Dealer damaged a car

[MaxL]

A friend of mine bought an almost new X5 with 2,000km on it, then found out it's navi did not work - the menu item for in iDrive was just unavailable. So he took it to dealer, and many weeks later they said it's fixed. They replaced "the whole computer" (as they said).

My friend was out of town, so he asked me to pick up the car, to make sure it does not get mucked up standing on the lot for several weeks. I was making fun of him for being paranoid, but picked up the car looked at the car thoroughly to make sure there is no damage on the car on the outside.

Then his wife comes back to town and I get a call - come look, the car is all scratched up, what to do. Guess what - they did muck it up pretty well, just on the inside... I did not see it when I picked it up because scratches are on the side plastic panel that's covered by the seat back underneath driver's door handle - not immediately visible on black - and I was in a rush.

Anyway, I am 100% sure it's the dealer because it's impossible to scratch that side panel without removing the seat. Scratch under the door handle is also way too deep to be made during normal use (or you have to be a robocop) - it looks like it was stabbed with a lot of force from underneath. Also, one of the plastic thingies covering seat rails is broken off completely. Looks like a seat removal job gone badly.

So I told my friend's wife to call the dealer and tell them how things are. To my surprise, service adviser first implied that she or I did it (she was like - why the hell would I remove front seats?) and then told her to come in a week when the general manager will be back in town. I expected them to be more forthcoming and apologetic.

I hope they are going to fix it, but what to do if they refuse? Any way to go higher? Also, does anyone have a connection with the dealership that could help?

Thanks for any help or advice!

[STALKER]

Talk to the service manager, if they are of no help, then contact the area manager. The area manager will be more helpful.

[mshahidz]

what dealership was this?

[MaxL]

Originally Posted by STALKER

Talk to the service manager, if they are of no help, then contact the area manager. The area manager will be more helpful.

I believe service manager told that he needs to general manager (of the whole branch, as I understood) to make a decision.

It is BMW Autohaus. Just to make sure I am not badmouthing them prematurely - they did not refuse to fix it, but did not agree yet either. If they fix it, it's still not a good thing that this happened, but stuff happens - I'd not be too pissed.