Calgary BMW terrible service

[dsmp]

Bought a 135i june 7,08

No major problems
has 8000kms to date
3000+ are highway from calgary to victoria in august.
No mods.
Never raced.
Obeyed the break in period

Sept 16 - coming home. Take off from a stop sign, feel heavy clutch slip. I stop immediatly. Check the cluster for temp/cel. Nothing. Try an easy take off. Huge clutch slip. Push in clutch pedal, and only goes in halfway, and then feelings of grinding. Shut off car push it home.

Sept 17 towed first thing to CALGARY BMW

Sept 24 The car sits till after i went in the night before and bitched, this is a new car blah blah blah.

New clutch kit orderd and flywheel.
Car not even looked at

Sept 25 Taken apart, and im told clutch, flywheel and slave cylinder are hooped due to abuse. I go in to take a look, and in fact bolts had to be grinded due to such heat. Definitly not cool. The tech says ONLY from abuse does this happen. I asked what he means. He says "smoking the tires, brake stands, etc". I point to my tires which have the "nubs still visible". he agrees tires are fine, but still thinks clutch failed because of me.

Agree to let them do the job, even though i am going to contact bmw canada, and am not please. COST = 2823 CAN.

Sept 26 Car is supposed to be ready. BMW calls at 4:30 pm. good news. Says she can take 10% off labour, and 15% off parts. BAD news : The "clutch pedal is broken"(im assuming linkage of some sort), and master cylinder is blown, among some other things. She cant provide details. Parts are three weeks lead time from germany.

Not covered under warranty. Claim is that after the clutch failed, i attempted to push the clutch so hard i did this damage.

WOW am i pissed. Meanwhile they rented me a 4cyl mazda 6... what a pos

Any thoughts? I will post my pictures.

[EvolutionI]

that is pretty bullshit. Unless you are the oldest asain grandma alive who has never driven clutch and decides to teach herself at the ripe age of 103, how is it possible to do this much damage in 8000 kms with tires almost brand new. I would talk with whoever is in charge. Then take it up with the BBB

[nbaker00]

That's Calgary BMW for you!
Shitty I know!

[Redlyne_mr2]

Sorry to hear unfortunately this isn't the first time I've heard such things.

[tabouli]

Having some experience with them myself, you can always count on Calgary BMW to shit all over their customers after they pay & drive off the lot. Look for them to place the onus of blame on the customer EVERY SINGLE TIME. Never once have I heard Calgary BMW admit that one of their cars had a mechanical failure. It's always something you did, you asshole.

*Edit
Credit given though. I'm amazed that the turnover time on the car was only 10 days. You got lucky! Usually they won't even assess the damage in 10 days, let alone fix it. You must have had sex with someone who works there. Expect a service fee.

[TurboCarrera]

hrm, what's more likely:

a) heavy clutch abuse that doesn't chew up tires, yet somehow breaks the clutch master cylinder and brake pedal, or

b) failed clutch cylinder results in heavy clutch slipping that would look like abuse to a retarded tech

Either way, good luck with the warranty claim on a wear and tear item.

[dsmp]

thing is i have the extended service package which covers brakes and clutch

and 10 days was just to tell me that i have to wait 3 WEEKS!

[Weapon_R]

You think that's bad...my brother-in-law has an 07 M5 with less than 30k on it.

His SMG tranny stopped working in first gear - all other gears are fine. They blamed him for abusing the vehicle, and he was stuck paying a $3500 bill for a replacement pressure plate and flywheel.

After spending $100k on a car, he's sworn off buying another BMW again.

[nbaker00]

Originally posted by tabouli


*Edit
I'm amazed that the turnover time on the car was only 10 days. You got lucky! Usually they won't even assess the damage in 10 days, let alone fix it. You must have had sex with someone who works there. Expect a service fee.

at wait time.
and

[funkedelic2]

that sucks, last time i was there i was actually very surprised with the service. Since i don't live in Calgary i took the car there on a trailer, had it like 5 days earlier than it was scheduled in for since i couldn't come on the day i had the appointment. The next day i got a call early morning saying that it was ready to go. Didn't give me any hassles and actually did a great job of cleaning up my car and had it sitting in the bay as soon as i got there. I was on my way back within 5 minutes of entering the dealership.

It was a nice change since the last few times i had been there were less than enjoyable experiences.

[TorqueDog]

Wow, that's a really shitty experience man. :\

[A790]

Wow... never buying a new BMW.

[dsmp]

Seems to me that they perhaps choose which service work warrants decency.

For example, after 3 days of waiting on my car, i went in to talk to my SA and she was on the phone with another customer, about what sounded like the customer had a nasty pull to one side while driving the vehicle. The SA basically got in a fight with the customer right in front of me on the phone, blatenly denying any such problem. It even sounded like the call ended on personal insults, with an eventual "hang up" from the BMW SA.

If you ask me, why the hell would someone complain about a vehicle pulling to one side, if(according to what i heard "is within acceptable range") it werent true?

Made me wonder..... seems like they have their staff trained to treat all customers as though they are in the wrong, no matter what.

Originally posted by funkedelic2
that sucks, last time i was there i was actually very surprised with the service. Since i don't live in Calgary i took the car there on a trailer, had it like 5 days earlier than it was scheduled in for since i couldn't come on the day i had the appointment. The next day i got a call early morning saying that it was ready to go. Didn't give me any hassles and actually did a great job of cleaning up my car and had it sitting in the bay as soon as i got there. I was on my way back within 5 minutes of entering the dealership.

It was a nice change since the last few times i had been there were less than enjoyable experiences.

[max_boost]

WTF man. No way in hell I would foot that bill without causing a huge disturbance lol That's such BS.

[HiTempguy1]

Raise hell. Thats what I did at Progress Volkswagen about my 2004 Golf. The throwout bearing literally exploded for no reason but stayed in one "sort of" full piece. The clutch would randomly engage when releasing the clutch pedal and violently jerk the car (sounded like what you get with bad wheel hop).

I brought it in, they took it for a test drive. "Well, our tech couldn't get it to do what you say it is doing." I said do you think I am LYING about this? If you guys really want, I will call VW Canada and let them know what you are trying to pull on me. They said, "Welllllll, ok...." and started pulling it apart. And then they magically found the destroyed throwout bearing. I even told them that when I first brought the car in, I believed something had happened to the throwout bearing to cause an issue like that.

Go in, raise hell (politely at first). And make sure to have BMW Canada's phone number on you. Then go through the process of going through the higher ups till you get someone who can deal on the phone if the stealership won't do anything.

[The Cosworth]

wow, kind of sounds like the 328i I was looking at on their used lot.

The shifter linkage was really loose, I mean it felt like I was shifting gears if I was in gear that is how much it was moving. The sales guy told me that it was normal for a BMW to do that. This car was supposed to have a M package and the linkage was really loose? BS.

[pinoyhero]

Brutal, contact the BB or other regulated agency. You may not have a balck and white case but at the very least you'll stir some shit and possible generate more publicity. Write head office as well, both BMW Canada and BMW NA. This seems to be a case of ... I have enough money to blow on your cars so listen; your service at Calgary BMW is BS and I will not buy another BMW product again unless this is rectified. See what you get back.

[Casa]

Calgary BMW is terrible. With the extended warranty and everything you honestly should be able to not have to pay for a thing. Demand to talk to the GM, make it a huge fight>

[HiTempguy1]

This car was supposed to have a M package and the linkage was really loose? BS.

Do you read Grassroots Motorsports by any chance? They LOVE BMW's, but have said the shift linkage in the newer ones makes them want to stab their eyes out with forks. It is seriously that bad supposedly.

[jadeboy]

This is one reason I didn't buy a BMW... I know the BMW drives better than a Lexus... but the interior, reliablity and service is not up to spec..

Lexus of Calgary has always treated me like a million dollar.