w8pmc

Just to clarify, as you appear to be judging on only a small amount of information.

I purchased my car on the 31st Jan 2006 & a condition of my purchase (car was a 4mth old Dealer Demonstrator) was that they apply the latest software upgrade & enable mp3 playback (information i learnt from this site during the purchase process), but when i collected the car they had not done either of these things & i noticed a fairly bad scratch on the top edge of the rear bumper.

The dealer agreed that they had failed to deliver on the agreement & arranged for the car to go back in 1 week later. During that week, i learnt on this forum about retro-fit of Extended voice, so as the car was going back in i asked the dealer if they could do this for me & of course i'd pay whatever the cost was & also to have the rear parcel shelf checked as it had been rattling quite badly. They agreed & carried out the all the work, except they undid the mp3 functionality they'd enabled, even though they told me they'd done this & they did not sort out the rear parcel shelf as they spotted that one of the rear speakers was faulty, so the car was booked in again to have mp3 playback enabled correctly, also to have the rear speaker replaced which was a special order item & once the speaker was replaced they would replace the parcel shelf. As i'd learnt once again on here about the newer i-drive controller, i asked them to order this & if it arrived while the car was in they would fit it, if not they'd post it to me & i'd swap them over.

All seemed well & they informed me on Friday everything was done, but the i-drive controller had not arrived so they would send it on to me. Yesterday morning (day i'm due to collect) they call me again to say they've found a new fault, as this Restraint Fault message had appeared when they started the car yesterday, but they said they'd sort it out before i was due to collect at 1:30PM. I get a further call to say that everything is sorted & they'd also just received the new i-drive controller, so would swap them over while the car was in. I arrive at the dealers to collect my car, feeling very excited that everything was done & my car was now as it should be, only to switch the ignition on & the Restraint Fault message to appear (remember they called me a couple of hours earlier to say they'd fixed this new fault).

My annoyance is that they've had my car for a total of 15 days (13 working days) & the only work at my extra request/cost was the extended voice & i-drive controller, these 2 jobs combined do not equal 13 days work. Plus each time the car has been in, a new fault/problem has arrisen & this does not give me great confidence. I just want my car back in the condition it should have been in weeks ago. I'm not overly mad at the dealer, but i am unhappy at how long this work has taken & that after being told everthing is now perfect, i find this not to be the case with a new fairly major fault arrising.

w8pmc

Just had a call from the Dealer & been told the fault is with the Safety Gateway Module (SGM). They are convinced the fault is not caused by the work they've done to date of the CIP upgrade. I'm still not very happy & have had to cancel todays DMS appointment again. Hopeful the part will arrive tomorrow & i'll be back in my car tomorrow afternoon, assuming nothing else goes wrong.

w8pmc

Been let down yet again :thumbsdown:

Just had a call from the dealers & the SGM was not the problem, as they've replaced that this morning & they're still getting the same fault. My confidence with E60's & the BMW marque is really starting to dwindle.

They want the car for another few days to investigate further & hopefully repair.

Only slight improvement is that they're swapping me out of this E90 320ES loaner & putting me in another 535D M-Sport until mine is fixed, which is a little better to be driving around in.

Will keep you updated, but i really hope they resolve these problems very quickly.

pedrollo

Knob, yes and cube trim also yes :thumbsdown:

I paid money not to have the Aluminium, I went for black maple and I love it. Both these options are heavily taste dependent it seems, and both have a love/hate following.

It is not a problem on the 535 but they really MUST do something about the knobs on the standard aircon.


Now as they have put you in an equivalent motor, I wouldn't worry. Saves your mileage, let them take as long as they want now. Main thing I would say is to be sure it is right when it arrives, and should also be worth a discount at least.

Good luck.

P.s. I'll drop you a PM also.

Tommy

Alu cube is still standard with the sports package. As soon as i take deliver of my new car, I will check out if the i-drive has the newer leather cover. 2 more weeks of waiting...

Tommy

Cool, I see u've got a talking buddy , I haven't seen a talking buddy in the shape of an E60 yet, that would be real

w8pmc

Many thanks for the answer. Also proved it to myself, as the new Loaner is an 06MY, so has the new controller knob & Aluminium Cube trim, so they do come as standard. Noticed on the loaner that the centre metal part of the steptronic lever is the same colour as the new i-drive knob, a kinda medium grey colour (so these match), but i can't recal if my steptronic lever is this same darker metallic colour or a lighter aluminium colour, as per the previous i-drive knob. If this is the case then they do sort of match up.

TBH, now i'm in pretty much the same car as mine i'm far happier & as you say, i'll pound the 700+ miles this week on their car, not mine It also has mp3 enabled so i can play my newly burnt discs in their.

Cheers,

needforspeed

I don't blame you for being totally hacked off with BMW over this. I had a similarly bad experience with recent purchase of a second hand car - this is a sample e-mail I sent to them:

Carla,

As discussed with John and yourself I have a number of issues with the above vehicle, which was delivered to me on the 3rd Feb 06.

Items that we had agreed would be resolved prior to the original delivery:

1. Fitting of an IPOD connection kit - John agreed to include this as part of the original purchase price, but then found problems identifying the appropriate equipment. I have now agreed with John that I will accept the installation of a BMW auxilliary input together with an additional power connection.

The details for the aux input are as per the attached pdf document.

I also attach a picture indicating how I would like this to be installed. If this is not possible, I will accept installation in the glovebox.

2. Minor paintwork scratch to drivers door just below door handle - should have been made good prior to delivery.

3. All certificates missing from handover pack (MOT, HPI and Milage check etc..)

On the 6th Feb I reported the following further problems to John by Fax:

1. False warning messages appearing on idrive - 'high battery drain' and 'tyre puncture, which continue to appear regularly. I believe that they result from known problems with the CIP software and are resolved in the latest updates as decribed in the attached service bulletin.

2. Creaking noise from door seals - again this appears to be a known warranty issue described in this service bulletin.

3. Vehicle should have been delivered with a full tank of fuel, but in fact was delivered with only 1/4 tank.

My list of problems continues to grow with the following being noted yesterday

1. When using one touch closure on the drivers window it often stops halfway and re-opens.

2. Windscreen wipers make a simply appaling noise and the rain sensor operates very erratically making driving in rain unbearable.

3. The service book states that a service was completed on the 26th Jan 06, but no milage was recorded. The service indicator states that an inspection is required in 3000 miles. Approved BMW used car scheme states that a service will not be required within 4000 miles.

I am now getting extremely frustrated with the service offered by ******* BMW. It seems to me that the car CANNOT have been checked with any level of thoroughness prior to delivery.

I am also extremely unhappy with the aftersales service.

I would be grateful for your prompt attention to these points and suggest that you call me on receipt of this e-mail to discuss the matter further.

The dealer had my car for 2 days to resolve these problems and...

1. The ipod connection worked, but I had to buy my own cables, charger, bracket none of which I expected.
2. I still have the High Battery Drain fault
3. The car had a slow puncture (a screw in the tyre) when I got it back. It was repairable and I have no way of really knowing if it happened in BMW's care - but I think it MIGHT have happened in their workshop.
4. The door seals were not replaced (in fact they never even ordered them until they were due to give the car back).
5. The drivers side window still retracts intermittantly.

At the end of the 2 days (Friday PM) they asked to keep it over the weekend and I went nuclear. I offered them 2 choices - return the car NOW or return the MONEY.

I advised them that I will NEVER return to their dealership for ANY reason.

I've a years warranty left and will have the remaining problems sorted by my local dealer. Sadly some people don't understand about customer service and rather than banging your head against a wall of indifference and ignorance, sometimes it is better just to move on.

w8pmc

I can understand you going nuclear, i've been very close but them putting me in a like for like car today has eased the pain & with 700 miles to drive over the next 2 days, i'll enjoy putting the miles on their car not mine.

I'm certainly not happy with BMW & their product at the moment & more worried about the E60's reliance on Software, even the dealer said they can hardly cope with the number of software issues they're dealing with & they're so pleased i seem to know what i'm talking about, as it helps them out no end (all stuff i learnt on here ), but who got the extensive product training, them or me????

Just goes to show how valuable forums such as this really are. I learnt this from my days in Audi's, when dealers would give you such stupid information that you knew was complete crap & you'd end up telling them exactly what was wrong with your car, thus svaing them hours of pointless investigation & then an incorrect diagnosis.

pedrollo

Ditto.