Appalling Service (Scheme to get as much money out of clients as possible)

<p>On 12/12/2016 I took my vehicle to BMW alberante due to an overheating problem. Marlon Smith attended to the vehicle and quoted ~R12 for battery and coolant related repairs. when asked if this would resolve the proble, he assured my husband that it would. The vehicle was collected on 15/12/2016. On the 16/12/2016 while driving in Alrode, the vehicle showed an overheating error prompting to drive the vehicle moderately. Approximately 16km from Alrode (while driving to Alberante), the vehicle prompted the driver to stop. Speaking to Jammie on the phone yielded no results as he was not willing to assist citing that the were no managers on duty and there was nothing he could do (I should bring the vehicle in on Monday or get it towed to alberante as they were about to close). I got to alberante before they closed (while the vehicle was being towed). Jammie could not assist me with a courtesy car, he called Thabang who told him he could assist if I paid R650 a day for a vehicle. I insisted that I could not afford this and Jammie told me he had done everything he could and left me at the dealership. When William needed to lock up the place, he tried to get assistance from Thabang (service ops manager) and Jaqcue (manager) and neither of them could assist. I spoke to Thabang on the phone and he said he could try and assist the following day as he currently has no cars available. He never contacted me the following day. I ended up hiring a vehicle from Avis out of my own pocket. On 20/12/2016 after numerous requests for feedback and being told that a report was not yet available, I was told that the problem was caused by two connector pipes which would cost ~R7K to repair. I drove to Alberante to have a discussion with Thabang who blatently told me that we did not mention that the vehicle has an overheating/coolant problem which is why Marlon would not have put in on the Job card and was therefore not checked. Only after showing him an email to Marlon stating overheating, he tried to get us a further discount on the quotation. Thabang was adamant that the vehicle was driven for 68km with the overheating error light on, which I told him was impossible. Upon request in writing that these are the only things that resulted in the fault, Thabang assured me that should their pressure tests after replacing the connectors be susscessful, I would not experience this problem provided nothing else fails afterwards.</p> <p>On the 31 /12/2016 I bumped into Thabang and casually mentioned that I was going to do a 800km trip and hope that the vehicle would not dissapoint me, he assured me that it wouldnt. On 02/01/2017 on my return (~500km), the overheating error occured again. I stopped at a filling station only to find that the coolant level had gone down and the remaining coolant was boiling. I was assisted with refilling the coolant and made my way back in 7hours instead of 5hours as I drove moderately and made several stops to check on the coolant.</p> <p>On 03/01/2017 I sent an email to Thabang expressing my dissatisfaction with the service and drove to Alberante. When I got there Thabang had responded to my email suggesting that I bring the vehicle in on the following day. I requested that he check the vehicle and he indicated that he needed more time as the tests he had performed did not show any faults on the vehilcle. I explained that I need a vehicle and if he needs to keep my vehicle, I would need an alternative. We again had a lengthy arguement regarding them not having vehicles. He eventually suggested that I drive back home with my vehicle as he had topped up coolant. He would try to get the fleet manager to arrange a loan vehicle the following day so that I can drop off the vehicle (he promised to give feedback by 10:00). After 10:00 on 04/01/2017, I called Thabang and he said he was in the process of sendig a loan agreement form which bore a R25K excess in an event the vehile gets damaged in my posession. I collected the vehicle and was told that the 400km limit was flexible as it depended on the amount of time they would keep my vehile.</p> <p> </p> <p>Hardly 5 minutes after I left the dealership, I recieved a call from the Alberante used cars division. The gentleman whose escape me stated that he has seen me and my vehicle at the dealership almost on a daily basis. He mentioned that he assumes that I pay cash for all these repair as the miliage on the vehicle suggests that it is out of motorplan. He said that he would suggest that I get a vehicle that is still under motorplan which he can assist me with. I told him that I have been suspecting that Alberante is deliberately not fixing my vehicle so that I can trade it in (to which he just laughed). I gave him the go ahead to look into what I can afford and what I would get for the vehicle if I traded it in. He called back about 2 hours later requesting further informtion which I asked him to look up on their system as I have only had my car repaird at Alberante. He still has not gotten back to me!</p> <p> </p> <p><br />On 05/01/2017 I got a missed call from Alberante which was followed by an email from Thabang stating that their findings were that the gasket was blown as a result of the vehicle being driven for 68km with the overheating light on. Thabang's email insists that this is for my account and I have gotten no explnation as to why this was not tested before the vehicle was handed backto me as they were aware of the 68km "incident". Thabang keeps mentioning that they are willing to give me a discount on the repairs.</p>