[UCan'tBeSerious]

I have just experienced the worst customer service I have ever encountered in my life!

To elaborate, I signed the contracts for an e93 LCI back in Feb/March with an expected delivery date of May. The timelines have continued to shift, with the dealer letting me know they could finally get the car assigned to a May build allocation, with expected delivery in June/July. I was patient and thought it was worth the wait...

Fast-forward to two or so weeks ago when I received a letter in the mail from the dealership letting me know the car should arrive in Australia (JOY IS ON IT'S WAY read the letter) on July 17, with delivery in early August. Finally, I thought, the four + months is worth the wait.

Last week I received a call from the dealership advising there has been an error (error = huge stuff-up, epic fail etc) and all their stock of e93s have accidentally been ordered as manuals, including my car which is currently on a ship headed to Australia...! I ordered an auto (as did others from the same dealership) as I only drive an auto (no criticism please!) and have never driven a manual.

The dealer has asked if I will compromise on the exact specification (I made a custom order in the understanding the wait would be longer). Why would I compromise on the car specs, when I especially waited 5 months for the exact spec I ordered back in Feb/March? When I said I wanted the exact spec, the dealership have informed me we have to go back to the start and re-order the car. Because we are in July, they have missed August production so my car will have to be Sept production, with Oct/November delivery (!!!!). As if that holds any currency given the previous timelines blew out by 3 months. That will be 9 months since I ordered the car, enough to give birth for crying out loud! I could understand if this was a completely new model, but a very mild facelift should not result in this delay.

I have a meeting with the dealer principal tomorrow, and would love to hear what your advice is with regards to:
a) what would you say with regards to their customer service; and
b) what compensation/extras do you think it's fair to ask them to ask for.

I should also point out that my partner has bought 4 BMWs from them, two of my close friends have bought at least two each from the dealer and others I know have also bought their cars from this dealer...

I would rather not disclose the dealer until I give them the opportunity of righting this disaster that could hardly be claimed customer service...

[NBTBRV8]

Who's the dealer?

I'd reorder the car, the question would be from that dealer or another. That would be the sting for them.

[MrBBQwer]

Get them to make it for August production, it is their fault !!! get them to call Germany or whatsoever, it is not your fault. they stuff up, they have to pay for it.

re-order the car is good idea, but if you go to another dealer, i think its not a good idea. you need to bargain again , and everything.

better stick it to current dealer, BUT ask discount !!! 3000aud off from your current contracts

[sbce90]

BMW is dropping the ball big time. See if they can give you some type of car until your one comes. I had a mate who was getting an X6 and he was given an e92 330d lci to drive in the meantime.

I feel for you mate, and give the dealer principal a piece of your mind, don't hold back (within reason obviously.. ) Go for things like more money off / stamp duty / taxes (LCT? are you over the increased threshold with your 320d?) etc.. many promotions are run for stuff like this so it couldnt be that much of a big deal for them to pay for it.

dont go to another dealer, you will have to start all over again and they will have no idea about your ordeal.

[ZneeK]

Maybe you should try calling BMW NA or Germany directly? I know a guy who had a lot of troubles with his dealer concerning his CPO 7-series, 1 phonecall to Munich fixed all that and got him what he wanted: quick service and the car he bought working properly...

[Ninjaoz]

yeah i'd ask for a loan car, should come up with an excuse that you'll need the car for work blah blah etc etc

[335i-boy]

I guess it comes down to what is considered "reasonable".

I would have thought that "reasonable" would mean that if the dealer could not achieve their deivery date of June/July, they then could offer an alternative delivery date of early August.

Asking to accept a failure to deliver on a commitment of August delivery is then pushing the friendship so to speak.

What confidence would one have that they will even achieve the 3rd delivery date on the basis of past performance. I wonder how a car can be placed in a September build slot, and be delivered October/November. I assume this means late October, early November. Checking the history of my own vehicle it took 3 months from the production month to the delivery month. Without trying to worry you any further, you are then nearing Christmas. The delivery date of your vehicle could blow out to December 2010 or even January 2011 if your vehicle is slotted into an end of September build slot this could well be the case. What happens then?

I would first contact the Office of Fair Trading (or equivalent in your state) and explain your situation. Their advice on your rights will be invaluable before any discussion takes place. I assume your vehicle comes in at around $150K on road, depending on options. A couple of hundred dollars to get some legal advice as well, would be well worth the investment. It would be prudent to know the answers to any questions you might have and the responses with respect to your rights and entitlements to any offers the dealer may put on the table before any discussion takes place with the dealer principal.

It is well worth insisting on some written guarantee of delivery date now if you want to continue with this dealer. The guarantee should incude a clause for Late Delivery compensation or Cancellation of Contract. Legal advice would also be useful here.

After all, they have failed twice here already. The 3rd delivery date also seems tight. What guarantee have you got that the vehicle will meet an October/November delivery date. Again is this a "reasonable" time frame, considering a Feb/March order date?

If they had informed you that the vehicle would take 9 months to be delivered would you have continued to buy the car? I expect you may have sought other alternatives.

The dealer will not want to ruin their sales figures, so you must be armed with all the statutory ammunition you can get.

Hope this helps. Keep us informed of the outcome.

[mmmmQuattro]

A similar thing happend to a friend of mine who ordered a VW in manual and when he went to sit in it, found there wasn't a clutch pedal.
He was provided with a discount.
Man, that's a long time to wait.
When I ordered my previous E46 convertible, I ordered it as a manual, so I had to wait. I had it on the Sept production, but it was built early Oct. It took until Feb to get it delivered.
When you say that you would have to comprimise on exact specs, what exactly do you mean? They may give you some serious discout on a car that is in stock that you might be happy with.

[UCan'tBeSerious]

Thanks for all the great advice guys. I do have a close friend who is a lawyer but didn't want to look like I was over-reacting, even though I'm furious. In terms of other questions, I'll elaborate a little later. The specifications I was referring relate to the colour and trim combination, and a few extras such as upgraded stereo and sport seats.

I'll report back to let you know the outcome. Thanks again and keep the advice coming if anyone has further info!

[VGR00]

Not an ideal situation you are in and I can understand your disapointment. I would assume you are well and truely in your rights to cancel your order and receive your full deposit back. Afterall, the dealer has said they have to submit your order from start. You need to decide if your willing to re-start the process. If you are, then I'd be a little more demanding on the deal (price / Inclusions / loan vehicle from today etc). While the dealer has let you down, and you are dissapointed, you also need to remenber you are dealing with human beings and "S#$%" happens. It's what they do from here that really determins their level of service.

I see you have a 320D on order ..... if they had a 325 or 335 in stock and were willing to offer that at the same price then I'd jump to that. Joy is ...BMW 6cyl!

Good luck

PS --- going to a solicitor is not going to acheive anything here (at least not at this stage) as the dealer sounds like they are embarrised over the situation and trying to get it back on track.

[MFKN3]

Originally Posted by UCan'tBeSerious

Thanks for all the great advice guys. I do have a close friend who is a lawyer but didn't want to look like I was over-reacting, even though I'm furious. In terms of other questions, I'll elaborate a little later. The specifications I was referring relate to the colour and trim combination, and a few extras such as upgraded stereo and sport seats.

I'll report back to let you know the outcome. Thanks again and keep the advice coming if anyone has further info!

So basically, they haven't even ordered your car?

I'm sorry, but if the transmission, colour, trim and options are all different, I'd go as far as to say they forgot your order and are trying to back peddle by offering you a bond car - or one that is due in the country shortly. These are cars that are ordered in and divided up to the dealerships but not yet allocated to buyers...

Is it motorline or bmw sydney?

[Krozi]

Idk about you but my dealer is the SHIT!

Germain BMW FTW!

[ericming]

Xsboost,

I love your question! "Is it motorline or bmw sydney?"
I was thinking this would be happen in BMW Sydney. As BMW Sydney has the worst service I have been.

When I was going to complaint about their service, the customer service manager told me there is no point to talk to the principal.

[johnnydad]

Our 91d (ordered while in transit to Aus) was built in the first week of Jan (Munchen) and was delivered to us on 26th March. I understood it took a week to produce a car, about 8 weeks in transit over the seas, then another 7-10 days to clear customs, compliance and get to the dealer and that is spot-on for our experience. So even an early September product wouldn't get here until late November surely?

What to do? Check what's on its way in case there is something you would happily settle for - who knows, you may well be able to knock a decent bit more off the deal if there is. If not, you should be in a position to bargain hard before re-ordering - don't forget your 'new' car is 6 months closer to the end of its model cycle, you'll be getting a MY10 car delivered at the end of 2010 so that might affect resale a little down the track.

Good luck - how bitterly disappointing these stories are.

[gobobbie]

Originally Posted by xsboost

So basically, they haven't even ordered your car?

I'm sorry, but if the transmission, colour, trim and options are all different, I'd go as far as to say they forgot your order and are trying to back peddle by offering you a bond car - or one that is due in the country shortly. These are cars that are ordered in and divided up to the dealerships but not yet allocated to buyers...

I don't think they have forgotten the order because I have received letters from them when the car was being built, and one to say it was actually on the ship and due to arrive on the 17th. The stuff up has come because previously there was no manual available and for the first time the LCI came in a manual. I think this is human error but it drives me crazy that these orders aren't checked and double checked before they get on the boat!

[WOPALX]

Tell the dealer you want the car in the correct specs and as they screwed up you expect it air-freighted

Ferrari, Roll's etc do it all the time.

[Spikey]

Wow that is indeed epic... How do you personally feel towards how the dealer is handling your case anyway? I mean if you believe that they are truly doing all they can to work it out then I'd talk to them and see how they can get it here sooner and compensate you for the massive stuff up. Otherwise contact BMW Australia to see if anything can be resolved from a higher level.

Are they giving you a car in the meantime whilst this is all happening?

hope things somehow work out and pls do share your outcomes, would be interested to know where this is happening

[eml]

in a way, it's a great situation, rather, a great opportunity to take advantage of. keep your cool -- you're the only one who'll lose out if you lose your cool. but always let them know the disappointment you have.

1. get an august (or even september) production date (that way, you'll get any new-er specs since, if i remember correctly, updates are done starting on the september production date).

2. insist on a discount -- maybe a further 5 to 10% off your negotiated price would be good.

3. insist that they give you a car in the meantime.

4. give them a list of lifestyle items you want included with the car when you finally get delivery.

[John_01]

^^ Good advice. Hopefully you can get some sort of compensation for this.

Convertibles with 6-speed MT might be hard for them to move.

[s4008616]

Just cancel your order.
Even by the time your car got here in Nov/Dec, you only need to drive it for a few week and your car would become a 1 year old car when it hits 1 Jan 2011.
Unless the dealer is willing to pay for this depreciation in terms of discount.

[UCan'tBeSerious]

Thanks all for your great advice. I'm pleased to say that the dealership looked after me very well. I sent them an email requesting quite a few additional items before the meeting which I think was a good idea as it means you are not making demands in the meeting and them having to come back to you after the meeting. They didn't meet all of my wishlist, but they have met some of my requests.

For a start they have traded my car in on Saturday and put me in a fully loaded (innovations pkg, msport, sunroof, nav) brand new 320i until my car arrives. They have also agreed to upgrade the nav from business to professional (which includes voice activation) and thrown in the folding/memory exterior mirrors package. This on top of what was a pretty good deal on the car, I'm happy with the way they have rectified the situation, and their apology.

Also, as EML mentioned, as the car is in a September production date (they said they definitely have an allocation and will confirm the week of the build towards the end of this month), it will benefit from a number of changes some of which I'm unsure of whether I can mention here, but one change that has been publicised elsewhere is the improvement to the smart phone integration (see here http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=362709) including album artwork, and contact photos etc. I'm not sure if this includes the ability to read emails etc but I'm guessing it does. Internet will also be integrated into the car, which is kinda cool. Do other models have internet in Australia yet?

To top it all off after we came to agreement to move forward, they let me know they were also going to give me a $$$ voucher for a high end retail brand which I thought was a nice gesture.

Thanks again for all your great advice and I will be sure to upload plenty of pics when the car does FINALLY (!) arrive.

[335i-boy]

Great Result. Glad it all worked out for you. Sounds like you got a fantastic deal.

As eml has stated above, you feel you are getting more for your money with those extra little features you get when cars recieve the newer specs when slotted into that end of year production cycle. From what I have read on the main page, emails will be able to be read with the new phone integration

Please do post up some pics when you recieve your new car.

Again, very well done.