Pics of my dirty M3 at the port and advise needed please.

[tbonem3]

-i took those pictures last week at port in Kuwait..
-Ordered car thru US Military Sales Program (MSP) dealer, with delivery in Middle East, Kuwait instead of stateside
-ordered car back in November, production started first week of February, shipped mid march, arrived in kuwait April 16..
-car is '12 E92 SG ZCP 6MT
-paperwork was not done right and my SA had put my name on the paperwork instead of local BMW dealers name, which has caused extensive delays, headaches and stress trying to clear car thru local customs, export and registration.
-basically it's been almost a month since car arrived in country, and i still don’t have official delivery. car is now at the dealer waiting for registration and plates so i can drive it home.

-i took the below pictures last week using my nokia phone (sorry for poor quality) before driving the car from the port to the dealer (about 5 miles), where the car has been at the port in a warehouse, very dirty as you can see, and bird droppings in the rear.

-I had to go thru hoops and a lot of stress to get the car out of the port and had to drive it myself following the local BMW dealer rep. they didn't have a tow truck, and i had to drive it in "TRA" mode, with no AC, in 100 degree outside temperature, with both windows down so i can stay alive.

-since then the car has been at dealer where it's much cleaner and has gone thru PDI and is ready for customer pick up, but I still can't take delivery.

-The last 3 weeks have been very stressful and i really thought about declining this car. i am trying to stay patient and see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it seems every time i think we are done with the process, there is a new obstacle, paperwork, or signature that needs to be done..

-i was finally told i was going to take delivery yesterday, but at the last minute i get a call from the local dealer that there is more paperwork missing and i have to go in person to the local registration department on Sunday to finalize it...i was so pissed off and frustrated and I really don’t know what to do anymore

-i feel that it was a mistake trying to order a US spec M3 to Kuwait, even though my military sales person guaranteed it will be a smooth process all the way thru, but obviously it hasn't.

-in the last 3 weeks i have threatened to cancel this deal or walk away from the car and get my money back and to call BMW AG or NA and tell them my story.

-All my SA and the local BMW dealers folks are doing are sending my verbal apologies, and telling me that this is the first time they actually had to deal with such MSP local delivery to Kuwait, and that they shouldn't have send the car in my name, and instead as a dealers car?! And they have the guts to tell me that they will make the process better next time?

- i am the customer now, and i refuse to be the learning curve here, and have to stress around for a whole month, and run around to different ministries and customs places trying to clear this car, including having to drive this car myself from the port to the dealer at high noon, in rush hour traffic, in TRA mode, no AC, pot holes all over the place..

-i am tired of this and i am tired of verbal apologies. i might understand that the MSP dealer with coordination with the local BMW dealer have made a mistake in putting my name on the car and the local regulations here are ridiculous and very stressful to go thru..

-so last week i told my SA that if the car is not out of the port by the end of the week, then i am canceling this deal and i am contacting BMW AG and submitting a formal complaint. later the car cleared the port but only because i went there, spent almost the whole day on their shipping rep asses to finish process, going to 3 different debarments, getting signatures, where i had to sign, and finally drive the car off, but of course we are still not finished.

-now my SA, of course he wants this whole ordeal to be over more than me so I can stop buggin him, has suggested and kinda pushing me to take delivery of the car, and later he said he will sit down with me and try to make me happy. i told him i will not accept a verbal apology after all of this ordeal, and will need some kind of compensation or deal or something for all this stressful drama, which has made me take extensive time off from work running around trying to clear this car, and in the process risk my employment, and my health trying to deal with all this BS, etc..


-keep in mind by taking delivery of this US spec car overseas, i am only covered by BMW worldwide 2 year warranty. i don't have 4 year warranty no 4 year service like the US. Besides the first 1200 free service, i have to pay for all other future maintenance and services locally. once and if i decide to ship this car stateside when i go back, then the 4yr warranty/service kicks in/resumes.
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-so to all of you BMW enthusiasts, what do you guys recommend I do at this point? refuse the car? be more patient and take delivery? if i decide to take the car, what's a fair compensation for all my stress, wait and frustration? Should I contact BMW AG or NA regardless, and what can they do for me?
-i am not too keen about the local BMW dealer that i have to deal with in the future, but my SA has said he wants to keep me happy and continue a good relationship between me, him, and the local BMW dealer here in Kuwait, but I am not impressed and excited at all.

please advise and thanks for reading (if you made it all the way here!)

[BreakPoint]

With ony the 2 ye warranty and no maintenance is enough alone to make me refuse the car.

Bad deal. Cut your losses and wait
till you get back.

[pOKa]

Hey man,

I can understand your frustration. Having been living in the UAE for the past 6 years, I know what ure dealing with. Frankly speaking your car actually looks alright considering its been a month+

Hang in there, you've already come this far, what's another piece of paper? Once that's done n delivered, send the ///M for some proper TLC and it will turn out nice n shiny

Congrats n enjoy your new toy

[dnotorious]

Sorry hear; (btw I lived in Dubai) so I familiar with all the bureaucracy you had to deal with with importing/custom/duties/ministry/dealers etc.

Based on your experience; I would not take ownership of the vehicle without compensation. The local dealership needs to realize that you are the customer here. You are paying for this. You didn't pay for the headache and time taken from work to see their responsibility through. This is the north american approach, because living here I can tell you the customer service is far more better than what we get in the middle east. So think up what you would like in compensation and be done with it and take delivery.

If the compensation isn't adequte; Cut your losses. People seldomly take the opportunity to back out of a purchase when they can and you are in this position. So exercise it and dont look behind. you will eventually get your M3 if not today. but you should have had a waaaaay better experience that this BS you have gone through.

[Merlosso]

That's rough man, I'm sorry you've had to go through all of that. You've gone through hell and there are two potential endings to this story. One is that you have a beautiful new Competition Package M3. A SG E92 with a 4 liter NA V8 that revs to 8,400 rpm. The other is that you have no car and you start this process over again either with BMW or another brand.

I can only imagine how frustrating and difficult this has been for you but if you cancel the order you're hurting yourself more than BMW; you will have gone through all of this for nothing and you will deprive yourself of the M3.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[nbennettksu]

ditch it and wait until you get back

[BMWNTHZST]

You've come this far. It sounds like it's almost over. Just wait, before much longer you will be behind the wheel at which point you will forget all about the trouble.

Cheers!

[KIS]

Is aggravation grounds to cancel the order and have your deposit returned? I don't think that would be sufficient in the States. As others have said, why walk away after the aggravation and just before taking delivery? Find out what your SA has in mind. It could still be a happy ending....

[Tony_KB]

I'm with the wait gang, don't let it go , you've come so far! Think about how much longer you'll have to wait to get another one... Try to get something from BMW a goodwill payment, performance parts, something.
Pretty soon you will be reving it with a big smile...

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by KIS

Is aggravation grounds to cancel the order and have your deposit returned? I don't think that would be sufficient in the States. As others have said, why walk away after the aggravation and just before taking delivery? Find out what your SA has in mind. It could still be a happy ending....

No, but not have a 4 yr warranty and having to pay for all service ABSOLUTELY is!

Re-read it. It kicks in when your bring the car back home.

I changed my mind. It's a
Beautiful car. Wait it out. Have your SA throw you a set of extr wheels of your liking. Oem of course.

[tbonem3]

Thanks for all the response and supporting words guys. I really hate to cancel it at this stage, with a light at the end of the tunnel near I hope, but at the same time, I feel the SA, or BMW owes me some kind of compensation..

1. Free maintenance in kuwait?
2. 4 year warranty in Kuwait vs 2 year?
3. free BMW wheels?
4. Free performance parts? spoiler..etc?
5. free BMW accessories?
6. free trip somewhere? perhaps to Dubai..
7. etc..other suggestions?

I am not really sure or picky, but something adequate to this whole saga; time lost, time spent and stress and frustration.

thanks again for all the support and kind words...

[KIS]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

No, but not have a 4 yr warranty and having to pay for all service ABSOLUTELY is!

Re-read it. It kicks in when your bring the car back home.

I changed my mind. It's a
Beautiful car. Wait it out. Have your SA throw you a set of extr wheels of your liking. Oem of course.

While both you and I would not buy it without the 4 year warranty and maintenance, that doesn't appear to be the problem with the op. He's rightly pissed with the lack of service from the dealer in clearing customs.

[gblansten]

My advice would be to only take the car with a full NA warranty. Good luck. Sucks to get the run around.

[yamahuh]

It sounds like most of the drama is dealing with Kuwait registration/dealer issues. There can be a disconnect between the MSP and receiving dealer but thats to be expected as its not a normal purchase. The military pricing is fixed so I don't know how much latitude you have as far as compensation is concerned. Consider the military pricing as your compensation for the headaches. I'm sure an M3 at the dealer is probably 30k kd.
If it's not damaged I'd take it and enjoy the Kuwait roads out past Arifjan.

[tbonem3]

I don't think just because I ordered this car thru MSP with a discount, I should just sit back and accept whatever comes my way as far as delays and hassle and poor customer service, and just call it a day at the end because I am buying this car at a discount?

what if I was buying this car at 30k KD and this happened, should I be going crazier than now? if i was given this scenario from the start, i would have gladly paid a grand more rather than deal with all this BS..

I believe a purchase is a purchase no matter if I am buying it at a discount or not. And being an American and buying this car thru an American program thru US MSP, i should be entitled to some kind of customer service..

[chmura]

I would wait since you have gone so far now.

Who cares about free service. Changing the oil is very easy thing to do. Even the 1200 mile service is very easy to do yourself if you are a mechanically inclined individual.

[saeedg48]

tell the dealer to go f*ck themselves. call bmw na and write a letter, also include the link to this thread. you're paying for a service you never got. call your sales rep and bi*ch him out too. you need that service plan too, pass on this deal have them discount you on a car at the lot.

[M3Denver]

Originally Posted by saeedg48

tell the dealer to go f*ck themselves. call bmw na and write a letter, also include the link to this thread. you're paying for a service you never got. call your sales rep and bi*ch him out too. you need that service plan too, pass on this deal have them discount you on a car at the lot.

Pretty much this

[Peahi]

Sorry to hear about this clusterF. I have your exact set up on my car...gorgeous btw.

Your military sales advisor seriously messed up man. This has gone bad, a long, long time ago. Honestly, how can they make you whole for all your headaches and risks...they can't really. What's done is done.

At the end of the day, you have the car nearly in your hands now. How much longer are you going to be there? When you are stateside, all will be forgotten and your car will have the US warranty. It does suck that you will have to cough up in the meantime for your 1200.

That car needs to be carefully cleaned, prepped, and then garaged. It pains me to see all that dust all over the place. God forbid you get that inside.

If you just reject the car and they get your money back, don't feel sorry, they'll easily sell that car. From your post, all that stress had added year to your life. Best wishes.

[M3 Piotr]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

With ony the 2 ye warranty and no maintenance is enough alone to make me refuse the car.

Bad deal. Cut your losses and wait
till you get back.

This is standard for all Military Sales cars. Each car comes with 2 year warranty in the country where you are stationed and no maintenance , but it comes with the 4 year US warranty and free maintenance for the remainder of 4 year/50K miles from the delivery date when you come back to US (given you didn't put more than 50K miles or had the car over for 4 yrs) This is really fault of BMW NA who doesnt' offer it on US Spec'd cars delivered through military sales, because they don't want to bear the local maintenance costs (be it Germany, England, Kuwait, etc).

[TVMA Doc]

Originally Posted by KIS

Is aggravation grounds to cancel the order and have your deposit returned? I don't think that would be sufficient in the States. As others have said, why walk away after the aggravation and just before taking delivery? Find out what your SA has in mind. It could still be a happy ending....

Actually I think that it would be grounds to cancel. I wouldn't want to be the company trying to enforce a contract under such circumstances. Here it might end up in a civil court. Which jury is going to side with the dealership after this many "unexpected" issues? This appears to be FUBAR.

[KIS]

Originally Posted by TVMA Doc

Actually I think that it would be grounds to cancel. I wouldn't want to be the company trying to enforce a contract under such circumstances. Here it might end up in a civil court. Which jury is going to side with the dealership after this many "unexpected" issues? This appears to be FUBAR.

Some years ago I ordered a 911. The order was totally screwed up and after sorting it out it was delayed 3 months. When I asked for my money back the dealer told me to go fuck myself. I then told the GM at the dealership that I would spend several times my deposit to drag them through court and I didn't care if I ultimately won in court. The satisfaction that I would make their lives miserable was enough for me. They couriered my deposit to me later that day. Being annoyed is not enough to break a contract. In my case the money was returned because they knew I was crazy enough to fulfill my threat. Btw, I don't think I would have prevailed in court.