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      12-14-2012, 03:22 PM   #52
Finnegan
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Drives: Z4M/. Z3M, E36/46 M3
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Teaching the dog to slalom

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Quote:
Originally Posted by knsaber View Post
I opted to write a more formal email this time to NA and it got forwarded to the same woman I talked to on the phone, Kara in Customer Relations Department.

In summary it was about the engine started knocking, I brought it to outside shop to replace bearings but did not cause nor fix the problem, then contacted BMW dealer. I also mentioned the FTC laws and Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

She called back and left a voicemail and said she still can't provide warranty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DSC_OFF View Post
Is it time to lawyer up?
Probably. And having a demand on legal letterhead signed by an attorney is going to carry a lot more weight than a personal letter or email.

I'll bet that BMW figures that, across a large number of cases, a good percentage will give up and not pursue. So they figure it's cost effective to take the "denied" approach, and will put as many burning hoops in the way as possible. Up to now, they've incurred no legal costs; it's pretty cheap to just have the representative say "no" as many times as she (or he) needs to, and hope the customer will just go away.

In this case, they've got this little "you used an indie shop" angle to try to try and run the customer off. (Not that it matters from a legal perspective, as GammaZeta noted, but it's a card they've been dealt, so they're playing it.) I am willing to lay odds that this will be a bit of a fight and require persistence. It's like this with most mfgrs--it's all about bean counting. You have to be a bigger PITA and liability to them than the potential costs they'd incur. Then they'll honor what's on the paper they gave you.

Since the out-of-pocket expenses on this could be high, it's probably worth some money to get legal help to pursue. But knsaber will need to do his own math to make that determination.
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