Be aware of Sytner Harold Wood BMW

robiee4u

I have been very cautious about any car garage but always thought that authorised dealers are lot better and would care my car as much as they do their ones.

I gave Sytner Harold Wood my BMW X3 2013 (that I bought with my life savings) for servicing and my car's body paint was damage across almost all the panels and they are denying any responsibility.

The entire car has now small scratches and swirl mark and some tiny dents near the spoiler. Most the scratches have same pattern and some of them I can feel with my nail.

My car's body paint was very good condition since I own it (from last 1 year) and I have been very careful and only hand washed it myself and never took it to any car wash. I knew my car had only few small existing scratches and no swirl mark or dents.

I discovered that they did a wash of the vehicle after servicing and that was a mechanical wash and that would be one of the contributing factors for these damages. I was not aware of this complementary wash they provide. After waiting the whole day and not getting a call back from the sales person who dealt with the servicing, I complained to the after sales manager of the dealership. They asked me to send photos of the damages and after looking at the number of damages they denied any liability saying that many damages are not usual and not expected.
I than called his manager who agreed to see the car. When I arrived there they were all ruthlessly prepared to deny any damage I was showing and had excuses ready for everything. They were pointing to those few existing scratches in the loading area of the boot and ignored all the fresh damages.

I then wrote to the head of business of the branch explaining the situation and unfortunately he listened to what his managers said to him and denied any liability with the same excuses.

My car has lost a significant value for these scratches and not to mention my time and effort and the frustration it has been causing me. One would assume that going to the main dealer would protect you from this sort of experience!

I haven't given my consent to wash my car, let alone washing it with such a negligence using a machine. The managers including the head of business are saying that their staff would notify them if they would have caused the damages.

I am not giving up here and will fight it till the court but wish no-one else goes through this ever.

I am sharing some images of the damages from my dropbox (had to remove the urls as I do not have permission to upload images yet).
dropbox.com/s/2sxubdi0pvtnomi/PassangerDoor_Pic01_ZoomedOut.JPG
dropbox.com/s/txsjvuhwdk3upqn/IMG_2903.JPG
dropbox.com/s/kw8j4enaqji00a6/BackOfRoof.JPG
dropbox.com/s/w7jb3i8e8lryxm4/Pic1_ZoomedOut.JPG
dropbox.com/s/2u8xf589bgz96im/Pic2.JPG
dropbox.com/s/oaerkmfghla007t/IMG_2908.JPG
dropbox.com/s/xzrbgrmc5cvipd7/PIC_4_ZoomedOut.JPG
dropbox.com/s/jhmn6q4y5p76xjf/PIC_3_ZoomedOut.JPG

AndyPK

I heard landrover are using these car washes too.

It's unbelievable that they have purchased these awful car washes

neilmcl

This, if you believe it, is why I always make the point to tell the dealer not to wash my car if offered.

custardy

robiee4u wrote: »

I have been very cautious about any car garage but always thought that authorised dealers are lot better and would care my car as much as they do their ones.

I gave Sytner Harold Wood my BMW X3 2013 (that I bought with my life savings) for servicing and my car's body paint was damage across almost all the panels and they are denying any responsibility.

The entire car has now small scratches and swirl mark and some tiny dents near the spoiler. Most the scratches have same pattern and some of them I can feel with my nail.

My car's body paint was very good condition since I own it (from last 1 year) and I have been very careful and only hand washed it myself and never took it to any car wash. I knew my car had only few small existing scratches and no swirl mark or dents.

I discovered that they did a wash of the vehicle after servicing and that was a mechanical wash and that would be one of the contributing factors for these damages. I was not aware of this complementary wash they provide. After waiting the whole day and not getting a call back from the sales person who dealt with the servicing, I complained to the after sales manager of the dealership. They asked me to send photos of the damages and after looking at the number of damages they denied any liability saying that many damages are not usual and not expected.
I than called his manager who agreed to see the car. When I arrived there they were all ruthlessly prepared to deny any damage I was showing and had excuses ready for everything. They were pointing to those few existing scratches in the loading area of the boot and ignored all the fresh damages.

I then wrote to the head of business of the branch explaining the situation and unfortunately he listened to what his managers said to him and denied any liability with the same excuses.

My car has lost a significant value for these scratches and not to mention my time and effort and the frustration it has been causing me. One would assume that going to the main dealer would protect you from this sort of experience!

I haven't given my consent to wash my car, let alone washing it with such a negligence using a machine. The managers including the head of business are saying that their staff would notify them if they would have caused the damages.

I am not giving up here and will fight it till the court but wish no-one else goes through this ever.

I am sharing some images of the damages from my dropbox (had to remove the urls as I do not have permission to upload images yet).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2sxubdi0pvtnomi/PassangerDoor_Pic01_ZoomedOut.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/txsjvuhwdk3upqn/IMG_2903.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kw8j4enaqji00a6/BackOfRoof.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w7jb3i8e8lryxm4/Pic1_ZoomedOut.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2u8xf589bgz96im/Pic2.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oaerkmfghla007t/IMG_2908.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xzrbgrmc5cvipd7/PIC_4_ZoomedOut.JPG
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jhmn6q4y5p76xjf/PIC_3_ZoomedOut.JPG

Realistically it comes down to proof,how do you see yourself proving they caused the damage?

Strider590

robiee4u wrote: »

I have been very cautious about any car garage but always thought that authorised dealers are lot better and would care my car as much as they do their ones.

They do, have you ever seen the way the staff (particularly sales) use the demo cars?

Basically if they use them as runarounds and they drive them at the limit 90% of the time.

davidwood123

How did said car wash damage the inside of the sill?

Mercdriver

Strider590 wrote: »

They do, have you ever seen the way the staff (particularly sales) use the demo cars?

Basically if they use them as runarounds and they drive them at the limit 90% of the time.

You must have hidden cameras in every dealership, then. How else would you know?

EdGasketTheSecond

Anyone who has worked in a garage knows!

photome

neilmcl wrote: »

This, if you believe it, is why I always make the point to tell the dealer not to wash my car if offered.

LIke you I always tell any garage to not wash my car , even if they dont offer.

peter_the_piper

As above or take pics all round before they work on it.

uknick

I must be lucky as the only time my car was damaged at a dealer, bad scratch on wing down to primer, they had taken pictures before starting any work which proved the damage wasn't there when I dropped it off.


Therefore, no issue about repairing the damage at their cost.


I'm surprised that amount of damage was caused by an automatic car wash, if by that you mean the large ones petrol stations usually have. The scratches seem have gone through the lacquer. The depth of the dents suggest quite an impact. And, as said above, not sure how a scratch inside the door was caused by a car wash.


But, if all the damage was caused by the dealer, I'm not sure how you can progress this to your satisfaction. Whilst you didn't take any pictures when you dropped it off, as it's your pride and joy do you have any pictures taken in the recent past that show no damage?