HELP - Urgent advice on warranty claim needed

[plusman]

Can anybody help me with advice on the problem I am having with BMW.

I have a 2005 BMW 530d M-Sport and since the original 3-year normal warranty ran out I have taken out a comprehensive BMW Insured Warranty via BMW UK. This policy is underwritten by Mondial UK.

In 2008 I inadvertently misfueled my diesel with some unleaded – which was added to the diesel (ca. half-full or more) in the tank. I unlocked the car to get the recovery telephone number, but the car was not moved or driven. When the recovery vehicle came to take the car it pulled it away from the fuel pumps.

My normal BMW garage, Sytner Chigwell – who always serviced the car since it was also on a 5-year service pack - drained the fuel and did whatever was needed to fix the problem, and charged me over £700 for the repair.

They returned the car back to my home, and the next day I noticed that the fuel was leaking all over my driveway. They collected the car and repaired it and the problem seemed fixed. They also arranged for somebody to clean my driveway.

Everything seemed fine until a few months ago when I noticed that fuel was again leaking, but it appeared to be only when the car was full of fuel. In March Sytner Chigwell tried to repair the problem (I believe by replacing the fuel tank header and seal). But when I next filled it up, I noticed the same problem of fuel leaking. This repair was done under warranty.

They have had my car in yet again since last Friday, and are saying that I need to get a new fuel tank – even there is no visible evidence of any damage to the tank. They have contacted BMW Customer Service who initially agreed that the tank could be replaced under warranty. They ordered the part, which arrived today. But BMW then phoned them to say that the repair would not be carried out under warranty “because I had driven the car and it had stopped”. (which is untrue – the car was not driven or moved).

I contacted BMW Customer Service and they say that since I opened the car door, I invalidated any warranty. (!)

The fact that even if I had not unlocked the car door, when the car would have been at BMW, they would have had to unlock it to open the fuel filler tank and get access to the car – so the result would have been the same. Also I guess that if you subscribe to the BMW Interactive services and wanted to press the “SOS” button in the roof, you would have to unlock the car so as to contact BMW Recovery.

I also don’t know where it states that if you misfuel the car then you should not even unlock it!

When I raised this with the service manager at Sytner Chigwell he was as mystified as I was.

I am now caught in a position of possibly having to pay £1000 or more for a repair that either should be carried out under warranty, or which may have been due to the fact that the repair was not carried out correctly in the first instance. At the moment, I am waiting for BMW Customer Service (or Mondial) to get back to me and the dealer.

I also don’t see how misfueling could damage the tank – unless it wasn’t repaired correctly in the first instance; and even then it seems strange. But in any event, I believe that BMW/Mondial should cover the repair by warranty.

Has anybody else encountered this problem, or have any advice as to what I should do next?

[osdualeh]

I don't have a reply surfice to say that is terrible customer service amd clearly down to the poor repair by the BMW Dealer.. I did the same with my old passat and all they did was drain my tank and it was happy days. really can't see why that would ruin your fuel tank. I would get a second opinion from an independant expert bud.

Good luck and keep us all posted..

Os

[osdualeh]

p.s. I think the warranty dept know this and that is why they are being difficult. The Service Manager should be fixing this without going through the warranty. I would be having serious words with him bud.

[stealth98]

BMW services is not able to handle unplanned repairs or unplanned maintenance. BMW customers services isn't mature and in fact doesn't exist. See this article for more details:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/53537855/The-fear-of-BMW