Is my dealer trustworthy?

[takedown8]

Brought my Z4 in for an "oil service" at the stealer's today. They tell me that it involves an oil change, and they inspect tires, brakes, tire pressures, and a couple of other things.

I get the car back an hour or so later, and they tell me that everything's great, and I have x number of mm on each tire, and x mm on the brakes. Then the service manager tells me that they filled my tire pressures to 36psi on all four tires (recommended is 33 front and 36 back). I'm only slightly annoyed that they messed that up, but I figure no big deal.

I walk out to get my car, and check my tire pressures figuring that I would let some air out of the front tires to bring them back down to 33. Guess what, the tire pressures are exactly the same as when I measured them a couple of days ago: 32 in front and 34 in the back. Which means they didn't fill the tires with air at all.

So I call the service manager & tell her the situation. I tell her that it's not so much that the air is a big deal, but that it makes me worried that other things that they claim have been done have not actually been done.

She puts me on hold and gets back to me a minute later saying that the technician told her about the 36's all around, but he doesn't do the tire pressures. And that the actual guy who does the tire pressures and refills air told her that he refilled them to 33 in front and 35 in back.

Now i'm wondering if they even changed my frickin oil and filter! Am I being paranoid or what? I'm not sure if I can even trust going back to them. Feel free to tell me if I'm overreacting.

[Kiemyster]

you are not over reacting at all. i would do the same. my dealership here is somewhat the same. i have a friend that checks my car after i take it in to BMW for any reason to see if theres anything wrong.

personally, i dont have much of a choice to use my dealer, cause the other one is 3 hours away, and owned by the same bastard. you, are in ontario and have many options. find a different dealer. i would.

cheers to u and ur Z4! those things are lovely cars, and one day im gonna have one! (if all goes as planned)

[Veruca]

I could have given you this answer without even reading the post. No.

[takedown8]

[533ogetnom]

im the first to jump on the dealers are scum bandwagaon, but your freaking out over tire pressure? are you kidding?

lets not even go into how the gauges can vary, or how temperature can make the temp vary by a ton

its freaking tire pressure, you wouldnt had any concerns if they hadnt tolf you they did that extra bit

[SoYank]

Get a depth gauge for measuring your tread depth and verify what they said. If you're really interested, jack the car up and check the brake pads yourself. If you really don't trust them, don't take your car to them.

[Veruca]

I had to take mine in on Thursday to have the bolts on the strut braces tightened and I thought I was going to be sick. I have issues with people coming near my car because they almost always leave a fingerprint or something annoying like lean on it. Anyway, this 15 year old kid is 'checking me in' and i'm sweating because i'm afraid i'm going to have to make a scene when this kid asks me for my key. Instead, after staring at the car for 3 minutes he says "so what kind of car is this?" I knew it was only going to take them a few minutes to tighten the bolts or I would have been on my way. I thought I was going to have a meltdown. I had this Ferris Bueller image of the kid catching air over the speed bumps in my car and to top it off, behind me I can hear some guy talking about how his car has been lost and no one can find it. I told my husband that the next time the car has to go in I'm staying home with a sedative and he is going to take it in because I can't handle it.

[takedown8]

Originally Posted by 533ogetnom

im the first to jump on the dealers are scum bandwagaon, but your freaking out over tire pressure? are you kidding?

lets not even go into how the gauges can vary, or how temperature can make the temp vary by a ton

its freaking tire pressure, you wouldnt had any concerns if they hadnt tolf you they did that extra bit

As I was mentioning in my OP, it's not so much that the tire pressure is extremely important. It's just that they lied about doing such a small thing (which I am actually paying them to do), so it worries me that there may be other corners that they are cutting. And don't tell me about how gauges vary or temperature. I measured them in the dealer's lot 20 feet from the service area. 32 front and 34 back, same as 3 days ago. A far cry from 36 all around. And why the sudden change in story from the dealer? Of course they didn't do it. But when they don't do something that you pay them to do, that in my opinion is the same as stealing money right out of your pocket! (hence 'stealership').

[takedown8]

Originally Posted by Veruca

I had to take mine in on Thursday to have the bolts on the strut braces tightened and I thought I was going to be sick. I have issues with people coming near my car because they almost always leave a fingerprint or something annoying like lean on it. Anyway, this 15 year old kid is 'checking me in' and i'm sweating because i'm afraid i'm going to have to make a scene when this kid asks me for my key. Instead, after staring at the car for 3 minutes he says "so what kind of car is this?" I knew it was only going to take them a few minutes to tighten the bolts or I would have been on my way. I thought I was going to have a meltdown. I had this Ferris Bueller image of the kid catching air over the speed bumps in my car and to top it off, behind me I can hear some guy talking about how his car has been lost and no one can find it. I told my husband that the next time the car has to go in I'm staying home with a sedative and he is going to take it in because I can't handle it.

Veruca, I know exactly how you feel. When I dropped my car off, I told them not to wash it. And then while I was checking out a couple of M3 convertibles they had in the lot, I saw this kid who looked like he was 16 years old walk out to my car & unlock it. Then before he gets in, he sneezes. Then I was thinking like, "Great, now he's gonna get all his freaking germs all over my steering wheel."

BTW, that Ferris Bueller scene was a classic. I guess you always check your odometer before & after you drop off your car?

[Veruca]

Yes, I always check the mileage. I washed, clayed, and waxed the car the Sunday before it had to go in and kept it in the garage all week so there wouldn't be any question as to whether it needed to be washed. I kind of felt like a freak because no one else dropping off seemed to care. My service advisor guy looked at me funny when I said "tighten the bolts on the strut braces and that's all, you will have a service bulletin for this." He has me show him the bolts and then he called up someone from the shop and when the guy got there he says the bolts on some bars need to be tightened and takes him out there to show him the bolts that I had just shown him. I'm ready to leap out of my chair when the puts his palms all over the hood to close it.

I was at the Ferrari dealer on Friday and was walking around in their service garage... No one was putting palms on hoods and there weren't any kids sneezing on steering wheels. There is a guy with a 599 GTB in town and he had his car in for service and he was down there watching the guy work on his car. Why couldn't I ride over to service and watch my bolts get tightened? Why can't there be a special BMW service place for people who actually care about their car and don't just have one because they think they're supposed to? Out of the 4 or 5 dealers (3 within reason from our house), I have been unimpressed with 2 of them on numerous occaisions. I guess i'll have to try the other one next.

[Kiemyster]

Originally Posted by Veruca

I had to take mine in on Thursday to have the bolts on the strut braces tightened and I thought I was going to be sick. I have issues with people coming near my car because they almost always leave a fingerprint or something annoying like lean on it. Anyway, this 15 year old kid is 'checking me in' and i'm sweating because i'm afraid i'm going to have to make a scene when this kid asks me for my key. Instead, after staring at the car for 3 minutes he says "so what kind of car is this?" I knew it was only going to take them a few minutes to tighten the bolts or I would have been on my way. I thought I was going to have a meltdown. I had this Ferris Bueller image of the kid catching air over the speed bumps in my car and to top it off, behind me I can hear some guy talking about how his car has been lost and no one can find it. I told my husband that the next time the car has to go in I'm staying home with a sedative and he is going to take it in because I can't handle it.

wow. this is fucking priceless...... i dont know what to say... just