BMW of Springfield's Shady Service Experience - Need Advice

[Spaxe]

Hey everyone,

I'm dealing with a pretty ridiculous situation at BMW of Springfield and could really use some advice. It all started when I took my 2024 M3 Competition (only 2,000 miles on it) in for a shaking issue when braking from 10 mph to a stop.

At first, everything seemed fine. The service guy was great, and they even squeezed me in without an appointment because I had an event coming up. They gave me a loaner - an M440i convertible - which was cool.

But things went sideways fast. Here's what happened:

I drove the loaner home on Saturday. It had rained earlier, but when it stopped, I put the top down for about 10 minutes on the Garden State Parkway. No big deal, right?

Wrong. Somehow, someone recorded me driving with the top down and sent it to the dealership. Next thing I know, I get this weird text on Monday telling me to come pick up my M3. They wouldn't explain anything over the phone.

When I finally got through to them, they accused me of "abusing" the loaner because I drove with the top down in "wet conditions." Which is ridiculous - who would drive with the top down while it's actually raining?

Then they completely changed their story. Now they're saying they won't work on my car because it's "modified." I do have front-mount intakes, but they knew about those from the start and even had me remove them to test if that was causing the issue.

The whole thing feels like they're making excuses not to fix my car. The manager, Tino Pereria, seems to be behind all of this.

I've got all the paperwork and a timeline showing how none of this adds up. I'm seriously considering getting a lawyer involved if they try to flag my car.

Has anyone dealt with something like this before? Am I overreacting here? I'd really appreciate any advice on what to do next.

Thanks for reading. This whole thing is stressing me out.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Westside Guy]

Why not remove the front mount intakes and go to another dealer’s service department?

[cbpip]

BMW NA , get them involved. Report the dealer.

[Gemini562]

Ask the dealership for the video to see exactly what's going on.
If they refuse to give you the video, don’t push them, just document that they denied your request. Then, let BMW know about this refusal because it adds to the shady behavior on their part.

[BlkGS]

This whole thing sounds totally unbelievable.

First, of they didn't want to work on the car for some reason, they'd just send it back as "unable to duplicate issue" or "vehicle performing normally" and send you on your way. Or they'd say you were abusing the brakes or something like that and send you on your way. So all this other stuff seems crazy to get you to go away.

Second, of the car is modified, they have every right to flag it in their system as modified. That's what they're supposed to do. If you didn't want the car to get flagged, you should have either taken the mods off, not modded it, or taken it to an Indy shop.

I'd just get my car back and move on. There's clearly something else going on here we aren't being told, because the whole story makes no sense.

[Spaxe]

Originally Posted by Westside Guy

Why not remove the front mount intakes and go to another dealer’s service department?

They are already off - the dealership treatment is the issue. After I told him I would be making a formal complaint, he said he would flag my car so other dealership would not work on the car either...

[Spaxe]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

This whole thing sounds totally unbelievable.

First, of they didn't want to work on the car for some reason, they'd just send it back as "unable to duplicate issue" or "vehicle performing normally" and send you on your way. Or they'd say you were abusing the brakes or something like that and send you on your way. So all this other stuff seems crazy to get you to go away.

Second, of the car is modified, they have every right to flag it in their system as modified. That's what they're supposed to do. If you didn't want the car to get flagged, you should have either taken the mods off, not modded it, or taken it to an Indy shop.

I'd just get my car back and move on. There's clearly something else going on here we aren't being told, because the whole story makes no sense.

I am certainly not lying or leaving anything out. Added some images for additional context.

[Spaxe]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

This whole thing sounds totally unbelievable.

First, of they didn't want to work on the car for some reason, they'd just send it back as "unable to duplicate issue" or "vehicle performing normally" and send you on your way. Or they'd say you were abusing the brakes or something like that and send you on your way. So all this other stuff seems crazy to get you to go away.

Second, of the car is modified, they have every right to flag it in their system as modified. That's what they're supposed to do. If you didn't want the car to get flagged, you should have either taken the mods off, not modded it, or taken it to an Indy shop.

I'd just get my car back and move on. There's clearly something else going on here we aren't being told, because the whole story makes no sense.

Okay, I get your point but I had front mount intakes in which have no correlation to my entire car shaking when I brake.

My car went in first time on Monday 09/23 with intakes on, they looked around and said nothing was the issue but just to be sure take off your intakes and come back and we will get BMW (corporate?) involved.

So the next day tuesday 09/24 I took the the intakes off and dropped off the car the same day... and they worked on the car till Saturday. Which is 4 days they tried to figure out the problem but couldn't so I show up on saturday to pick up the loaner and this is when the rest of the story goes down.

[BlkGS]

Yeah... That's wild. The write up is literally like "couldn't find the issue, manager said to send it home".

If they're worried about people driving loaner verts in the rain, they probably shouldn't have loaner convertibles.

[Spaxe]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

Yeah... That's wild. The write up is literally like "couldn't find the issue, manager said to send it home".

If they're worried about people driving loaner verts in the rain, they probably shouldn't have loaner convertibles.

Bro, that's not the end of it. This guy on the phone was being rude for no reason... Sure I put the top down but seriously, are you going to come off that hostile to a customer when it wasn't even actually raining? Also, they could've just asked for the loaner back, but refusing service and then shifting the blame on the modification so the manager has some legs to stand on? As I told him, watch out for a complaint.