[RWiller]

Here is a copy of the email I sent to both the General manager and BMW USA!.

Customer Service,

I recently received a survey about my recent experience at Stevens Creek BMW... it is very difficult to give a rating of a 5... I have decided to share my experience with you. I hope you can see my point. I buy a "high end" car, I am expecting some really good service!



BMW experience like you never expected.



I ordered a 335i convertible with the iPod option (6FL). When I picked up the new car form Stevens Creek BMW, (7/25/07) it was clear that the iPod was only working thru one speaker on the right side of the car. The new car delivery person had me drive around to the service department, he thought that there maybe an issue with the supplied cable and went off to look for a new one. He finally returned with another cable, it produced the same results. Audio was only coming out of one speaker on the right side of the car. He (new car delivery person) stated that it was probably just an issue with programming.



If it was just an issue with programming something in the computer, why not bring out a tech right there and see if it was a quick fix?



That didn’t happen, but I had to schedule an appointment to bring my car back to be repaired.



On 8/6/07 I brought the car into the service department. I was assigned Steve Bertolacci as my service advisor. When I told him I had a problem with the ipod he cut me off to state the following…



“BMW is aware of the problem and the engineers are working on it”



He said this prior to me stating that there was a problem with the audio.



“I said what? Are you saying that everyone that has this option that it is only working from one speaker???”



A new car owner doesn’t want to hear this! All they want to hear is that the Dealership will take care of it!



Steve also looked over my car and said it looked pretty clean and saw no reason to wash it while it was there!



I made one very clear statement to Steve, please fix it the first time, and do not make me keep bringing it back and YOU will wash it! This guy had so much attitude! What a Jerk!





So they kept my car for 3 days… bummer.



When I picked up the car, I plugged in the iPod. Hey great all of the speakers are working! I was about half way home and for some reason the iPod stopped working and switched over to FM radio. I didn’t think much about it and started up the iPod again. Well, within a few minutes the same thing happened, for no apparent reason my iPod stopped playing and switched back to the FM radio. Wow this is annoying!



I looked at my work order from the repair; they did do a lot of work to fix the original issue. The work order makes mentioned that they had to take apart the center console.



If you work on the center console and take the time to wash the outside of the car, someone should have taken the time to wipe all of the smudges and finger prints off of the trim on the inside of the car that was removed during the repair.



When I got home, I did some research on this problem with the iPod switching back to the FM radio for no reason and sure enough there are a lot of owners having the same problem.



I composed an email explaining the issue I was having with the iPod and sent it on the morning of 8/10/07 to Steve B. Included in the email were both PUMA case numbers, recall information, and recommended fixes that other dealers had done that would ‘fix’ this problem.



On the afternoon of the 10th, I called Steve, only to receive voice mail stating that is wasn’t available and was away from his desk. I call the service desk and asked if Steve was in, I was told yes… but still did not hear from Steve.



On the morning of the 13th, I call and left a voice mail message for Steve and asked him to review the email I sent him and to call me back. I called the service desk to confirm he was in and I was told yes he was working that day. Late that afternoon, I called the service desk, they told me this time that he was on vacation. At that point, I was speaking with Katie, I explained the problem and she scheduled me appointment on the 21st. She was very sympathetic to my problems and was very professional, thank you!



If you are on vacation, I would hope that you could at least update your voice mail greeting to reflect this.





On the afternoon of the 14th, I received a call from Steve. I explained what was going on with my car. He told me that probably a software upgrade would fix the problem. Hum, I’m thinking that he doesn’t have the last work order up in from of him, if he did he would know that just the week before, the software was updated! Once again, he said that they knew of the issue and would have to work with the engineers at BMW to resolve it. I explained that I sent him an email with all of this information in it. He said ever since he got a new computer his email has been down and to bring a copy of the email in when I come in next week.



So, here I am…. Paid for this option, and it doesn’t work. THIS IS VERY FRUSTRATING!



I attended a new car forum and during that time I took the time to discuss these issues with Patrick Minnehan(service manager) He was very apologetic and promised to make sure it wouldn’t happen again! I also explained that I was not comfortable working with my original SA (Steve B.) and would like another one. He offer to take me car that night, but I told him I have an appointment on the 20th, so we left it that way.



So lets talk about the 20th..



When I brought in the car in the afternoon, I was greeted and was told that the Service Advisor would call me first thing in the morning. So, I got my loaner car and off I went.



I didn't hear anything until the afternoon of the 21st…



If you tell a customer that you are going to call them in the morning, well you should call them in the morning!



I was assigned a new SA, a gentlemen by the name of Eric Diamond. He said he would be taking care of me and would keep me updated.



I called Eric on the afternoon of the 22nd and was told they would need it one more day. OK… no problem here.



On the 23rd, I was told that the car was fixed. Around 4:15 I went to pick up my car. When the car was driven up to me, then first thing I noticed was bird crap on the fender and the wheels were dirty, so I guess they didn't bother washing it. Then I looked inside to see there were once again fingerprints and smudges all over the center console. I was getting very upset at this time, so much for the promised that the Service Manager Patrick made to me the week before. I then opened the door, to notice that the black leather had been pulled away from the seat cushion and you could see the white foam.



Ok.. So I am very pissed and asked for Patrick Minnehan immediately. He was at best speechless… so .. It was decided that they would keep my car another day to now fix the seat. I was offered a hat / or shirt from the gift shop.. Ha ha.. I said, all I wanted was my car fixed. Patrick did put me in a Z4, fun to drive, but glad I didn't buy one of them.



On the afternoon of the 24th, I received a call from Patrick and was told that they needed a part to complete the repair and offered to give me back my car for the weekend or leave it there. I decided to pull my car out.. I was told the part would be in on Wednesday the 29th. Well, the 29th has come and gone, no calls about the part.



However I did receive a call from Scott Fuller (service manager, I guess they have two) to confront me on why I gave his SA Steve a poor rating on the survey form. I asked him if he ever read the email I sent to him, of course not… he was confrontational and not apologetic, and lets just say the conversation when down hill from here.



Will I never go back to Steven Creek BMW … Will I make sure all of my co-workers and friends and anyone who will listen, I will tell them about the poor service.



I never really felt it would every get to this point, but after Scott Fuller (service manager) call me and was such a prick, you betch ya.



thank you for your time,



Regards