Farcial situation with BMW Motorrad/BMW Financial Services

peejay1977

Hi all,
This could be quite a lengthy one, back on the 7th December 2019 I traded in my previous motorcycle for a used ex-demo BMW R1250GS Adventure motorcycle. It was bought from Marshall BMW Grimsby and they took my previous bike in as part-ex obviously. The bike had 665 miles on the clock and the PCP finance over 3 years was all agreed and signed off with BMW Financial Services.

Since then I have had no end of troubles with the bike including a new engine only 200 miles into my ownership, work on the new engine to stop a rattling noise, which ended up with someone from BMW UK coming up to meet me to explain to my why this rattle was normal.

I almost went through the rejection process early March due to the issues as the dealer who did the warranty work (closer to me than Marshall) also damaged the paint of the frame when doing the ending swap. Due to COVID and being assured the bike was fine I decided to keep it and lean on the 3 years warranty should it be necessary.

Since then I have had numerous issues starting the bike which resulted in a new battery being fitted but I recently put the bike into the local dealer as I have been having problems with the bluetooth connectivity the bike has built in, this is one of many reasons I chose this bike and although arguably bluetooth is a very small part of a larger picture it is rendering the connectivity services on the bike completely unusuable. It went into the dealer 3 weeks ago who managed to replicate the fault easily and it went back and forth to BMW UK Technical.

Last Monday I was called by the aftersales manager at the local BMW dealer to say that "verbally" and he stressed that word, what he has been told by BMW technical is that BMW Germany are aware of this issue and there is NO fix for it (currently). He then said that he was verbally told that the best course of action was for me to persue replacement of the bike from the original dealer and that "BMW UK would fully support this process".

So, I rang Marshalls and ended up being put onto the dealer principle who told me that in order to replace the bike I needed to reject it and to do that I needed to contact BMW Financial Services and start that process. He asked for the mileage of the bike (2400) and stated that until it was replaced that mileage could not increase (much). I pointed out that the bike is my only mode of transport and that I have a trip booked to the Alps on the 8th August. He said he would do everything he could to find a resolution but that I may have to cancel my trip. This conversation was on the 27th July and I made him aware that if I needed to cancel my trip it needed to be confirmed asap so I didn't lose money.

I contacted BMW Financial Services as instructed who all but called me a liar. Their stance was, if BMW UK have already agreed to replace the bike then why am I calling them? I told them I was instructed to reject the bike and they said all they could do was raise a complaint which would take up to 8 weeks to come to a resolution.

I contacted the dealer and he told me that he would update me as soon as possible, and he also appreciated that I have an upcoming trip. That was the last I have heard from anyone, not even a courtesy call. I could have called them and chased but I am truly sick of being the only person who has any interested in getting this resolved. I just want my bike fixed and I feel like I'm being batted around between different parties, none of whom are willing to take any ownership.

Any advice would be appreciated, and before anyone says it, yes I wish I had rejected it back in March afterall!

Scrapit

Gs doesn't have a bad rep for reliability for no reason

neilmcl

So have you formally rejected the bike or not?

onlyfoolsandparking

What bike did you trade in for your new GS? Horizontal twins (Boxer engine) are quite a unique sounding engine and I've heard a few people are having problems with them although not the earlier models it would appear? and all coming up with different conclusions from Cam chain tensioner, butterfly valve on throttle bodies or even (some are saying) tyres and forks!! The juries still out on the new 'shiftcam' technology which I believe yours has. Can't see what any of this has to do with BMW finance though?

Having said that I believe BMW have released a 'puma' message saying there is nothing wrong with the model so I don't know where that leaves you!

In regards to your problems you really are in the hands of the dealers but as you say you have the warranty to fall back on. Personally I would have gone for the S1000XR doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the GS but still a great bike, more powerful an in-line 4 with a much better 'quickshifter' DDC,DTC, ASC, slipper clutch, cruise control etc and definitely no knocking problems, maybe BMW know about the problems with GS and that's why they introduced the XR. 

In regards to your trip, why not ask for a 'loaner' bike, if your dealer is anything like my local dealer they will accommodate you no issues, then at least you don't have to miss that, maybe even go on a S1000XR you might find you prefer it      

MEM62

You need to write to the supplying dealer to formally reject the bike.  CC The finance company to keep them in the picture but the dealer has to sort it. 
It is a shame that BMW don't get their build quality right.  I have had my 1200 RT from new in Jan 13 and, whilst I have not had the issues that you have had with your GS, the heated grips failed and needed replacing,  it had an oil leak that needed investigating and fixing and I have had the main stand and front fairing supports powder coated due to corrosion.  The build quality on my 'budget' 1250 Bandit is just as good in most areas.  But then, we don't buy them because they are the best-built bikes out there, we buy them because we love riding them.           

peejay1977

neilmcl said:

So have you formally rejected the bike or not?

On the advice of the dealer I have told BMW FS the full story and they are "investigating it" but will take up to 8 weeks to make a decision on what to do.

onlyfoolsandparking

MEM62 said:

You need to write to the supplying dealer to formally reject the bike.  CC The finance company to keep them in the picture but the dealer has to sort it. 
It is a shame that BMW don't get their build quality right.  I have had my 1200 RT from new in Jan 13 and, whilst I have not had the issues that you have had with your GS, the heated grips failed and needed replacing,  it had an oil leak that needed investigating and fixing and I have had the main stand and front fairing supports powder coated due to corrosion.  The build quality on my 'budget' 1250 Bandit is just as good in most areas.  But then, we don't buy them because they are the best-built bikes out there, we buy them because we love riding them.           

You know it

peejay1977

onlyfoolsandparking said:

What bike did you trade in for your new GS? Horizontal twins (Boxer engine) are quite a unique sounding engine and I've heard a few people are having problems with them although not the earlier models it would appear? and all coming up with different conclusions from Cam chain tensioner, butterfly valve on throttle bodies or even (some are saying) tyres and forks!! The juries still out on the new 'shiftcam' technology which I believe yours has. Can't see what any of this has to do with BMW finance though?

Having said that I believe BMW have released a 'puma' message saying there is nothing wrong with the model so I don't know where that leaves you!

In regards to your problems you really are in the hands of the dealers but as you say you have the warranty to fall back on. Personally I would have gone for the S1000XR doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the GS but still a great bike, more powerful an in-line 4 with a much better 'quickshifter' DDC,DTC, ASC, slipper clutch, cruise control etc and definitely no knocking problems, maybe BMW know about the problems with GS and that's why they introduced the XR. 

In regards to your trip, why not ask for a 'loaner' bike, if your dealer is anything like my local dealer they will accommodate you no issues, then at least you don't have to miss that, maybe even go on a S1000XR you might find you prefer it      

Tried the loan bike approach, no go, they wouldn't be able to supply panniers, only the bike and my panniers aren't the BMW ones sadly. Apparently as BMW Finance "own" the bike I have to deal with them not the dealer, this was confirmed today by the Consumer Advice Line. 

onlyfoolsandparking

Then I guess you'll have to rely on the 'goodwill' of the dealer, like I said if they're anything like my local dealer they will do everything they can for you, well I hope they do for your sake. The bit about BMW finance owning the bike makes sense I guess although I still think It's ultimately down to the dealer and BMW UK to resolve your issue with as one poster said BMW finance being kept in the loop.

Does the dealer not have ANY bike in that already has panniers/topbox already on they could loan you. Just out of interest I do like the GS apart from the 'different' engine noise and for me the price too, keep plugging away that's all I can suggest.