I've had THE WORST, deceitful, and disrespectful experience with BMW of Dallas's service when I brought in my X3 for major repairs in February. It took the dealership 3 full days to diagnose the problem - an oil pump chain break causing loss of oil compression. The service adviser was very short and abrupt in responding with a complete and informed answer. His demeanor from start to finish was hurried and dismissive, which indicated he felt my legitimate questions about my own car were a waste of his time. He also quoted me over $1K to diagnose the problem, which involved taking the engine apart. Upon discovering the problem, I was quoted a blanket price of $6.5K to fix it, which included a $280 + labor rate per hour. This prompted me to research other service providers in the area, the majority of whom charged about $100-$120 per labor hour. Needless to say, I was very disappointed to discover BMW of Dallas blatantly charged me $150 extra per labor hour, with no concrete evidence of this being required. The only explanation I received was that the labor was being charged upon the "matrix grid pricing", a term which equates to a complicated pricing schedule that the customer is generally unable to intelligently discern. I brought my friend, who is more familiar with car mechanics, to understand exactly where these price points originated. The diagnostic and service quote drastically changed upon my MALE friend's presence and questioning at the dealership. The diagnostic rate changed from $1,100 to $800+, and the labor rate changed from $280+ to $170 per hour. We were never provided logical rationale as to why this change was possible. This made me conclude it was because I was a woman, who did not have the foresight or specific car knowledge to discern a scam, and therefore I was being charged the going rate for fools. At this point, it became apparent BMW of Dallas was no longer trustworthy enough to earn my business for this, or any future, services or car sales. I also became concerned that I had been cheated upon originally buying the car in 2014. I chose to pay for the diagnostic performed and tow my car elsewhere. I was sold a car that BMW of Dallas knew would have these types of failures on a consistent basis. The service manager informed us this failure was typical at 50,000 miles (my car is now at 80K+ miles), and would most likely occur again soon in the future. And yet, I was still expected to pay $6.5K to fix this now, only to come back for the same issue in the near future. Nowhere during this interaction was I given alternative options to either trade in my car for a more reliable vehicle, consider purchasing extended insurance to cover this going forward, or consider another option to avoid reliving this experience again. I believe the best advice I received was from the tow truck driver who hauled my car off to another shop. He advised me to fix it, sell or trade it in for a reliable car, and never consider owning a BMW or doing business with BMW of Dallas again. I took his advice also passed it on to my friends in the market for a luxury car. I will never recommend BMW of Dallas or the BMW brand to anyone because of its repeated design failures and lack of reliability. I hope the management at BMW of Dallas improves customer service practices going forward to ensure customers are treated fairly, respectfully, and free of bias.
Pissed91
Feb 14, 2019
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