Losing faith in BMW

AlpinweissM3 · #1 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 04:03 PM

I am really torqued with BMW right now. So this weekend I drive down to Denver to go to the Denver Auto show. I have a great time and get to see some amazing cars; GTR, ZR-1, 135, E92 M3, etc. I was on my way back to Fort Collins which is about 60 miles from Denver and my cars EML light comes on. Now a couple months ago I had the same problem and my car broke down in Denver and I had to have it towed all the way home and fixed at my local Dealer in Fort Collins. I had a faulty Throttle position sensor got it fixed and I was on my way. Now back to my current situation. As I was returning home and my EML came on the car started driving horrible and pretty soon all my lights were on and than bang limp mode. I pull the car off the interstate in north Denver a.k.a Commerce City a.k.a the Ghetto. I call BMW assist and tell them that I need a tow. Will it takes the lady 45 min to figure out where I am. According to her Commerce city does not exist. She only has 4 cities on her computer for Colorado and none of them are the one I am in. She mapquest's my location and she tells me again she can't find it. So then she ask me the zip code. Like I know the zip code I broke down in. So my friend using his Iphone is able to find out the zip code we are in. Great, she claimed that she finally was able to pull up the address and that the tow truck was on its way. I only had to wait 55 min and than she would call me back to make sure he was there. Well 55 min comes and goes than 65, 75, 85 min. Still no tow truck and no phone call. I call back BMW assist to find out that the tow truck company doesn't service the area that I am in so they canceled the dispatch. The woman than asks me if I would like them to dispatch another tow truck? I asked her why she didn't do that in the first place after the other one was canceled. She of course had no answer. At this point I am ready to explode I have just been sitting in the middle of the ghetto on the side of the street and nobody is coming. So I ask the womans name and where she is located. She tells me her name which I can't even remember and that she is located in some city in India. INDIA you have to be f*&#^%@ kidding me. No wonder she couldn't find me. So I say screw it and tell her to make a note of the conversation and that I would have the car towed on my own and hand BMW the bill. Anyways I decide to limp the car back to my parents house about 10 miles away and figured I would just wait until the next morning (Monday) to get the car towed to the dealer because they are closed on Sunday so there is nothing they can do for me anyways. So I get up this morning call BMW assist and try this all over again. Go through all the paperwork with them over the phone and than they tell me they wont tow it to my local dealer that they are going to tow it to one in Denver. Which is over 60 miles away from where I live. So at this point I am like whatever I know the Dealer very well they are taking it to so I told them to go for it. Today I get a call from the dealer to find out that my throttle motor has gone out. So currently I have 18,500 miles on my car and to date my problems have been;

Window regulator (Tech managed to shatter my window while replacing)
Throttle Position Sensor (Car had to be towed)
EKG (Went out with Throttle position sensor)
Radio (Just quit working)
Coolant sensor (Caused thermostat gauge to go nuts)
Throttle Bodies Motor (Car had to be towed)

It really makes me miss my E36 M3. I put over 70,000 miles on it and it never gave me any problems aside from regular maintenance. Sorry about the long post I just had to vent a little. I mean is to much to ask to have car be able to make it past 20,000 miles without braking down let alone twice.

Crusher_13 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 04:45 PM

Don't crack the shits with BMW for the call centre people. That is a necessity in today’s society. It would be to expensive to employ people locally to do that job. They pay her $100 a week a great wage for her, but someone in Australia would ask for around $16 - $25 an hour for the same job and I guess in America they would ask for around the same possibly a little less. It just does not financially viable to employ locals.

The car… Well sometimes you are just unlucky. I know a few people with E46 M3’s that have never had a problem.

92318is · #3 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 06:01 PM

It is true that it is much cheaper to outsource for customer service phone reps and things like that, but you'd think for how much you paid for your m3 (and how much bimmers cost in general) that BMW could afford to hire people for call centers in every country bimmers are sold in. I guarantee they could still make a profit if they had local people handling the calls and calling the towing companies.

Either way, you're right, you shouldn't have so many problems that early on, but it does sound like you are very unlucky, I haven't heard too much in the way of common problems on the e46, just a few unlucky people. Of course, the more electronics on your vehicle, the more things there are to fail...

Sorry to hear about the crap you had to go through with your car though...I really am. Especially with an '06...you'd think they would've had most of the bugs figured out for the last model year.

fairweatherpunk · #4 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 06:15 PM

AlpinweissM3 I couldn't sympathize with you more and I feel for you and your story. I've had my 325 for almost 3 years. When I first bought it had had 114,000 miles on it. I understand that this is a lot of mileage. I got a tune up immediately. I changed the oil along with a lot of little things. Last spring I started having one problem after another. First while my car was in the body shop getting my ACS front end put on the body shop called and said they couldn't get it started. As it turns out the ignition cylinder broke. OK no big deal. Next week I'm getting m3 cams put it and my mechanic driving the car back to me that my car is overheating. The water pump went up which was something I was expecting. The next day my fuel pump went up. Fast forward to a month ago, I'm sitting in a drive thru, and my car just shuts off with a bunch of smoke. My water valve broke. Within a year I've dropped 2 grand easy in a car that's worth about three. Don't get me wrong I love it, but sometimes I feel like I should just get into a car with a warranty or something. The sad truth is cars are machines and anything can break at any time. Some cars are better made then others and every once in awhile for whatever reason sometimes you do get a bad egg. But I know your story is worse I just thought I'd share mine. Oh yeah I'm replacing my vanos this week. Yeah more money I don't have to blow!

AlpinweissM3 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 06:46 PM

You know honestly I don't really mind that they are in India. I understand how costly it can be for a corporation to run a call center like that. I just feel like with something as expensive as a new BMW they would be better trained at customer service. The truth is they don't directly work for BMW. So what do they really care if you are taken care of. Case in point why didn't they call me and let me know no tow truck was coming? They had my phone number its the first thing they ask for. Or why didn't they call another tow company after the first told them they didn't service the area. Like I said I was pretty heated about the whole matter its not the end of the world the car is getting fixed and I should have it back by tomorrow. Hopefully it will make more than 3,000 miles before braking down this time

Crusher_13 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 06:59 PM

AlpinweissM3 - It does suck. But what is good to see is the change in attitude or the greater understanding in your latest post.

AlpinweissM3 · #7 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 07:04 PM

I will be interested to see tomorrow what the complete diagnosis is on the car.

polizei144 · #8 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 08:13 PM

my car broke down the other day too.

i saw an e30 go by while it was being worked on... i could have sworn it laughed at me

M3-Zero · #9 (**permalink**) 03-31-2008, 09:55 PM

Hey Alp, You need to send a letter to BMW USA about your experience. I work in the IT industry which is almost completely outsourced to India for its service functions and I know that it's somewhat hit-and-miss as to the quality of service that you receive. If you let BMW USA know about your experience they will look into it and they will do what they can to make things right by you. You can reach them at:

BMW of North America, LLC
300 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677-7731

Send your original post to them, and explain that you have posted it to dtmpower.net and I wouldn't be surprised if you received a personal call from them trying to make things right.

AlpinweissM3 · #10 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 10:26 AM

I have already been in contact with BMW NA and expect to be hearing back from them soon. Thanks for the contact info M3-Zero. I am also thinking about writing a letter to Roundel and my local BMWCCA Newsletter too.

CraigMakDaddy · #11 (**permalink**) 04-02-2008, 04:17 AM

That sounds pretty messed up. Sounds like that lady was completely incompetent and deserves to be fired. She can't even use google to find a city or call you to follow up. Absolutely worthless individual.

Did you buy that M3 used or what is the deal? I have never heard of M3s or any e46s have problems like that. Especially at such a low mileage. Sounds like you may have gotten yourself a 1 in a million Lemon from BMW. The only other possibility i can see is that it was used and abused very early in its life.

AlpinweissM3 · #12 (**permalink**) 04-02-2008, 10:55 AM

I bought the car new. It was actually one of the last new 06's available in the country when I purchased it. However, I don't know where you guys get the idea that the E46 is a reliable car. Search an E46 forum and you will find plenty of threads about Diffs going out, TPS (my problem), Bad Coils, window regulators, Bearing recalls, MAF, Faulty head lights etc. I know that someone is going to post about how their/friends car is perfect and never had a problem but I just don't think that is the case for most of these cars. It sucks because I really love this car even more than my E36. Its just I fear what a money pit it will be out of warranty if I am already having all these problems.

AlpinweissM3 · #13 (**permalink**) 04-02-2008, 11:00 AM

Well the Diagnosis is in. Another faulty Throttle position sensor or to be exact TPS #2. Sadly I was unable to talk to the service rep because I couldn't get to the dealer until after they had left so I will have to give him a call today.

polizei144 · #14 (**permalink**) 04-02-2008, 05:18 PM

i know a person who bought a new 328i and it was a lemon. but bmw made it up to her. they gave her a brand new 335i. not too bad in my opinion.

CraigMakDaddy · #15 (**permalink**) 04-03-2008, 01:59 AM

I think if you are looking at forums, people are more likely to post about problems with thier cars than they are to say that thier car never has problems. So if there are 20 people out of 10,000 on a forum with car problems you are going to see those 20 people posting about thier problems. You are not going to see the 9,980 other people with no problems because they have nothing to post about.