View Full Version : Worst Experience EVER at Lauderdale Imports Service Dept! Stay away from them! READ!


mt3ch
09-08-2004, 12:02 PM
Ok here is the story. I used to go to Lauderdale Imports to get service done until a few months ago when they treated my car like a toy and took it for an 7 mile joy ride after the service was completed. :confused Refer to this thread here http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=155387&highlight=dealer.

So here is the deal. Hurricane Frances was coming and my sister gets a phone call from the Lauderdale Imports Service dept telling her that she is 100% liable for their loaner if something happens during the storm since Lauderdale Imports made her sign this crazy long unconventional contract that they must have been using for the hurricane. I have a copy of the loaner agreement if anyone wants to see it. :eek Its excessive and has never been used up until recently. I personally would never sign something like that w/o reading the entire document and possibly consulting a legal advisor, thats how bad it is! My sister says ok, but then the lady says, "we also aren't responsible for the damage to your car if anything happens and we are suggesting all customers come and pick up their cars and store them somewhere safe since the showroom cars get priority over customer cars!" Not to mention the lady says repeatedly, "YOU SIGNED THE CONTRACT so we have no liability whatsoever!" My sister was shocked. Now the story gets even worse! My sister asks about picking up her car if its ready, not just because its the hurricane, and the lady replies, "Oh your car has no computer in it, we arent done with the service, but you can call a tow truck and have it towed away somewhere safe since we arent going to be responsible if somethign happens from the hurricane, thats what we are telling all our customers." Now this is 1 day before the hurricane is going to hit and not to mention my sister has a 5 month old baby and the dealer knows thats cause they made a HUGE stink about not helping her put the baby seat in the loaner car quoting liabilities and such things. This is UNBELIEVEABLE! :mad

Also the previous week, my sisters vehicle, an 03 325i w/ 13K miles, had an oil service a week before and the next day a service engine soon light came on, so this is the reason its back at the dealer getting serviced. This should have been addressed in a diagnostic test of the car when it was in the bay getting the oil change!

So Yesterday, Tues, the dealer calls and says the car is ready. My sister drives with her baby and my mom to pick the car up. They get stuck waiting almost 35min for the car to pull up and then noone wants to help them remove the baby seat and at least bring it to her car. Also the car was FILTHY like it sat out during 5 hurricanes and the seats were fully reclined like someone was sleeping in the car. Honestly the car could not be recognized. It really looked used and abused. The interior had marks all over it and the car itself was just covered in dirt. Isnt Lauderdale imports supposed to wash every customers car or is this the usual screw over people in 325 routine. I can honeslty say that even when I used to go there for service, once they pull up in their system that my car is a 325ci, they treated me like I was a lesser individual and never had a BMW loaner waiting for me. This really aggrivates me and thats why I continue to take my business to VISTA where they treat everyone the same whether you have a Z8 or a 325 like myself. My sister was just loyal because she owned 3 previous BMWs from Lauderdale Imports and figured so far so good, up until this service. Things have changed there for the worse and both myself and my sister will acknowledge that. I wrote this post so that people will take into account the mistreatment of a 26 yr old hard working woman that has a 5 month old who needed to be comforted and assured that things will be ok before a very scary hurricane rather than threatened and mistreated by an establishment that represents and supports our beloved BMW's. I hope we can all learn from this and I really hope that BMW NA reads this thread. My sister will be writing a letter and you can be sure that not 1 of our 3 BMW's will ever be going back there for service, let alone purchasing the X3 that my brother-in-law is buying in the next month or 2.

Take it easy,
Justin

SilverBeam
09-08-2004, 12:11 PM
first off don't sweat the 7 miles. after service is done, they have to drive the car with a service rep to make sure all of the problems are taken care of, also, if they are having trouble finding something, they'll drive around waiting for it to happen. 40 miles, not good. 7 miles okay.

but there is no excuse for some of the things that happened to your sister's car. i'd recomend talking to the service manager, if that gets you know where, talk to the general manager of the whole dealership. if you are still upset, call/write bmwusa to let them know what is going on, they will do something.

i hope everyone made it through the hurricane alright.

bimmerman1
09-08-2004, 12:12 PM
That is wrong!! I can't beleive some people will do. I'm sorry you went through this when Frances was banging at your front door. I would diffently write some letters the BMW/NA and Better Business Burue(spelled wrong :) ) Don't they releize they will be losing customers now? What are they thinking? Sorry you had to go through that.

mt3ch
09-08-2004, 12:17 PM
first off don't sweat the 7 miles. after service is done, they have to drive the car with a service rep to make sure all of the problems are taken care of, also, if they are having trouble finding something, they'll drive around waiting for it to happen. 40 miles, not good. 7 miles okay.

but there is no excuse for some of the things that happened to your sister's car. i'd recomend talking to the service manager, if that gets you know where, talk to the general manager of the whole dealership. if you are still upset, call/write bmwusa to let them know what is going on, they will do something.

i hope everyone made it through the hurricane alright.


We are all fine, however me and my parents are still without power sicne FRI morning when he Hurricane 1st arrived. Im staying with my sister and was witness to all the BS she had to go through over the telephone and my mom was there to see everything when picking up her car so I am not exagerrating any of this. I think its rather hard to make up such things.

Anyways, we will see what happens. My goal here is to make sure this doesnt happen to any other BMW owners.

As for the 7 miles, they were put on after the service ticket was CLOSED!!!! They are unaccounted for because some lil jerk valet boy decided to take my Supercharged 325 out for a joy ride down Ft Lauderdale Beach. You never know the stuff that can happen from a 15 min joyride! Either way, its completely unprofessional and I hop Lauderdale Imports changes their ways ASAP otherwise quality service depts like Vista will put them outta comission!

G. P. Burdell
09-08-2004, 12:17 PM
That is wrong!! I can't beleive some people will do. I'm sorry you went through this when Frances was banging at your front door. I would diffently write some letters the BMW/NA and Better Business Burue(spelled wrong :) ) Don't they releize they will be losing customers now? What are they thinking? Sorry you had to go through that.
Sadly, BMW NA will likely say that it has no control over its dealers.

For every disgruntled customer who takes his/her business elsewhere, there are ten other people willing to pony up the money for the BMW badge, and they don't mind being treated like dirt by the dealership. One customer doesn't mean much to their bottom line. This is especially evident at dealerships that are owned by huge corporations.

mt3ch
09-08-2004, 12:23 PM
Sadly, BMW NA will likely say that it has no control over its dealers.

For every disgruntled customer who takes his/her business elsewhere, there are ten other people willing to pony up the money for the BMW badge, and they don't mind being treated like dirt by the dealership. One customer doesn't mean much to their bottom line. This is especially evident at dealerships that are owned by huge corporations.

I disagree. BMW does care and dealers lose their bonuses and get reprimanded by BMW if they fail to meet certain quality goals. thats why after every service, a rep from BMW NA will call to get a survey of your experience at the service dept. Ill be sure to have my sister give 1's on everything and have them leave a comment on what happened as well.

Oh well.....just make sure never to go to those scum bags again. :nono to Lauderdale Imports Service DEPT!

SilverBeam
09-08-2004, 05:11 PM
I disagree as well. I complained to NA about Irvine BMW's service and got an email back right way appoligizing and telling me that they will notify the dealership.

Ben Carufel
09-08-2004, 05:32 PM
I also recommend writing a letter to Roundel.

That usually will get BMWNA's attention.

mt3ch
09-08-2004, 07:04 PM
I also recommend writing a letter to Roundel.

That usually will get BMWNA's attention.
Good idea!!! BTW, I luuuuv your M Shoe! I was going to get a 2001 leftover when I got my 02 325ci, but I honestly didnt fit in the car comfortably. They were blowing it out for $37K. Not too shabby for an S54 powered monster!!!

Take it easy fellas....Im sure we will make a stink when they get the X3 at whatever dealer so that BMW NA hears from their 7 time repeat customers! :mad

The Beastmaster
09-09-2004, 12:30 AM
Get in touch with the BMW CCA Ombudsman. Dealers really hate it when they get involved!

m3j0n
09-10-2004, 12:59 AM
here's a couple of tips... 1) maybe you should try being a little less offensive... im not saying that you were in this particular case, but i have met you once in person and you were a total dickhead (thinking that you were better than everyone esle). A mutual friend of ours sayus that youre a pretty good guy, so maybe i met you on a bad day... either way, when youre a dick to these salespeople/service people they tend to abuse the little power that they have in this world. i.e. beating the shit out of your car.

2) if you have a tuned car, or a car that youre extremely particular with, learn to work on the fuckign thing yourself. this way you avoid having to deal with others' lack of respect with your belongings.....

anyway, i second the motion to ban most of the dealers down here... prettyy much all of them have done less-than-acceptable things in the past....think about how much it would suck bringing a really exotic car to service......like a gt2 or a ferrari.... :)

2pak
09-10-2004, 02:22 AM
Good idea!!! BTW, I luuuuv your M Shoe! I was going to get a 2001 leftover when I got my 02 325ci, but I honestly didnt fit in the car comfortably. They were blowing it out for $37K. Not too shabby for an S54 powered monster!!!

Take it easy fellas....Im sure we will make a stink when they get the X3 at whatever dealer so that BMW NA hears from their 7 time repeat customers! :mad

damn, that woudl have been the steal of a lifetime.. a brand new s54 m coupe for 37k

JohnD
09-19-2004, 08:13 AM
M3Tech - I wouldn't even bother with BMW NA - to be honest the could care less. I had a problem with a local dealer several months ago for not honoring the rust warranty on my 1999 328IS. To make a long story short BMW NA wanted me to pay to have the 2 front fenders and grill area painted to match the new hood they were installing. BMW NA's excuse was that the drivers fender on my car had been repainted before, which wasn't true because I have owned the car since 4000 miles and there is no record of any repairs through the dealer or carfax. The local dealer said it was because the age of the paint and the BMW body shop said it was because Titanium Silver is difficult to match.

I tried working this out with the local dealer, BMW NA, I also wrote letters to BMW CCA and Roundel but neither one of them published them. It wasn't until my attorney contacted the local dealer did the owner offer to cover the full cost of repairs.

The papers your sister signed weren't worth the paper they were printed on. Her insurance company would cover the cost of her car and although she signed the contract the dealers insurance would cover the cost of the loaner.

JD