I am writing to share with you one specific complaint and a couple of other observations/comments about the customer experience I have recently faced (I’m hoping that the Marketing folks at BMW India appreciate this kind of detailed feedback) –
- I had been driving a 525i (purchased in May 2010) for about 18+ months , and as I expected (while buying a legendary marquee for the amount of almost INR 4 million) the car has been driving very well in general. I took the car for a service in Jan (the engine oil service alert was being displayed by the car) in which I also pointed out an issue of wheel alignment, since the car seemed to be pulling to the left. When I collected the car the next day in the evening, to my surprise/shock/dismay I was informed that all the four wheel rims of my car had been identified as bent and this was causing a wobbling in the steering wheel at speeds of 80kmph and above. Now, this is something I had not observed myself, except for the pulling to the left, but when I did drive off with the car, I also started noticing this distinct feedback/wobbling in the steering, not just at above 80kmph, but speeds below it as well. So now that BMW service has established that my car’s wheel rims are bent (copy of the bill attached wherein it is clearly mentioned), my question to the service advisor (Anish Nair) was therefore – how could my wheel rims have bent? And his response was that the alloy rims are ‘delicate’ and that driving on Gurgaon roads could be the reason for this. Hmmm. Great explanation. So I should now consider relocating to Germany perhaps to drive my ‘delicate’ darling of a car on the well paved & maintained roads there, right? And consequently, does this mean that BMW cars aren’t really meant to be driven on Indian roads, unless of course, one is mentally prepared to slowly but surely start paying for changes in ‘delicate’ parts of the car that cannot sustain normal Indian conditions? And I was also informed that the wheel rims aren’t covered by a warranty! Nice! Sell a car worth INR 4 million with wheel rims that deteriorate in less than a couple of years. I have driven other cars with alloy wheels before and being an extremely careful driver (the condition of my car will tell anyone that) and I’ve never heard of this bizarre occurrence. Pardon my sarcasm, but when you pay a large sum of money for a car bearing the legendary mark of reliability, you expect it to be built to withstand typical Indian road conditions (and perhaps worse) in the course of normal careful driving (and my car hasn’t even done 20,000 kms yet!!), and to last at least 4-5 years without major repair requirements – after all, this is what BMW is known the world over for – a low cost of ownership in the long run, because of the car’s reliability. I hope you understand my dismay coupled with a sneaking feeling that this is just the beginning of a series of repairs aimed at ‘milking’ the post sales revenue potential of a car’s ownership. My question is – couldn’t this milking have waited for a couple more years at least.
Allow me to place on record my feeling of shock and dismay at the reliability standard of the wheels (the only identified problem area right now) of the car I’m driving. Especially considering the fact that I’m a very careful driver and a car-proud person. I used to be a proud owner, even recommending others in my circle to choose BMW, because of its drive quality. But if that drive quality comes at the cost of compromised reliability, I’d be surprised if many potential buyers in India would consider shelling out INR 4 million + on your cars. I have already dissuaded someone in my circle (the country head of another travel company in India) from a BMW, because of this issue, and I’m happy to state that he is firmly leaning towards another luxury brand now. I’d hate to dissuade more potential buyers, especially when precious few cars are sold in this segment in India.
BMW India, despite repeated attempts havent offered me a satisfactory resolution. They asked some 'engineer' from the UK who was here for a few days to take a look at my car - and the guy visually examines the rims and says - yeah they're bent, you need to buy new ones. As if a visual examination determined whether there was a manufacturing defect or not! I hope that seeing my feedback on this forum will urge them to provide a prompt response, solution and explanation for the poor reliability of the wheel rims, other than shifting the blame to ‘bad driving’, which would be very disappointing indeed.
Hope you appreciate my angst – I am someone who is increasingly going to be your typical customer in India, as opposed to wealthy businessmen who couldn’t care less. People like me are going to ask questions when they feel like they’ve been dealt a bad hand. I also know that the most likely response (if I get one promptly) is going to be – ‘USER INDUCED DAMAGES’. Easy, convenient and passing the buck to the customer, for producing a car whose wheel rims seriously need to be re-engineered for India! I have a suggestion – why don’t you, for the time being, start equipping X5 or X3 wheel rims on the 5 series? Maybe those aren’t so ‘delicate’? Or are they?