BMW SMG caused major damage on my car!

I took my car (BMW 116i) in to the SMG dealership in Durban on Wednesday (14.11.2018), as my car had a slight jerk. The car did not reflect any error/notifications on the dashboard hence I took it into BMW to have a look at. A diagnostic test was run on the car, however the diagnostic test came back with no faults. The service advisor (Yatheen Soodew) called me to say that they cannot tell what the actual problem with the car is, but they will have a further look. Only after SMG looked into the vehicle and started taking things apart, I was advised that the following needs to be repaired:

- Timing chain - Water pump - Thermostat - Expansion bottle for the radiator

My extended warranty approved R20 000 towards the repairs and my personal bill sat at R10 000. I was told that I could collect the vehicle on Wednesday 21.11.2018, but was then told during the course of the day that they took the vehicle for a test drive and a drive train message has come up. They ran another diagnostic test and was then told by Yatheen that the vanos units need to be replaced and the car is smoking (and this will cost me another R20000)! I am now beyond furious, as this was never the case when I took the car into the dealership, and this was not the fault for which I took the car to SMG. This did not reflect on the original diagnostics. They now tell me that it could have been the timing chain that caused this - but this only came up after the timing chain was replaced. I have spoken to Anton at the dealership (Customer Services Manager), but was of no help and there was no sense of urgency on his part. I want my car back exactly how I had given it in, without any of these other faults. I am not prepared to pay another cent. I have sought other professional advice, including another BMW dealership. They are in agreement that SMG Durban needs to rectify this mess up, as it was due to the repairs that have caused the drive train and the smoking.

The level of service I've received is worse than me having to take the car to any backdoor mechanic. I don't expect this from "professionals". Being “the experts”, the consultants and mechanics were not able to determine what was wrong from the beginning. Furthermore, the mechanics at the dealership damaged something that's causing the smoking and the vanos failure and lying to me that this suddenly came up after diagnosis of the timing chain. It's very odd that all of this came up only after the initial repairs were done.

Yatheen has to be a fairly useless service mechanic/advisor to say that the stretched timing chain was causing a problem, because there is a tensioner on the timing chain that takes up that slack. The danger of the stretched timing chain would be possible failure - ie the timing chain could have snapped. If I, as a private unknowing individual can understand that, what kind of a mechanic is he?

I have raised this issue with BMW SA, but they haven't been any help. They contacted BMW SMG and conveyed the same excuse back to me (so not really investigating the matter). BMW SA have been nothing more than a post box, with no way forward. I really wonder why they exist.

I also got a hold of Trevor Meyer (Dealer Principle) on 22.11.2018, and he advised that he will look into the matter, but cannot guarantee that they will repair it at their cost. I was contacted by Anton Govender (Customer Service Manager) on the afternoon of 23.11.2018 to advised that they have discussed the matter internally with Trevor Meyer and they will not be repairing my vehicle unless I pay for it. I don’t see why I should have to pay for something that occurred because of their interference during their time with the vehicle.

I was not prepared to pay another R20 000 from my own pocket to fix the vanos gears which they damaged. Furthermore, they have been so negligent, so what’s stopping further damage being done after “repairing the vanos gears”? I picked up my vehicle on Monday 26 November 2018. The car still has the jerking problem that it went into the dealership for. After repairing 4 different things on the car, as stated further above, the car was returned to me with the same problem that it went in for. So it was pointless giving in the car for servicing & repairs as I'm still stuck with the original problem with no solution. Furthermore, it was a waste of 2 weeks and a waste of almost R30 000 in repairs, and my car came back with 2 additional problems (the damaged vanos gears and the smoking) over and above the original problem.

I am over being a BMW customer, as I have not received any joy. I did not have my vehicle for close on to 2 weeks, which put me in a very difficult situation - It has hampered by job as well. My car is now in a worse off state then before visiting the dealership.

Guys, please save yourself the unnecessary headache and stay away from BMW SMG. They will really ***** up your vehicle. Google them to read their other reviews!