Looking for suggestions… a.k.a. What would you do…

[DWill]

So I've had my new X for 6 wks now.
Sine I picked it up the 6FL hasn't really worked reliably; it plays music fine (though it doesn't sound very good) but it just won't charge my iPhone reliably.

But that's just a small issue, not all that a deal. Other than the wasted $400.00.

The bigger problem. I've had a few voice commands that simply don't work. When you use them they go somewhere else. For instance I can't save a name and number in the cars phone book. When I say "save name" the car comes back with "there's no disk in the drive" meaning the DVD drive.

I took the car in last Friday to have it fixed. Monday the dealer calls me and says it's all done. When I get there I'm told that, the car is functioning as it's supposed to and that "save name" isn't a part of the telephone functions on my car. Keep in mind about the only thing I don't have on the X is the cold weather package (but I do have heated seats).

Anyway after an hour or so of educating the service manager on the features that are supposed to work on my car; including a demo in a car on the lot.
The guy says to me he'll call BMW tomorrow (Tuesday) and see what functions are supossed to be in my car.

Late yesterday the SA calls and says "you're right there's voice commands missing from your car" (surprise) he even thanked me for helping out the service manager saying they don't get to "play" with these things too much. He says they'll be in touch as soon as they know what to do about, they need to talk to BMW.

Late today the SA calls and says they don't know what's wrong with it or how to fix it; not using those words but that was the message.
He says they are waiting to get some "ideas" from BMW.

So, my question. What would you do if the dealer called after having your car for the better part of a week and says "your cars broke we don't what's wrong and we don't know how to fix it".

I'm at a loss. How long do I let them go with this?
Am I over reacting to this?

What would you do?

[ard]

Hmm, this is a bit of a complicated question... My 2 cents.

BMW is BMWNA. The dealership is an independent company that has earned the right to sell BMWs, and to provide service to BMW owners on behalf of BMWNA.

As I see it you need to 'manage' two relationships- one with your local dealer, the other with BMWNA.

At this point, you need Dealer to leverage info from BMWNA. So you need to motivate Dealer to do so. They 'owe you one' since they've shown that they were initially ignorant on the operation of the car. They should be really trying their best to solve this.

My guess is that this is at the very bottom of their priority list- car drives, no codes- BMW isn't figuring out things to do, and the dealer isn't looking to spend time (dollars) on the car if, in the end, BMW doesn't reimburse for wild troubleshooting.

I tend to have a 'discussion' pretty early in the process. It can be low key, doesn't have to be confrontational- define what your expectations are, and that you have an understanding of how this will work. Letting the SA just make up stuff and manage you in a vacuum will result in their lying and letting things slide. Let them know that this is just voice guidance and you can give them some time to get it fixed- but at the end, you've paid for a feature and you expect it to work as advertised. Reasonable, eh?

Ask what the status is with BMW. Ask if there is an open PUMA case. If they say no, ask "how can BMW be 'working' on this without an open PUMA. I'd say you either want the car back or you want it fixed- but it is unacceptable to just have the car sit while nothing is being done.

There is no need for them to hold the car while they are awaiting ideas- demand a plan, a concrete course of what to do (ie 'reprogram X, Y and Z; if that doesnt work replace the iDrive ABC". It may be obvious to us that such a plan might include "Do we have an iDrive ABC in stock?"...but not to them, so you need to press each possibility- eventually they will figure out "We need to do this one right".

Then set a time, ensure that there is a loaner reserved.... if you are firm but reasonable with how you allow them to set the process up, you can justify putting pressure on them if they don't meet it.

Two questions: Does your first work order state "Voice commands not working", and does the second one also state "voice command not working"? Thats two strikes....

Take your car back, demand that they close the work order with "unable to fix at this time, awaiting ___ from BMW" or something similar. Do not let them "blame" you for closing the work order.

Also, FYI, I write "no permission to operate vehicle off dealership property" right next to the signature. No need for joyriding.... (I also never allow them to "detail" the car- dirty towels and swirls).

If you act like a clueless owner with no balls, you will wind up being treated poorly. Sure, in an ideal world there would be no need.

Finally, if they don't step up, you need to escalate it with the service manager then the GM. Then with BMW Consumer relations. You'll need to balance this with the issue, as it can color your long term relationship. Also keep in mind that there are multiple SAs at any dealership- they are not 'interchangeable' and some do better jobs or just have a better personality match for you.

2 cents

A

[DWill]

OK, here's the latest; as of about an hour ago...

The SA call and says that those commands have been removed from starting with the 2010 E70. He says the telephone commands were removed because in the old system the names and numbers were stored on the TCU.

Starting with the 2010 E70 there is a hard drive in the car (duh) and the info isn't stored on the hard drive; hence the commands were removed...

I asked why then are they still in the owners manual for instance. His answer, the owners manuals weren't updated with the 2010 model year...

I said to him, that seems funny because if I speak any other command that is not a part of the voice command system what I get back from the car is "please repeat, you can say XXXXXXX" where "XXXXX" is a list of commands for that particular menu.

Where in this case these commands (and a few others) seem to mapped to other functions, which by the way are the wrong functions.

He also told me that while trying to find out what is wrong with email feature that is part of BMW assist they "locked themselves out" of my BMW assist account by entering in the wrong info too many times. He went on to say I needed to call BMW assist to get the account "unlocked" so they could enter the proper info to test the email function.

I called BMW assist and was told there is no lock, and further there's no function that they are aware to lock the account at all... But they said they'd call the SA and talk to him.

The SA did tell me though that they are reflashing my car today with the latest software and he hopes that will fix the issue. So, at least I know I'll get the new Nav OS upgrade and be able to order my phone list by first name now...

So, my question for the group here is: does anyone here have an 2010 E70 with Premium package and if so, have you used the "save name" voice command with success... ???

In the mean time this Z4 they gave me to drive is fun and all, but I'd really like to have my car back; tomorrow is a week they will have had it...