Rattling issues in my 3 Series: My experience with a BMW service centre

I was told that the problem has been resolved but when I received my car, I found that the rattles were still present.

BHPian Impulsivemedusa recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Gave my car for engine oil service at 18k kms as per the CBS to a BMW service centre on Hosur Road Bengaluru.

I had fixed up an appointment slot with them for this Tuesday morning (7th Nov) and accordingly arrived there. I parked my car, reported to the reception and was told that someone would attend to me in a bit.

A full twenty minutes passed and no one of the 3 people in the reception area bothered to look up from their laptops. I had to interrupt their busy routine twice to understand one of the heads peering into the monitor was the person who was assigned to me. He then asked for the key and after another wait walked with me to the car.

I blurted out the rattles in the car and how rattled I was with them. He listened and when I suggested that we should go for a drive to understand the noises better, he politely turned the idea down assuring me that the service center folks would look into the same. He then completed the formalities and during the process, I stressed twice that I'd like the rattles to be resolved. I left the service center at around 10:30.

Got a call at 4ish that evening stating that my car was ready. The guy from the service centre gushed that they found the causes behind the rattles and had resolved them (after I prompted him about the rattles) and that the car could be taken. I requested him for a drop and he arranged for the same.

The car arrived and to my utter dismay, I found that the rattles remained. I doubt if anyone even attended to them. I called the service centre guy and told him about this and he defended that they had test driven the car till they found that the rattles were resolved to their satisfaction.

After a few back and forth he now says he'll get my car to the showroom the weekend after next. He mentioned about the feedback form that BMW would send and I have told him that the kindest I can be is to refrain from giving any feedback till the issue is resolved. But I now have no confirmation from the service center that my car would get picked up.

Please let me know if I should escalate or if should I wait till the weekend after next.

Here's what BHPian itwasntme had to say about the matter:

Can understand your predicament as a BMW service centre pulled the same trick with my 330i with severe sunroof creaking issues. I am afraid you erred in not insisting on an in-person test drive at both ends and also accepting their drop-off service. I know it is easier said than done with work commitments / traffic / waste of bandwidth etc., but now you are at their mercy as it sounds as if they have closed the job card.

I suggest you escalate! Why should you have to suffer and wait? They have obviously charged BMW India with the BSI costs, and are now probably unofficially trying to manage the issue. Not acceptable I feel.

Here's what BHPian jfk1975 had to say about the matter:

Your experience with BMW service and the rattles in G20 is unfortunately not that uncommon.

• The rattles in G20 are well documented from all over the world.
• Try the Deutsche Motoren service center in Whitefield instead. Ask for Mr. Aftab Mehti. He and his manager are familiar with common troublesome areas that trigger these rattles - the sunroof, rear seat parcel tray, door trim/rubber seal contact (even more pronounced in the M Sport trim) and so on.
• You don't need to do any favor to your service centre team by holding off on the survey from BMW. If the sequence of events is as you described, the complaint that you raised hasn't been addressed by the service centre. They usually come off their high horse occasionally with a bad rating. That's just my 2 cents.

Here's what BHPian Impulsivemedusa replied:

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I made the BMW service centre take back the car and solve the issue and told them that I don't want it back till the rattle settles down. They took the car a couple of weeks back (arranged a pick-up) and after test driving and solving for the rattle gave the car back last Wed.

I came back earlier today from a business trip and drove it and my trained ears couldn't pick the now-familiar tut-tut-tut. So looks like a happy ending for now. My wife had done a conditional sign-off on the job card stating that the rattle needs customer testing when they had dropped the car last week. If this calm continues in my office ride tomorrow, will be happy to report back to them that this seems to have been resolved. Again, indebted for all those suggestions. Thanks.

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