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Need fellow members help in emailing BMW executives about my defective bike.

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How about it gang? Can we get large numbers of people to stick up for Randy?

With respect, no. I don't have a dog in this fight, I have had nothing but exemplary service from BMW and, as previously stated, getting what one wants just because one wants it rarely occurs. Getting something close happens all the time. To my mind, "something close" ($4,000 from dealer) has been offered and rejected therefore I do not see a resolution to this issue. As well, while I have no doubt of the veracity of what we have read thus far, we are not privy to all the discussions which may or may not have occurred over the past 7 years and without that I cannot offer my support.

And that would be my last comment on the subject.
 
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Bc1100s

Tell you what, if you have a R1100S I will be glad and pay you $1,241.17 for your bike. Does than sound fair deal to you?
 
They offered you that money for being so passive and basically doing nothing for 7 years.

In regards to you sending PM's keep it public. Be assured that if I ever had a problem with BMW or any other vehicle vendor I would not use you as an example on how to deal with them.

Twice I have had issues with my dealer and they were solved in a prompt and efficient manner and we stayed being friends.

Either accept their offer and move on or hire a lawyer if you can
 
Figure I'll weigh in here as I'm in the middle of a vehicle buyback with my 2009 VW Jetta that had multiple failures under warranty. I'm not allowed to disclose the terms, but VW has made very good backing up their car that was clearly faulty and I am very impressed with them as a company. While I am not in need of another vehicle, they will certainly be a consideration for me in the future. My car had 4 major failures in 4 years and I finally send them an email saying that I was no longer able to trust the car to drive and I couldn't sell it to someone without feeling like a bad person. The process since then has been very pleasant.

I too think 7 years is too long to wait before demanding them to pony up. After a certain point, even a reasonable moral warranty is up and anything beyond is simply good will. I agree BMW hasn't shown you any good will in this case. While my case with VW went well, had they not I would have been talking to an attorney about taking that route. That's because it was still a possibility. After 7 years anybody reasonably would have traded the bike back in or raised enough of a stink to get the company to buy it back.

I feel for you as it's a terrible feeling to have your vehicle fail you with it not being your own fault. Every time my Jetta did it my heart sank in fear of the financial woes it would cause me. I also think what they are offering you is a bit of a joke. If they are going to offer you anything it should be something more reasonable, especially if they can retain you as a customer. Something along the lines of an exceptional deal on a new one or a decent offer to buy it back.

If your dealer is offering you $4k, I'd say take it and cut your losses. As repayment you can not give them your business and look elsewhere.

I know you're trying to get publicity for your problems, but your method of making posts everywhere and trying to create your own sort of mob seems pretty tasteless. I didn't enjoy seeing the forums peppered with repeat posts.
 
Tell you what, if you have a R1100S I will be glad and pay you $1,241.17 for your bike. Does than sound fair deal to you?

Did your dealer not offer your $4K for a trade in? That's pretty good. My dealer would not take my '05 with just under 80K miles because they knew they couldn't sell it. People do not go to a dealer for a bike with 80K miles. :deal They would have called in a wholesaler who (my best guess) would have offered maybe $3K.
 
marchyman, you are right. The $4,000 trade in from the dealer is not bad.

Bloodworth said that the trade-in of a 2005gs with my mileage would normally be around $5,500 to $6,000. But since they know the history of my bike they will wholesale my bike and can only give $4,000. I understand their position.
 
Bloodworth said that the trade-in of a 2005gs with my mileage would normally be around $5,500 to $6,000. But since they know the history of my bike they will wholesale my bike and can only give $4,000. I understand their position.

This is really a sad story here. Dealers can wholesale a bike for a number of reasons. I think most any BMW dealer would be willing to retail a 2005 R1200GS out of their own store. However, your bike changes what would normally happen.

Bloodworth wants nothing to do with it due to its history so their getting rid of it the best way they know to avoid future repercussions. The sad part is you're going to have a buyer from somewhere around the country buy that unit, and in all likelihood will not be aware of its previous history. The end result will be an on-going problem for the new owner. Most people buy used because they don't have the funds to buy new. It becomes a strong possibility the new owner will not be able to afford the cost of repairs. So they'll put it on their charge card and pay for it over the course of time. And, of course it will happen again.

It becomes so easy to criticize the new owner for not checking out the bikes history. But what's really happened here is the new buyer has been ripped off. I have done this for a lot of years and I can honestly say if I am aware of a problem unit I don't take it in period. Because I don't want to be part of a chain of events knowing someone is about to get screwed.

No one knew when Randy bought his bike what the future held so that is an innocent sale. But know that we know the issues that have arisen it would behoove any of us to act in an ethical manner. Bloodworth is about to stick it to someone else hopefully far from their store. Bloodworth has just displayed their level of ethics. This is why it is so important for BMW NA to work with Randy.

I can't agree with how long Randy waited. In fact, I think it was absolutely foolish. However, I have seen many customers wait incredibly long periods of time until it becomes too late. And, they always wait because their putting too much trust in BMW NA to repair their unit. These people tend to be good hearted soul's who avoid confrontation and trust that things will work out. These sweet talking Corporate Talking Heads at NA are not watching out for you. They are operating under the Mother Ship's orders and those orders are to give up as little as possible to the customer.

I would hope the membership realizes what is about to go down if that unit gets traded in. What if you were the buyer? Whether Randy is right or wrong if he is being truthful with everything he has put in writing and BMW is in agreement the bike needs a new motor BMW needs to step up to the plate and give him used retail value.

BMW makes wonderful motorcycles and products. I love their stuff. But when they make a mistake they need to rectify it. They've done it all from knowingly selling defective parts to ignoring federal recall procedures. They get away with this because no one is forcing them to stop. I think the MOA is probably the best motorcycle organization on the planet. We as a group need to let corporate know when they have stepped out of ethical bounds. No, we can't force change but perhaps if we complain in large enough numbers in very public places just maybe someone at the top of NA would see things from a different perspective.

Just as BMW employees allow wrong to be committed by following through on corporate orders, even when an illegal act is occurring, we as a group commit wrong by not wanting to effect change within BMW. We have the numbers. We have a wonderful product we're fighting for. We need to let BMW know we're not happy with their business ethics.
 
TN limit is $25,000-sue them & move on to the Strom. How can you lose?:scratch I wish they were not so tall or I'd be riding one right now!

If this isn't proof that this club needs to stop being kissy faced with BMWNA & have a consumer advocate person on board, then just ask the OP...
 
TN limit is $25,000-sue them & move on to the Strom. How can you lose?:scratch I wish they were not so tall or I'd be riding one right now!

If this isn't proof that this club needs to stop being kissy faced with BMWNA & have a consumer advocate person on board, then just ask the OP?

+1, Gunny; truer words were never spoken kantuckid, we absolutely do need a strong MOA Consumer Advocate with the integrity, guts and fortitude to fight the wrongs/abuses of BMWNA and BMW AG!
 
If I were BMW, simply out of curiosity for a possible engineering glitch, for the safety and enjoyment of my customers, and finally for corporate image, pay whatever it takes, get the bike back to factory headquarters, tear it down, see what the prob was, then turn it into pop cans. everybody wins, at a corporate cost practically immeasurable, with a shining image intact. Taking care of afew lemons could hardly break the bank? Or am I missing something? Does a new add campaign cost more than satisfying a lemoned customer? and which is more effective advertising? Just sayin.
 
In this case, BMW is not doing right by the owner. But, it's not that different in other brands. I know of someone how had a V-Strom with a defective cam shaft (It has serious pitting), and they refused to replace it under warranty. Granted it was in Canada, where individuals can void their warranty by working on their own bikes. Suzuki refused to replace it not because the part wasn't defective, but because doing his own maintenance voided the warranty. That could not happen here, but it still happened. I not defending BWM, but I am saying the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence.

Back to the original post. I think BWM's offer is more insulting than if they had made no offer at all. After years of dealing with a problem they finally admit the bike is defective and then provide a value equal to a parts bike (because that's what it is now). I'd be just as pissed as espressoforyou. BMW isn't stepping up to the plate, they're just paying market value for the bike. I don't know what the solution is, but pissing off BMW by having lots of people inundate their email doesn't seem helpful. I wish you the best of luck.
 
Will do

Randy, sorry you had these problems. I'll send the emails; I don't think you're asking to much. Would be nice if some future owner didn't end up with the problem.

DW
 
.............. but pissing off BMW by having lots of people inundate their email doesn't seem helpful. I wish you the best of luck.

Large quantity's of people going after a common concern can effect change. Whether it will or not is an unknown here. If BMW acts out in a negative manner due to a large mail campaign would only show how high their arrogance can go. It would be foolish for a large corporation to intentionally piss off a customer further. And, extremely childish.
 
If I were BMW, simply out of curiosity for a possible engineering glitch, for the safety and enjoyment of my customers, and finally for corporate image, pay whatever it takes, get the bike back to factory headquarters, tear it down, see what the prob was, then turn it into pop cans. everybody wins, at a corporate cost practically immeasurable, with a shining image intact. Taking care of afew lemons could hardly break the bank? Or am I missing something? Does a new add campaign cost more than satisfying a lemoned customer? and which is more effective advertising? Just sayin.
At first I was inclined to agree with your point but there is also that possibility that BMW knows the root problem & would rather avoid any semblance of acting like it is agreeable to admitting such? With BMW cars they pay you a $grand for buying back their brand. With the BMWCCA they also have a deal that gives you even more $$$ to but their cars. In the brief time I belonged to the RA they ragged on & on about NA but not that it was an organized bitch just a rant in print there. Might help get some younger members in this club?
 
Thanks Billy, you have the gift of putting down clear thoughts

Several people asked why I waited 7 years to "demand" a new bike. The answer is that I did not wait. I have been asking for 5 years. It took three years to reach Anthony Cavanaugh. I spoke with the 1-800 customer service employees many times. They were nice but would not pass me up to the next level. I only received a call from Anthony after posting on the Motorrad facebook page asking for help.

The very first time that I had the bike repaired it was one month before the 3 year factory warranty expired. Most lemon laws state that you must have 3 or more repairs for the same problem during the warranty period. So it would have been difficult to win under the lemon law rules of TN.

If nothing else good comes out of this at least the members will know how to reach Anthony Cavanaugh(pre-litigation and vehicle buy-back manager). Anthony.cavanaugh@bmwna.com His direct line is 201-263-8215

Two weeks ago is the first time that BMW declared that "I have a unrepairable and defective bike and the only solution is a new engine". It took seven years for them to admit this and that is why I have started this email and social media campaign at this time.

You are right, $1,241.17 is an insulting amount of a buy-back offer and that is what got me all fired up and pissed off. If Anthony would have offered normal trade-in value I would have accepted it and bought a new bike and that would have been the end of the story

I agree that the MOA needs a more powerful voice to be able to influence BMW NA to take a second look at problems when they occur.

As an example: I talked to the MOA staff 5 years ago and the only solution they had was to put me in touch with the MOA liaison person. I think his name was Jim. Jim was very nice and was kind enough to make a few phone calls for me but Jim admitted that he does not have any power to get anything done.

So the MOA forum moderators had no clue how to contact BMW. There helpful information was to give me the customer service 1-800 number. Trust me, the customer service reps are very nice but are nothing but talking heads.

Being a moderator has to require a lot of time and I appreciate them being willing to donate it. The forum would not work without their help.

It nothing else good comes out of my saga I hope that the forum will demand that the MOA get some "balls" and find out how to make BMW pay attention.

All right, I am off my soap box and will not be posting any new threads on this subject.

Thanks for all the positive replies and suggestions. I hope you have a good summer.
 
TN limit is $25,000-sue them & move on to the Strom. How can you lose?:scratch I wish they were not so tall or I'd be riding one right now!

If this isn't proof that this club needs to stop being kissy faced with BMWNA & have a consumer advocate person on board, then just ask the OP...


What is the purpose of the MOA?

From the articles of incorporation as well as the web site here:

"Our Mission:

To foster communication and a sense of family among BMW motorcycle enthusiasts."


In other words, we are a social organization composed of people who are enthusiastic about BMW motorcycles.

Seems to be to be a pretty far stretch to turn it into a consumer advocacy board for BMW owners.

But if that is what members want, they will have to get BOD members elected who share that viewpoint as a start. Then the membership would have to buy into the proposition that our purpose for existing has changed.

There is nothing that will change the OP's position as he is acting on principal. Several have suggested he take the trade and move on but w/o success.

I'm 66 and my life is too short to continue to :banghead over an object.

YMMV
 
........... Then the membership would have to buy into the proposition that our purpose for existing has changed.

...........

This is one of the better clubs on the planet, no doubt about it. I don't think anyone was proposing to change the purpose of the club. The purpose should remain as is. However, there is nothing wrong with adding some type of consumer advocate so to speak. It would perhaps be beneficial if hundreds of people could be heard at corporate given many of the allegations. If the membership feels otherwise they have every right to say so.
 
This is one of the better clubs on the planet, no doubt about it. I don't think anyone was proposing to change the purpose of the club. The purpose should remain as is. However, there is nothing wrong with adding some type of consumer advocate so to speak. It would perhaps be beneficial if hundreds of people could be heard at corporate given many of the allegations. If the membership feels otherwise they have every right to say so.

It's called an ombudsman.
 
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