Small claims court / Trading standards

Wazza26 · 12-05-2013, 02:44 PM

Evening all,

I'm after some advise. I apologies in advance for the somewhat lengthy rant.

Where do I begin......

I purchased myself a BMW Z4 (on finance) in August this year. Unfortunately, it caused me nothing but problems.

The first problem occurred on the day of purchase. Yards from parking the car up at it's new home, the yellow engine management light. I hooked up my diagnostics kit - and it appeared to be a fault with the cat-manifold.

Note: On purchasing the vehicle, the dealer did say the cat-manifold had been replaced.

Contacted the dealer - and he wanted it back up for diagnosing himself and to reset the adaptation values. I drove the vehicle back up to him and the diagnostics / adaption values were carried out / reset.

Couple of days after - light re-appeared. Contacted the dealer and he asked to have the car for a week whilst he replaced the cat-manifold. I questioned this as he said it had only been replaced a week before purchase. It actually transpired it had been welded.

Any ho - the car went back up to the dealer for the third time and had the cat-manifold completely replaced. (The old cat was left in the boot and (supposedly new) OEM parts were used).

Can you guess what happens next? Thats right, another problem occurs. But at least this time it isn't the cat-manifold. It's the coolant. I took it to a BMW specialist rather than the dealer and it appears the coolant pipe leading to the coolant tank was loosened. Perhaps the mechanics loosened it fixing the cat-manifold?

Couple of days after fixing the coolant......yup - cat-manifold problem. Fed up with the car, I asked the dealer for a refund. He rejected my claim for a refund and used the lemon law which states 'a dealer can have up to 3 attempts to resolve one issue'. We did however, come to the mutual agreement to exchange the car. And so I did - for a E90 325i at the cost of £250 more.

At the point of him replacing the cat-manifold, I also asked him to re-align the tracking as the steering wheel was off bonk. He agreed to do it, but sure enough - after taking it to Ebley, it wasnt touched!

As the E90 was on a new finance agreement, I had essentially lost around £500 because of the interest rates occurred on the previous finance agreement.

Still following me?

And now onto the E90 problems! Collected the car Thursday. Drove to work Saturday - and the car was very "jerky". In low revs, the car would make a horrible noise and at one point, the engine cut out (I assume a fail safe?).

BMW diagnosed the fault as being the oil filter. The oil filter & oil was replaced at a cost of £160.

I come to drive the car today and the same fault has occurred. Reading up on the forums, it could possibly be the ignition coils? My diagnostic kit shows a mis-fire on all 6 cylinders.

I've contacted the dealer to see if he'd subsidies the costs occurred as it was an inherent fault - but he appears to be ignoring me.

If you've read up to this point - thanks. So, where do I stand. To put it frank, this is the amount it's cost me in three months of owning the two BMW's....

Steering alignment - £105
Engine Coolant Fix - £89
BMW Diagnostics - £50
Money lost from transfer of finance agreements - £528
Petrol back to Dealer - God knows!
325i Oil & Oil Filter replacement - £160

I apologies for the lengthy post. I needed to let it all out!!

Do I have a leg to stand on if I were to take the dealer to a small claims court? The car(s) have caused me enough stress and I've had to miss several days off work to deliver the car back to the dealer.....

Thanks in advance,

Wazza

Apologies for the poor spelling / grammar!

CustomColours · 12-07-2013, 05:13 AM

Yes mate. I would call consumer dirwct and report that you have been sold good not ift for intended use.

They will take the dealers details etc and possibly contact him stating a trading syandards case has been opened. In most cases this is enough to work. I would write to him explaining your issues and that he will be also recieving a court summons. Then go a head and make it hapoen. Done fool around waiting on him amd bmw or anyine else. Iv been in your position and unless you go in like an sas you hinestly wony win due to time elapse. The close time proximity will work in your favour atm.

If you need halp areanging thing om me as iv been in your position and have already done allot of leg work.

CustomColours · 12-07-2013, 05:15 AM

Also can you post the dealers details where you git the cat. Then you can use it as leverage as no one is going to buy a car off them from this forum knowing he ignores imoirtant claims and sells dodgy cars.

Wazza26 · 12-07-2013, 07:12 AM

Thanks for replying CustomColours.

Not sure if you've read my previous thread (http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=919162).

If you haven't - To give you an update....

Had a call from BMW yesterday. Fault codes: 002A98, 0029CD, 0029CF, 0029D2, 0029CE, & 0029CC.

Having already mis-diagnosed the fault as the oil filter, they now want £650 to diagnose the problem as they believe it it a faulty inlet camshaft....

I've contacted WarrantyWise and they've been very shady as to what they will/wont refund.

I have to say - BMW have been spot on with the service so far.

I've just written a letter to trading standards and i'll give them a call tomorrow morning.

I won't be publishing the dealers details just yet - I am waiting to hear the end result. I did contact the dealer earlier - and he appears not to give two hoots - pointing me in the direction to WarrantyWise.

1 AKY · 12-08-2013, 11:22 AM

Name and shame. Even if it prevents another innocent car buyer from ending up with a potential lemon, it'll be worth it.

Wazza26 · 12-08-2013, 11:54 AM

I'd like to but I don't want it to effect my claim if I go to court. Once the jobs been done, I'll happily post details.

CapnCook · 12-14-2013, 01:39 PM

Check out this link, the guy has a 2007 328i with 70k and he describes his sound being very similar to yours, a few members also seem to have had the same issue with one asking:

Quote:

Originally Posted by McAuley7

Is this noise like a tea pot whistle?

It doesn't look like there's a definitive 'fix' on the thread but it might give you a few ideas of what it could be:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=613808

positiveions · 12-14-2013, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1 AKY

Name and shame. Even if it prevents another innocent car buyer from ending up with a potential lemon, it'll be worth it.

+1. Many of these lemon cars end-up in someone else's hands.

Wazza26 · 12-15-2013, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapnCook

Check out this link, the guy has a 2007 328i with 70k and he describes his sound being very similar to yours, a few members also seem to have had the same issue with one asking:

It doesn't look like there's a definitive 'fix' on the thread but it might give you a few ideas of what it could be:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=613808

Thanks for the link CapNCook. BMW have diagnosed the issue as entrenchment in the exhaust camshaft and carrier. Cost £1707.

Been without a car for two weeks now. Costs me £7.50 a day to get to and from work. No courtesy. Dealer has been proper shoddy with this customer service.

12-05-2013, 02:44 PM	#1
Wazza26 Enlisted Member 4 Rep 46 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	Small claims court / Trading standards Evening all, I'm after some advise. I apologies in advance for the somewhat lengthy rant. Where do I begin...... I purchased myself a BMW Z4 (on finance) in August this year. Unfortunately, it caused me nothing but problems. The first problem occurred on the day of purchase. Yards from parking the car up at it's new home, the yellow engine management light. I hooked up my diagnostics kit - and it appeared to be a fault with the cat-manifold. Note: On purchasing the vehicle, the dealer did say the cat-manifold had been replaced. Contacted the dealer - and he wanted it back up for diagnosing himself and to reset the adaptation values. I drove the vehicle back up to him and the diagnostics / adaption values were carried out / reset. Couple of days after - light re-appeared. Contacted the dealer and he asked to have the car for a week whilst he replaced the cat-manifold. I questioned this as he said it had only been replaced a week before purchase. It actually transpired it had been welded. Any ho - the car went back up to the dealer for the third time and had the cat-manifold completely replaced. (The old cat was left in the boot and (supposedly new) OEM parts were used). Can you guess what happens next? Thats right, another problem occurs. But at least this time it isn't the cat-manifold. It's the coolant. I took it to a BMW specialist rather than the dealer and it appears the coolant pipe leading to the coolant tank was loosened. Perhaps the mechanics loosened it fixing the cat-manifold? Couple of days after fixing the coolant......yup - cat-manifold problem. Fed up with the car, I asked the dealer for a refund. He rejected my claim for a refund and used the lemon law which states 'a dealer can have up to 3 attempts to resolve one issue'. We did however, come to the mutual agreement to exchange the car. And so I did - for a E90 325i at the cost of £250 more. At the point of him replacing the cat-manifold, I also asked him to re-align the tracking as the steering wheel was off bonk. He agreed to do it, but sure enough - after taking it to Ebley, it wasnt touched! As the E90 was on a new finance agreement, I had essentially lost around £500 because of the interest rates occurred on the previous finance agreement. Still following me? And now onto the E90 problems! Collected the car Thursday. Drove to work Saturday - and the car was very "jerky". In low revs, the car would make a horrible noise and at one point, the engine cut out (I assume a fail safe?). BMW diagnosed the fault as being the oil filter. The oil filter & oil was replaced at a cost of £160. I come to drive the car today and the same fault has occurred. Reading up on the forums, it could possibly be the ignition coils? My diagnostic kit shows a mis-fire on all 6 cylinders. I've contacted the dealer to see if he'd subsidies the costs occurred as it was an inherent fault - but he appears to be ignoring me. If you've read up to this point - thanks. So, where do I stand. To put it frank, this is the amount it's cost me in three months of owning the two BMW's.... Steering alignment - £105 Engine Coolant Fix - £89 BMW Diagnostics - £50 Money lost from transfer of finance agreements - £528 Petrol back to Dealer - God knows! 325i Oil & Oil Filter replacement - £160 I apologies for the lengthy post. I needed to let it all out!! Do I have a leg to stand on if I were to take the dealer to a small claims court? The car(s) have caused me enough stress and I've had to miss several days off work to deliver the car back to the dealer..... Thanks in advance, Wazza Apologies for the poor spelling / grammar!
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12-07-2013, 05:13 AM	#2
CustomColours Banned 15 Rep 791 Posts Drives: 335i SE Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hertfordshire iTrader: (0)	Yes mate. I would call consumer dirwct and report that you have been sold good not ift for intended use. They will take the dealers details etc and possibly contact him stating a trading syandards case has been opened. In most cases this is enough to work. I would write to him explaining your issues and that he will be also recieving a court summons. Then go a head and make it hapoen. Done fool around waiting on him amd bmw or anyine else. Iv been in your position and unless you go in like an sas you hinestly wony win due to time elapse. The close time proximity will work in your favour atm. If you need halp areanging thing om me as iv been in your position and have already done allot of leg work.
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12-07-2013, 05:15 AM	#3
CustomColours Banned 15 Rep 791 Posts Drives: 335i SE Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hertfordshire iTrader: (0)	Also can you post the dealers details where you git the cat. Then you can use it as leverage as no one is going to buy a car off them from this forum knowing he ignores imoirtant claims and sells dodgy cars.
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12-07-2013, 07:12 AM	#4
Wazza26 Enlisted Member 4 Rep 46 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	Thanks for replying CustomColours. Not sure if you've read my previous thread (http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=919162). If you haven't - To give you an update.... Had a call from BMW yesterday. Fault codes: 002A98, 0029CD, 0029CF, 0029D2, 0029CE, & 0029CC. Having already mis-diagnosed the fault as the oil filter, they now want £650 to diagnose the problem as they believe it it a faulty inlet camshaft.... I've contacted WarrantyWise and they've been very shady as to what they will/wont refund. I have to say - BMW have been spot on with the service so far. I've just written a letter to trading standards and i'll give them a call tomorrow morning. I won't be publishing the dealers details just yet - I am waiting to hear the end result. I did contact the dealer earlier - and he appears not to give two hoots - pointing me in the direction to WarrantyWise.
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12-08-2013, 11:22 AM	#5
1 AKY Major 459 Rep 1,409 Posts Drives: F11 530d Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: UK iTrader: (1)	Name and shame. Even if it prevents another innocent car buyer from ending up with a potential lemon, it'll be worth it.
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12-08-2013, 11:54 AM	#6
Wazza26 Enlisted Member 4 Rep 46 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	I'd like to but I don't want it to effect my claim if I go to court. Once the jobs been done, I'll happily post details.
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