Stealer service - Again!

[Redline]

Had the winters on the 330 swapped out for the summer set that the dealer had in storage this morning. Set off back for home and was just pulling onto the motorway after about half a mile and the tyre monitoring system chimed in. Thought nothing of it as it usually goes off after the wheels are swapped out. A few seconds later a second alert comes up saying tyre pressure warning. Wasn't expecting that, so I put the tyre pressure display up. Considering the fronts should be 2.4bar and the rears 2.6bar, the fronts were reporting 1.7bar and the rears 1.9 ns and 1.6 bar os.

Drove more slowly home that I would normally have done and then checked and re-pressurised them all. Yes - all tyres low but marginally higher than the screen display, probably because the tyres were warmed up by then. Still, putting a tyre on at 60% of its correct setting is not very amusing. Interesting conversation then with the service desk rep. They've just call back and admitted they didn't check the pressures on the summer set!!!

They've offered a free fill-up in compensation when I'm next passing. Am I letting them off lightly with that offer?

Not surprisingly I have much reduced confidence in BMW service if they can't get such a fundamentally basic safety issue right. It isn't hard. They had one job. Mind you, I haven't checked the torque on the wheel nuts yet. Should a tank of fuel restore confidence?

And this is after they gave the key to my car to another customer....


And breath.....

 

[andyglym]

A mate of mine is an ex BMW mechanic locally, he was telling me about some of the training. They would sit round a TV screen and watch a German Mechanic explain procedure X to remove and change part Y, this was done on a new engine whilst on a bench and had, for example, 30 minutes to complete. No compensatory time for the fact that engines are generally in a car and surrounded by a vast array of ancillary kit Massive unrealistic time pressures to get the job done. Still no excuse for not checking tyre pressures though, not sure if I ever remember my tyre pressures being correct at any service for any car over the years

 

[Redline]

A mate of mine is an ex BMW mechanic locally, he was telling me about some of the training. They would sit round a TV screen and watch a German Mechanic explain procedure X to remove and change part Y, this was done on a new engine whilst on a bench and had, for example, 30 minutes to complete. No compensatory time for the fact that engines are generally in a car and surrounded by a vast array of ancillary kit Massive unrealistic time pressures to get the job done. Still no excuse for not checking tyre pressures though, not sure if I ever remember my tyre pressures being correct at any service for any car over the years

Not something I would normally do or worry about but, like I said, it was the only job. They didn’t get swapped out last year because of COVID. So, the wheels had been sat there for 18 months. They knew that.

 

[Toby]

Agree its poor service, but tbh take the free fill up and move on - just make sure its virtually empty when you do. Doubtful compaining further will be worth it. The job would have been given to an apprentice, who would be told to change the wheels - if no one mentions check pressures they wont.

 

[Ianmc]

They've offered a free fill-up in compensation when I'm next passing.

Of air?!!

 

[GZed]

But do they mean a free fill up of air? (lol)...

 

[Redline]

Agree its poor service, but tbh take the free fill up and move on - just make sure its virtually empty when you do. Doubtful compaining further will be worth it. The job would have been given to an apprentice, who would be told to change the wheels - if no one mentions check pressures they wont.

Agree entirely. The problem is it's such a small tank in the 330e - only takes £50 to brim from empty. They get off lightly.
Got to rub it in with them - not like we've got lots of things to be doing out and doing at the moment.
They seem to have expensive apprentices - called Techs. Even to change the wheels.

They charge the earth for hourly rates for what should be highly trained and trustworthy skills but you constantly get the guy who wields the workshop broom. Even anyone changing wheels should know that checking tyre pressures is mandatory. Basic stuff.

Have an increasing deficit of trust with dealers I suppose. Previously had a LR dealer have one of their drivers doing 45mph in a 30 limit outside a school in my car. I had that on dash cam. Which reminds me, today they disconnected the dash cam and didn't reconnect it afterwards. Just disrespect of their customers. So, if not BMW, what next?

 

[Redline]

But do they mean a free fill up of air? (lol)...

It's a 330e hybrid. The fuel tank gets pressurised and that pressure has to be released before you can open the filler cap and refill it. So, in essence, I would take it in full of air and get it back full of less air.

 

[t-tony]

If they wish to disable your Dashcam they should ask your permission before doing so, and there should be no need unless they have something to hide.

Tony.

 

[Redline]

If they wish to disable your Dashcam they should ask your permission before doing so, and there should be no need unless they have something to hide.

Tony.

It seems common practice Tony. Permission is never sought. They see it as protecting their employee not your car (or licence) and that overrides your choice of security.
As it happens I have another tracker buried deep in the car. Might have no pictures but will cough up details of current and historical location and speed and tell me within a minute if the car is moved more than 150m if I remotely arm it to do so. But, that's another story.... Trust no-one

 

[t-tony]

I have a voice recorder which I leave in mine sometimes, it looks like pen, writes like a pen and listens.

Tony.

 

[Redline]

I have a voice recorder which I leave in mine sometimes, it looks like pen, writes like a pen and listens.

Tony.

That so you can remember the conversations you’ve had with yourself
I have pen type device that records temperature. That’s sweet fa use here though

 

[Brian4]

Yes I'm not impressed with that particular dealer as they had to have mine back to the body shop to get the right paint colour on it after all their promises of exact colour match, and a friends 530d went in for oil change and like your's Ian the chime went off of low oil level. Seems they only put the oil quantity for a 4 cylinder 520 rather than the 6 cylinder 530.

 

[t-tony]

Very ameteurish by the sound of it Brian.

Tony.

 

[Redline]

Yes I'm not impressed with that particular dealer as they had to have mine back to the body shop to get the right paint colour on it after all their promises of exact colour match, and a friends 530d went in for oil change and like your's Ian the chime went off of low oil level. Seems they only put the oil quantity for a 4 cylinder 520 rather than the 6 cylinder 530.

Simply too big and too corporate. The number of suits you see wandering around is unreal. Nothing like seeing the receptionist coming in from the workshop cleaning his black hands on an oily rag before they talk to you.
The problem is that the cause of issues is always too far away both physically and process/management wise from the poor receptionist/service-agent that they don't see the connection between good service and loyalty. The workshop manager(s) are spirited away from the customers so they are untouchable. They don't see or get the pain. Their marketing and sales are always keen to talk to you though. All about image.

 

[Mazza]

The rates are based on the top mechanic, but unfortunately most of the time you get the YTS or Saturday boy !!! Plus with all the time constraints put on them nothing is ever checked ....despite what they say....
A lot of the time, the job sheets are completed by a ‘ supervisor ‘ after the job has been done and not at the point that each task is completed.....
Unfortunately its rife throughout the industry as I had a Honda Motor Bike returned to me after an accident( not my fault) and it looked like it had been put together by Stevie Wonder....
Brand new parts had been hacked to get them to fit...!!!!!!......
It was resolved by a very embarrassed Service Manager, who supplied me with all the replacement new parts , all the missing parts, and a compensation cheque........I wasn’t going to let them take it back to fix it,

 

[Althulas]

It’s stories like this that make me keen to do my own work in my open air garage, but saying that sometimes you need the specialist help of a garage and that’s where word of mouth counts a lot. Probably we could to with a good dealer - bad dealer thread.

 

[Mazza]

But not when it’s been raining and there is a river flowing under your Zed

 

[Brian H]

Turing off dash cams is standard practice and part of the small print these days.
Re the tyre pressure, as annoying and as unprofessional as it is, nobody was hurt, move on and don’t let it eat you up, the bmw dealer certainly won’t be.

 

[Redline]

...
A lot of the time, the job sheets are completed by a ‘ supervisor ‘ after the job has been done and not at the point that each task is completed.....
...

Haha - you're making me go back several years to think about work!

I can very much believe it. As usual - systemic misrepresentation of the facts at the coal-face to hide the truth from inspection. All too common.
You get what you measure, and those in the process can and do manipulate the data to present the outcome both they and management expect and in doing so creates an opportunity for denial.

Happens everyday. What senior people don't understand is by allowing it they create the worst possible scenario - everybody is hiding from the truth and the opportunity to learn and improve. Just the all-too-common poor management - too much time measuring for the process and not for the outcome. And probably nobody senior walking the floor and doing the job themselves. Too many people hiding.