[lanky]

Got an F31 330d Touring and on the drivers side I hear a faint whistling wind noise when I go >40mph. Seems to be coming from around the window area.

So anyway I was booking the car in to get an MPPK fitted and to get this fixed at the same time.

Lady on the phone told me that I may be charged a £75 diagnosis fee if the wind noise issue wasn't covered by warranty (it's only ~9 months old). Anyone ever encountered this? Seems nuts to me.

Also she mentioned that the MPPK they would charge for however long it took (not a fixed fee), and she reckoned it would take 3 hours without the brakes upgrade - pretty sure it should take 1 hour. Do stealers usually provide a fixed quote for this kind of stuff?

[NISFAN]

Take it somewhere else, they are shit.

[Chompers]

What he said Thats just shocking for the dealer to talk utter $hite

[lanky]

Originally Posted by NISFAN

Take it somewhere else, they are shit.

lol excellent summary, love it.

[F30Andy]

Name and shame these cocks please.

[Chompers]

Just about to give then circa £1k worth of business and they come out with bo!!ock$ like that FFS!!! Who is this dealer?

[lanky]

Vines of Guildford, haven't used them much before but liked the fact you call them and speak to a human straight away... sadly perhaps a computer would have more intelligence

To be fair on the MPPK front I am supplying the parts myself, but still didn't expect them to try and bend me over quite so obviously...

[dazzapb]

utterly outrageous, I would want 75 quid compensation if they fail to fix it.. thats what they should be offering. I recall taking my e92 to a dealer 3-4 times for an obvious issue they 'can't recreate' I hate that crap. Its a cop out and they want to charge you 75, what if the mechanic is a idiot? theres a fair chance of that. Scum

complain to BMW uk? I will be avoiding this dealer like the plague now

[teaston]

My local dealer is shit too, i feel for you!

But your next closest dealer in that neck of the woods is no doubt a lot closer than how far i have to go now.

[Tengocity]

Out of interest, is this the dealer you bought the car from?

I've found that my nearest dealer where I generally do my servicing, but not where I bought the car from, has a tendency to say this diagnosis fee will apply if no warranty work is applicable afterwards. Clearly if there is a genuine warranty issue then you'll be fine.

I can understand why to some extent if this is the circumstances, but if this was the dealer I bought the car from I'd be pretty hacked off

[Chompers]

Not sure where you live but you have a pretty much a dealer less than an hour away in any direction from Guildford.

[lanky]

Tengocity - Nah I bought the car elsewhere but surprised as had niggles with my E90 and never got told this even a couple of years after I bought it and again not at the dealer I bought my E90 from. Can't see how it could be anything but a warranty issue.

@All No problem finding another dealer anyway, will give Barons a call see how I get on there.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by lanky

Can't see how it could be anything but a warranty issue.

I agree, but I don't think dealers get full rate from BMW on warranty work, so busy places (who don't necessarily need to the work), won't bend over backwards to get it from folk who didn't buy cars there. And when you have "niggles" that require time to diagnose, before the work can even be billed to BMW then you get a service manager who is looking to his dept profits more than his customer service.

It's shite customer service but there you go... take your business elsewhere.

[rocketretro]

Originally Posted by Chompers

Not sure where you live but you have a pretty much a dealer less than an hour away in any direction from Guildford.

An hour away? BMW dealers are like corner shops in these parts, seriously.

[Proftinkerpot]

Finding a great dealer and building a relationship with them is gold dust. I drive past 2 dealers to get to my preferred dealership. The quality of service between the one I use and the other 2 is night and day. As a consequence I use my preferred dealer for everything including washer fluid, servicing etc.

[JustChris]

I've had that sometimes too. Never charged in the end even though my investigation was not a warrantee covered item (kids got something stuck in a heater vent under seats in X1).

[JM85]

I have been told about the diagnosis fee many times before but I have never been charged it yet, even if they couldnt find anything wrong!

When I ring to book the car in its a call centre that state this, when i asked the service desk they just laughed & said that they dont charge for looking into a possible issue

[ukbeemerboy]

Originally Posted by lanky

Vines of Guildford, haven't used them much before but liked the fact you call them and speak to a human straight away... sadly perhaps a computer would have more intelligence

To be fair on the MPPK front I am supplying the parts myself, but still didn't expect them to try and bend me over quite so obviously...

I don't agee with how you've been spoken to, but when you called the dealer you were probably put through to a central booking centre. It's this set up that the customer loses out in customer service as you never get to meet or deal with that person.

The diagnoses fee applies when the car is out of warranty obviously. I'm sure when the car is actually there, the warranty would cover it and if not, dealer goodwill would

[MarkG_M5Comp]

Originally Posted by lanky

Tengocity - Nah I bought the car elsewhere but surprised as had niggles with my E90 and never got told this even a couple of years after I bought it and again not at the dealer I bought my E90 from. Can't see how it could be anything but a warranty issue.

@All No problem finding another dealer anyway, will give Barons a call see how I get on there.

Barons (my dealer) is VERY expensive and have dropped in quality over the last year. They are however negotiable on pricing (I tend to pay £99 p/h max these days!). As others mention, you need to avoid the central booking people; hit option 2 for 'my car is with you today' to speak to Ash Vale in person - and good luck!

Ridgeway Hook seems cheaper but going through major change so could be questionable.

WTF is happening to these dealers?!

[JD6]

Originally Posted by MarkG335

WTF is happening to these dealers?!

I think it is getting harder to make significant profit on BMW sales now everyone has internet access, so they have to extract what they can from maintaining cars.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by JD6

I think it is getting harder to make significant profit on BMW sales now everyone has internet access, so they have to extract what they can from maintaining cars.

Indeed this is very much an issue. I think that's why some dealers try to treat customers who bought a car from them better than someone who didn't.

It's all very well getting the best possible price however there is often an unseen consequence.

[SkyJawa]

Vines were shocking with my dealings with them. Right up themselves.

Barons Hindhead are not too bad. Otherwise you have Ridgeway in Hook seem to have a good name but weren't interested getting anywhere near the discount of other dealers. Sytner in Sunningdale so far have been excellent.