monacobmw

Carlton, I feel your pain. The SA's tend to react better when you tell them that you look forward to receiving good service so you can give them high marks. Once they realize that you are aware of the importance of the rankings, they tend to treat you better.

I too heard the 2-8 hour update claim. It seems to be the party line.

The last time I was with the SA, who was new, I told him to look at this board for answers to all of his questions. I really respected that he came to this site the next day and then thanked me for showing him "the light" to do his job better for other customers.

This site should be mandatory surfing for all NA BMW SAs.

Best regards,
Richard

cocy00

+1. Some of the SA are human too... If you go easy on them they will remember you and they might throw in some free upgrdes if you are kind to them. Mine did.

Thirdy

I guess it's best not to fix/upgrade software if there is really no problem. Upgrading the software might even screw up everything. I don't see the need to upgrade software if you have no issues with it right now. Just my opinion .(Don't fix anything that is working good, it might go bad or even worst).

JulienHG

I'd agree with that too. Upgrading software might cause even more random pain in the future... Excuse my lack of knowledge, but what the new software version does vs. older? is it really needed?

525iSE

1. iDrive Update

What they tell you is probably good sense. Like many members have said here, you should never update the iDrive if everything is workign fine in the current version. Updates only cause more problems. As for updates taking 2 hours - 8 hours, yes that is completely true, believe me, I actually sat from late morning until evening watching them do the update, ran into some problems, restarted it. So overall i think the service department is ok so far. As for them saying there must be fault to update, again thats just good sense, if there's no problem, don't touch a running system, but you can opt to if you want to, you don't have to have a fault, but i would recommend leaving the system alone.

2. Autodip

They can't fix it with a software update, just make them replace the entire unit, thats probably the only way, like many posts here have indicated.

slickrick

I agree with these guys calton. You know I've had some issues with my car and , yes, I've been upset and have raised my voice once or twice but all in a professional manner. I guess it worked because i'm in the process of getting the new car. Even through all the troubles and headaches I never gave them a negative rating. Instead I just avoid them when they call and reserve answering when the job gets done. Good luck Calton and keep a level head.

Rick...

BoDog

Hey C,
When you lived in CA, where did you have your E39 worked on?

EuroCarFan

C, I figured I'll post what I sent you on email.

I think the SA is dead on. At least from my similar experience, BMW will not upgrade your software unless there?s a known problem from a service bulletin. If you want your software upgraded just because, they would charge you labor for it. My I-Drive has actually went blank on me twice so I told them that and they upgraded it for free but I did have to leave the car over night. It does take hours to load and if it crashes, they have to start all over again. I had to leave my 545 for 3 days once when they had problems downloading the newer version.

As for you auto-dip mirrors, did you by chance check to see if the button on your mirror adjustments are set to the left? The right mirror will only dip if that button is in the left position (for left mirror adjustment). If it?s in the right position, the right mirror will not dip when you put in reverse. Just a thought.

C's Bimmer

I got it all worked out. Fortunately, my good friend Joe (Vegastrashed) called me up as I was on my way to the dealer and told me that there has to be a real problem with the iDrive software in order to get the update. This I was not aware of. Based on the conversations I've had with folks at the CCH dinners, I thought it was a simple, free request and figured that this dealer was just clueless and didn't know what they were talking about. I didn't realize you had to give actual situations where the current software had issues. Joe told me of 2 known issues that the dealer can't refute. I used these when I went back. Thanks VT!

Anyway, when I got to the dealer, my car was ready and I got held up by a few other owners who were picking their cars up too. They asked me a bunch about my car and all the mods that I had done. Hahahaha! (B/T/W - I think I got 2 new members to join this forum from those conversations ). Anyway, that took my mind off things and when my SA came out to tell me status of what they did and what needed to be fixed, it all worked out. They scoped and did all the normal maintence work as part of my first check-up, and fixed a few other minor issues I asked them to look into. I was very happy about that.

As for the mirror, the motor on the right side mirror has issues with it's memory, hence the reason it will not reset after I put the shift knob back in D (It won't go back up). A new motor was ordered and will be here next week. My SA also said that he will perform the update for me when I bring the car in for the mirror issue, as that doesn't take long to fix.

Thanks to everyone that replied. I think for one, I was cranky and stressed of being away from my baby. And two, I felt that I was getting the run-around from a dealer that is so busy, they were just giving me an excuse to get the basic work done and get my car out. For those that don't know, Rallye Motors is one of the largest dealers of BMW in the US now. Their service department has 90 stalls....yes, 90! It's hands down the largest BMW dealership I have ever seen and they just opened this new location a few months ago. If you check out their site, it almost looks like a BMW factory in Germany.

After I learned they fixed a bunch of other issues I had requested (creaking sounds, door jams rattling, some creaking from the strut towers...which are all fixed now and the car is quiet as can be), I was really, really happy.

When BMW NA calls me next week to ask about my experience, I will be giving them all "10's". I might even write a letter to the manager of service and let him know what a good experience I had with my SA. Fortunately for my SA, he had no idea that I almost went on a rampage. However, he does know that I will be giving him all "10's". I made it a point to tell him as I was leaving.

Case closed!

Rudy

Glad to hear things all worked out for you...