Bavarian Workshop (Wynberg) Repair Gone Wrong

I have a mini cooper 2010 model and my left electric window alignment went out after someone shut my car door too hard. After doing some research and googling for places that work on BMW's and Mini's, I came across Bavarian Workshop in Wynberg.

I phoned them and explained to them what the problem was, and they said I should bring the car in for a diagnostics check so they can see if they will be able to fix it for me. I took that car through, and after paying R400.00 for the diagnostics check, they said that they would be able to fix it for me and that it would cost me 2 hours labour. I booked the car in and brought it in for the repairs the following Saturday.

Once the repairs were done, I just had a look at the window to see if it looked fine. I immediately noticed that my door panel was loose, and that the door did not close easily and properly like it did before. The window was also very loose comparing it to the driver window which is 100% I pointed it out, and the guys just re-secured the door panel. I also asked them why the door was not closing properly. I realized that it was because they adjusted the door lock clip that the door hooks over when closing the door. I asked them to re-adjust it so my door would close properly again, and after they did that I paid the invoice and left as the window seemed to be repaired.

Later the afternoon while driving on the highway, I could still hear the wind-noise, and after opening and closing the window on the highway, the alignment of the window went straight out again to how it was before I brought it to them. I was unsatisfied as the window was not repaired properly, and emailed them with photo's explaining the problem, and they advised that I needed to bring it back so they could fix it. Later that week I also discovered some *****s laying on my car floor that they did not put back somewhere.

So I took the car back to them the next Saturday, and asked to speak to the guy that did the repairs on the window just so I could point out all the issues. They ended up taking me to the car so I could chat to them, and they took me to a mechanic located next to them, so it seems that they didn't even do the repairs as the mechanic next door was working on it. I pointed out all the issues, and asked them what they had done to repair the window. They say that they just adjusted a few *****s to get the alignment right. So this time they said they wanted to take off the second layer of door panel which is located right underneath the top layer to see if they can fix the problem. The guy loosened all the *****s, and tried getting the door panel off. I had watched a few video's on youtube before bringing the car back, showing exactly what to do to remove the second layer. It didn't seem to complicated, but I did not have the right tools to do it myself. I noticed that the guy missed a few steps and hew was struggling to get the panel off. He struggled for quite a while and eventually started pulling and jugging on the door panel. I became very nervous as it seemed he did not know how to properly remove it, and I was afraid that he would cause further damage. I could only watch it for a while and them told him he should just put everything back, as it was clear that he was struggling and I did not want him to cause any further damage. He said that he found the problem and he seemed to adjust something before putting the door panel back. The window seemed the same as it was before they started working, but I was just happy to get it out of their hands, so I just checked that it still opened and closed, thanked the guy and left.

While driving home on the highway I still heard wind noise as expected, but at least the window did not flop out of position anymore after opening it in the highway. I later noticed that something must have been put back scew as there is now a gap between the inside of the window and the door panel, big enough for me to fit four fingers into. The *****s that they forgot to put back before were still in my cup holder, after telling them that they had forgotten to put them back the first time.

I phoned the workshop the Monday thereafter and explained that I am unhappy, and that I feel cheated as the window is still not fixed, and now there is a gap and misalignment that was not there before. The guy insisted that I bring the car back and I expressed that I did not feel comfortable that they work on it any further, and stated that I felt a full refund or part thereof would be fair. He said that I must bring the car back as no refund would be given, thus I have written this review to see it this can perhaps help in some way.