PCD Mishap

[OAM]

So here's an update to my issue. I was finally able to pick up my car 2 weeks ago. Basically I got a call saying my car was ready a week after my failed PCD attempt (11/4). I booked a ticket on Saturday (11/12) for a Sunday (11/13) flight and got set up at the Marriott Greenville. (BMWNA will be reimbursing me for both flight and hotel) Picked the car up Monday morning and got home about 4am on Tuesday.

I'll fill in my trip on another thread, but I just want to get some opinions on BMWNA's attempt to make it up to me. Basically it was suggested to me, by more than one person, that I should request the one day M driving school for me and a guest. I did that and recently I learned that it was denied. BMWNA offered me 1k in BMW performance products as a credit. I do not plan on buying anymore BMW performance products so I again asked for the M school. They came back to me saying they would reimburse me for the electric performance steering wheel I have(bought with a group buy so not MSRP). I have not accepted that offer yet. In my opinion I don't feel like that was a fair or reasonable offer for the trouble I went through. Here are the issues that still irk me:
-PCD set for 11/4
-got a phone call on 11/3, 6 hours into my trip saying I would not be able to leave with my car. I had already booked a cabin for the following day. If I was notified earlier I could of cancelled the whole trip and re-planned for the next week. I was not able to do that, so my buddies and I drove back like we had planned without my car
-had to take those days off from work
-my car's spoiler was installed off center
-had to take another two more days off work for the second trip down, which was done alone

I'm just hitting the main points of my experience, but I just want to see if people think BMWNA's offer is fair and I'm just being greedy or what. This is my first BMW and personally I thought they would have handled the situation much better. Of course I'm ecstatic about the car but the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

[SNOOPY11]

Bump it up to 2-day m-school and hold strong.. they'll come around.

[mrow]

I say you're right holding out for the M school. This really was a blunder on their part and being a first time BMW owner they should try extra hard to satisfy you, especially when this is the car.

[v1k0d3n]

eh, i might get a little flamed for this, but i think the offer is pretty fair. the part i would be most irritated about is the fact that i had to take off work/use a day, and lose it for yard work or something like that. you're still getting around a $1000 of "cash and prizes" and they are making up the difference by taking care of the flight and hotel (flight being the big part, since they already have a deal with the hotel). add that to the cost of $1000. this is all for something that they probably tried to resolve before you got there, which is probably the reason for the [admittedly] unreasonably late call. i would probably have traded spots with you for a free wheel. that's a nice piece. i definitely would've traded you for the 1K in aftermarket parts. it still would've bothered me personally about the spoiler being off a little, but you're going to scrutinize more if you had a bad experience too. clear your mind, come up with a pros and cons list, and consider some of your blessings in all of this. just my .02. glad you got the car though, have fun with it, and don't let this experience get your panties all bunched up. i'm sorry you had a bad experience.

[OAM]

Originally Posted by v1k0d3n

eh, i might get a little flamed for this, but i think the offer is pretty fair. the part i would be most irritated about is the fact that i had to take off work/use a day, and lose it for yard work or something like that. you're still getting around a $1000 of "cash and prizes" and they are making up the difference by taking care of the flight and hotel (flight being the big part, since they already have a deal with the hotel). add that to the cost of $1000. this is all for something that they probably tried to resolve before you got there, which is probably the reason for the [admittedly] unreasonably late call. i would probably have traded spots with you for a free wheel. that's a nice piece. i definitely would've traded you for the 1K in aftermarket parts. it still would've bothered me personally about the spoiler being off a little, but you're going to scrutinize more if you had a bad experience too. clear your mind, come up with a pros and cons list, and consider some of your blessings in all of this. just my .02. glad you got the car though, have fun with it, and don't let this experience get your panties all bunched up. i'm sorry you had a bad experience.

No flaming here. That's what I was looking for, just some honest opinions. I'm definitely pissed about all the days I had to take off, and I see your point about the airfare reimbursement, but in my mind I think the airfare shouldn't even be considered because I almost feel they're obligated to get me back down there since I went on my own cost the first time. I'm just trying to see what most people would consider fair, I'm not trying be greedy and I hope I don't come across like that. I'm in the customer service industry and I know I normally do everything possible to make a customer happy when its a issue like mine. I wasn't making anything up and trying to create a issue when there wasn't. I was even thanked by the PCD people for handling my self completely calm and rational. I never once blew up or even blamed or yelled at anyone, which they said most people would have. When it was suggested to me that I ask for the M school nobody thought it would even be an issue, I wasn't asking for airfare down there. Just the school, I mean I know sometimes they even throw that in when you buy one of the other M cars, so I didn't think it would even be an issue. I think I can even get a discount with my BMWCCA membership on M school so I don't think the it even costs that much more. When the first offerend the 1k credit in BMW performance parts I said no, and they asked how much would I need in credits so I assume they were willing to definitely give me more than 1k. Anyway it's not really the amount it's more the principal.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by v1k0d3n

eh, i might get a little flamed for this, but i think the offer is pretty fair. the part i would be most irritated about is the fact that i had to take off work/use a day, and lose it for yard work or something like that. you're still getting around a $1000 of "cash and prizes" and they are making up the difference by taking care of the flight and hotel (flight being the big part, since they already have a deal with the hotel). add that to the cost of $1000. this is all for something that they probably tried to resolve before you got there, which is probably the reason for the [admittedly] unreasonably late call. i would probably have traded spots with you for a free wheel. that's a nice piece. i definitely would've traded you for the 1K in aftermarket parts. it still would've bothered me personally about the spoiler being off a little, but you're going to scrutinize more if you had a bad experience too. clear your mind, come up with a pros and cons list, and consider some of your blessings in all of this. just my .02. glad you got the car though, have fun with it, and don't let this experience get your panties all bunched up. i'm sorry you had a bad experience.

I got your back.... and I am ready for the flames.. All that is really owed is replacement . air fair, and hotel as well as the experience of picking up the car there...as well as the PCD stuff.. which was already done. There is no pain/ mental anguish etc.. I mean really, they have gone bove and beyond what you are legally owed.
It's nice that they offerred some goodies.. and hey.. why not ask? but beyond that... you just turn into a person trying to stick their hand out ... really.. it sounds like they have done what they can because there were some extenuating circumstances with regards to your other plans..


other than calling you soooner.. I am not sure how they could have handled this " much better"

[OAM]

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

I got your back.... and I am ready for the flames.. All that is really owed is replacement . air fair, and hotel as well as the experience of picking up the car there...as well as the PCD stuff.. which was already done. There is no pain/ mental anguish etc.. I mean really, they have gone bove and beyond what you are legally owed.
It's nice that they offerred some goodies.. and hey.. why not ask? but beyond that... you just turn into a person trying to stick their hand out ... really.. it sounds like they have done what they can because there were some extenuating circumstances with regards to your other plans..


other than calling you soooner.. I am not sure how they could have handled this " much better"

Well I never said they legally owe me anything and that's not what I was trying to get at. There is no pain or mental anguish, but they did ruin an "experience" for me. I had planned and paid for this trip 4 months out and had to take extra days off work. But they also did deliver me a car with a off center spolier, which I have to live with. It was off center enough for customer service to even admit it wasn't right. There were other options of how they could of handled it, but it seemed like no one wanted to take responsibility and they were covering their asses. They could of swapped the part off one of the 6 1m's they have there at least to get me home and then shipped the part to my local dealer. Also another forum member even offered his part off his car to me since he wasn't coming to do PCD for another week or two. You're right they don't owe me anything, but I would think BMW would be better at making things right.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by OAM

Well I never said they legally owe me anything and that's not what I was trying to get at. There is no pain or mental anguish, but they did ruin an "experience" for me. I had planned and paid for this trip 4 months out and had to take extra days off work. But they also did deliver me a car with a off center spolier, which I have to live with. It was off center enough for customer service to even admit it wasn't right. There were other options of how they could of handled it, but it seemed like no one wanted to take responsibility and they were covering their asses. They could of swapped the part off one of the 6 1m's they have there at least to get me home and then shipped the part to my local dealer. Also another forum member even offered his part off his car to me since he wasn't coming to do PCD for another week or two. You're right they don't owe me anything, but I would think BMW would be better at making things right.

well, since it's a close friend of mine that offerred the part from his vehicle.... I know that was a possibility..... but still... if they took the part from his car.... wouldn't that have been an issue..? especially if you just got your car this past weekend.

EDIT.. looks like you got your car a full week before Robert... but.. there's no guarantee the part would have come in and could have caused the issue to be transferred to another person... I can certainly understand why they declined to do that.

I know you didn't mention legal obligations... I did.. because that's what you are owed. Anything over and above.. Discounts.. etc.. paying for the steering wheel.. Are EFFORTS at making this experience better for you than it has been. Whether or not you can utilize or appreciate those efforts.. well.. that's an individual decision.

Hopefully the expense for the wheel is close to or less than what your two days of vacation from work would be... that's a real expense that you have incurred, along with the other actual monetary items like the flight and hotel room... maybe even the fuel expense for the first trip home.

Can you explain more about the spoiler? I'm not sure how that's related to the PCD delay. you made no mention of it initially... Were you allowed to see the car on 11/3-4 and this was not corrected by the time you returned? or... is this something that was noticed on the return? can it not be corrected at the dealer level?


As far as m school.. one day is $1495... I am kinda surprised that they didn't agree to that... except you asked for two people..

for those that threw the 2 day event out there.. the Two day school is a whopping $3595.

[OAM]

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

well, since it's a close friend of mine that offerred the part from his vehicle.... I know that was a possibility..... but still... if they took the part from his car.... wouldn't that have been an issue..? especially if you just got your car this past weekend.

I got it two weekends ago 11/14. Exactly 1 week after my scheduled PCD, so should of left enough of time for them to get everything back to normal.

[PyratOne]

well, only since you asked....

Personally think the $1K in SWAG is pretty good. My guess would be that $1K in merchandise really only cost them, what $500?, or less? Whereas M-school they may make less profit .

You could buy/sell the SWAG, then put that towards the 1-day (or 2-day) M-school.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by PyratOne

well, only since you asked....

Personally think the $1K in SWAG is pretty good. My guess would be that $1K in merchandise really only cost them, what $500?, or less? Whereas M-school they may make less profit .

You could buy/sell the SWAG, then put that towards the 1-day (or 2-day) M-school.

exactly..

[carchrism5]

I think the deal they offered for the $1k is "fair". I think asking for the 1 day M school for two people is a bit much. Considering they are paying for the airfare and everything else as well. Just out of curiosity why wasn't the car shipped to you? Did they offer that rather than having you come down again?

[pinmagic]

If M school for 2 people is $3000, then yes, I gotta say, that's asking for too much. Bottom line is, stuff happens. Cars break. If they'd known further in advance, I think they would have let you know. It was just bad timing. IMHO, you can't expect BMW to take a beating over it. $3K + airfare = a whole lot.

I think they handled it well. That wheel is cool - I'd trade places with you for that.

As for the spoiler, I think that's an unrelated issue. If the spoiler is off, they should fix it, just like any other car repair. It has nothing to do with the timing of your trip, and the inconvenience you suffered. Again IMHO, there's no swag owed to you for that. I don't expect swag for the minor repair to my vert trim that needs to be done - I just expect them to do it under warranty.

Bottom line - I think they're being fair. Of course, if I were actually in your shoes, who knows what I'd really think.

[OAM]

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

.......
Hopefully the expense for the wheel is close to or less than what your two days of vacation from work would be... that's a real expense that you have incurred, along with the other actual monetary items like the flight and hotel room... maybe even the fuel expense for the first trip home.

Can you explain more about the spoiler? I'm not sure how that's related to the PCD delay. you made no mention of it initially... Were you allowed to see the car on 11/3-4 and this was not corrected by the time you returned? or... is this something that was noticed on the return? can it not be corrected at the dealer level?


As far as m school.. one day is $1495... I am kinda surprised that they didn't agree to that... except you asked for two people..

for those that threw the 2 day event out there.. the Two day school is a whopping $3595.

I did get to see the car on 11/4 and had them note the spolier. I was in talks with them in between my first and second trip. I was told that the body guy down at PCD did not think it was good idea to take it off since there was a chance that the whole trunk would have to be repainted and it would not match perfectly. The only reason I did ask for M school was that it was suggested to me by people with enough info that they said BMWNA would do it no problem. I was asking for M school for me and a guest, not for airfare or even lodging.

[SNOOPY11]

OP: Only you know how much this inconvenience means to you. I have seen BMW/others turn their heads to many reasonable proposals so this does not surprise me.

You should have let them come to you with their proposal first and counter on that. If they go too low for you, you counter high and meet somewhere in the middle. This is negotiating 101, I am not sure why some members are offended by the advice.

Further more, 1-day M-school is $1295 (after you submit all info) and that is more than fair on your part. I hope we are not so naive as to believe that is exactly what it costs them. I have been to PCD and have heard about the content of the M-school by previous atendees. Yes, it is rewarding but they are making quite a profit... just like they are supposed to.

In the end, if you are not happy with the resolution, hold your grounds, state your case all over, talk to the suits on the higher floors, etc. and I am confident you will be signing off on something that actually satisfies you.. not what THEY think should...

[bdaddylo]

The spoiler is another issue that they need to fix under warranty. As for compensation, why didn't they ship your car to you? That would have been the most cost effective resolution? In any case, a fair resolution is to compensate you for the cabin cost if you lost money on it and your lost wages for two days. Anything beyond that is greed.