dolfs

I have twice now experienced a problem with my 08 535i that was intermittent, but persistent. The first time its was the iDrive getting stuck, or not starting at all (requiring the three finger salute to reboot it). Make a service appointment, explain. Leave the car. Get a callback: "No fault codes in the computer, therefore everything is OK and we can't do anything". Message: "We don't believe you". "No sir, that's not what it means, but we can't do anything without fault codes. Come back if it happens again."

Next problem. Check control message: "Excessive battery drain". Not all the time, but once a week. Bring the car in and mention the repeated iDrive problems again. No fault codes but "Sir, this message means that the battery in your CA fob is getting low. Did you know that you have to stick it in the steering wheel slot on a regular basis to keep it charged?" I try not to laugh, but they won't do anything so I leave.

The problem intermittently persists and then a few months later becomes worse. We've hit the colder weather (no proof that this is related), and now after this happens and I get in the car, the TPM alarms are going off. Go check the pressure manually, it seems fine. Reset TPM, message goes away. Next time the CA dead problem occurs, same problem with TPM, different wheel. So, back to the dealership. This time it gets taken more seriously. They found a SB about some relay closing too soon, and it required reprogramming the whole package. Guess what: not only did it fix the TPM/drain issue, but also the previous "hang" issue. Readers of this forum (including me) already knew what the problem and the solution was, but they simply will not listen, even if you point at SBs.

So more recently I have been having this other problem where, at times, my car won't lock when I touch the driver's door handle (CA). When it doesn't, no matter how I touch it, it won't work. Walk to any other door and touch its door handle and the vehicle locks. On other days it seems to work fine all around. Thus, an intermittent problem to which I have not found a pattern.

Expecting the same treatment, I didn?t bother about it until I had to go in for some other reason (I don't use the car that much so it is only mildly annoying and has a work around). Well a couple of days ago the service warning came on for a brake fluid issue, so: Make a service appointment, explain. SA tries to reproduce the problem. Of course it works fine (definition of "intermittent problem"). He tries a bunch more times. Finally, after 10 tries or so, it fails. Hmm. Try some more times. He gets it to fail some more times. I'm thinking "Good, they saw the problem with their own eyes, I should be in better shape this time". Leave the car. Get a callback: "No fault codes in the computer, therefore everything is OK and we can't do anything".

This time, of course, I am getting frustrated. His explanation, which I think is utter BS: "This is a BMW safety feature in case a child plays with the door handle repeatedly. It would drain the battery, so the car's computer stops it after a bunch of repetitions". Now of course none of this could happens if the child was also not in possession of the CA key. Nonsense, but sounds like a good enough reason to get rid of me, or so he thinks.

Not so. I ask him: "Do you know of, or have any documentation of, any actual fault codes that might be generated by any car this model, specifically pertaining to a (specific) CA door handle?" Answer: "There are no service bulletins about door handles". Clearly, they can?t listen to a simple question, so I explain that I am not asking about SBs, but I am trying to ascertain that the systems are even detailed enough to produce the specific fault codes that he says are required to allow a repair action. "No sir, there are no fault codes in your car". This backs and forth goes on about 3 morevtimes with me trying different ways of asking the question. Grrrrrr. I cannot get this question through to him, so I give up on that one (may be some of you know the answer), and try a different approach.

I ask him what a customer is to do in the face of an intermittent problem (it is real because it happens to the observer/owner repeatedly, although not all the time), that produces no fault codes (perhaps because they don't even exist). According to his statement, BMW is never going to take any action unless there is a fault code, or a permanent malfunction. So I ask him "So I buy a BMW product and if all or part of it only works 50% of the time, that is not considered a reason for corrective action?" Answer: "indeed".

So, I have now told him that I consider that a customer service issue and that I would like to escalate it. "Can you come in tomorrow to talk to the shop foreman?" Me: "This is a customer service issue, the shop foreman is the technical guy. This needs to go to a manager of customer service". Him: "OK you can come in to see him and ask him if he will contact BMWNA about it?" (I mentioned escalation procedures). Me: "Why do I have to come in and waste my time. You ask him and have him call me if he has questions or a decision?"

BTW: I was already p***ed of because I made my service appointment on their web site, asking for a specific SA, a loaner, and for a specific time. I printed out my confirmation. I show up and the guy with the list doesn't have my name on it. I show him the confirmation, he disappears and, after 10 minutes, another SA shows up who proceeds to talk to me as if he was the one requested (he is the one I dealt with today). No apologies no nothing. At the end he proceeds to tell me they have no car for me. I tell him I have the confirmation in hand. He takes it, makes a copy and tells me I can get a loaner now and send me on my way. At the loaner department they used to have two desks: one for BMW loaners, and one for Enterprise (when they're out of loaners). I found out Enterprise is gone (back to their office 2 miles away), they're out of BMWs so I'll have to get a tin can for rent. Bad enough, but.... since Enterprise is no longer on site, they have to get me to their office. Since they did not inform them about me, Enterprise can?t come pick me up, dealership has to drive me. Takes them 10 minutes to find somebody to drive me. Get to Enterprise and they are out of cars (because BMW did not inform them about more customers), and it will take a while to get cars from another location... Grrr. I get lucky because after about 10 minutes somebody returns a card (a KIA for god's sake) and the other three customers agree to let me take it. This took 25 more minutes that it would have taken if they either had their computer systems work so they would not have lost my appointment, or Enterprise would have been on-site.


Waiting to hear back tomorrow.

BMRMEUP

Incredible and ridiculous. Hope you get some satisfaction out of customer service. GL!