[Vintage]

Sorry for the sob story but it will make me feel slightly better to post this email here - a little free therapy. I am not mad, just very sad. I have neither threatened or disparaged anyone; just tried to work it out. I sent this to BMW NA and to date I have not heard back other than being given the run-around and denials. If you are interested, I have other more recent emails to them; sorry in advance for boring you with this factual tale.




Dear BMW of North America,

Where to begin? My wife owned a 2003 Z4 and I had a 2000 M Coupe; these two Z based platforms were great with few issues. She loved her Z4 and I loved my M Coupe. So when the 2009 Z4 was unveiled, I knew it would not be long before we replaced her previous 2003 Z4 with the all new Z4 35i. In July we ordered a Z4 sDrive 35i at Moritz BMW for European Delivery. We picked up her new Z4 at The Welt in Munich on August 17, 2009. It was an amazing trip during which we put 753 memorable miles on her new car, without one incident, scratch, or mishap – even while driving on unfamiliar roads in foreign countries. It was dropped off for shipment to the USA in Munich on August 24, 2009. The drop off receipt commemorates zero damage to the car at the time it was turned over to you.

The car arrived in port stateside in late September. However, The car was not delivered to us until over one month later (end of October or early November). Neither Moritz BMW or we knew why it took so long to go from the east coast to Arlington, Texas – at the time we thought "such is life." When the unscathed Z4 was pulled off the transport truck, the driver damaged the front spoiler and the damage was shown to us at delivery. The salesperson, he was great during the entire process, also pointed out the adhesive spots on the car and said they were from "shipment covering" that "would come off once the car was detailed." During this first inspection at the dealer, we all noticed additional paint damaged on the hood and front bumper as well as a scratch under the passenger side rear view mirror, also apparently from some incident in shipment. So, we were told the hood and front bumper would have to be painted; not the greatest news but we took it in stride.

After we took final delivery in early November but before it was repainted, I washed the car myself for the first time – I only hand wash this car with high quality products. At this time I noticed 1) the right rear view mirror was inexplicably black sapphire metallic in color (we did not have a metallic mirror in Germany), and 2) the adhesive spots on the trunk and a few other places were still on the car. Please remember that this car is jet black, not metallic black. So, I took the car back in for painting of the rear view mirror, hood, and bumper. I showed the salesperson the mirror and we scratched our heads. He then pulled up the transport history and it showed that the car was wrecked in port – I guess this explains the new/wrong color rear view mirror with accompanying scratch and hood/bumper damage.

The adaptive shock warning light was also coming on despite never occurring while in Europe. I was told this would all be taken car of while in for the repaint and everything would be like new. Over a week later, we received the car back and were told that the "car had to be reset out of transport mode and that this fixed the shock issue." While still at the dealer, I noted numerous foggy spots in the paint where it had not been buffed properly after repainting. I left the dealer without the car because they agreed and had to send it back to the body shop. Finally, after about two weeks without the car, I picked it up and was driving back to work from the dealer when the adaptive shock warning light came on again. Then once at work in the parking garage, I immediately noticed the poor quality paint job with many large swirls on the hood and front end from bad buffing of the new paint. Yes, I went straight back to the dealer were my service representative and his manager agreed that the paint was "not good" and that "it needed to be fixed." I was asked to come back in two weeks after the paint had "hardened" so that they could buff it out properly and remove all of the swirls and scratches. I agreed.

At the next visit to fix the paint, I was told that the shocks would have to be replaced because somehow they were damaged and that was causing the warning light to go off – it was not a "transport mode" issue. Unfortunately, no shocks were in stock in the USA and they were ordered from Germany. The paint was allegedly "fixed" but the adhesive marks, especially on the trunk, remained (it turns out that the adhesive damaged the paint on the trunk). It was somewhere around this time or a little before that I called customer service at BMW NA for help.

In late December the dealer called me to come back in for shock replacement as the parts had arrived from Germany. At about this time, early January, I had discovered more paint problems (overspray on the hood and the adhesive flaws on the trunk appeared worse) from the repaint as I had washed the car again by hand. After many of my calls to BMW NA, I was told that the "Field Representative" would finally be inspecting the car to make sure it met BMW's factory specifications. Although I had been told this several times previously, I was finally given the date of January 5, 2009, for the inspection by the field representative at the dealer. This inspection has still not taken place as of January 8th and now I am told that the matter is "escalating" because the representative failed to inspect the car. This was discovered only after I called BMW NA four or five times this week to inquire if I could pick up the car since it was suppose to have already had its “inspection.”

The service representative also informed me this week that the adaptive suspension module would have to be replaced too, and that part would also have to be ordered from Germany. In short, I still do not have a 2009 Z4 that we picked up in August and we have made 5 payments on a very expensive car. In addition, it is suppose to be a new car, which it is not because BMW wrecked it twice, did not tell me about it as for the incident in port, it has been painted on and re-worked about three times, the shocks still don't work, and I am no closer to any resolution. I guess I am suppose to hope that someday BMW calls me, actually fixes the car, or generally takes care of its customer. My fingers are crossed.

The irony is that when I ordered my second brand new BMW in October from Moritz BMW (a 2010 X5 35d) they looked at my 2007 Saab 9-5 for trade. At that time I was told after their inspection of the car that the hood was repainted at some time and because it had been “damaged” they were not interested in taking the car in on trade for the X5. Amazing, now I am suppose to keep a $65k BMW that BMW wrecked twice, repainted at least twice, and still has a broken suspension system with paint problems.

I know this sounds silly to you but I am tired, emotionally drained, frustrated, and losing time from my work dealing with a problem solely created by the awesome BMW team. You are speaking to a BMW enthusiast that owns two new BMWs, has owned two previous BMWs, owns a 1977 BMW R100S cafe project that is fully restored, and has owned numerous other classic and vintage BMW motorcycles. My wife's dream car and our second honeymoon to Germany has soured, to say the least. Incredibly, it appears that as I start 2010, we are no closer to a resolution because no one from the dealer or BMW NA has so much as even called me to update me on any progress or plan. Every call made to the dealer or BMW NA has come from me with only a few calls coming from BMW after I leave voice mails. I would guess that if I had not been persistent in the last few weeks that I would know nothing about the status of the Z4 that I am paying for but cannot use.

We bought a new car and we want a new car. I am no longer willing to accept a twice damaged, twice repainted, broken, used car that was all done in port and shipment – not to mention the clear attempt by someone in port to try to hide the damage with a metallic rear view mirror. The darn thing might have 1,500 miles on it and it is 2010 that was picked up in August!

Request/Reasonable Demand: You take your self-made disaster and give me all of my money back (i.e. down payment, taxes and fees, and a couple of payments for all the time I have not had the car, which is almost the entire time since August), and I will order the exact same car from Moritz BMW with the same reasonable deal, but it will be a new 2010 to be delivered in the next couple of months – I want a complete rescission of this deal and I will agree in writing to buy a new Z4 from you (I must be crazy but we still love BMWs and I like Moritz BMW). Please also note that Steve ___________ and the entire sales team have been great, as well as Joe ___________ and the service department have tried their best to help us to no avail. BMW NA created this problem in transport and it has only gotten worse since. At first we just wanted the car fixed right as we tried to be nice, maybe too nice, but that was in early November and we no confidence that will ever happen now. Take it back and we will buy a new one at Moritz – we love BMWs, especially the new Z4.

Summary of Problems:

1) wrecked in port and hidden from us until my discovery;
2) resulted in damaged mirror, door scratch, and paint problem on hood and bumper;
3) wrecked upon delivery coming off transport truck;
4) resulted in damaged front spoiler;
5) transport adhesive spots have eaten into and damaged paint;
6) first repaint was bad and had to be buffed to get the fog out;
7) adaptive shock light came on;
8) Adaptive shock light was allegedly fixed but not really – came on many more times;
9) Shocks are broken but ordered out of Germany;
10) Second buff out of paint left nasty swirls all over and overspray;
11) Adaptive Suspension Module is really the problem, ordered out of Germany;
12) Field Inspector has never inspected car;
13) Almost no one from BMW ever calls us to update the status; and
14) Car paint is not fixed yet, no one has inspected it as BMW claimed, still has broken suspension system, and we still do not have the car.

We are trying to be reasonable; feel free to use this as a case study at BMW of North America on how not to conduct business. Please help us and feel free to call me anytime on my mobile at _________________. By the way, our X5 is awesome (A Tale of Two Cities, apparently) – go BMW diesel power and efficiency; I hope this praise does not jinx the X5. However, I am deadly serious about this limited time offer of resolution concerning the Z4. This insanity must end, as it is my new year’s resolution.

Thanks - James.