Unbelievable poor customer service by Sytner BMW Birmingham

[The Saint]

This is the very condensed version of the unbelievable and very poor customer service review that I have been subjected to by Synter BMW Birmingham. I started to type this up in detail but just the way that they secured the deal took me a page to write.

The vehicle in question was a 2012 BMW E92 M3 in Santorini blue with competition pack FG12NUX. Thus is the attention to detail of Synter Birmingham most of the internal paperwork I have for this vehicle has slight variations on the registration.

Friday 24th April - Test drove car, couldn't agree on a deal.

Saturday 25th April - Dealer rung me and made an offer (which was what I had offered them the day before) and the car could be ready Tuesday. By the time I rung back to agree to deal but they had closed for the day. Left a message expecting to continue with the transaction Monday.

Sunday 26th April - 8.30 am got a call from Salesman 2 as Salesman 1 was on his day off. Salesman 2 wanted me to pay a deposit over the phone for the car. I was a bit miffed that they had called at that time on a Sunday for business but assumed they wanted the car sold ASAP, so I went along. I asked for Salesman 1 to call me Monday morning to arrange collection.

Monday 27th April - 8.30 am got a phone call from Salesman 1 stating that I could collect the car Tuesday, I explained that I was busy Tuesday and would like to collect car last thing Monday. Phone went quiet and Salesman 1 said I'm not sure where the V5 is....leave it with me. I had to ring back a couple of hours later and he said that they had made some phone calls and they still didn't know where the V5 was. I assumed that it was on somebody's desk within BMW. Got a call from Salesman 1 a couple of hours later to explain that they hadn't received the V5 from the previous owner and that I had to wait until they received it because they were at the mercy of the seller. I ended the call to process what I had been told. They were not at the mercy of the seller, I was the victim of their poor practices (more of those later). An hour or so later I received a call from Salesman 1 to state that they had spoken to the seller but he was abroad and his wife would post it first class in the morning to the dealer. I explained that they should stress to the wife that the V5 should be sent next day special delivery but this was dismissed by Salesman 1. Being annoyed that the Salesman or dealership were doing nothing to support me or come to a quick transaction. I gave Salesman 1 an ultimatum of I'm coming at 11 am on Wednesday to collect the car if the car is not ready or the paperwork is not in order I will expect a full refund of my deposit, Salesman 1 was shocked by this. I now expected the dealership to ensure the V5 was sent by Special delivery, have a courier collect it or have the nearest Synter collect and transfer it internally.

Tuesday 28th April - No contact

Wednesday 29th April - 9.30 am call from Salesman 1 we don't have the V5 yet but you can take the car and we will forward the V5 when we get it. I asked how the V5 was sent to them. His reply first class I think. I explained that I was just getting on a train and I would see him at 11 am. I arrived at the dealership at 11 am to find a smiling Salesman 1, the V5 arrived in the post at 1040 am. I went through the handover and had to ask for a lot of paperwork that I would of expected to come with an approved used BMW. Salesman 1 went away and come back with some of the paperwork which had been photocopied and some I could not have i.e. any information about the BMW warranty, not even a leaflet. I was told that it would come through the post (still waiting). I took delivery of the car and what an amazing car it is.

Saturday 2nd May - I had covered 250 miles in the car and decided to give it a wash. Started to pressure wash it and a playing card size piece of lacquer fell off the top of the bumper, my heart sank. I phoned the dealership straight away but salesman 1 wasn't in and generic salesman would call me back that day. I inspected the car and was sure that the paint failure must have been due to a smart repair but couldn't see any signs of one. I continued to wash off car and another piece of lacquer about the same size as the first came off the bottom of the bumper. I was now absolutely gutted that I had been sold a non pristine car that would no longer be in original paint (if it was anyway) and stopped washing the car. No call back from dealer.

Sunday 3rd May - Called dealer no salesmen available, generic salesman would call me back as Salesman 1 wasn't in. No call back.

Monday 4th May - No contact.

Tuesday 5th May - 9.00 am called dealership and spoke to Salesman 1 explained that the paint was falling off the car and I was sure that it had been touched up. Salesman called me back sometime later and said that they hadn't painted the car and I needed to take it to them to have a look. After my previous experience of buying the car I had no trust in them and knew they were only interested in the profit margin and would have no issues with fobbing me off. I explained that I wasn't driving there for them to have a look and send me away whilst they had a think, they needed to get some options to solving the problem in place before I took time off work and drive to them. Salesman 1 replied, I don't have the authority to do that. My reply get somebody who does, call ended. Pre-empting having to take the car to the dealer for them to inspect the paint, I decided to wash the car off again with the pressure washer, now a chunk of lacquer falls off the drivers wing mirror. I look at the wing mirror closely and could see bubbles where the lacquer hadn't stuck to the colour coat.
I took the car to my trusted classic car body shop to get their opinion on the bumper. They stated that they thought it had been touched up and the only way it fix it would be to remove the bumper and start again.
Salesman manager calls and asks what i would like doing with the car? My reply, I want the bumper taking off along with the wing mirror and painting to BMW repair standards. Manager replies oh ok, I will sort it out.
One of my friends is friends with the owner of a body shop who works for another BMW dealer, so he arranged for me to take it to his shop. Body shop owner said, that he had seen the paint delaminate like this before on BMW's but usually red cars but not to worry as BMW will always repair paint defects under warranty but I will have to go through the dealer.
Salesman 1 then phones me to say that they have got the car booked in to the body shop first thing in the morning and a courtesy car is waiting. Explained that I wanted to work completing as a BMW warranty claim to which he replied, we are doing it in house but it will be all BMW paint and to BMW standards along with the paperwork, it's just that we are paying for it instead of BMW. It will take a couple of days. I reluctantly agreed to this and ended the call.

Wednesday 6th May - I Drop the car off at the dealer first thing to be told that my car would be ready later that day. I questioned that all of the work we agreed, would be completed in one day? reply, yes the body shop are waiting for it now. I Thought this strange but possible if the body shop pushed on with it. I asked him as a goodwill gesture if he could have the wing mirrors programmed to fold when the car was locked.
Went home in the courtesy car and at 3 pm got a call from Salesman 1 stating the car was ready for collection. I told him I was on my way. Forgetting to ask about the wing mirrors I phoned him back on my way. His reply was, I've spoken to the chief tech and it can't be done that's why you have a switch in the door. I explained that you can buy a phone app to program it, so I know BMW can do it. His reply, no we are not doing it. Leaving that subject I asked if all of the paperwork was completed for the paintwork, his reply was there is no paperwork as we have done this out of goodwill. Now my blood was starting to boil as they had gone back on what they had promised. I asked how the car was looking and his reply, it's all good and looking beautiful. I ended the call.
I arrived at the dealership and saw the car on the forecourt I walked over and saw a couple of squashed flies on the edges of the bumper so knew that it hadn't been fully painted or even off. I looked closer at the areas where the lacquer fell off and that was now covered in orange peel, I worked out slightly and found the masking lines. It was an utterly terrible touch up job that looked like it had been done outside (dust in the lacquer).
I went into the dealership and asked for Sales manager, told him that I wasn't happy with the work and he had a look. He agreed that it was diabolical but stated that he had paid for it to be done properly and needed to talk to the body shop. Sales manager came back and I asked who had accepted the car back in that sate? His reply, nobody. I asked, who checked the car before calling me? Reply, nobody. I told him that the whole service and experience was diabolical and I wanted to reject the car. He then offered to send the car to another body shop and have the work fully completed to BMW standards and supply me with the correct paperwork. My reply, you promised me the exact same thing yesterday and look where we are today..... you expect me to trust you again for the same thing? This went around 4 times before I insisted on a refund. He then stated that he would have to get the General manager.
General manager came out and stated that nobody had checked the car before phoning me and that the work should of been completed under BMW warranty but couldn't now as they had painted it. She offered, the car repaired and £250 back. I asked for a refund and she offered, the car repaired and £350 back. I refused again and she offered, the car repaired and a free service. I told her that I wasn't interested in another deal, I came to BMW for the whole experience and worry free motoring which has totally been ruined. She offered a few more inconsequential things but I had decided that it was time to cut my losses of what had become a stressful and utterly negative owners experience with a dealer I couldn't trust. I informed her that they could learn a lot from Renault Birmingham about customer service.

The deal they offered for the refund was the full amount minus £500 when I gave them proof that I had retained my private registration online and the £500 once they had the V5 back in the original registration. I stated that I didn't think I would be able to retain the private registration online and would have to send all of the paperwork to DVLA. This was dismissed and I left the dealership.


48 hours after leaving the dealership I still have received no refund.


Thursday 7th May - I called the dealership 4 times to try and confirm that the refund had been processed as I received no contact from them. The Sales manager was too busy to receive or return my calls. As last resort I asked for General manager to call me Friday morning.


Friday 8th May - The call from the general Manager never happened. At lunchtime I managed to speak Sales manager who states that the refund is being processed by the accounts department. At 4.00 pm I received an email from Sales manager asking me to confirm my account details. I gave these details to the Sales manager on the 6th so he could process my refund and the details are correct as I had a carbonated copy of what he recorded. At 4.45 pm I replied to his email with the account details again and could he please ensure that the refund was processed before close of play Friday. It's now 6.00 pm and I have had no further contact from them. My guess is that they have not processed the refund and have now gone home for the weekend.

•I cannot understand why Sytner did not deal with the paint failure as a BMW warranty claim as I am lead to believe that the dealership also earn money out of warranty claims, unless they knew that the paint had been touched up and wouldn't be covered by BMW.

• After all of the promises on the phone that the paint would be repaired to BMW standards along with the appropriate paperwork. I truly believe that they only ever intended to have a quick touch up job completed on the car. Even after 30 mins of the Sales manager telling me that they had requested a full BMW standard repair and me telling him that I didn't trust him. Not once did he show me or even hint at any documentation about the work they had requested the body shop to complete.

•Salesman 1 can be proven to of actually lied to me on 3 occasions just to make his job easier.

[richardpope50]

Gosh, feel sorry for you.

Hope you got all this in writing especially the refund and the original car purchase paperwork too..

Sounds you need to contact BMW HQ direct asap to get them involved.

[The Saint]

I contacted BMW UK customer service on Thursday 7th and explained that I thought they should know that I had rejected the car purely on customer service, the operator sounded shocked and said thanks for the call. I asked if somebody would call me back? To which the operator replied, No we will deal with this internally and quickly ended that call. I thought this very strange as they didn't know any of the details of the service or lack of I had been supplied.

[richardpope50]

Sounds like a formal complaint letter is required to both Sytner and BMW HQ the latter based on the fact it is a BMW warranted used car.

[DaveEFI]

Gosh, feel sorry for you.

Hope you got all this in writing especially the refund and the original car purchase paperwork too..

Sounds you need to contact BMW HQ direct asap to get them involved.

When I had problems with my BMW main dealer over servicing - they replaced the cabin filters which was neither on the schedule or needed - I did take it up with BMW UK. All they did was pass my letter back to the dealer for action. Which made no difference whatsoever.

Sounds like a minor thing to complain about - but it was simply the last straw. They never did any service etc 100% perfectly.

That dealer has now closed its branch in Wimbledon, the one I used. That says much about it.

As soon as the car was out of warranty, I used a local independent specialist who are very good, and considerably cheaper.

[The Saint]

If the dodgy paintwork had been my first issue I might of given them a chance to fix it but then what sort of business would have a third party complete work on their behalf and then not check the work before handing it over to the customer. It was beyond my last straw and they were lucky I held it together.

[Ian Anderson]

Don't forget
When you send in the letters send them recorded delivery and keep copies, so that if it ends up in court you have proof that they got the letters

Ian

[DaveEFI]

If the dodgy paintwork had been my first issue I might of given them a chance to fix it but then what sort of business would have a third party complete work on their behalf and then not check the work before handing it over to the customer. It was beyond my last straw and they were lucky I held it together.

Had minor accident damage on mine sorted by the main dealer under insurance. Car still in warranty. They farm out bodywork - insurance companies won't pay inflated dealer rates. But to me, they arranged for the work to be done and were paid for it, so responsible.

On collecting it, the dent was well repaired, but the paint match poor. You could also see fine scratches under the paint - not so on the original adjoining panel. The service supervisor said the colour would blend in with age...

It was eventually re-painted ok at no cost to me.

[The Saint]

I was told that under a BMW warranty claim for paintwork, The body shop has to complete a file with paperwork for every stage along with photos which has to go to BMW. I guess this is so the body shop have some responsibility for the work, BMW knows the work has been completed to a standard and they are not being ripped off.

[DaveEFI]

The handbook on mine mentions only having bodywork done at an approved repairer - to make sure any rust protection etc that you can't see is also repaired or applied, etc. And think it has to be documented.

As there is an anti-rust warranty (10 years?) for longer than the ordinary one.

[mgbv8]

Saint !

Start making noises here:
https://www.facebook.com/bmwuk


And maybe here:
https://twitter.com/bmw_uk

[The Saint]

I have put an edited version of my original post on BMW UK's Facebook page.



If you passing please give it a like, they might make a response if it gets enough attention.

Unfortunately I do not have a twitter account