Complain about a product or service

Roseville Auto Mall

Roseville, CA

Hayward of Roseville, CA, writes:

I bought a used '95 BMW 325i conv. on January 20, 2001 from Roseville BMW. I paid what I thought to be a good price. I purchased a warranty from the dealership at the same time. A warranty that I was told at the time covered "everything in the car, even if a button falls off the stereo". I found that to be very definitive of the quality of the coverage of the warranty. It was also an expensive warranty ($4000), which is why he said it covered everything. He also said it was a BMW warranty and it wasn't. Since the purchase, the tires have gone bald in a month due to a severe alignment problem and I had to go and purchase new tires and withhold my final deposit payment to get the dealer to return my calls. After the finance manager returned my call I informed them of numerous problems with the car during our conversation: The keys won't lock the doors properly; The rear convertible window had two holes on each side and was in need of replacement; the air conditioning was not very strong. Now when I first purchased this car it ran well. I took it to my mechanic and he even thought it was a good buy. I thought that these were minor things, but also remembered what was necessary for these people to take action against the tire situation. They fixed the problems that were reported (with the exception of the AC) and even replaced a few things that I did not mention. New brakes and rotors. But now the real horror starts.

About two months later this the car was making a whirring noise almost as though a weed eater were hooked up to it. The car had a loss of power, gas mileage became very poor, hesitation upon take off, smoke on start up and backfiring. They informed me that it probably needed to be tuned up (made since because I had no history of the car). $550 later the car ran exactly the same. I took it back to the dealer. They did another test and said they could find nothing. I asked them if they checked the exhaust system and they said it sounded normal. Before they had inspected this I took their master mechanic for a ride and he confirmed the sound. They informed me that I should try different gas. I did so with the same result. I took the car back to the dealer (now my fifth visit), and they said they would do a thorough inspection on the car (Were they not being thorough before?). This time they informed me that the catalytic converters were bad and needed to be replaced. They also informed me that they were not covered by my warranty. At this time I demanded to speak to a manager. He was informed of the problem and told me that he had no control over the warranty. I explained that his representative issuing the warranty should have been aware of the coverage of the warranty; not only did he misrepresent the warranty, he misrepresented his dealership. After an hour and a half he came back to me and said that they would replace the catalytic converters. I picked the car up expecting a different result and was thoroughly disappointed. The car was the same.

I took the car back for another inspection and they found something wrong with guides in the engine. The service guy also slipped and informed me that they put "after-market" cats on the car. I asked why and he informed me that they didn't want to pay the cost of originals. I informed him that I didn't buy an after-market car and the products replaced should not have been after-market. I decided to get advice from the local BMW chapter president. I informed her that I was thinking of getting BMW of America (BMWA) involved. She thought it a good idea. BMWA sent out an area service representative. After finding out that the car was not under their warranty, they washed their hands of the matter and said they would not have any involvement. My car has been at the dealer for a month now with no restitution or estimate as to completion. I will say that every time I arrived at the dealer, my unhappy face was not the only unhappy face there. One guy paid $350 for a service that included an oil change and they never even changed it. I have copies of the service records and dates that I have dates of phone calls that have been made. I called the manager 15 times in one day and he never returned my call. I am seeking suit regarding this. Please advise.

I've been paying for a car that I am not driving. The losses of time from work, the inconvenience of having to deal with this over and over and the sheer frustration of it all. This has truly been a horrifying experience. I have heard cars older than mine that do not sound like this and it is totally unacceptable.

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