How to Steal a nice BMW !

This is outrageous in my opinion, both the actions and response of both BMW GB, and one particular dealer.

copied from pistonheads : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&am p;t=774559&i=999999&nmt=How to steal a BMW....

I am a proud owner of an immaculate e46 M3.

About two and half weeks ago, my car got stolen, the police managed to retrieve the car back the next day via its on board tracker (down the road). They had advised me that there didn’t appear to be any forceful entry so it appears that someone had my key – I was in possession of both sets of keys so I was baffled.

I called up BMW UK to enquire whether any keys had been issued recently; they eventually came back to me with the astonishing news that a set of keys had been issued out by one of the BMW franchises in Wiltshire a couple of days prior. I didn’t even know where Salisbury was yet alone been there. After a tedious battle, I eventually got the whole story.

And to keep the story short, a guy walks into the "BMW dealer" in Wiltshire, with a “dubious” V5 document from Ireland, driving license from Manchester & no proof of address. Apparently the guy was very charming and he had an answer for everything - the franchise did realise a few inconsistencies with the guy’s story, namely:
- the registration number on the V5 didn’t match the one on their system
- the address on his ID didn’t match the V5 nor the one in their system (he had ID from Manchester, V5 from Ireland & my car registered in their system as London)
- he turns up in Wiltshire to urgently get keys

So the “BMW dealer in Wiltshire”, with all this information decides to issue him with keys, so he orders the keys on Friday, collects them on Saturday & then casually walks up my street at 9pm on Sunday & drives off in my car.

After getting my car back & the “BMW dealer” in Wiltshire owning up to the issue, they agreed to change all my locks and send me a courtesy car (the ‘best’ one they had). A week later, I get my car back, all initially appears fine. I drive it 3-4 miles down the road & it simply refuses to start. The AA & BMW Emergency Services were not able to help at that time of the night as it appeared that the issue was immobiliser related. With no alternative, I pushed to a secure location and left it there. Upon recommendation, I decided not to leave the car unattended & insecure outside the local BMW dealer in East London.

Spoke to BMW UK, but unfortunately they fobbed me off (politely), stating that they give their franchises complete independence & my issue is with them and that they will not be able to help. They even went as far as to suggest that if I chose to handle this matter legally, then the case is against “the BMW dealer in Wiltshire” and NOT BMW UK. This just astounded me – there was not attempt of brand protection whatsoever,

With no alternative, I called the “BMW dealer in Wiltshire”, only to hear them reiterate the fact that it was nothing to do with anything they did and that the car was ‘perfectly’ fine on the drive down and upon delivery. They then had the audacity to suggest that I organise a local BMW dealer to collect the car and IF it can proven that the car was failing due to the work they did, they will then ‘sort it out’ – I guess they mean financially.

After much arguing, they finally agreed to my suggestion of sending a BMW technician from BMW Emergency Services to look at my car. He concluded that the new keys/chip had not been correctly aligned with the new immobiliser; he was not sure what was wrong with the other key (t just simply didn’t work). He did the best he could and reprogrammed the keys, the one key is still not completely functional, but at least I can move my car.

To inflict more pain to me, the BMW dealer in Wiltshire advised me that they had not paid the congestion charge when they delivered my car on Friday and as it was too late to make a back payment, I will be issued a £60 penalty – they said they will ‘sort it out’ when it comes through.

To say I am disappointed would be an understatement, my car is still completely functional, as it failed last night ((but I managed to get it working again) so I am just not confident to go anywhere in it and I am reluctant to go back to the “BMW dealer in Wiltshire” as they are appear to be completely incompetent and to add to this they are 100 miles or so away.

At the beginning of this whole saga, I did speak and write to the MD of the “BMW dealer in Wiltshire”, who I must add was a complete prat, he just kept reiterating the fact that they have also been a victim of this crime and that they are dealing with the police, he did not feel that he had any further responsibility to me other than getting my car fixed out of good will – I responded by stating that they were NOT a victim of crime BUT an access to crime via their negligence – I am the only victim!

So with BMW UK not wanting to get involved & the “BMW dealer in Wiltshire” fobbing me off – I am pretty much stuck in a rut.

Please do not take this as a dig against the website because I think it is an awesome website, but with the ‘name & shame’ rule, the “BMW dealer in Wiltshire” wins again in their small way.

I suppose the way they see it - I am not a customer in Wiltshire, BMW UK don’t really care so why should they go out of their way to help me?? So I guess I will just have to grin and bear this complete incompetence from them – hopefully this will get resolved eventually – hopefully by Christmas – that would be a great Christmas present!!

Such a shame BMW don’t mind the reputational damage to their branding, I suppose I am just one small voice.

Comments/tips/advice??

Well I can tell you, the story is not the same with Mercedes (no I'm not trying to sell you one! lol) 

If a customer rings MBUK they will say that the complaint lies with the dealer BUT they raise a case file which they follow up with the dealer to ensure the customer gets their issue resolved.

As an example of 'brand preservation' we took delivery of a winscreen for a truck yesterday. Two of our guys tried to help the courier get it off the back of his van but he told one of them to go away. He then proceeded to drag the screen off the edge of his van onto the rear step and subsequently cracked the corner of the screen and blamed one of the guys trying to help him for being lazy (after he told him not to help!)  We complained to the distibution office and they said they'd take it up with the courier company. They then must have rang their driver who came storming in shouting the odds.

Later that day we recieved an email from a guy at Mercedes who deals with damage and descrepancy claims. He was extremely apologetic and basically said that they choose their contracters with great care because it is them who is an ambassador for Mercedes and they represent the high standards expected from dealers and customer alike. A full investigation will ensue and the correct action will be taken to ensure this totally unacceptable behavoiur never happens again.

Sometimes I do wonder if BMW are happy just to cut customers loose with the line 'go and see your dealer, we are not interested' The incident I just spoke about was from an outside contractor to a dealer and look at the great response that we got within hours of the incident. Mercedes see dealers as their customers and anyone they entrust with their image, they expect the highest standards so if we 'the dealer' upsets a customer and it's not dealt with in a satisfactory manner, of course they are going to be jumping on us because bad dealers means bad image which in turn could equal customers going elsewhere. It's time big brands and big companies took heed of your kind of incident (and Andrews) because it's a true statistic that for every good experience you have with a product/company, you will tell on average 1 person but if you get bad service, you will tell 9.

I reckon if you go to a local paper (perhaps the one in Wiltshire) and see if they are happy to take up your story also try trading standards though usually they would say you'd have to take it elsewhere to get the car inspected so they can write a report confirming the damage was done due to their negligence. Without that, they won't touch the case I doubt.

I hope you get it sorted, keep us posted.

Mike