New software for the DCT but it costs $280? [Is this BS?]

[tunnie]

Went there today for brake fluid change... they told me there is new software for the DCT but it cost 280 if I want it. "Its not covered under warranty unless the system is throwing fault codes"

And yes there is hesitation on the slowing down and accelerating.


Should I fight this?

THE STORY:
The car was there from 10:30 to 6pm. When I originally called they told me brake fluid would take 2 hours max. When I didn't hear anything for almost 6 hours, I finally decided to call back @ 5pm. That's when they told me that there is new software for the car and that why its taking so long. She then asked if I could leave it overnight I told her to give me a loaner then, she then asked if she could call me right back. I said fine. I wait for about 45 minutes and nothing so i call her and the SA says there is new software for the car and can be updated but for $280, when I asked shouldn't that be covered under warranty her words where "normally it is, but its not covered under warranty unless the system is throwing fault codes" (no idea what that even means..) , So I told them forget it to just give me back my car. She then was OK can you give me an hour so I can wash it and finish up the paper work. I said I don't need the car wash and that I would be there in 30 minutes to pick it up.

When I got there, went up to the cashier and waited about 20 minutes for the guy to find my SA, after that I see her and she says "the cars ready and your good to go. you don't need a receipt because its all covered under warranty".. I was like " I would like one to show the service done, shes like "oh its not ready my mechanic is finishing up the story on it" I can email it to you if you like. I need to be gone @ 6pm so I just took my keys and left

NO receipt... did they even do anything?

[Crazy Bimmer]

Fight it or try another dealership.

[Serious]

yep thats BS.

[dardeca]

Originally Posted by tunnie

Went there today for brake fluid change... they told me there is new software for the DCT but it cost 280 if I want it. "Its not covered under warranty unless the system is throwing fault codes"

And yes there is hesitation on the slowing down and accelerating.


Should I fight this?

Who is the dealer that said you needed to pay for the update? That is ridiculous!!!

[VonSwoopington]

Originally Posted by dardeca

Who is the dealer that said you needed to pay for the update? That is ridiculous!!!

I'm intersted as well since I'm from VA also!

[Mjolnir]

Originally Posted by VonSwoopington

I'm intersted as well since I'm from VA also!

Me too.

[tunnie]

Originally Posted by Mjolnir

Me too.

Originally Posted by VonSwoopington

I'm intersted as well since I'm from VA also!

Originally Posted by dardeca

Who is the dealer that said you needed to pay for the update? That is ridiculous!!!

BMW of Fairfax, VA. Every time I take my car here they give me shit. My old SA is gone and good, because she completely BS'd me a few times.

[richardbb85]

fucking fairfax, i guess i will avoid it from now on

[fullrev]

Well she is technically right. Unless you're complaining about a certain situation that is documented in an SIB, FSE says to program the vehicle, PuMA says to program the vehicle, or if the vehicle is throwing a fault for something and the test plan states to program the car.... they can't program it.

If you want to program the car for the hell of it then you would have to pay because no one would be paying the dealership for their time. Not even BMW.

If you have an issue with your DCT then take it in for that issue and they might program it if it falls under those things.

[tunnie]

Originally Posted by fullrev

Well she is technically right. Unless you're complaining about a certain situation that is documented in an SIB, FSE says to program the vehicle, PuMA says to program the vehicle, or if the vehicle is throwing a fault for something and the test plan states to program the car.... they can't program it.

If you want to program the car for the hell of it then you would have to pay because no one would be paying the dealership for their time. Not even BMW.

If you have an issue with your DCT then take it in for that issue and they might program it if it falls under those things.

I did take it to them for the acceleration issue as well... I've had a SA experience that same issue in my car before.

[Nautik]

Originally Posted by tunnie

BMW of Fairfax, VA. Every time I take my car here they give me shit. My old SA is gone and good, because she completely BS'd me a few times.

Not a good experience there for me either. Had some idiot service manager try and screw me out of having my subframe repaired even though his own mechanics were saying it is covered. Never going back there again.

The techs I met were reasonable but yea the service manager a complete idiot, if he worked for me I would have fired him.

[richardbb85]

good thing we have a lot of dealers in this area

[bobbyd1961]

Originally Posted by tunnie

Went there today for brake fluid change... they told me there is new software for the DCT but it cost 280 if I want it. "Its not covered under warranty unless the system is throwing fault codes"

And yes there is hesitation on the slowing down and accelerating.


Should I fight this?

THE STORY:
The car was there from 10:30 to 6pm. When I originally called they told me brake fluid would take 2 hours max. When I didn't hear anything for almost 6 hours, I finally decided to call back @ 5pm. That's when they told me that there is new software for the car and that why its taking so long. She then asked if I could leave it overnight I told her to give me a loaner then, she then asked if she could call me right back. I said fine. I wait for about 45 minutes and nothing so i call her and the SA says there is new software for the car and can be updated but for $280, when I asked shouldn't that be covered under warranty her words where "normally it is, but its not covered under warranty unless the system is throwing fault codes" (no idea what that even means..) , So I told them forget it to just give me back my car. She then was OK can you give me an hour so I can wash it and finish up the paper work. I said I don't need the car wash and that I would be there in 30 minutes to pick it up.

When I got there, went up to the cashier and waited about 20 minutes for the guy to find my SA, after that I see her and she says "the cars ready and your good to go. you don't need a receipt because its all covered under warranty".. I was like " I would like one to show the service done, shes like "oh its not ready my mechanic is finishing up the story on it" I can email it to you if you like. I need to be gone @ 6pm so I just took my keys and left

NO receipt... did they even do anything?

sounds like a bad dealer and if the car is seerely hesitating they will change software for free there is a service bulletin. i hate lousy dealers.

[dardeca]

Originally Posted by richardbb85

good thing we have a lot of dealers in this area

Anyone in Northern Virginia who has good experiences with a service department in the area?

[kaykay]

Complete BS

What's wrong with all of these East Coast dealers? Bunch of scumbag thieves.

[aus]

I don't know the area at al, but I do know I've hear BAD service with Fairfax BMW. I don't know anything about them; just what has been posted here.

OP, complain about the stereo going out and the buttons freezing: can't turn it off until you turn the car off, can't change volume or stations. They'll do the update and it should include the DCT update. Tell them it only happens a few times a month. There's an SIB on this issue and it requires a reprogram.

[Cptn Mo 703]

Originally Posted by tunnie

BMW of Fairfax, VA. Every time I take my car here they give me shit. My old SA is gone and good, because she completely BS'd me a few times.

Donald right?? He was a cool dude, he went over to American service center. Now I'm just gonna go to sterling or tischer.

[VonSwoopington]

Screw fairfax BMW. I had a feeling it would be them. They wouldn't budge from MSRP when I tried to purchase a car from there. I'm glad I didn't purchase from them now.

[BigHat]

Originally Posted by dardeca

Anyone in Northern Virginia who has good experiences with a service department in the area?

There are no universal good or bads on this stuff. On my fourth BMW in the NoVA area and from three dealers.

Sterling: They get stellar rating every year and deemed one of the best in the country. Purchased an "04 M3 from them. No issues or problems, but far away. Apparently things have slipped though and have heard they lost the Mini Cooper exclusive as a result.

When I had an "in" with Passport because of a number of corporate purchases I tried them for an '06 650 coupe. They sucked, especially in service dept. That said, our corp. drivers loved getting 750s serviced there. They also have a giant service facility now so the long lines may be a thing of the past.

Sold that car on short notice to a friend and had to scramble to find an '07 650 vert. Turns out Fairfax had what I wanted. At the time, the BMW boards trashed them. I had a good sales experience so then held my breath at service time. I couldn't have been happier. Even had a couple of calls that could have rightfully been work I should have paid for was done for free. I also had an assigned service rep.

When I bought my '11 M3 vert I went back to Fairfax. Good sales experience but the car delivered with a faulty alarm system. It also took longer to get fixed than I would have liked. They also left a key carrier on my passenger seat. Nothing to get super pissed about but not great. Also, you get the next service rep in line. Not automatically an issue, but not as nice as relationship with a rep. you see every time.
For both the 650 vert and E93 I simply said I'd pay 94% of the sticker price. They said okay and that was the end of the discussion. I don't understand the "not budging from sticker" comment but every deal is different I know.

BMW of Arlington is a few miles away but when shopping there I get treated like I'm buying a KIA -- from KIA sales people. I have no service experience there but have read a lot of negative comments. The Roundel or the regional BMW CCA did publish a letter from a lady that said Arlington was the only dealership in the metro area that would come to her house and replace two wheels and tires stolen off of her 3 series after one of the giant show storms just before Christmas last year. Guess that's a check in the positive column.


This entire software update issue on these cars sucks. It takes too long to do and there are too many system aborts that require them to start over frequently. My 650 was working fine but I wanted the new nav. symbology. I had a couple of incidents where the radio didn't power down at shut off, but that didn't throw any error codes so they wouldn't update the software.

I'm somewhat torn about this. Since it seems to take AT LEAST 4 hours to do a software update and often all day I can't really expect them to do it for free unless I have a big issue with the car. What would be great is a streamlined process where this becomes an hour or so evolution.

Edit: Probably belongs in a regional forum rather than this one.

[dardeca]

Originally Posted by BigHat

There are no universal good or bads on this stuff. On my fourth BMW in the NoVA area and from three dealers.

Sterling: They get stellar rating every year and deemed one of the best in the country. Purchased an "04 M3 from them. No issues or problems, but far away. Apparently things have slipped though and have heard they lost the Mini Cooper exclusive as a result.

When I had an "in" with Passport because of a number of corporate purchases I tried them for an '06 650 coupe. They sucked, especially in service dept. That said, our corp. drivers loved getting 750s serviced there. They also have a giant service facility now so the long lines may be a thing of the past.

Sold that car on short notice to a friend and had to scramble to find an '07 650 vert. Turns out Fairfax had what I wanted. At the time, the BMW boards trashed them. I had a good sales experience so then held my breath at service time. I couldn't have been happier. Even had a couple of calls that could have rightfully been work I should have paid for was done for free. I also had an assigned service rep.

When I bought my '11 M3 vert I went back to Fairfax. Good sales experience but the car delivered with a faulty alarm system. It also took longer to get fixed than I would have liked. They also left a key carrier on my passenger seat. Nothing to get super pissed about but not great. Also, you get the next service rep in line. Not automatically an issue, but not as nice as relationship with a rep. you see every time.
For both the 650 vert and E93 I simply said I'd pay 94% of the sticker price. They said okay and that was the end of the discussion. I don't understand the "not budging from sticker" comment but every deal is different I know.

BMW of Arlington is a few miles away but when shopping there I get treated like I'm buying a KIA -- from KIA sales people. I have no service experience there but have read a lot of negative comments. The Roundel or the regional BMW CCA did publish a letter from a lady that said Arlington was the only dealership in the metro area that would come to her house and replace two wheels and tires stolen off of her 3 series after one of the giant show storms just before Christmas last year. Guess that's a check in the positive column.


This entire software update issue on these cars sucks. It takes too long to do and there are too many system aborts that require them to start over frequently. My 650 was working fine but I wanted the new nav. symbology. I had a couple of incidents where the radio didn't power down at shut off, but that didn't throw any error codes so they wouldn't update the software.

I'm somewhat torn about this. Since it seems to take AT LEAST 4 hours to do a software update and often all day I can't really expect them to do it for free unless I have a big issue with the car. What would be great is a streamlined process where this becomes an hour or so evolution.

Edit: Probably belongs in a regional forum rather than this one.

Thanks for the note. I ordered my '11 E92 from BMW Fairfax. Sales experience has been great so far...car is expected to be delivered in October. I guess I'll see how the service works out at Fairfax. I can always go to Sterling if needbe.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by tunnie

Should I fight this?

No, but you should find another dealership for certain.

The car was there from 10:30 to 6pm. When I originally called they told me brake fluid would take 2 hours max. When I didn't hear anything for almost 6 hours, I finally decided to call back @ 5pm. That's when they told me that there is new software for the car and that why its taking so long.

This is absolute horse shit, since they then say:

...the SA says there is new software for the car and can be updated...

So, if the software update was not in progress during those 6 hours, then what the hell was going on with the car?? I would look the car over very carefully to make sure they did not abuse or damage it. It sounds to me like they might have been trying to stall you.

Aside from that:

but for $280, when I asked shouldn't that be covered under warranty her words where "normally it is, but its not covered under warranty unless the system is throwing fault codes" (no idea what that even means..) ,

I'd forget the software for now. If you don't have complaints about the car, don't bother. If you do have issues, find an SIB that matches your symptoms and show it to the dealership (a different one, of course). They should agree to update the car.

When I got there, went up to the cashier and waited about 20 minutes for the guy to find my SA, after that I see her and she says "the cars ready and your good to go. you don't need a receipt because its all covered under warranty"

Exact same thing happened to me once. No receipt, and stalling, stalling, stalling, at pick up. Sadly I was in a hurry and just left. When I got home, I found a huge dent on my car that I am almost certain was caused by the dealership. So please check your car over carefully! Though, since you've already got it home, you (like me) probably have little recourse if there is damage.

[Michaeljh2000]

So far my experience with BMW Fairfax has been positive.