New Bmw Owner Question

[Jimmie White]

New to Bmw but not Motorcycles. Got a 04 r1200clc last year. At 7k mi. speedo quit and abs light blinked continiously. Dealer said I bent front brake disc when changing tire, that turned out to be untrue when he removed them then he said I bent mounting brackets for disc. (probably not true also since they are cast) He put $400 worth new brackets and I still had the problem, finally he put it on the diag computer (what he should done first I think) and it showed faulty electro pickup on rear wheel. Replaced the pickup and it fixed the problem. Qestion is this normal practice for BMW dealer to experiment changing parts at my expense. New to BMW Jimmie White

[Gizmo]

I would say it is not common practice as there are many good dealers with competent to top drawer wrenches, but there are also poor examples as well, evidently you found one. I would be questioning the seemingly added expenses, no reason you should have to pay for parts and labor that were not the cause of the problem.

[dzimbric]

That has not been the case in my experience. I have found the dealers I have patronized to be competent at service and repairs. They then seem to go out of business, but that is a differnet matter, Nick's BMW beware. :wave :wave

Did the dealers charge you $400.00, sounds like something is fishy there. Did you save the old brackets and compare them to the new ones. It seems really hard to bend a rotor or the mounting brackets for a caliper while replacing the wheel. If the stuff was that cocked it wouldn't come apart in the first place or the bike would fall over when you tried to wrestle the wheel out of the forks.

By the way, you may want to request this post be moved to the oilhead section or campfire of thids forum. Welcome aboard

[Cliffy777]

if you paid 400 bucks for something that was not broken, then you ought to start complaining. i would start with the owner of the dealership and give him or her the opportunity to make things right. if that doesn't work, then start up the chain of command with bmw na.
welcome to the forum. sorry to learn of your bad fortune but i would encourage you to complain until you receive satisfaction.

[username]

jimmie - welcome!

sounds like you're not being treated right. if your dealer "fixes" things that arent broken and charges you, get after him. we often have 'bad dealer' conversations in here, and the consensus is that there are a few awful ones, and a bunch of good ones. if youve got an awful one, then that's bad.

any other dealers near you? want to tell us which dealer youre having issues with? perhaps others in your area can offer advice, or recommend the right person to talk to at the dealer/right mechanic to get. or they might say, "take it somewhere else."

several folks have had dealer issues, and then found a way to talk to the owner. i think in those cases, they get treated properly. most of these dealers are not gigantic businesses like the car conglomerates, and you can get pretty personalized service, and get results by having a calm, rational conversation with someone. resist the urge to raise hell, no matter how good it feels. :D

please let us know how it works out.

[riderR1150GSAdv]

if you paid 400 bucks for something that was not broken, then you ought to start complaining. i would start with the owner of the dealership and give him or her the opportunity to make things right. if that doesn't work, then start up the chain of command with bmw na.
welcome to the forum. sorry to learn of your bad fortune but i would encourage you to complain until you receive satisfaction.

Welcome to the forum :wave

I agree with Cliffy, you should not have to pay for stuff that didn't need fixin'.
It is bad form that your dealer did this. Just give them the chance to make it right. They usually will.
Remember, it is better with honey than vinegar. :nod

[Jimmie White]

Thanks to all who made recommendations on how to best handle. I started with the mechanic who did the work with no satisfaction. I think in his heart he knows that he was wrong but is sticking to the party line of the dealer. He does sign his paycheck!!!! I then spoke to the owner of the dealership who seems to have just accepted what the mechanic said, without question. I ask for the brackets but as you might guess they had been discarded. I think it is a lost cause, I am reluctant to elevate it to BMW NA since I dont think it their fault, just a unscrupulous dealership. My guess is they would only call the dealer or mechanic and get the same story. Thanks jimmie

[knary]

Thanks to all who made recommendations on how to best handle. I started with the mechanic who did the work with no satisfaction. I think in his heart he knows that he was wrong but is sticking to the party line of the dealer. He does sign his paycheck!!!! I then spoke to the owner of the dealership who seems to have just accepted what the mechanic said, without question. I ask for the brackets but as you might guess they had been discarded. I think it is a lost cause, I am reluctant to elevate it to BMW NA since I dont think it their fault, just a unscrupulous dealership. My guess is they would only call the dealer or mechanic and get the same story. Thanks jimmie

Take it to BMW NA. It's the only way such behavior, which is unusual, will be stopped. Thank you for taking the bullet.

[Ghostryder]

I agree with KNARY go to the next highest person. If that is NA then so be it. I dont know about you but I sure dont have $400 to be throwing away on repairs that didnt need to be made in the first place. Good luck.

[BradfordBenn]

The original problem should have been covered by the warranty, it would have been up to the dealer to prove to you why it wasn't warranty. TYpically done by showing the damaged parts. So yup go to NA since they are the people who are responsible for the warranty.

Good luck

[dano]

JW.....sounds as if you took a good hosing on that one.

A new '04 at 7000 miles, and you already changed tires on it? You didn't make it clear if you did, infact, change the tire on your own.

I'd be calling BMW NA and run the situation past them.

[bigfoot105]

You should ask the dealer for the contact number for NA and then if he asked you what for, you can tell him what your plans are....It is possible that if he has had other such complaints he may back down just on your threat :stick ....If he doesn't back down, Carry On!!! Good Luck and Remember,

It Ain't over till you say its over :thumb

$400 bucks is $400 bucks!!!

[Grey Matter]

I am reluctant to elevate it to BMW NA since I dont think it their fault, just a unscrupulous dealership. My guess is they would only call the dealer or mechanic and get the same story. Thanks jimmie

This may not be BMW NA’s fault but it is very much there business. In my opinion throwing away old parts is a bad habit to get into. My dealer always asks me if I want my old parts.



On another note, welcome to the forum. Would you care to fill out your profile? This lets all of us know a little about new members & such.

[roy]

New to Bmw but not Motorcycles. Got a 04 r1200clc last year. At 7k mi. speedo quit and abs light blinked continiously. Dealer said I bent front brake disc when changing tire, that turned out to be untrue when he removed them then he said I bent mounting brackets for disc. (probably not true also since they are cast) He put $400 worth new brackets and I still had the problem, finally he put it on the diag computer (what he should done first I think) and it showed faulty electro pickup on rear wheel. Replaced the pickup and it fixed the problem. Qestion is this normal practice for BMW dealer to experiment changing parts at my expense. New to BMW Jimmie White

Jimmie first welcome the BMW group.

Just a few questions that arise when reading your post.

1) You state the the FRONT brake disc and mounting brackets were bent when changing the tire. Did you remove the tire or the dealer?

1a) When applying the brakes did the bike shudder or jerk? If the discs are bent this would happen.

2) I do not know how the wiring ties together but how does the FRONT wheel effect the speedo when the speedo pick-up is in the REAR?

3) Why would a bent disc effect the ABS unless ABS sprocket/gear is also bent?

4) I am also new to BMWMOA and I heartily agree that this should be taken to BMA NA. I do not believe BMW wants dealers mistreating their customers. Since one uphappy customer with todays technology I.e. Internet can lead to a tremendous amout of bad press.

Good luck

Roy

[Emoto]

Take them to small claims court. It will only cost you like $20.00 to file your suit, and customers almost always win at these things.

Before you take them to court, you may wish to send them a registered letter restating the problem and asking for your money back on unnecessary work and stating your intention to take legal action if they do not refund your money within X period of time.

[Grey Matter]

Whatever you decide to do don’t let them push you around. When one of us is taken advantage of, in a sense we all are.

[bigfoot105]

I don't remember reading in your post if this was the dealer you purchased you bike from but, If it was then maybe you need to contact your saleperson and enlist his/her help. Since this was the first person you aligned your trust with. If it wasn't the selling dealer and you still have you original association with them (the original dealer) maybe you could get some information from them on what to do and also get some kind of idea what the success rate is on getting satisfaction on this type of problem. :dunno

[knary]

Jimmie,

Has there been any resolution to the situation?

[screamin eagle]

I too am a new owner and I am very curious as to the resolution. It would seem that the bike was under warranty. Aside from that it bothers me that a dealer would just rip you off for that amount of money.

I plan to do alot of xcountry riding and I hope I don't have to visit any BMW dealers in Arkansas. OOOH, Arkansas, the home of Bill Clinton. That says alot