Disappointed Customer

I have been receiving the worst customer service experience since the purchase of a BMW 220i convertible in July this year.

I bought the automobile from the Hyde Park Auto (PTY) LTD Sandton Auto dealership. After all the paperwork and approvals had been completed, I collected the vehicle on Tuesday, the 1st of August 2017 directly from the dealership where the New Sales Executive treated me with the utmost politeness, showing me all the features of the car etc. However, at the time the spare key was not available, however he had assured me that he would get it delivered to me as soon as possible and if I had any issues with the vehicle, I could contact him on his cell.

I took delivery of the vehicle, and as a result of my excitement I had not noted that a number of things were missing from the car, namely the BMW badge on the front right wheel, the mat on the left passenger floor and the aerial.

I contacted the Sales Exec and listed all the things that were missing, also reminding him of the spare key that needed to be delivered, however after numerous calls, messages and emails spanning over 4.5 months, I still had not received what was promised.

I eventually bought a badge and aerial at my own expense and then only expected the spare key, however this still never got delivered and I had not received any feedback to collect.

On Friday, the 17th November 2017 I encountered a Drive Train error with the vehicle and immediately took it to the Northcliff dealership where I was asked to leave the car for a week; the vehicle was booked in for Tuesday, the 21st of November 2017. The service was great in terms of the constant feedback as to the status of the automobile. A week later I collected the vehicle on Monday the 27th of November 2017; however 4 days later on Thursday the 30th of November 2017, the vehicle started jerking as I was driving on the N1 highway (North) and I then took the nearest off ramp (Malibongwe) and stopped the automobile on the side of the road.

It took me 30mins to get in contact with someone from BMW to assist me and a further 3 hours before the car was towed – please bare in mind that I live in Johannesburg, I am a single 28 year old woman who had to wait in the dark for assistance.

Once the tow company reached me, I was told that the vehicle would be taken to JSN Motors in Bryanston. The next morning (Friday, the 1st of December 2017) after contacting JSN a number of times all I got was that they would get back to me as soon as the automobile was assigned a job card number. After another couple of hours I contacted the dealership again and was told that they were unable to find my key, I then contacted Sandton Auto to ask for the spare key, they said they would get back to me, when they got back to me I was asked to collect the spare key however I had no way of getting there as my vehicle was at JSN. I contacted JSN again and they had found the key and told me they would need to keep the vehicle over the weekend.

It is now Monday (4 December 2017) morning, 09:30 and I have received no further feedback as to the condition of the vehicle and do not understand why the service is so poor in that I need to make the call to find out the progress instead of being contacted by the Service Assistant.

On the 5th of December 2017 I collected my vehicle from the JSN Motors Dealership in Bryanston where the service agent found that the part replaced by Northcliff Auto had caused wiring damage and that resulted in the jerking of the automobile.

After driving out of the dealership, south on William Nicol I was headed towards Sandton Auto to collect the spare key as mentioned below, however at approximately 08:45 I was waiting at the traffic light, just after Ormonde Street and a Toyota Land cruiser bumped me from behind causing the bumper to crack and reverse sensors to be negatively impacted.

I then drove the vehicle to the nearest police station in Randburg to report what had happened and travelled home afterwards. The gentleman who drove the colliding vehicle is a non-resident and was in SA to collect the vehicle from his business partner and register it at Langlaagte. He does not seem to have insurance, therefore I contacted my insurer, Budget and submitted my claim. Excess is R9,250 and the gentleman who bumped into me asked to meet with me and come to an arrangement, however I told him that we must do everything through the insurer as I do not want my motor plan negatively affected by going to any other panel beater ourselves, also the mechanical fault as a result of the reverse sensor would need to be fixed appropriately.

My first email to BMW SA was sent on the 4th of December 2017, with a response that the matter would be investigated further on the 6th of December 2017. It has now been exactly two weeks without any further feedback.

On Tuesday the 12th of December 2017 the automobile was booked in at Autobahn in Kempton Park for the repair works from the accident mentioned below. It has been 7 working days and the vehicle is still not completely repaired, with yet again poor service as I am forced to constantly make the phone call to receive any feedback.

I am highly disappointed and frustrated in the service provided; firstly at Hyde Park Auto not receiving the spare keys, left passenger mat, front right wheel badge and aerial upon the initial purchase of the vehicle; secondly with Northcliff for the wiring damage caused when the car went in for repairs; thirdly with JSN for not being able to find the key when the vehicle was initially booked in and then not contacting me when it was found but rather forcing me to contact them for an update and lastly with Autobahn for also not providing regular daily feedback on the progress of my vehicle.