Broken DCT Update + Dealer Damage

[dondula]

Well,

I don't know where to start.

Now that I have my car back, I figured I would do the right thing and make an update. Giving what has transpired since my last thread, I thought most of you would enjoy this....

I would like to say that many of the employees at my dealership were following my Previous DCT thread including some of the techs..

I got my car back finally, but with damage. Yes, you read it right, Damage........

Just when you think the situation was already aggravating.

It turns out that originally, BMW sent the wrong transmission for my car. They sent a manual trans from Germany.. The DCT was found here in the states by the dealer according to the tech who installed my DCT. So to put everyone at ease to who thought they pulled it off a car on the line.. They didn't. Don't ask me how, But the dealer found the DCT unit I think they said in Boston.. But who knows what the truth really is. The guy at BMW NA was clueless as to this info...

Being the dealer had no program information to re code the car, being it's so new. They had to do what's called as in an I-rap session with the car. BMW engineers in NJ were re-programing the car over the air with the software update, Yes, software update. There is an update and I have it.. Not sure what bug fixes there are or changes. They didn't tell me the details. BMW just said they want to make sure my car functions perfectly for me.. Maybe that means turning the boost down?

Anyways, The good old boys in NJ burnt my ECU Head Unit out trying to re program. Another was ordered. They burnt the new one out... A 3rd was ordered and all the info was uploaded.. Now the dealer had to upload the nav CD's.. They couldn't.. So another was ordered and NJ knew what they were doing wrong and uploaded successfully all the software including nav them selves.

I got the call, My car was ready. I said "Are you sure?" They said "YES"

So I made my way over there, I was very excited to get my new car back and to enjoy for the weekend.

I walk in and see my car parked in the service area and I see some customer kid playing with my car like it's a floor model. I look for my service advisor and we go over what was done to the car..

I had originally ask to meet the tech that was working so hard on my car. I wanted to shake his hand and thank him, Being he was having so many issues trying to get my car working again..

I met the tech, thanked him up and down for his work, flipped him a $20 and I said your next lunch is on me and thanks so much again.

I walked around the car, checked under and everything appeared fine and left.

I go to an apt I had, then I make my way home in traffic, get home, park, I take a closer look at my car.....

Let me back up a little here.
When I first got my car, I plasti dipped my rims myself. Don't make fun, I like plasti dip product. I wanted to see how my car would look with black rims.. One thing about me is I'm a great painter. I mask everything off, I don't over spray and there is no haze.. My job looks flawless and I enjoy doing it. Also, plasti dip can protect your rims against road debris.

Fast forward back to the day I picked my car up.

So I look at my rims, and I noticed all this extra plasti dip coming off my tires, I think, that's weird because I scrubbed my tires free from plasti dip.
I take a closer look, I see a messy plasti dip job, looks like someone re sprayed my rims.. I take my finger nail and pull back the plasti dip to find a damaged rim. Someone had first put black marker in the rim scratches, then they covered with plasti dip..

I get on the phone right away, called the dealer, I drove back down before they closed and showed the damage to the advisor..

at this point, I have been through enough with this car.. Its brand new expensive car with 400 miles and its one thing after another..

I didn't have time to inspect all the rims because the dealer was closing and it takes a long time to peel plasti dip off.

I told the advisor, I don't want rim repair, because rim repair either use fillers and then repaint, or file the rim down to a nub then repaint. Not fair to have that done on a new car. I want rim replacements.

It's not the damage that bothers me, It's the fact that some shady employee, who ever put my car on the skates to get it inside, damaged my rims.. Shit happens, if they were upfront about it and told me, I would have said that sucks, just call me when the replacements come in and I would drive my car in the mean time. But someone covered it all up, so an entire summer would go by, along comes winter, I remove the dip, see the damage and be responsible..

There is just no trust on my part with this dealer.. So shady that a BMW dealer would act this way. In the area's of the damage to the rim, there are deep blade marks from where the person cut away plasti dip and re-sprayed it.

It's a good thing I have before pictures.. The front rims seem to be ok, I have not had time to really go over them, But the damage is mainly to the two back rims on driver and passenger side. Which makes sense because those are the two tires they have to jack up and put over these metal skates..

In the end, I have already informed BMW NA of this situation, I have called my attorney, I am prepared to take them to small claims court if I have to in order to get replacement rims.. I will not accept rim repair.

I have never once mentioned the dealers name in this forum in any of this out of respect to the dealer. I have done the right thing and tried to be as classy as possible with this situation and I continue to be.. I have to bring the car back on Tuesday for the manager to inspect the damage... I am already expecting the manager to push rim repair on me.. If he does not issue replacements, I will just work with BMW NA and file with the courts that same day. I know at the end of the day, this problem will work itself out accordingly.

I just cannot believe this dealer acts like a 2 dollar shady bump shop doing stuff like this..

I have shared as much info as I have right now, I want to stay out of forum discussion to avoid confrontation. I will give updates as I get them.

Here are before pictures of all rims taken the day my car broke down and then damage pictures.
This dealer has a complete disregard for someone else's property.

I took the before pictures while I was stranded.. I had hours to kill and wanted to make sure I had proper photo's of the cars condition including the rims, incase service dep or tow truck damaged it.

Before










Now for damage pics.. The service advisor informed me that they keep bottles of plasti dip in the back and he is sure that is exactly what happened.. Who ever put the car on the skates, did the damage and first used a marker to cover up the damage, then saw it didn't look good, so used a razor to cut some of the dip off in the damaged area and re sprayed.

Please notice the razor blade marks around the damage area...

Damage is of both back rims both sides.

Metal is missing from the rim, Hard to tell from pictures but they are deep.. I have to use something to get the marker off, its really on there. You can see where someone tried to sand the scratch down as well..

[jzmundy]

I can't imagine how frustrated you must feel. What a nightmare.

"I'm sorry" is just too insufficient.

[consolidated]

Sorry about your wheels. It sounds like the dealer is going to correct their first error, the second one, trying to cover it up, is harder to address.

Did you inspect the bad transmission, was there any discussion about what exactly went wrong?

Court will put some pressure on them, but don't think it's going to scare a dealership much less BMWNA. Best to try and resolve with without only attorneys being the winners. Your get more empathy and understanding from all if you keep it unemotional and profesh of course.

Good luck!

[dondula]

Originally Posted by consolidated

Sorry about your wheels. It sounds like the dealer is going to correct their first error, the second one, trying to cover it up, is harder to address.

Did you inspect the bad transmission, was there any discussion about what exactly went wrong?

Court will put some pressure on them, but don't think it's going to scare a dealership much less BMWNA. Best to try and resolve with without only attorneys being the winners. Your get more empathy and understanding from all if you keep it unemotional and profesh of course.

Good luck!

I will make a quick response to this.

I wouldn't take them to court to scare them, I would take them to get rim replacements, if they are unwilling to do the right thing. I would have no other choice.

Lets see what they say next Tuesday when I take my car in, then take it from there..

[Blindside_137]

I couldn't even imagine going through this right now.

[Tmaccus]

Sorry to hear about your story. I had 2 different dealers messed up 2 of my rims and never said anything and even denied it. One dealer was from NJ BMW of Bridgetwater and Daniels BMW in PA. I don't mind telling people about these dealers because they don't deserve my respect. We need to know who these jackasses are so we don't bring our cars to them.

[Liberation]

I'm really confused....

Your before pictures show rims that are completely covered in black paint. However, the after pictures show rims that have silver trim on the lip and spokes.....and looked like they've been used a lot more than 400 miles.

If I'm missing something, I apologize but something is very off...

[ASAP]

Stupidity and scumbagness knows no bounds... My patience would have been way shorter and they would already have had their car right back to them.

[Drizz]

Wow. So sorry to hear about your woes. Hopefully they stand up and fix this all for you by giving you new rims. At this point I would also call BMWNA and try to get a month or two of payments waived. I had somewhat of a headache (I'll leave it at that) with a local dealer a few years ago and was able to negotiate a few payments away. That is, of course, if you're going through BMWFS.

[Blindside_137]

Originally Posted by Liberation

I'm really confused....

Your before pictures show rims that are completely covered in black paint. However, the after pictures show rims that have silver trim on the lip and spokes.....and looked like they've been used a lot more than 400 miles.

If I'm missing something, I apologize but something is very off...

It's explained clearly in the post. They were plasti-dipped by the owner brand new when he got them.


After the car was returned he noticed overspray on the tires and elsewhere which he did not do himself when initially dipping the wheels. So that led him to believe it was re-done.

After removing the dip from the wheels (exposing the OEM silver) he noticed the cracks and scraped the dealership had made then covered up.

[accce]

You did a great job with the plasti dip. They owe you a new set of wheels. I always look over my wheels when I drop off the car and when I pick it up.

[jc05e46m3]

This is horrible. Hopefully this dealer/BMW NA takes care of you from this point on.

[1stm3f80]

As The big Lebowski would say. "That's a bummer Dude"

All joking aside. Hope this all works out. What a pain in the butt.

[PJS313]

Thanks for the update....really hoping everything works out for you they should replace the wheels. Shady dealers are the worst they deserve to have their name posted on here once everything is resolved.

[BlackCobra08]

OMG....WTF is wrong with these guys at your dealership! I know we can't blame them all but still this really gets me going. The thing about some kid messing with you car too...absolutely unacceptable! I'd be so furious, it's not like you bought a cheap ass kia...this is a $75K+ BMW for pete sake! so sorry bro, good luck

[thebigcheese]

Wow, that is absurd. Sorry man.

[JoeFromPA]

Desertfox,
He was stranded in the evening in the northern hemisphere during the season known as summer. His breakdown occurred in the evening yet the sun was still up. It then progressed into night and past midnight.

Science is shocking

[///M ARMY]

I honestly woulda caused hell at the dealership. This is something that shouldn't happen at all. They prob took it for a joy ride and messed up the rim. Totally unacceptable.

[tooch]

thats ridiculous. sorry to hear it.

[dondula]

Originally Posted by desertfox73

I'm not a CSI analyst, but...

The pics taken by the OP in the first post were clearly taken during the day. If I remember the OPs story correctly he got stranded at night, which would be confirmed by the pic you posted. So if what you're saying is that those pics were taken in the same place roughly around the same time, that doesn't look or sound right to me.

Regardless...sorry for what happened OP. Shady dealers are a nightmare. Good luck with a quick resolution.

Some always want to find something to catch me in a lie... I got stranded from 6:45 till 2AM... when my car was hooked to the tow truck, I took 1 picture and that was late at night.. Earlier in the daylight, I took photos of my car incase something happened to it during transport or while at the dealer.

Here are more pics taken of under the bumbers etc during the day on the side of the freeway and you can clearly see the line.. I was stranded for several hours from day till late night.. I was parked 1 foot from the line which is exactly what you're supposed to do when pulling onto the shoulder.

additional pics.

Don't quit your day job...

[gthal]

That sucks OP. The good news is that wheels can be fixed really easily and really inexpensively.

[RickMonet]

This is a bad situation - the dealership should never try to cover up damage they caused.

You should get 2 new rims as soon as the dealership can order/receive them. They should replace the rims for you without incident and of course, no charge.

Worst part is you will have to do your plasti dip again.

For now, try to enjoy your car and test out that brand new DCT!