A year in the life of an E90 335i owner
Discussion
So far in 12 months...
2 new turbos
6 new injectors
2 new turbo actuators
1 High Pressure Fuel Pump Failure (due to be replaced on 15/02)
And to top it off.... my rear windows were stuck open this morning. Who needs Air Con anyway....
Best thing I ever bought was the BMW approved warranty. Worst thing I ever bought was my BMW 335i :-(
On a brighter note.... the indicators work.
May be time to move the BMW on. I don't think it's meant to be. She's only done 52k miles :-(
2 new turbos
6 new injectors
2 new turbo actuators
1 High Pressure Fuel Pump Failure (due to be replaced on 15/02)
And to top it off.... my rear windows were stuck open this morning. Who needs Air Con anyway....
Best thing I ever bought was the BMW approved warranty. Worst thing I ever bought was my BMW 335i :-(
On a brighter note.... the indicators work.
May be time to move the BMW on. I don't think it's meant to be. She's only done 52k miles :-(
philmots said:
That's all the common N54 335i problems sorted now isn't it? (and probably the reason you bought the warranty anyway!)
Should be ok now, I'd keep it.
Yep. In two minds now whether to renew warranty and.... Should be ok now, I'd keep it.
A) Keep it
B) Sell it privately with a new warranty so no one gets stitched up with it
Or... not renew warranty and chop it in.
cerb4.5lee said:
Sorry to hear of the woes and I bet you wish now that you had stuck with the Jap stuff, the 335i is sadly renowned for being troublesome and I can empathise with what you have gone through because I have owned a TVR so I know how painful having an unreliable car can be.
Swap it for a 370Z
Trust me. The 350Z wasn't sold out of choice. It was sold due to a new arrival to the family. I loved that car.Swap it for a 370Z
Would love a 370Z but again.... need 4 seats.
The GTR has ISOFIX doesn't it? ;-)
So shopping list is looking like an E90 M3 saloon (again with a warranty)
Well my High Pressure Fuel Pump was fixed today..... For £707.
Not covered under my warranty due to a spurious entry on an invoice received during my ownership in my service history which said "cat delete" when the car was having an oil and spark plug change a month ago.
The line of the invoice read "cat delete" @ a cost of £0.
BMW argued that I may have had the cat's "deleted for free". Yep.... as if any garages do work for no cost. The cats have never been deleted and I confirmed with them that the cats were physically on the car and showed no evidence of ever being removed.
I called the specialist who I have used for a while and who I have a good relationship with them. They have no idea why that line is on there and think it's a mistake on the invoice. They was confirmed this with BMW but not good enough.
So.... now they have invalidated my warranty (which was due to run out on 02/03 so not long to run).
Needless to say, will be complaining to BMW customer services and not returning to that particular main dealer again.
Will keep you posted on the fun and games that BMW customer services provide.
On a brighter note.... the i3 courtesy car was a blast.
Not covered under my warranty due to a spurious entry on an invoice received during my ownership in my service history which said "cat delete" when the car was having an oil and spark plug change a month ago.
The line of the invoice read "cat delete" @ a cost of £0.
BMW argued that I may have had the cat's "deleted for free". Yep.... as if any garages do work for no cost. The cats have never been deleted and I confirmed with them that the cats were physically on the car and showed no evidence of ever being removed.
I called the specialist who I have used for a while and who I have a good relationship with them. They have no idea why that line is on there and think it's a mistake on the invoice. They was confirmed this with BMW but not good enough.
So.... now they have invalidated my warranty (which was due to run out on 02/03 so not long to run).
Needless to say, will be complaining to BMW customer services and not returning to that particular main dealer again.
Will keep you posted on the fun and games that BMW customer services provide.
On a brighter note.... the i3 courtesy car was a blast.
Edited by FTBBCVoodoo on Monday 15th February 20:06
The letter....
"I wish to make a complaint regarding a fault I had with my 335i (******).
I took my car into Ridgeway BMW Bournemouth today (15/02/2016) for a High Pressure Fuel Pump failure which I still believe is covered under my BMW insured warranty (policy – **********). However, I received a phone call from Ridgeway BMW confirming that the HPFP had indeed failed but this wasn’t covered under my warranty as there was a line on an invoice in my Service History from a BMW specialist which read “remap and cat delete”. I called the specialist who informed me that this line on the invoice was a mistake.
I informed the dealer that the car was not remapped and the cats had not been deleted. The dealer confirmed that the cats were physically on the car. The cost of the supposed “remap and cat delete” was £0 on the invoice. I am not aware of any garages which do this kind of work for free, clearly this was a mistake. However, Ridgeway BMW have informed me that this has invalidated my BMW insured warranty (which ironically I had just paid to be renewed due to expiry next month) and I then had to pay £707 in order to have the fault fixed!
The car has not been mechanically modified. I wouldn’t have a) attempted to have the car fixed by a BMW dealer under warranty or b) renewed my warranty if I believed I had the car modified in such a way that my warranty would be invalidated.
I hope you can understand my frustration at this obvious error and the poor customer service I have experienced. I wish this case to be investigated urgently and also to be refunded the full £707 at the very least.
Unfortunately I would also like to point out that this isn’t the 1st time I have had a negative experience with Ridgeway Bournemouth BMW. On 24/03/2015 my 335i went into Ridgeway with a turbo charger issue. It took Ridgeway 3 days to even look at the turbo chargers during which they informed me it would cost me £1,200 for them to investigate whether the issue was covered by warranty, and that if it was not they would keep my 1,200. Following multiple phone calls to them and much upset, this was eventually resolved as they admitted they had made a ‘mistake’ and this would be the cost of the work, not the investigation. Once fixed my car was finally ‘ready’ to collect on 02/04, at which point I discovered the check engine light still illuminated and the car now had an oxygen sensor failure so I was forced to leave my car with them again for further investigation. I finally got my car on 04/04 almost 2 weeks later. This was a shocking example of customer service.
On 17/04/2015 my 335i threw up another error message. This time the “turbo pressure converters” failed and it was back in again with a turbo charger issue which hadn’t been picked up by BMW previously.
Then this year on 13/01 my 335i was back into Ridgeway with another turbo charger issue. Common theme here. This time the waste gates were rattling badly. A BMW technician confirmed that this was indeed the fault after listening to the car while it was in the car park and confirmed that the waste gates needed adjusting. I later received a phone call stating that the waste gates were not covered by the warranty so I instructed Ridgeway BMW to do nothing and return my car.
Needless to say, I have received repeatedly terrible and frankly embarrassing customer service from Ridgeway BMW Bournemouth. My entire experience of my BMW ownership (the car, the warranty and the dealer) has been nothing short of shocking. At this point I would like the warranty cover which I have paid for in good faith to be honoured, and my £707 refunded to me as soon as possible.
I look forward to hearing from you."
Watch this space.... I should add that wastegate rattle has been fixed by specialist.... maybe that was the remap and delete cat line ;-)
"I wish to make a complaint regarding a fault I had with my 335i (******).
I took my car into Ridgeway BMW Bournemouth today (15/02/2016) for a High Pressure Fuel Pump failure which I still believe is covered under my BMW insured warranty (policy – **********). However, I received a phone call from Ridgeway BMW confirming that the HPFP had indeed failed but this wasn’t covered under my warranty as there was a line on an invoice in my Service History from a BMW specialist which read “remap and cat delete”. I called the specialist who informed me that this line on the invoice was a mistake.
I informed the dealer that the car was not remapped and the cats had not been deleted. The dealer confirmed that the cats were physically on the car. The cost of the supposed “remap and cat delete” was £0 on the invoice. I am not aware of any garages which do this kind of work for free, clearly this was a mistake. However, Ridgeway BMW have informed me that this has invalidated my BMW insured warranty (which ironically I had just paid to be renewed due to expiry next month) and I then had to pay £707 in order to have the fault fixed!
The car has not been mechanically modified. I wouldn’t have a) attempted to have the car fixed by a BMW dealer under warranty or b) renewed my warranty if I believed I had the car modified in such a way that my warranty would be invalidated.
I hope you can understand my frustration at this obvious error and the poor customer service I have experienced. I wish this case to be investigated urgently and also to be refunded the full £707 at the very least.
Unfortunately I would also like to point out that this isn’t the 1st time I have had a negative experience with Ridgeway Bournemouth BMW. On 24/03/2015 my 335i went into Ridgeway with a turbo charger issue. It took Ridgeway 3 days to even look at the turbo chargers during which they informed me it would cost me £1,200 for them to investigate whether the issue was covered by warranty, and that if it was not they would keep my 1,200. Following multiple phone calls to them and much upset, this was eventually resolved as they admitted they had made a ‘mistake’ and this would be the cost of the work, not the investigation. Once fixed my car was finally ‘ready’ to collect on 02/04, at which point I discovered the check engine light still illuminated and the car now had an oxygen sensor failure so I was forced to leave my car with them again for further investigation. I finally got my car on 04/04 almost 2 weeks later. This was a shocking example of customer service.
On 17/04/2015 my 335i threw up another error message. This time the “turbo pressure converters” failed and it was back in again with a turbo charger issue which hadn’t been picked up by BMW previously.
Then this year on 13/01 my 335i was back into Ridgeway with another turbo charger issue. Common theme here. This time the waste gates were rattling badly. A BMW technician confirmed that this was indeed the fault after listening to the car while it was in the car park and confirmed that the waste gates needed adjusting. I later received a phone call stating that the waste gates were not covered by the warranty so I instructed Ridgeway BMW to do nothing and return my car.
Needless to say, I have received repeatedly terrible and frankly embarrassing customer service from Ridgeway BMW Bournemouth. My entire experience of my BMW ownership (the car, the warranty and the dealer) has been nothing short of shocking. At this point I would like the warranty cover which I have paid for in good faith to be honoured, and my £707 refunded to me as soon as possible.
I look forward to hearing from you."
Watch this space.... I should add that wastegate rattle has been fixed by specialist.... maybe that was the remap and delete cat line ;-)
Slippydiff said:
Fellow BMW E90 owner here, why the h*ll did you keep returning the car to that dealership when their customer service was so utterly atrocious ?
Yep... I know. Closest dealership from me apart from Ridgeway is 30 miles away. Each failure I had I couldn't really risk taking the car too far and I only live about 4 miles from Ridgeway. I suppose I hoped that they would remember the 1st time of shocking service and make amends. Hindsight and all that... :-(In terms of warranty.... Today's escapade is the only time I have had to spent out on said car at a BMW dealer for an actual fault (warranty cost excluded).
Either way.... the car won't see another BMW main dealership under my ownership while my warranty has been invalidated. Specialist all the way unless BMW can revalidate my warranty. In which case it will probably go to Dorchester (heard good things. Or if the issue isn't too serious - Croydon (bit of a trek but we have an office in Croydon so could make a visit up there on the way and again have heard good things about them).
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