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Atlanta BMW Dealership nightmare!
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10-10-2012, 04:46 PM | #1 |
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Atlanta BMW Dealership nightmare!
So about 5 weeks ago yesterday. I took my car into the BMW dealership here in Atlanta to get some work done on the driver's side front suspension. I had been run off the road at about 25 mph and hit a curb. As expected, it bent the control arm, damaged the front bumper, wheels, etc.
They said as per BMW spec they needed to replace the rack anytime the suspension takes a hit like that. Since it was going to be covered by my insurance company I said go for it. They told me it would only take about 4-5 days. So a week goes by and the car still isn't ready. I had not heard from my service associate and I gave him a call to see what the status was. He assured me that it would only be a few more days because they did not realize that one of the bushings was a Dinan part - even though I told them it was - and they were waiting on it to come in. To keep things short, they basically gave me the run around for another 4 weeks. Every week there was another issue they couldn't figure out. They claimed they didn't know how to install the bushing. Then they were waiting on another part, etc. Finally, 5 weeks and $4300 later the car is ready. I go to pick it up and I get in the car and there is some weird tone coming out of the center channel speaker and subwoofer. I go get my service associate and ask him what the deal was and he says he thought it was my radar detector! He takes the car back down to the garage and they discover the driver's side taillight was leaking and when they washed the car it flooded the L7 amp, which fried when I turned the car on. They basically said it wasn't their fault and that I would have to pay for it out of pocket even though it was working fine before I brought the car in and had never had an issue with it before. So, let this be a warning to anyone in the Atlanta area that gets their vehicle serviced at Global Imports. After this experience, I won't be going near this place and would strongly recommend the same to anyone else. Last edited by BadKarma22; 10-26-2012 at 08:30 PM.. |
10-10-2012, 05:15 PM | #2 |
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I would start going up the chain -- talk to the Service manager, then the General Manager, etc. Just remain calm and assertive... it's harder for them to blow someone off as being a flake when they are being completely rational (just try to ask leading questions to get the answers you want). My $0.02 -- good luck.
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10-10-2012, 05:30 PM | #4 |
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One question I have is "Were there any external indications of the leaking tail lamp before they washed the car?" If it is reasonable to assume that the tail lamp was obviously damaged or leaking, they shouldn't have washed it (liability-wise). But if there was no reason to assume anything was leaking, why wouldn't they wash it just like the rest of the cars? Tough call I think.
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10-10-2012, 05:35 PM | #5 |
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No, it had no damage. However, I wash the car at least every other week and drive it in the rain. Why didn't the amp get wet a long time ago? It was in the shop for 5 weeks and then all the sudden there is an issue. I'm not blaming the fact that they washed it just the fact that it mysteriously starts leaking after they were working on it.
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10-10-2012, 06:04 PM | #6 |
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Those are points I would bring up then.
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10-10-2012, 07:06 PM | #8 |
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If you search for the dealer on Google it pulls up a bunch of reviews. I think their rating is 13 of 30. Lots of negative reviews. I wish I had checked before I took my car there.
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10-10-2012, 07:31 PM | #9 |
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I'm surprised you f]got that kind of service from Global Imports. Every time I have gone I have gotten the best service I've ever had a BMW dealer. Hope you are able to sort things out and it all gets taken care of.
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10-10-2012, 08:31 PM | #10 |
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Yea unfortunately I've heard negative things as well... Hoping it all works out. Chuck's got the right idea though. Work your way up the ladder.
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10-12-2012, 08:08 PM | #12 |
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Bmw of south Atlanta scratched my hood down to the metal once and they never owned up to it. Last time I took it there. Kinda put me off of the brand because of how it was handled.
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10-13-2012, 09:44 PM | #13 |
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Sorry to hear of your bad luck. It seems Global does okay when you are in warranty, but as soon as the warranty is up the service completely changes and they won't do any sort of good will gestures at all. If I need a dealer visit now that warranty is out, I'll likely go up to Roswell (I live south of the city :-/)
Do you hand wash your car? If so that is likely why you've never had any issues. If I remember correctly global has an automatic car wash that they just drive the car through. While my car was still in warranty I simply requested they not drive mine through. I've never been back to this dealership after they ignored me for 30 minutes when I was looking to buy. I guess a young guy in jeans and a tshirt just didn't look like a serious buyer to them. Once I finally found a sales guy, he said he'd call me within 3 or so days, but I never heard back from him. When I called him, he didn't even remember who I was. |
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10-14-2012, 06:15 PM | #14 |
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Yeah I normally hand wash my car but I had the car serviced 3 days before I had the accident and they ran it through the same car wash and the amp was fine. I'll definitely be taking my car elsewhere for service from now on.
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10-15-2012, 12:22 PM | #16 |
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I take mine to United BMW of Roswell. Never had any problems with them. Exceptional people. I would neve go to Global, they used to be great, back in the late 80's early 90's. Go to United, talk to Taylor McDonald, tell him Eric Lopez sent you.
Eric
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10-15-2012, 01:48 PM | #17 |
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i've personally have had pleasant experiences with Global Imports services. The only other dealership that I have gone to is United BMW Gwinnett, and they were ok too. Now that the X3 is out of CPO Warranty, I may go to an Indy, like Solo Motorsports the next time service is due.
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10-16-2012, 12:34 PM | #18 |
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I eff'ing hate Global Imports service dept. I had several bad experiences with them when I had my M3. I bought my e90 there but I get it serviced at United in Roswell
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10-18-2012, 02:21 PM | #19 |
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I've had great service and I've had terrible service at Global, taking 3 bmws there.
No one has a handle on the service department whatsoever. My 335 was in there all the time, they never seemed to fix it properly. They attempted to charge me $1,600 to fix my wife's X3, and after I spoke/screamed at the manager that it was covered under the extended warranty, he finally "decided" it was... they were just taking advantage of her (perhaps it was her blonde hair?). Fortunately, the service was great with my M3. I did just move to Nashville, so fortunately won't be going there anymore. Good luck OP. I'd definitely steer clear in the future... You always hear better things with United Roswell.
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10-26-2012, 04:57 PM | #20 |
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Well, its been almost 2 weeks and they still haven't done anything about the amplifier. The service manager won't even respond to my emails or return my calls. So I wrote the General Manager an email and hopefully he will actually do something about this. This dealership is a complete joke.
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10-30-2012, 12:04 PM | #21 |
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Aw geez. Global is literally right on my way to/from work and is already open at my usual commute time. Roswell is way out of the way and doesn't open until twenty minutes after I usually arrive at work.
BadKarma22: If no response to your email in a couple days, ratchet up the "I'm not messing around" factor. Follow up with a polite yet firm physical letter sent certified mail to the general manager, explaining the situation and that it is their responsibility to remedy the matter. Look at weather history and whether it had rained in the days leading up to the accident and/or between when you had the accident and delivered the car to them. You're looking to show that the car had seen rain (or washes if you have receipts) prior to it going to them, thereby demonstrating that the tail light damage either occurred in the accident (and they missed ensuring it was repaired) or occurred while the car was in their care. (Specifics dependent on whether there was rain between the accident and the car going to Global; if none in that period it may have been accident damage and they missed it) State clearly what you want - that the tail light and amp be replaced or whatever and ask for a response by a specific date. If no response, get an independent estimate to repair/replace and file a case with the Cobb County Magistrate Court (aka Small Claims). You can't ask that it be repaired, so you'd be asking for the money needed to get Roswell to repair it. |
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11-01-2012, 08:53 AM | #22 |
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I pretty much stopped going to Global for any type of maintenance unless its something major that could be covered under CPO warranty. The indy shops do just as well and are much easier to work with in my experience.
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