at the dealer (I am not sure if this actually happened ). I got my car back and was told they are going to re-paint the door, I told them I wasn’t happy as it is a brand new car and I cant not see how they want to re-paint it. If I ever want to sell it, it will lose value but they assured me the car will be 100 % when I get it back.
I took the car back to them on the 9th of February to do what that said they will do, I got the car back on the 11th of February and was not happy.
The car was dirty and full of polish marks, even the dash board was full of polish marks and my car has a disgusting smell of thinners, on close inspection I have seen that they did not even remove the door when they re-painted it as there is tape marks all over the entire door, as well as paint dripping on the door handle, there is also still polish on the drive side door handle.
The paint was polished at the back door that they re-painted, to such an extent that on some places the paint was polished off and only the undercoat is visible. This is also visible at the back light of the car, and there was not a paint problem there at all.
I phoned BMW once again to say I wasn’t happy and they must do something. The response I got was that they did what they could and if I have any more problems I must take it up with BMW South-Africa.
This then made me think if they ever did launch a factory warranty claim, as I was told they did, or if they as a dealer just wanted to sort out the problem internally.
On Friday the 12th of February 2010 i phone BMW South-Arfrica to find out what they say about the problem i am having according to them there was not Factory claim against my car
The second problem with the car is there is allot of wind noise coming from the doors and the windows, when the car went in the first time for them to look at the paint problem they assured me they will also then look at the window / door problem. I was told the door railing was bend and this happened when they put the smash and grab on the car, and BMW will replace it as they had the smash and grab put on the car. Since then the story has changed to the windows not closing properly and the mirrors making a noise, they also said they will fix the windows, this never happened the car is still making the same noise. I know it is a problem as the car they gave me on loan is also a 320 D and did not have this noise.
On Tuesday the 22nd of February the car had to go for a service, and once again go back to BMW to fix the wind noise as well as fix the bad spray job.(spray job no 2)
On that morning to make things worse my car did not want to start, after the 3d try i got the car to start but the engine warring light came on. I switched the car off and started it again and the light was gone, as i booked the car in i asked them to look at this problem, i was phoned back late that afternoon to say they are still looking for the problem.
The next morning the booking lady phoned me and said ok. They have replaced power steering brackets as it was leaking and was loose ( this on a car with now 15 000 km on the clock), they then also reset the door latches for the door to close better ( read all about the wind noise problem above ) then they charged the battery and rest the computer to fix the engine problem, i said to them it does not make any sense to me i want the workshop manager to phone me. He phone me in about an hour’s time and told me the following, because the car was driven hard and the brakes got hot ( the previous day) the computer protected the car and that’s why it did not start. Now i know a bit about cars and this is not possible, i told him i do not believe this, in response they then said ok they will put the car back on the computer and show me.
I phone BMW Melyn and spoke to Niel, a technical person, he then advised me that firstly BMW does not have such a system built into any care, if the car finds the brakes hot or a engine problem it will warn you straight away, not the next day. And it WILL NOT cause the car NOT to start.
The car has now gone for the 3d spray job, this decision was made by the dealer principal (ROELF), as they were not happy with the second spray job
I still don’t have my car back, and frankly i don’t want it back, it is a brand new car that did not want to start, and has 3 layers of paint on the back door of my car.
The story they told me about the engine has changed 3 times now, the last one is that the spark plugs was dirty and they had to replace them, now a Diesel car does not have spark plugs, it has Glow plugs..

I spent ± R380 000 on a new car as I had problems with my second hand 120 I BMW, and this car was with them at least 3 times a month to get fixed. This was the reason for buying a brand new car. Now I still have a car with problems, a bad paint job and it has been back at least 6 times since I got it 3 months ago.
The bottom line is I paid for a new car and that is what I want.

___________________________
Emil Henrico
[email protected]
+2782 962 2334