Fair enough, there's always various sides to a story. My car went into for a routine service last week and I had asked them to attend to a few issues. My car was spotlessly clean so that they could see that I make a point to look after my car, and when physically inspected I pointed out the various areas where the was the odd scratch or mark from the previous ownership.
After being there for a few days it was eventually ready for collection. Couldn't really take a close look at the car where it was parked so ended up driving home. Parked in the driveway to take a look around. Immediately spotted some of the wheels all of a sudden have chips and scratches from careless treatment, the engine cover had some minor but annoying scratches, and even on the front bumper there were some dull minor scuff marks. Then I check my service book, not stamped - so straight back to the dealer to get it stamped and to show them the various bits of damage.
Book gets stamped and I begin to show them all the areas of damage. Immediately I was amazed at how quick they want to down play and make it seem like it's not such a big deal etc. Although very irritated with the wheels I am an honest person and said that the one wheel was slightly chipped from TWT a few months ago, so my aim was to bring this to their attention - what if this was a brand new car with larger and more expensive wheels? But the engine cover, was not happy with this - even though in reality the scratch was only slightly visible, it told me that not too much care was given when they worked on my car. Then they wanted to say that it's silly to expect the technician to pay R2500 to replace an engine cover that he may have scratched - not my problem, don't scratch and damage my stuff! For instance, the wheels had chips from clearly being allowed to fall or stand against something, and from carelessly dropping the wheel wrench and bolts against the holes on the wheels - avoidable stuff!
So I said I am not too worried about the wheels (in part because I wanted to fit other wheels), but not happy with the engine cover - they tell me that they have a car in their fleet with the same engine cover and they will swap them over the following week. Then I get a call telling me that the cover they have is different, it's for the facelift.
Monday comes and I had to go into Cape Town - was going to go to BMW the following day for them to try and have the engine cover touched up. On the way back along the N1 I hear a soft rumble and at first think it's the music or another vehicle, but then it begins to get louder and all of a sudden it's a proper and increasingly violent vibration! Not the safest place to stop and being in the right lane, I check to see if there are any warnings, maybe a flat tyre, nothing, then clutch in to see if it's engine related which didn't seem to make a difference, so was something to do with the wheels or drivetrain behind the engine. Had to pull off to the right which is the worst possible place to be forced to stop. Carefully did a walk around and all tyres and wheels appeared fine. Decided to limp on to BMW Forsdicks in Bellville which was nearby - at the top of Platterkloof hill had to pull over again, and this time there was a "chirp-chirp-chirp" sound as I came to a stop, so something brakes related. All four corners seemed fine and not hot at all. So slowly limped further and onto the Durban Road off-ramp, and then up to Forsdicks. The dealer that worked on my car had over-adjusted the handbrake causing them to bind and overheat! They adjusted the handbrake so that it wouldn't bind any further but said that since they hadn't done the work on the car I need to take it back to the other dealer and have them rectify the problem.
To say I was furious is an understatement. Spoke to someone high up at the dealership and explained my experiences and dissatisfaction, basically my car was in better physical and mechanic condition before going in for service! He seemed very sincere and arranged a courtesy car while they attend to the problems. In light of being stuck on the side of the road (not one of my previous cars have ever let me down) I insisted that they replace the rear disks and handbrake shoes (pads were newly fitted and unaffected) - the hubs and shoes however would have gotten very hot. Also insisted that they replace the engine cover - honestly, they should know to work carefully on these premium cars.
In the end, they sorted out these things and did so in a friendly manner, but it really shouldn't have happened - basically this was an eye opener for me and for all the horror stories that I've heard and read about. It's a catch twenty two situation - having motorplan is suppose to be piece of mind, but how often is it really working in your best interest? The catch is, like with most things, you are treated like a number and the quicker the turn around time the better, so sloppy work becomes the norm.
Basically, this is nothing new really and not specific to brands, happens from A to Z of the brands out there... Point is to not just accept poor service! :thumbs:
