Interesting reply from BMW (UK)

[eveeyeda]

Reading through other issues regarding this premium brand on this forum it does seem that BMW are taking their eye off the ball regarding customer satisfaction. There is a design fault for example on the e46 that manifests itself by contacts burning through plastic electrical connectors. This means that in addition to beefing up the earthing connections you also have to buy intergrated components such as the back light panels that they connect to in order to correct this situation. It was therefore with some surprise that the UK customer services manager wrote to me stating that as the fault did not manifest itself during the warranty period it cannot be an inherent design fault. So wheels falling off or your BMW going up in smoke is just one of those things that can happen once the warranty expires and regardless of servicing done by your local BMW dealer. Nice to know that we are now paying for BMW's mistakes and that unlike America which issued a Technical Service Bulletin alert on this matter to its dealers, BMW (UK) are adopting a wait till the customer complains attitude. Much as I love BMW's I won't be buying another one if a known failing 50p component costs me over £200 to rectify even if BMW as a gesture of goodwill pay 50% towards parts costs.

[DavidLScott]

It was like that 20+ years ago with my BMW bike.

The gearbox was weeping oil and the exhaust headers were going rusty - all within the warranty period - but I had a hell of an effort to get them to do anything about it.

My wife's Mini has a cold start problem that is dangerous as the car just stalls as you pull away. Plenty of people on Mini2 have similar issues but BMW response is the computer says it's Ok despite me showing them what happens so they just implied that, suddenly, after 30 years and 5 years of ownership of the car, neither my wife and I could drive properly.

Both the Mini and 330ci are now serviced by an indie who knows what he is talking about.