Here's a story for you... about Forsdicks BMW Tyger Valley....
These guys give Bad Service a whole new meaning. My wife drives a BMW 130i, still under motorplan. During the last few months we noticed that the release bearing on the BMW is getting noisy, so with the last regular service, in April 2011, we asked them to have a look at it. I dealt with a guy called Shaun Sampson, who assured me that thay will have it sorted in a jiffy.
When we collected the BMW after the service, Mr S told me they replaced the gearbox oil, as that would definitely get rid of the noise. They also ran "some tests" on the car, and found nothing else to be the problem. I assured him that even I (with my limited knowledge of cars, gearboxes, clutches and release bearings) know that changing the gearbox oil will not silence a noisy release bearing. No Sir, he assured me, drive it for 500km, and you'll see the noise will be gone. Not being endowed with the cranium capacity of the Forsdicks BMW Service Staff, I decided not to question his judgement, and to drive the car for 500km to see if his analysis of the problem rings true. Sadly I have to report that the remedy had the opposite effect. So after giving Mr S the added benefit of an additional 500km of driving the car with the noisy release bearing, we decided to book it in for a follow-up.
On phoning Mr S to make the follow-up appointment, he remembered exactly who I was, and assured me that the end of the noisy release bearing is nigh. We booked the car in on Thursday morning, and I waited all day long for Mr S to grace me with a phone call, as he promised. At about 4pm I decided to give him a call to find out what is going on and if we can collect the car that afternoon. The call went something like this "Sorry Mr DJ I cant speak to you right now, I'll call you back in 5 minutes". Well, let me put it this way, I am still waiting for him to call.
We arrived at Forsdicks BMW at about 5pm to pick up the car. Only to be told that they didnt do anything to the car, as the computer didnt indicate any problems. Give the release bearing some more time for the gearbox oil to work through, Sir. And besides, he informed me, Forsdicks BMW is not allowed to do any major repairs without the approval of some ASSESSOR dude that needs be summonsed from Johannesburg, and I will have to fit in to his itenary. This is not the end yet, I was instructed to bring the car back again when the assessor was available, then they can see if the release bearing is really noisy. Now come on, you dont need Superman's hearing to detect the noise, I think most of the people from the School for the Deaf in Worcester would be able to tell you something is not right here. Needless to say, I reached the point where I could hold it in no longer, and told him where to get off and stormed out of there without finishing the paperwork.
Obviously Mr S got it from his boss, as he phoned me back at about 7:30pm that same evening to attempt to fix up the customer relations he so arrogantly trampled into the ground that afternoon. He made all sorts of promises about courtesy cars and appointments with the assessor and stuff, but then, (here comes the last straw) he promised to phone me back on Friday morning to confirm the final arrangements.
Friday morning came, and went. No phone call. At this time, I was pretty sure that Forsdicks BMW will never have the pleasure of seeing me or my immediate family on their premises again. They're obviously NOT in the same time-zone as me. But wait, there is more.... Saturday morning came and went, as did Sunday morning. Mr S finally got round to calling me on Monday afternoon to confirm the arrangements! When I asked what happened to the call on Friday morning, he was quick to reply that he did try to call me repeatedly on Friday, but got through to a fax-line. Still no apology was forthcoming, only excuses, just like Chuck Norris, Forsdicks BMW Service Staff do not apologise.... EVER!! I let him talk, he said something about the assessor coming down especially for my case on 30 June, and that I "have to" bring the BMW in on that date, so that I can plead my case with the assessor myself. Wow, and here I thought Motorplan covered it all, no questions asked!! After he finished his monologue instructing me (the client) on what to do and where to be, I just said yes, yes, yes and put the phone down. Us mere mortals MUST obey Forsdicks BMW Service Staff.
I was totally perplexed. It has been a while since I experienced such utter arrogance from anybody. Forsdicks BMW Tyger Valley never treated me like I was their client, it was more like they are the "boss" and I will fall in with their decisions and demands.
Finally I decided not to take it laying down, and called SMG Century City to find out what I can do about a BMW 130i with a noisy release bearing. The long and short of it is, BMW was booked in this morning (Wednesday), the fault identified, and they will replace the clutch, release bearing and whatever else is related, no questions asked. One snag though, we have to wait until Monday for them to do it, as they didnt have the spares in stock. That's okay, there was a public holiday inbetween as well. Difference is I was informed about the diagnosis, the solution and the outcome about 3 hours after we booked the car in. I feel like a client again..... It turns out Motorplan does cover it all, no questions asked!!
Oh wait, I forgot to include this gem in the story. Just before I stormed off the Forsdicks BMW lot the last time, Mr S informed me that the noisy release bearing is a "normal characteristic of the 130i, and there's actually nothing we can do about it". This was the reason why I had to explain my story to the "assessor".... :ka-boom::ka-boom:
