I Bought a BMW For THIS?

About one year since I bought my car (and putting over 10,000 miles on it), I started hearing this strange vibrating noise in the cabin.  At first I thought it was just me, until one of my officemates pointed out (while riding the car) that strange noise…citing that it could be a problem with the alignment or even something serious.

This morning I brought the car for service and explained what the problem was.  About an hour later, I got a call from the service agent that the tires were the problem.  Apparently, the stock Bridgestone run-flat tires have a “problem” which prompted BMW to issue a “service bulletin” on January of this year.

BMW is offering replacement for all tires for free (parts and labor) IF you car has under 10,000 miles.   My car is about 13,000 miles so going by that service bulletin, I need to pay for 50% of the parts.

This sucked on so many levels.  First of all, it’s obviously a defect on the tires, but they’re not calling it a “recall” so that they won’t be forced to replace the tires for free under any circumstance.

Second, they issued the service bulletin on the beginning of the year when my car’s mileage is well under 10K; In my mind they should have notified all BMW owners with that set of tires to have it replaced.

Third, I bought extended warranty for my tires, and even with that I was denied for a warranty repair…because technically my tires weren’t damaged.  WTF?

The service agent had a smart response for every argument that I presented.

And, lastly, didn’t I buy “The Ultimate Driving Machine?”  I bought a BMW so I don’t need to deal with this crap.

I called BMW North America main office (1-800-831-1117) to complain about this.  The guy on the other end told me that he will convince my service center to shoulder all expenses, but he won’t guarantee any favorable results.  I just left it at that for the moment.

Hopefully, I will get good news later today. I was given the shaft by both Princeton BMW and BMW of North America.  *Sigh* Time to send out another mail to yet another CEO.

Update 10.11: This discussion I have just read just got me worried.  I’m starting to think that replacing the tires will not get rid of the problem altogether.

Update 10.24: I have my tires replaced with Continental Run-flats and so far I have no problems.  I am still pissed at BMW.  It’s been two weeks since I sent out my letter and I have not received any response from either Germany or US office.  I guess my letter was placed on the “we’re-so-cocky-we-couldn’t-bring-ourselves-to-care” bin.  More updates later.

While I wait for my new tires (I will get Continentals as replacements–on order), I sent a written complaint to both BMW USA and BMW Germany.

—

Dear Sir:

I am writing your office to express my utmost disappointment on the way you are handling the recall of the stock Bridgestone run-flat tires for the E90/E91 models.

I happen to be one of the owners of the E90 with the defective tire, but since you conveniently released this information as a “service bulletin�? instead of a “recall,�? you were not obliged to hand out this information to the customers who may potentially have this problem.  In effect, I am stuck with paying for two of the defective tires when I shouldn’t be paying for anything.

Furthermore, I paid for an extended warranty for the tires through my dealer, Princeton BMW (under the management of Nick Tosti).  Again, I was denied warranty repair because of another technicality: by definition, the tires were not damaged.
I have tried to work with a representative of BMW NJ Office, a certain Dan at extension 6138 to no avail.

As service to your consumer, you should make sure you correct any mistakes on your product on your dime.  You are not doing it here.  I feel cheated, and I feel really upset that a company such as yours pulls this run-around crap on me.  I would expect it from a lower-end company brand, but not from you.
Note that I am not the only one complaining about this.  This is one of the many forums discussing their general disappointment on how BMW [mis] handled this “recall.�?  Consider looking at this forum thread:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2157654

I don’t think I need to warn you on how quickly information is spread through the internet.  Just to remind myself of how I was treated by BMW for this, it’s right here:

http://www.subtleimages.com/blog/2007/10/10/i-bought-a-bmw-for-this/

Until you take the initiative to admit your fault and rectify this, I am not buying another BMW.

Update 03.11.2010: I noticed that this page is one of the most popular pages of my blog…if you happen to have this problem, there’s only one other thing I can advise: Buy the tires, then FILE A CASE ON SMALL CLAIMS COURT.  A friend told me that it’s easy and cheap…for the price of the tires, BMW can only afford less than 2 hours of their lawyer’s time…THEY WILL SETTLE.  As always, you can’t sue me for following the said advice.

Popularity: 15% [?]

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