shocking quote from Leo Haese

[andreas]

On the 23rd of November I experienced problems with my E46 318 i Touring.

Various warning lights came on indicating an automatic transmission problems, looking into the manual it states clearly “take car to nearest dealer”.
The front desk had a quick look and informed me I will have to make a booking, which I did for Friday the 26th Nov. Answer to whether I can drive, comment was, no problem. Driving approx 4km later the car cut out and didn’t start anymore. So I had the car towed to Leo Haese at around 11.30 the same morning.
2 hrs later I enquire if my car has arrived or not and when someone will be looking at it. The booking department nor front desk was aware of my car having arrived or not. Promise was made to call me back in a few minutes, never happened. Around 14.30 I went personally to Leo Haese to find out if my car has arrived or not. Eventually documentation of the towing service as well as my car was found.
Front desk informed me they will have a look at the cause later during the day or definitely the next morning. Calling Leo Haese on numerous occasions eventually I was told that there is a 120 cars in front of mine and I will have to wait and it will be diagnosed later during the day. In the afternoon I called Leo Haese again and I was transferred to the workshop Manager. Asking him, since none of the previous commitments were upheld, if he understands the concept of Customer service, upon which he put the phone down.

Thursday afternoon I eventually received a shocking quote, over 19000Rand. Hyundai Silver Lakes ( who I bought the car from) immediately acted and they got another quote from Talladega Auto Clinic(6500R).

Error messages:
2DO3, throttle valve control unit, error during adaptation
96 CAN message, engine speed signal faulty
2B5C Crankshaft position center, engine speed signal implausible

Comparing the 2 quotes, taking the error messages into account, how does Leo Haese come up with a quote like that? They even quoted to flush the cooling system

In summary:

• Why do they commit when they are not keeping it anyway?
• Does the front desk know their job? The manual clearly states to bring the car in to the nearest dealer.
• Surely Leo Haese doesn’t just let any car on the premises without knowing what it is all about?
• Contact details were on the towing services documents, they didn't bother to call
• Why does it take 2 days just to diagnose the problem?
• Putting the phone down is not on and disrespectful!
• Was there actually proper diagnostics done, looking at the 2 quotes and the error messages?

The above experience raises enough reasons not to use Leo Haese dealership in the future. I also suggest to have a look at the www.hellopeter.com website. I am aware BMW does not reply to this site, but Leo Haese certainly doesn’t look very good when it comes to customer service.

Can someone please recommend a reputable workshop in Pretoria I can use in the future?

Your comments will be appreciated

 

[rodga]

my experience with them was completely different
called me twice when they were workiing on my car

that was the hatfield branch
your story sounds more like the centurion branch - ill never go back to that dealer ever again

 

[tashen]

leo haese centurion are steep with their prices!

 

[andreas]

it was actually the Hatfield branch

---

it was the Hatfield branch, sent them and BMW SA an e-mail today. Let's see what they have to say for themselves

 

[Hellas]

Hellopeter.com, Copy, Paste. :thumbsup:

Throttle body for the 2.0 Ford Focus is also about R5500 excl installation, so the second quote you got was in line.

 

[andreas]

Thanks Hellas,

but being a first time Bimmer owner I'm certainly shocked. Never had an experience with any of my other cars and their services or repairs like this.

 

[Coisman]

imp:
Andreas, tomorrow call Leo Haese up and ask to speak to René at customer services.
She is full of crap and will make everyone in that place jump around if you complain.
About 8 months ago I had a problem with my car, and the mechanic that helped me had the same attitude.
By the time I was done they had put him on suspention.
Just play hard-ball, and tell René you want to speak to the dealer principal, Roelf Strydom,
or go and email the complaint, and the Hello Peter complaint, his email: [email protected]
I must however honestly say, than in 6 years, I have only ever had one bad experience at Leo Haese Hatfield,
and that was the incident 8 months ago, so good luck! :thumb:

 

[andreas]

Thanks Coisman,

I sent an e-mail to Rene as well as to [email protected] today.
Bodo is apparently THE GUY at the plant handling complaints as well. Will definitely forward the email to the dealer principal as well if I don't get joy out of the 2 people I've sent it to. Thanks again.

This forum is great! :thumbsup:

 

[Coisman]

Thanks Coisman,

I sent an e-mail to Rene as well as to [email protected] today.
Bodo is apparently THE GUY at the plant handling complaints as well. Will definitely forward the email to the dealer principal as well if I don't get joy out of the 2 people I've sent it to. Thanks again.

This forum is great! :thumbsup:

imp:
...and remember... if all else fails...
I will go and "Skiet die Bliksems!!!'" ok. :thumb:

 

[Sankekur]

Personally I don't really trust anyone to work on my car and do a proper job of it, but that's just me.
In terms of the quote that seems about right, what they do is they find a couple of things wrong by reading the codes, then they see what stuff might possibly be faulty and they quote you for the replacement of those part. It might be that one or more of the part they replaced where faulty but it might also turn out to your surprise that the problem is still not solved, but don't worry they will give you the option of replacing yet more parts at your own cost. BMW are basically a bunch of part replacers, and this works reasonably well for a car that is still under motorplan as they they can replace the parts as they are paid for by the generous donations made by suckers... sorry I meant to say out of motorplan owners (don't know why this keeps slipping out).

 

[Coisman]

imp:
Sankekur, I think the biggest issue here is not actually the prices of the parts, :nono:
but more the bad experience in customer relations. I know the pricing was a big shock to Andreas,
but I think he was more upset by the timeframe of feedback, or lack of feedback for that matter. :banghead:
Also the fact that the people put the phone down in his ear... :cursin: I would have gone into Leo Haese
and seriously assulted someone I think. :hammerhead: Leo Haese is a business, dependant and giving good customer service,
so that the happy customers will come back, fork out millions, and thus the dealership remains open, :excited:
but by having 1 or 2 bad apples, the dealership must now suffer, and like I said, I have been using their services for almost 6 years, :shocked:
and only had 1 bad experience in all that time. Well, let's see what happens next. :dunno:

Andreas, PLEASE keep us all posted mate, and good luck!!! :thumbsup:
I know it sucks when your car is broken... :bawling:
and if all else fails, "Skiet die bliksems!"
imp:

PS: Johannes, ek het n moer cool mechanic gekry in ons area.
sal jou nou-nou pm met die details. :thumb:

 

[Sankekur]

I agree that it is not just the part prices but the service as well, but I was just having my say in terms of the pricing of parts, and also because the title of the post refers to the quote so I thought it would be the main idea. BMW basically culling all older model BMWs with their part prices, trying to make it so that no one wants to drive older models for fear of having to buy the parts at the dealer prices. This seems to be taken to the next level with almost all the new BMW engines being turbo'ed making them even harder still to maintain out of motor plan. Not that I am say BMW parts should be cheap, I am just saying cheaper, as they are not just removing older cars but they are also killing their name. Your average first time BMW owner won't be in a position to fork out for a brand new or close to new model so he will go for an older one, but do you think that this guy will want to go beemer again if the parts and service from the dealer basically say: Buy a new car or f**k off.
Thank goodness for aftermaket suppliers of BMW parts.

 

[Threetwoeight]

I agree with Sankekur about working on my car myself... but not always possible. My car at the panel beater, have to fit pirate parts and can't choose the right bumper because my car's value is to low for insurance to spend any money. How's that for stress.

Leo Haese Centurion is very very bad with customer respect and service. And they lie big time.
We have 4 new 2008-2010 BMW in the company and at a stage this year had unresolved problems with Leo Haese Centurion on all of them. The 2010 730d had to stay for 2 days, wait for parts 2weeks and then stay 2 weeks for parts and repairs. Even the customer care lady in that branch don't care much about customer care. She gets minor problems fixed on the spot but do not address them properly and make you feel you should have fastened the plastic panel under the car your self. (Workshop undone this to change shocks) We had to tighten bolts on suspension after shock replacement on 650i after hearing a knocking noise when turning.

Nah. . . . will try any one else but Leo Haese Centurion.

 

[DonovanPorter]

a mate of mine has his car in at Leo Haese Centurion for coil pack besides the day light robbery on that , they charged him R300-00 to adjust the handbrake

 

[Sankekur]

.....they charged him R300-00 to adjust the handbrake

Yeah but you have to think of all the specials tool that are needed to do this you need a wheel spanner, a ratchet with a deep socket and a flat bladed screwdriver of all things. /sarcasm

 

[DonovanPorter]

.....they charged him R300-00 to adjust the handbrake

Yeah but you have to think of all the specials tool that are needed to do this you need a wheel spanner, a ratchet with a deep socket and a flat bladed screwdriver of all things. /sarcasm

if only bru they adjusted with the adjusting bolts behind the handbrake lever

 

[rodga]

.....they charged him R300-00 to adjust the handbrake

Yeah but you have to think of all the specials tool that are needed to do this you need a wheel spanner, a ratchet with a deep socket and a flat bladed screwdriver of all things. /sarcasm

im sure they have plenty of wheel spanners working there!

 

[andreas]

According to the guys at the workshop that did repair my car, only 3 error messages could be found and these were rectified at R6.5k. When they received the car from Leo Haese the computer was reset and they couldn't see why BMW quoted for all of it. They also quoted to flush the radiator system, whilst I'm having a problem to start and the automatic gearbox jumped gears???
The workshop got the car started and waited until the error messages came up, problem solved, car running.
According to the workshop when certain warning lights come on, and you continuously try to start the engine, the "black box" goes into a sort of safety mode to reduce damage to gearbox and engine. This results in a large number of error messages. They recommend to reset first, then diagnose.
At the end of the day what do I know about electronics, I just want to drive my car

 

[P1000]

and this works reasonably well for a car that is still under motorplan as they they can replace the parts as they are paid for by the generous donations made by suckers... sorry I meant to say out of motorplan owners (don't know why this keeps slipping out).

Hmmm, those "suckers" you refer to, should include guys that pay for the motorplan, which includes anybody that has motorplan. I'm sure motorplan works like insurance, and the prices added to the base car price for motorplan gets calculated like insurance. Which means that if a lot of repairs happen to certain cars, and lots of expensive parts get replaced under motorplan, the price of the new cars' motorplan goes up. This would also be why it is getting so ridiculously expensive to extend your motorplan (I keep on typing moronplan for some reason). I'm sure the cost of this motorplan is sitting close to or more than the actual cost of manufacturing the car. Especially since they charge motorplan significantly more for parts than the factory gets charged.

 

[Sankekur]

and this works reasonably well for a car that is still under motorplan as they they can replace the parts as they are paid for by the generous donations made by suckers... sorry I meant to say out of motorplan owners (don't know why this keeps slipping out).

Hmmm, those "suckers" you refer to, should include guys that pay for the motorplan, which includes anybody that has motorplan. I'm sure motorplan works like insurance, and the prices added to the base car price for motorplan gets calculated like insurance. Which means that if a lot of repairs happen to certain cars, and lots of expensive parts get replaced under motorplan, the price of the new cars' motorplan goes up. This would also be why it is getting so ridiculously expensive to extend your motorplan (I keep on typing moronplan for some reason). I'm sure the cost of this motorplan is sitting close to or more than the actual cost of manufacturing the car. Especially since they charge motorplan significantly more for parts than the factory gets charged.

Hmmm, I see that a mis-typed a bit (should have mentioned that a part of the motorplan is covered by the massively increased part price).

But what you say about the motorplan being included in the price of the car is definitely true, no business will ever give anything away for free and BMW is no different. So the thinking that I will rather get a new BMW every time the motorplan expires because you can repair the car for free, this is not so as you will on average be paying for more than you are getting (there are outliers of course), since they will not have done their calculation to just break even, they will be making a profit and will have added enough for a decent safety margin. I would wager that around 40-45% of the price of a new car is just for the motorplan (just a guess on my part). If you could remove that from the price of the car and the increases in part prices to cover motorplan, does the motorplan still seem like such a good thing, since you will be spending less on the car in the first place and less to repair, and your resale value will be much better.

What I trying to say is that motorplan is a hoax, as nothing in this life is free, and you will only be better off under motorplan if you where lucky enough to get a lemon, but you still a lot of what was done for free, plus some other people where also generous enough to pay.