This one takes the biscuit

[minidriver#1]

BMW!!! So angry right now.

My sidelights stopped working the other day, first one then the other. I changed the bulbs and still nothing. The bulbs i've had in for a while have been non-standard BMW parts but have been working for almost 7 months now without issues.

I took the car into the garage today to get it looked at. At the desk I told them that the bulbs in the car were not BMW bulbs, and the guy at the desk said that was probably the issue. Fair enough.

I leave the car with them and then get a call at 5pm telling me the car was ready. Note i left the car with them at 9.30am. I go to collect it and am greated with a bill for £41. Looking at the list of jobs they did included checking wiring looms and light fixtures and fittings. The LAST thing these people did was check the bulbs by replacing them with standard BMW parts.

Now, you guys tell me, if there is something wrong with the lights, and its fitted with non standard bulbs, your customer service guy says that is probably the issue... if you are a mechanic what is the first thing you would check? The bulbs right? 98p per bulb and a ****ing rediculous amount for the labour for a job that would have taken me less than 2 minutes to do.

Are these trained mechanics that they employ? Are BMW really in a position where cash is a must and they really need to squeeze as much out of my pocket as possible? £1.96 for a pair of lightbulbs £39 for labour. WTF is this?

A letter is now to be sent to BMW HQ and a few automobile related glossy magazines.

Sickened.

PS i know my rants are fairly well known on this site, but this one really does take the biscuit.

[Wul]

KJ - correct me if i'm misreading your post - you tried changing the bulbs and they still didn't work yet the garage did the same thing (eventually) and they did work? If that is the case they'll say whatever else they did cured the fault and they then replaced the bulbs as part of the repair. Sickner all the same.

[The Dogfather]

Rip Off! Big time.

Threaten to complain to trading standards, the whole car industry is currently being investigated for dodgy practices. Also, try and get the dealer principal on the phone as well, explain to him your case and ask for a refund be polite but firm. If no joy take the complaint to BMW.

Be aware though that charge could be 1/2 an hour of labour - that might be the lowest charge they can make.......

Moral of the story, never trust a BMW dealership!!!!!!!!

[sh@z]

Bloody hell... is all i have to say... They are trained to find the most expensive way to fix your problem :(

[The Dogfather]

They aren't that well trained can't even measure tyre depth or brake pad wear!

[minidriver#1]

quote:Originally posted by Wul

KJ - correct me if i'm misreading your post - you tried changing the bulbs and they still didn't work yet the garage did the same thing (eventually) and they did work? If that is the case they'll say whatever else they did cured the fault and they then replaced the bulbs as part of the repair. Sickner all the same.


I tried changing with non bmw bulbs. they are the same fitting and wattage so how they cause that issue is beyond me.

[Mini Me]

quote:Originally posted by bad dog mini

Moral of the story, never trust a BMW dealership!!!!!!!!


Wee tad harsh Paul :(

[The Dogfather]

Sorry Iain, maybe Menzies is an exception which is why I'm willing to drive 200 miles to get my service. I should have put 'main dealer' not just BMW.

John Clarks are terrible though look at the bill Julz got. I'll never go back, if BMW had any standards they'd sort this sort of thing out.

Trouble is most main dealers are the same Vauxhall, Ford etc. I heard that a guy was charged for a new set of spark plugs in a V8 Discovery, £250 I believe, the car went in for a conversion 2 weeks later and guess what?

Old spark plugs in the car, the guy was a lawyer, talk about screwing the wrong guy.......

If you want good work try the local independent, they win business by doing a good job not just because you have to use them to keep you warranty valid!!!!

[minidriver#1]

quote:Originally posted by minime


quote:Originally posted by bad dog mini

Moral of the story, never trust a BMW dealership!!!!!!!!


Wee tad harsh Paul :(


Its not harsh at all. You work for the company, there for the company represents you just as much as you represent the company by working for them. No offense man, i've never met you before or that but as far as i'm concerned the company must be employing chimps.

I'll be talking to trading standards.

[broken_brian]

minime = chimp

That sounds about right :p:p


Sorry couldn't help that one

[Gismo]

Hmm, sorry KJ, i may be the only one thinking this, but if you were able to fit non standard bulbs, why didn't you try the correct ones, cost = 98 pence per bulb, sorted.
If mine weren't working i would try that before going to JC's with non standard bulbs.
Then and only then would i take the car in.
As for the cost, £41 to fit 2 bulbs, they did check the wiring looms and the fixtures, maybe they reasoned that a guy fitting wrong bulbs may have fitted them incorrectly and damaged something. This takes time, did you bother to check the minimum charge for labour, i'm pretty sure that a 1hr minimum labour charge is applied at JC's.
You looking at the list of things they did, are you certain they did them in that order??

I don't think your letter to HQ is gonna make any difference

What i do find confusing is that the non BMW bulbs would not work and that as soon as the garage put in the correct ones it did, no way can that happen, a bulb is a bulb.

My car does not have any BMW bulbs in the front as they are crap and they all work.

Just my opinion :)

[Big Col]

I'm a wee bit confused by this as well KJ mate. Are you saying that your bulbs that were in your car, which were non BMW bulbs, had been working for 7 months and then stopped working. You then tried to replace them with another set of non BMW bulbs and they never worked either? If this is the case and I'm not getting the wrong end of the stick, how would fitting BMW standard bulbs fix the problem since, as you said, the fitting and fixtures etc are identical. How do you know that it was the changing of the bulbs that solved the problem and it wasn't a problem with the wiring loom or the fttings? I've never had anything like that done on my car yet so I don't know. Does the invoice they give you detail the order the work was carried out and then detail what it was that fixed the problem? I'm not saying that the bill was fair or owt, I'm just a lil confused.

[minidriver#1]

Col, exactly. Thats why i didnt try the BMW bulbs because my bulbs were working fine for months! The whole point in ISO Standards is so that people can choose products for standard parts from other manufacturers, a freedom of choice. Why should i be forced to buy BMW bulbs for a car that have standard power ratings and fixtures? its the same for tires. I can understand integral parts like drive trains, steering columns, but light bulbs?

Col, the invoice states the exact order of proceedings, and checking the bulbs was last. I'll scan the invoice in and put it here for all to see.

Also Alan, the fact is i TOLD them right at the start they were not BMW bulbs and they said to me that was probably the issue. If it was probably the issue why didnt they just try it first BEFORE checking the wiring and fixtures? To check the fixtures dont you have to take the bulbs out?

I didnt try it because i didnt have BMW bulbs spare and had just bought a brand new set of bulbs, exactly like the ones that had been working in the car for 7 months. This is why i took it to them to look at because i thought well maybe it is a fuse or something, but they said, when i went in the morning to drop it off, that it was probably the non-standard bulbs.

[Gismo]

KJ, trust me, try installing the bulbs you just bought, if they don't work then do you think that they might be faulty, of course a bulb is a bulb, no matter whether BMW or not, if your bulbs work then JC's did something else either knowingly or non knowingly.
But, if they do now work then something else must have happened.
Is there any mention of a fuse being checked, also, was it all sidelights??
The fact they didn't do the bulbs first is meaningless, they have procedures and personal reasoning and many other factors for doing things in a methodical way, they are human after all, though some of the comments already mentioned are not exactly complimentary

[minidriver#1]

It was just the front two. I'll go into a little more detail. For 7 months both of my front sidelights were working, then one went off. I decided to get a replacement, put it in and tested to see if it work and noticed that neither the new one of the working old one were on. I then replaced the other so that both new bulbs were in, still the same result.

Proceedures and personal reason are one thing, common sense is another right? Why should i be complimentary. Would they pay £41 for two new bulbs? Would you? They've treated me like a ****ing dumbass so i'll do the same.

I'll quote my invoice exactly as written...

'checked over the bulbs, bulb holders and wiring loom. traced the fault to non genuine bulbs fitted - replaced the bulbs with BMW bulbs & retested - all o.k. now'

Ok so i guess they might have checked the bulbs first, but if they did, then surely there was no reason to check the wiring loom and holders?

[Gismo]

Had it been me and it obviously wasn't, i would have tried a new bulb, i would never have considered a BMW bulb as i'm not driving 50 miles for a bulb i can get from the local shell garage, if that failed i would have used a simple test lamp, ground one side and check for power from the wire with the side lights switched on, if the test lamp lights voila, dodgy new bulb, return to shop for replacement, if not continue.
You do not need a BMW bulb, something else has happened that they are not telling you.

So, i'm not arguing with you KJ me old mate :p i'm trying to apply some logic to this, do i feel £41 was excessive, hmm yes, as a time served motor mechanic i can assure you that just because a customer says to do something because of.....don't mean the mechanic would check that first.
There are other non complimentary remarks i was referring to

Assuming they gave you your old bulbs back, if not request them and then try them.
I'm so confident that non BMW bulbs work flawlessly, i'm willing to take the first wager of £25, winner gives it to NMS :p;)
PS i'll supply the bulbs, in fact they are in my car as supplied by Wul

[minidriver#1]

What other remarks? I'll try the bulbs tonight. Also if minime took anything i've said personally then it wasnt my intention, i didnt mean to single him out.

[The Dogfather]

probably mine!

[Gismo]

quote:Originally posted by bad dog mini
probably mine!
But i meant it in a nice way :p

[The Dogfather]

quote:Originally posted by Bonnie Scotland
But i meant it in a nice way :p


That'll be a first ;) :p :D

[Big Col]

I totall agree with you Alan. There is no way the fault was just the wrong bulbs. A bulb is a bulb for aw that! There must have been something else amiss that was sorted when they were checking things.

[The Dogfather]

Yes, but what work are they charging for?

[Mini Me]

quote:Originally posted by KJ_innit

if minime took anything i've said personally then it wasnt my intention, i didnt mean to single him out.


I never took it personal ya to$$er :blackeye::p:D...i jest , i jest:D:D:D

[Scottie]

I know nuthing and I'm certainly not technical. Having changed all my front side lights bulbs to led ones ( which can blow at a drop of a hat) I found that if you put them in a certain way then they would not work if you pulled them out and turned them round and pushed them back in they worked. May only apply to the led bulbs though.

[sh@z]

Thats just the way LED's are Fi, normal bulbs it doesnt matter i dont think.

[duncan]

LED's have to have the correct polarity to get them to work, however i'd imagine the lamp holder is negative, and the contact in the middle is positive.
Difficult to see how you could get them round the wrong way if they are single pin LEDs

There may also have been a resistance build up on the soldered contact on the bottom of the lamp.
Turning it could have cleaned off the resistance.

[Gismo]

quote:Originally posted by Bonnie Scotland
i'm willing to take the first wager of £25, winner gives it to NMS :p;)
No takers then :p

[minidriver#1]

News Article (http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-02-17T064906Z_01_L16346692_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-TRANSPORT-BRITAIN-CARS.XML)

From now on i'm fixing my car myself.

[sh@z]

umm....


quote:Replacing a main-beam bulb on an Audi A2 model for example can cost as much as 66 pounds -- with the bulb costing just 3.96 pounds.

Now i mean... thats just out of order lol

[Bignorm]

try a mercedes A class it costs you about £100.00 pound with the bulb only costing £9.80 inc vat

[The Dogfather]

Had an A2, the main bulbs only cost me £15 when they were changed by Specialist Cars