My Euro Delivery Disaster

[Crimson92]

If this happened to me I'd be livid.

And to all over those saying just deal with it.

You're full of crap. Put yourself in the ops shoes and I guarantee you won't be singing the same tune.

[Endless619]

Originally Posted by esquire

Reading some of the responses on here (predominantly from pages 5-7 of this thread) where people act as if though OP is being unreasonable for wanting exactly what he ordered, is mind numbing to me.

Setting aside the common-sense proposition that when you pay for something, you're entitled to have it any way you want - especially when you pay extra money to do it through BMW Individual - whose entire premise is that the customer wants things to his/her EXACT spects - the law also compels the same conclusion.

For anyone confused, at least in the United States, a contract for the sale of goods requires delivery of those goods in exact conformity with that contracted for.

Nothing about OP wanting his car as he ordered it makes him unreasonable. When i go in to buy a tailored suit, that fit when I tried it on, I don't suck it up and grin when they subsequently give me an ill-fitting suit. That frustrates the entire purpose of going to a proper tailor. I want my suit fitted. And so it goes with BMW Individual....

I wonder how many of you would be singing the "you're being unreasonable" tune, if the same thing happened to you.

I always play both sides and sometimes the dickhead (someone has to do it) in posts, but I agree with you 100%. Although some of us would "settle" with a healthy discount it still does not shun the fact that OP did not get what he ordered. I would be uptight too. He had his heart set and now he has to wait even longer.

That blows.

[dblrguy]

To the OP,

Are any of the custom interior parts part of the dash? I would not want dash parts removed/reinstalled but seats and door panels are not nearly as prone to rattle as the dash. I would suggest that BMW remove the interior and remove ALL of the fasteners and ship it back to the factory, to meet your new car in production, then the experienced assembly guys could install everything the right way. Short of them getting a rush job on your custom interior, this is just a suggestion of course. Everything mentioned still requires compromise on your part. I would hope all of your ED expenses are refunded.

OT to all of the First World Problem guys, I presume you either have enough money to consider 80k pocket change or are just jealous the OP is well off enough to afford this car. Either way, the OP spent money on an experience that did not go the way he wanted or was told it would go. Do us a favor, go read some Yelp reviews and tell all of those with negative comments about their First World Problems and leave us in peace. You won't be missed here.

~Nate

[Endless619]

Originally Posted by Team Plutonium

No argument here. I just found it funny how the misfortune of the OP is bringing out all the haters giving us a lecture about first world problems... on a M3 forum.

Trust me, that's all we have left anyway, we talked and bitched about everything and anything under the sun at this point.

Now they are attacking you?

So what if you use to own an M3. You are still part of this community IMO.

[M3forMe]

Originally Posted by Ezio

Idk what kind of obligations you have on the car, but if BMW wouldn't help you with some kind of reimbursement i wouldn't buy the car. on principle, but thats me.

I second that. I would go buy an Audi They would not get a penny of my hard earned income.

I am sorry about your situation and wish you the best resolve possible.

[theamer]

It appears that BMW's Individual program is not of the highest quality. This type of mistake would be unacceptable for any luxury car, but this premium service appears to be little more than a name.

Don't let any of the haters convince you this isn't a big deal. The problem is not that they made a mistake. This mistake has cost you. It has cost you money, time, stress, and emotional discomfort. And after all that, they still see this as a situation for them to make money. They're really sorry about all the costs you have incurred, and they'd like to do what they can do help you, but they still see this as a sale.

This is THEIR mistake. THEY should be the ones who pay. Not only should they not be getting the profit from you that they were hoping for, they should also do something to compensate you for your costs.

If I were you, I'd send this story to the public relation departments of Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche, and ask them what they'd offer you for the exact same money. Tell BMW what you're doing and that you'll make your decision on what you're going to do after hearing their replies. You're no longer obligated to complete your transaction with BMW since they failed to uphold their end of the contract.

This will go from being a sale-situation to a public-relations-situation. You'll now have these four companies looking at this as a potential advertisement rather than a sale. You can take the best offer, or use it as leverage against BMW. They should already be feeling the pressure considering the publicity this story is getting, but they certainly don't want this story to end with "disgruntled BMW guy drives away in a new Mercedes."

[M3forMe]

Originally Posted by theamer

It appears that BMW's Individual program is not of the highest quality. This type of mistake would be unacceptable for any luxury car, but this premium service appears to be little more than a name.

Don't let any of the haters convince you this isn't a big deal. The problem is not that they made a mistake. This mistake has cost you. It has cost you money, time, stress, and emotional discomfort. And after all that, they still see this as a situation for them to make money. They're really sorry about all the costs you have incurred, and they'd like to do what they can do help you, but they still see this as a sale.

This is THEIR mistake. THEY should be the ones who pay. Not only should they not be getting the profit from you that they were hoping for, they should also do something to compensate you for your costs.

If I were you, I'd send this story to the public relation departments of Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche, and ask them what they'd offer you for the exact same money. Tell BMW what you're doing and that you'll make your decision on what you're going to do after hearing their replies. You're no longer obligated to complete your transaction with BMW since they failed to uphold their end of the contract.

This will go from being a sale-situation to a public-relations-situation. You'll now have these four companies looking at this as a potential advertisement rather than a sale. You can take the best offer, or use it as leverage against BMW. They should already be feeling the pressure considering the publicity this story is getting, but they certainly don't want this story to end with "disgruntled BMW guy drives away in a new Mercedes."

I like the idea. Unfortunately I bet that BMW and many of these large companies are so egotistical that they could care less that one guy got screwed. Customer service in this industry stops when they actually have to pay out. They appear to care but once you want them to admit guilt and compensate they run like cowards.

Is want they should have done is offered an all expenses paid trip back to get the CORRECT vehicle. If they offered anything less I would consider other means to get your lost expenses back as well as I would not be driving a BMW...ever again.

[jpirelli]

Just get the interior swapped into the correctly painted car and move on.

[Vanmarsenille]

Originally Posted by dblrguy

OT to all of the First World Problem guys, I presume you either have enough money to consider 80k pocket change or are just jealous the OP is well off enough to afford this car. Either way, the OP spent money on an experience that did not go the way he wanted or was told it would go. Do us a favor, go read some Yelp reviews and tell all of those with negative comments about their First World Problems and leave us in peace. You won't be missed here.

~Nate

[truths2k05]

Originally Posted by Vanmarsenille

Call BMW of North America at their New Jersey corporate office and get the issue resolved. No one on the forum can help you. Follow through till said transaction is to your satisfaction.

[PrometheusM3]

Originally Posted by Team Plutonium

Yeah... $80K is nothing. What a bunch of poor whiny bitches. Why didn't he just take delivery and give it to a homeless person? Sure he won't have the money to fill it up, but he could've used it as a cool little house. OP, stop being so selfish. Or you could've driven it to Africa to take the starving kids for an awesome ride, and maybe drive to a McDonald and buy them happy meals.

There are so many fun and gratifying ways you could've made this vacation and mishap work for the greater good of mankind, but you had to insist of the correct color, didn't you.

This thread just created a 1000 more terrorists. Thanks.

[pruettfan]

This is a crappy situation for sure. It does seem that BMW is trying to make it right, they did offer to pull the interior out of the other car so you could have it how you want. I am not sure how that would be any different than if they installed a new interior because both are new and would be installed by the same folks that install them on a regular basis. I agree that BMW should make a financial offer for their mistake. In all of the Euro delivery posts I have read (a lot) I have never heard of an issue much less an issue of this magnitude.

[mlambert890]

Originally Posted by pruettfan

This is a crappy situation for sure. It does seem that BMW is trying to make it right, they did offer to pull the interior out of the other car so you could have it how you want. I am not sure how that would be any different than if they installed a new interior because both are new and would be installed by the same folks that install them on a regular basis. I agree that BMW should make a financial offer for their mistake. In all of the Euro delivery posts I have read (a lot) I have never heard of an issue much less an issue of this magnitude.

Pretty much this... Crappy situation without a doubt, but mistakes happen (we ALL make them personally and professionally), and sometimes they are compounded by shitty circumstances (like a production run ending)

I only see two reasonable options:

1) FULL refund

2) interior swap

Me, I'd go 2. I really don't think it's so bad. I'd expect some sort of refund or credit (free performance exhaust? Something)

What isn't reasonable and won't happen is trying to sue bmw in order to get them to retool a factory to build one car because of one mistake. It just isn't reasonable and any judge (if it got that far) would say that 1 and 2 are plenty ample.

You have to view this from a business perspective.

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

While it is not nice what happen to the OP in the end when BMW will resolve the issue, he soon forget about it ... Or he should ... And enjoy his purchase.

Always remember "To error is human" it has happen before and will happen again ...

OP ... Once all is resolved tell us how much you love and enjoy your ride. Most of all happy and safe trails always.

PS. ... Take it from me I too was led down by BMW after 2 cracked rear wheels (wheel type BMW 296) on a brand new Z4 during a long planned cross country trip. I to at the time was thinking it is my last BMW car ... In the end I purchased three more ... So you see I got over my disappointment and so will you. For in the end the car speaks for itself.

[dreamspeed]

Well seeing how this is the age of the interwebs and E-bullying.... I'm sure you can try to make this thing go viral with Facebook, twitter and YouTube. All you need is a popular site like jalopnik to pick it up and you just gained a crap ton more leverage. Pew pew

[cwg]

Originally Posted by Team Plutonium

... it is always the noobs with the biggest mouths, and if you call them out on it they accuse you of bullying, or being the resident cynic.

Or of not even owning an M3 anymore

[TurboBimmer]

Originally Posted by FLOSS M

I would have taken the color/car at a big discount and called it a day. Just my $.02

I would agree but atlantic blue is really a hideous color.

I'm normally not a fan of blue colored cars but atlantis metallic DOES look good.

[shaq diesel]

One thing I find interesting about this will be the fact that the factory retooling is going to play a big role in this.

As the OP said they can pump out a painted frame before they officially close out E92 production. But if they can't rebuild the interior in time to install it on the factory floor then you have to consider in the back of your mind how much profit BMW stands to loose delaying factory conversion to finish one car?

If the OP truly wants this car exactly specced out per the order (aftering building it for so many years as he indicated), some manufacturing concessions might have to be made. I have a strong hunch that BMW will find sacrificing the sale to be the more profitable course than finishing this car per their regular build standards.

If this mistake was done during the middle of the E92 production run there would be no doubt that BMW would sell the "mistake" car in their network and build him a new one per the order sheet (and should cover airfare for the return trip). I just think that given all of the additional issues at play associated with the end of the production run the OP is going to have a very large uphill battle trying to make a super tanker go straight when the captain has already given the order to turn starboard...

Not sure how much of a PR hit they will take also. They admitted the mistake and have offered numerous ways to correct the error. While some folks would not accept their resolution as satisfactory, I don't think there is a big enough delta here to create a large PR nightmare. But that's just my opinion.

[dmw16]

I am not sure how one-off the BMW Individual interior supplier is (ie is it a mom and pop, a large company, etc) but in most cases you can shorten lead time a fair bit with the application and pressure and money. I would think BMW should be able to get those seats a little faster.

[dmurray14]

Here's an idea. Ask them to build another one and swap the interior. Except, tell them you want yours to be the last M3 off the line

To me, that would more than make up for it - knowing yours was the last one made - and it certainly would help with the value.

[Lorde]

2013 M3 Camry Edition, 1 of 1.

[Shoney41]

This is such an amazing thread for so many reasons. I'm so conflicted between laughing and crying.

To the OP: I hope it somehow all works out to your satisfaction and that we'll be able to welcome you to the M3 family as a driver! I had a bad experience on day 1 as well (though not even remotely as bad as yours) and found that at the end of the day BMW did do "the right thing." Hope that's the case here as well.