browad
Mar 3rd, 2007, 10:53 pm
Ok, I haven't done a complete forum post about my current nightmare, so here it is with the latest crapfest.
Some background:
I got my 2006 LT in the beginning of December from Daytona BMW for a pretty good used price (from a dealer, anyway) with a touch over 9000 miles and the remainder of the factory warranty (this will be important later). I put some miles on it which brought me to the 12k service. Brought it into Daytona, driving through absolute crappy Florida weather (cold and raining the entire way), and had it at the dealer for the entire day, literally from open to close, 9 to 5. The only item besides service that I told the dealer is that the centerstand was not working correctly, that sometimes it did not engage and sometimes it just stopped in the middle of lifting. Fast forward to the end of the day, and three things happen: 1) I get a bill for over $1000, 2) They tell me that they did an electrical test and the centerstand is "not working right", and 3) they scratch my topcase. Oh yeah, and they didn't wash my bike. I was there so long that as soon as they wheeled my bike out, they shut the gate to the shop. I made an issue out of the scratch, and the end response was that after a few waxes it would go away. Nice. After that, I just wanted to leave, go home, and sleep.
A few days later I called the dealership to find out how they were going to fix my centerstand. As they knew it was "not working right", they were going to order every part for the centerstand and swap stuff out until it worked "right". I thought it was just the handlebar switch, but ordering everything sounded reasonable and a nice solution. After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to get my service done in Daytona's sister dealership in Orlando. It's an easier ride, and having been unimpressed with Daytona I wanted to try something different. Talked to Daytona and they shipped the parts over and set up an appointment for me.
Fast forward a bit, and went by Orlando to drop the bike off and chill while they dealt with the "not working right" centerstand. The tech, a very nice guy named Cory who actually talked to me, said he was going to replace the centerstand actuator and see how that worked. Fine. I chilled out in the waiting area (they actually had one!), read some mags, looked at some BMWs, and talked with Mike Dozier, really nice guy whose card says he is a Sales Representative. I didn't hold that against him. Anyway, after about an hour or so Cory came out and said the job was done, but there was a problem. He found a leak. Oh Christ, this is not good. Small leak from the input seal on the transmission. Caught it very early, and only saw it because it is right above the centerstand module that he had just replaced. Nice luck. Replacing that would take about a day and a half, so scheduled it for the following week.
In the interim, my centerstand is still acting up, so add that to the list. I drop my bike off the next Tuesday and my girlfriend takes me back to Gville. I decide to pick up the bike that Saturday because my schedule was tight, and being dropped off and picked up from work is so much fun :) . Saturday I go down with my girlfriend, my sister, and my sister's truck. Thinking about just putting it in the bed, but that behemoth is fairly large. So I get down there, talk with the service manager about the fixes, and get geared up for the ride back. Did a walk around and found some light scratches on a saddlebag and talk to the service manager. Solution: some wax coats and it'll be fine. Yeah...heard that before. I actually get on the bike, and after about a mile something is wrong when I'm shifting into first. There is a weird shudder when the clutch is halfway released. As it's stop and go traffic, I play with the clutch and find a "sweet" spot where I can get the entire bike to oscillate and shudder so much that the windshield vibrates quite a bit and the bike has a nice mechanical rattle. After a few hundred feet of soul searching and lane changing (I really wanted to get out of there) I pop a U-turn and head back.
Talk to the service manager, and he'll send a tech as soon as he finishes up. I see Mike, who said "Didn't you leave?" That's exactly how I feel. While I'm waiting for the tech, I go into the parking lot and start playing with the clutch, and get the bike to "shudder" and hold it. The service manager comes out, having heard the horrendous sound from inside the shop, and says he's never heard anything like it. I love being original. Grab Mike and show him this, and he is floored. I show him the sweet spot, and he plays around with it and takes it for a quick spin. Not only did it shudder for him, but also the front end wobbled really hard during a test emergency stop. Not cool. Tech grabs it up and reseats the splines in the rear end. That helped some, but the shudder is still there. End result is they're keeping the bike and replacing everything with the word "clutch" in it.
I had called my sister and girlfriend when I got back to the dealer and had them stop at a rest stop until I figured out what was going on with the bike. Worst case was them turning around and picking me up, which is what happened.
Right now the trip to a BMW dealership had become almost a weekly occurrence. The only good thing was that everything besides the 12k service was under warranty. That's the only good thing. At this point Orlando is going to trailer the bike back to me when it is ready, which is good because having to go to a dealership kills my entire day, and the day of whoever drives me there.
As of now, there is no way I would consider buying another BMW motorcycle, and am giving serious thought to getting rid of my LT. As much as there is to love about the bike, which is considerable, I have had so many serious issues that I'm not sure I can trust the bike for long distance. And that's the point of having it. The service manager advised to give the bike some time after I get it back, which is sound advice. I'm also going to talk to a lawyer friend about Florida's lemon laws and see what kind of legal recourse, if any, I have. When I was talking with a biker friend of mine about my day, he asked kind of jokingly if I would rather have my Harley back. Right now, yes I would. I had no issues for the first 3 years, which is more than I can say for my BMW. I know that most people have had nothing go wrong with their BMWs for hundreds of thousands of miles, but that has not been my experience.
Today pissed me off. Incredibly pissed off, almost to Pluto pissed off. I'm glad that the staff at Orlando is treating me as well as they can, but they can only do so much. Arrrrgggg!!!!!!
Thanks for listening to me gripe, bitch, and just bounce off the walls for a bit. :mad: .
Some background:
I got my 2006 LT in the beginning of December from Daytona BMW for a pretty good used price (from a dealer, anyway) with a touch over 9000 miles and the remainder of the factory warranty (this will be important later). I put some miles on it which brought me to the 12k service. Brought it into Daytona, driving through absolute crappy Florida weather (cold and raining the entire way), and had it at the dealer for the entire day, literally from open to close, 9 to 5. The only item besides service that I told the dealer is that the centerstand was not working correctly, that sometimes it did not engage and sometimes it just stopped in the middle of lifting. Fast forward to the end of the day, and three things happen: 1) I get a bill for over $1000, 2) They tell me that they did an electrical test and the centerstand is "not working right", and 3) they scratch my topcase. Oh yeah, and they didn't wash my bike. I was there so long that as soon as they wheeled my bike out, they shut the gate to the shop. I made an issue out of the scratch, and the end response was that after a few waxes it would go away. Nice. After that, I just wanted to leave, go home, and sleep.
A few days later I called the dealership to find out how they were going to fix my centerstand. As they knew it was "not working right", they were going to order every part for the centerstand and swap stuff out until it worked "right". I thought it was just the handlebar switch, but ordering everything sounded reasonable and a nice solution. After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to get my service done in Daytona's sister dealership in Orlando. It's an easier ride, and having been unimpressed with Daytona I wanted to try something different. Talked to Daytona and they shipped the parts over and set up an appointment for me.
Fast forward a bit, and went by Orlando to drop the bike off and chill while they dealt with the "not working right" centerstand. The tech, a very nice guy named Cory who actually talked to me, said he was going to replace the centerstand actuator and see how that worked. Fine. I chilled out in the waiting area (they actually had one!), read some mags, looked at some BMWs, and talked with Mike Dozier, really nice guy whose card says he is a Sales Representative. I didn't hold that against him. Anyway, after about an hour or so Cory came out and said the job was done, but there was a problem. He found a leak. Oh Christ, this is not good. Small leak from the input seal on the transmission. Caught it very early, and only saw it because it is right above the centerstand module that he had just replaced. Nice luck. Replacing that would take about a day and a half, so scheduled it for the following week.
In the interim, my centerstand is still acting up, so add that to the list. I drop my bike off the next Tuesday and my girlfriend takes me back to Gville. I decide to pick up the bike that Saturday because my schedule was tight, and being dropped off and picked up from work is so much fun :) . Saturday I go down with my girlfriend, my sister, and my sister's truck. Thinking about just putting it in the bed, but that behemoth is fairly large. So I get down there, talk with the service manager about the fixes, and get geared up for the ride back. Did a walk around and found some light scratches on a saddlebag and talk to the service manager. Solution: some wax coats and it'll be fine. Yeah...heard that before. I actually get on the bike, and after about a mile something is wrong when I'm shifting into first. There is a weird shudder when the clutch is halfway released. As it's stop and go traffic, I play with the clutch and find a "sweet" spot where I can get the entire bike to oscillate and shudder so much that the windshield vibrates quite a bit and the bike has a nice mechanical rattle. After a few hundred feet of soul searching and lane changing (I really wanted to get out of there) I pop a U-turn and head back.
Talk to the service manager, and he'll send a tech as soon as he finishes up. I see Mike, who said "Didn't you leave?" That's exactly how I feel. While I'm waiting for the tech, I go into the parking lot and start playing with the clutch, and get the bike to "shudder" and hold it. The service manager comes out, having heard the horrendous sound from inside the shop, and says he's never heard anything like it. I love being original. Grab Mike and show him this, and he is floored. I show him the sweet spot, and he plays around with it and takes it for a quick spin. Not only did it shudder for him, but also the front end wobbled really hard during a test emergency stop. Not cool. Tech grabs it up and reseats the splines in the rear end. That helped some, but the shudder is still there. End result is they're keeping the bike and replacing everything with the word "clutch" in it.
I had called my sister and girlfriend when I got back to the dealer and had them stop at a rest stop until I figured out what was going on with the bike. Worst case was them turning around and picking me up, which is what happened.
Right now the trip to a BMW dealership had become almost a weekly occurrence. The only good thing was that everything besides the 12k service was under warranty. That's the only good thing. At this point Orlando is going to trailer the bike back to me when it is ready, which is good because having to go to a dealership kills my entire day, and the day of whoever drives me there.
As of now, there is no way I would consider buying another BMW motorcycle, and am giving serious thought to getting rid of my LT. As much as there is to love about the bike, which is considerable, I have had so many serious issues that I'm not sure I can trust the bike for long distance. And that's the point of having it. The service manager advised to give the bike some time after I get it back, which is sound advice. I'm also going to talk to a lawyer friend about Florida's lemon laws and see what kind of legal recourse, if any, I have. When I was talking with a biker friend of mine about my day, he asked kind of jokingly if I would rather have my Harley back. Right now, yes I would. I had no issues for the first 3 years, which is more than I can say for my BMW. I know that most people have had nothing go wrong with their BMWs for hundreds of thousands of miles, but that has not been my experience.
Today pissed me off. Incredibly pissed off, almost to Pluto pissed off. I'm glad that the staff at Orlando is treating me as well as they can, but they can only do so much. Arrrrgggg!!!!!!
Thanks for listening to me gripe, bitch, and just bounce off the walls for a bit. :mad: .