[dibxna]

ultimately it was more about the time from the date of service to the date of complaint being filed i believe. had you brought this in a week after it happened they probably would have done all of the work free of charge with an apology.

In their mind you drove 5017 miles and anywhere along the line something could have happened that was driver fault or road conditions or some external factor that was not directly their fault that caused this leak. For them to justify a full cost of replacement when it had been driven so far was not something they would have felt responsible for.

Ultimately your father in law could have taken this to another dealership and had them check for the problem in the first couple hundred miles of driving and that dealership could have called your dealership to pay for the repair as a result of the problem stemming from their tech.

I would highly doubt that any other dealership for any brand of car would agree its entirely their fault after 5017 miles were put on the car before a complaint was brought to their attention.

Would you expect a full refund for drinking a half bottle of pepsi before you realized you actually ordered coke?

i agree with you that years of purchasing and referring should have overshadowed the problem but i think your timing is what presented the main feeling of not having to fully cover it.

edit: i also had very poor customer service with my first bmw and swore id never buy one again as a result - i had an opportunity to help out a friends client who happened to be a sales manager at one of the bmw dealerships in az here. he told me he could change my opinion and make it right for me. He succeeded and I am back on board the roundel romance train.

may not be worth burning a bridge over in all honesty but i completely support your decision as a consumer to be frustrated!