BMW warranty voided due to immobiliser

BMW warranty voided due to immobiliser

Author
Discussion

nickfrog

21,409 posts

219 months

Wednesday 22nd May
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That's right, not worth doing anything that could remotely be perceived as an alteration of you value the warranty. Sad but not worth it IMO.

R35 Boxer

Original Poster:

74 posts

131 months

Friday 31st May
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Update

I’ve made a GDPR request to head office to get all of my documents, I want to see if my other job cards also have fraudulent signatures on them.

This was denied by head office. I have no other choice but to hand the case over to solicitors, I can’t take this mental strain any more. Absolutely shocking how lacklustre they are when they know fraud has been committed.

Pincher

8,672 posts

219 months

Friday 31st May
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What was their reason for refusal?

R35 Boxer

Original Poster:

74 posts

131 months

Friday 31st May
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Pincher said:
What was their reason for refusal?
“…exempt due to legal privilege as this information could prejudice the outcome of an ongoing case.”

They’ve got one thing right, it will prejudice the outcome, but against them.

bolidemichael

14,038 posts

203 months

Friday 31st May
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That's a bit of a catch-all which (from my limited commercial experience with relation with a Subject Access Request for employment) is open to interpretation and also, to challenge. I'd ask my solicitors or the ICO directly.

CharlesElliott

2,024 posts

284 months

Friday 31st May
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R35 Boxer said:
“…exempt due to legal privilege as this information could prejudice the outcome of an ongoing case.”

They’ve got one thing right, it will prejudice the outcome, but against them.
So they just need to provide them under disclosure then, it's not really going to change anything for them.

bolidemichael

14,038 posts

203 months

Friday 31st May
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CharlesElliott said:
R35 Boxer said:
“…exempt due to legal privilege as this information could prejudice the outcome of an ongoing case.”

They’ve got one thing right, it will prejudice the outcome, but against them.
So they just need to provide them under disclosure then, it's not really going to change anything for them.
I'm interested in this -- would you mind explaining what you mean by "under disclosure"? I'm inferring that it's 'without prejudice' or 'confidential'?

CharlesElliott

2,024 posts

284 months

Friday 31st May
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OK, let me rephrase that having read it again. [IANAL]

If there is communication between the dealer and their legal representative then that could be under legal privilege and not required to be disclosed and can be excluded from a SAR.

However, a job sheet can not be under legal privilege and so is eligible for disclosure if there is a legal case.

I don't know exacty what was asked for under the SAR, but if a job sheet has details about the requestor on them, then I cannot see any exemption given by the ICO as to why they should not be provided. If they don't have details about the requestor on them, then they are probably not in scope of the SAR. But in any event, a job sheet cannot be witheld from an SAR on the basis of legal privilege. Perhaps a discussion about the job sheet can be, but not the document itself.

As per the ICO:

If your personal information is discussed or included in confidential communications between the organisation and their legal advisors (including in-house legal teams), they don’t have to give it to you as part of your request. This information is considered ‘privileged’, which means it should remain confidential between the organisation and the legal team.

bolidemichael

14,038 posts

203 months

Friday 31st May
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I wonder whether ‘personal information’ extends to ‘personal property’ i.e. the documents detailing the VRN belonging to the subject of the access request.

R35 Boxer

Original Poster:

74 posts

131 months

Friday 31st May
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CharlesElliott said:
OK, let me rephrase that having read it again. [IANAL]

If there is communication between the dealer and their legal representative then that could be under legal privilege and not required to be disclosed and can be excluded from a SAR.

However, a job sheet can not be under legal privilege and so is eligible for disclosure if there is a legal case.

I don't know exacty what was asked for under the SAR, but if a job sheet has details about the requestor on them, then I cannot see any exemption given by the ICO as to why they should not be provided. If they don't have details about the requestor on them, then they are probably not in scope of the SAR. But in any event, a job sheet cannot be witheld from an SAR on the basis of legal privilege. Perhaps a discussion about the job sheet can be, but not the document itself.

As per the ICO:

If your personal information is discussed or included in confidential communications between the organisation and their legal advisors (including in-house legal teams), they don’t have to give it to you as part of your request. This information is considered ‘privileged’, which means it should remain confidential between the organisation and the legal team.
You’ve hit the nail on the head, the job sheet does not come under legal privilege.

The only reason I’m requesting the job cards is that I have found the one they have sent to the ombudsman to include a fraudulent signature.

I’ve been told by employees of this dealership (which belongs to the largest franchise group of BMW) that when they have been on service advisor training, the one thing that is hammered into you is that you get the job cards signed by the customer. Without this, the work cannot be authorised.

So, when I’ve made a SAR to head office to obtain these, I was first given the run around to ask the dealership itself. Then a week later I was given the above reply. My feeling is that the other job cards customer signature (my car probably has 5/6 job cards from the last 4 years) are all either A: completely blank therefore not valid or B: they are all signed fraudulently.

I wouldn’t want to be that dealership group right now. I’m sure withholding GDPR/SAR documents is also punishable by the ICO, especially if those documents pertain to fraud.

ukwill

8,936 posts

209 months

Friday 31st May
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I really hope you get some very much deserved justice. A shocking read.