Good customer service vs BMW service

[WoodlandHills]

I went down to America's Tire (Discount Tire) to replace a 6 year-old truck tire that had a sidewall blowout last week. The Service Advisor at America's Tire pulled up my records, saw that the blown tire was over 6 years old and promptly informed me that I would be getting a free replacement for it. Then we went out and looked at the tires on the truck and found that two more were cracked: two new ones were ordered and I will be paying about 1/2 of the price since there was lots of tread left to prorate.
Contrast this with my head banging attempts to get some replacement Bridgestones for my whooping i3: going onto 6 months of service visits, inspections and stonewalling by BMW. The car is currently at the dealer again, their first try at resolving its current PUMA case was met with a "dismissive response" from BMWNA (this from Century West BMW). They are trying again and I am to get the car on Tuesday.

So which company seems to care about their customers?

 

[jadnashuanh]

Dealers are private businesses, and how they treat you and how they present your case to BMWNA will differ considerably based on the attitudes of the local managers.

FWIW, any tire over 6-years old, regardless of the amount of tread left on it, should be replaced with new ones. The rubber just keeps getting harder and harder and stiffer and stiffer as it ages, and about 6-years is the industry limit on service life. The stopping distances and cornering forces available just keep going downhill as the rubber ages, and you really don't want any around that old.

 

[WoodlandHills]

As a customer, should I really care about that? Does the internal politics of BMW and their relationship to their dealers make any difference in the facts? I have something wrong with my car and BMW refuse to deal with it in an ethical manner.

Why should I differentiate between dealer and corporate? They both say BMW on the door, they both were eager to take my money and both profited from my lease. As a customer why should that make any difference at all in whether or not I get decent service?

Since BMW pay far below retail for Bridgestone tires the dollar amounts in play are probably similar for the two companies that I have contrasted, so again, which company cares about their customers?

FWIW, unless my dealer is flat out lying to me (a possibility with BMW dealers, I have been told) the roadblock in my case is BMWNA who continue to insist that the whoop-whoop is an acceptable and normal sound and refuse to permit troubleshooting much less replacement of tires.

 

[I33t]

Why should I differentiate between dealer and corporate?

Because they are different businesses with different owners and different attitudes towards customer service.

This is not rocket science. If the dealer is not giving service, go over their heads to head office, find another dealer, or put up with the results of your own inaction.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Why should I differentiate between dealer and corporate?

Because they are different businesses with different owners and different attitudes towards customer service.

This is not rocket science. If the dealer is not giving service, go over their heads to head office, find another dealer, or put up with the results of your own inaction.

I understand the difference and on a practical level I will indeed try to escalate directly to corporate when I have exhausted my attempts to find an answer through my dealer. FWIW according to the dealer, the problem IS corporate, but be that as it may.....
I was speaking rhetorically, as in "why is BMW so F'd up?", meaning why cannot this company make me whole and how come a consumer with a legitimate issue has such trouble getting resolution via BMW's own procedures.
It is not as if I am making this up! BMWNA via their engineer as well as every Service Advisor who has driven my car admits that it makes a loud and unpleasant noise when driven. This has never been in dispute. The conflict arises from me being unwilling to accept BMWNA's verdict that it is an acceptable loud and unpleasant noise.
Again, it is BMWNA that is the roadblock, my dealer simply wants to be sure that they will get reimbursed for the work before they start. So where do I go if BMW simply refuse to do anything? Lemon Law? (Already working on that)

 

[I33t]

I don't think you can claim BMW is the roadblock until you have escalated the issue to them directly.

Given that other owners have had the whoop resolved, the most likely roadblock remains your dealer.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I have had good luck with my local dealer, even getting some things for free that were admittedly damaged by me to repair. Case in point, I left an umbrella between the passenger's seat and the door, then reached over and moved the seat...it broke the silly switch. Seems that it's connected to a small circuit board, and retail is over $300. They replaced it knowing that I'd broken it accidentally with the agreement of the regional rep.

A good dealer can smooth lots of issues, a bad one can be just plain frustrating. It's a wonder some of them ever get repeat business.

 

[mindmachine]

I have had good luck with my local dealer, even getting some things for free that were admittedly damaged by me to repair. Case in point, I left an umbrella between the passenger's seat and the door, then reached over and moved the seat...it broke the silly switch. Seems that it's connected to a small circuit board, and retail is over $300. They replaced it knowing that I'd broken it accidentally with the agreement of the regional rep.

A good dealer can smooth lots of issues, a bad one can be just plain frustrating. It's a wonder some of them ever get repeat business.

I agree, I have been very luck with my BMW dealer as he is very oriented toward doing whatever to satisfy his customers. I too have had things done for me that really were (over the top) customer good will when even BMW corporate would not take care of me. I tend to agree with woodland hills though, compared to Lexus, my experience with BMW corporate is not as generous with it customers when it comes to good will repairs or fixes. However as far as the whoop whoop of the tires, most dealers would probably tell you to go to Bridgestone for resolution.

 

[WoodlandHills]

I have a claim working with Bridgestone, but the fact that the offending tires are OEM equipment covered by the BMW vehicle warranty is a complication. Bridgestone wants BMW to state that the problem is solely the tires and BMW are unwilling to state ANY cause at all. One can get lots of verbal comments and opinions from BMW and their dealer, but nothing in writing as to the reason for the noise.

 

[jasleinstein]

We live in Seattle and have bought BMWs from three dealers. BMW bellevue, which were OK when it came to service and support, BMW NW (Fife Wa) whom were great for service and support, but 30 miles away, and bought this i3 from Seattle BMW mid last year. We find the sales folks were not knowledgeable on the i3 or EVs in general, the the service group have been great. Most importantly the service group have been honest. Within days of getting our i3 and we ran head long into the BMW NA smoke screen about KLE failures, The Seattle service manager worked with me and made phone calls until we found out what the truth was.


As we have been dealing with the constant TCU issues and our app would not connect, the Seattle dealer cannot help as the connect car service is controlled by BMWNA. In one of the sessions trying to simply reset the TCU ( thanks to users on this forum, I found out simply pulling #115 fuse the TCU gets reset) I went thru the most bizarre set of steps to reset the car including rolling up the windows, getting out of the car and locking it. Even Microsoft doesn't make you leave your house to reboot your PC. The topping on the cake came when the rep told me they would have to reset my account. I replied I was fine with that and would just stay on the phone. He relied that would not work as the process takes a week.

When my X5 had a software bug that found me rolling into an intersection with no steering, no power or brakes and the dealer escalated the issue to the regional BMW exec, he basically told me I was imagining things. I replied back to him, someone within BMW would be calling me back with a month or two telling me to bring the car in for a software upgrade, which is exactly what happened.

I recently had a frank conversation with the general manager of Seattle BMW over the fact there are no DC fast chargers in or even planned for the state of Washington. Now they have sold many i3s and told customers DC chargers were being installed "very soon" as BMW NA told them, they and customer are left holding the empty power bag.

BMW NA wants to market themselves by making ridiculous claims: BMW: "The BMW i3 is the first fully online all-electric vehicle, thanks to its bespoke range of BMW i ConnectedDrive solutions for electric vehicles”, sending us, via mail, USB sticks, headphones and seriously? chips of carbon fiber wrapped in nice boxes.
My experience BMW and BMWNA are the issue most of the time, and have now inserted themselves between the dealer and the customer with an online service that is terribly broken. This situation is a iron ball around the neck of BMW and their dealer network and make sink them all.

We have a Tesla and see the other side, and the light is bright and the experience is wonderful. The moment the Model 3 is announced we are on the order list. If we can sell the i3 in the mean time, I might consider driving my old 2000 Ford F150 pickup. It's far more reliable and I don't have to deal with BMW.

 

[i3atl]

I recently had a frank conversation with the general manager of Seattle BMW over the fact there are no DC fast chargers in or even planned for the state of Washington. Now they have sold many i3s and told customers DC chargers were being installed "very soon" as BMW NA told them, they and customer are left holding the empty power bag.

You keep making this statement, and maybe you mean that BMW has no documented plans to roll out CCS DCFC infrastructure in Washington, but it's incorrect to say that there are none planned. Kia already announced plans to roll out 6 DCFCs in your state.

http://insideevs.com/kia-charges-up-for-soul-ev-launch-in-washington-oregon/

 

[Blue20]

I recently had a frank conversation with the general manager of Seattle BMW over the fact there are no DC fast chargers in or even planned for the state of Washington. Now they have sold many i3s and told customers DC chargers were being installed "very soon" as BMW NA told them, they and customer are left holding the empty power bag.

You keep making this statement, and maybe you mean that BMW has no documented plans to roll out CCS DCFC infrastructure in Washington, but it's incorrect to say that there are none planned. Kia already announced plans to roll out 6 DCFCs in your state.

http://insideevs.com/kia-charges-up-for-soul-ev-launch-in-washington-oregon/

Cool! Roll a $50K i3 off the BMW lot and then drive to Kia to fill up.

 

[i3atl]

Cool! Roll a $50K i3 off the BMW lot and then drive to Kia to fill up.

Yep, ridiculous that BMW hasn't deployed more of these units..preferably at non-dealer locations.

 

[jasleinstein]

i3atl,

I will continue to make the same statement. I only value two commitments. If they are planned then a written statement when and where chargers will be installed or current ones upgraded, or see actual cute little CCS handles dangling off the Blink, Charge Now, or EVR chargers we see all the Leafs connecting to fast charge. I spoke to each of the three charging providers they told me they have NO plans. That was before the Kia announcement however.


I do have to chuckle a bit at what you point out about Kia rolling out chargers. As much fluff marketing BMW does, maybe next we will see them make a statement they are working with Kia to roll out chargers.

Blue20, If I saw a $50,000 i3 parked at Kia charging I am not sure who would be more embarrassed, BMW or Kia.

 

[WoodlandHills]

We live in Seattle and have bought BMWs from three dealers. BMW bellevue, which were OK when it came to service and support, BMW NW (Fife Wa) whom were great for service and support, but 30 miles away, and bought this i3 from Seattle BMW mid last year. We find the sales folks were not knowledgeable on the i3 or EVs in general, the the service group have been great. Most importantly the service group have been honest. Within days of getting our i3 and we ran head long into the BMW NA smoke screen about KLE failures, The Seattle service manager worked with me and made phone calls until we found out what the truth was.


As we have been dealing with the constant TCU issues and our app would not connect, the Seattle dealer cannot help as the connect car service is controlled by BMWNA. In one of the sessions trying to simply reset the TCU ( thanks to users on this forum, I found out simply pulling #115 fuse the TCU gets reset) I went thru the most bizarre set of steps to reset the car including rolling up the windows, getting out of the car and locking it. Even Microsoft doesn't make you leave your house to reboot your PC. The topping on the cake came when the rep told me they would have to reset my account. I replied I was fine with that and would just stay on the phone. He relied that would not work as the process takes a week.

When my X5 had a software bug that found me rolling into an intersection with no steering, no power or brakes and the dealer escalated the issue to the regional BMW exec, he basically told me I was imagining things. I replied back to him, someone within BMW would be calling me back with a month or two telling me to bring the car in for a software upgrade, which is exactly what happened.

I recently had a frank conversation with the general manager of Seattle BMW over the fact there are no DC fast chargers in or even planned for the state of Washington. Now they have sold many i3s and told customers DC chargers were being installed "very soon" as BMW NA told them, they and customer are left holding the empty power bag.

BMW NA wants to market themselves by making ridiculous claims: BMW: "The BMW i3 is the first fully online all-electric vehicle, thanks to its bespoke range of BMW i ConnectedDrive solutions for electric vehicles”, sending us, via mail, USB sticks, headphones and seriously? chips of carbon fiber wrapped in nice boxes.
My experience BMW and BMWNA are the issue most of the time, and have now inserted themselves between the dealer and the customer with an online service that is terribly broken. This situation is a iron ball around the neck of BMW and their dealer network and make sink them all.

We have a Tesla and see the other side, and the light is bright and the experience is wonderful. The moment the Model 3 is announced we are on the order list. If we can sell the i3 in the mean time, I might consider driving my old 2000 Ford F150 pickup. It's far more reliable and I don't have to deal with BMW.

I had a long conversation this weekend with a friend who just finished converting the family fleet away from BMWs. They are now in a Cayenne and a Panamera and I think a couple of Lexus for the kids. His take is that BMW have tighter margins than other makes, offer a whole bunch of included service and thus don't have any money left for customer service. He contrasted that to his experiences with Porsche and Lexus: Porsche made you pay for everything, but the service and care was impeccable and Lexus included everything at no charge. FWIW, he also thought that BMW "was not what it used to be" whatever that meant. They had been in BMWs since the late 80s/early 90s.

 

[i3atl]

If they are planned then a written statement when and where chargers will be installed or current ones upgraded

Kia listed specific dealers in the press release, if you want to take a look. I don't think they've published a per-unit schedule, but they've rolled them out quickly here in Atlanta.

If you want to see some photos of i3s charging at Kia dealers, just set your filters appropriately inside Plugshare then take a look at the Atlanta area. Kia currently has more CCS units installed here than any other manufacturer/utility company/charging provider. You'll see several checkins by i3 owners at the Kia dealerships - just like you, we've been waiting for someone to install CCS infrastructure ever since the i3 was released, and Kia just happened to be the company that stepped up first.

 

[jasleinstein]

i3atl,

You are spot on. As I read things, Kia is making a huge push for EVs empowering dealers and charging stations in Oregon, Washington in my world. I believe the strongest in the U.S. Unless BMW makes some drastic shift, they are in never never land. Tesla and Benz are taking the high end, Volt, Leaf, and Kia the middle, low end. There is no way BMW can respond to the Model 3 Tesla even if it ships late. Many 6 and 7 series owners now drive Teslas, the model 3 takes away 3 and 5 series BMW owners that care about EV and connected services. Nissan and Kia work with charge providers to supply charging sources. BMW is marketing fluff. Others are delivering cars and connected car services.

Customer support?

Today I was paused with work issues so I decided to clean up our BMW online services account the accessed our connectedBMWUSA accounts. As I started my account was fine, except my telephone numbers had four 0000 attached at the end. I accessed the field and could not change them. I called the 800 service and was connected with a great lady Marie. As we were fixing the phone issue, my home address info reverted to an address that is 12 years old.Marie was very polite and told the issue would have to be forwarded to BMW. I asked how long this change might take. "I have no idea, maybe a week or so". BMW has hired a service to interface to customers. They are creating trouble tickets to be passed along to BMW. BMW USA online site is arcane.